5 minute read.
Marketing for accountants is tough and many tax and accounting firms neglect their marketing, whether it’s because they’re too busy, don’t think they need to, or are just not sure where to start. This article is a great place to start if you’re a small firm or sole practitioner who wants to get going with your marketing.
How to get started with your marketing
The best way to get started is to make a brief marketing plan to help you understand where you are now and where you want to get to. Make a note of what sets you apart from your competition, the services you want to focus on, and your goals for the year. When setting marketing goals, write them as SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-based), for example: in 6 months’ time, we will have increased our Facebook followers by 100, by posting 3 times a week and asking our current customers to like our page.
Once you’ve created your plan, follow our top marketing strategies for accountants to make sure you’ve got a solid foundation to build your business and your brand this year.
Website marketing for accountants
Your website is your most important marketing tool and is often a customer’s first impression of you. Make sure your website domain name is simple and easy to spell to help customers and search engines find your site. Your site should have the basics of who you are, what your services are, and your contact details front and centre. Don’t fill your website with irrelevant pages, less is more if you don’t have content to post – in fact, having lots of irrelevant pages on your site can actively harm your search engine ranking. It’s important that your website is up-to-date and modern in design – there are plenty of low-cost do-it-yourself website builders that you can use to create a simple site (Wix, Squarespace, Weebly, WordPress).
Social media marketing for accountants
Many accountants see social media as a waste of time for their firm because they don’t use it themselves or think their customers don’t bother. However, social media is a valuable and free asset to your practice. If you don’t have the time or confidence to post, just by having a business page with your contact details and a good quality photo of you or your firm will increase trust and confidence – customers might be suspicious if you don’t appear anywhere on social platforms. We would recommend that you maintain a LinkedIn and Facebook business page, but with Facebook remember to make sure your privacy settings are on to prevent potential customers seeing your personal posts.
Word of mouth marketing for accountants
Word of mouth or referral marketing is often the main way that small tax and accountancy firms market their business. To increase your effectiveness, you can engage with your best clients to ask for referrals and testimonials – giving an incentive such as a discount or an extra service is an easy way to gather referrals and testimonials quickly.
Content marketing for accountants
Content marketing is rapidly increasing in popularity as an inexpensive and effective marketing strategy and is a tool that accountants can use to their advantage. It covers creating and publishing content which is not specifically focused on sales, instead giving useful information. Accountancy is based on selling expertise, making it ideally suited for content marketing. To get started, you can create an email newsletter, blog, articles, white papers or fact sheets to post online or give to your clients in person. Benefits of content marketing include boosting sales through soft selling, building brand awareness, demonstrating expertise, and increasing customer engagement.
Local marketing for accountants
As a small firm, putting the time in with your local community can make all the difference. Sponsoring local events, joining or creating networking events in your area, posting in local social media groups, or being a part of an unrelated local hobby group will instantly widen your pool of potential clients and referrals.
We will be covering all of these types of marketing strategies for accountants in more detail on the blog soon.
