Tax pros take new approaches to marketing this filing season

In this year like no other, will tax preparers’ marketing take directions as new and strange as 2020?

Chris Hardy, an Enrolled Agent and managing director at Georgia-based Paramount Tax and Accounting, plans “more aggressive” marketing because of greater complexity in filing the 2020 return compared with previous years.”

“Many people will be confused and simply not know how to do it,” he said. “Also, we’ll be expanding our representation services due to the number of letters we anticipate because of returns not being filed correctly.”

Among the tips in “6 Marketing Guidelines for Professional Services Firms During the COVID-19 Pandemic” rom Prudent Pedal, a Chicago-based marketing consultancy, being calm and helpful are the primary tones preparers want to set with clients right now. Be purposeful or don’t communicate at all: Ask specifically what problem you’re solving for the recipient/client and how you want them to respond after they receive your marketing communications.

The ‘crowd’

Specific client types still hold appeal for firms, even this year. “We’ll be increasing our reach out to people who have suffered economic losses and will be eligible for carrybacks or other benefits,” said Daniel Morris, a CPA and senior partner at Morris + D’Angelo CPAs in San Jose, Calif. “We’ll be targeting those with commercial real estate holders whose rental streams have been vastly impacted.”

He added that his firm will also continue increased marketing efforts with family offices and ultra-high-net-worth families whose portfolio income “has increased exponentially and are seeking shelter opportunities via rate reduction techniques, residency changes and possible deferral mechanisms.”

“My marketing will continue to be low-key although I may attempt to market to the crypto crowd. I feel comfortable with crypto returns,” said Morris Armstrong, an EA and registered investment advisor at Armstrong Financial Strategies in Cheshire, Connecticut.

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New avenues

For some, marketing will mean refinements to existing tools and trying new ones.

“In addition to going the extra mile for the people I care about most, I’m modernizing the look and feel of my tax blog, updating older posts, deleting irrelevant posts, and promoting the Reddit page I moderate,” among other moves, said EA John Dundon, president of Taxpayer Advocacy Services in Englewood, Colorado.

Marketing’s going in a different direction in the Anthem, Arizona, area, where one weekly publication was a victim of COVID shutdowns earlier in 2020. “We’re seeking more marketing on Facebook and local Nextdoor App sites,” said Kerry Freeman, an EA at Freeman Income Tax Service.

Scott Hoppe, a CPA at Why Blu in San Francisco, is also thinking of using Facebook. “We had success in the past for individual clients,” he said. “I am trying to find a way to turn up on LinkedIn ads so we can target individuals that are part of IPOs. Not sure how that will work.”

Effective use of social media depends on matching your client base and the prevalent demographics of various platforms, according to Lion Shirdan, a marketing advisor writing in a recent article in Forbes. For instance, Shirdan cites statistics showing that Instagram users are almost equally divided between men and women but 57 percent of LinkedIn users are male. More than a third of Twitter users are ages 18 to 29, according to cited statistics, and the number of Americans older than 50 with Facebook accounts continue to rise.

For some, current events have made marketing less urgent. “We’ve been so overwhelmed with COVID-related scheduling and client work that we’re not taking new clients for this upcoming season,” said Ann Etter, a CPA and partner at Goodney & Associates, in Northfield, Minnesota. “We’ll reassess next summer and determine whether we’ll accept new clients for the 2022 season.”

“Marketing evolves,” Morris added, “and next season isn’t any different.”