Digital marketing for accountants: 9 strategies to grow your firm

Accountants spend years learning their trade and honing their skills. But in today’s digital-first world, expertise alone isn’t enough to guarantee success. To build a loyal client base, those clients first need to know you exist, what you offer, and why they should choose to work with you. This is where digital marketing comes in. 

Digital marketing puts your accounting services in the digital shop window. It helps you engage with potential clients and stand out from the crowd. In short, it’s essential to the long-term growth and success of your firm. 

In this article, we’ll provide some tips on digital marketing for accountants that help attract new clients. We’ll also explain how you can improve operational efficiency by using the right digital marketing tools. 

Why digital marketing is essential for accountants

Accounting is a competitive industry. With more than 85,000 accounting practices in the US, including around 46,000 CPA firms, you need to convince clients to choose your business over any other. With 99% of people using the internet to find local businesses, it’s clear that digital marketing plays a central role in your firm’s success.

However, accountants face specific challenges when marketing their firms, including: 

• A strong need to build trust, credibility, and reputation
• Services and processes that are relatively complex and arcane
• Cautious clients who are anxious to make the right choice
• The perception of the industry as boring or overly formal 

This makes establishing a solid and credible online presence even more important. Digital marketing helps you overcome these challenges and communicate the who, what, why, and how of your firm clearly and effectively. When done well, it results in the following benefits: 

Increased visibility and brand awareness

Digital marketing enables you to connect with potential clients where they spend most of their time: online. It expands your firm’s reach, helping you engage people who may not have found you otherwise. 

Through a combination of content marketing, SEO, social media, and targeted digital communications, you can build brand awareness and position yourself as a trusted expert. As CPA Katie Thomas explains in a recent LinkedIn post, the key to increasing visibility of your firm is “showing up where your audience is.”: 

Client engagement

Through digital marketing, you can engage directly with potential clients in various ways. You can create video content, invite people to webinars, host an accounting podcast, or spark conversations on social media. All of these touchpoints help build stronger relationships. They position your firm as a valuable resource and industry leader. 

Streamlined processes

Digital marketing doesn’t have to be a time-consuming slog. Just like accounting itself, there are countless tools you can use to streamline and automate the manual processes involved in attracting and converting leads. 

For example, you can use marketing automation tools to automate email and social media campaigns. Once a client commits, you can onboard them seamlessly using accounting practice management software like TaxDome. At every touch point, you can guarantee a slick, digital experience that makes your firm stand out.

Effective digital marketing strategies for accounting firms

Digital marketing is a broad discipline that comprises many different strategies. In this section, we’ll look at some of the most effective examples. Each example in this list enables you to engage with potential clients in a unique way. When combined, they form a powerful blueprint for driving interest and growth.

1. Create engaging and informative blog content

When it comes to digital marketing for accountants, blogging is often one of the first strategies that comes to mind — and for good reason. With nine out of ten marketers using blog content to achieve their goals, it remains the most popular content format.

What’s more, blogging is relatively accessible. You don’t need expensive equipment or technical skills to write an article. That said, there’s more to effective blog writing than meets the eye. Here are some tips for writing blog posts that drive engagement and leads:

Choose relevant and useful topics

Remember who you are writing for — your current and potential clients. With this in mind, choose blog topics that will genuinely interest your target audience. Cover important topics they need to know about, but do so in a way that is accessible and concise. 

Below are some topics you could consider. Bear in mind, however, that the right topics will depend on the type of clients you serve. Individuals will have different needs and interests than businesses, for example: 

• Tax deadlines and key dates to remember
• Changes to tax laws and how they affect the taxpayer
• Common accounting mistakes and their solutions
• Tips for how to improve cash flow
• The tax implications of different business structures

Focus on readability

While writing is a universal skill, blog writing involves a specific type of writing that may be unfamiliar to most accountants. To write engaging blog posts, you’ll need to forget a lot of the rules you’ve learned along the way and embrace a more concise, snappy style. Here are some best practices to follow: 

• Use clear and concise language
• Break text down into small paragraphs
• Improve readability with bullet points, subheadings, lists, etc.
• Include images, video content, infographics, and other visual elements

Ensure that your blog posts perform

Blog writing isn’t just about imparting information in an engaging way. You need to make sure your blog post “performs”. By this, we mean that your articles help you achieve your goal of attracting new clients. Here are some tips you can follow: 

• Including relevant keywords to help drive organic traffic to your blog (more on that later!)
• Add internal and external links to improve SEO, enhance the user experience, and establish credibility 
• Spread the word on social media to get your content in front of as many eyes as possible
• Encourage readers to take the next step with well-placed calls to action (CTAs) — e.g. “Book a call”

2. Drive organic traffic with search engine optimization (SEO)

Your website is the digital home of your business. It’s where potential clients come to browse your services, check your prices, and make a decision on whether they want to work with you or not. But unlike a high-street store, potential clients can’t walk past your website on the way to the gym. This is why you need SEO.

By optimizing your website for SEO, you can ensure that eager leads find it when they enter certain keywords in search engines like Google. The higher your website ranks on search engines, the more visitors it will get — and SEO is how you make this magic happen. 

So how exactly do you optimize your website? Here are some key areas to focus on: 

Keyword research

Keyword research is the process of choosing which keywords to optimize your website for. Keywords are the words or phrases that you want your website to rank for when leads type them into a search engine like Google. Below, we can see search results for the keyword “Tax accountant in Dallas.” 

The keywords you choose should be highly relevant to your business. You can use tools such as SEMrush or Ahrefs to generate keyword ideas, understand search volume, and identify how difficult it will be to rank for them. 

Some keywords are relatively short and have a high search volume. For example, “Tax services”. These are known as short-tail keywords. The benefit of targeting short-tail keywords is that lots of people use them. The flip side of this, however, is that they are highly competitive, making it more difficult to rank highly for them. 

Other keywords are longer and more specific. For example, “Tax preparation for freelancers”. These are known as long-tail keywords. They have a lower search volume, but as a result, they are less competitive. Because they are more specific, long-tail keywords tend to attract more qualified, high-intent traffic. 

Keyword placement 

Now you know which keywords you plan to target, it’s time to place them strategically throughout your website. Bear in mind that you can target different keywords for different pages on your website. For example, “Accountant in Dallas” might work for a homepage, but something more specific — like “Tax preparation in Dallas” might be necessary for your “services” webpage. 

So where exactly should you place your keywords? Here are some best practices to follow: 

• Title tags: place your primary keyword close to the start of your title tag
• Meta descriptions: include your primary keyword in your meta description to improve click-through rates
• Headers and subheaders: place keywords in your H1s (main header), H2s, and H3s
• URLs: Incorporate main keywords in your webpage URLs 
• Body content: use keywords naturally throughout website copy and blog posts

On the last point, it’s important not to overdo keyword placement. When keywords are used too frequently — known as “keyword stuffing” — it makes the content look unnatural and can even lead Google to penalize your website. 

Create high-quality, valuable content

Once Google has identified search results that are highly relevant to the keyword in question, it prioritizes those results based on how useful they appear to be. In Google’s own words, it looks for content that “demonstrates expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness.” 

One way you can prove to Google that your website provides deep value to visitors is to create content that is unique, well-written, and informative. If you are writing blog posts, for example, make sure you demonstrate your expertise in an engaging way. 

Internal linking

Internal links enable website visitors to click through from one webpage to another. This improves website navigation and UX, helping visitors find relevant information faster. It’s also a key factor in SEO. Linking to and from other relevant pages on your website helps distribute authority across your site, allowing higher-ranking pages to boost the authority of other pages. 

When adding internal links, make sure the anchor text — i.e. the clickable text of the link — relates to the page it links to. See the example below from Dallas CPA firm Haynie & Company. Users can click through to relevant service pages (audit, tax, etc.) from the firm’s “About” page. 

External linking

As the name suggests, external links enable website visitors to navigate to external domains. While we don’t want users to leave your website, adding high-quality external links to authoritative websites can help boost SEO. 

External links work particularly well in blog posts. You can use them to highlight the source of certain statistics or to provide visitors with further information on important subjects. For example, if you are writing an article on how to complete an IRS form, it makes sense to link to the IRS’s official guidance. 

Remember: the key is to link to high-authority websites. Think professional accounting bodies, government agencies, major industry publications, or popular news sites. 

Backlinking 

All of the SEO strategies we’ve discussed so far relate to what’s known as on-page SEO — i.e. changes you can make to the elements that make up your web pages. To improve your website ranking, however, you’ll also need to focus on off-page SEO. 

Off-page SEO refers to activities that take place outside of your website in an attempt to increase its ranking. One of the best ways to boost your off-page SEO is by acquiring high-quality backlinks. These are links from other websites to yours. Focus on acquiring backlinks from reputable, authoritative sources. You can do this by: 

• Writing guest blog posts
• Engaging in link exchanges
• Adding your website to professional directories
• Working with accounting influencers
• Participating in industry events

Technical SEO 

Technical SEO focuses on optimizing your website’s backend and infrastructure. It aims to improve its overall performance and indexability from a technical perspective, making it easier for Google to understand and rank. Here are some technical SEO best practices: 

• Optimize your site’s speed. Improve load times by compressing images, leveraging browser caching, and minifying CSS, JavaScript, and HTML files. 
• Ensure that your site is mobile-friendly. Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning how your website performs on mobile devices is crucial to its ranking. Make sure your website is responsive and accessible on all devices. 
• Enable HTTPS. Use an SSL certificate to ensure that your website is secure. This improves user trust while also helping your site rank higher. 
• Create an XML sitemap. Generate and submit an XML sitemap to Google. This helps Google understand your site’s structure and index its pages more effectively.
• Fix broken links. Check for broken external and internal links regularly. Broken links lead to poor UX and may be penalized by Google. 

As you’ve probably noticed, technical SEO strategies can be hard to understand for those without experience. Fear not — tools like Moz, Semrush, and Screaming Frog provide SEO audit tools that identify issues for you. If you feel you need additional help, it might be a good idea to look on sites such as Upwork or Fiverr for freelance SEO support.

For a deeper dive into SEO best practices, check out our blog post: SEO for accountants: 16 effective strategies to attract new clients.

3. Advertise your business on Facebook

With more than three billion active monthly users worldwide, Facebook remains a titan in the world of social media. As such, it’s an excellent place to find and engage with potential accounting clients. In particular, Facebook offers a powerful advertising platform — Meta Ads — that enables you to pay to get your business seen. 

Ad formats and preferences

The beauty of advertising on Facebook is its flexibility. First, you can choose from different ad types to suit your needs, each with its own unique style and CTA formats. For example: 

• Image ads
• Video ads
• Carousel ads
• Collection ads

Facebook specifies the design, text, and technical specifications for each ad type, making it easy to use. You can also choose where on Facebook your ad will be placed. You can choose from people’s feeds, reels, Facebook Marketplace, and more. 

But that’s not all. Facebook allows you to choose the objective of your ad. It then uses your choice to help target the most relevant audience. You can choose from the following objectives:  

• Awareness
• Traffic
• Engagement
• Leads
• App promotion
• Sales

Each objective offers different preset CTAs. You can also choose where you want the conversion to happen. For example, on your website, via a call, or on an app. What’s more, Facebook enables you to set up A/B split tests to see what type of ad resonates more with your target audience. 

Setting a budget

During the setup process, Facebook asks you to set a budget for the campaign. You can set a daily budget, with a minimum of $1 per day. Alternatively, you can choose a lifetime budget, which runs your ad until the budget is used up. 

Defining your target audience

Where Facebook ads really excel is in their advanced audience targeting features. You can decide who you want to see your ad based on factors such as interests, gender, location, or age. Facebook then makes sure your ad reaches the right people. 

But that’s not all. Facebook analyzes the type of people who are engaging with your ads the most. It then uses these insights to further narrow down your audience to ensure maximum engagement and conversions over time.

Monitor ad performance

Once your ad is live, you can monitor how it’s performing in Meta Ads Manager — the console you’ll use to create and manage your Facebook ads. (On a side note: Because Meta also owns Instagram, you can run ads on that platform from Meta Ads Manager as well). You can track performance with a range of metrics, including: 

• Number of clicks
• Ad reach (i.e. the number of people who have seen it)
• Total cost
• Ad performance across different demographics

4. Start a podcast

Podcasting has exploded as a medium in recent years, reflecting the changing preferences people have for consuming content. In 2023, there were 3.2 million podcasts worldwide, with more than 178 million episodes to choose from. 

Besides being informative and entertaining, podcasts are a great way to promote your personal brand — and by extension, your accounting business. Podcasts enable you to engage potential leads through insightful, fun, and thought-provoking content that they can consume while driving to work or walking the dog. 

The downside of podcasting is that it involves an initial outlay in equipment. You’ll need a decent video camera (optional), a microphone, and somewhere quiet to record. There’s also a learning curve when it comes to editing and publishing recorded content. But once up and running, podcasting is a great way to demonstrate your expertise. 

So what makes for a good accounting podcast? Here are some ideas to consider: 

• Interviews with industry experts
• Tips and tricks for more efficient accounting
• Accounting technology reviews
• Deep dives into major accounting trends
• Timely updates on tax changes
• How to build and grow an online accounting firm

If you decide to pursue this strategy, remember that producing a podcast episode is one thing — getting people to watch is another. Make sure you promote your content via social media and your website. 

5. Video marketing

Video marketing is another effective way to engage clients and leads. It enables you to explain complex accounting concepts and processes in a highly accessible way. Well-produced videos make your business stand out as a credible, trustworthy, and forward-thinking source of information. 

Once produced, you can upload your videos to YouTube, promote them on social media, and embed them in your web pages to bring an extra dimension to your website. With almost 2.5 billion active monthly users, YouTube opens the door to a huge new audience. 

Like podcasting, video marketing requires some level of expertise when it comes to recording and editing videos. It also involves an initial investment in video recording equipment and software. But the results can be amazing. 

Video is a varied and interesting medium. It offers a range of possibilities depending on your needs, budget, and what you want to communicate. Here are some examples of video content you could create: 

• Bite-sized video explainers. Explain complex concepts or describe your services in short, engaging videos. Use illustrations, infographics, and background music to make them more engaging. This type of video works well on social media. 
• Long-form video content. Provide deep dives into accounting subjects or interview industry leaders. This type of content is suitable for YouTube and requires basic video equipment and skills.
• Introductory videos. Explain who you are and what you offer. Produce slick video advertisements that show your firm in the best light. This type of video content can be embedded on your website. 

While most long-form videos can be filmed using a high-quality video camera, bite-sized videos and introductory videos often require expertise in video illustration and production. For this kind of content, consider tapping into the freelance market and working with a professional video producer. It’s also a good idea to include captions in your videos to improve accessibility. 

6. Webinars

Webinars are live online events where you can connect with clients and leads in real time. They’re an excellent format for communicating valuable insights and showcasing your expertise. Unlike regular video content, webinars offer an interactive element. You can hold Q&A sessions and converse with your audience directly. 

Because of the nature of the format, webinars aren’t suitable for marketing your business directly. People sign up for webinars because they want to learn something. In helping them to learn, you market your firm indirectly. Viewers will see you and your business as trustworthy and reliable. 

Your target audience for webinars could be potential clients, but it could also be other accountants looking to learn from an experienced professional. This builds your credibility and positions you as an industry leader — which, in turn, helps market your business.

Here are some ideas for webinar presentations:

• Tax tips for freelancers
• Navigating new tax regulations
• Tax planning strategies 

Webinars require some level of technical expertise to set up. Thankfully, there are plenty of tools you can use to automate and streamline the process. For example, you can use: 

• Marketing automation software to manage invitations
• Webinar hosting platforms to facilitate the event and track attendance and conversions
• Social media schedulers to promote upcoming events

7. Social media marketing

An estimated 4.9 billion people use social media worldwide. That’s considerably more than half the global population. Furthermore, the average person spends almost two and a half hours on social media every day! 

Looking at these statistics, one thing is clear: social media marketing is crucial to your accounting firm’s growth. Platforms such as LinkedIn and Facebook are a powerful place to connect with your target audience and demonstrate your expertise. In addition to directly marketing your business, social media enables you to grow a community and position yourself as an accounting thought leader. 

So how should you go about marketing yourself on social media? Here are some tips:

Understand how to use different social media platforms

No two social media platforms are the same. Each offers a slightly different audience, style, and format. So it’s important to first understand which platforms you want to use — and then tailor your marketing to each one. Here are the top platforms to consider: 

• Facebook: the most popular social media platform in the world, Facebook is the perfect place to list your business, run ad campaigns, and post regular content.
• LinkedIn: As the social media platform for professionals, LinkedIn is essential for marketing your firm. It’s ideal for connecting with industry leaders, posting thought leadership content, and sparking conversations. 
• Instagram: Tends to have a slightly younger audience. The highly visual format makes it perfect for posting images, carousel posts, and short video content.
• YouTube: the number-one video platform and second most popular channel overall. Perfect for posting video presentations, interviews, and other longer-form video content.

Establish a consistent posting schedule

To build a strong social media presence, you need to post regularly and consistently across different platforms. This helps build a following and keeps your audience engaged. Commit to posting at least twice a week. Vary your posts to include the following: 

• Industry updates and news
• Blog posts and thought-leadership pieces
• Short insights and conversation starters
• Client testimonials and success stories

And as with all digital marketing content — remember to leave a CTA where possible to convert those leads. 

Actively engage with followers

The beauty of social media is you can converse directly with industry experts, existing clients, and leads. This helps to build trust and rapport. When you post something: 

• Make sure you check the replies regularly
• Thank people for responding
• Ask further questions to foster discussions about accounting news and trends

8. Paid advertising

Paid advertising is an effective way to expand your marketing reach. By targeting specific client demographics, you can drive high-quality leads to your website. We’ve already covered the power of Facebook ads in this guide, but that’s not the only option. You can also run paid advertising campaigns on Google Ads and LinkedIn Ads. 

Google Ads

Google Ads operates on a pay-per-click (PPC) model. In other words, you bid on specific keywords that relate to your services. When potential new clients search for those keywords, Google ranks your ad based on factors such as the bid amount, the relevance of the ad, and its overall quality. You then pay Google each time someone clicks on your advert.

Paid ads in Google appear at the top of the search results page as “Sponsored” ads. Below, you can see examples of paid ads that appear for the keyword, “Accounting firm in Florida”.

Google Ads provides extensive targeting options. You can filter your target audience by demographics and location, for example. It’s a powerful platform for reaching users who are actively searching for specific services. As a result, it helps capture high-intent leads. 

To give you an idea of cost and ROI, here’s a recent conversation on the r/Accounting subreddit:

LinkedIn Ads

LinkedIn Ads runs a similar bid-based model to Google Ads. Where it stands out, however, is in its unique targeting options. Because LinkedIn is a dedicated social media platform for professionals, you can define your target audience based on criteria such as: 

• Job title
• Industry
• Company size
• Level of seniority
• Skills
• Groups and interests

This enables you to target specific audiences effectively. For example, you can target decision-makers in large firms, tech startup founders, or freelancers. 

Craft compelling ad copy

Getting your ad seen is just part of the challenge. You need to ensure that people actually click on it. Whichever platform you choose, your ad copy should be engaging and snappy. Here are some best practices to consider when crafting your ad:

• Focus on your target audience’s pain points — and how your firm can fix them
• Use concise, benefit-driven language to capture attention
• Incorporate images and other design elements to make your ads stand out
• Add a strong CTA to direct the viewer to take action 

Optimize landing pages for conversions

When people click on your ad, make sure they are directed to a relevant, well-designed landing page. This is a dedicated webpage designed to convert leads by prompting visitors to take a certain action. That action could be to book a call, sign up for a webinar, or download an ebook. The goal is generally to get the lead to give you their contact information. 

Here are some tips for creating effective landing pages: 

• Make sure your landing page is well-designed and easy to navigate 
• Add a simple yet compelling CTA
• Add elements such as client testimonials or case studies that boost credibility and trust 

9. Email marketing

Despite changing trends and technologies, email marketing remains one of the most popular and effective ways to nurture relationships with clients and convert leads. For every $1 the average business spends on email marketing campaigns, they enjoy a return on investment (ROI) of $36. 

So how do you go about crafting an effective email marketing campaign? Here are some tips: 

Use gated content to capture lead details

Email is a powerful way to provide timely updates, share industry insights, and promote your 

services. But before you can send targeted email campaigns, you first need to capture leads’ contact details. This is where gated content comes in.

Gated content is content that is available only after someone completes a specific action — usually providing their name and email address. For this reason, gated content tends to provide deep value and insights. Here are some examples: 

• Industry reports, guides, or white papers
• Live events, such as webinars or Q&A sessions
• Client stories and case studies

Target different segments with personalized email campaigns

In addition to capturing emails and names, you can try to find out more about your leads. This will help you segment them based on factors such as service needs, or whether they’re a business or individual. You can then send targeted emails to each segment, using language and offers that resonate more with them.

For instance, a tax deadline reminder is relevant to almost everyone. Business finance tips, on the other hand, are more suitable for small business owners. By segmenting your list, you improve the relevance of your emails. In turn, this increases open rates, engagement, and client loyalty.

Using a lead’s first name is also a powerful way to engage them. Personalized content builds stronger relationships with recipients. It creates a sense of connection that generic emails can’t provide. 

Write emails that are snappy and engaging

Writing an email isn’t the same as writing a blog post or a webpage. There are considerations around tone, style, and format that are specific to email. Here are some best practices to follow: 

• Write engaging and relevant subject lines
• Keep it short and to the point — ideally between 50 and 150 words 
• Format for readability, including short sentences and bullet points
• Focus primarily on the reader and the challenges they face
• Include simple, actionable CTAs

Create automated email sequences

Using automated email sequences, you can engage clients at various stages of their journey. This involves a series of emails that build interest or inform clients about important information over time. Here are some examples: 

• Welcome sequence. Send a series of onboarding emails to new subscribers, explaining your services, showcasing your expertise, and encouraging further engagement.
• Educational sequence. Provide valuable insights on financial planning, tax tips, or seasonal accounting advice. These emails can gently guide recipients to your services over time.
• Re-engagement sequence. If clients or leads haven’t interacted in a while, an automated sequence can remind them of your services — especially in the run-up to tax season. 

Improving operational efficiency through digital tools

The strategies we’ve highlighted in this article may seem like a lot of work for an already busy accountant. But fear not — technology is here to help. There are plenty of time-saving apps and automation tools that can streamline digital marketing for accountants. In this section, we’ll explore some key examples: 

Marketing automation tools

Marketing automation platforms let you run marketing campaigns on autopilot. But that’s not all — most tools have CRM capabilities, enabling you to rank, track, and nurture leads. 

Examples: HubSpot, Mailchimp, and ActiveCampaign. 

Social media scheduling tools

Social media scheduling tools enable you to plan ahead and automate your social media campaigns across multiple platforms. They also offer robust analytics tools for analyzing social media engagement.

Examples: Sprout Social, Hootsuite, and Buffer.

Content management systems (CMS)

CMS platforms offer simple website-builder tools with drag-and-drop elements. This means you can create a professional-looking website in a matter of hours, without the need for technical expertise. Once up and running, you can schedule blog posts with ease. 

Examples: Wix, Squarespace, WordPress.

SEO tools

There’s a huge range of tools designed to supercharge your SEO efforts. These platforms enable you to conduct keyword research, audit your site for technical SEO issues, and analyze your competitors’ SEO efforts all in one place. 

• Examples: Ahrefs, SEMrush, Moz.

AI efficiency tools

The rise of AI has been a game-changer for marketing campaigns. Now, you can ask AI assistants to draft emails, create entire content plans, and check copy for style, grammar, and punctuation — all in an instant. 

• Examples: ChatGPT, Jasper, Grammarly.

Want to learn more about how accountants can use ChatGPT to drive efficiency? Check out our blog post: ChatGPT for accountants: 12 innovative ways to streamline your accounting workflows.

Optimize your accounting firm with TaxDome

Digital marketing enables your firm to connect with potential clients across multiple online touchpoints. By implementing the strategies we’ve outlined in this article, you’ll help your firm stand out and grow.  

Yet marketing is just one aspect of running a successful accounting firm. To fully optimize your business, you need a practice management platform like TaxDome. Our award-winning platform combines all the tools you need to run a successful accounting practice — from advanced workflow automation and analytics to client, team, project, and document management. 

The result is greater efficiency and profitability. Firms that use TaxDome save up to 40 hours per employee per month — and over $18,000 per employee per year — all while offering a superior client experience. 

Don’t just take our word for it. To see why 10,000 accounting firms worldwide trust TaxDome to power their practices, request a demo today.