Although direct-marketing techniques have been used since the advent of the printing press, the definition that was set 89 years ago still holds true today: Direct-response marketing is a form of marketing designed to solicit an immediate response that is specific and quantifiable.

You see this at work in every DRM channel:

Online newsletter promotions ask you to "click here." Magazine promotions ask you to place a "yes" sticker on a postcard to renew your subscription. TV ads ask you to call an 800 number to learn more about the latest vacuum cleaner technology. All of these channels then add urgency by stating that if you are among the first 25 or 50 or 100 to respond, you will be rewarded with extra bonuses.

They all ask customers to take action immediately. They all ask customers to follow specific instructions. And smart companies track and quantify the results.

Keep in mind that DRM is not branding. The end goals of direct-response marketing and brand marketing are entirely different. DRM wants to get the customer to provide information or open his wallet.

Branding, on the other hand, wants to get the customer to remember the product.

Direct-response marketing wants to get the customer to open their wallet by making sure its message is a highly targeted one with explicit interest or intent.

Moreover, with branding, the customer remembers the product through image-building and broad reach. There is little to no conscious intent.

Today, with the power of the Internet behind you, branding and DRM work more closely together... closer than they ever have in the history of advertising.

The Internet allows companies to create campaigns that are nearly hybrids of traditional branding and traditional DRM.

Think about all the email marketing being published today. There are hundreds of thousands of them out there on every subject imaginable, from gardening to politics to rock music; and thousands more are created each week.

Our TaxProMarketer Strategy Note is an example. It is delivered every week and reaches thousands -- it has developed a certain brand presence.

By "brand presence," we mean that our emails have a specific look and feel.

Because of all the change on our main site, and with our name, we are moving to establishing this brand even further. You'll see our logo more. When you see banner ads on other web sites and text ads in other newsletters, you'll know by the logo that the ads come from TPM.

But at its heart, TPM is not a brand marketer. TPM is a direct-response email engine. That's how we've developed our subscriber list.

That's how we've grown our business. And because we've been consistent with our message, our values, and our product quality, we've been able to create a brand presence that other people recognize. A "brand" can develop organically from good DRM.

For most small businesses (the non-Cokes and non-Nikes of the world), this is the best way to grow. Spend your money on great direct-response campaigns and let your brand develop while you make money.

Now, if you're not familiar with direct-marketing methods, here are a few good books to start with:

• Eugene M. Schwartz's Breakthrough Advertising, originally published in 1966
• Dick Benson's Secrets of Successful Direct Mail, originally published in 1987
• Claude C. Hopkins' My Life in Advertising and Scientific Advertising, originally published in 1927 and 1923, respectively
• Michael Masterson's and MaryEllen Tribby's Changing The Channel: 12 Easy Ways to Make Millions for Your Business, originally published in 2008

The authors of these books understood the profound impact that direct-response marketing can have on any business. It was their mission to teach the fundamentals -- the rules and principles that apply to all businesses at all times.

But I have to warn you -- reading these books and putting them into action can ONLY help you make money!

If you want to take your tax or accounting firm to the seven figure level (or beyond) you have to do the OPPOSITE of what you see your local competitors doing.

Yes, I know that is a very bold statement. But, I'm here to tell you today, if you do what everyone else in your area is doing in the industry in marketing a tax business or marketing an accounting business, you will never rise above the crowd and reach the top of your profession.

I help lead a small group of business owners and sales professionals in the Kansas City area who are part of our church community. We focus on the practicals of growing a real business (and the spiritual components, therein, of course as well -- because I happen to believe that God cares about the transactional details of how we operate our business life).

Anyway, a friend of mine has a small computer business. He has spent several months preparing a manual on "how to successfully operate a computer business" and notably, he was very proud to tell me about it.

When I inquired about the marketing, he said, "Well, in this business no one actually promotes themselves ... its all word of mouth."  My immediate response was, "If EVERYONE does not promote themselves in this industry, then putting together an extensive, online and offline marketing campaign and doing the opposite of everyone else is the first thing you should be doing with your time ... not writing an operations manual!"

My friend was taken back by my 'odd' advice. A week later, when I saw him again, he took me back to that conversation and pressed me for more. (This was such a crazy concept to him ... doing the opposite of everyone else to reach real success ... because of the fact that I was so passionate about it, he wanted more and more advice on how to apply it.)

I told him only 2% of the people in any industry are really doing well. I mean, they are achieving success that's out-of-this-world good. They are at the top of their industry. I told him, if you want to be the 'top dog' in your area, you cannot do what the crowd
(or the industry norm) is doing and expect to get hugely successful results.

If You Are Doing What Everyone Else In Your Market Area Is Doing,
You And Your Tax or Accounting Business Are Dying
A Slow And Painful Death ...

Let me give two quick examples to illustrate my point.

1) As we enter the summer, there's a significant number tax & accounting firm owners who have put the tax season behind them and don't want to think out it.

The 2% high achievers (business owners who have set goals or are already working their strategic plan or are already experiencing real success from it) are analyzing what they did well, what they did not do so well and what key areas they will focus their time in the off-season.

2) The tax professional norm is to go to their regional IRS show, hear about some proposed tax law changes (and get a tax write off for the trip).

The 2% club of go-getters come to these same IRS events and find 2 or 3 other business owners doing some really smart marketing or sales techniques which are dramatically increasing net profit (that has nothing to do with taxes or the agenda at the IRS event).

That's what I mean by 'opposite'.

If you find yourself doing the same old thing you've always done, and it seems to be pretty close to what everyone else in the industry does where you live, maybe you should think very seriously about trying a NEW approach this off season.

Like Zig Ziglar always says (or was it Einstein?), the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

And, by the way -- one easy way to get this kind of marketing intelligence, the kind that the go-getters are seeking out at those IRS Forums, is to explore what is already available to you in our NEW members area.

Enjoy with our compliments.

Right now, the social media landscape is going through the most dramatic change in its short history ... it's going visual.

Lots of writers have tried to come up with a name for this massive shift in online behavior, but the best I've heard so far is the "visual revolution." That's a fancy way of saying that photo-sharing is really, really taking off.

Thanks to the rise of touchscreen mobile devices, humanity's desire to view and share pretty pictures has never been so freakin' easy.

Graphics are easier to create, edit, and interact with than ever before. Therefore images are stealing more and more of the viewing space that words like these used to occupy.

The 800lb gorilla of this photosharing group is Pinterest.

Unlike older networks like Facebook -- which recently spent months renovating its network to a more visually based Timeline view (the topic of a recent WWN note) -- Pinterest was specifically designed to tap into the potential of mobile devices.

This puts Pinterest in perfect position for growth as the mobile revolution continues to roll on in 2012. And as more and more people fall in love with mobile devices, Pinterest has proven to be a BIG winner.

The thing that really sets Pinterest apart is HOW you showcase your interests: By pinning IMAGES ... not penning whiny status updates.

And what makes Pinterest so valuable, for both users and marketers, is how effectively it targets our consumerist urges. It really gets the whole social shopping thing right.

As one popular analogy goes, "Facebook is like a neighborhood bar where you unwind and socialize with friends, while Pinterest is more like visiting a craft fair."

That's why Pinterest drives more referral traffic than LinkedIn, YouTube, and GooglePlus COMBINED.

I will tell you that here at TaxProMarketer, we're only in the early stages of learning to leverage this, but we ARE moving towards a more image-oriented interface, both at our home site and on the marketing sites we're managing on behalf of clients.

You'll hear more from me on this topic, but go check out Pinterest, play with it a little, and see what can be done.

Here's the best way to start:

Sign up, pin your content there (from your site) and comment on it with relevant keywords applicable to your target market. This is a great way to simply start playing, and will have a nice effect on your site SEO.

Let it connect to Facebook (which has set up Pinterest as one of its 20 key apps which enjoy prominent access to Facebook walls), and invite your friends to comment.

And before you write this off as a "time suck" -- remember: that's what they said about Facebook.

Your competitors are slowly transitioning out of tax season, and many are still not spending much time in their offices.

Well, let's leap past them!

And, lest you think that what we be discussed is about being at your office MORE, instead, we be focused on strategic offseason steps, and evaluating your tax season -- to grow your business RIGHT (not just "work harder", or even "smarter").

If your referrals from local professionals are running dry, it might be time implement new strategies to nurture those professional relationships and keep business flowing again.

Rather than just asking for their recommendation, here are three creative ways to add value to your referral partner's business and make it irresistible to work with you:

1. Ask to promote their services, no strings attached. Let your referrals sources know that you have a blog, facebook/twitter or email/print newsletter reaching many families and businesses in the local area and that you'd love to tell your clients more about them. Offer to post a guest blog on their behalf or feature their upcoming events in your newsletters.

Besides creating good will with your referral partners, they'll be more receptive to promote your events and services when approached in the future.

2. Make Promoting YOU Beneficial For THEM. One strategy I've encouraged coaching clients in the past to implement (and seen great rts when they did) is to craft a beautiful letter and custom certificates that the referral source can send to THEIR clients saying "...because you are so important to us, I wanted to personally send you a valuable gift to say thank you for your business." The gift, of course, is a free session with the tax professional/accountant, which we note has a value of $250 (or some such).

The referral partner's clients feel great about receiving such a valuable gift (increasing business for THEM), while you benefit from all the new appointments!

3. Share Without Selling. Don't overlook the importance of sending along helpful articles or resources to your referral partners from time to time. It's a great way to keep the relationship going without a huge time investment. I always like to include a note along the lines of, "Hey--I thought this information would be helpful to you and wanted to pass it along ... hope you are doing well" at the top of the email for that extra personal touch. It's almost always appreciated and keeps you at the top of your referral partner's mind.

Note: this is above and beyond a weekly email series to business contacts.

These are all things which you can easily implement now, after tax season, while the rush of work has slowed down.

Prime that pump, baby!

Last week we talked about thanking your clients, and mining for "gold" within your existing client list.

Well, I want you to step back, and give you the framework which I used when we evaluated the results from each season. And, for clients who were on our coaching call this week, here's a framework you can use for evaluating with your staff, as we discussed.

Without the urgency of deadlines, marketing and growth strategies are tough to consider now.

But that's EXACTLY what you need to do.

In fact, since focusing on growth really is all about starting from where you are NOW, here's how to get a very clear picture, from a marketing and leadership perspective.

The goal here is to give you a broad framework--you can fill in deeper details yourself. Here it is (with some guidance from me):

(This might be a good one to print out, and work off a hard copy)

FOR THE OWNER
Marketing ROI
1) What measurement did you have in place?
a. If you did NOT, BEWARE of making knee-jerk decisions
        b. If you DID, measure on ROI, not response percentage
2) How you measure your marketing depends on your mindset
a. What were the reasons why some ads worked, and some didn't
(Market, Message, or Media?)
b. Is "breaking even" acceptable based upon future revenue?

Sales Conversions
1) Can you track how many phone calls came in?
2) How many converted into appointments?
3) How many appointments converted into clients?

Staff Hires
1) Do you have a written evaluation procedure for your employees?
a. Not just on accuracy, but also salesmanship, dependability
i. New services or up-sells attempted?
ii. Referrals stimulated by this employee?
iii. Ability to "play well with others"?
iv. Communication effectiveness with clients

b. Exit surveys for seasonal hires--set them up now!

And NOW is the time to begin research of other services you can offer, if you have no proven service which you consistently can "upsell" your tax clients into...

FOR THE TEAM & OWNER
Operations flow
1) Where were the specific hang-ups?
2) Accuracy controls--were they effective?
3) Where can we combine functionality to increase efficiency?
4) What can the owner delegate for next tax season, and the offseason
5)  Facilities -- Problems? Upgrades needed? What worked? Check now

Training Procedures
1) Were you measuring the effectiveness of your training?
a. Employee evaluations of YOU the owner (www.surveymonkey.com is an effective tool if you have lots of employees)

Communication Procedures
1) Were they clear?
2) Where were the bottlenecks?
3) Was there TOO MUCH communication? Too little?

This is a start ... and I'll touch more next week about making NEW marketing plans.

By now, the dust has settled from busy season 2012. How are you feeling about yours?

Now really is the time for you to take a step back, evaluate your successes (and failures), and take a clear-eyed look at how you and your firm will improve for next tax season, bring in additional revenue during the "offseason", and, of course, seal in your new clients so that they stick for life.

We're getting notes from clients, thanking us for the work we did on their behalf -- and nothing makes me happier than to know that we've served you well.

But allow me to make two (firm) suggestions for you, as you consider where to invest your time and resources these next few weeks:

1) Thank your clients. Even through something as simple as a (warm & personal) email, you'd be amazed at what it can do for retention and referrals. A print newsletter, a gift -- whatever it is, make it light, make it "non-sales-y", and make it warm.

2) Look at your client information files from tax season and mine it. Your client tax returns are now a rich vein of information for you. Get a clear picture of your average client demographics. Even better, identify your BEST clients (whether
be it revenue or efficiency considerations), and create a profile of them. This will help you adjust your positioning to gather even more of them.

Next, evaluate what services you should be providing, based on need (or desire!). Again, the return information will greatly help you here. Section 7216 specifically allows for such data mining, as long as it's for internal (research) purposes.

Do you have a lot of clients nearing retirement? Then consider adding some sort of tax-planning package for soon-to-be retirees. Clients with kids nearing college? Investigate offering college financial planning services. Business owner clients? Make sure they are set up with a succession plan. Etc. Etc.

The point is that you have a HUGE advantage over other service businesses, in that you have so much real info at your fingertips.

For OUR concierge clients, we'll be discussing these issues (and taking your questions) on our coaching call next week. I'll send you those call-in details early next week.

I hope you've been enjoying your well-deserved break/slow-down ... but now is really the time to begin setting the table for a longer-term breakthrough.

Well, you're either on vacation (checking this on your mobile, perhaps), or you're in "recovery mode" from tax season, cleaning up the final detritus from it all.

I remember those days well -- and this is the time to seal relationships with your clients AND your seasonal staff.

This is the perfect task for the next week or so, because it feels pretty great to do it AND it has the primary benefit of moving your business forward.

So, here are some ideas to make this process easy, fun, and profitable...

1) Throw a staff party. Hopefully, I don't have to tell you to do this -- but especially if you had seasonal staff pitch in who did a good job, it's crucial. The numbers behind what GOOD  (happy) employees and/or contractors add to a business versus what ill-appreciated and poorly-performing staff do are simply startling. Depending on your revenue size, it can mean a 4 to *6* figure difference (per my friend, Barry Shamis from Selecting Winners).

Here are a few ideas for it:

* Hire entertainment. I'll only tell this to clients. Promise you won't tell anyone ... my FIRST exposure to the tax industry came back in 1997 when Chauncey Hutter, Jr. hired me and a college pal to "spice up" his staff/family picnic. We dressed up as country hicks (this was a Virginia crowd), and ran "Country Games" for the kids and the braver employees. Apparently, it was a hit . He hired me six years later to run his marketing.

* Invest in parting gifts for seasonals and thank you gifts for full-year staff. Doesn't have to break the bank, but it truly is the thought that counts.

* Write a personal thank you note to each of your key staff. Tell them directly how grateful you are for their hard work -- the ol' handwritten note is even more powerful now than it ever was.

2) Identify your top referrers and send them something NICE. You should be able to pull out your Top Ten champion clients. Send them to a great dinner, or, even better, bring them all together either in your office for an after-hours cocktail party, or at a nice local restaurant and let them mingle with each other. Everyone loves a free meal at a nice place.

3) Client Appreciation PARTY. See above, related to the staff party. The psychology here is that everyone wants to be let in on the "inner circle", and doing a Clients-Only party will build buzz, ensure loyalty and even offer you the chance to talk about other services you can offer them, in a friendly way. Do NOT "pitch" at this party, but things will inevitably come up, as you talk about their lives and businesses.

4) Creative client gifts. Again, for cost-purposes, you might consider only doing this for your key clients, but don't just send them gift cards or chocolate, etc. Do something which reflects your firm, or refelcts your home town. You might even integrate information you learned in the tax process, about their children (gifts to their children are a WINNER), their interests or other such information which is readily-minable in your data.

What's great about this process is that it can be FUN. And, even better, it will drive your revenue for next season if you do it right. Now is the time.

I hope you've been taking my advice and that you've been going after Procrastinators the past two weeks. Look -- you still have four days, and it's not too late!

(You may not believe me on that, but we once had an ad hit on the 13th -- when the deadline was the 15th -- and it pulled in a monstrous ROI.)

If you're wanting to get a final bump, right now, go back to my advice, and use it!

But, as I mentioned in the subject line, I'm cutting a check to the Treasury, and the state of Missouri this weekend which is somewhat painful. MO has a 6-month "waiting period" for adoptions to be finalized (which we missed by 8 days), and so my wife and I didn't get to take advantage of the $26K+ in tax credits from our most recent adoptions (link takes you to a video on my wife's blog, in case you want a quick pick-me-up ).

Many of your clients, too, are cutting that check this weekend -- don't forget that.

In fact, the next month or two is a PERFECT time to demonstrate some empathy, acknowledge the blow -- but then follow up with the killer pitch for some tax PLANNING.

Even if you've not been formally trained in this (something which we are looking at helping our clients get fixed in the future), you STILL can come alongside many of your clients and easily get paid to help them save some serious coinage for next year.

(Which, happens to be one of the 4-5 main themes I strike when I write email marketing on behalf of our many tax professional clients -- because it works.)

So, put that marketing idea in your funnel -- after you take a break next week.

You'll deserve a break, that's for sure!

In the meantime ... keep cranking! Pull in those procrastinators, extend 'em if you have to, but don't let your short-term weariness keep you from reaching your long-term goals!

Here's how you should break down what worked ... and what didn't during your tax season.