Growing a Cannabis Niche in New Jersey: Strategies for CPA Firms (E2012904)

Joanna Castle is a Digital Marketing and Social Media Consultant with Accountants Advisory Group. Joanna specializes in assisting accounting and advisory firms develop their professional brands through strategic marketing and digital communications, website, and social media management, thought leadership, and event planning. With experience in business development and lead generation, and project and account management, Joanna coaches’ professionals in social media best practices, including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. She also assists clients with blog writing and publishing, graphics design for social media posts, personal branding, and she is experienced in online business tools, including CRMs and cloud storage platforms. Her background includes a position as a Social Media Marketing Coordinator, a recruiting professional for the tech industry in Silicon Valley, the founder of a business to assist college students with organizational skills, and as an assistant teacher at an elementary school.

Since 2016 Joanna has assisted accounting and advisory firms develop brands and specialty practices for the cannabis and hemp industries. As a marketing consultant in Accountants Advisory Group’s The Growth Zone®, she is very knowledgeable regarding industry news and updates, marketing and branding strategies, website design, lead-generation, event planning, email marketing campaigns, and cloud storage solutions with Google Drive. Joanna’s work has generated increased brand recognition and business development opportunities for numerous accounting professionals.

A graduate of Denison University, Joanna earned a B.A. degree in Communication and Education.

Nancy A. Damato is the Co-Founder and President of Accountants Advisory Group and the Senior Consultant, Marketing and Business Development. She is the Founder of The Growth Zone,® Accountants Advisory Group’s marketing and lead generation program for the cannabis and hemp industries. With significant experience in the fast-growing and ever-changing cannabis and hemp industries, Nancy assists CPA firms in developing and implementing cannabis and hemp niches. Utilizing a wide range of traditional and innovative target marketing and lead generation techniques, all Growth Zone® programs are customized for each firm and take into account the firm’s goals and their marketplace opportunities.

With over 30 years of accounting firm marketing experience, Nancy’s roles have included marketing leadership positions with two Big 4 firms, a large national firm, a medium-size regional firm, and with numerous firms throughout the country serving in outsourced marketing advisory and leadership roles. Throughout her career, Nancy has developed and implemented many CPA firm marketing programs and plans and has helped numerous firms attain higher levels of success. By spearheading innovative marketing strategies and lead generation campaigns, and providing outsourced marketing advisory services, Nancy assists partners achieve their growth goals, expand market share, increase firm profitability, and raise brand awareness.

Nancy has extensive experience developing and implementing all facets of marketing and practice development programs, marketing cultures and infrastructures, marketing departments and budgets, and targeted industry and niche marketing plans. She has created and managed digital marketing, lead generation, and social media campaigns, communication plans, and thought-leadership initiatives. She regularly assists clients with websites, social media management, webinars and speaking engagements, blogs/articles, branding, advertising, public relations, marketing collateral, and CRM implementation. Effective with firms ranging from two to 100+ partners, Nancy personally coaches partners and key staff and collaborates in teams. She assists with personal, niche, and firm marketing plans, practice development and lead generation strategies, and target marketing. She also assists partners in enhancing their relationships with existing and potential clients and referral sources.

With a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and Management from Montclair State University, Nancy has been a member of the Association for Accounting Marketing since the beginning of her career. She is a founding member of the New York Metropolitan chapter of this national organization.