Finding new clients is never easy. But you already knew that and that’s why you are here in the first place.
While it may seem easy to bag new business for some industries compared to others, some of the tactics used are more or less similar and can deliver exemplary results if used well.
Accounting is a super-sensitive department in any business, which makes it seem super easy to land clients who are looking for accounting firms to streamline their finances. However, this is actually not the case.
Why?
Fierce competition is the first and most important reason.
According to Statista, the revenue of the accounting industry in the United States is forecast to have reached over 110 billion U.S. dollars in 2020. Consequently, the number of auditors and accountants has been on a steady increase since 2013 reaching over 1.27 million in 2020.
Image Source: Statista
This growth goes to show that competition in the accounting space is cutthroat – a situation that is forcing accounting firms to rethink their marketing strategies in a bid to remain competitive.
In this article, we take a closer look at some compelling tactics that you can use as part of your marketing strategy to enable your accounting business to attract more business.
Ready to onboard more clients? We’ve prepared 10 tactics that work like a charm for accounting companies looking to increase their client portfolio.
84 percent of searches are discovery, while 16 percent are direct. This means that your prospects are more likely to stumble upon your accounting business as compared to directly searching for them.
Image Source: BrightLocal
Today, anyone looking for a product or service will more often than not Google it then proceed to sample a couple of finds before finally settling on a few to follow up on. Google has over 88 percent of all search engine market share, which makes it your prospects’ first point of contact.
Thus, Google My Business should naturally feature prominently in your overall marketing strategy as an effective way of being discovered by your target customers.
Image Source: Google
When you create your Google My Business profile, make sure to:
Unlike back in the day when the only way a happy or not so happy customer could express his or her satisfaction or displeasure with your business was through snail mail, modern customers now have a wide range of platforms that make it super easy for them to make their feelings known instantly.
Sites such as Yelp, Google, and Facebook are increasingly being used by your customers to express how they feel about you and your products or services. No matter how good or bad your customers’ feedback is, you should always take time to respond to reviews.
Image Source: BrightLocal
Regularly responding to online reviews is a great way to show them that you care about their experience with your business. Responding to online reviews also helps to boost your engagement and reputation, which is great for your search engine ranking as well.
Websites, social media, and other online platforms have now become a must-have for all businesses no matter the industry. From socializing to shopping, the internet is arguably the place to be if you want your business – big or small – to prosper.
Image Source: Finance Online
But having a website and a couple of social media accounts is y not enough, especially if you’re constantly churning out content to boost your lead generation efforts. To take this a step further, you need to ensure that your content is optimized for search engines.
When a customer decides to shop for a new accounting firm, the first thing they do is head to Google or to another search engine. To make sure that your website or content has any chance of being found by your prospects, your SEO has to be on point.
Image Source: Think With Google
In 2019, the average American spent 2 hours, 55 minutes on their smartphone. That’s A LOT, even if it’s a 9-minute decrease from the previous year with over 90 percent of smartphone time spent navigating various apps.
Image Source: Smart Insights
With more than half, 54.8 percent to be exact, of the global web traffic originating from mobile devices, particularly from smartphones, your accounting business website should be optimized for mobile to improve its chances of being discovered by prospects.
According to the Ericsson Mobility Report, global mobile traffic is expected to rise by 25 percent by 2025 – a trend that should shape your online marketing strategy for 2021 and beyond.
Is your website mobile responsive? If not, contact your web developer ASAP!
Since your accounting industry is filled with hundreds of firms all jostling the already stretched pool of clients, you need to think outside the box and find ways to position your business strategically. One effective marketing idea that can boost your company’s profile is offering to speak at relevant events that can benefit from your expertise.
Your customers are constantly looking to partner with accountants who are considered experts in their fields. Task your marketing and public relations departments to be on the lookout for events that would find your expertise and knowledge of the accounting industry key to their growth.
Speaking opportunities also enhance your reputation, position you as an industry expert, and boost your lead generation efforts. During your session, you should always engage your audience through a Q&A. From their questions, you will get valuable insights to design your next marketing campaigns.
You’ve probably heard people say this over and over again. It’s a cliche because it’s true. Your prospects are consuming video content like never before. Seventy-three percent of Americans aged 36 to 45 use YouTube, according to Statista.
Image Source: Statista
With over 126 million unique monthly viewers, YouTube is a great platform to market your accounting services. You can use its in-build ad manager tool to tailor your ad campaigns for maximum impact. It also offers you an option to target prospects in your area who are looking for accounting services with your ads strategically placed within videos they are watching.
Bragging yourself only works up to a certain extent. What works better than saying you are the best? Having others say it for you.
And who better to do that than the customers who already know you. Client testimonials have plenty of benefits and work particularly well because they look unbiased, boost your credibility, and do not come out as typical sales pitches.
Inside secret: we use them, too! They work for any industry. We love to give a voice to our customers and this helps us reach their peers easier than saying that our customer service is top-notch, for instance.
Client testimonials are a way of showing potential customers how effective your service has been for others, giving them the much-needed nudge to hit the ‘buy now’ button on your website. If you can get your client testimonials on video, even better. When a prospect watches a short video clip of a satisfied customer, they are more likely to contact your business to seal the deal, which is what you want, right?
While big businesses pay the big bucks, startups can also give your accounting business a boost, especially when times are tough and the big boys are not reaching out to you. Better yet, startups are easier to work with. Since they don’t have dozens of managers that need to approve everything, you’ll be able to work with them faster and with less friction.
In 2020, there were 31.7 million small businesses in the U.S. A good chunk of these startups could be looking for accounting services.
Your marketing strategy should, therefore, take into consideration the needs of small businesses and tailor specific services and packages that will attract them to your business.
A marketing strategy that doesn’t include content creation is one that is definitely doomed to fail. Saying that content marketing is effective is like saying the water is wet. 69 percent of B2B marketers have a documented content strategy, which they attribute to their success.
Image Source: Neil Patel
Is content marketing easy? Not really! But, luckily, there are thousands of agencies you can outsource it to.
And we’ve got more good news: it won’t cost an arm and a leg. Think about it this way: everything you put out is content: an email, a social media post, a whitepaper, a blog post — all these are content pieces. So you’re probably already creating content.
NetSuite is one of the leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) platforms that’s powering accounting firms across the globe today. Its integrated cloud business software suite, which includes business accounting, ERP, CRM, and eCommerce software continues to be instrumental in ensuring world-class delivery of accounting services.
With NetSuite as part of your automation strategy, your corporate data is centralized in one database giving you access to key performance metrics that will, in turn, help in quick decision making.
If you want to boost efficiency, enhance real-time visibility, and easy access to critical information, then NetSuite is your best bet. NetSuite is extremely popular with accounting companies AND their potential customers.
If you already use NetSuite, you’re halfway there. Your customers love to work with accounting companies that use the best solutions on the market.
Now all you have to do is take one step farther than your competitors: integrate your NetSuite account with your other mission-critical solutions, like your marketing automation platform.
Why?
The reason is two-fold: on the one hand, you will be able to market your services better. With NetSuite leads pouring automatically into ActiveCampaign, Constant Contact or Mailchimp, for instance, marketing will be a breeze. You’ll also be able to communicate with your existing customers better!
Secondly, you’ll be an inspiration to your own customers! Seeing how you leverage the benefits of integration like a pro will make you one of the most wanted accounting companies in your area.
SyncApps helps you to get the best of both worlds with dozens of NetSuite integrations, like NetSuite and Mailchimp. This integration will help you to seamlessly sync NetSuite Companies, Contacts, Leads, or Prospects to Mailchimp Audience(s). It also allows your sales and marketing teams to use NetSuite Contact and Customer Subscriptions to Audience(s) and Group(s) for better-targeted marketing.
Other popular NetSuite integrations include NetSuite and Constant Contact and ActiveCampaign for NetSuite, which can help you to engage your prospects, clients, and partners in real-time, NetSuite and Zendesk, which is ideal for getting deeper customer engagement and NetSuite and Salesforce, which helps you to track progress on your most recent sales leads to orders among others.
Ready to put your marketing and sales on auto-pilot and get more customers for your accounting company? Start here! It’s 100% FREE to integrate NetSuite on SyncApps, so what have you got to lose?
If one of your 2021 marketing goals is to grow your client base, boost your lead generation and your nurturing, then you should give these tactics a try. A solid customer base is crucial to your accounting business’ success.
So, before you go on a spending spree, splashing ads all over the place hoping to bag a few customers, you should first consider adopting these cost-effective strategies.
One last tip here: don’t wait until your company needs new customers. Start searching for new customers for your accounting business before you actually need them. This way, you’ll be in a better position to find the best of them!
