5 content marketing trends to keep up with to grow your CPA firm (Number 2 is our favorite!)

Content marketing is the superhero of all things digital. It is also an effective way for businesses to survive the fierce competition. An insignificant digital presence means a more protracted struggle to get noticed by customers. Do you want that for your CPA firm? We think not!

Generating buzz around your accounting services should forever be your goal, no matter how long you have been in the business, where your customers are! If you haven’t benefited by following modern content marketing trends, it is time to move in that direction.

Check out these five notable trends that caught our attention. (P.S. Number 2 is our favorite!)

1) Mobile website optimization

48% of consumers start their online search on mobile. If your website isn’t optimized, it is losing out on a big chunk of potential clients. According to Search Engine Land, Google now crawls the web from a mobile browser viewpoint.

Therefore, make your CPA firm’s website is mobile responsive. The content needs to be edited and made more concise. The design has to be cleaner and crisper. If your primary content and markup are the same on desktop and mobile, you have little changes to make to ensure your website is eligible for the mobile-first index.

2) Video-based content

While GIFs are entertaining and very engaging, the love for videos doesn’t go unnoticed. Marketers get 66% more qualified leads through videos every year. According to 2017 State Of Video Marketing, 94% of businesses see videos as a useful tool.

Start by uploading a small introductory video about yourself and your CPA firm. Gradually, add small clips on the value offerings. Today, there are websites like Envato and Fiverr that sell short video templates at affordable rates. You don’t need a professional video maker to get started!

Live videos are another rage. Users on Facebook spend 3X more time watching live videos than a video that’s no longer live. If you are attending a conference or hosting an event, give a sneak peek to your audience through live videos. We recently participated in Elite Tax Planning Academy and their team live-streamed the event extensively!

If you are attending a conference yourself, you can also take a live video and share it on your CPA firm’s Facebook or Instagram channel. The new tax year is all about capturing customer attention with videos – so, go for it!

3) Transparency

We live in an age where consumers are smarter and want businesses to be more transparent and authentic about their offerings. Therefore, don’t get desperate when you market your services. Don’t fudge any stats. Consumers will instantly sideline your CPA firm and maybe join hands with a competitor.

The next phase of content marketing is to ensure that everything you create and promote online is transparent to the T to gain the trust of prospects. Being transparent never hurt any business, and it won’t hurt your CPA firm too.

4) Influencer marketing

92% of people trust recommendations from people even if they don’t know in any way. When influencers exposed the consumers to content coming from them on Twitter, the platform observed a 5.2X increase in intent to purchase. Network aggressively within your industry community. Make sure the whole process of getting to know them is organic.

Influencer marketing isn’t all about spending money to get people to talk nice about your business. People will do it for you for free or at reduced pricing if they like you, believe in your value offerings and appreciate the hard work you put to grow your business.

5) Syndication

Syndication is everything. If you are only producing content and not syndicating it aggressively, chances are it will get lost in the digital chaos. From blogs to videos to podcasts – there is too much content out there. The situation is not all bad, but the abundance of information only makes it difficult for businesses to get noticed.

Get active on social media. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are excellent and widely used platforms to get the word out. Quora and Reddit are equally useful in boosting website traffic, although you have to be tactful about you position your content. You can’t pull off a direct sales move on these channels!

Bottom line is you should syndicate, a lot!

Endnotes

While the trends we have listed here are relevant for CPA firms in general, there could be other marketing hacks that may strike a chord with you. Do your research. Keep an eye on what your competitors are up to in the marketing arena and play smart.

Which of these content marketing trends will you be following?