Andrew Rose
Director of Marketing and Business Development
Naden/Lean, LLC

When you hire Golden Practices to advise your firm about blogs or other entry in the social media space, you get:

• more than fifteen years of professional firm marketing expertise, especially on the web;
• the recognized catalyst of CPA blogs to date; and
• a teacher who makes the important distinction between mainstream social media use and the unique needs of professional firms who enter the social media space.

Michelle Golden’s experience and perspective equips her to relate well to professionals and their marketing teams as she teaches the ins, outs, and best practices of websites and social media tools in practical, useful terms.

She is presently developing a complete Social Media Toolkit commissioned by the AICPA PCPS as a member resource. It is targeted for release in January, 2010.

Social media consultation and training

Michelle is a recognized leader in social media use and strategy offering an unmatched depth of knowledge on how CPAs, lawyers and wealth advisors can most effectively and professionally leverage on-line tools in their business development for both personal and firm branding.

When she teaches firms about social media, Michelle discusses specific tools (like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc) but far more importantly, she discusses purpose and strategy behind these tools. These tools have shelf-lives. They are not strategies in and of themselves.

What she teaches goes beyond “How to use the tool” to include:

•    What goals can you achieve with today’s available tools?
•    How does that compare with other ways you can achieve these goals?
•    How can new media and traditional marketing approaches be integrated to get the maximum result?

Firms also rely on Michelle for advice on social media and electronic communications policy development tailored to the firm’s unique culture.

Blogs

Michelle knows blogs. She is the leading catalyst behind blogging in the accounting profession.

Of the first 20 CPA blogs, she built and/or trained the CPAs for 12. Of the current 113 CPA blogs, she has built or directly influenced at least 1/3 of them. And in 2007, she won AAM’s Marketing Achievement Award for niche-development results generated in part through the very first multi-author blog to exist in a CPA firm.

From a one-hour “how to get started” teleconference to private, in-house half- or full-day training sessions, she is a must-consult resource for professionals even slightly considering blogging.

Some firms prefer to have Michelle work closely with their own programmers to guide blog development and to coach their professionals through their first couple months of blogging.

On-line marketing purpose

One way or another, to succeed with on-line marketing, you’ve got to demonstrate your expertise—exhibit evidence of your credibility. The same-old, shallow descriptions of services, industries, and college education don’t cut it. Instead, you can compel people to hire you in exciting, new ways.

You can do this with your blog, and through other social media tools.

Benefit from our intimate knowledge of professional firms and appreciation for desired professionalism as firms cautiously or eagerly enter the social media space.

Call today!

Where do you begin? What is best for your firm? How do you engage? How do you cost-effectively manage the frequent updates required today?

As your firm prepares to embark on your next website, Michelle Golden is the perfect resource to explore ideas with, and seek guidance from, as you venture down the road of clarifying goals and strategies for your new site.

Firms hire Michelle to ask the right questions, advise strategically, and provide the tangible outcomes of that work (below) so you can have RFP in hand to approach the web developers of your choice:

• Site brief
• Design brief
• Complete sitemap
• Content strategy and assets defined
• Fully-formed RFP ready to send

The work Michelle does with your firm in advance more than pays for itself in the clarity of scope and direction you’ll have moving forward.

You’ll have made your decisions on the front-end.

Equipped with solid direction from the start, your developer bids the job accurately, and completes your site in less time with less likelihood of cost overrun, and with much less headache for your firm.

Today’s websites – more than an on-line business card

A few years ago, a pretty, web-based brochure was enough to impress a prospective client or employee. Design no longer trumps content! Most firms simply fail to offer good content or convey themselves with distinction.

We help you identify distinctions that your readers will feel are important.

If you study your competitors’ sites, trust that yours should be UNLIKE theirs in a way that is far better. And we aren’t talking about design, colors, or logo. If you want to land that client and impress that highly motivated college student, your business must believably express how and why you are unique.

To succeed with on-line marketing these days, you have to demonstrate expertise with evidence of your credibility.

The same-old, shallow descriptions of services, industries, and college education don’t cut it. Instead, you can compel people to hire you in exciting, new ways.

You can do this with your corporate website, a blog, and through other social media tools.

What do our strategies achieve within the firm?

With scores of firm sites under our belt, we have the planning approach down pat. We guide you to make key decisions on the front-end. And to assure success is perceived at the end, we facilitate owner buy-in (get the nay-sayers involved early!) before development begins.

Not only does this prevent costly surprises and delays that come with unplanned “new ideas” (i.e. scope changes!) but it permits you to end up with the most cohesive, well-planned site that you possibly can have.

A site you can be proud of.

Benefit from our expertise in professional service firm websites.

For a select few, we do serve as a developer, designer and project manager for new blogs or websites. Also see our portfolio.

She is an IAF Certified Professional Facilitator, a credential earned through the International Association of Facilitators. She is active in the association and has served on the global board of directors, as the IAF’s United States Regional Representative, and oversaw three IAF North American conferences.

Experience breakthroughs in communicating

Michelle’s appreciation for the nuances of partnerships brings additional value and productivity to every session.

Understanding the dynamics in firm management and operations, she diplomatically yet effectively challenges owners/stakeholders to assure that ideas, plans and decisions are realistic for the highest likelihood of execution.

Professional facilitation

Whether the meeting or retreat is going to be just an hour, held over consecutive days, or held as a series of sessions over several months, Michelle works closely with the meeting sponsor to understand the firm’s objectives and unique background.

She plans and guides firms through virtually all types of processes:

• Strategic & long range planning
• Marketing plans & budgets
• Practice group structuring
• Business development plans
• Process design
• Client advisory boards
• Any decision making

Michelle has many years of practical experience facilitating meetings of all types with top leaders of professional service organizations, and project teams. She has over 200 hours of formal training in facilitation including programs led by the most prestigious facilitation training organizations in North America.

Contact Michelle to facilitate your next successful meeting or conference session.

Are we doing the things that make the most sense? Are we achieving the best results we can? Do we clearly understand the constraints holding us back and how to overcome them?

Direction

Golden Practices provides high-level strategic marketing direction for firms who do not have a CMO-level person in-house. This can be a one-time event, annual, semi-annual, or quarterly.

•    Strategic marketing clarity and a fresh operational perspective
•    Analysis of the firm’s strengths, and unique constraints
•    Recommendations about how to overcome them

Receive specific recommendations for marketing initiatives likeliest to succeed, based on your firm’s current structure, position and available budget.

Perspective

We help with strategic and marketing plan development, too.

Empowering partners and team members, we illustrate the many ways operations and marketing are intertwined. The new perspective creates stronger appreciation for marketing and encourages new, better business development-related habits among all levels in the firm.

Results are positive organizational changes as well as improved marketing implementation and business growth outcomes.

When you and your partners have an important decision to make or issue to address, Michelle Golden understands the dynamics involved in firm management and operations and serves as a thought-provoking advisor on a variety of operational matters.

And when you just need a sounding board, someone neutral to bounce ideas off of or vent to, she lends a valuable ear with a knack for asking questions that help business leaders find the answers within themselves.

Improving interactions in and outside of the firm

Michelle is a great resource when your firm wants to improve communication, transparency, and management skills.

With facilitative approaches, and important context setting, she conducts and delivers results of customized 360° evaluations, DiSC Behavioral Profiles, and other insightful, self-exploration tools.

Learnings are applied for personal improvement in a number of ways including leadership, management, general communication, and sales/marketing techniques.

Strategic planning

Strategic planning is vital to a firm’s ability to focus a group of individually-minded owners toward a single destination. We lead retreats or complete the planning as a series of meetings over a period of time.

We participate in strategic planning of all size firms (from two partners, to Top 100 firms) either on the “same side of the table” as the stakeholders, as an informed bystander and advisor, or as the neutral facilitator.

Informal consultation

It’s never a bad time to pick up the phone and give Michelle a call. There is no “meter.” After an introductory discussion, agree on your fixed consultation price for continued discussions.

Hot Topics

• Social Media & Building an Effective On-line Presence
  • Build Your Reputation & Practice Through Social Media
  • Policies & Practices
  • Blogging for Professionals
  • Leveraging (Others’) Blogs & RSS feeds

• Practice Management
  • Motivating People to Stay: Retaining the Knowledge Worker
  • Customer (de)Selection & Specializing
  • Evaluating Your Clients, Why & How
  • Creating the Value Conversation for Better Pricing

• Planning/Implementation
  • Individual Marketing Plans (theory /process only, or private hands-on plan development sessions)
  • Proposal Systems & Processes

• Boost Your Business Development Through Research

• Up-Selling Strategies

• For Professional Firm Marketers
  • Marketer’s Bootcamp: the Effective Marketer
  • Individual Marketing Plan Programs in Your Firm
  • Defining & Building Great Websites, On-Time, On-Budget

Past Audiences

• AICPA
• Advanced Marketing Professionals
• Association for Accounting Marketing
• Association for CPA Financial Planners (ACPAFP)
• Baker Tilly International
• BDO, High Tide Conference
• California (Society) CPA Education Foundation
“I don’t normally do this, but I thought your session was so good and so well-run that I wanted to offer myself as a reference if you ever need one. I haven’t seen the written evaluations yet, but the anecdotal evidence was that it was just what the doctor ordered. I can’t thank you enough for sending our managing partners out with a bang.”
—Jay Hauck, Executive Director, DFK International
• DFK USA
• International Association of Business Communicators (IABC)
• IGAF Worldwide
• Legal Marketing Association (LMA)
• Management Summit
• Marketing Directors’ Support Group
• Minnesota Society of CPAs
• Missouri Society of CPAs
• PKF North American Network
• International Association of Facilitators (IAF)
• SAGE Leadership Academy Alumni
• TAGLaw
• The International Accounting Group (TIAG)

Contact Michelle (info below or by email) to discuss an informative and energetic presentation at your next event.

When the site or blog’s strategy, timing, and the firm’s enthusiasm for the project are just right, we are pleased to provide a development quote.

We provide these services through the company’s long-trusted subcontractors who are skilled and inspired designers, developers, and professional writers.

After completing the website or blog strategy consultation phase, we handle the entire development serving as art-director and project-manager. Having built scores of sites, even though every site is unique, we have the process down to a science.

This takes a tremendous load off the firm—both partners and marketing departments breathe easier knowing all the details are tended to and the project is sure to stay on time, and on budget.

Sometimes the website development project includes content creation.

If you’ve hired writers in the past who are unfamiliar with accounting or law, you know how frustrating it can be to teach them what you do—some firms feel they might as well do the work themselves! We know what you do and how to articulate it so that your readers will find what they need to know about you to compel them to call.

Benefit from our expertise in professional service firm websites and blogs.

See our portfolio. Call us.