5 minutes a day can transform who finds your firm

Is your firm visible?

Unfortunately, many exceptional tax professionals remain invisible, not because they lack expertise, but because they hesitate to put themselves “out there.” They may fear judgment from peers or family, or simply hope their work will speak for itself.

However, expertise without visibility means you are effectively invisible to the people who need you most. Clients cannot hire professionals they cannot see or understand.

There are a lot of interpretations about marketing, but the bottom line for tax and accounting firms is that marketing is not about cold calling or cheesy ads; it is about helping people. You must get in front of the right people at the right time, so you can solve their problems and create the impact you were trained to provide.

The good news is that it only takes 5 minutes a day to help prospects find your firm and attract higher-value clients. Here are some practical ways to do that.

1. Explain what you do

Doing great work is no longer enough to grow a practice.

Many professionals still believe that if they do excellent work, the right clients will naturally find them. But that is not how growth works anymore.

The people rising to the top of your profession are not necessarily more qualified or better than you.

They are simply the ones willing to say, “Here is what I do, and here is how I can help you.” When you don’t share your expertise with the world you allow mediocre competitors who are better at “playing the game” to attract the clients you could be serving.

Solve this issue by being more vocal about your expertise. Explain what you do, why you do it, and who you help. Remember the 30-second elevator speech you probably learned in a networking group? Now is the time to bring that out of your back pocket. And if you don’t have a 30-second elevator speech, it’s time to get one.

2. Prioritize impact and influence over income

In marketing, the order matters. Impact comes first. You do great work. You solve real problems. You help clients make better decisions, avoid costly mistakes, and move forward with more confidence. That impact builds influence. People start to trust your perspective. They see you as more than a service provider. They see you as someone with insight, leadership, and a point of view worth paying attention to.

Then income follows. Money matters, of course. You need to make a living. But long-term income is often the byproduct of becoming an influential person who consistently creates impact. Focus first on the problems you solve and the people you help. Build influence around that, and the income becomes much easier to grow.

3. Narrow your focus to a marketing “bullseye”

One of the biggest fears professionals have when getting specific about the clients they work with is that it will limit their growth.

They worry that if they narrow in on a certain type of client, they’ll miss out on opportunities. They think, “But I can work with everyone. Why would I narrow my market?”

Bottom line: Trying to market to everyone often results in marketing to no one. Try these techniques:

• Be specific about who you are trying to reach to create a clear target.
• Avoid vague audiences such as “professional service providers,” because most business owners, from lawyers to doctors to hairstylists, do not identify with catch-all terms like this.
• Identify where your ideal clients hang out, whether that is LinkedIn, TikTok, or specific industry communities. Then spend your time there.
• Use the specific terminology and language of your target audience so they immediately recognize you are talking to them. For example, if you work with law firms, talk about trust accounting and IOLTA compliance. If you work with real estate investors, talk about vacancy rates, cash flow per property, and cost segregation. When you use language tied to what they deal with every day, they don’t have to guess if you understand their world. They can tell right away.

4. Lean into authenticity and unpolished content

AI is great when used properly, but with the rise of AI-generated content, prospects are increasingly seeking an authentic human touch. While you don’t need a professional studio or high production value to be effective, raw and even real-time content often resonates the most because it shows you are a real person. Something as simple as a video or photo taken on your phone works great.

Being “unpolished” can actually be an advantage; small imperfections such as pausing or repeating a word prove there is a human on the other side of the camera.

5. Start with 5 minutes of engagement

If creating original content feels overwhelming, start with daily habits you already have. While you’re scrolling on social media, start leaving comments. The best way to get seen is to help other people feel seen, which commenting does exactly that. 

Spend 5 minutes a day leaving thoughtful comments on the posts of your ideal clients or peers. This is very easy to do on any of the social media platforms.

6. Show, don’t tell, when it comes to advisory services

The term “advisory” can be vague to many clients, so instead of leading with the word “advisory,” use your content to show the results of those services.

For example, share the journey. Explain where a client was when they started, the problems they faced, and how you helped them reach their goals. By highlighting the transformation, you “back into” the advisory conversation naturally.

7. Transform tax season into an opportunity

Tax season is the perfect time to break the “feast or famine” cycle by having intentional conversations with existing clients.

While delivering a tax return, take 5 or 10 minutes to discuss the client’s future goals. If a client has a large tax bill, explain how year-round tax planning and guidance could change that outcome for next year. Moving a client into a year-round advisory relationship often makes the tax return easier because you already have confidence in the data.

Shift your mindset

Marketing isn’t something you do when you’re not busy or when you have free time; it should be consistent and strategic. 

If you truly believe that your work helps clients make better decisions and creates a positive impact in their lives, then staying invisible is actually a disservice to them. When you view marketing as a way to help people solve their problems, it becomes a natural extension of the expertise you already provide.

Editor’s note: Want more tips from Katie Thomas? Check out this Deduct This podcast.