How Digital Marketing Will Improve The Services of Accounting Firms

For most Accounting Firms, getting their digital marketing strategy right is easier said than done. Many of these Firms think having a website and aggressively bombarding their prospects and client’s inbox through email marketing is enough, on the contrary, this approach makes it hard to differentiate Accounting Firms from their competitors and also yields little or no results.

The reality is that potential clients are searching for accounting solutions just as much as firms are searching for clients; the responsibility therefore lies on such Accounting Firms to embrace a proper marketing channel through which they can reach out to prospects.

There are, therefore, digital marketing strides that are well embraced by some of the best Accounting Firms worldwide, which has positioned these Firms at the forefront of their profession and improved their prominence. Such strides include the following;

Having a well-developed website

Accounting Firms should invest in a well-developed website that is built using international standards and is conversion focused because websites are the center of any digital marketing strategy. It is meant to serve as the online office where prospects can seamlessly reach out to find solutions.

It must strategically align with the firm’s objectives, it must have sufficient information about the Accounting Firm such as; their portfolios, testimonials or reviews and contact information. Furthermore, Accounting Firms should ensure their website is easy to navigate thereby, making it easy for prospects to get responses on time.

Updating Website Blog Regularly

Regular upload of fresh contents that are insightful that addresses common issues about the economy at large will resonate with prospects and clients faster. Also, it will improve the firm’s reputation and brand awareness by giving it a unique voice. Website blog is one of the impeccable platforms to demonstrate any firms’ professional knowledge and expertise.

It will as well boost the effectiveness of email, content and social media marketing, which will in turn help to improve search engine rankings.

Having Frequently Updated Social Media Pages

The use of social media around the world is ever-increasing. The social media statistics for 2019 shows that over 40% of the world’s population use their social media platforms daily (Emarsys, 2019). Social media gives you the chance to interact with your audience on a daily basis, create more awareness and also increase search engine ranking.

Audience engagement with content shared helps to get feedbacks, thereby knowing where improvement is needed. YouTube Channels can also be created to share testimonial videos from satisfied clients. All these will serve as an online Identity for the firm and in turn give potential clients confidence to hire your firm.

Obviously, there are common misconceptions about Digital Marketing as a whole by Accounting Firms. These misconceptions are addressed below:

Digital Marketing is all about blogging

On the contrary, blogging is just a portion of Content Marketing which is primarily brand interaction with prospects and the improvement of conversation with leads through e-mails, feedbacks, social media, blog posts, in depth articles and so on.

Marketing is same as advertising

Also, on the contrary, Advertising is that part of maas rketing which helps firms to offer adequate information about all the services they offer through several mediums including the traditional media.

Marketing is core to reaching out potential leads, and such, it is an integrated plan which includes multiple campaigns, including advertising strategies that are essential to creating brand awareness, lead generation, and sales.

Digital Marketing is a waste of budget

If this were true, then your service is not worth promoting? Global statistics on digital marketing has shown that Service based companies established spends about 12% of their annual budget on digital marketing, while the Banking and Financial industry spends over 8% of its budget on marketing.

Source: The CMO Survey & Deloitte

This economic drive emanates from the desire to grow exponentially by taking advantage of the global use of internet facilities, thereby, necessitating the need for digital marketing.

Finally, Do Accounting Firms need Digital Marketing?

Yes, they do; irrespective of their business domain; prospects; customer base; and competitors. Accounting Firms need to leverage the interconnectedness of their target audience through social media platforms to their advantage. Failure to do so will basically restrict Firms sphere of influence in the social space and the marketplace conversations.

One of the burning questions Accounting Firms asks

Should they do their digital marketing in house or should they look for support from digital agencies?

If your Firm is in favor of an in-house team, the management will have to hire a digital marketing administrator, who will be responsible for the digital marketing activities and strategies. Your Firm will remunerate the entire digital marketing team, which can be a constraint on organizational budget. However, a professional Digital Agency provides marketing expertise by leveraging on their own teams’ professional perspective at a cost much convenient than to set up an in-house Digital Marketing team.

The best approach is to combine your in-house knowledge with industry expertise and exposure.