4 Marketing Mistakes Accountants Make

Hey 👋 - Brandon here.

Happy Saturday to 1,409 growth-minded accountants.

Here’s one growth tip for you and your firm.

Today’s issue takes less than 5 minutes to read.

Today I’m going to explain how you can start (or enhance) your digital marketing.

My firm is built off the back of digital marketing. I got into the content game early-on and have since reaped the benefits. We consistently receive 300+ web form submissions per month, of which roughly 70% we’d consider “qualified” for a sales call.

When I talk about marketing, I often hear things like:

“I don’t need this, clients just come to me”

or

“With the accountant supply shortage, selling is so easy”

But imagine knowing that you could consistently generate 100, 200, or 300 leads per month. It would enable you to better plan cash flow, manage capacity, and hire well in advance of the need.

That’s the power of marketing.

Unfortunately, many firm owners give up on new marketing efforts too soon.

It’s hard to learn a new skill

Marketing is not in our DNA. We are accountants! Number crunchers! Financial masterminds!

But you can learn marketing quickly if you avoid these common mistakes:

• Marketing sporadically and lacking consistency

• Not understanding distribution channels

• Failing to track data and make data-driven decisions

• Not understanding who are you are targeting

Here’s how to get started:

Step 1: Define your “client avatar”

Your client avatar defines the “who” you market to.

Ideally, you define this avatar so well that know their pains, goals, habits, what makes them happy/sad, belief systems, what scares them, etc.

When you can get super clear on who you are avatar is, marketing to them gets a lot easier.

It will start to feel less like marketing and more like helping a long-time friend.

A trick I use when creating content is to visualize my avatar(s) and write stories that they will resonate with. This process helps me keep my content on a more personal and real level.

Step 2: Understand ALL the pains your client avatar(s) have

When people feel pain, they are motivated to find a solution.

If you want to up your marketing game, think through all of the possible pains your avatar might have.

And here’s the secret:

The more pains you can identify that are unrelated to tax and accounting, the more avenues you’ll see to not only help your ideal client with life in general, but also win their business.

For example, assume you are working with small business clients.

A rookie marketer might focus solely on the pains related to tax and accounting. A more experienced marketer knows the small business owner often struggles with marital issues and spending enough time with kids.

Realizing this opens up a whole new world for you - you could talk about the best workflow tools you’ve used to save time or how you’ve built an early morning wake-up habit that adds 2 hrs to you’re day.

The best marketing relates so closely to the target avatar that they are left thinking:

“Wow… they really get me.”

Step 3: Pick one channel to create content on for 6 months

Consistency is key, and narrowing your focus will help.

You can market on all channels possible: social media, podcast, email, FB ads, Google Ads, etc. etc. etc.

I believe it’s better to focus on one distribution platform at a time, master it, and then move on to the next. Social media is a great place to start because your content is instantly distributed to thousands of people.

But whatever platform you choose, stick with it for no less than 6 months.

Consistency builds strong habits, and strong habits create great marketers.

That's all for this Saturday. See you next week.

Whenever you're ready, here's how I can help you.

→ Work with me 1:1 to grow your firm (now accepting waitlist coaching applications)

See you again next week.

Cheers,

Brandon

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