Have you used up all your leads using referrals and local networking? It happens. Referrals and local networking are great ways to find new clients, but they are not the only things you can do. Creating an online presence through online digital marketing can generate organic leads for your accounting, bookkeeping, or financial planning business. People are looking online for your services. Show up where they are looking for your business. 

Crosby Digital Marketing helps financial service businesses establish their online marketing. Here are 16 steps to getting started with digital marketing for your accounting and bookkeeping business. Contact us today to get a marketing strategy started for your business.

1. Create a Google My Business account.

Google has recently renamed this to Google Business Profile. This should be number one for any small business. It is not time-consuming, but it is essential. Google has said this is essential for being found in searches. Google Business Profiles are based mainly on the location-based identifiers involved with GMB. A business owner simply puts their address and phone number into their Google My Business account, and then suddenly can be found in search results for “CPAs near me.” It is not enough to just list your city and state on your website. Mobile technology has become very exact, and Google is trying to produce the most accurate search results for their customers. Your GMB listing should include the services that you offer. Be specific because, again, this helps people find your business when they are searching. This listing will also be how people find your website and one of the most important ways that you can start to do review collecting (#8) and monitoring (#9). 

2. Create content that is informative to your ideal customer.

You are an expert in your field. Demonstrate that to your potential customers. There are a few principles that you should think about before getting started with content marketing. Content should be useful and add value. You are playing a long game with this, and you want people to follow your business organically. It builds trust with your brand. They are more likely to follow you on social media if they feel like you are producing things they do not want to miss. You do not always need to be aggressive with your sales message here. The 80/20 rule is a great rule to follow for social media. This means that 80% of your content should be informative, while only 20% is directly related to sales. This way, you will develop an organic following that will come to value your content and then convert to customers over time.

3. Decide the content topics that you want to create.

There are many methods for keyword research, but you are looking for quick and free. Go to Youtube.com and begin typing in a topic that you are considering creating content. Do not push enter, but rather let Youtube show you their suggestions. You can do this on Google as well, but Youtube is where people are going to learn. This process will give you a pretty good idea about what people are searching for when trying to learn about things like “small business taxes.” Video may not be your medium, and this ok. Pick a medium that works for you. If you are a writer, crank out a blog or article on the topic. If you can’t get enough of podcasts, those are awesome too. Search engines are amazing, and they can search through many types of media. You must find something that works for you, your business, and your audience.

4. Put your content where your ideal customer is paying attention to it. 

Do you want to work with business owners? Check out LinkedIn. Do you want to work with individuals who are planning for retirement? Facebook might be your place since so many people over the age of 35 prefer it. Are you interested in financial coaching and want to build up a following for videos that you are producing? You should add Instagram and Youtube to your list as well. Put your content where you find your audience. 

5. LinkedIn Marketing is important for accounting and bookkeeping marketing.

LinkedIn deserves its own section. People are using LinkedIn for self-promotion, finding employment, finding employees, networking, and learning more about topics that relate to their business. Be there. Be there to show your network that you know about accounting and you are willing to work with them. 

6. Create and optimize a website that gets the right people to contact you for your services.

It’s no longer enough just to have a website. If you just want a website, don’t pay for one. Create a free Google Business page. This is probably fine if you have a steady flow of customers, and you don’t need people to find you online. 

However, if you want people to find you online, you will need to think about the mechanics of your website. This is where knowledge of SEO comes into play (see number #13). Optimize your website for mobile. In fact, by 2025 72% of people will only use smartphones to surf the web.

7. Put your services on your website.

It is not enough to simply say that you do “accounting” or “bookkeeping.” Think about each skill that you have and turn them into products. Break your skills down into pieces that you can sell. It could mean Quickbooks training, budgeting, forecasting, consulting, taxes, tax planning, audits, payroll, advising, or even a retainer fee. It will help potential clients understand what you specialize in and do, but this also helps search engines find you easier. You are creating more possible search terms for your website, which will help your SEO in the long run.

8. Start collecting reviews.

If you are following these steps, then you have created infrastructure to build an online reputation. So now it is time to start collecting reviews. These are so important if you hope to gain customers that are not referred to you. Your Google My Business page is the number one place you should direct people to leave reviews. Google Search is where potential customers are going when they are actively ready to buy. This is the place in the customer journey where reviews are the most important. Social media reviews are good too, but often only get discovered by your network. LinkedIn is also suitable for reviews because you are marketing yourself and your services. Facebook is good if you are marketing your services to individuals and small businesses. Encourage your customers to leave reviews. People understand how critical reviews are for small businesses and are usually happy to do so. Showcase these reviews on your new website and social channels. Be proud of these because you’ve earned them!

9. Don’t forget to monitor reviews.

Review monitoring is simply responding to reviews. Respond to good reviews and bad reviews. Show you are paying attention. This will also allow you to clarify issues that come up in bad reviews.

10. Start email marketing.

Most business owners regret starting email marketing too late. Start list-building early-- start collecting emails now. We have a guide that goes more in-depth into this process. Showcase the informative and valuable content that you have been producing. This is a great way to stay connected to past, present, and future clients. 

11. Promote specials.

Tell people about specials and promotions that you have going on. Many accounting professionals want to fill their schedules before tax season gets too crazy. Others might want to stir up more business in a slow month. Promote your specials. At this point, you have ways to do this. Create a page on your website describing the promotion, special, or package. Then post about it on your social media channels and newsletters. 

12. Invest in paid ads.

We recommend Google Search Ads here. Check out our reasons why here.  Google PPC ads are great because you are showing up exactly when and where people are searching for your services. Facebook ads are also suitable if you are on a tighter budget, but these are more effective for branding and name recognition. So you might not see a high measurable return. 

13. Keep working on SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

You might not have realized that you were working on SEO yet, but you have been. The second you launched your website, Google started keeping tabs on your website. Every time you update your website with relevant information you are gaining ground with your SEO. Your SEO improves when traffic comes to your website and spends time reading and using your content. You will not notice changes overnight. It is a long game. But a few months later, you might see that your business is ranking higher and higher for your desired keywords. There is no quick and easy way to improve SEO, and it is hard work. But it is an investment that will hopefully allow your business to get organic traffic. It’s just as important to keep building relevant content and consistently updating your website, so search engines like Google and Bing decide it is a good and relevant website.

14. Consider creating a FAQ page.

Voice search is on the rise, which means that people are phrasing their searches as questions rather than topics. Start planning for this. It is also an excellent way to build authority.

15. Create a lead magnet.

People are much more comfortable participating in video conferencing than ever before. This is a great way to talk to a group of people at once and show off what you know. It allows you to teach about a topic and integrate some information about specific services that you can provide. A great time to try this out is before tax season because people have accounting and bookkeeping most on their minds. 

16. Host a webinar.

People are much more comfortable to participate in video conferencing than ever before. This is a great way to talk to a group of people at once and show off what you know. It allows you to teach about a topic and integrate some information about specific services that you can provide. A great time to try this out is before tax season because that is when people have accounting and bookkeeping most on their mind. 

We help financial service providers with their marketing and advertising. 

We hope this guide will help you build an accounting empire using digital marketing tactics. We know you are busy with your clients, so consider Crosby Digital Marketing if you need help setting up and running an advertising and marketing plan for your accounting business. Contact us today to learn more about our services.

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