Today's Technology for Tomorrow's Firm.
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May 2014 • www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com 13 THE PROADVISOR SPOTLIGHT SPONSORED CONTENT Because content marketing allows you to provide information to clients outside of the benefts of your ser- vices, it also serves to establish you as a t r usted e x per t i n you r f ield . W hen you provide real information that clients can relate to and use, it shows them that you are invested in them as people and not just someone you can sell to. Once they see that they can trust you, your relationship will grow stronger. H o w d o y o u p r o v i d e q u a l i t y information that's also useful? Te frst step is to get to know your cli- ents. For many accounting profes- sionals, this is no problem as they have long-sta nd i ng relat ionsh ips with their clients. Te connections you have with your clients will pro- vide valuable insight into their fears, questions and goals – key items to con sider w hen put t i ng toget her content for them. For ex a mple, i nstead of gener- ating materials promoting your tax ser v ices du r i ng bu s y sea son, t r y providing clients with information that they will want to read, such as c om mon t a x t i me m i s t a k e s a nd deduct ions a nd cred its t hey may qualif y for. Perhaps there are several types of questions you receive ofen from clients. Use those questions as a guide to draf communications to address those questions and other related topics. Truly knowing your clients will also help you determine the best way to reach them. If your clients pri- mari ly interact w ith you through your client portal and social media, you can go beyond traditional email with your content marketing. Chances are, you interact w ith your clients in diferent ways at dif- ferent times. Your content marketing efforts should ref lect this. A well- planned strategy will push the con- tent your cl ients want when they want it where they want it. As you interact with your clients regularly, you can continue to get new ideas for your content. W hen you foc us on topics a nd areas that are of high interest to your clients, your content won't sound like a sales pitch for your ser vices. Te services you provide will be in these same interest areas, and when you provide useful information, you are establishing trust and rapport. Furthermore, you are subtly telling you r c l ient s t hey c a n t r u st you r ser v ices as wel l. You have show n them that you not only understand their issues and you have demon- strated your expertise, but you also a re show i ng t hat you ca re about what's important to them. This is huge in establishing and strength- ening your client relationships. C on ne c t i ng w it h c l ient s on a personal level will be fairly simple for many accounting professionals. Most of your clients already come to you for their personal and fnancial afairs, and because of this you know them by name. Content marketing allows you to take this a step further. It allows you to create content that can then be sent to clients to follow up on previous conversations. Content marketing is not a sales pitc h . It 's c a ref u l l y t houg ht out material designed to add value to your clients' lives. W hile it might seem like "one more thing to do" – and can even be a bit daunting if you dread writing (afer all, you signed u p f o r n u m b e r s , n o t w o r d s) – s h a r i n g c o n t e n t i s e s s e n t i a l t o strengthening your client relation- ships. It not only positions you as a t r u st wor t hy sou rce a mong you r cl ients, but it a lso prov ides t hem w i t h h e l p f u l i n f o r m a t i o n f r o m someone they can trust. B y now, you've probably heard of "content marketing ," even if you're not sure what it is or why it's being talked about in the accounting industr y. It's not just jargon thrown around by marketing professionals, and it defnitely has a place in your frm. Simply put, content marketing is c o n n e c t i ng w i t h yo u r c l i e n t s w i t h o u t pushing your services on them. How Content Marketing Can Strengthen Client Relationships By Taija Jenkins, Assistant Editor Taija Jenkins is an assistant editor for CPA Practice Advisor. ContentMarketing email Text Photography Podcast video Twitter blog Blogging SoundCloud Facebook GooglePlus Vimeo Picasa Google Tumblr Copywriting Flickr YouTube Newsletter Instagram Audio cpa_13_ProAdvisor.indd 13 5/7/14 8:54 AM