How Content Marketing Can Help Your Accountancy Firm
Advertising is a key part of any digital marketing strategy, but it’s neither prudent nor smart to rely on it. The reality is, consumers are exposed to more advertising than ever, and according to one 2018 study, 81% of consumers feel overwhelmed by the number of adverts they’re bombarded with. So how do you reach your target audience in a way that doesn’t induce them to immediately switch off?
Content marketing can be hugely beneficial for accounting firms since it is designed to inform rather than push a hard sell. By giving your audience value – in the form of articles, email newsletters, podcasts or videos, for example – you are addressing their needs or enabling them to educate themselves, without making them feel obliged to make a purchase.
Content marketing is very much a long game. If you’re providing useful information and presenting your business as an authority, the goal is that the consumer will come to you over your competitors when they need your services. Content for accountants might include updates on tax changes, created in a way that is easy to understand, or an in-depth look at how Management Accounting can help a business to achieve its goals.
Now that we’ve covered some key content marketing benefits, let’s take a look at how accounting firms can carry out effective content marketing.
Carrying out Effective Content Marketing for Your Accountancy Firm
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Create a blog
Creating a blog is one of the easiest ways to provide regular, appropriate information to your clients. With the vast array of areas covered by accounting, you’ll never be short of content; just make sure it’s tailored to your primary market. If your focus is on small businesses, ensure your content is written for and aimed at SMEs. If you typically deal with private clients with a high net worth, focus on the issues and areas of accounting that are likely to affect them. Be sure to add relevant keywords into the posts as well, so that people with a specific question or need can find your content.
Effective formats for your blog posts could include:
- How-to guides – These can present a complex subject in a more accessible way. For example, ‘How to reduce your Inheritance Tax liability’.
- Listicles – These present information in digestible chunks. For example, ‘6 things to remember when starting a business’ or ‘Key takeaways from the Autumn Budget’.
- Introduction to… – These introduce a specific topic or concept, enabling users to understand more about it in a jargon-free way. For example, ‘An introduction to bookkeeping’.
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Send out newsletters
Email newsletters can be hugely effective at driving conversions, or simply reminding existing clients that your business is there, and that it can add value to their experience. They’re easily tailored to various groups of people, are cost-effective, and are easy to send and measure. The key is to send your emails on a regular basis, and keep them strictly relevant to the recipients. You might, for example, create one newsletter for high net worth individuals, with links to articles about estate planning or the latest changes to taxation of offshore assets. You could then create a separate newsletter for clients who run small businesses, linking off to articles about Corporation Tax or the benefits of outsourcing various accounting tasks.
Keep the content interesting and readable with concise headings, images and video, and clear calls to action.
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Create video content
Creating videos is a great way to engage consumers on a variety of platforms, whether you’re trying to reach people on social media or with content posted on your own website. The great thing about video is that it can be any length depending on what your subject is and that it’s highly digestible, enabling customers to easily understand what it is you’re offering. You might, for example, create a short video for social media that briefly outlines the benefits of handing bookkeeping duties over to an accountant, or explains how research and development tax credits work. A more in-depth video, hosted on your website, might cover Self Assessment tax returns for landlords, offering detailed advice on how to fill in the return.
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Track results
When you’ve created all this content, you need to monitor how it performs – otherwise, you could be wasting your time. Keep an eye on the open and click-through rates of emails, the number of views your videos are getting, and the page visits to blog posts, so you can determine how effective each piece of content is and which formats work best.
Of course, all this requires time and effort, so handing the job over to a professional can be a big advantage. For help with your content marketing strategy, contact accountancy marketing experts Whitefish Marketing today.
