QuickBooks Connect kicks off on with a pre-con day centered around the developer hackathon on Sunday November 1. The event kicks into full gear on November 2.
In our recent article on QuickBooks Connect we shared that the accountant educational tracks are broken down into 3 main categories: Advisor Model, 21st Century Marketing and Cloud Technology. This article is focusing on the 21st Century Marketing track, which covers a topic many of our audience members say they are weak in, marketing.
Attendees who choose the 21st Century Marketing classes will find several sessions to help them get up to speed on today's marketing methods and the tools available to you to be a "21st Century Marketer". Here's what you'll find.
Monday, November 2
10:00AM Building Your Brand and Your Practice through Thriving Online Communities, Wayne Schmidt
The web is your new lobby. This session will help you learn how to build online communities (i.e. social networks) to strengthen your brand awareness, communicate your expertise and specializations within the industry, and create referring relationships that grow your client base and as well as your network of trusted subject matter experts to whom you can refer highly specialized services.
During this session you will learn how to:
- Create highly strategic networks within the three most popular social networking sites - Linkedin, Twitter and Facebook
- Leverage blogs and forums to create expanded awareness for your firm and gain new clients
- Increase your chances of being published online: How to write articles and submit them for editorial approval
1:30 PM The Intentional Tweeter: Leveraging Twitter to Grow Your Practice, Barry MacQuarrie
Twitter is much more than a tool for sharing quick notes with followers. Through the intentional, professionally-focused use of Twitter, accountants can educate clients, deliver resources to clients (through links), alert clients to important deadlines…and more. In fact, through the strategic use of Twitter, accountants can persistently reinforce the value they bring their clients, highlight the unique expertise offered by their firm, provide high levels of value for their followers, and…ultimately…grow their practices.
During this session you will learn:
- Best practices for Building Your Twitter Profile
- Strategic Use of Micro Messaging to Tell Your Firm's "Story"
- How to Build, Develop, and Best Interact with Your Twitter Audience
- Proven strategies for driving clicks (i.e. conversations) to increase Website Traffic
3:30 PM LinkedIn - Taking Connections To Clients, Steve Loates
LinkedIn is the largest networking platform for professionals in the world. How well you portray yourself on LinkedIn is quickly becoming a credibility statement about you. You must know how to set up and optimize your profile for maximum results. Steve Loates, who has a small business and bookkeeping/accounting background himself, has customized this presentation to benefit those working in the accounting industry. "Search for your name on Google - more often than not your LinkedIn profile is the first or second result." In this session, Steve will cover beginner to intermediate topics.
Learning Objectives:
- Setup and Optimize Your Profile
- Increased Comfort Level With How To Use LinkedIn As A Marketing Tool How To develop a process to move your connections on LinkedIn into leads, opportunities, strategic alliances and clients.
Tuesday, November 3
10:45 AM Boost Online Leads with an Irresistible, High-Ranking Accounting Website, Sandi Smith Levya
Learn a simple yet extremely profitable 5-step formula for improving your web site to get more business, close leads faster, and attract a higher quality client. In addition, learn easy-to-implement organic SEO tips to boost your rankings.
Learning Objectives:
- Find out the most important recent changes and trends in web design and what actions you need to take.
- Discover how your online presence can help you market less and keep your prospect pipeline full.
- Discover how to select the best keywords for your site
- Learn dozens of simple, clerical, tactical tips you can use before you blow big money on Google AdWords or Facebook Ads
1:45 PM It’s Not Business, It's Personal: Leveraging Personal Social Platforms in Your Firm, Sandy Smith Levya
Our role with our clients is bigger than business-to-business accounting and advisory services. Our clients can, and should, benefit from the services we provide at a personal level. In other words, we should relate to our clients primarily as individuals and secondarily as small business owners. Personal social platforms like Facebook, Tumbler, Instagram and Periscope provide instant portals to our clients' personal lives, allowing us to identify and proactively respond to the significant events in their lives. The inverse is also true. These social sites allow us to be professionally personal. We can leverage personal social sites as a platform through which we can selectively and strategically share those parts of our personal lives that will inspire our clients toward corporate success.
This session covers:
- Best Practices for Building Your Facebook, Instagram, Tumbler and Periscope Profiles
- The Pros and Cons of Using Facebook Ads
- Utilities and Add-Ons that Maximize the Use of Personal Social within Your Firm
- Key Metrics to Determine the Success of Your Social Media Campaigns
Wednesday, November 4
Marketing QBO Services and Using Integrated Apps: A Panel Conversation (Panel Members Hector Garcia, Cathy Iconis, Bryce Forney)
Join our expert panel as they share their most effective marketing strategies for QuickBooks Online services and using integrated applications.
You will leave this session with:
- Real-life examples of how your peers are expanding their QuickBooks Online practices
- Creative marketing ideas to help you plan your own marketing strategies
Online Videos: A 24/7 Online Lead Generation Engine, Seth David
This session focuses on the power of YouTube as a tool for strengthening your brand and growing your practice. Your instructor will focus on the types of videos that draw viewership by small to medium sized businesses, including both technical videos (e.g. "how-to" videos about QuickBooks and QuickBooks-integrated solutions) and business coaching videos (e.g. basic management principles, and financial analysis fundamentals). The session also takes a brief look at Camtasia, a powerful but intuitive video editing solution that is perfectly suited for recording and uploading training videos.
During this session you will:
- Build your community and create your world – discover your voice and connect with people.
- Define your strategy for how to target the ideal viewing audience
- Maximize your online presence by creating engaging and interactive content
- Learn powerful analytics to measure and perfect your online video strategy
- Receive an intro to Camtasia video editing software
The dates, times, speakers and even sessions may be changed or altered, but the information above is current as of October 1.