Digital Marketing Strategies for Financial Services: Accountants, Financial Planners, Tax Professionals, BookKeeping 繁體中

Days are gone where direct mail, door-to-door, seminars, and telemarketing provide a good return on investment and time. More people are searching online and asking their peers for recommendations than ever before. A combination of blogging, social media, and email marketing to connect with potential clients who might be interested in your services is the new wave of marketing that will produce results.

Websites

In fact, the first place a potential client visits is your website.  It should be engaging, compelling, and mobile-friendly.  A responsive design is critical to online success, as more users are accessing the internet through a mobile device than laptop/notebook or desktop computers. Did you know that Google will  lower your rank if your site is not mobile-friendly?  Yes, critically important to make sure your site is responsive!

However, it’s not just your website anymore.  How can a visitor get the most up to date, relevant information?  A blog give you a place to post new, fresh, content on a consistent basis.  Therefore, content marketing is king! Blogging can also drive traffic to and from other communication channels, such as your website, social media sites, and even produce leads for an email marketing campaign. It sets you as an industry authority, and someone who is credible and trustworthy. You have individuals, businesses, and corporations looking to have you manage their finances.  Therefore, it takes an amount of trust in you and your brand.  Building the relationship is important.  People do business with people they know, like, and trust.

Once you have a lead or a client, on-going communication and interaction is important to maintain that relationship, letting clients know of any important changes in the industry that may impact their financial situation.  However, what about those that don’t know about you.  Where can you find them?

Search Engines

Chances are your prospects are looking for your products and services, and they are searching for services that you provide.  Therefore there are 2 locations you need to pay special attention to: SEARCH and SOCIAL.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) are the most important place for you to create inbound traffic to your website or blog.  People using search engines are looking for local businesses to work with, and you want to be in those results. In fact, people don’t search to search, they search to find.  And the fastest they can find the results or answers they are looking for, the better.  What keywords, products, services do you provide that you want to be sure your prospects know you offer?

Google currently leads the digital marketing world with 31.1 percent of the total space. Make sure your business information and location is accessible to your customers via Google search, Google Maps, and Google Plus. Pay-per-call advertising on Google is another great feature that allows mobile customers to call your business directly from the ad. If users are searching for accountants from their mobile devices, it is highly likely they will turn into a potential customer and call you directly from their smart phone. Even Google says that 70% of all mobile searches lead to a phone call. (https://www.canopytax.com/blog/digital-marketing-and-your-tax-practice/)

Are you leveraging these words and related content in your online marketing efforts: blogs, website, social posts? And if you are struggling to compete in the natural, organic results, then it is advised to get in the paid advertising part of search.  You don’t have to pay to be there, but you must be willing to pay when the listing is clicked.  Google AdWords has as tremendous ROI for those that have invested time in creating a strategic campaign.  Have you recently thought of your SEO and SEM programs?

Investing in Google AdWords, Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising, and Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) advertising are still the most reliable ways to get your marketing message in front of qualified leads. Yet most firms don’t even bother to invest the resources into trying paid search.

Social Media

And what about social media?  The online communities present a unique opportunity to get your message and brand in front of decision makers and any target market in a social environment.  Whether it is managing your social channels, such as, Linked In, Facebook, and Twitter, or paying for Sponsored Ads on these networks, it is a fact that social media is a growing marketing opportunity. The challenge….no one likes ads.  Therefore, content, ad copy, and target marketing is important to consider.  Have you identified your target demographic?  Have you clarified their household income and spending?  DO you know their interests and likes?  Are you currently collaborating with other businesses or brands?  These are important to consider your organic reach but also any sponsored listings.

Inovautus Consulting and SocialCPAs collaborated on a study found that only 50% of firms track leads they earn from social media, and only 20% of firms use social media to advertise.

Your audience lives on social media and they’re using platforms like Facebook to find you. If you’re not there to meet them, you’re missing a huge portion of your audience. Worse still, you’re missing opportunities to address complaints, answer questions, and figure out what your clients want from you. (http://www.madtownagency.com/blog/digital-marketing-accounting/)

“Your capabilities may lead the marketplace, but without a digital marketing strategy, you can’t reap the rewards of your hard work and great ideas. The key to your growth is building a digital marketing plan that you can execute internally, or with an agency to drive sales and build your lead funnel. Without it, you’ll be unknown to the market.” (https://www.newnorth.com/7-things-need-know-digital-marketing-financial-advisors/)

Email Marketing for accountancy firms

Email marketing is a fantastic way to promote your firm, your services, events, webinars, new products or latest practice news. Many accountancy practices revert to rather, dull, uninspiring generic email newsletters. Insight specialize in providing either email templates or customized bespoke emails to send. (http://www.salesforaccountants.com/websites/) Again, it comes down to content.  Are you providing valuable content in your messaging?

In summary, here’s a short list of things to consider:

Website

• Development and Maintenance: Responsive website design, updated quarterly or seasonally
• Photography: Lifestyle shots
• Top Informational Pages: Services, experience/education/licenses, resources, online forms, testimonials, FAQs, appointments, scheduling, existing customers/clients
• Interactivity: Request quote, book an appointment, newsletter signup, forms, social media feeds/follows

Traffic and Engagement

SEO: natural rank based on Page Titles, Descriptions, Keywords, and Page Content

SEM: Paid search based on keywords, geography, and advertising budget

Email Marketing: Great for promoting specials, events, offering loyalty rewards, and staying in touch

Content Marketing/Blog: Fresh, relevant, valuable industry-related content to build your audience.

Social Media: Client Engagement. What networks are you on?  Who is representing your brand? What’s being said?

For those professionals who are evaluating current strategies, we’d like to provide you with free advice on what services you may lack and how to find a solution to that need. Contact us today to book a free digital marketing consultation with our experts.

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