Effective marketing for tax professionals is essential for attracting new clients and growing your business. To succeed in this competitive industry, consider ways to implement creative tax preparation marketing ideas and targeted advertising strategies. You can enhance your marketing efforts and differentiate yourself by utilizing social media and optimizing your local search presence.
Building referral networks and engaging with your community can also significantly boost your approach to advertising tax services. If you’re wondering how to market tax preparation services, here are some actionable tips to elevate your marketing approach to gain new customers.
Find your target audience
Acquiring new clients can be expensive. To maximize your return on investment, create strategic ads tailored to your target audience.
You might be wondering: Who is my target audience? One way to identify your target audience is to examine your client database to find common characteristics among them. You can categorize your customers based on their demographics, geography, or client behaviors.
As you look through your clients’ information, ask questions like:
- How old are they?
- What do they do for work?
- What is their income bracket?
- Where are they located?
- Do they file as married or single?
- Are they homeowners?
- Do they file early?
- Are they last-minute filers?
- How often do they request an extension to file?
- Do they prefer in-person consultations?
- Do they prefer to communicate without coming into the office?
The answers to these questions provide a better understanding of the target audience you want to advertise to.
Pro tip: To market your tax prep business on social media, be cognizant of the social media platforms your clients typically use most often. If you primarily prepare taxes for individuals and families, you might want to focus your efforts on Facebook. If working with business owners is more of your specialty, LinkedIn might be more impactful.
Leverage referral programs & word of mouth
Word of mouth is one of the most trusted and effective forms of “advertisement” – and it’s free! Consumers tend to trust the opinions and recommendations of friends and family over traditional advertising methods. Word-of-mouth referrals often carry more weight when it comes to influencing a purchasing decision.
While it may seem like referrals are solely in your clients’ hands, there are steps you can take to encourage more clients to spread the word. Our tips on asking clients for referrals cover the different methods you can use and how to stay tactful as you ask.
The best way to spread the word about your business is to approach everyone in your daily life, from your relatives to your mail carrier. Have your elevator pitch ready and ensure you mention at least one specific benefit you can provide for clients.
Encouraging satisfied clients to leave positive online reviews is a great way to increase your credibility and attract new clients. Focus on major platforms like Google, Yelp, and Facebook, and promptly ask for reviews after their return is accepted.
You can boost the number of reviews you receive by making the process easy — provide direct links with clear instructions and share the importance of their feedback. Post testimonials on your website and social media to highlight your expertise and be sure to engage with all reviews by personally responding.
Pro tip: Consider offering your existing customers a discount on future services for leaving an online review or when someone they refer becomes a client. However, you must comply with advertising regulations and maintain transparency to protect the authenticity of your reviews.
Optimize your website for SEO
A website is a must — not only for tax businesses but for all small companies. Your website should be responsive, user-friendly, and visually appealing. It’s also important that your site is mobile-friendly, as most people access websites using their phones or tablets.
Aside from design, you’ll want to make sure you’re creating relevant, search engine optimized (SEO) content for search platforms like Google. Your content should be structured and written to make it more likely to appear in search results when users are looking for related information.
Implementing local SEO strategies is another way you can help your business land on search results pages. Local SEO focuses on optimizing your online presence to attract more business from relevant local searches. You can target specific geographic areas, including your city name or zip code, in your content and keywords. Doing this enhances your visibility in local search results, making it easier for potential customers in your area to find your business. Simple things like registering your business with Google My Business can make a big impact on your local SEO.
Pro tip: Make sure the phone number on your website has a click-to-call function and make it easy for a customer to find your contact information when searching online for your services.
Local SEO for paid search ads
Local SEO is a great advertising tool compared to paid ads because people who search locally are usually more likely to click on organic search results. Paid search results are always labeled as “Ad,” which makes them less appealing to some users. Additionally, investing in paid search incurs costs, whereas implementing local SEO strategies can often be done at little to no expense.
However, unlike paid search, local SEO will take time. Optimizing your website, building links, and claiming citations can take months before you begin seeing results. Ultimately, the choice between paid search and local SEO usually comes from your budget, time constraints, and confidence in digital marketing. You may determine that creating, implementing, and tracking your SEO strategy requires help from an experienced digital marketing agency, but it’ll be worth the investment.
If you want to give local SEO a try, learn more about Local SEO Strategies for Your Tax Business to get you started.
Set up paid search campaigns
Most tax preparers work with local clients, and most new clients find tax professionals online. Making sure your business shows up could significantly increase the number of clients you see this year. Paid search ads are one way to ensure your business is at the top of search results when a client searches for “tax help near me,”.
You don’t have to be particularly tech-savvy to set up a paid search campaign, but you’ll still want to know the basics for optimal results. Google offers training resources to help you understand local ads and master Google Ads, allowing you to get set up quickly and easily.
Utilize social media
Social media is a great place to start if you’re hesitant to approach digital marketing. The learning curve is less steep than learning local SEO best practices. No matter your current experience in using social media for tax prep advertising, you can likely take a few steps to connect with more potential clients and improve your engagement.
Despite the sea of social media platforms available now, Facebook still reaches the broadest audience, as 68% of Americans use Facebook, the third most-visited site in the world. Now, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use other channels since your customers are likely engaging on other platforms as well:
- 47% using Instagram
- 33% using TikTok and
- 20% using LinkedIn
If you have limited resources, you can focus your efforts on a single platform to grow your social media audience and market share. Expand your social media portfolio by adding in other channels once you’re ready.
Run email campaigns
If your business isn’t utilizing email marketing, it should. After all, the return on investment is substantial. For every $1 you spend on an email advertisement, you can expect an average return of $36.
Rather than manually entering email addresses and sending out hundreds of separate emails, utilize automation and email marketing software, which pulls email addresses automatically from your customer database and allows you to send one mass email that includes a special offer. Make your emails concise and send 2 to 4 per month to keep your customers engaged. As you create your marketing campaign, consider the following tips:
• Segment your audience: Tailor your emails to specific customer groups for more personalized messaging and higher engagement.
• Create compelling subject lines: Write attention-grabbing subject lines to improve open rates and entice recipients to read your emails.
• A/B testing: If you have the resources, experiment with different email designs, subject lines, and content to see what resonates best with your audience.
• Clear call to action: Your emails should have a clear, actionable goal, whether it’s to visit your website, take advantage of a promotion, or sign up for an event.
• Monitor analytics: Use tracking tools to analyze open rates, click-through rates, and customer engagement to continuously improve your campaigns.
TaxSlayer Pro offers great tools to help you with your email strategy. We provide a client retention database that allows you, the ERO, to retrieve customer data by exporting it into a list for marketing purposes.
Send postcards
You can consider postcards the precursor to email marketing, but rest assured, sending them is still an effective way to market your business. For direct mail campaigns, the average return on investment is around 30%. When it comes to obtaining new tax clients, focus on new businesses and new homeowners since both will likely need a tax professional.
Distribute flyers
This might seem like an old-school method, but posting and handing out flyers in your local area is tried and true. Flyers are usually inexpensive to make, so they’ll hardly put a dent in your marketing budget. Plus, you can stick them almost anywhere (be sure to get proper permissions if required): bulletin boards, pizza shops, grocery stores, utility poles, etc.Your flyer should be attractive enough to catch the eyes of passersby. If you’re not well-versed in graphic design, it may be best to outsource this job to a professional. In addition to being pretty, your flyer needs to be well-written, include an enticing offer and have a strong call to action. Once you complete your flyer, you’ll be surprised how beneficial this marketing tactic can help grow your tax preparation business.
TaxSlayer Pro provides a client retention database that allows you to export your customer data into a list for marketing purposes. Demo TaxSlayer Pro for free now!
