I produce content for all sorts of small businesses but one area where this works really well is that of professional services generally, and specifically for accountants’ firms.
If you are an accountant or bookkeeper you may be wondering if it’s worth investing in producing content for your marketing.
My clients all say that having high-quality content drives more hits to their websites and produces many more sign-ups to newsletters and direct enquiries about specific services.
So in this post, I’d like to look at some of the sorts of content that works really well for accountancy firms.
Blogs about current issues
One of the best methods of gaining direct enquiries is to have something of value about a current topical issue that will affect your clients or potential clients.
A good example would be IR35.
As seems to be the new way that HMRC work, their publicity of this issue has been woeful and smart practices have produced blogs, newsletters, social posts and whitepapers in an effort to keep their clients informed and to drive enquiries from new leads.
A well written, informative post is more likely to gain traction with your target market.
I think we are all aware that accountancy topics are never going to be world-beaters but what we are looking for here isn’t a quantity response but more a quality response.
White papers and eBooks
These are an excellent way of gaining sign-ups and indeed you may even have signed up for something like this yourself in the past.
Yes, they take more work to put together but I’ve found that the more effort you put into something then the more response you get.
This is something of real value that people want to access and can really bring you a source of great quality leads.
After all the people that bother to give you their email addresses are quite clearly serious about the topic and are searching for information.
If you can help them in their search then they are going to be much more interested in a pre-sales approach.
In other words a ‘warm’ lead
Useful templates
This is an interesting one because it seems like you are giving people a method of doing your job.
However, what I have found is that a well-designed template can actually get people to contact you for more help.
When GDPR was on the horizon I wrote a series of articles for a client on the subject, but also we did a free download assessment template.
This allowed the company to go through their data and work out where they needed to do some work.
It also gave the client an email address.
We sent out an email thanking the person for their interest and letting them know that my client was available to help should they need it.
What they found was that their clients downloaded the form, did the work and then realised that they needed outside resource to help them complete the project.
Guess who they called?
Original research
This is an old one but it’s no less useful in the internet age and perhaps easier to do.
The great thing about producing original research is that busy sub-editors love to do publicity for you.
So for example, let’s imagine you love working with buy-to-let landlords and you produce a piece of research that said landlords were looking generally to buy more property.
I can pretty much guarantee that you would have little problems getting this into the trade press and certainly the local press.
The benefit?
Firstly you set yourself up as the subject matter expert for landlords but also you’ll find that you get a massive boost in hits to your website, this, in turn, will push you up the Google search rankings.
Imagine also the thoughts of your current clients when they find out that their accountant has produced some content that they see in the local paper business pages.
Newsletters
These are a great way of reminding your clients that you exist once a month or quarter.
Let’s be honest, many clients don’t really think about you much in their day to day business lives.
in fact what happens is that there is a specific issue such as their CT reminder popping through the door that gets them to contact you.
Content for accountants doesn’t need to be fancy though.
But writing a regular, interesting and useful newsletter keeps you at the forefront of their minds and allows you to introduce other services subtly into the conversation.
New clients, charity events, local business news, all things of general interest are good for your newsletter.
Case studies
This is probably the one type of content that I would say is an absolute essential for an accountant’s website.
They are so powerful that having a relevant and well-written case study almost makes a sale certain.
Admittedly, you will need maybe half a dozen to make it credible but they are probably the second most clicked on pages on my clients’ sites.
Video
If you are around the same age as me then you probably can’t understand the obsession with video but I promise you this is an exceptionally powerful form of content.
You have to have a certain sort of personality to be calm and insightful on video, so if this isn’t for you then don’t worry.
It’s pretty easy to get an animated video made and a professional voiceover for your words.
It doesn’t need to be long either (in fact it is better if it is short), just one point per video made simply and clearly.
Again, Google loves video and you’ll often see a video that answers a specific question right at the top of the search rankings.
Check out Doodly or Videoscribe for great whiteboard animation tools at reasonable prices.
In fact, also watch the example explainer video on the Doodly site to see what you could do.
Getting great content for your Accountants or Bookkeeping practice
These are the best types of content marketing for accountants and bookkeepers in my experience.
Having something that shows your experience and training adds credibility to your site and drives engagement from your clients.
It warms up potential leads and can get people thinking about your firm as the through leader in a specific area.
I know it’s difficult to find the time to write blogs etc and I’d like to take that problem away.
I write professional content for professional companies and if you’d like to have a chat about your particular situation then why not drop me a line?
