lewis: build growth strategy that works | capstone conversations

eisneramper’s marketing culture now leans into experimentation—but only when grounded in purpose. “people are more willing to try new things,” lewis explains, “but they want to know it’s intentional and worth their time.” her constant refrain—”start with the why”—is a cornerstone of her leadership style. it’s not about doing “cool things” for their own sake, but aligning ideas with larger goals and meaningful outcomes.

 

sponsored by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 pro membership. get more. go pro.  – see today’s special offer

when asked about the toughest challenge in accounting marketing, lewis zeroes in on differentiation—especially in a post-pe landscape where mergers and new solution offerings are blurring firm identities. “it’s harder than ever to communicate a distinct value proposition,” she says, noting the need to tailor messaging across an expanding web of audiences. today’s buyers, she adds, are “algorithm-trained,” expecting digital personalization and amazon-like precision in how they engage with services.

despite these challenges, lewis sees opportunity in the intersection of tech innovation and human connection. “we’re still in a relationship business,” she says. “marketers are uniquely positioned to translate data into customized journeys that serve both clients and team members.” whether through predictive analytics or targeted messaging, lewis believes that marketers who combine storytelling with strategic insight will drive firmwide value.

in her current role, lewis focuses heavily on sales enablement and m&a integration—two efforts deeply intertwined at a firm of eisneramper’s size. “no one person can know all our services,” she says. “it’s about building frameworks that help our team navigate client conversations confidently.” that means internal training, information sharing, and a unified message across departments—especially when new teams join through acquisitions.

10 key takeaways

1. marketing success starts with purpose. ask “what’s the why?” before taking on any new initiative. every campaign, message, and project must align with a strategic goal to ensure time and resources are well spent.
2. post-covid agility is here to stay. the fast-paced, nimble innovation that firms embraced during covid has become the new normal. while exciting, it can also be exhausting. leaders must balance experimentation with intentional planning.
3. differentiation is harder than ever. with industry consolidation and private equity reshaping the landscape, standing out in the accounting profession is increasingly difficult. kristen notes that marketers must constantly refine messaging to multiple nuanced audiences in a hyper-competitive environment.
4. the modern buyer expects personalization.today’s clients—trained by social media and e-commerce—expect a personalized, efficient experience. firms must embrace data and digital tools to anticipate needs and deliver timely, relevant solutions.
5. tech and humanity must work together. successful marketing lies at the intersection of digital innovation and human connection. marketers must use data insights to create deeper, more personalized interactions—internally and externally.
6. sales enablement and m&a integration are critical focus areas.to maintain momentum through rapid growth, kristen is focused on training teams to navigate eisneramper’s vast service offerings and equipping them with resources to speak confidently across specialties—especially in the wake of firm acquisitions.
7. specialization is the future of marketing teams.there is a noticable growing trend toward role specialization within marketing departments (e.g., crm, content, digital, social) as firms scale and pursue more sophisticated strategies.
8. emotional intelligence is a superpower.curiosity, adaptability, and emotional intelligence are essential for marketers. understanding different communication styles and meeting colleagues where they are is key to building trust and collaboration.
9. find your people to get things done.rather than trying to win over everyone, marketers should work with colleagues who are eager and aligned. supportive internal champions are critical for successful initiatives.
10. bring marketers to the strategic table–early and often. managing partners should involve marketers in firmwide planning from the start. their insights into clients, market dynamics, and storytelling can drive better outcomes in everything from recruiting to m&a.

more about kristen lewis
kristen lewis, managing director, marketing for eisneramper, was recently named the association for accounting marketing marketer of the year. at eisneramper, she leads the firm’s marketing and growth initiatives with a focus on strategic planning and execution.in her service to aam, kristen was named the aam volunteer of the year in 2009 and inducted into its hall of fame in 2021. she served on the board from 2010 to 2018, serving as president from 2016-17. she has also chaired and served on several committees, including the communications committee, the content assessment task force, the diversity, equity, and inclusion initiative, and most recently the professional development committee.

transcript
(transcripts are made available as soon as possible. they are not fully edited for grammar or spelling.)

jean: hello, this is jean caragher, president of capstone marketing. i am delighted today to be speaking with kristen lewis, managing director, marketing for eisneramper, who was recently named the association for accounting marketing marketer of the year. at eisneramper, kristen leads the firm’s marketing and growth initiatives with a focus on strategic planning and execution. congratulations, kristen, on being named marketer of the year.

kristen: oh, thank you so much. it’s so nice being here.

jean: well, you know that this is not our first capstone conversation, right? you were inducted into the association for accounting marketing hall of fame in 2021, and we had a great conversation back then. of course, that was during covid, and i do, of course, i read and listened back over to that conversation and how surprised you were and finagled, you know, to get there by your family and friends to make sure that you could get the award live.

kristen: yeah, that was quite the story.

jean: right. i mean, does that bring back happy memories for you, kristen? i hope so.

kristen: very happy memories. yeah, that was quite the production number they had to pull to get me there, but there was.

jean: well, i mean, for many reasons, and i know you may not agree, but i’m happy that you were, like, it was a live summit with actually, you know, the normal number of people there that could celebrate the marketer of the year, you know, honor for you.

kristen: yeah, it was a different year, but very special. and the first time i had gotten to see a lot of those folks who were there in a while because we had all been, you know, quarantined. so, yeah, there were a lot of emotions and they were all good ones.

jean: right. oh, good. no, that’s good. so during our 2021 capstone conversation, you mentioned the term we build the car while we’re driving it. and you guys proved to yourself that you could do hard things and do new things and you could push each other and challenge each other, you know, doing things that may be considered kind of scary. has this way of doing business continued post-covid?

kristen: yeah, yeah, i think it has. for good, in good ways and also ways that make you a little tired sometimes just because of the, i think the constant disruption and innovation that’s going on in the sector. so we proved to ourselves that we could do that and we could be nimble and change things up on the fly. and we’ve set, like, a new standard. i think all of us at our firm set a new standard during covid for what we were able to achieve. so that has continued. and a lot of that’s exciting. you know, there’s when new ideas pop off, like, why not? why don’t we, let’s try it. let’s get the resources together. and then some of that is like, okay, can we, you know, can we take a second? can we debrief? can we, you know, pivot? so that’s all been a whirlwind. and that’s only continued actually.

jean: right. so do you find that your partners or other team members are more willing to try different things based on that experience?

kristen: i have found that. i mean, i found, we found a lot of positive connection and breaking down some of the geographic barriers that had been in place during covid. so that’s been good. we really do think like a national team now. and that’s been really helpful in terms of trying to get, you know, that one-firm mentality clients are clients of the firm and we’re all in this together. and that’s really important for our culture. and so, people are willing to do new things. they do want to know what’s on the other side of it. they want to know that it’s intentional. and that’s important. i think that’s a really important part of planning anyway, and communication with initiatives, like, show me that it’s worth my time. another lesson we learned in covid, i’m careful with my time and they should be too. so that, i think that’s a big positive. people are asking important questions.

jean: right. yeah. i would agree. and you’re making a really important point there is, of why you’re taking on an initiative, you know. you’re not taking it on just to do it, but what’s the payback, you know, what’s the return you’re expecting from it?

kristen: it’s a good mindset to have. well, it’s a good mindset to have period. and i know some folks may think that’s very transactional, like, what’s in it for me, but i kind of take it from another place. my team will tell you that, well, they’ll probably tell you, they wouldn’t tell me that they’re tired of me asking, like, what’s the why. start with the why. but you know, where are we getting to? what’s that big picture? you know, unless we ask ourselves those questions, what we’re doing in service of a goal that we have, something really important that needs to get done. sometimes that answer, we don’t like that answer because it may be something cool, but you know what? it’s not where we need to be. it’s not the thing we should talk about or that we’re really great at, but without doing that… there’s so much that needs to get accomplished, cool stuff that needs to get accomplished. so we don’t want to be too scattered.

jean: right, right. so tell us what is the greatest challenge you find in marketing cpa firms?

kristen: this may relate to the car, the driving of the car and building. i think like, obviously industry disruption with, you know, consolidation, pe, you know, all of that has created some really great opportunities. i think it’s also making brand awareness and differentiation even tougher to navigate for firms. the fact that so many groups are coming together, offering new solutions, maybe solutions that feel similar is, it’s, again, it’s an opportunity, but it’s also a challenge because we really, as firms, as marketers, as communicators, we need to get our value proposition across to a ton of different audiences. and it just feels like we’re adding new audiences and nuance to those audiences all the time.

also just the way that the buyer has evolved too. so you’ve got these big changes coming together in this, you know, let’s call it a perfect storm, but we’re kind of, it’s not just about the new generation of leadership that’s coming up. and obviously they’re more focused on a digital experience, but let’s call it like an algorithm buyer. we’ve been trained by social media. we’ve been trained by the amazon experience that you’re going to know about me ahead of time. you’re going to offer me exactly what i want, when i want it quickly, as economically as possible. that’s a really high expectation for people to come into what should be a really nuanced conversation about how we’re going to work together as, you know, as advisor and advisee, as professional service provider and client.

so, you know, we’re able to be nimble to an extent and we got to continue to increase our ability to do that so that we can get our current clients, our potential clients connected to the right information quickly. all of that virtual experience that we give them needs to be also backed up by in-person experience. so there’s a huge engagement and sales team knowledge kind of issue. like, everyone’s got to be pumping out the same information and making sure it gets to the right people. yeah, that’s a challenge.

jean: right. i mean, so we talk…so your answer was a bit the same because back in 2021, you again talked about differentiation and how tough a concept that is, and how are firms, are firms really unique from each other. but when you’re talking about, you know, your positioning and communications and all, it really does need to reflect who eisneramper is, you know, versus any other firm and add to that all of the data and the technology that can be used in that personalization. it’s quite remarkable.

kristen: yeah. yeah. and if we’re able to, you know, if we’re able to properly put that information together, it’s a big win and yay. but it’s a lot of pressure to get that right, you know, in the interim. and i don’t know, i like it. i like a challenge. so it’s one of those things that could wear you down or it can inspire you. and hopefully we’re coming together and being inspired by that and really adding additional value to our firms.

jean: right. so tell us, we just talked about challenges briefly. what’s the biggest opportunity you see for accounting marketers these days?

kristen: i think it’s related just in terms of threading the needle, like, using technology, but using it in service of improving that human connection. and that’s for clients and team members. i think that obviously we’ve embraced the shift to, like, digital information and, you know, in terms of marketing and account management, it’s really important in terms of the benefits it gives us. but, you know, can we turn that into more of a customized journey for clients, potential clients, people we want to work with us and for us? if marketers can jump on that train, like, look, it’s still a relationship business at the end of the day.

so tech innovation coupled with human messaging and care is really going to set you apart. and marketers are perfectly positioned to be in the middle of that and translate it and craft that big picture. you know, we are storytellers. if we can use these information insights to kind of, like, speed up the process and help us get ahead of client needs, if we can get our firms to a predictive place for whether it’s cross-selling or serving, whether it’s, you know, who do i go after for a completely new thing, oh my word, we will be in such a great place and then, look out world.

jean: right. but so while you were saying that, the thought occurred to me, and we were talking about this a little bit on a different aim platform, how marketing and business development teams and firms are specializing roles.

kristen: yes.

jean: that for many firms, you know, the generalist marketer is more rare these days as opposed to specializing in data, or crm, or social media, or digital, or content creation. and i could go on and on. that’s a result of also firms becoming larger and having greater resources, but wanting to have that understanding of the personalization and being able to determine, well, if so and so, if we provide this service to so and so, and this is the situation, we’ve had this many other clients with the same situation, maybe we should be talking to them about z.

kristen: right. right.

jean: that’s where we want to get to. right.

kristen: oh yeah. i would love… my dream, and i don’t think this is anything radical. like, if you could, you know, you start work for the day and it’s like, well, you know what, these insights overnight, we looked at this sector and these 20 folks, we see these economic indicators and if your people haven’t talked to them about this tax credit, someone should do that now. they may be affected by this legislation. we see that they’ve been a client for x amount of years. have we shaken things up? have we reevaluated the engagement? so firms are working to get to that place, but the more that we can tie that in with the amazing insights that we can get from, you know, content marketing, journeys on the website, social media interaction, like, you throw all that stuff together and you’re going to know your clients a lot better and that’ll facilitate better human interaction. so not just like here, read this article, but approach this conversation and be a human to another human.

jean: right. and doesn’t that also help the cpas be those advisors that everybody has been talking about for decades and decades?

kristen: oh, absolutely. and they need help. and it’s not even from a skill set. we know that everyone has different skills, but they are just bombarded and overwhelmed and overworked with a lot of things that are being asked of our professional teams, especially the partner level. you know, they’ve got to do the business. they’ve got to find people. they’ve got to manage and develop people on that next gen. they’ve got to be out in the community, blah, blah, blah, you know, it goes on and on and on. and then, you know, on top of that, make time in your day to like, think about the future for client x and dah, dah, dah, you know, and they probably, they want to do that. a lot of them want to do that anyway. if we can help facilitate that in their bonkers days, boy, that would be really of value.

jean: yes, absolutely. so you have a vast network in the accounting marketing world. what do you notice as the skills or the factors that make marketers successful?

kristen: there’s a couple of big ones and i always default and maybe this is because i’m kind of a nerd. so i think if you are not curious about what you do and what the people you work with do and the larger world surrounding them, you’re going to have a tough time and you’re going to have a tough time coming up with new ideas that will really resonate with people. so just keeping abreast of what’s going on, whether it’s in our industry, the industries that our clients are in, the larger world, that’s how we can help them make better plans and actually differentiate themselves. another thing, well, there’s two big other things, resourcefulness. so the ability to think on your feet, what’s available to me, how can i connect people, where do i go for this? and then emotional intelligence.

jean: it sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?

kristen: i know, i know. but we are people handlers. and at the end of the day, we’re trying to help folks build relationships internally, externally, etc. and there’s a lot to be said for understanding how people are motivated to do certain actions, how you can better communicate with them. every person i have a relationship with there’s a different way that i communicate to those folks. and it’s an authentic way and it’s me, but it’s meeting them where they are. and that’s one of the huge things. if you have the emotional intelligence to figure out that you’ve got to do that and you can start to put that work in, you’re going to be more successful.

jean: can you give us an example of that, of a way you communicate differently with one person versus another?

kristen: i’ve got, i have colleagues who are sending me on teams to keep up the relationship kind of colleagues. i have a partner who wants me to call them old school. there are some folks who, you know, they want to have a big meeting or you’ve got to send, like, a deadline or they won’t answer you. and this may, they are really into tax, but i need them to think about something audit. so how do i swing it around to, you know, make sure that their concerns, i understand where you’re at. and here’s this other thing. you’ve got to kind of lead them down that path so that you can collaborate better together. and that leads you, that, like, really gives you just the reputation that you understand them. and you know, message heard. if you hate email, i’m not going to send you emails. and if i keep sending you emails, then that’s on me that it’s not working out.

jean: right, right. that’s a great point. especially since we have so many different ways to communicate these days. it’s not just the telephone, right?

kristen: i know this senior manager really wants to be a partner and it’s really important for them to be a part of things. so that also helps me when i put together my action plan, they want to be a leader. i want to connect her with this opportunity and guess what? she’s going to be more passionate. she’s going to work a little harder and, you know, she’ll play with marketing. and that’s what we want them to do.

jean: absolutely. we do. so before i ask you about your personal skills, i’d like to refer to the award presentation at summit. and there was a video of your ceo, charlie weinstein. and this is what he said about you. “she is both a visionary and an execution specialist. her ideas are innovative, yet always backed by practical, actionable plans.” that’s really something, right, especially a firm of your size that your ceo recognizes that. do you think that’s your best skill or would you say something else?

kristen: well, you’re going to make me emotional again. when i saw that video, i was like, charlie. you know, i think it’s related to that too. i think that a big… i talked about the big picture and, you know, marketers being in a position to, like, put that together. but i kind of feel like you should see the big picture and that’s really important. but if you can’t get other people to buy into that vision, that’s also a problem because you can’t do it alone.

so i kind of feel like the team building and culture building kind of activities and that emotional intelligence stuff, like, the longer i go in this profession, i know the fundamentals, the difference sometimes is in the execution and in the execution, there’s people. so the way that you can gather folks to be part of a team, motivate them, get them excited, praise when things go well, get their ideas flowing for how we can change in the future, i think that’s a lot of what i end up doing, or at least those things that really move the needle. and yeah, that’s practicality. i need a team to work with me if it’s going to work, you know? so yeah, he’s right.

jean: okay, so you know, so for everybody listening or watching, that was a genuine response from kristen, because in 2021, you identified your personal strength as connections and putting people and resources together. and that is exactly what you just said in a different way. right?

kristen: well, i’m [inaudible 00:19:46] consistent, i guess.

jean: right. but that tells us that that’s who you really are. it’s not something you just kind of played around with for a while to see how that might work. you know, that’s how you operate.

kristen: i think people really can tell when you’re inauthentic. and they want to work with people who, like, see them and acknowledge their points of view. and that’s, you know, that’s just kind of who i am. i hate it when people just come and bark orders at me too, you know? so let’s have a dialogue. let’s figure out where we’re trying to get to, figure out the why. and right, you can get enough people to follow you and do it, you’re going to win.

jean: right. absolutely. so tell us about what your top priority initiative is right now.

kristen: you know, right now, i’m focusing a lot on sales enablement and also on m&a integration. and they’re actually pretty closely linked because it’s a lot of making sure that our team is educated on the different ways we can help clients, what that roster of offerings is, but more importantly, how you kind of navigate that in a firm of our size. no one knows all the services, not a single person can possibly know all the services possible. and so, when you bring a new a new squad in, and you’re like, here’s a list of 100 things, good luck to you, you can’t do that. so how do we build those frameworks and the resources that they need?

so i can have that conversation with the client and feel confident that my team behind me, if i’m not a specialist in that area, my team behind me can help me figure out the best way to help this client. and so that’s a lot of training, it’s making sure that our information is on point, that we’re, you know, distributing that and it’s an internal and an external kind of message. so there’s a lot of work put up in that, put together in that. and i don’t know, that’s going to help us increase conversion all along the route. i can do great campaigns and generate leads from our website or this or that, but my team on the ground doesn’t know what’s going on that, then…

jean: right. that’s really not going to work out too well when those leads just drop off the planet, right? because…

kristen: no, and you feel bad.

jean: right, right.

kristen: it’s the worst the email in the world to get is like, i didn’t know we did that. i told them we didn’t do it. or a client called me about this amazing white paper. i didn’t know about it. you don’t want to deal with that. and so the more we can do to make sure that we’re pumping that information out there and making people feel like we got you. when i do those… i mean it when i welcome people to our department, i’m like, you got 60 new best friends, welcome. but when we bring in a new firm, i’m like, you got 4500 people on your side now, isn’t that awesome? so one firm is really important.

jean: oh my gosh. well, all those mergers could be a whole nother conversation, kristen. so we can’t go too deeply there today. but i bet you there’s a thousand stories in your brain of all of this integration and new people and everything that goes along with that. so give us some advice. let’s start with accounting marketers. what would be your best piece of advice for them?

kristen: i think finding your people internally and externally. and what i mean by that is the folks who, they’re going to support your role and they’re going to support your strategic goals. but you want to build initiatives and work with people who want to work with you. the people who are going to add value are going to be there for you who believe in the goals that you’re trying to work with. there’s i mean, you learn this lesson if you survive long enough in accounting marketing, you eventually learn the lesson that not all the partners are going to have, you know, a very robust thought leadership plan, or sales strategy, or everyone’s got their own little way to shine and to bring value to it. so if you’re trying to do an initiative and there’s, i’d rather have three people who care and want to do it and are in there than sending out, you know, a message to 50 people like let’s go. let’s do the same thing.

a big part of all that is really just communication. so, you know, do that work to understand your partners and the environment they’re in and what they’re hearing from clients and communicate directly with them because that’s where you’re…you’re lending credence to everything you’re saying once they know you know the context and you understand what they’re dealing with. that interest level, that rapport… i mean, this is emotional intelligence again. like, that’s where people start to feel seen and they want to be part of that team. so, you know, figure out who those folks are, work with them and learn from them and you guys will get somewhere together for sure.

jean: right, right. and that’s eternal advice because i started in this profession decades and decades ago and the firm, i want to say, had 24 partners and what i know now, like, way too many. and i spent my first six months trying to convince the people that did not want to work with me why they should instead of focusing on the half that really were kind of excited, you know, that they had a marketing coordinator, you know, to help them, you know, with their marketing program. so that’s decades and decades old. so you’re right. find your people. they’re the ones that are going to want to help you and implement and all those things that you just communicated for sure.

kristen: if you don’t have those people, you probably actually do. they’re just not part of it yet. so maybe it’s going to the next level. maybe your partners are set. they’re cool. what about that next gen? you know, get some of those folks up in there and you’d be surprised at how excited some some up in commerce are about getting involved in this stuff.

jean: yeah. yeah, i would agree. okay, so last question, no pressure. what would your advice be to your managing partner or managing partners in general?

kristen: i guess, like, give your marketing and growth people a seat at the table and just get us into the conversation a little earlier. and that goes for, you know, any firm-wide initiative, strategic planning, culture building, m&a, recruiting, client experience, you name it. that topic, we can add value. marketers think differently, right? and we have a creative skill set and we open up that big picture. we help you communicate that too. so with that perspective that we can share, we’re driven more by the context of the marketplace and the voice of the clients, the prospects, people who we would like to work with the firm, work for the firm, you know, and we also love to solve problems. so take advantage of us. that’s kind of a weird way to say it. but yeah, we’re here. we’re here and we can help. and you know, just try it. it’ll work.

jean: right. okay. so you said earlier, you said to yourself that you’re nothing more than consistent. that is the exact same thing you said four years ago. [crosstalk] bring them to the table, bring them there early, bring them there often. it’s still true. so managing partners, you know, those of you watching and listening, this is great advice. if you have marketers on staff and you haven’t been including them in these conversations, it’s a great time for you to start doing that.

kristen: absolutely.

jean: right. well, kristen, it’s always such a joy to talk to you. and i love your sense of humor. just you know, your persona is just always fun and happy. so i’ve been speaking with kristen lewis, managing director marketing for eisneramper, who was recently named the association for accounting marketing marketer of the year. kristen, thank you for your time today and congratulations again. it’s well deserved.

kristen: thank you so much. thanks for having me.