Content Marketing for Accounting Firms – How to Gain New Clients

By: Frank DePino | January 12, 2021

If you run an accounting firm, content creation may not be something you have a ton of experience with. In this day and age, however, digital marketing is a promising way to bring in new business.

When it comes to content marketing for accounting firms, it may not be immediately obvious how you can leverage this type of marketing in your favor. However, providing relevant and useful information to your target audience can help you find new leads and land new clients. It all depends how you approach your content.

Why Does Your Accounting Firm Need Content Marketing?

The primary focus of content marketing is to provide your firm’s target audience with high-quality content. Unlike other areas of marketing, this one doesn’t immediately translate to new appointments and clients. Instead, content marketing for accounting firms attracts and engages clients by offering them something of value. This type of digital marketing is a more long-term strategy, but it’s an effective one.

At the end of the day, your clients will likely still need your services for complicated financial matters.

However, you can help them organize their finances and educate them on tax compliance and other important issues through your content. There are a myriad of subjects your firm can cover, and both current and potential clients will appreciate your expertise.

By sharing your knowledge, you’re likely to cement brand loyalty and even attract new leads.

Well-written, well-researched content allows your firm to establish itself as authority on accounting topics. It enables you to forge new connections online, expanding your company’s reach in the process. Becoming a go-to source on financial matters benefits you in numerous ways. For one, your firm will be the one clients seek out when they need advice. They’ll also be more likely to recommend your services to others.

(Anyone coming across your platforms for the first time will also see your wealth of knowledge and be more inclined to trust you.)

So, how does your firm go about starting its content journey?

Content marketing comes in many different shapes and sizes. We’ll cover the most effective types of content you can create later. Before you begin building your firm’s game plan, however, let’s delve further into what you stand to gain from increasing your efforts in this area.

Benefits of Content Marketing

Although it takes time and dedication, content marketing reaps benefits that are well worth the effort.

Content marketing for accounting firms won’t necessarily rely on humor or trendiness to succeed. If you’re attempting to build a more socially savvy brand, however, you can use these things!

It all depends what online image you’re attempting to create.

Whatever image you piece together, one thing holds true: You’ll need to emphasize your expertise through your content and highlight how you can help people.

What are some of the benefits of getting those messages across? Here’s what successfull content marketing can do for your firm:

• Increase Visibility: Content marketing makes it more likely your firm will be noticed by your target audience. For one, if your SEO is handled properly, your company is more likely to appear in search results. If anyone in your target audience conducts a Google search about an accounting topic, your site may come up. Likewise, sharing your content on social media platforms will help potential new clients discover your firm.

• Help Build Relationships: Being active on social media and your website does more than get eyes on your company. It also offers an opportunity to connect with established clients and potential new ones. Building relationships is a critical component of scaling your business. If you’re willing to answer inquiries on social media and engage in conversations, your followers will be more likely to turn to you for accounting assistance.
  
• Improve Your Reputation: Getting your accounting firm noticed by potential clients is only half the battle. In order to win over those clients, your company needs to gain their trust. And content marketing enables you to do that. By presenting your firm as knowledgeable about relevant industry topics, you cement your place as an expert. From a client’s perspective, wouldn’t you feel better if an expert was handling your money?

Types of Content Marketing

If you’re serious about content marketing, you’ll want to give your audience a variety of options to choose from. This means covering a wide range of topics, sure, but it also involves producing content in different formats.

Like we mentioned earlier, content marketing for accounting firms will involve sharing a lot of informational, well-researched items. How you choose to share this knowledge depends on your audience and  

Some of these most common and effective types of content marketing include:

• Articles: Every company needs an internet presence nowadays, so there’s a good chance you’ve already set up a website for your firm. To increase traffic to your site, you can publish articles and blog posts discussing industry topics. This will offer your audience valuable information for free. It will also show that you’re active online and know what you’re talking about.

If you choose to craft articles and blog posts as part of your marketing strategy, SEO is key to success. There are plenty of resources available online to learn how to improve your SEO. Some of the most noteworthy things to be mindful of when creating content include:

1. Researching and using the right keywords to increase traffic to your site.
2. Including outbound and inbound links in your posts.
3. Optimizing headlines and meta descriptions with your chosen keywords.
4. Properly size your images and use names and alt text that includes your keywords.
5. Make sure your site’s loading speeds are up to Google’s standards.

• Video: More and more companies are turning to video content to appeal to their audiences these days. With video content, you’ll discuss the same topics you’d cover in a blog post — just on camera. Video enables your firm to give digestible, bite-sized nuggets of information to your audience. It will also offer content they can watch on the go or while completing other tasks.

Research from Smart Insights suggests consumers will spend 100 minutes per day watching videos in 2021. That’s a promising statistic for anyone hoping to use video to their advantage.

If your accounting firm is interested in creating videos about industry topics, there are several platforms you can use. YouTube is among the most popular, but Instagram Reels and TikTok videos also gain plenty of traction in this day and age.

Some things to consider when creating video content include:

1. How to get your message across clearly and quickly.
2. How much of your content will be scripted in advance.
3. Whether you’ll need a budget to make your videos, and if so, how much you’re willing to invest.
4. What the best run-time is for your audience.
5. Who will be featured in your videos. (Make sure it’s someone personable!)

• Ebooks: Ebooks take longer to piece together than blog posts and articles, but they give your accounting firm an opportunity. With more space to work with, you can delve deeper into financial topics for your clients. You can also require that people purchase your ebooks, adding a new source of income to your reservoir.

Having published work can also increase your firm’s credibility, which leads back to building trust with your clients. 

• Checklists: Checklists typically fall under the blogging category, but they have a different objective than your typical post. Checklists are quicker and more straightforward than long-form articles, and they help clients achieve something. For example, if a client needs to complete a specific task, your checklist can help them ensure they’ve ticked off all the necessary boxes.
  
• Guides: Like checklists, guides will help your clients achieve a certain end. These may go into further detail than a checklist, but they serve a similar purpose. Most guides will consist of step-by-step instructions to complete an objective. Guides can appear in article or video format, as long as they cover everything needed to reach the intended goal.
  
• Webinars: Content marketing all comes back to establishing your brand as an expert, and webinars are a great way to do that. Whether your firm decides to host a webinar on a specific topic or signs up to speak during another company’s presentation, the important thing is that your accountants are showcasing their expertise.

What Topics Should You Cover?

There’s no set outline for which topics your accounting firm needs to cover with its content strategy. Anything that would fall under the umbrella of finance or accounting will work, as long as you remember one important truth: There are many ways that Content Marketing for Accounting Firms can benefit prospective clients.

Some topic ideas to get you started include:

• Breaking down complex accounting terminology
• How to prepare for tax season ahead of time
• An outline of what’s tax deductible for businesses
• Advice for managing debt
• Accounting best practices
• Outlining the tax code for U.S. businesses

Whatever you wind up posting online, it should answer questions your clients have or teach them something useful.

Although you still want them to consult with your firm over major financial matters, offering resources that provide them with a better understanding of what you do will help build credibility and trust.

Creating Your Content-Marketing Strategy

Now that you understand how your accounting firm can benefit from content marketing, it’s time to start planning. Having a though-out strategy before diving in will help ensure you’re producing something of quality. It will also increase the likelihood that your firm succeeds in bringing in new business.

To start, you’ll need to determine the following before you even start creating content:

• What type of content would be best suited for your brand.
• What platforms you plan to share your content on.
• Whether anyone on your team has expertise in content marketing.
• If you plan to bring on experts in the beginning to show you how it’s done.
• What your competitors are doing.
• What goals you intend to work toward in the beginning.

Running a SWOT analysis can help answer some of these questions, highlighting your company’s strengths and weaknesses. Your firm will want to build on those strengths with its content. Meanwhile, you can determine how to work around or improve upon any weaknesses. Such deep dives into your firm can also help determine what type of content you should start with. Of course, there are other factors to consider as well.

After looking into your own company, it’s always a good idea to analyze what competitors are doing. Seeing what sort of content other accounting firms are putting out there can give you ideas. It will also give you an understanding of what works versus what doesn’t.

For example, if another accounting firm is seeing success with YouTube videos, there’s no reason to think yours wouldn’t. If accounting firms show little video traffic across the board, however, it may be time to rethink your own strategy.

Setting goals is another crucial piece of planning your content marketing strategy. If you’re unsure where you want your firm to go, you’ll have a hard time getting there. If you set concrete, measurable objectives for your company, however, you can track its progress. To measure your content’s effectiveness, you can use some of the following metrics:

• Page views
• Conversions to email subscribers
• Facebook likes and shares
• LinkedIn likes and shares
• Retweets
• Comments

These metrics may not show how your firm’s content is converting into sales, but they will demonstrate how your audience is reacting to it.

As we mentioned, content marketing is equivalent to playing the long game. You want to ensure your target audience is benefiting from what you’re putting out there. Measuring key performance indicators (KPIs) can come later.

(Alternatively, you can also measure both side by side to track progress.)

Once you’ve done some pre-content brainstorming, it’s time to test what works by putting your content out there! Since consistency does matter, many experts recommend setting up a content calendar for your company.

Using a content calendar will help your firm decide which topics to prioritize first, and which can wait until later. It will also help whoever is managing your content stay on top of things, providing an outline for how regularly to share.

In addition to scheduling your when your content is published, it’s equally important to set aside time to create it. If you’re already running your own accounting firm, it’s likely you have plenty of other tasks waiting to be handled. Content creation can fall to the wayside if you don’t factor it into your schedule.

Choosing a set day or a set number of hours to focus on content creation can make a huge difference.

Getting Started with Content Marketing for Accounting Firms

Once your content marketing strategy is in place, the only thing left to do is get to work. Planning and research are important, but the best way to determine what works for you is through trial and error. Once your firm begins churning out content, you’ll have a better idea of which areas to move ahead with.

By: Frank DePino

Frank DePino is Principal and Founder of Mediaboom. Since 2002, Frank has led Mediaboom’s award-winning staff of creative and technical professionals building the most effective marketing and advertising solutions for its clients.