The end of traditional marketing as we know it is here. Internet marketing will ultimately dominate the marketing world, with all other forms of marketing becoming subordinate to it. And CPA firms focused on traditional marketing are only doing the equivalent of straightening deck chairs on the Titanic.

Numerous advantages make e-marketing attractive to CPA firms, including cost savings, time savings, better response rates, and better communications. The discussion that follows is based on my firm’s experience. While your firm’s results may not be as dramatic, I encourage you to consider the potential benefits of Internet marketing.

Cost savings

There are significant cost savings when firms use e-marketing versus traditional (print) marketing. Consider the estimated printing and mailing costs for 1,000 seminar invitations, direct mail pieces, newsletters, or brochures, as compared with electronic preparation and delivery of materials.

Time savings

The following chart outlines the time savings of the electronic process over the print marketing process. The savings in time and the ability to share information immediately give the electronic process a considerable advantage over the print process.

Better response rates

The Internet is a direct, targeted marketing paradise. Typically a traditional direct mail piece yields a 1% to 2% response rate from nonclients, and 5% to 7% response rate from clients. On the other hand, sending electronic versions of direct mail pieces yields response rates of up to 20%.

Better communications with your clients and constituents

Believe it or not, many of your clients would prefer to receive marketing communications from your firm via e-mail, yet many firms are still sending materials “snail mail.” The standard for e-marketing is a concept called “permission” marketing, which encourages companies to ask people’s permission to send them information via e-mail. Firms, and their clients, will benefit from asking clients what medium in which they prefer to receive firm communications—e-mail or traditional, print mail.

Another way e-marketing helps improve communications is it can contain hyperlinks to your firm’s Web site that clients can click on to access additional related information. For example, an electronic direct mail piece sent to promote e-commerce services to clients would include hyperlinks to other related e-commerce information located on the firm’s Web site, such as the quarterly technology newsletter, e-commerce brochures and information, and industry-specific information on services.

Wipfli’s e-marketing initiative

In January 2001, Wipfli launched its e-marketing initiative and it has produced measurable success for the firm. Highlights from this initiative are—

1. “E-fficient” campaign grows more than 2100 e-subscribers. Wipfli developed a creative campaign designed to introduce the option for clients and constituents to receive firm information via e-mail and obtain their “permission.” The campaign is called “E-fficient” and developed more than 2,100 e-subscribers so far. Now firm information is sent to these e-subscribers immediately and in the medium they prefer.

2. E-newsletter program saves firm more than $13,000 annually. Wipfli’s newsletter program has 11,000 readers in total, and now more than 850 of the readers have elected to receive e-newsletters. On average, a reader reads approximately two different quarterly firm newsletters, which costs the firm approximately $2 per newsletter to produce, print, and mail.

3. Traffic to Web site has grown by 30% in 2000 due to e-marketing. Additional traffic to Wipfli’s Web site was generated by the hyperlinks imbedded within e-marketing communications. Also, all of Wipfi’s e-marketing includes direct e-mail addresses to our partners and professionals, which generates immediate leads and opportunities.

4. Response rates have grown 10% to 20%. The response rates to seminars have grown, along with the number of leads and opportunities generated from direct mail, as a result of using the Web.

Chart your firm’s course to sail into the future

Today, firms need to adopt a transitional strategy that protects their investment in traditional marketing and direct marketing methodology and media, while leveraging it to take full advantage of Internet marketing. Firms that successfully pursue migrating their traditional marketing programs to Internet marketing will reduce the costs of their marketing programs and improve the effectiveness and results of their marketing efforts.

—By Lynn Wolf, director of marketing, Wipfli Ullrich Bertelson LLP, Wausau, Wisconsin. E-mail: lwolf@wipfli.com.