CPA_Practice_Advisor_November_2020 - 24

MARKETING YOUR FIRM

11 Memorable Ways to Connect With
Clients During the Holidays
By Becky Livingston

AS THE HOLIDAY season approaches, do you have a plan to thank clients for
working with you this year? If not, here are 11 memorable ways to connect
with them throughout the season. Pick one or two. Add them to your action
list. Then get ready for some end-of-the-year holiday cheer.
CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTION
Benefiting your community by offering a
charitable contribution is a win-win for
you and them. Send an email to your clients outlining your plan to donate a specific
amount (it can be as small as $5) in their name
to one of a small number of charities. Ask them
to check off one charity on the list and you'll
send a donation to the charity in their name.
Also, reach out to the charity to let them know
of your plans and to confirm they can send
a personal letter to each client donor that a
donation was made in their name.

FOOD / COAT / TOY DRIVE
Consider reaching out to clients asking them to participate in your food/
coat/toy drive to help benefit those in your
community. Before creating this event,
contact local charities to understand what
their donation policy is during the pandemic.
Kick it off with a contribution from your team.
Then reach out to clients, vendors, partners, and
family members to make the drive a success.

HOLIDAY SURVIVAL KIT
This can be sent via mail or electronically. Create a unique combination of items that will help your
clients plan for year-end, including tax tips,
holiday budgeting, estate planning reminders,
next year's calendar, and more. Add a gift tag
with the staff's photo or a short video if done
electronically. Check out Pinterest for creative
and crafty holiday ideas. This is a fun way
to get staff and kids involved too.

SOCIAL MEDIA
Throughout the season, post-holidaythemed social media content. Consider

NOVEMBER 2020 ■

highlighting service-related quotes clients have
shared with you during the year. Put them in a
creative image format or video (Canva.com is
great for this!). Include a story about the business that has a powerful message. Also, think
about sprinkling in some recipes for business
success, such as Holiday Recipes for Business
Success - Let us help you whip up some plans
for your business, or 20-Minute Business Tips
You'll Be Glad You Tried.

SPREAD CHEER
You still have time to send a holiday
greeting card. But, take the glossy
card one step further by including an
extra note for the client, like three tips
they should consider in Q1 of the new
year. On the note, include the firm's phone
number and how you can help them with those
tips. Keep it short and print it on colored paper
to help it stand out.

8- OR 12-DAY GIVEAWAY
Create an email campaign for clients. Each
day the client has an opportunity to
" win " something from the firm. The
prizes could range from a business
highlight in your next newsletter, to a
banner ad on your site, a free webinar
for their company, swag bag of goodies, or
even a percentage off a service.

SHARE THE WEALTH
The holidays bring out recipes that have longstanding traditions. Ask staff and clients
to send in their best recipes to create a
recipe book for sale in the spring. Then
donate the book sale proceeds to a food
pantry in your area.

www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

USER-GENERATED CONTENT
On the firm's social media accounts,
ask staff and clients to share their
favorite holiday memory. Including
photos and / or video to help make
the posts memorable. Use a firmspecific hashtag, such as #[firmname]
Holiday or #[firm]HolidayMemories to help
track engagement.

WOW, THAT'S UGLY
This is a great virtual event. Host an
ugly, holiday sweater photo contest
in conjunction with some local businesses. Photos would be uploaded to
social media and the whole family can
play along. Prizes would be from local
businesses. The promotion would happen on
the collective business' social media profiles.
It's a win-win for all companies involved and
helps to cross populate contacts.

COMMUNICATE
Set aside time to make personal phone
calls to check in with clients. Get a
bead on how things are going and
whether or not there's something you
can help them with. It's also a great
way to schedule January and February
appointments prior to tax season.

THE GIFT THAT KEEPS ON GIVING
Create an email campaign that spans
the month and shares business tips
with clients that they can use all year
long, such as best [industry] podcasts, top [industry] business books,
QuickBooks tips for the layman, and
more. Then, put those tips in your website
and post social media content pointing back
to that page throughout the year.
Now's the time to plan and execute your
holiday efforts. What will your firm be doing?
If you use one of these ideas, we'd love to hear
how it went. ■

http://www.Canva.com http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

CPA_Practice_Advisor_November_2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of CPA_Practice_Advisor_November_2020