You’re not alone if you find it difficult to attract new clients to your professional services firm. Many firms have a hard time expanding their client base. However, you can do a few things to get more business. Networking, marketing, and top-notch service are great ways to bring in new clients.
Of all the professions studied by Hinge Marketing, Accounting and Financial Service firms were the slowest growing.
We’ll take a closer look at Accounting Firms in this article.
Although the tech sector is expanding quickly, the accounting industry is not keeping pace and is only growing at modest rates.
Marketing helps you develop the relationship factors of knowing, liking, and trusting with potential clients. They can find out about you through social media or your blog, get to know you better, and decide that you’re the best accountant for them.
We believe there are a few key marketing strategies that can help your business to grow. By implementing these strategies, you can help to increase your client base and grow your accounting firm.
1. Create An SEO-Friendly Website With A Strong CTA
Google has become a go-to for many people researching potential purchases, so a website is now a necessity.
In fact, it’s an absolute must.
Your website needs to be strong and effective to bring in new clients. This means having a few key components, such as strong branding, an effective message, and an invitation or call to action for inquiring about your business.
Make sure your website uses:
- Easy-to-read fonts
- A responsive mobile design
- User-friendly navigation
- Meaningful content
An SEO-optimized website does three things:
Search Engines Send Organic, Qualified Traffic
Do you get annoyed with sending out emails to people who are not interested in what you have to offer?
If you want to attract potential clients ready to sign a contract, you should focus on SEO and target the keywords your potential clients are using.
Turns visitors into leads
When someone is doing extensive research, a professional-looking website is helpful in the decision-making process.
Your homepage should have a strong call-to-action (CTA) to stop people from leaving your site without scheduling a call or filling out a form to find out more.
It sets you up as the go-to expert
Google ranking for the right keywords lets clients know you’re an expert and builds up awareness for your brand.
If someone views you as an industry thought leader, it will help establish trust. This creates a favorable business environment based on one of the natural laws of business: People are more likely to do business with those they know, like and trust.
2. Create A Blog For Your Website
When it comes to marketing for CPAs, creating a blog can be an effective way to demonstrate their thought leadership and build trust with potential clients.
Why?
Your blog posts will likely rank on search results.
If you place high on Google’s search results, you will increase your web traffic and the number of potential clients. Your clients will also find your blog helpful as it provides answers to their questions and helps them resolve any issues they may be having.
It’s a win/win for everyone.
If your accounting firm’s blog post appears on the first page of a Google search, you will have gained a lot of new traffic. If one of your articles appears as a snippet on the search results page, that is even better.
Your article will show up when your target market searches for specific questions, hopefully converting some of that traffic into leads for your accounting firm.
What are some tips for writing blog posts that will appear on the first page of search results?
First, you need to find out what keywords your audience uses to search for information on solving their problems.
One example would be “hiring an accountant for taxes.”
Keyword research will allow you to discover the challenges your clients are currently facing. Once you know their problems, you can create blog posts that will offer solutions and convert visitors into paying clients.
Keyword research resources:
After that, you’ll need to write your blog post and ensure it’s optimized for search engines.
What does this mean?
Search engines use a formula to understand a website’s content and decide where it should appear in the results. You can ensure your website is optimized for ranking on the first page of Google by following some basic on-page SEO principles.
3. Start Using Linkedin
Do you have a LinkedIn profile?
Out of the 774 million working professionals using the platform, you probably fall into two camps:
- Yes, you’ve created a profile, but it pretty much collects dust.
- No, and you don’t want to add another social network to your plate.
Although LinkedIn is primarily used as a social media platform, it is also an effective way to connect with potential clients and find employment.
According to a recent survey, 80% of B2B marketers say LinkedIn is the best place to find leads.
To make your LinkedIn profile more attractive to potential clients, follow these steps:
Update your profile for SEO
Yes, SEO extends beyond search engines.
You should ensure that your profile includes words and phrases your potential clients will likely use when searching for someone with your skills.
The more you optimize your LinkedIn profile for SEO, the more likely it is to appear at the top of search results.
Post on LinkedIn
If you want to generate leads on LinkedIn, creating content is a powerful tool. This could be anything from status updates to sharing business news to writing thought pieces.
For example, if you were a travel blogger using the hashtag #travel, your post will be shared with all the other people who use that hashtag. You can improve the reach of your posts by tagging them with hashtags. The more engagement your post gets, the more the algorithm will push your content out to a wider audience.
The more people see your posts, the more likely someone will reach out to you as a potential lead.
4. Create Youtube Videos
Writing not your style? Are you a better speaker?
To create a content marketing strategy around YouTube, consider what makes YouTube such a popular platform: the content is searchable on Google. With over 2 billion monthly users, people come to YouTube to learn, get inspired, or have fun. By creating videos that align with these interests, you can attract a large audience for your channel.
In 2016, the search engine Google bought the video-sharing site YouTube and has integrated the platform with search results.
To see success on the platform, you need to use the same keywords your audience uses to search for you. Consider using keywords in these places:
- your speech (YouTube scans your words)
- video title
- video description
- tags
5. Claim Your Google Business Profile
Most searches on Google are to find something rather than visit a specific website. This means that if your website doesn’t appear in search results, you’re missing out on many potential clients. Google Business Profile (was Google My Business) can help make your website more visible in local search results.
You only need a business name, location, and category to set up your profile. Once Google approves it, your business will start appearing on local search and Google Maps.
Your clients will then be able to do the following things: leave reviews, add photos, ask questions, save your listing and see important information like your contact details.
6. Build Your Email List
Although building a presence on YouTube and LinkedIn are solid marketing strategies for CPAs, they may not be around forever.
If that happens, you’ll lose access to your audience.
The solution? Building your email list.
Use a lead magnet to attract website visitors to subscribe. Your lead magnet should highlight a problem your audience wants to solve and offer a quick solution.
Other types of lead magnet ideas include:
- toolkits
- reports
- whitepapers
- ebooks
- case studies
- cheat sheets
If you have people on your email list, you can improve the relationship by sending out a newsletter with your offers and tips every week or month.
7. Send Out Newsletters
Business owners often wish they had started building email lists sooner. Newsletters can be used to expand target audiences and build value for recipients. It is up to the business owner to determine how to use the newsletter to achieve these goals.
A newsletter should not be a huge advertisement for your accounting firm. Instead, include business tips or curated stories relevant to your industry. Be consistent with your newsletter to make sure it is successful.
8. Utilize Social Media
The social media marketing strategy you choose should be based on the type of audience you are trying to reach. For example, if you want to post content on Instagram, you will probably target a creative audience rather than a professional audience on LinkedIn.
If you share helpful and relevant information about your brand online, you can improve your company’s image and attract new potential clients.
Many companies miss out on social media opportunities because they think their target audience is not active on these platforms. However, this will no longer be the case as more people go online in the next decade.
9. Networking Events
Since the Covid pandemic is regarded as receding somewhat, networking events are starting to happen again. For a long time, networking events were very common for accounting and marketing firms. Even though the cost-benefit ratio may not seem worth it compared to other options, if you like meeting new people, these events can be a great way to get the most out of your time.
Many professionals utilize the Meetup website for finding networking events in their local area that fit their interests.
10. Use Paid Ads
Google Ads can help accountants with their marketing by providing a digital platform that is relatively easy to use.
However, you need to be careful about how much money you spend on paid ads. Just because the ads are getting people to visit your website does not necessarily mean those visitors are becoming leads.
If you have a well-defined product or service and a strong sales process, Google Ads may be a good option for you.
11. Utilize Webinars
Webinars are a great way to reach a large audience. Instead of hosting your own webinar, try partnering with another company that already has an audience. This way, you can introduce yourself and talk about your accounting services.
For example, if your accounting firm works with companies in the food and beverage industry, you might look for webinars hosted by popular restaurant groups or food and beverage distributors.
12. Align Yourself With Relevant Businesses
One way to market your accounting business is to build relationships with other businesses relevant to your industry.
Find businesses you can do business with in return for them sending clients your way. This can be a mutually beneficial relationship where you can both get new clients. Just make sure that you can provide what you promise.
13. Run Giveaways
If you want to increase your social media following and grow your contact list, giveaways can be a great way to do it – but don’t overdo it. Stick to one or two giveaways per year to get the most out of them.
You could hold a contest on LinkedIn in which the prize is a bundle of your unique services. People can subscribe to your email list or share your post to enter.
14. Create A Follow-Up Strategy
A lead that you thought you had closed may decide not to go with you in the end, and many times you may not know why.
A way to compensate for these lost opportunities is to add them to a CRM (Client Relationship Management software). This way, you can periodically check in on them to see how they’re doing. You might be surprised how many deals you can close by simply reaching out to them at the right time.
15. Ask Clients For Referrals
This strategy has been proven to be effective and is always worth trying.
It would be easy to reach out to your most loyal clients and ask if they know anyone who might need your services. You could also get testimonials from past clients.
You will probably get introduced to several new leads if you do this.
When talking to clients about referrals, be polite and grateful if they offer to help.
16. Get Online Reviews
To begin marketing for accountants, it is recommended that you first claim your business listing on Google and Yelp. These are two of the first places people look when verifying the legitimacy of businesses.
It’s important that you respond to all reviews, even if they’re not all positive.
“Thank you for your positive review! We’re so happy you enjoyed your experience. We’re sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy your experience. Please let us know how we can make it right.”
17. Sponsor An Event
One way to attract new clients is by sponsoring an event related to your business. For example, if you want to partner with other businesses, you could host a business conference focusing on a topic like accounting regulations and laws within the state.
18. Start A Podcast
Podcasts have seen a recent surge in popularity, which is only set to continue in the coming years.
If you can find an interesting and entertaining way to provide people with the accounting information they want, there is no reason not to do so.
Conclusion
Your accounting firm will be unable to attract new clients or grow without a marketing strategy.
In today’s digital age, having an online presence is more important than ever. With approximately 6 billion people worldwide owning smartphones, your potential clients are far more likely to come across your business through a search engine such as Google rather than through a traditional advertisement in a newspaper or magazine.
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