A great many accountants are uncomfortable with the idea of marketing their companies and promoting themselves. A survey by the AICPA revealed that two-thirds of its members had negative attitudes toward uninvited solicitation and were uncomfortable with the idea of seeking publicity.
Why are accountants this way? One possible reason is that many accountants simply do not know how to gain visibility. A second reason may be that many accountants are afraid of visibility. Some people think if they become well known, they'll become a target of criticism, and this may be why the general public has so little idea of what accountants do.
GAINING RECOGNITION
It is a safe assumption that the more people who are aware of who you are and what you can do, the more likely it is that your career will keep advancing. How do you go about gaining recognition while you are struggling each day simply to keep up with your responsibilities?
There is no one answer to the question, and a lot will depend on your specialty. Management accountants and accountants working for CPA firms, for instance, are not in a position to promote themselves as actively as accountants who work for themselves. But, regardless of who you work for or what your specialty is, there are more ways than you might be aware of to gain recognition. Let us look at some of these ways.
GETTING INVOLVED IN ORGANIZATIONS
One of the easiest and most direct ways of gaining visibility is to become active in professional and community organizations. Indeed, if there is one thing in which nearly everyone at the top of the accounting profession believes, it is that the right kind of organizational involvement translates directly into career progress.
Joining professional associations, such as the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the National Association of Accountants, or your state CPA society, is essential, but you also need to be active on committees (particularly those that relate to your specialty).
In every community there are civic organizations, executive groups, religious groups, educational groups, alumni associations, and country clubs. Clearly, you do not have the time to join all of them, so be selective. Try to get active on those committees that deal with your field of interest. If you are a tax accountant, you should be on the tax committee and, ideally, heading it. Being the head says to the outside world that you are an expert.
Concentrate mainly on groups and affiliations in which you are likely to make the most contacts and your involvement will do the most to enhance your reputation.
GETTING INTO PRINT
Few things you do as an accountant will help your career more than getting articles published in trade and business journals. Getting articles published makes you more of an authority. It looks good to your current company and it gets other firms interested in you. Personnel directors as well as recruiters follow articles in trade journals closely.
COMING UP WITH ARTICLE IDEAS
One of the best things about being an accountant is that you have expertise in a subject that almost everybody is interested in: money. Coming up with ideas of interest to editors should not be much of a problem.
You should keep a file of possible article ideas; use that file to store clippings on subjects that might lend themselves to articles. Particularly good sources are subjects that are being covered widely in the news.
GETTING ARTICLES PUBLISHED
The recommended procedure in getting your article published is to write a letter to the editor of the publication in which you briefly outline the kind of article you would like to write. Professional writers call this a query letter. Excerpted from How to Write Like a Pro by Barry Tarshis, are the guidelines to follow:
1. Be brief.
2. Make sure that the idea you suggest (a) is appropriate for the magazine you're writing to and (b) has not been covered by that magazine recently.
3. If you can make some personal connection early in the letter ("Jane Doe suggested I write you. . . ."), do so.
4. Be upbeat and positive, but don't oversell your idea. Avoid overstatements and don't hit the editor over the head with how much the article is needed. Let the editor decide.
5. Be as specific as you can in outlining the general content of the article.
6. Try to write naturally. When in doubt, write the same as you speak.
WRITING LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
One of the simplest ways of getting your name known is to write letters to the editor.
There are some purely technical ground rules to follow when writing a letter to an editor. Your letter should be about the same length as other letters the publication prints. Another thing you have to be careful about when you write a letter to the editor is keeping the tone calm and factual. Finally, keep the focus of the letter as narrow as possible. Pick one topic, issue, or idea and try to stick to it throughout the letter.
PUBLIC SPEAKING
Like the ability to write well for publication, the ability to speak in front of groups can greatly enhance your image and increase your visibility.
An excellent way to gain more confidence as a public speaker is to begin speaking in front of groups that will give you the opportunity to gain experience but carry no risk to your reputation. Once you have gained a little confidence, you can branch out to some of the local social, civic, and religious groups, all of which look regularly for knowledgeable speakers.
To make things easy for yourself, you should develop two or three 20-minute to 30-minute speeches on general subjects that you can talk about in front of most groups.
As far as preparing the speech goes, you can either hire a free-lance writer to write the speech for you or do it yourself. Just make sure you keep your sentences short and your tone conversational. Speak from brief notes. One page should suffice for a half-hour talk.
Your opening is particularly important so make sure it catches your viewers’ attention.
PUBLICIZING THE SPEECH
Usually, if you are giving a speech to an organization, its public relations manager will send press releases to local papers. (You'll need an up-to-date and good photograph of yourself, as well as a brief written biography.) In the event that the group has no such person, you must take it upon yourself to write the release and send it to the newspaper.
TEACHING A COURSE
Another good way for accountants to become better known in their communities is through teaching.
Teaching can be rewarding and builds your credibility as an authority. Teaching forces you to keep current and thus imposes a discipline that might not be there if you were not teaching. It also encourages you to improve your communications skills.
If you are going to teach, choose a subject you know backwards and forwards and keep it to 1 course/semester.
GETTING YOUR NAME IN PRINT
One of the easiest ways to do this is to get to know local business writers. When business writers are researching articles, they often need authoritative quotes and almost invariably, they seek out the people they know.
Should a business writer contact you to answer a question or make a comment, be as honest and forthright as possible. At the same time, be careful not to say anything that is going to get you in hot water with your firm or your clients.
It is also a good idea, even though it takes a little time and effort, to act as an informal "stringer" for professional reporters. Any sort of article or clipping that you think would be of interest to reporters, whether it relates to you or not, is worth sending along from time to time. Even though the reporter may not use the information, the gesture will be appreciated. And, when the time comes for the reporter to quote an accountant, your name is likely to be foremost in that reporter's mind.
RADIO AND TELEVISION APPEARANCES
In your community, there are numbers of radio and television stations for which someone who can talk intelligently about finance would be in demand.
Your chances of being asked to appear on these shows will be greater, of course, if you have built up some sort of reputation through articles or through public speaking. But, even without this sort of reputation, there is nothing wrong with a brief letter to the producer of the show in which you describe how much you like the show and let your availability be known in the event that the show needs a financial specialist.
Should you be asked to appear on either a radio or a television program, find out what sort of a show it is, who is doing the interviewing and who else is going to be on a panel. In most cases, you will be told ahead of time what the interviewer will ask you; in any case, you should decide in advance the key points you want to convey.
THE ULTIMATE MARKETING TOOL
One principle of marketing is universal in its application. It is your willingness to share your expertise, without always being paid for it.
Although it is crucial to be compensated for the work you do, there is a point at which carrying this principle too far can limit your success. The most successful professional people are not at all hesitant to contribute their expertise during informal conversations.
This principle applies not only to accountants in practice for themselves. It works as well in the corporate setting. You will always run into people who will try to take advantage of your knowledge, but the more opportunities you take to position yourself as an authority, the greater the payoff in the long run.
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