11 best ways to market  your bookkeeping business 

As a bookkeeper, you know that there’s a sea of clients available to you: every business has bookkeeping needs. At the same time, it may be challenging to attract the right kind of clients. You may have the skills and expertise, and with the right marketing techniques in tow, you’ll be able to scale your business and reach new heights.

But how do you get the word out? How can you get your  bookkeeping service on every major client’s radar? What you need is marketing ideas for  bookkeeping business, to make them realize that if they don’t come to you, they’re missing  out.  

Take our advice for an effective marketing strategy. Follow these 11 efficient marketing  ideas, and see what the right marketing channel can do for you. 

1. Get noticed with the right SEO optimization

If you’ve never heard of it before, you’re going to need a crash course, because it’s not  just imperative for your business, but for every business.  

SEO stands for “Search Engine Optimization,” and is the key to marketing a  bookkeeping business to the right audience.  

Consider how most people search for content online: they use a search engine like Bing or Google to do a general search for what they’re seeking and are provided options. They’ll likely type in the keywords such as “bookkeeping services near me” or “accountancy” — and begin their search. 

Here is an example of a Google results for the keywords “bookkeeping services for small business”:

То ensure that your business website ranks highly in search results, you need to optimize it according to the following areas:

• Technical optimization: make sure that the site is free of technical errors that negatively affect search engine rankings (no broken links, no duplicate content, high loading speed, presence of micro-markup, etc.).
• On-page optimization: rewrite content in a way that optimizes it – including texts, headlines, titles, etc. – so that it corresponds to your potential user’s search. It is important to remember that the content of pages should be relevant to the page keywords, so that Google understands what the page is about and categorizes your page among others in the search results for the right keyword.
• External optimization (off-page): monitor the quality of your link profile; that is, make sure that your pages are referred to by as many authoritative resources as possible. This will signal to search engines that your content deserves attention and it should be shown on the first positions in search results.

SEO doesn’t end there. There are many other factors to pay attention to when optimizing your site for SEO. You may want to register your site with Google Search Console – this will track the effectiveness of your site in a search, to see the errors that Google sees on your site. In addition, it is recommended you study in detail various Google support resources, which contain  useful information regarding what you should focus on to achieve great results.

2. Talk to your audience in their preferred style with content  marketing

What keeps your potential clients up at night? What are business owners worried about, especially when it comes to their bookkeeping needs? There are a myriad of ways to reach a target market, and content marketing is an excellent way to keep them interested and showcase your expertise.

There are many different content marketing methods. Here are some to consider:

• Write a blog
  Offer up-to-date bookkeeping advice and have links back to your services
• Create and post videos through Youtube or your own website
  You could offer tips or tutorials, such as “how to get started with bookkeeping” or “how to avoid common mistakes in  tax documents”
• Offer free links to templates of tax documents or forms
  These are downloadable files that are helpful to people and also contain your business information
• Distribute a weekly or monthly newsletter via email
  Proactively reminding people about the services you offer by appearing in their inbox with truly helpful tips and advice can be an effective way to convert leads into clients
• Offer a free webinar
  Share your knowledge and allow people to ask you live questions

It’s worth giving several content marketing approaches a try, and measuring what gets the most engagement for your business so that you can focus on the more effective strategy for your particular business.

3. Create Google Ads that are both attractive and memorable 

What if your site isn’t known well enough yet to reach the top of a search? In this case, Google Ads will work for you. With it, you can show advertisements you have created for any keyword you want.

Below is an example of Google search ads for the keyword “bookkeeping services near me”:

Advertising with Google doesn’t stop with keyword targeting only. You can also target your ads to users with a specific interest, or who have visited a specific site, or who have had an event in their life (change of job, buying a house, retirement, etc.). You can even show ads to users who were already on your site, but have not converted (this is called remarketing).

Google Ads is constantly improving its algorithms and introducing new tools that allow you to make advertising more and more effective. 

And the best part is that it’s very easy to learn how to set up and optimize advertising on Google. Google itself is interested in making sure that businesses know how to use its tools. It has numerous free courses that are suitable for both newcomers and those who are already familiar with Google’s tools.

4. Google Maps puts you on the … Well, map!  

By creating a Google Business profile for your bookkeeping business, you enable those who are searching nearby to find you. You can also redirect that traffic to the website you listed so that they can find more information about the services you offer.

In your Google Maps business profile, you can add photos of your office/employees, explain how best to get there, include days and hours of work, contact information (phone, mail, website link), post news, information about your services and costs, and answer frequently asked questions.

A great tip for attracting additional traffic to your company’s google my business profile is when you compose your headline, include some important business keywords there. For example, below are the Google Map profiles for two companies – the first one has only the company name in the header.

The second company, on the other hand, did the smart thing by adding several important keywords in the header – listing the services they provide (accounting and bookkeeping) and their location. Adding keywords in the header allows this company to show up higher for users looking for accounting and bookkeeping services in their location. Take advantage of it!

5. Encourage clients to leave online reviews  

Digital marketing for bookkeepers does not have to be a niche specialization. You can increase the visibility of your business by asking your clients to leave you reviews on Google, Yelp and other general and industry websites. The more reviews you have, the higher you are ranked, and the more likely you are to be seen by others. Reviews may also be a first point of contact for potential clients – which is why it’s important to establish yourself as someone who is both skilled and trustworthy.

Don’t be discouraged at reviews that are not 100% positive – look at them as an opportunity to improve client satisfaction and respond in a way that is polite and friendly. 

Remember this pro-tip: be sure to take the time to respond to both positive and negative reviews! Potential clients will notice if your company is shying away from criticism, so respond authentically while striving to improve your services 

6. Narrow down your target audience by advertising on a niche website  

Industry-specific websites may help you advertise directly to a certain target audience: for example, if a lot of your bookkeeping clients are in the food and beverage industry, you may want to advertise on a website that delivers restaurateur news and tips. Where to advertise your bookkeeping services so that your clients can see them is always a good question. Think of what else is of interest to your potential clients: do they shop at the local market? Eat at the local restaurants? Keep an eye out for the real estate market in the area? The opportunities are there, but you have to find one that aligns your clients’ interests with the services you offer.

When you are ready to take this approach, pick a few websites and ask them for their reach. They will tell you how many eyes you can expect to see your advertisement. Try a few sites, and different sections, too, and see if you can optimize your results by targeting clients this way.

7. Network like there’s no tomorrow  

The bread and butter of any good business is networking. Attend different  financial and business gatherings, attend and possibly speak at bookkeeping conferences, connect with anybody you hear might be in need of your quality services, or anybody who might know a major player. The more connections you make, and the more lasting impressions you create, the more well-known you’ll be.  

Most networking opportunities are going to be face-to-face. However, technology is always a useful tool: there are numerous networking groups for accountancy and bookkeeping found on Facebook and LinkedIn. Talk to your colleagues and exchange ideas, or maybe join industry groups where you can help business owners with their bookkeeping needs.

8. Answer questions on Quora 

Quora is an online community where some people ask questions and other people answer them: if you can think of a question, it’s likely been asked on Quora. Responses being upvoted by others and because users have the ability to dispute responses, Quora has a pretty good track record when it comes to response accuracy.  

As a strategy, create an account on Quora for either yourself or your company, and track  any questions people pose related to taxes, bookkeeping and accounting. If other readers answer those questions well, they will be more visible, and your responses will get validation in terms of credibility.

9. LinkedIn: the social media dinosaur that still has some bite  

It is a social media platform older than TikTok, Twitter, and even Facebook. It certainly  doesn’t have the pop-culture cool of any of the other ones. But where other platforms like  MySpace and Friendster have gone the way of the Buffalo, LinkedIn is not only still around, but considered imperative.  

And that is because it is still the foremost social media site for professionals. It doesn’t have an attractive edge to it, and it doesn’t need one. LinkedIn is where people go when wishing to market their skills, advertise their company, or network with other professionals. A business without a presence on LinkedIn seems amateur at best.  

In addition, the networking platform can be used to reach a more professional clientele, ready to provide the best finances for your services.

10. Directories: wading into a sea of possibilities  

Directories really do seem like a throwback to the age of yellow pages. But no matter how much it feels like opening up a phonebook, it does what it sets out to do: a directory puts you in touch with a list of suggestions of who to reach out to in regards to a specific service. Instead of finding a random page through Google, you instead find a list of the best, who earned their way to that spot through expertise and quality.  

Some fine examples of niche directories for bookkeeping services include the TaxDome Advisor directory, The Green Ledger, A2X Accounting, Gusto, and the Digital Bookkeeper Association. Adding your company to a directory can help new clients find you. The one caveat of being listed in the TaxDome Advisors is that you have to be a TaxDome user.

11. Get with the times by marketing in social media  

Newer generations of potential clients are popping up all the time, and they all create  their own ways of expressing themselves. You don’t want to leave out a potential new client  base by sticking to the old ways of reaching a target audience.

Creating marketing content for popular social media outlets such as Instagram, Facebook or TikTok will help you attract a new audience and market to bookkeepers of all social groups. Creating regular content with photos and videos will attract people to your page, but you can also pay to run ads that are targeted to people of a certain demographic such as age, location, profession, interests, etc.

Marketing on social media has been shown to:

• Increase awareness, recognition and trust in your brand
• Promote your services to wider demographics
• Help you to understand what’s important to your target audience through online engagement and “social listening”
• Help you to up your customer service game
• Build customer loyalty
• Drive more traffic to your website, and ultimately gain you more business!

Another great way to use social media to your benefit is to show potential customers how your current customers are working with you, and watch as they become interested in their success stories.  

Grow your business by jumping on the marketing train

No matter what  marketing  strategy for your bookkeeping services you end up choosing, make sure you are measuring the results and comparing different options. You’ll have to devise your own unique approach to connect with your future clients, show how your company is the finest one through your ideas, and reveal a character of your own. Who knows, maybe you’re the future star of a TikTok account focused on bookkeeping, or the person who speaks at bookkeeping conferences across the nation, or a Google Ads guru.