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Friday, March 31. 2006
Blogs: The Next Step in CPA Marketing?
An emerging number of professionals are adding blogs to their capital spending plans.
WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL WITH BLOGGING? Are you thinking about it? Let us know what you're doing, what you think, what questions you may have, by contacting us here.
by Rick Telberg
At Large
[ADD A COMMENT HERE]
With tax season entering its final, frantic stretch, some accountants may already be assembling a mental shopping list.
From our vantage point, it appears that professionals will most likely be spending their technology budgets on mobile devices this year, while also improving their core business software applications.
And, remarkably, they're slowly starting to spend money to blog and otherwise use the Internet to reach clients and prospects.
WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL WITH BLOGGING? Are you thinking about it? Let us know what you're doing, what you think, what questions you may have, by contacting us here.
by Rick Telberg
At Large
[ADD A COMMENT HERE]
With tax season entering its final, frantic stretch, some accountants may already be assembling a mental shopping list.
From our vantage point, it appears that professionals will most likely be spending their technology budgets on mobile devices this year, while also improving their core business software applications.
And, remarkably, they're slowly starting to spend money to blog and otherwise use the Internet to reach clients and prospects.
It could be a busy summer and autumn for vendors to the profession.
According to our research at Bay Street Group LLC, laptops and notebooks top the list of technology items CPAs are considering buying, followed by worksite software ? tax preparation is by far the most likely to be purchased by public practitioners, while tax and accounting applications score equally high on the shopping lists of business and industry CPAs. High on the lists for all practitioners are office software applications, personal digital assistants, printers, scanners, copiers and fax machines.
Like many CPAs shopping for mobile devices, John Larochelle, a staffer with a large firm in Westborough, Mass. is in the market for a PDA or a smart phone because he wants "better access to client information and e-mail, regardless of location." Matthew Pastore, owner of a small public practice in Hoboken, N.J., is in the market for a new laptop and printer simply because he wants to work from home more often.
Jewell Shane, a small firm practitioner in Cincinnati, is considering buying a laptop or a PDA and plans to add mobility inside the office by going cellular with her in-office phones. "Forget the land line," she says.
Frank N. Hiza, a CPA from Great Barrington, Mass., is also among the more than 30 percent of all CPAs considering a smart phone or a PDA. "We have no time to waste being inefficient," he says.
Despite the hoopla for mobile, desktop computer purchases are being considered by 27 percent of public practitioners and by 21 percent of business and industry practitioners. Printers, scanners, copiers and fax machines are on the radar screens of more than 40% of public practitioners and 36.5 percent in business and industry.
CPAs in the market for software applications also want product integration. "I need 100 percent compatible software. I work in several applications at once and always need to flip between clients," says K.D. Bradley, a middle manager in Daytona Beach, Fla., who expects to buy both accounting and tax prep applications.
Almost half of the public practitioners surveyed plan to buy tax prep software this year and 38 percent are considering accounting software. In business and industry, 35 percent are eyeing tax prep software and an equal percentage is considering accounting software. Twenty-one percent of public practitioners and 13 percent of those in business and industry are interested in buying Office applications.
Customer relationship management software may still be gaining traction in accounting, as eight percent of business and industry CPAs and five percent of public practitioners are considering implementing it this year. Human resources and payroll applications are being considered by five percent of public practitioners and 12 percent in business and industry.
One of the big stories for 2006 may be the new initiatives professionals will be undertaking in marketing and corporate communications.
Almost a third of the public practitioners we contacted are considering spending to build or improve their Web sites this year, while 15 percent say they will launch electronic newsletters and another six percent are planning blogs. In business and industry, 26 percent will pay for Web site construction/improvement, almost 12 percent may spend money launching newsletters, and six percent are also considering blogging.
Indeed, 2006 may mark a turning point for blogging in the profession. Blogs are already proving to be inexpensive, albeit high-maintenance ways to let the public know about your expertise and reach new prospects. In a recent report from Intuit Inc., public practitioner Kerry Kerstetter of Harrison, Ark., said his blog, TaxGuru.net, has generated so much business that he's had to turn clients away.
Another blog, FromGregsHead.com, was designed as a marketing tool to position Greg Price of PKF Texas as an expert in IT consulting, according to Scott Cytron, the communications consultant who shepherded the project. The audience includes clients, prospects, the Houston IT community and the Houston business marketplace. Price says it has doubled traffic to the firm's Web site.
[First published by the AICPA]
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Although I would like to be as optimistic as you, I do not think that 2006 will be the turning point for CPAs blogging. As a profession, CPAs are not generally early adoptors of technology. Furthermore, the Big 4 don't blog -- with the exception of Deloitte which has an area in their Women's Initiative section that refers to "Blog Excerpts" with no actual blog to be found. National, regional, and local firms who seem to follow the Big 4's lead, most likely don't blog (I'm actually pulling together a list). When the Journal of Accountancy ran an article about blogging in June 2004, there were only a handful of CPAs that blogged (Taxguru being one). A Google search today "Accounts+Blog" yields about the same results as it did nearly 2 years ago.
If we're lucky, CPAs will begin to read blogs in 2006.
If we're lucky, CPAs will begin to read blogs in 2006.
I think blogging is currently being over-hyped by the marketing consultants out there. As an attorney, as well as a CPA, I get exposed to the various legal periodicals through the American Bar Association. I personally don?t blog, but the marketing ?experts? selling to the legal profession feel blogging is the way to go and basically think it?s THE way to market yourself today. Personally, I don?t understand the hype. I rarely read a blog and usually regret rummaging through one in an attempt to find something useful. Bloggers are usually not professional writers, so their comments are usually poorly written or lack coherence. The blog sites are usually a jumble of comments, response, etc. I don?t have the time to sift through all the garbage out there. I?m in my late 30?s and extremely computer savvy (having been a computer security consultant prior to going to law school), so my reluctance to use blogs has nothing to do with an inability to understand the technology. Also, I perform Estate Planning services, which tends to be geared toward the more elderly of our population. I truly doubt they are out there in numbers reading other people?s blogs to find an attorney to draft their will. Finally, my one VERY BIG pet peeve with bloggers is the ?news? bloggers. I hear over and over again how blogging has changed the news landscape and how blogging could change how we get our news. I am really troubled by that since bloggers are not always professionals and they are accountable to no one. There are no ethical requirements to blogging beyond professional responsibility, such as my legal ethical obligations to clients and prospective clients, which could cause me to lose my license of I screw up.
Robert Nargang
Attorney, CPA
Indianapolis, Indiana
.
Robert Nargang
Attorney, CPA
Indianapolis, Indiana
.
Isn't kind of ironic that we get a discussion about the supposed inapplicability of blogging for the CPA profession on a BLOG for the CPA profession?
Blogs are just another tool. Like a cellphones, email, websites, etc. But if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. That's the problem with so many so-called "marketers." They're really just widget-sellers.
Blogs are just another tool. Like a cellphones, email, websites, etc. But if all you have is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. That's the problem with so many so-called "marketers." They're really just widget-sellers.
I have a problem with Robert's comments. The wider purpose of blogging is to assist in communicating with like minded people on topics of mutual interest. If 'your' community is unlikely to include people who would find the medium useful - fair enough. But there's a generation of young people who are growing up with this medium. They are creating networks of people, some of whom they will carry throughout their working lives. That has genuine value to prospective employers - in my opinion.
The fact there is a lot of marketing noise out there should not deter people from dipping a toe in the water. I've seen readers at my place hook up who would have otherwise struggled to find each other.
There is a flip side to this. It's hard work!
The fact there is a lot of marketing noise out there should not deter people from dipping a toe in the water. I've seen readers at my place hook up who would have otherwise struggled to find each other.
There is a flip side to this. It's hard work!
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Excerpt: One view on budgets: more mobile devices and better business software....
Tracked: Apr 03, 12:02