Building Awareness of Your Financial Planning PracticeHow to Take Advantage of the Marketing Toolkit Resources

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As a CPA who also is a financial planner, you already understand the rewards that can come from investing more time and resources into your business.

To support you in your efforts, and help you make the most of your opportunities to expand the financial planning portion of your practice, AICPA has created this coordinated set of marketing materials. These ads, brochure, online tools and presentation materials are designed to help you explain what you do in a consistent way to many audiences. They also can be customized to ensure that your specific practice is receiving the benefits of your investment.

Positioning StatementIt is important to clearly explain what you offer as a CPA financial planner – and how having the strength of being a licensed CPA puts you in a better position to assist your clients with their financial plans, which makes them CPA Strong. We’ve created a Positioning Statement, or Elevator Speech, to get you started; think about how you would express these ideas, and adapt the language that feels comfortable for you. Download the Elevator Speech from the Marketing Toolkit.

BrochureThe campaign brochure provides your current clients and prospects with a detailed overview of the advantages of working with a CPA financial planner or CPA/PFS.

Working With PrintersFirst step, select a printer. In most cases, you’ll work with a local printer, and in all cases you should plan on getting several quotes and asking for references before making your selection. A good place to start is by asking colleagues for references. In order to get printing quotes, consider how many brochures you want printed. Ask the printer to provide costs for a range of quantities; you may want to get estimates for 100, 250 and 500 brochures. Once you have selected a printer, you can work out the details of providing them with the print-ready files; by uploading the files, emailing them, or delivering them on a disk. There are specific spaces (indicated in the PDF file) for you to personalize the brochure with your firm’s contact information and logo. Add it to the files yourself, or have the printer handle this. For instructions on how to customize the PDFs with your logo, see the document, Stamping Your Materials with Your Logo.

A high-resolution PDF file with the brochure is available for download in the Marketing Toolkit.

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Newspaper and Magazine AdsEach ad includes an area for your contact information (FPO – For Placement Only) so it is neatly placed and integrated with the rest of the ad creative. You can add your firm name or logo, website URL and phone number yourself, or you can have the publication do that for you – just make sure you’re very clear with them on exactly what you expect, and have them send you a proof before the ad runs to ensure accuracy. Although these ads are in color, you may use them in black and white. Simply advise your salesperson at the publication.

Working With NewspapersEstablish contact with a local retail salesperson with the newspaper. Newspapers generally separate their sales staff into two categories: classified and retail; retail is the division you need to work with.

Obtain a current advertising rate card for the paper and calculate the advertising cost per ad by reviewing the rate card with the salesperson. If you are running an ad one time, you will likely utilize the “open rate.” You will gain more visibility – and earn a lower advertising rate – by running your ads with some frequency. Contract level discounts usually are outlined on the advertising rate card and are based on either a commitment of a certain number of column inches or dollars spent in an annual period of time.

Once you have determined the dates, ad sizes and costs, you are ready to place your order with the newspaper. For proof of performance, request that the newspaper provide you with

“tearsheets.” These are the sheets of the newspaper that your ads were printed on provided as a sample.

The campaign includes a pair of ads, suitable for a range of print publications, including newspapers, magazines and newsletters. High-resolution PDF files are available for download in the Marketing Toolkit.

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BOTH ADS ARE AVAILABLE IN TWO SIZES, AND BOTH HAVE VERSIONS SPECIFIC TO CPA PERSONAL FINANCIAL SPECIALISTS AND FINANCIAL PLANNERS.

Working With MagazinesWorking with magazines is very similar to dealing with newspapers. There are two main differences. Magazine ads generally are sold as page increments (i.e., full page, half-page, quarter-page) rather than by column inches. For magazines, the rate card is only a guide. Many magazine publishers will negotiate below rate card rates; make sure you have a conversation with your salesperson to determine the rates you need to pay. Magazines have longer lead times, so plan in advance, committing to placing your ad one or two months before the magazine is published.

Speech and Presentation SlidesThe speech drafted for the campaign is designed for use with larger groups – when you have the opportunity to speak to a civic organization, professionals group or to the general public. As such, it’s intended to be informational, presenting the benefits that come with using a CPA financial planner, rather than promoting your specific practice. The presentation slides can serve as an easy-to-follow outline to use during the speech. These serve as a template and can easily be tailored to fit your audience.

As with the Elevator Speech, use this draft as a source of ideas, topics and inspiration. Make sure that whatever you have written on the paper in front of you feels comfortable coming out of your mouth. Most of all, be yourself.

The presentation slides and sample speeches are available for download in the Marketing Toolkit.

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Online Pay Per Click Ads (PPC) Pay Per Click is an online advertising strategy that allows advertisers to only pay when a user clicks on their ad. PPC is a way for your business to quickly generate website traffic with a low financial risk.

The campaign includes several sample Pay Per Click ads that can be customized with the name of your practice and your web address.

Planning a PPC CampaignAdWords (adwords.google.com) is Google’s popular advertising platform that allows businesses to run short ads both on Google’s flagship search engine as well as on their network of partner websites. Using an auction model, businesses pay for keywords that will trigger their ads when a user searches for them. For a more detailed explanation, review Google’s AdWords Beginner’s Guide at adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/static.py?hl=en&guide=21899&page=guide.cs. Select your keywords carefully. Consider these keywords for starters: financial planner(s), CPA and CFP. If someone searches for “financial planner,” that query indicates their interest in learning more about financial planning and service providers. With that in mind, it is critical to a successful PPC advertising campaign that you carefully select the keywords – or search terms – that will trigger your ad being displayed. Keep in mind that in addition to searching for a type of service, Internet users will also be searching for specific locations (typically a city). Thankfully, Google provides a free keyword research tool (adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal) that can be used to research popular words and phrases to use in your PPC ad campaign. More information on using Google’s Keyword Tool is also available at adwords.google.com/support/aw/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=160320.

Every character counts. If you choose to create your own Pay Per Click ads, know that there are very strict guidelines. The default ad unit on Google AdWords is a text ad comprised of a 25-character headline, two 35-character lines for the body and a 35-character display URL line.

These guidelines just scratch the surface of the Pay Per Click world; much more information is available at adwords.google.com/.

Financial plan CPA Strongyourfirm.comDoes your financial planner have a license? If they’re a CPA, they do.

CPAs do more than taxes.yourfirm.comPut a person you trust at thecenter of your financial plan.

A trusted advisoryourfirm.com(name of firm) CPA and financial planner

Text for these sample ads also is available for download in the Marketing Toolkit.

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Social MediaNo longer a curiosity, social media has grown into a force that’s having a significant impact on the way in which businesses interact with clients. Social media allows businesses to directly engage clients in conversation – making it a powerful tool for those who understand how to utilize it.

TwitterOne of the most popular social networks today is Twitter (twitter.com), with more than 200 million registered accounts. Twitter allows users to share messages that are 140 characters or fewer.

The Marketing Toolkit includes several sample Twitter posts to get you started. These should be personalized with a link to your website or web page with more specific information.

Sample Twitter posts are available for download in the Marketing Toolkit.

The AICPA offers a Twitter User Guide, complete with step-by-step information on how to get started or build on what you are currently doing. It’s an easy read with practical tips on how to use this exciting channel. You can download it at aicpa.org/Career/Marketing/Pages/SocialMediaMarketing.aspx.

LinkedInAnother popular social network – and one specifically dedicated to working professionals – is LinkedIn (linkedin.com). It has more than 100 million users worldwide, and more than 44 million in the United States. LinkedIn has a wide range of interactions.

To get a taste of how you can use LinkedIn as a networking and information-gathering tool, visit the AICPA Personal Financial Planning Section LinkedIn group.

The AICPA also offers a LinkedIn User Guide to help you maximize your presence on this professional networking site. Download it at aicpa.org/Career/Marketing/Pages/SocialMediaMarketing.aspx.

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