For accountants and CPAs ยท Marketing planning
A marketing plan built around the tax calendar.
Compliance work peaks in spring. Advisory could run all year. The plan decides which one grows, and who it grows with.
Or text (508) 546-9942
Slide it
You vs. Joe Blow CPA.
Left is your website today. Right is the one Joe Blow CPA has. Drag the line, then hit the button.
Crickets on the left. That is the problem.
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Illustration. Joe is made up. Your competitor is not.
The accounting firm version
Why it matters.
Take a firm that handles a stack of individual returns, some small business work and some bookkeeping. Every spring is a grind. The partners want more year-round advisory clients and fewer simple returns at a low fee. Without a plan, marketing keeps bringing in what it always brought: more simple returns in January. A written position and a defined advisory offer change what walks in the door.
I also plan around capacity, which is the real limit in accounting. There is no point pushing new-client marketing in the middle of the crunch when nobody can onboard anyone. The weekly rhythm shifts by season: capture and onboard in winter, nurture and sell advisory from late spring through fall.
What I would build
For an accounting firm.
Contractors, restaurants, medical practices, real estate investors, nonprofits. A written position on who you serve best, so referral sources can describe you in a single sentence.
Quarterly planning, monthly bookkeeping with a review call, entity setup. Defined tightly enough to put a price on, and packaged so a return client can say yes to it.
Which channels get effort in which months. Referral partners and the Google profile in winter, email to existing clients in summer, seminars and planning outreach in fall.
New clients onboarded, advisory clients signed, and the threshold that tells you to close the doors to new returns or raise prices. Plus a review date to check it honestly.
The mistake I see
Marketing for more returns when the problem is pricing
A firm that is overwhelmed every spring often responds by marketing harder for better clients without changing what it charges the current ones. The overload stays. Sometimes the right move is raising prices on low-fee returns and letting some of those clients go. The plan looks at your client list before it looks at your marketing.
What you get
Marketing planning.
Before anybody designs anything, I figure out what you are selling, to whom, and what has to happen every week.
- A written position: what you sell, to whom, and why you over the alternative
- The offer, defined tightly enough to put a price on
- Which channels get effort and which get ignored
- A weekly rhythm somebody can actually keep
- What gets measured, and the threshold that triggers a decision
How it goes
For an accounting firm, step by step.
→ Keep scrolling. It moves sideways.
One long conversation
Your numbers, your best customers, the jobs you wish you had more of.
Narrow it
Most plans fail from doing six things badly. I pick two.
Write it down
One page. If it needs ten, it will not survive a busy month.
Set the review
A date to look at it honestly and change it.
Step five is you.
The free Receipt shows what your accounting firm should fix first. About half a minute, no card.
Print my Receipt →
Questions
What accountants and CPAs ask.
How do we move existing clients from tax prep into advisory?
Start with clients whose returns already show the need: business owners with messy books, people who owed an unexpected balance, anyone who just sold property. Offer a specific planning engagement with a clear price at the moment it matters, right after their return is done. A generic line saying you also do advisory rarely lands.
What niche should we pick?
The one where you already have good clients, real knowledge and fees you like. Look at your favorite clients and see what they have in common, because the niche is usually hiding in that list. It also needs enough local businesses to support it, which is something I check with you before you commit.
Should we drop individual returns entirely?
Not necessarily. Individual returns often feed business and advisory work, since a business owner's personal return comes along with the company. The plan might raise your minimum fee or limit new individual clients rather than cutting them out. That decision is yours. I lay out the trade-offs clearly.
What comes after
Pairs well with.
The work that breaks in tax season is the chasing: missing documents, unsigned forms, unanswered calls.
Usually nextAccounting firm websites that answer the real questions.A prospect wants to know whether you handle their situation, whether you are taking new clients, and how to start.
Everything else
Other services for accountants and CPAs.
Same service
Marketing planning for other businesses.
Where I work
Southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Start here
See what your customers see.
The Receipt looks your accounting firm up the way a customer would and itemizes what is costing you calls. It is free. Or skip it and book fifteen minutes with me.
Or text (508) 546-9942