Who says you need an advertising agency to skyrocket new business leads? We take a look at the most effective ways to gain new clients without breaking the bank.
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How to advertise your accounting firm without βadvertisingβ
Incentivise word-of-mouth
Youβve probably already experienced how a genuine recommendation can be far more effective than paid advertising. So why not ride off this natural phenomenon and incentivise referrals? Send an email out to your clients offering anythingΒ βΒ a 10% discount, a restaurant voucher, a free one hour consultation, or even a cash incentive for referring their friends or family.
Get an award shelf
Make it a goal to apply for as many industry awards as possible. No matter how obscure the awards, a well-positioned shelf glittering with trophies will impress clients and remind visitors that youβre very good at what you do. Make a big deal of your awards. List them on your website, blog about them and email your customers about them. Plus any publicity from the award show itself is free advertising.
Shout from the rooftops
Elbow your way in front of a captive audience by blogging, talking at events, conferences and regularly sharing your opinion with industry publications. Share your professional recommendations, give advice, dissect industry news and announcements and celebrate practice wins. Showing the world that you have an interesting opinion is how you land yourself a spot as the financial specialist on say, the Today Show.
Get involved in the local community
Volunteering in the local community or sponsoring an event is more than just a nice thing to do. Itβs good for business. Itβll raise your profile and remind locals that youβre a genuinely good business thatβs located nearby. It gives you a chance to meet and connect with locals, other small business owners and potential clients.Β Donβt be shy about telling people about your good work too β thatβs part of advertising.
Have a social media account
Instagram, Facebook and Twitter are free ways to reach potential new clients. Build a following by regularly posting about your successes, opinions and community involvement. If you donβt have the time, ask an intern or a younger team member to take on the role.
Become a QuickBooks ProAdvisor
Attract new clients by skilling up inΒ accounting softwareΒ that businesses are already using,Β like QuickBooks Online. Once youβre officially trained, add your business profile to the Find A ProAdvisor listing. TheΒ listingΒ is visited by thousands of small businesses every month looking for an accounting advisor β and itβs free. Leilette Calleja, Cloud Accounting Specialist, says βthe ProAdvisor listing has been great for our business. We love the mix of quality enquiries we get for training, consulting, setups and bookkeeping. The listing gives us advertising opportunities that we normally would not have the budget for.β
Become an industry association member
When given advice on how to βfind a good financial advisorβ, prospective clients are told to check if an advisor is a member of an industry association or professional body. Joining an association is a simple way to make sure youβre considered by all potential clients. Like registering with ASIC, itβs more of a point of parity than a point of difference.Β
Unfortunately, advertising your business isnβt a once-off activity. To see a difference in the number of clients, employ several different activities to build a constant year-round presence. It also helps to offer a really good product with genuinely friendly customer service.
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