Is your accounting firm prepared for a pandemic? If you want to know how to promote your accounting firm in these terrible times, then this article is for you.
Five years ago, in April 2015, Bill Gates famously declared that humankind is incapable of surviving the next pandemic. And, boy, was he right! Coronavirus has spread across the globe – destabilising economies, healthcare, and people’s lives in general.
If only we had listened to Mr Gates and done something about it. But who knew?
Natural disasters are a major concern for every business. It is a huge problem that can wipe everything out by shaking the economy of the world. Living in a digital world makes us a bit fortunate. It can lessen the potential impact of such an event.
While Coronavirus has caused severe health and humanitarian crises, businesses across the globe face many challenges such as supply chain interruptions, the collapse of customer demand, unemployment, and increased uncertainty.
However, this also allows businesses from all domains to boost customer engagement and maintain brand reputation online.
Tips on how to promote your accounting firm during a pandemic
Traditional marketing channels such as direct mail, billboards and face-to-face client visits are no longer apt because of this world public health crisis. Therefore, online touchpoints are the best way to stay connected with your target audience when you have to maintain social distancing and self-quarantine at home.
You see, people are hypersensitive to brands who disregard the current situation. Therefore, stop doing any campaigns which are run on autopilot. Instead, leverage the power of digital marketing for accountants and execute tailor-made organic and paid digital campaigns that will fetch you more fabulous sales and increased revenues.
Highlighted below are six effective ways to promote your accounting firm during a pandemic.
1. Create an informative website
Having a website is the norm these days. The question is – how many sites are ranking on search engines and if they are ranking, then how much sales are they getting through inbound?
An informative website can help your target audience understand your message clearly. Focus on answering the problems you can solve, how you can solve them, and who can benefit from your services in this time of need.
If your brand messaging comes across to be reliable on your website, then you can garner much interest and in turn, boost your conversions.
2. Optimise your website for SEO
Do you know Google receives 3.5 billion search queries every day? This is the reason why you should promote your accounting firm through SEO. If you want to increase the visibility of your website on search engines like Google and stay there permanently for free, optimise your accounting firm’s website for SEO.
SEO is a very sophisticated way, so don’t expect any results overnight. It takes time to rank depending on the search volume and competition of your website. We understand that many SEO myths make you sceptical. But if you want 100 per cent real and genuine leads, don’t ignore SEO.
Pro tip: Create a landing page like Yell on COVID 19 update and optimise it with content that shows empathy. Talk about other professionals (like doctors, nurses, charities, police force) who are working day and night to fight this pandemic. Show your gratitude.
Don’t promote yourself everywhere in the name of empathy. Promote that landing page on social media and via email. Let your customers know that we are all in this together and we will win!
3. Try paid marketing
Pay Per Click advertising is a faster way to increase the visibility of your business website as you only have to pay for each click (CPC) or views (CPM). If your cost per lead is less than the cost per click, then you should invest in PPC for faster results.
Cost per click – CPC
Cost per thousand impression – CPM
You can contact us for a no-commitment, free consultation to discuss the potential of paid advertising for your accounting firm.
4. Power of effective content marketing
Content marketing is a highly effective way to promote your accounting firm to increase brand awareness, leads and sales. Many businesses do content marketing, but the success rate is often not that high. They face several challenges while implementing it.
We can help you to plan your content marketing strategy to improve your brand engagement and eventually, ROI.
Pro tip: Educate your target audience by publishing content on how specifically your industry is affected by COVID 19 pandemic and how you are helping your customers.
5. Get started with social media marketing
In the UK, there are 45 million active social media users, and the average user spends only 1 hour 50 minutes on the platforms. That is huge, right? Optimise your social media profiles with all the details of your business and post relevant content that your users want to see.
Measure the engagement of each post and promote the most engaged via paid advertisement.
Pro tip: Don’t spend money on every social media platform. It will burn a hole in your pocket. Instead, keep an eye on your profiles and measure which social media platform fetches you more engagement.
If you want experts to handle your social media marketing, then we are here to help you promote your accounting firm.
6. Stay connected with your customers through email marketing
Do let your target audience know what your accounting firm is doing to address this Coronavirus pandemic. Ask them about their concerns or expectations in this crisis and how you can help them with that.
Even a simple email can be handy, saying ‘Thank you for staying with us irrespective of this pandemic.’ Gratitude is a compelling mantra for success, especially in times of distress.
7. Offer something valuable in each email
Before sending anything out, think from a consumer perspective and check whether the email offers some tangible value, be it educational or entertaining or promoting high-quality eBooks that your potential customers would want to buy. Check whether any additional copy could make the email more valuable, such as a postscript or an extra graphic.
Summing it up
There will soon come a time when things will go back to normal, and normal will be the ‘new normal.’
Cafes will be full. Flight tickets will be sold out.
And your customers will search for things that they have always been searching for, i.e., you!
Therefore, use this time to build a focused, achievable strategy that will fetch results even after the pandemic gets over.
