The ProMarketer Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

The modern workforce is changing RAPIDLY, and it’s taking the tax and accounting industry by storm.

Accountants like Blake Oliver have their eyes on the future of the industry, and bring an innovative flare to traditional practices. Blake is the CEO of Earmark, a revolutionary platform that offers NASBA-approved CPE for listening to your favorite accounting and tax podcasts. He’s cracked the code for modernizing accounting practices, specifically when it comes to hot topics like work-life balance and strategic use of technology.

And he’s here to share his secrets.

In this conversation with Christian Jones of TaxProMarketer, Blake draws a roadmap for innovating the tax and accounting industry, covering everything from his journey with Earmark’s CPE offerings to some of the broader trends and challenges faced by the accounting profession today. 

Their conversation is packed with actionable tips and insights for all accounting professionals, from those just starting out to seasoned firm owners. Things like…

• How to build a sustainable practice that doesn't rely on you working long hours.

• Strategies for transitioning clients to more profitable service packages.

• The benefits of leveraging technology like offshore talent and AI to streamline operations.

• Why the future of accounting lies in a client-centered approach with a focus on quality and value.

If you want the secrets to building a thriving accounting practice while achieving a healthy work-life balance, listen to this. 

Though the Employee Retention Credit (ERC) was designed to help businesses like yours during the COVID era, it’s turned out to be a big problem for the IRS. And they’re cracking down on wrongful claims. So, what happens if you submit a bad claim and the IRS comes at you with an audit? How will you fix it and avoid paying the serious consequences of improper filing?

Join ProMarketer Podcast host, Christian Jones, and special guest, Catherine Tindall*, CPA, founder of Dominion Enterprise Services (DES) as they discuss the essential due diligence needed to keep your clients compliant and avoid potential pitfalls with the ERC. 

*Catherine Tindall, CPA, saw the issues with the ERC from the get-go, and has worked to develop tools for tax professionals to help their clients get back into compliant positions with the IRS. Her expertise has been featured by Intuit and the Journal of Accountancy, and she has had over 16,000 professionals attend her continuing education seminars.

When figuring out how to grow your business, where can you find training tuned into your specific needs as a tax professional? How much do you prioritize continually investing in your education in the accounting world? How do you build a network of other tax professionals whose knowledge you can draw from?

Today, we’re welcoming good friend Andy Frye back to the ProMarketer Podcast to give his take on continual education for tax pros and how to grow your business… all while still enjoying more pricing power for your accounting services. 

Andy is a third-generation tax business entrepreneur who has personally prepared over 10,000 tax returns. He regularly interacts with and trains 20,000+ tax pros and happens to be the Founder & CEO of Pronto Tax School, Inc. Since 2011, their training system has provided 100,000+ courses teaching tax pros to easily find the tax changes that are most relevant to particular client groups, in order to optimize their service and benefit their clients.

If you don’t want to have to go at it alone in the tax industry, you’ll want to check this out:

https://prontotaxschool.com/

As we turn ourselves towards 2023, lead quality is king.

There are things you can do to *attract* the right kinds of prospective clients to your practice that absolutely are worth your time investment.

Often, that involves using social media. But if we’re honest…  

Facebook is full of geriatrics. Twitter is a dumpster fire. TikTok is famously full of BAD tax advice. Instagram doesn’t easily lend itself to accounting and tax practices… 

Yet LinkedIn is full of business owners (high-income earners) looking for sound solutions (and trusted advisors) RIGHT NOW. When the other social media platforms fail, LinkedIn can be an exception — if you do it right.

For this episode, we brought two friends — national LinkedIn expert Anthony Simonie and sales coaching aficionado Donald Stojack — to do a live masterclass session with TPM CEO Nate Hagerty on how to optimize your profile and use it the way it really should be used. You’ll walk away with tons of practical tips for using LinkedIn plus the chance to further connect with Anthony and Donald. 

Anthony’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anthonysimonie?trk=author_mini-profile_title

Donald’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldstojack

Click here to book free session focused on optimizing your LinkedIn profile: www.CEsession.com/book-now 

Want non-local clients? If so, then this episode on PPC advertising is for you.

Of course, there are MANY reasons to invest in advertising-fueled growth.

And it doesn’t just mean Facebook ads because here’s the thing about those (or any kind of social advertising):

You’re interrupting your prospective client. Like many forms of PPC, you are relying upon DEMOGRAPHIC data and hoping that your messaging is strong enough that they will pause their baby-pic-browsing and be immediately compelled by your accounting or tax information.

ON THE OTHER HAND:

Joe/Jane Prospect is actively searching for solutions related to accounting or tax-related issues, and they do some basic google searches ... and they find YOU.

Joe/Jane is already inclined to engage ... and the fact that they "found you" (even if via PPC), puts YOU in the power position. Contrast that with you interrupting their social browsing ... you have to "justify" your interruption. The positioning is entirely different.

But here's the big problem with search advertising: The house always wins.

In other words, if you're going to play with the back end of the Google advertising dashboard, you need to know what you're doing.

Which is what this episode is all about -- equipping you with the tools you need to win with PPC advertising.

Listen in as TaxProMarkter’s Vice President, Christian Jones, and Director of Advertising and Innovation, Ben Greutman, share why you should spend money on PPC advertising, a list of questions you need to IMMEDIATELY ask your advertising provider, and stories from clients crushing it with PPC ads.

… And though ads are important to building an online presence, they’re not the only solution for bringing in leads. Here’s a little bonus from TPM VP Christian Jones on the right time to do ads: https://youtu.be/2c9azO9Id70 

With the 2023 tax season upon us… do you find yourself appreciating working in accounting & tax services or is it more like the onset of dread as you’re faced with the possibility of 12+ hour work days?

Somewhere over the years, tax and accounting pros fell into this bad habit of discussing our work like it was those horrible fraternity or sorority hazings back in college: “If I have to suffer every tax season, so will you!”

But wait — aren’t a lot of us our own bosses? Small business owners operating our own practices? 

Surely there’s a better way to structure our accounting and tax services — one that involves giving superior care and attention to amazing clients WITHOUT the headache of being stretched thin serving clients who complain all the time…?

In this episode, Nate Hagerty interviews Andrea MacDonald, CPA: a mom, wife, and accounting nerd who founded Pro Tax & Accounting LLC. Through accounting services, tax planning, and tax return preparation, Andrea and her team help small business owners resolve cash flow issues, A/R issues, A/P issues, and a whole lot more. Andrea specializes in supporting other small business owners during their entrepreneurial journey.

If you’re unhappy with your current workflow (or you’re building your own practice), you’ll want to hear how Andrea has gone from being overworked and underpaid to doing meaningful work with fewer clients AND — get this — being paid what she’s worth.

You can find Andrea here: 

www.protaxllcva.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrea-macdonald-cpa-4704042b/

Twitter: @andreamacdcpa

Spend a lot of money on a beautiful website but still can’t seem to get leads? 

Struggling to get on page 1 of the search results? 

If you have a great looking website and some type of follow-up system, but no one can find you on Google, that’s a problem. Looks don’t equal performance. Getting on the first page of the results comes from building an organic foundation from the beginning. And building a good website isn’t hard. All it takes is a little optimization – filling in that metadata on the back end. 

And optimization doesn’t stop at your website. It also means filling in every form of your Google Business Profile, posting regular content, and not neglecting your backyard. 

Beyond optimization, you need to consider that Google focuses on local results. Even if you serve clients nationwide, Google will view your practice as a local business. 

Listen in as TaxProMarketer Vice-President Christian Jones talks best SEO practices and local listings strategies to get you ranked in the search results.

Episode highlights:

- Google wants to see that you’re optimizing the experience of the user.

- Uniqueness is something Google factors in –  60% of the internet is duplicate content.

- Google measures clicks, scrolls, and time on site...  so optimize for engagement.

- Google Business Profile is all about frequency, recency, star rating, and content. 

- 99 times out of 100, if marketing tactics aren’t working to get leads, it’s because you don’t have Google reviews.

Are you ready for 2023?

Ooh nelly, what we all thought would be a pretty "easy" tax season (in relative terms to the nightmarish last three busy seasons) is going to be much more ... interesting, in light of the economic disruptions now and to come.

Not only that, but the fact of the matter is: The traditional website is dead.

So ... if you want to grow your practice, you need more than a "nice website." You need a full marketing plan that includes an optimized Google business profile, email strategy, social strategy, traffic strategy, and more.

Yes, you can do the "funnel" thing ... but until you have these other components well and truly nailed, you're chasing from behind instead of working ahead. The most ideal online marketing plan naturally brings quality leads through the marketing journey — without you having to become a carnival barker in the process.

In this episode, CEO Nate Hagerty and Vice President Christian Jones take you through a crash course on marketing your practice in 2023 — covering all the essentials plus addressing what has changed this year in the world of online marketing. 

If you want continued growth, this episode is for you.

In the accounting and tax world, it’s easy to trudge through the daily workflow without building relationship with clients and marketing your services. The reason: You can be an expert in your field – the best accounting and tax pro – without doing all of that.

But will all of your expertise amount to anything if clients don’t like you and new leads can’t find you?

Today’s guest, Carlos Samaniego, is an author and speaker who got into tax resolution work after experiencing first-hand the terror of owing the IRS. (He spent over eight years not filing taxes – imagine the penalties and interest due!) He has since turned his life around and now helps others do the same. Carlos’s firm has saved tens of thousands of dollars in back taxes by negotiating settlements with the IRS instead of letting them bombard his clients’ lives with aggressive collection tactics (like levies or wage garnishments). His book, How to Make the IRS an Offer They Can’t Refuse, has been featured on Fox News, CBS, and NBC TV and on radio stations throughout the U.S.

Listen in as Carlos shares with Nate Hagerty (TaxProMarketer CEO) not only how he fell into doing tax resolution work, but the power he’s discovering in being authentic with his clients and how to practically implement this in accounting and tax firms. 

CarlosSamaniego.com

TaxDebtConsultant.com

Carlos’s free book: TaxDebtBook.com

When we speak with accounting and tax pros one on one about their marketing, this is what we often hear:

• I have an outdated website. 
• My local SEO is flopping.
• How do I prevent dead-on-arrival paid ads?
• Traffic to my website is slumping.

There are plenty more, obviously. These are merely the most common — all of which lead to the wrong leads and not enough of the right kinds of clients being attracted to your accounting and tax practice.

To stand out from others in YOUR market area, you need a clear, informed marketing plan for 2023.

In today’s episode, TaxProMarketer VP Christian Jones and CEO Nate Hagerty cover how to reach the goals you need for busy season (and beyond). They’ll help you sharpen a simple plan for all of your marketing (online and offline) and bring you through a brief exercise to help you build that plan.