Content marketing is hugely important for accountants. According to the Content Marketing Institute, the vast majority of the best marketers spend nearly half of their budget on content marketing. So it’s worth considering for your own accounting firm.
In this article, we’re going to expound on what content marketing for accountants is, why your firm needs a content plan, and share some steps to create a strategy of your own.
What a Content Strategy Is
Content takes lots of forms in accountant marketing. Blogs, videos, podcasts and infographics are some examples. Virtually anything downloadable, watchable, readable or visual falls into this category.
A content strategy therefore sets out which content types you intend to use, which audience you intend them for, as well as when and how you will distribute the content.
This is a little different from a content calendar, which sits within your content strategy. The former sets out which topics your content will address over a defined period of time. The latter incorporates this into a wider structure identifying why and how you will do your accountant marketing.
Here are some important aspects of an accountant’s content marketing strategy:
#1 The target audience
It’s vital that your plan identifies who you are trying to reach with your content and accountant marketing as a whole. Is it a specific age group, income bracket and residential status, for instance? Is it people working within specific industries?
You might have multiple target audiences, or perhaps just one big one. Regardless, who your audience is/are will have a huge impact on your content strategy (e.g. topics selected).
#2 Problems to be solved.
Think about why you tend to consume content on the internet. Is it because it’s merely interesting? That’s part of the answer, but more often than not people are looking for an answer to their problem.
As yourself which problems your target audience face which can be addressed through the content you produce. Ideally, you want to kill two birds with one stone with your content, by both addressing those who already use you as their accountant as well as those who you hope to become clients.
#3 What makes the content unique
There are lots of accountants out there writing lots of blogs. Why would someone want to consume your content, over over firms offering good content?
This is a hard one to answer, but it’s crucial to make content work in marketing for accountants. Without some unique style, stance or approach to a distinct set of subjects, you are going to struggle to make your voice heard in a very crowded online space.
#4 Content distribution channels
How will you get your content out to your target market? Organic Facebook and Twitter posts on your business social profiles will only get you so far.
What about extending your reach with social media advertising, display ads or email marketing? What about guest posts on prominent blogs and websites, frequented by your target market?
Why Marketing For Accountants Needs A Content Strategy
Hopefully, by outlining the above it is already somewhat clear why you need a content strategy as an accountant. Yet there is another big reason why you need one: cost-effectiveness.
Think about it. If you can create a fantastic, educational video series on “top accounting advice”, and this keeps on generating brand awareness and leads for you as time goes on, then that’s much better than continuously generating new content to get the same results.
The former is more effective and a more enduring marketing asset than the latter. By planning your content carefully through a well-thought-through marketing plan, you can save your business a lot of work and expense down the line.
How To Create a Content Plan for Accountant Marketing
Here are some tips for putting together your own content strategy for your accountant marketing:
#1 Set out your objective
Why do you really want to develop a content strategy? Is it because your competitors are doing it, or because you just “feel like you should”? Or, is there a more sustainable, focused goal?
For instance, perhaps your goal is to increase the value of your business by increasing its number and quality of marketing assets. Or, perhaps you wish to reach a new target market, and this requires establishing trust in your brand through compelling, valuable content.
#2 Research your personas
We’ve touched on this earlier, but it’s important to elaborate. A successful content strategy for accountant marketing needs to have a clearly-defined target audience.
Another name for this is your “buyer personas”. These can basically be thought of as client profiles, who exemplify some of the traits, desires and needs of the kinds of clients you want to attract.
For instance, one of your buyer personas might be successful entrepreneurs in the city of London, who are likely to need help with their tax return towards the end of the financial year. Another one of your personas might be young mothers who are starting up their own business.
The number and nature of your buyer personas will heavily determine the topics you write about, the type of content you produce for your accountant marketing, where you distribute it, and how often.
#3 Find a good publishing platform
Once you know what content you’re going to produce and who for, then it’s time to carefully consider where you will publish it.
For instance, if you intend to start a blog for your accountant marketing, then you’ll need a solid content management system such as WordPress.
If you are going to be writing long-form posts on LinkedIn, then you need to know how to publish content effectively and correctly on the platform.
Alternatively, you might want to use a publishing platform like Medium. Or, if you’re going to be producing video content, you might want to consider Vimeo or YouTube.
If you are serious about content marketing, we highly recommend working with an experienced agency in accountant marketing, such as ourselves. Ultimately, tips like this are helpful for accountants, but due to limitations in time, experience and skill, can only get them so far.
If you’d like to talk through your content marketing needs and campaigns with us, then we’d be very happy to hold a free, no-obligation phone consultation with you about your marketing. Just phone the office number to speak with one of our friendly team today.
