A Lucky Break and a Bold Move: What You Can Learn from a Career Accounting Marketer

To recognize AAM’s 35^th anniversary, this is the first in a series of articles from members sharing their career path and what that means for marketers of today.

I landed in accounting marketing through luck and timing. After getting laid off from the office furniture industry and realizing my next job wasn’t the right fit, I saw a newspaper ad for a marketing manager at Crowe Chizek. I figured if they were willing to take a chance on me, I’d give it a shot. It turned out to be the best decision of my life.

Here’s a look at my journey, along with the lessons I learned along the way that are just as applicable to you today.

From a Team of One to a Seat at the Table

I started at Crowe in 1990 as a solo marketer. I created brochures, planned events, and worked with Lisa Gamze, our lone BD pro, to generate leads.

A year in, I convinced management to let me launch a quarterly newsletter to contribute to growth. Tracking conversions gave me the data I needed to convince leadership to go monthly, but I’d need help managing it. They agreed, and finally, I was expanding my team.

Lesson: Data wins budget. Show impact, and you’ll earn the resources.

Finding Community and Mentorship

Lisa was involved in the development of the Association of Accounting Marketing Executives, or AAME (now AAM), and encouraged me to join. I did in 1991, and suddenly, I had a group of friends facing the same challenges and a real sense of community.

That’s also where I met Bruce Marcus, author of Competing for Clients. He became a mentor and sounding board. His guidance stuck with me over the years.

Lesson: Your network is your safety net. AAM gives you people to learn from and lean on.

Innovation Through Collaboration

I quickly realized I loved marketing for accountants. I learned how to work with accountants and help partners grow the firm. One of the best pieces of advice I received was from a managing partner who kept shooting down an idea I believed in. When he finally approved it, he told me:

“As accountants, we are trained to find faults and errors. If you really believe in something, don’t take our criticism as a killer. Keep refining the project and convince us of the benefits.”

That advice has served me well through my career.

Later, I led an initiative at Crow to grow our auto dealership niche. To serve clients outside our region, I knew we needed to find a way to service them efficiently without expanding. So, I built Auto Team America, an alliance of firms with similar clients but no competition.

In putting it together, I teamed up with an AAM contact, Tracy Crevar Warren, who was the chief marketing and BD officer at Dixon Hughes Goodman at the time. Our friendship endures to this day. She resides in Switzerland, and my wife and I have been lucky enough to meet up with her and her husband during our travels, where we spend plenty of time reminiscing.

Lesson: Innovation isn’t always tech. It’s rethinking how, and with whom, you serve clients.

Taking the Leap to the Association World

After five years at Crowe, I joined Associated Regional Accounting Firms (ARAF) as marketing director. I heard about the role and was lucky to meet up with the executive director at an annual AAM summit.

In this role, I consulted with member firms across the U.S. and Europe. No matter the firm size, the questions were the same: How do we stand out? How do we get partners involved? How do we build a pipeline? I’d work with marketers to refine efforts and help firms without marketers develop marketing efforts and hire marketing staff when they were ready. Helping firms in this way broadened my experience.

I used the Auto Team America model to form niche-focused groups that gave small firms a national reach. I also led the rebranding of ARAF to Polaris International, aligning the name with our growing global presence and rolling it out to position the association internationally.

Lesson: You’re not alone. Most firms wrestle with the same core issues, and collaborating helps everyone grow.

A Vendor-Side View

In 1999, I joined Peachtree Software to promote their tools to CPA firms. I focused on the AAM community as well as the AICPA. After Sage acquired them, I focused on converting users to Sage’s platform. This sales role taught me how to manage a pipeline and close deals. These are skills I hadn’t fully developed on the firm side.

 Lesson: Walk a mile in sales’ shoes. It builds empathy and sharpens your strategy.

A Strategic Return to Firm Life

In 2001, I returned to a firm, joining Habif, Arogeti & Wynne (now Aprio) in Atlanta as marketing director. I had two direct reports and an objective to get organized around firm growth. To develop a regular flow of communications to clients and prospects, we rolled out BizActions. I met this email newsletter company at AAM and used it to reach across all niches, using click data to build prospect lists.

Once again, I was able to pull upon my experience building a dealership practice to help with the firm’s niche practices. I coached partners on networking and selling, and coupled with outbound communication, we were able to grow our prospect lists. That’s when pipeline meetings became routine. I also revamped a very unsophisticated website to mirror our industry focus, with emphasis on the pain points we could solve. Together, these efforts drove serious growth.

 Lesson: Coordination across platforms like email, events, and web pays off. And a strong niche strategy makes it even more powerful.

Being Resilient

During the aughts, while at HA&W, I got more involved with AAM, building strong relationships with fellow members, working on committees, and eventually serving on the board. It was incredibly rewarding.

I’ll never forget being on a prospect call the morning of 9/11. We walked into the lobby to see the news on TV showing the two planes that had hit the World Trade Center. We adapted to what was most important to everyone in that moment. No one was thinking about business that day.

Things were going well at HA&W when, in 2010, the managing partner who brought me in decided to step down. The new managing partner and I didn’t see eye-to-eye on marketing. Despite efforts to align, I left in 2011 to adapt again.

Lesson: Sometimes, despite results, things shift. When they do, trust your instinct, track record, and your network.

New Role, Familiar Network

Job options were slim in Atlanta in the accounting marketing field then, but my contact at BizActions came through for me. Having seen what I did at HA&W, he wanted me to help the firms they worked with get more from the newsletter. I was offered a remote role as a national account manager, and my family could stay put.

I managed the company’s top 50 clients, holding regular check-ins and sharing strategies to improve performance and identify leads. The company was a major sponsor at AAM Summits, allowing me to attend the conference to deepen those relationships and form new ones. This would help me personally very soon.

Lesson: Strong relationships will carry you forward. People remember the value you bring.

Wrapping Up at Brady Ware

After Thomson Reuters acquired BizActions, my job shifted to renewals instead of strategy. That’s when I saw on the AAM Job Bank that Brady Ware, a former client I worked with, was hiring a marketing director. I reached out to my contact, who advocated for me, and the firm brought me in as director of marketing in 2017.

It felt like coming full circle. Their auto dealership group reminded me of my Crowe days. We built niche plans, brought in Mitch Reno to lead a CX workshop, and launched a valuation practice led by one of my former partners. We ended up launching a podcast that won an AAM award in 2020.

I told Brady Ware upfront I’d retire in 2021 at age 70. I worked with my managing partner to put together a plan and serve on the search committee. We found my replacement early, and I helped with a smooth transition. I retired in May of 2021 after a little over 30 years in accounting marketing.

Lesson: You don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Build on what worked and who you know.

Giving Back to the Profession

Today, I stay active in AAM, mentoring two members and leading the Beginners Circle – General. AAM has given me so much over the years, and I’m glad I can give back.

Whenever you volunteer for something you believe in, you want to leave it better than you found it. Thanks to the many people who have given their time and resources to this association over the past 35 years, I’m happy to say it’s better than when I first joined. The best part is that it’s going to continue to evolve as current volunteers make it stronger for the next generation of accounting marketers. Pay it forward.