In a sector such as accounting, standing out from the crowd is key. When your clients (and potential clients) are faced with a number of solutions for their business and accounting needs, it’s vital to set yourself apart from the competition! But how do you spread the word about just how great your practice is?
Our centralised marketing team works alongside several ETL GLOBAL UK Partner Firms to establish solid content marketing strategies that connect their clients with relevant, valuable and informative content about accounting, specific expertise, and the firm as a whole.
Find out more below, as one of our Content Writers, Alice Bartholomew, shares some of her top tips and advice about how leveraging content effectively could elevate your 2024 marketing strategy…
Perhaps it’s time to consider the value of a content marketing strategy in consolidating your status. This is an effective method to attract, engage and retain clients, by distributing a variety of content that piques interest and addresses pain points.
A comprehensive and robust content strategy supports your company’s services, image and expertise, and can be leveraged further than simply sharing informative articles about tax and accounting (as exciting a read as they are!). It can be used to place your firm at the forefront of innovative topics from your sector and beyond, and also to put the spotlight on the people behind your practice, showcasing your company culture.
If the new tax year seems like an opportunity to refresh your marketing practices, why not incorporate content marketing into this? To inspire you, we’ve shared some of our top tips for establishing a solid and impactful content marketing strategy for your accountancy practice.
1. Own your niche
Whether your firm specialises in media and entertainment, owner managed businesses, franchising or private client services, everyone has a niche. Emphasising the particular sector or area of accounting that your firm specialises in will set your content marketing strategy apart from other firms. This could be simply by using relevant news topics to emphasise your expertise in the industry, or through more extensive guides about how your team can support specific businesses/individuals.
2. Keep it varied
As we’ve already mentioned, a content marketing strategy offers the scope for extremely varied topics! Depending on the brand image you want to portray for your firm, the possibilities are endless. A good place to start could be by assessing your company’s key goals for the upcoming months, for example, if you are:
- pushing recruitment
Sharing content about what it’s like to work at your firm (e.g., a day in the life); celebrating employee achievements; or amplifying testimonials from team members.
- driving business into one particular area of your service offering
Sharing topics specific to that area with a targeted call to action at the end; placing your firm at the forefront of relevant discussions within the area; or sharing client testimonials for the specific services.
- raising the profile of your firm
Getting involved with breaking accounting/tax news or topics related to your niche; introducing team members to showcase their expertises and passions; or publishing case studies.
3. Understand your target audience
Inevitably, a varied strategy will need to reach a varied audience, and it’s vital that you adapt each piece of content to suit the people reading it. Tone of voice will play a key role in how effectively your efforts are received by the targeted audience.
Think about it; the tone of voice used to attract school-leavers to your apprenticeship schemes will differ significantly from the business owners who you’re trying to sell your bookkeeping services to. We’d recommend including tones of voice for different target audiences in the guidelines of your content marketing strategy, ensuring that your message resonates effectively with each.
4. Create a content calendar…
Once you have formulated your content marketing strategy, we would recommend mapping it out on a content calendar. This will not only enable you to visualise the content plan for the next couple of months, but it will allow your colleagues to do the same, keeping everyone up to speed with what will be shared. Although you can still edit the calendar as you go along, it will allow you to implement deadlines for different campaigns, and track how successful the strategy is.
5. …But make sure it’s adaptable
The current political and economic landscape often means that things can change overnight. To keep up with this, an adaptable calendar is fundamental. For example, if the government announces a tax update that’s relevant to your clients, you may want to reshuffle your calendar to publish a news piece about it as soon as possible. Staying on top of relevant and innovative topics are key to your strategy’s success, and will require an adaptable plan.
6. Make the visuals count
Whether you’re sharing written, video, or audio content it’s vital that you consider the aesthetics. Using your firm’s brand guidelines as a springboard to design creative and innovative artwork accompanying your content will help to drive the impact of each campaign. This will not only enhance the visual appeal of your content, but will also reinforce brand identity and drive the impact of each campaign forward.
Now you’ve got the content, you need to guide people to it. Watch this space for guidance about utilising the power of SEO and social media to drive interaction from clients and beyond!
If you would like to find out more about how our content marketing services could contribute to your firm’s success, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with Emma Martin at emma.martin@etl-uk.com.
