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how CPAs can use inbound marketing

By david peters, Cpa

I have a quick trigger finger. I have to confess

that I take pride in how fast I can delete junk email out of my inbox each morning. Sales solutions? Delete. New financial products? Bang! Gone with the click of a button. Consulting services that can grow my business? Not worth my time. I am not much better with television or radio commercials. I watch most of my television on demand, and I tend to steer away from shows that won’t let me fast-forward through commercials.

I can’t imagine that I’m much different from most people. With more on-demand entertainment and instantaneous information, we are used to getting what we want right away. No fluff — just what we want, exactly when we want it. If you are a consumer, it’s great. However, from a business standpoint, this trend makes things tough.

how do you get noticed when technology is making it ever easier for customers to avoid you?

One potential solution that has been become popular is inbound marketing. While outbound marketing efforts, like television advertising and email blasts, are aimed at finding customers, inbound marketing efforts are aimed at helping customers find you. Blogs, search engine optimization and webinars make it easier for a customer to identify you when they are looking for your product. If I am looking for a good tax accountant and I see a blog about small business tax credits, I am more likely to seek out the services of the CPA who wrote it. Inbound marketing efforts target customers who are already looking for your product.

While inbound marketing is conceptually simple, it is hard to do well. Most financial services firms have shied away from it. Some worry that blogs could leave the firm open to liability due to the perception that they are giving financial advice. Others worry that they could be giving away their “secret sauce” if they put too much content online. However, this reluctance results in many financial services websites that all look the same to the consumer. While face-to-face conversations and referrals may still be the best way to build a client base, more and more consumers are becoming comfortable with buying services online. While we could fight this, it seems more practical to give people what they want — more information about us and our services at their fingertips.

But how do we do this? In the book “Youtility” by Jay Baer, the author implores companies to be more useful to their consumers. By simply being helpful, a business becomes top of mind when customers consider their product. For a financial services firm, being useful could mean lots of things. Putting more forms online, such as fact finders or yearly tax organizers, can be useful to clients. That way, they don’t have to reach out to the firm to figure out what they need for an initial meeting.

While we certainly need to be mindful of laws, a company can still post content about general financial matters online, such as common tax deductions. Online portals allowing clients to submit documents more easily could also be a possibility. Online chat options are becoming more popular with banks. Even providing information on price ranges for services, or the type of client that the company specializes in, could be useful to potential consumers. By doing these things, we increase our usefulness. The easier we make it for the potential client to interact with us, the more they will gravitate toward us.

This is not to say that inbound marketing can exist solely on its own. Traditional outbound marketing efforts like television advertising are still effective in creating consumer awareness. However, if used effectively, inbound marketing can have a pivotal role within the marketing mix of a financial services firm.

You don’t need to necessarily be innovative — just useful to your consumers. Make yourself easy to find, and customers will find you. n

DAViD Peters, CPA, is the strategic relationship manager and financial advisor for Carroll Financial Inc., in Charlotte, N.C. He is also an adjunct professor in accounting, insurance and ethics, a doctoral student in financial planning and sits on the Disclosures Editorial Task Force. dpeters@carrollfinancial.com connect.vscpa.com/DavidPeters www.carrollfinancial.com

The information discussed herein is general in nature and provided for informational purposes only. There is no guarantee as to its accuracy or completeness. Nothing in this article constitutes an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy any type of securities. Registered Representative of and securities offered through Cetera Advisors Network, LLC, Member SIPC/FINRA. Advisory services offered through Carroll Financial Associates, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor. Carroll Financial and Cetera Advisors Network, LLC are not affiliated.