Art of Accounting: Getting started with writing

Writing something that people would want to read is essential to establishing yourself as an expert, publicizing your practice, sharing what you know and your experience, and learning more about your topic. Further, by letting your clients and contacts know about it, your reputation will start to be established and you will have enhanced credibility.

Topic to write about

If you are at the beginning of your career, it really doesn’t matter what you write about as long as you get published. However, if you are more experienced and want to use the article as a marketing tool to further establish your expertise, the choice of topic is very important. The topic should be geared to the area of expertise in which you want to present yourself. Try to stay focused. Anything that diffuses your reputation or expertise in an area is a negative when it comes to getting new business or firming up your ability. When you cover too wide of an area professing to be an “expert,” the image of “knowing everything” is counterproductive to establishing an image as a specialist.

For example, if you or your firm specializes in an industry, write about the industry — either a tax or accounting issue, an industry development or a survey that you conducted. This will set you apart as “the expert” for that industry. If you specialize in a technical area or skill such as forensic investigations or succession planning, write about that.

How to get started

When you start, you need to be clear about what you are trying to accomplish by what you are writing. A suggestion is to pick three topics and an intended audience for the article. Then list the purpose of the article and benefits to the readers. Follow this with an outline of what you intend to cover in the article. Have at least five bullet points of what you will cover or points you want to make. Also indicate an estimated length.

Do not be overly concerned about writing the beginning or end — you can write them when the article is pretty much completed. Write the body of the article, which will be at least 80 percent of the article and will contain your ideas and technical information. Write this as quickly as you can and do not worry much about the grammar, proofing or editing. Once your ideas are down, you can hire people to do this or the editor will arrange for this. But your ideas and thoughts must be clear and accurate. Your main focus should be getting your ideas down. After that you can add the beginning and end.

In many cases the beginning will include the purpose of the article and why it is important, and the end will summarize and affirm what you wrote in the beginning. Some people like to start by writing the beginning, believing it crystalizes their purpose. That might be so, but many articles change in focus as the material is written and an early beginning might be used as an anchor that would drive out new thoughts.

What to write

Article: This would be published in a professional or industry journal and would be focused on a more serious audience, or in a consumer or organization publication where the purpose would be to provide general knowledge. The size would be determined by the types of articles your targeted publication usually runs; however, most publications have different sizes depending on the type of article. The article could be 1,000 or 3,000 words, or a 400-word “update” or a checklist. Do not write a 2,000-word article if that publication does not publish articles greater than 900 words in length, and if the typical article is 2,000 words, don’t write a 600-word article.

Turning a speech or webinar into an article: Writing a speech or webinar is the same process as for articles. If you have already presented a speech, consider turning that into an article. Note that when you prepare a speech, you are really writing an article (or with the bullet points as an outline), but presenting it to a live audience.

Client meetings: If you consult with a client on an unusual matter, you could use your notes to prepare an article, making sure you do not include any identifying information about the client.

Post a reply to a blog: When you have new information to add to a blog that someone else posted, post your remarks as a comment. This would “introduce” you to that blog’s readership.

Post a blog: Post a blog on a public or open site. Pick a topic you are expert in or feel strongly about, target a blog site where it can be posted, and write it. Blogs are usually short, and the more effective ones cover single issues. If you have more to say, then write a series of single-issue blogs. Many accounting societies and industry associations have blog sites and Open Forums that make it easy to start and offer reasonable exposure.

If you want to start your own blog site, we suggest you should develop an inventory of about five blogs, and a list of about five more you could write about. It helps if you like writing; already have a portfolio of published articles; or have an outsized ego with strong opinions about topics people would be interested in reading about. You should also determine the frequency and timing of when you will be posting and a way to get the word out about what you will be doing. Asking clients to sign up is a good way to start. A hint on how to get a blog started is to watch the movieJulie and Julia.

Social media involvement: This includes using Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and possibly Instagram and Snapchat. You can post original articles, blogs or short teasers with a link to the full article on these sites. You can also ask followers to share your posts with their followers, but by doing this, you will “owe” it to them to share their posts. This can become a big undertaking, so we suggest getting started on the sharing slowly.

Firm publicity: Write three sample press releases of about 300 words each about your firm and what you do. There are some public relations services where you can upload them that will distribute it at nominal fees. You can also write a short press release describing any speech you presented with a link for the readers to download the handout. Send the press release to local or professional publications.

Getting published

Local newspapers: Write three articles and then call the editor telling him or her that you have a general tax (or business or entrepreneurship or nonprofit organization) article that you believe will appeal to their readers and would like to send it for their consideration. Mention all three topics (and nothing else about the article) and hope that one piques their interest. Give a brief statement of your credentials, e.g., “I am a CPA practicing in town for nine years.” Tell them that you are only offering this article to their publication. When they say yes, email them all three. Note that all publications now have online editions, so it is likely that what is accepted will appear online earlier than in the print edition. If you know someone who is acquainted with an editor, ask if they could call or send an email and introduce you. If your firm has a marketing person, ask them if they could either make an introduction, or place the article.

General consumer, business and industry magazines: Repeat the process for local newspapers, but in your credentials state that you specialize in small business, home-based businesses, manufacturers, contractors, realtors, not-for-profit organizations or whatever industry or market they appeal to.

Professional journals, including society publications: Follow the same steps as above. These would be more scholarly and longer articles. Do not write the article until you get an OK on your suggested topic and an approximate word length and deadline date. With this and the other publications, make sure you do your homework as to the audience, topic and approximate article size.

Society committees: It is important to join state society committees and then volunteer to write articles for committee members and the general membership. Also, belonging to a specialized committee can be included in your credentials, establishing your credibility. Further, while on the committee, you can volunteer to speak at a conference, lunch and learn, webinar, or breakfast or evening technical session, either virtually or in person when that starts up again, and then make that into an article.

Internal office memos: It might be that you are not able to get published anywhere or quickly enough. In that case prepare your article as an internal office memo for your staff. Make up a logo for these memos. Once it’s written, you have an “article” you can send to an editor. Another way you can use what you wrote is to call a reporter to tell them you have an idea for them and send them the internal memo. You can also send it to a client or prospective client to provide information, and this would indicate your expertise in that area.

Firm newsletters: Use the info above for internal office memos and do a newsletter. However, for newsletters you might also use purchased content. That’s OK, but do not offer that information to editors. Newsletters should be written or posted on a regular schedule, i.e., monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly. Many firms email weekly newsletters (that usually have purchased content). You can make it more interesting if you include personal information about your firm or staff. Newsletters are excellent ways to make clients aware of your and your firm’s technical and industry expertise.

Getting quoted: This involves calling a reporter and providing them with a timely topic as an idea for an article and suggesting they use you as a source. Try to pick a hot topic that might have widespread interest. Examples are new tax laws or a tax case that was just settled, especially if there was an unusual litigant. In the accounting area, perhaps it’s information about a change in financial statement preparation rules for family-owned businesses. For an industry, perhaps it’s a tightening of bonding requirements for construction contractors. Try to be first in a breaking story. Write down three or four bullet points you could read off when you speak with the reporter. If they are interested, they will suggest a time they will call you. Make sure you are prepared to speak with them with information for the article. Regardless of the outcome, ask them to consider you as a future source for taxes or whatever topic you called them about. Then email them your contact info. If you email them an article, do not send any attachments. Copy and paste what you want to send them into the body of the email. Many people are reluctant to open attachments from people they do not know, or a company’s firewall can block emails with attachments until they are authorized by the person addressed, which delays receipt of your email.

Leveraging what you did

Once you have been published, you need to get mileage out of what you’ve accomplished. Get reprints of the article or printed copies of the publication. If you get the publication, fold it open to the page with your article or put a sticky note on that page. Postal mail a copy with a personal note to your firm’s mailing list. Handwrite a note on memo paper something like the following: “I would like to share with you a copy of my latest article. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to call me.” Then sign it with your first name.

If your article was posted online, email links and ask the recipients to repost or share it on their social media accounts. Many people now attach PDFs of their article with a brief message (very brief) to emails. It is a quick way of distributing what they wrote. This can be very effective if the recipient has a current interest in that topic. The postal mail method takes more effort, but can keep what you sent “current” for a longer period since many people do not discard such information so quickly.

You can do it. Follow these steps and get started. If you need any assistance, do not hesitate to contact either of the authors.