The face of marketing is changing for accountants as with many other industries, or should we say, has been changing for sometime.
In years past, CPAs and CA designations were held by a select few, with each town and city having but one accountant who handled the finances of individuals and the local business community. And, even more to the point, referrals came by word of mouth and word of mouth only.
Today, word of mouth is still dominant in the accounting industry, the difference being, your potential clients are doing their homework. They are searching online to see what services are available, the types of businesses represented by your firm, the availability of staff and resources, and a variable of other information before making a decision to call you or begin using your services.
The key to lead generation is content. The more valuable content and resources you have on your site, the greater the likelihood of your target market finding your site, the greater the likelihood of your site ranking above your competitors. Sure there are quite a few other factors considered in how your website is found, but content is king.
Next - what happens when that business owner or individual finds your site?
Consider:
- Do you know when a potential new client is on your website?
- Do you know how they found your website?
- Can you track their movement to know their interests?
- Did the visitor complete a call to action?
What's that? You don't have a call to action - with the exception of your contact page.
No wonder your accounting firm is not generating leads the way you had hoped.
Consider offering quality information beneficial to the reader, but don't give it away. Create a landing page with an outline of what will be received in your document. Entice the reader to believe they require that information to learn more. Next ask that website visitor to fill out a form to get the article or e-book. And, voila! Instant lead!
Now that lead is placed automatically into your CRM, for follow-up and nurturing until they are ready to buy. Not every lead will be at the point to use your services now. We're sure you understand your clients' buying process. But, since you have a complete marketing automation system, that lead will flow through the nurturing process until they are ready to buy - or deemed to be a lost lead. Hopefully, along the path you have educated that lead to want and need your service turning the lead into a sale and a long-term client.
We all know:
behind every great business is a great accountant
Make sure your accounting firm's responsive website demonstrates this and is generating leads for you. Be sure you are driving traffic to your website from your social media sites and traditional advertising sources - this will be easy, with all the content you have on the website - and we can definitely help with all of it.
You're the accountant. You crunch the numbers and let us know if you are generating the leads you had hoped to.