When it comes to accounting marketing, you want to know the investment is worth it. It can be a challenge to determine which marketing tactics will return the most ROI, especially with new marketing trends always coming into play.
To simplify things, we’ve broken down five marketing efforts geared toward increasing growth to help you get the results you’re looking for. By familiarizing yourself with these methods and the research that supports them, you will begin to grow your firm and gain more clients.
1. Conduct research.
Your clients are looking for an accounting firm that not only meets their needs, but also understands their challenges. Having a stronger understanding of your target audience and the challenges they face allows you to anticipate their problems and present a solution.
By conducting research, you’ll know your clients better—which puts you in a position to serve them better. Market research also gives you insight into how your processes are performing. You’ll know which aspects of your firm are performing highest and earn a better understanding of which services you should offer.
And if that hasn’t convinced you, our own research has shown that firms that conduct systematic research on their prospects and clients grow 3-10X times faster and are up to 2X more profitable. This is a no-brainer.
2. Use content marketing.
When prospective clients research accounting firms, they’re looking for someone they can trust. Establishing your expertise helps demonstrate to clients that they can value your firm’s place in the industry. Producing high quality, informational content shows clients that you have a strong understanding of your field and their needs.
It’s important to make sure your content educates and informs, while refraining from overt references to personal gain. It needs to avoid being promotional in order to be effective.
3. Optimize your website.
By having a website that is more visible on search engines, you increase your firm’s chances of being “found.” In fact, we found in our research on 50 high-growth professional services firms that SEO was ranked as the most effective online technique.
How do you optimize your website? To start, it goes back to #2. Have quality content on your website that incorporates relevant keywords. Stay consistent with SEO best practices, such as incorporating meta descriptions throughout your sight and including appropriate header tags. SEO is not about tricking search engines. It’s about clear, thoughtful, and authoritative content with a transparent website architecture.
Taking steps to optimize your website helps to ensure that your firm appears as a viable solution when prospective clients are searching for answers to their problems.
4. Create a lead generation website.
To use your website as a lead generation tool, you need to provide your visitors with value that encourages them to advance your relationship. This means your website needs features like an informative blog, a resource library that contains free content, and options for folks to sign up for webinars or a newsletter.
This might seem like a lot of effort, but the payoff is well worth it: professional service firms that generate online leads are more profitable overall and grow up to 4X faster.
5. Increase social media.
Ideal for connecting with prospects and sharing the content you produce, social media activity is quickly becoming a necessity for accounting firms. We found that 60% of prospects use social media to check out a service provider. And of those 60%, 70% use LinkedIn.
It’s easy to feel overextended with so many networks from which to choose. Formulate a strategy and make goals for your firm based on the platforms your audience uses the most. In accounting, the research shows that this platform is most likely LinkedIn.
With these five accounting marketing efforts in place, your firm can experience higher growth and increased visibility. You can take the guesswork out of your marketing tactics by using proven effective methods that get results.
For more insights on characteristics of high growth firms, download our free book Spiraling Up.
On Twitter or LinkedIn? Follow us @hingemarketing and join us on LinkedIn.
