4 Things Every Accounting Firm Must Know About Marketing

A product should earn sales unless it lags behind the market competitor’s potential – that’s the general rule of marketing. However, with accounting firms, things are a little different. It is not about the product; it is all about the services.

Even in the service range, the accounting has more uniqueness associated with it because of the confidentiality and client-stature, which eventually makes the marketing criteria completely specific.

As the accounting market is soaring with tough competition, it is essential to keep the marketing efforts at an optimum level. In other words, you need to stand out of the crowd to impress the client.

As an increasing number of industries are shifting towards digital solutions, it is essential to adapt to the changes to find more clients and retain the existing ones. Sound strategy, social media presence, and a descriptive website are only some of the factors that can play a vital role in promoting an accounting firm.

This infographic discusses some of the key marketing considerations that can specifically boost up the branding and productivity of your accounting firm. Employing them with fine skills, you can see your accounting business achieve better heights.

Here are four of the essential aspects that an accounting firm must know about marketing.

1. Develop a Marketing Plan

The first and foremost aspect of any marketing strategy is to develop a robust plan keeping in mind all the essential parameters.

a) Know Your Customers – It is a must to research the userbase that might be interested in your services. You can analyze the potential customers of different regions, ages, the scale of business among others. Once you know your potential customers, you will be able to market your accounting services accordingly.

b) SWOT Analysis – The analysis of a company’s SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat) exposes any challenges that might come in the way of offering the services and how much more work needs to be done and you can use SWOT analysis templates to do a fast analysis.

2. Referral Marketing

Referral Marketing implies that existing clients refer you to their peers. This can happen only due to one reason that the clients are extremely happy with your services as the client’s reputation is also at stake.

a) Refer a Friend – The “Refer a friend” program can be implemented in which you can offer discounts to clients as an incentive to refer your services to their friends, colleagues, and associates.

b) Email Signature – You can inform the clients about the referral program through an email signature. The signature can request the clients to refer your services if they find it satisfactory.

3. Capture Leads Through Websites

A website is an innovative way to reach potential clients for your accounting firm. A website has a reach further than any other medium as it can be accessed in any part of the world. Hence, with a website you can reach a much larger demographic than any other method.

a) Make use of Email Subscription – A website should not be used only to showcase your products and services. Any potential customers should first build trust in you before he/she decided to invest in your services. You should try to offer academic material such as articles, e-books, files, taxation forms, etc. to the users to make yourself useful to them.

b) User-experience – Today’s world is a busy business, and no one has the time to waste on a website that looks like a maze. You should try to keep the website as simple as possible with all the option easily accessible.

c) Call-To-Action – The call-to-action (CTA) buttons should be clearly visible and in accordance with the color scheme of the website. The font of the CTA buttons should be clear to the customers.

4. Social Media Marketing

No one can be oblivious to the impact of social media in this day and age. The social media has a great impact on the perception of the people. It can make a massive impact on the reputation of a brand.

Every social media platform has its user base. The marketing strategies should distinguish between the various social media platforms and make plans accordingly. For instance, the marketing strategy for Facebook and LinkedIn should be entirely different as both have different sets of users. Facebook is a more personal way to connect to people, whereas, LinkedIn is a professional platform.

The right strategy implemented with respect to social media will help the accounting firms increase their popularity and generate leads.