Online Marketing for Accountants: How Your Firm Can Use the Web Effectively

A famous line from the movie Field of Dreams whispers, “If you build it, they will come.” But when it comes to snagging a healthy chunk of internet traffic, many accounting firms discover that merely having a website isn’t the key.

While a great website is essential as a home base, today’s online marketing for accountants demands a more comprehensive program than throwing up a website and forgetting about it. You also need to master content marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, and more. The following tips should help a struggling online marketing plan find new life.

Online Marketing for Accountants Starts with a Plan

Yes, you need a marketing plan. Just as a good lobster bisque requires a recipe, so too does your accounting firm. You can’t expect to generate business online unless you have a plan.

1. Write down goals, budget, and which channels (platforms) you want to pursue.
2. Don’t forget to include a section about how you will measure success. Throwing money into the internet void with no strategy for knowing if you’re gaining traction or not seems sort of silly.
3. Don’t get caught up in the design or worrying that you’re not an advertising expert. If you guess wrong, you’ll know soon enough.

When it comes to online marketing for accountants, the big point is to write down what you’re going to do and then get out there and do it.

Tune Your Website

Hopefully, you realize that every accounting firm needs a website. And it shouldn’t look like it wandered out of 2005. Go for a clear, clean, professional look as befits the accounting industry. Is it mobile friendly? If not, make it so as soon as possible. More than half of all internet searches are conducted via a mobile device.

That’s the reality in today’s world.

If your site is not responsive (catch phrase for functional on a smartphone), you need to get it that way. Quickly. And unlike days gone by, the website itself is not the end-all goal. Think of it more as a funnel to catch traffic from all your other online channels and generate referrals.

Content Marketing for Accountants

Other than accountants, no one really understands the field of accounting. That’s where content marketing comes in. It’s a perfect way to demonstrate your expertise in the subject and drive traffic to your website by answering common questions in a (hopefully) interesting way.

Here’s how it should go:

Find someone on staff who’s a good writer. Sorry, but it seems that accountant writing often tends to be the opposite of exciting and engaging. What you will do is post well-written, informative articles to the website a couple times per week. Each article should be targeted around a main keyword. Do this right and Google will reward you with ever-higher search engine rankings as your archive of articles grows.

Social Media Marketing

Marketing through social media is a red hot topic these days, no doubt. The trick is to make sure you’re getting traffic back to the website through your efforts and aren’t just building up huge followings that don’t benefit your firm financially.

If you’ve been paying attention, you probably realize that the “it” social media flavor of the day changes constantly. For now, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram are all popular channels.

The trick is not to post pointless pictures of the office Christmas party. Your updates should include links back to the articles you’re posting on the website. If your content is engaging and informative, a little promotion will start the fire and provide a large audience of readers and potential clients.

Email Marketing

No matter the industry, the money is in the list. You should be using every (non-spammy) means at your disposal to collect email addresses from people who have expressed an interest in your services.

Create a newsletter filled with information similar to the articles you post to the website, only shorter. Send out a short, punchy volume on a regular basis, maybe every two weeks or once monthly. The goal is to keep your firm’s name in the reader’s brain when it comes time to find an accounting professional.

As far as content, send out tax or small business tips. Anything you think readers will find interesting. I encourage clients to keep a list of the most common questions they’re receiving. If one person was brave enough to ask, many others are probably wondering the same thing.

The Bottom Line

It’s quite possible that you don’t have anyone on staff with the knowledge needed to undertake an effective online marketing campaign. No biggie. That’s when it’s time to bring in experts who have worked on online marketing for accountants. You may not have the available funds to hire a full time marketer but retaining a specialist to get you set up and running is liable be more affordable. And if you ask the right questions, you can likely learn enough while he or she is there to continue the campaign on your own after they leave. Trust us. It’s easier than accounting. You just need to get the marketing foundation right.