Advertisement is at the core of our society, whether we look at marketing campaigns targeted at customers (B2C) or companies (B2B). Knowing how to market your services or provide your clients with marketing tips is crucial, even if your primary concern lies in accounting.
According to published reports, 69% of businesses have a fully documented marketing strategy in place, with 76% using organic traffic, or SEO, to measure success. Blog posts, which are the most popular means of marketing a website, also take far longer to write now than only a few years ago. Readers’ expectations have skyrocketed over the years, and writing, editing, formatting, and publishing marketing content is an industry in itself.
Given that we live in a cloud-based, post-COVID world, digital marketing takes precedent over printed campaigns at the moment. Despite that, taking both into account, no pun intended, can help your brand stand out and attract more clients. Let’s discuss marketing know-how for accounting professionals and how you can jump-start your content marketing efforts in 2021.
Printed and Digital Marketing – Using Both to your Advantage
When you decide to market your services as an accountant, you can go about it in two distinct ways – through printed or digital media. As their names might suggest, both rely on drastically different mediums for distribution. Some marketing content formats you can consider using for your purposes include:
Printed media
- Business cards – traditional cards used for networking with clients
- Brochures – fold-up paper sheets with your accounting business’ services
- Posters – one-way printed papers which can be glued or stapled on walls
- Printed ads – ads that you can order from newspapers for the sake of marketing
- Office miscellanea – pens, pins, lighters, mugs, and other office items with your logo/info
Digital media
- Blog posts – online articles discussing industry topics, how-to guides, and accounting trends
- Social media posts – images, status updates, polls, live Q&A, and other content specific to social media
- Podcasts – discussions with accounting professionals and influential guests about various topics
- Videos – tutorials, discussions, news reports, and other types of videos you can personally host
- Freebies – PDFs, eBooks, presentations, and other free materials on accounting topics you can share
It may seem overwhelming to choose which marketing content would best suit your accounting business. You can also refer to TrustMyPaper to assist you in writing and editing your marketing plan once you start creating your content. You don’t have to commit to anything upfront, and you can pick and choose different content types to create a unique set of options.
Marketing Content Tools to Consider Using
When it comes to marketing tools, most of them fall into the “creation” part of marketing, and there are plenty of options to choose from. As we’ve mentioned, printed and digital marketing vary in terms of format, so different tools will be more or less suited for each medium. Some tools available to you online include:
Google Docs – all-in-one general document platform suitable for digital marketing content management.
Evernote – a platform dedicated to written content creation, marketing planning, and cloud storage.
Grammarly – editing platform which used to clean up your writing and grammar before publishing.
SEM Rush – a platform that will help you find the right keywords to use for better search engine ranking.
Canva – visual content platform suitable for presentations, infographics, and social media content.
Gimp – photo editing and content creation tool which you can use for both printed and digital marketing.
Mail Chimp – centralized marketing platform which can help you publish content and analyze its performance.
While these are only a select few tools that you can find online, their combined features will allow you to start on the right foot. If you find yourself busy with accounting obligations, referring to Supreme Dissertations and outsourcing some of your content writing or editing is a smart move. Use the available online resources to your advantage, most of which are free and highly user-friendly, and you will slowly build up your marketing strategy.
Marketing Strategies to Implement
Now that we’ve talked about the mediums and the tools you can use, let’s combine the two and talk about specific tips and strategies. Given that you are an accounting professional, you already know who your audience is and what exactly you can do for them. This makes coming up with marketing content much easier, as you don’t have to research your audience – focus on how you can help them instead.
- Use Accounting-Specific Keywords in your Marketing
As an accountant, your clients will expect you to be familiar with niche terminology and keywords specific to accounting. Using those words will enable your marketing materials to show up much more frequently in search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. In turn, more people will click on your content and visit your website.
- Create a Schedule and Stick to It
Publishing marketing content under your brand’s banner should never be sporadic and unorganized. Instead, use a digital calendar or a notepad and start planning your content ahead of time. For example, you can write a blog post and publish it each Tuesday, while you answer accounting questions live on social media on Fridays. There are no rules to creating a content calendar, but prepare your own nonetheless and try sticking to it.
- Never Copy Content – Be Original
Copying marketing content from popular websites and brands will always backfire. Search engines are designed to detect copied content and treat it as spam. Your clients will be equally displeased and think twice whether to visit your website or reach out to you with such a practice in place. Use the tools available to you to create something unique and your own – your brand’s followers will appreciate the effort.
- Make Good Use of Social Proof
Social proof represents marketing content generated by your clients and brand advocates. Satisfied clients and accounting professionals familiar with your work can write quotes and reviews for you to use for marketing. This is an effective way for accounting professionals to build trust and brand image, given how trust-reliant their profession is. Reach out to your clients and ask for quotes or reviews – make it a practice to ask for them going forward as well.
Wrapping Up and Starting Off
Marketing is a vast pool of possibilities, and the best way to learn about it is to start producing your content. It can be overwhelming to carry the weight of PR management on your shoulders. Yet, accounting professionals can market their businesses very successfully.
Go through the tools and tips we’ve discussed and take note of how bigger, more popular competitors market their services. The right marketing strategy for your business will click in your mind sooner than you think, and the rest will take care of itself.
Also, learn more how you can also Market & Sell your services online. Get 2+ clients a month leveraging your social media presence and technology to get the clients you need to grow your business.
Image source: https://unsplash.com/photos/gcsNOsPEXfs
