Jassen Bowman EA
Jassen Bowman EA

941 Marketing Challenge Day 16

“Now here’s something we hope you’ll really like.” -Rocky (or was it Bullwinkle?)

Do you own a smart phone?

What about a laptop or monitor with a built-in webcam?

If so, then you have absolutely all the hardware you need to be doing YouTube marketing.

Fact: YouTube is the #2 search engine on the planet, processing over 3 billion searches a month. That makes it bigger than Yahoo, Ask, Bing, and AOL combined in terms of search volume.

Fact: YouTube reaches more 18-49 year olds per day than any broadcast or cable TV network.

Fact: Less than 10% of all US small businesses utilize YouTube marketing in any way (either paid advertising or video uploading).

Opinion: Nearly all the tax resolution videos on YouTube are weak, weak sauce.

Today, you’re going to spice things up and become the next YouTube superstar.

OK, maybe not. I mean, let’s be real, nobody goes to YouTube to watch videos about taxes, right?

Actually…

People search for all kinds of stuff on YouTube, including quite a bit of “help” and “how to” content. Bazillions of people treat YouTube just like they treat Google, and use it to look for solutions to their problems and challenges. On top of that, relevant YouTube videos naturally rank higher in Google searches because Google owns YouTube and they incorporate video into search results.

I definitely consider video to be sort of a second tier marketing tactic for professional services, but it is an important consideration these days. Not only is video marketing a direct search and SEO play, but it’s also a way for prospects and clients to get to know YOU. One of my biggest pet peeves is when I see tax professionals “hiding” online, without even a photo or their NAME listed on their own web site (seriously, that’s major marketing mishap, go fix it if that’s you).

Today, I want you to go claim your turf on YouTube. Go to YouTube, create a Google account if you don’t already have one, and create a channel.

Give your channel a service-specific name, maybe even a geographical name, too. For example, “Hampton Roads Tax Resolution” or “Northern California Small Business Tax Help”.

Today, that’s all you’re doing. So, no stress, no worry. You’re just creating a channel.

Tomorrow, we’ll make your palms sweat.… Continue reading

941 Marketing Challenge Day 15

Our theme for the past couple days has been where you should be seen.

Yesterday, we discussed where you should be seen physically. The day before that we discussed where you should be seen digitally.

Today, we’re going to discuss where you should be seen in the media.

You may not think of yourself as a media darling, and you certainly don’t need to be. What we’re really talking about is being visible in some way, shape, or form in the media that your target market reads, watches, and listens to.

So that’s the first piece of today’s task. You need to sit down and figure out what stations your target market listens to locally. What local TV station do they watch? What publications do they read?

Since we’re primarily targeting business owners in this challenge, take into consideration the industry that they are in. Are their trade publications that they read? Perhaps you’ll be the only tax professional that ever writes articles for and whose ads appear in Architectural Digest, making you the go-to 941 resolution practitioner for architecture firms.

Whether local, regional, or national, do a hard analysis of your chosen niche market and catalog the print publications, podcasts, radio and TV, and other media that your target market pays attention to.

Then, call a few of them. Can you get to an editor and ask to write a monthly column? Do they need a tax professional to come on to the 30-minute drive-time business radio talk show in your local area? Can you get cheap local ad rates in the Home Builders Association newsletter?

This is what you’re doing today. Find media outlets that your target market pays attention to, and get into those media outlets by contributing time and content or paying for advertising.… Continue reading

Using Audit Protection Plans & POA Monitoring to Boost Bottom Line Profits

Chances are you’ve already heard of this offering, but perhaps never given much thought to it. It goes by various names, such as “Audit Defense Service”, “Audit Protection Plan”, and probably the worst possible name, “Audit Insurance”.

Quick tip: Do NOT call it insurance. State insurance regulators will have a field day with you.

Pricing for this service can range all the map, from as little as $30 through services that Block and TurboTax offer, to $200 and up from bigger audit protection plan companies and bigger CPA firms.

What exactly are we talking about? Audit Protection Plans.

Firms have been offering some variation of audit defense, either packaged and sold directly with tax return preparation or as an add-on, since at least the early 90’s. Typically, an audit protection service offered along with return preparation applies to that return only, and provides a certain amount of work that will be done on the client’s behalf in the event they are chosen for an IRS or state examination of the return. Plans typically impose one or more limitations, such as to the number of hours of representation that are included, or excluding certain credits such as EITC.

By offering audit protection plans to all or most of your tax preparation clients, you are essentially spreading the cost of audit representation for whomever needs it across a large number of people, akin to an insurance program (but again, never call it insurance!). Since the IRS audits less than 0.5% of all tax returns, the overall odds of being selected for examination are about 1 in 200. Additionally, over 70% of examinations are correspondence audits, meaning that the representation work is actually done asynchronously (not in real time with an IRS employee), making it far easier to schedule such work around the rest of your day.

If you have 200 tax prep clients that each paid $99 for an audit protection plan, just as an example, that’s an extra $19,800 coming in to your practice from your existing clients. If only 1 in 200 requires audit representation, on average, then you can easily see that just offering the protection plan becomes ones of the most profitable services within your practice. In addition, you can charge different prices based actual audit risk. For example, since Schedule C filers get audited at a higher rate, your audit protection plan rate for that kind of return … Continue reading