A quick story, and some resources for you today, as you prepare for tax season …
(I’m violating some “rules” today by giving you a few different things to use in your practice, but I also know that you may have different needs that Joe Smith, CPA in the next town over, so use today what makes the most sense for YOU, says Captain Obvious.)
I received a question from one of our clients about mailing timing this tax season. He submitted a 10,000+ piece campaign using our new direct mail dashboard (found here: TaxProMarketer.com/target), and my team told me that he asked if I recommend waiting until the 3rd week of January to mail the offers — or if you have a different opinion/recommendation.
Here’s what I told him:
Given the fact that e-filing is delayed this tax season, I think the timing you are considering is perfect. Honestly, even with regular e-filing timing, we waited until about that point to mail our direct mail every season because of w-2’s, etc. You know the drill. But I would definitely be good with you doing that timing.
You might consider a second notice drop ten days or so later to the same list, but up to you. We’ll be adding “second notice” style pieces in the next week or so to the library.
Ron (my client) is being very smart in a couple key ways:
1) He cares and understands about timing. In our industry, it’s key. If you’re targeting lower income taxpayers, you gotta get in the door early. If you’re pursuing the middle- to upper- income crowd, you need to be in front of their influencers (i.e. YOUR clients) on a regular basis — AND you need to give them a reason to respond at a later point in the tax season … usually sometime around mid-February. We’ve loaded a couple HIGH-performing pieces in our direct mail dashboard, and I strongly recommend that you plan a mailing to targeted demographics around your office this tax season. The “price per piece” that we are able to provide is so good, that it is remarkably easy to ROI with the right target-message match.
(Again, the video explaining our new dashboard, as well as quick access to it, can be found right here: TaxProMarketer.com/target)
2) He is “going big”. This tax season is NOT the time to shrink back from promoting your services. Make the investment in self-promotion. After all, if you don’t “select yourself”, no one else will.
Finally, I thirdly recommend that you test out a multi-step campaign to the same homes. We are adding “second notice” pieces to our dashboard next week to help make this super-easy for you.
Oh, and here’s another resource for you… a little while ago, I conducted a call for our clients and our broader list about EXACTLY how to think about building a marketing plan for tax season. Here’s a direct link to the recording of that call:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/tpmcalls/January-tax-season-marketing.mp3
Nothing to buy there, but you can download that to your phone, and listen on the go, or simply open the link and listen directly on your computer. A TON of information in there, and it’s essentially about the three primary targets you should be pursuing in your marketing during tax season. It’s a timeless message, and made even more relevant, IMHO, by the availability of our new TaxProMarketer.com/target dashboard.
Lastly, yesterday I conducted a GREAT webinar with the folks from BV Back Office. It’s all about how you can add the profitable service of business valuation (and why that service is so popular right now), and it’s perfect for those of my clients who work with businesses. You can access the full video of that webinar (and also download it) right here: http://taxpromarketer.com/valuation.
So, to sum up … the three big resources for you:
1) Our new target direct mail dashboard: TaxProMarketer.com/target
2) A timeless teaching on tax season marketing: https://s3.amazonaws.com/tpmcalls/January-tax-season-marketing.mp3
and 3) A “no-pitch”, great webinar from yesterday about business valuation services: http://taxpromarketer.com/valuation
Enjoy these over the weekend … and next week, I’ve got one last special thing for you before the holidays.
Talk then! God bless you, and your firm…