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Nine Ideas to Market Your Tax Preparation Business
At the core of every successful business endeavour is a strong marketing campaign. Without a variety of marketing strategies designed to reach out to fresh faces and retain existing consumers, it is very likely that a business won't last very long.
Even more difficult are the plights of businesses that operate on a seasonal basis or that have a large percentage of their revenues come in during one particular time of the year. One wrong move and your entire year's productivity is completely destroyed.
For tax preparation businesses, this is a definite reality. As such, employing the most effective marketing strategies is crucial to securing the maximum amount of business during tax time. In order to help make the process a bit easier, here are nine ideas on how to market your tax preparation business effectively throughout the year.
Add Some Flare to Your Tax Documents
They say word of mouth is the most powerful form of marketing, but in today's world, the spread of branding through your client base is just as important. One great idea that tax preparation businesses can use to better attract – or at least retain – clients is to invest in more branded documents and supporting elements.
One good example of it is branded company folders. When providing any information or returning tax forms to clients, be sure to put it inside branded tax return folders. Not only will this ensure that your clients are more likely to see your brand whenever pulling out old tax returns, but it can also present new opportunities for clients to tell their friends and family about the good experience they had with your business. On top of that, everybody loves a free folder!
Tap into the Power of Email
Any tax prep business collects a seemingly endless amount of information from each customer and client. If you haven't already been collecting email addresses, now is the time to start. With this information, you're well-positioned to retain a significant share of first-time clients in future years.
As one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing, any advertising strategy absolutely needs to incorporate email marketing. From special discounts to seasonal promotions, you can give your clients plenty of reasons to continue using your services.
Utilize Facebook's Marketing Tools
Social media is arguably the most powerful marketing medium available today. Tax preparation companies large and small can build a huge fan base online through a variety of simple tips and tricks.
One great idea is to offer your clients a discount if they like your Facebook page. This will help you build a Facebook audience with relevant followers, but the marketing potential doesn't stop there. With your initial audience established, you can then build Facebook ad campaigns that target friends of those who have already used your services. This proverbial “word of mouth” approach (where the targeted audience sees that their friends have used your services) can help exponentially grow your number of potential leads.
Direct Mail Campaigns
While it may seem a bit old-fashioned, direct mail campaigns are still viable marketing strategies for many businesses. In particular, tax prep businesses can reap huge rewards by targeting one specific type of person: those who have already used your services!
By reaching out to those who have demonstrated prior interest, you can dramatically increase the response rate of any direct mail campaign and ensure more of your previous customers return once again.
Offer Freebies
Advertising is advertising: any way you can get your tax preparation business' name out there can be helpful in growing your client base. One way that many tax companies do this is by offering a variety of freebies at various events and in their local offices.
There are any number of examples of business promotional items that can be ordered and given away in many different situations. Some of the most common items include pens, magnets, shirts and stationary, but there are literally hundreds of unique items that can incorporate your brand's logo and info into the design.
From water bottles and tote bags to coffee cups and sunglasses, the sky truly is the limit when it comes to this hot promotional idea. Everybody loves free stuff: what better way to get your tax preparation business attention than through the marketing power of freebies?
Target Clients via Search Engines
Even for those looking at local tax preparation solutions, search engines like Google and Bing offer plenty of marketing potential. Primarily, there are two main ways to target clients looking for tax preparation assistance.
The first is through organic traffic and attention, commonly conducted via search engine optimization. This involves creating valuable content on your business website and optimising that content for relevant search engine results. Over time, you'll rank more highly in results and be able to attract more clients for little to no cost.
The second option is through paid advertising on search engines. This can allow any business to instantly jump into the game and target relevant search engine results and specific types of clients with one or more ad campaigns. You simply bid on the keywords and phrases you'd like to target, and your ad is given priority in search results based on the amount you're willing to pay.
Pursue Listings in Local Directories
Local search engines are filled with listings and directories for various relevant businesses. You should be targeting these results in order to snag relevant local traffic, but there are other directories you should consider reaching out to as well.
Local business organisations and directories are common in most areas; if you are a business in the community, it is usually quite easy to get listed on one or more of these directories. Considering that this only costs you a bit of time and no money in the vast majority of cases, pursuing this form of passive marketing is absolutely worth the effort.
Create Relevant Content
Mentioned briefly above was the influence that content can have on ranking better in select search engine results. There are additional benefits to creating a content strategy for your tax preparation business as well, as this content can help you promote your business in a variety of venues.
Whether you're using social media, email marketing, search engine optimisation or any other strategy, being able to give people valuable information and insight allows for more seamless marketing. It becomes much easier to get likes, shares, interactions and – ultimately – leads when you are providing an audience with something of value other than sheer marketing. By creating such content and sharing it across all marketing platforms, your campaigns will produce greater value.
Promote Reviews
Last but not least, any tax preparation business can only thrive so much without word of mouth and first-hand accounts of clients' experiences. This is why online user reviews are important for many businesses.
You can incentivize your clients to leave online reviews via Google, Yelp and a variety of other online review portals. This will not only help ease potential clients' minds when considering your business, but it will also tell search engines that your business is trustworthy and credible – which will boost your ranking in search results.
While these nine methods for marketing your tax preparation business are just a few of the many examples, they certainly cover the basics. Now that you know some of the biggest and best ways to promote your brand, you'll have plenty of time to focus on perfecting these strategies and cultivating a reliable and large client base for the future!
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