Blogging for Accountants & Advisors

1. ® BLOGGING FOR  ACCOUNTANTS  & ADVISORS grow@practiceparadox.com.au Generating Leads and   Positioning Yourself  as an Authority

2. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au BLOGGING FOR  ACCOUNTANTS  & ADVISORS ‣ Michael ‘MC’ Carter ‣ Founder & Managing Director of   Practice Paradox (PARADOX) ‣ Co-Founder of Business Fitness 2001 ‣ Founded PARADOX 2010 ‣ Pioneer in modern marketing for accountants ‣ Inch-wide, mile deep focus in this area ‣ Not ‘practice management’ advisors

3. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au BLOGGING FOR  ACCOUNTANTS  & ADVISORS ‣ Pioneer in modern marketing for accountants ‣ Content-driven marketing ‣ Thought leadership positioning ‣ Blogging ‣ Social media ‣ Marketing automation

4. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au TODAY ‣ For the past decade, “Growth” has been a Top 5 challenge for firms each year in the Good, Bad, Ugly survey conducted by Business Fitness: ‣ For 7 of those years it’s been the   No.1 challenge cited by firms surveyed. ‣ 45% of firms are focusing on marketing/selling their additional services in 2016 ‣ 84% of firms believe that for accountants to survive they must provide advisory services  (in addition to compliance) WHY THIS TOPIC

5. ® The Value-Add Chasm 9 Want to 1 Achieves itFAIL 88

6. ® The Accounting Profession 9 Want to 1 Achieves it 8

7. ® What makes the difference? 1 Achieves it

8. ® The ability to communicate value 1 Achieves it

9. ® 1

10. ® THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE VALUE  IS YOUR FOOTBRIDGE ACROSS THE VALUE-ADD CHASM

11. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au POLL 1 ‣ Do you currently publish blog posts? ‣ No. Never have. ‣ Yes, but only a few times. ‣ Yes, but sporadically. ‣ Yes, around 1 per month. ‣ Yes, around 2 per month. ‣ Yes, we publish 3 or more posts each month.

12. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au POLL 2 ‣ What do you want to achieve through your blogging? ‣ Generate leads ‣ Position myself / our firm as an authority ‣ Get our name our there ‣ Add value to our clients and prospects ‣ Attract potential employees ‣ Not sure ‣ Other Select all that apply

13. WHY IT’S CRUCIAL BLOGGING ‣ Effective blogging: ‣ Grows your firm’s online presence ‣ Generates targeted traffic to your website ‣ i.e. people who are searching on the topics  you are writing about and are expert in ‣ Grows your marketing database ‣ Boosts your website’s Google rankings ‣ Esp. when done in ‘SEO savvy’ way ‣ Positions you as an authority ‣ Attracts your ideal types of clients ‣ Attracts other opportunities (esp. media) ‣ Evergreen content works 24/7, 365 days ‣ Blogs are more permanent than emails

14. WHY IT’S CRUCIAL BLOGGING ‣ If you are not consistently blogging and publishing educational and influential content: ‣ You haven’t really “showed up” as far as  modern digital marketing is concerned ‣ You’ll be an “undercover operation”   compared to competitors who do ‣ Your website traffic will be much lower ‣ Your marketing database will be smaller ‣ You’ll be less of an authority to others ‣ You won’t be educating your clients as much ‣ You’ll be missing out on inbound leads

15. Web Pages versus Blog Posts • Content updated infrequently  = ‘static content’ • One-way monologue • Formal • Product/service focused • ‘Brochureware’ • Every business has a website Positions you as a  SUPPLIER • Content updated frequently  = ‘dynamic content’ • Two-way dialogue • Informal • Topic/education focused • Editorial tone • Not every business has a blog Positions you as  THOUGHT LEADER

16. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au THOUGHT LEADER • One whose views on a subject are considered authoritative and influential • Someone who leads their field • An expert to seek advice from • A ‘guru’ people want to follow

17. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au THOUGHT LEADERSHIP MARKETING = EDUCATION GREAT CONTENT EDUCATES

18. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au GREAT CONTENT EDUCATES GREAT CONTENT MOTIVATES  ACTION HOW?

19. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au CREATE COGNITIVE DISSONANCE noun [ mass noun ] Psychology the state of having inconsistent thoughts, beliefs, or attitudes, especially as relating to behavioural decisions and attitude change.

20. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au EDUCATE YOUR CLIENTS  AND PROSPECTS ABOUT  PRINCIPLES AND STRATEGIES  THEY NEED TO IMPLEMENT

21. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au INCREASED WEBSITE TRAFFIC

22. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au HOW DO YOU MEASURE YOUR BLOGGING EFFECTIVENESS? 1. Google Rankings 2. Website traffic

23. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au A value-add service you provide The PRINCIPLES the service is based on The GAINS of implementing The PAIN of not implementing

24. • Before anyone purchases advisory services: • They must see a GAP in their lives • This makes them feel uncomfortable • Your service is then the ‘bridge’ they need 25 People who are ‘comfortable’ do not buy

25. FIND A NON-OBVIOUS ANGLE • Don’t tell people what they already know • Look for a contrarian angle • You want them to think, “What the…?” • Intrigue and surprise are crucial • This starts with the headline  (which we’ll explore later) 26

26. ANATOMY OF A GREAT BLOG POST 27 1. Great topic • Specific • Relevant to target audience • Timely to target audience 2. Non-obvious or contrarian angle 3. Great headline • Grabs attention • Intrigues • Helps your SEO 4. Striking, supporting image 4. Well-written • Write as you speak: Conversational • Write to ONE person, not a group • “You” not “all of you” • Use “you” and “your” far more than you use “we”, “us” • Editorial in tone, not advertorial • Write in benefits not features 5. Well-formatted for easy reading

27. IF YOU ONLY EVER BLOG ABOUT YOUR CORE  YOU WILL FOREVER BE CONSIDERED A BORE 28

28. IF YOU ONLY EVER BLOG ABOUT YOUR CORE  YOU WILL FOREVER BE CONSIDERED A BORE 29 1. Avoid technical, dry content • Don’t teach them tax • Don’t teach them bookkeeping • Don’t teach them things they’d expect you to be handling such as deductions available — they PAY YOU to look after that stuff, they don’t want to READ about it

29. IF YOU ONLY EVER BLOG ABOUT YOUR CORE  YOU WILL FOREVER BE CONSIDERED A BORE 30 2. You are NOT writing for your peers — You are not trying to impress other people (peers) with your technical knowledge • Write for PERSONAS not PEERS • i.e. for your target market • If you write for your peers the content is likely to be too technical and above the heads of your target audience

30. IF YOU ONLY EVER BLOG ABOUT YOUR CORE  YOU WILL FOREVER BE CONSIDERED A BORE 31 3. Write about topics around the periphery of your core • LEAD your readers to a better place • TEACH them • INSPIRE and EXCITE them — within your tone of voice — you still have to sound like YOU • This requires you to write about what excites YOU

31. 32 Other things you care about Related to what you do The core of what you do

32. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au POLL 3 ‣ Challenges you experience with blogging include: ‣ Finding the time to write articles ‣ Having the skills to write good articles ‣ Knowing which topics to write about ‣ The overall strategy for blogging ‣ SEO aspects of blogging ‣ Techie aspects of publishing blog posts ‣ Getting people to read our blog posts ‣ Other Select all that apply

33. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au GETTING PEOPLE TO READ  YOUR BLOG POSTS • Promote them via email broadcasts • Promote them via social media • Continue to promote evergreen posts  at recurring intervals in social media • Promote them in your email signatures

34. PLANNING YOUR CONTENT • Content Plan or Editorial Calendar: • Which topics? • When? • Who will write? • Article objective? 35 • SEO target phrase? • Image ideas? • Who will edit/polish? • Who will publish?

35. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au TIME REQUIRED PER BLOG POST Time required Planning — Thinking of an article topic 15 mins Writing — Write article draft 60 mins Polishing — Revise and improve article draft 30mins Writing — Create a good headline for the article 15 mins Searching — Search for a good support image 30 mins Graphics — Resize and possibly edit the image 15 mins Publishing — Load the blog post into your website (CMS) 30 mins Promoting — Promote blog post in social media 15 mins Promoting — Promote blog post via email broadcast 30 mins 4 HOURS

36. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au WHAT IS THE OPPORTUNITY COST TO YOU OF 4 HOURS? Hourly rate Opportunity cost 2 hours of Principal / Partner time $250 $500 2 hours of marketing / support team time $50 $100 TOTAL OPPORTUNITY COST PER ARTICLE $600

37. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au WHAT IF THAT COULD ALL BE DONE FOR YOU?   AND BY SOMEONE WHO WILL WRITE  BETTER ARTICLES THAN YOU’RE  LIKELY TO CREATE? PARADOX’S BLOG ARTICLE SERVICE  WILL HANDLE ALL THIS FOR YOU

38. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au EXAMPLES OF FIRMS USING PARADOX’S BLOG ARTICLE SERVICE

42. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au HERE’S HOW OUR BLOG ARTICLE SERVICE WORKS FOR YOU Done for you We think of the article topics (and we take requests!) ✓ We write the articles — industry specialist copywriters ✓ We create three different headlines to choose from ✓ We create 5 different images to choose from for each article ✓ We publish the article to your website’s blog for you ✓ We promote the blog post for you in your social media ✓ A BETTER RESULT PLUS TIME SAVED FOR YOU OF APPROX. 4 HOURS

43. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.au BLOG ARTICLE SERVICE PRICING Monthly  (AUD ex. GST) 1 Article per month $450 2 Articles per month $750 TODAY’S OFFER — ONLY FOR FIRST 12 FIRMS 2 Articles per month for price of 1 Arcticle per month

44. ® grow@practiceparadox.com.auBLOG ARTICLE SERVICE PRICING TODAY’S OFFER — ONLY FOR FIRST 12 FIRMS 2 Articles per month for price of 1 Article per month ‣ Sign up for $450 AUD / month service  and receive the $750 / month service ‣ 2 Articles fior the price of 1 Article each month ‣ 12 month x $300 = $3,600 AUD saving ‣ ADDITIONAL SAVINGS AVAILABLE ‣ Purchase 12 months in advance ‣ Pay for only 10 months ‣ $4,500 AUD (ex GST) up-front ‣ Equates to a 50% discount on 2 Articles service