Inbound Marketing – The Future for Marketing an Accounting Practice

Inbound marketing has become the gold standard for marketing an accounting practice. The idea is simple – define your dream customer and then create content specifically designed to attract and delight your dream customer. The tactics are tougher than traditional direct response marketing (aka – outbound marketing) and take more time to create a head of steam but after it's done properly, it's so much easier to generate leads and sustain your marketing.

In today's marketplace, the customer has so many more choices and is better informed about their purchase decisions. With the internet, today's modern customer can research and vet the best accountants that suit their specific needs just like searching for a resort destination or selecting the best restaurant while on vacation. The same methods that they used to plan their summer vacation can now be applied to their search for a lawyer, doctor and accountant.

In years past, most accounting firms relied upon cold call telemarketing, door knocking and yellow page advertising to generate leads. Unfortunately, the intrusive nature of cold calling and door knocking have made these marketing tactics less desirable and harder to sustain. Think about it, when was the last time you purchased something from a cold call solicitor? Or took a door knocker seriously? In today's world, the internet has replaced yellow page advertising as today's customer wants more information at their fingertips before picking up the phone to call a business.

Here are some facts:

1. Inbound marketing costs 62% less per lead than traditional outbound marketing. (Source – Hubspot).

2. 80% of business decision makers prefer to get company information in a series of articles rather than an advertisement. (Source – CMO.com).

3. 93% of buying processes start with an online search for information, options and best practices. This is why it is so important to be near the top of Google, Bing and Yahoo when your target audience is searching to hire an accountant. If people can't find your firm, you will not be considered. (Source – Marketo).

4. Companies that blog 1-2 times per month generate up to 70% more leads than companies that don't. (Source – Hubspot).

In short, inbound marketing is a magnetic marketing strategy that requires a proactive approach to pull prospects into your accounting practice instead of reactively interrupting them with annoying messages and praying for leads.