Over the years, Accountancy firms as a whole have massively broadened their horizons through the ever expanding digital world, especially in terms of marketing their services.
Technology has opened up many new doors for this particular industry, grasping lots of new communication channels to interact with and secure potential new customers. For Accountancy and many other industries, they must embrace the technology, commercial and economic changes in order to progress with their customers to generate leads and enable success.
The process of finding new business is defined as Lead Generation, something that is a vital practice in this day and age. Leads are an individual or company that shows interest in the service or product you provide. Time has changed dramatically overtime as not even that many years ago lead generation consisted of the long winded and arguably dreaded cold calling, previously purchased lists, and a good old fashioned meeting in person. But, the advances in technology means it is much easier and more time efficient to target the correct people rather than targeting pretty much everyone. Which in reality, is not very rewarding.
We have social media and various search engine platforms to thank for this revolutionary shift in behaviour, enabling businesses of every kind and size to generate large quantities of genuine leads.
Whether you're a firm just getting started, or whether you have a huge high flying client base, here are 4 lead generation ideas you can implement today:
Effective Website
It is absolutely imperative that your website is an accurate representation of your company and everything it stands for and believes in as this is more often than not the first run in many leads will have with your business. So the first impression has to be a good one!
Appearance - Clear branding and benefit driven headlines are the elements that instantly determine whether prospects are going to explore your business further, or to give it a wide birth.
Content – There is no substitute for in-depth, high quality website content. This could be on your website and also through the likes of blog articles.
Testimonials – Testimonials are one of the most powerful ways to build a credible reputation and trust. This is proof that you are providing a great service to your clients, enough for them to even go out of their way and write a review. Don't hold back on these testimonial statements and utilise this priceless marketing tool as much as you can!
Navigation – A bad navigational user experience is what could ultimately drive prospects in the opposite direction. No one wants to waste their time on a slow site with hard to locate pages. Easy and simple is the way forward. A basic layout with your primary services on full view is what people are looking for. Never overcomplicate the situation.
Call-To-Action – A call-to-action is the critical point in which you will really get to know if someone is interest in what you offer. Therefore this button must be clear with an obvious specific instruction. This could be to call you, to download some content or to subscribe to your blog. Whatever it may be, make it easy, make it feasible and make it accessible.
Social Media
Facebook:
- Run targeted Facebook ads - This will help you target a specific niche by sending your paid ads to users that are likely to be interested in your product or service, rather than exposing your business to just anyone.
- Look for fan pages - There are fan pages for pretty much anything in the world, so this is the perfect starting point in locating prospects.
Twitter:
- Retweets – Retweets are the easiest way to get referrals and to expand your following. You may have to offer a small reward in return for people retweeting, but you can't put a price of genuine referrals, so don't be tight, it's worth it.
- Twitter ads – Twitter ads allow you to target specific accounts, areas and locations making it a great way to get your Accountancy firm out there to the locals that may be interested.
- Hashtags – Hashtags are fantastic as they work both ways. You as a business can search for hashtags to find prospects, but the prospects can also search hashtags to find what they're looking for. Definitely a trick that shouldn't be ignored!
YouTube:
- Start your own channel – Starting your own YouTube channel could be just the thing your Accountancy firm is crying out for. This is one of the greatest sources of traffic to your website through relevant, interesting and knowledgeable content. Video marketing is the future.
Keywords
As there are hundreds of Accountancy firms up and down the country making the competition rife, it is unbelievably important that you target the correct keywords. If done wrong, this is the thing that could potentially destroy your online presence. You must steer clear of the negative keywords and focus on the specifics that you are targeting. This could be “Accountants + location” which is a strong starting point.
Backlinks
According to jetpackworkflow.com, listing a company on a minimum of ten business directories can put you ahead of 80% of your peers in terms of search engine rankings. Therefore, it would be a good idea to take an hour or so out of your hectic schedule to pencil this on to your to-do list!
Hopefully this article has helped you understand the importance of Lead Generation for accountancy firms and its purpose. If you have any queries, please comment below or call us on 01332 343281 for an informal chat.
