Marketing is an essential tool when it comes to building a business and acquiring customers.

The problem that gets in the way is that most people think their industry is “too boring” to possibly market in a way that gets customers excited.

They look at brands like Nike and think, “Oh, it’s easy to market something like that,” completely overlooking the fact that all Nike really sells is workout clothes.

One industry that could use a shakeup in its marketing is accounting.

How Can Accounting Be Interesting?

The benefit that accounting has over other industries is that pretty much every single American citizen needs an accountant at some point or another.

While almost everyone needs it, most people still do not know the basics and worry about:

“What can I write off?”
“How much do I owe?”
“Did I pay enough in quarterly taxes?”

It grows more complicated when people work for themselves or have a side-hustle and don’t know where to begin with the tax rules.

A quick glance around the internet reveals mainly Excel spreadsheets and dry, industry language. Most of the articles and blogs slightly resemble the teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

Speak the Language of Your Customers

One of the first rules in marketing is about getting rid of your industry language and instead talking the way your target market would. They aren’t asking about 1040 forms, they want to have security, know generally what they’re doing, and avoid any audits.

It is your job as the expert to take your years of experience and make it easy to understand. Making it interesting is how you build your band.

One company trying to have fun with the accounting industry is Xero. It is a simple one-stop shop for invoicing, viewing your accounts, and keeping taxes as simple as possible.

They take all of the hard, confusing accounting work and make it simple so business owners know where they stand financially.

This is just one example of a company that truly understands their customers. They know that people don’t want to do the hard work themselves and want it as easy as possible to understand.

Xero spends no time trying to explain things to customers; they do the hard work for them. Instead of going into detailed accounting jargon they place the focus on features that business owners (their customers!) can relate to.

When people take their cars in for a repair, they rarely want to understand how something works, they just want it fixed without being ripped off. Customers want the same thing from you as an accounting professional.

How to Market Your Accounting Services

Out of all the accountants out there, what makes you stand out?

If you want to make your accounting company stand out amongst the others, here are some ideas:

1. Decide who you want to work with

Since almost everyone needs an accountant, you can segment the type of customers you want to work with. The messaging strategy for attracting a younger demographic compared to CEO’s, is different, but when you do so, you become the obvious choice for that targeted group.

Once you decide the type of customer you want to work with, it will be easier to tailor your online content to attract them to your business.

2. Tell your story

There’s probably a reason you’re interested in accounting and how you got started. Stories are an essential part in building a brand on the internet.

Along with your own story, you can tell stories about clients you have helped in the past, new tax laws being implemented, or financial news in general.

3. Share your tips in a fun way

If you are trying to explain something and it doesn’t make sense to a high school student, then what you’re saying is simply too complicated.

You have to learn to break down your information into easily consumable and actionable content.

Some ideas include:

• Easier ways to invoice clients
• Simple ways to track expenses
• Write-off 101
• Tax information every business owner needs to know

Packaging this kind of information into easily digestible chunks will immediately make you stand out in this industry.

Many accountants have been in their own industry for so long, they forget that most people don’t have the same knowledge about tax information. They disregard information that they deem “common knowledge”, forgetting that most people might not know.

4. Become the go-to resource

When you become known for helping people and providing a ton of value, this establishes your foot in the market place as the go-to person for accounting services.

This pushes all your competitors out of the way because the customer finds you valuable.

Like Where We’re Going with This?

If you enjoyed this article then stay tuned for the rest of our series illuminating these professions sometimes thought of as ‘boring’. Some of our highlighted fields in this series will include:

• Dentistry
• Auto Repair
• Apartment Rentals
• IT Repair & Security

Please leave your comments below and feel free to suggest an industry that you would like profiled! We look forward to bringing you these fresh perspectives and hearing your feedback, thanks!