7 Steps Tax Firms Know for Success in Digital Marketing
Step 1 – Join Cloud-based Marketing Services
Cloud-based marketing services like Practice Panda offer the scale and reliability that might otherwise be out of reach for independent accountants. In fact, a recent survey by Wolters Kluwer for the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants found that 56 percent of CPA firms in the U.S. are using cloud-base software.
Step 2 – Personalize Everything
On the heels of cloud-based data comes the ability to target and address your customers by name, with messaging and content designed to appeal to them as individuals. That’s important, since clients with limited time and short attention spans increasingly ignore marketing and advertising efforts that seem irrelevant to their personal wants and needs. Research backs that up.
Step 3 – Automate Emails
When you’re a time-starved accountant seeking to grow your client base, automated email can be a godsend. Why? Such systems allow you to send strategic, highly personalized messages to clients and potential clients at optimal times, based on information the system is gathering from multiple data sources. And they tend to be highly effective.
Step 4 – Automate Social Media
Many tax and accounting firms have a social media presence but don’t really understand how to optimize them. Think of your own social media outlets as venues for building client relationships and establishing your credibility as a valuable source of industry info. To make that happen you must post frequently, offer up relevant and/or comment-worthy content and encourage two-way conversations — instead of bombarding followers with promotional ad copy at every turn. Fortunately, most of your social media messaging can be made more efficient through automation software and apps such as Hootsuite, Buffer, Sprout Social and HubSpot. Such tools can store your posts and tweets then automatically send them at times viewers are most likely to read them. Better yet, they can record and analyze the results for future campaign strategy.
Step 5 – Start Content Marketing
In this age of rampant ad-blocking, promoting your firm through content your clients find valuable such as — blogs, articles, videos, podcasts, photos and graphics — is often more effective than traditional advertising. For example, research indicates content marketing costs 62 percent less than traditional marketing, yet generates three times the leads.
Launch your own content marketing strategy by creating or buying targeted content based on topics that interest your accounting clients. Then use automated content management tools to store it, post it and track audience responses for further strategy.
Step 6 – Be Mobile-Friendly
Given the global prevalence of smartphones, making your marketing content mobile-friendly is no longer optional — especially if you’re a small firm looking to attract local business. That’s why your website and emails must be responsive — easily read and consumed on mobile devices. Check your mobile-friendliness here.
Step 7 – Optimize Video
Already a hugely popular marketing tool, video traffic accounts for 80 percent of all consumer traffic on the world wide web. It is an incredibly effective conduit for informing, entertaining and engaging clients. Small tax and accounting firms can dive into video marketing by purchasing or producing and posting brief tutorials on accounting procedures, tax issues or legislation. In addition, they can profile your firm’s employees or clients or use existing content that can be branded for their firm.
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