Let's Make Some Targeted Noise

Main website

The best main websites are those that have client case studies (video preferable), people (with photos) who can help me, content I can download / view, loads of testimonials, sign up pages to newsletters, outcomes of buying services from you and most important they are not boring. Make it fun, interactive and remember it is your shop window and a sales tool.

Feeder sites

Why limit yourself to just one website? Why not have other sites that are selling parts of what you do. You could have seminar sites, product sites, niche market sites, geographic sites, content specialty sites, etc. Think of what people may search for and create a website around that. They can all link together or feed into the main site. Each site is a mini sales tool in its own right.

Blog(s)

Writing a blog does not need to be a tiresome task. I started writing my blog (www.robnixon.com) in 2010 to put my thoughts on my platform. I average just over 1 new post per week. Sometimes I do 2-3 posts in a week, sometimes I skip a week. What’s important is that I am blogging. I am writing about current ideas, methods, celebrations and the occasional promotion. If you want to be a thought leader you need to blog. If you want to dominate the web then you need something to say.

It’s free, easy and it’s another platform you should be on. Many people think that Facebook is a ‘personal only’ platform. I disagree. It’s a platform to bring out your personality. It’s a platform to show that you ‘are living large.’ It’s a platform to show travel and other interests. It’s a platform to show off your family and your sporting prowess – or lack thereof it. Remember people buy from people – real people. Get a funky company page set up. Email all of your clients to ‘like it’ and actively seek out your clients to ‘friend’ with. But please, no pictures of your food. You can connect with me on Facebook - rob.nixon.969.

Twitter

It’s a 140 character blogging site that works – if you work it. Many of your clients might be on Twitter but you’ll never know unless you are. A daily ‘tweet’ can take less than 60 seconds. You can get a ‘social media enhancer’ person working from home to do it for you. One of the cool things about Twitter is you can link from your short tweet to other websites – yours! You can connect with me on Twitter - @therobnixon.

LinkedIn

The original intention of LinkedIn was to connect the worlds Professionals. That is one of the reasons so many Accountants are on the platform. LinkedIn is a platform which has been disrupting the recruitment industry for a long time. It can also disrupt the Accounting profession. LinkedIn has a massive amount of content and you can post your content as well. It’s a very sophisticated tool for finding people. It’s a great tool for targeting companies you want as clients. Again, like all of these platforms you need to ‘work it, baby’ and post regularly and add value to the reader. You can connect with me on LinkedIn – therobnixon.

I love YouTube (in a professional sense) because with a standard smartphone I can create a video quickly, upload to YouTube and then I can go to other platforms and tell the world about it. Making noise with video based marketing is super cool because I can get to know you a bit before I decide to enquire or buy. Why not create your own channel and post updates & content. Add a bit of humor to it, make it a bit graphically appealing and you’ll get more hits. Who knows, you might go viral one day! 

E-news

First we had a paper newsletter (I even had a 20 page magazine at one point) then we had electronic newsletters. Now a lot of people have forgotten about them. They are super useful. You can send a summary of the week / month to your database of content & happenings. Maybe even some celebrations.

Forum – connecting

You organize gatherings in board rooms, town halls, seminar rooms and the like. What about a gathering on the Internet? What if you created a ‘private roster forum’ for your clients only? It could be a place for them to hang out, interact with each other, ask questions about each other and get to know each other. You can do this for free with Facebook and LinkedIn by starting a secret group. Easy peasy to do and no one does it. As humans we like a place of belonging – a place of community. Why not have the Accountant create that for us.

Search Engine Optimization

You can pay for this to get it. And it is not that expensive. Here’s how it works. When someone searches for you / what you do / your location or specialty you want to be on the first page of the search engine. It is pointless being on the second page of Google? because the statistics show (by the social media commentators) that if I have to go to the 2nd page then I don’t. At least the vast majority of people do not. So you want to engage a company to do this for you and when someone searches under any permutation of searches that may suit what you do then you need to be there – in their face on the first page.

Social Advertising

One of the coolest things about social media advertising has got to be‘re-marketing.’ This is where if you show interest in a site or style of product when you go elsewhere on the Internet these similar companies appear all of the time. When you’re on Facebook, amazingly on the side bar ads appear of things you are interested in. It’s because you have been to something similar before and it is ‘following you.’ Everywhere you go on the Internet a little ‘digital footprint’ is left. That data is then used to target you and others to buy/visit more of the same. Accountants need to use this in their arsenal.

Other people’s blogs

Seeing you are writing why don’t you write for others as well? If you have a ‘center of influence’that has your target market as their clients then why not offer to write for them. You could be a guest blogger for magazines (where your target market hangs out) and you could offer to blog for industry associations. When you position yourself as an expert and you are writing extensively,people believe you!

Content marketing

Accountants are so scared to give away content / information for free. Why? Is that all you’ve got? The real value in the content is not the content but the implementation of the content. By giving your content away for free (using all the channels in this chapter) you tell me you are confident, you’re not scared and I can learn about you before I engage with you. Send me articles, videos, podcasts, white papers, research – anything that builds your credibility. People buy from people they know, like & trust. I may know you by name and I may like you when I meet you. I trust you when I can see what you can do for me. The Internet is rife with content from dubious sources. Why not give content on what I can do for free. Then sell the how to do it for a lot of money.

About the author:

Rob Nixon is the global leader in helping Accounting firms dramatically grow revenue, profit and free cash-flow. He has been advising Accountants around the world since 1994. He is the author of 3 books ‘Accounting Practices Don’t Add Up’ - ‘Remaining Relevant’ and his most recent book 'The Perfect Firm'. You can buy copy of his latest book at Amazon

>>>>

PS. Whenever you're ready here are 3 ways I can help you achieve the results you deserve.

1. Download my latest ebook - The Naked Truth - and learn about the real financial performance of 32 Accounting firms. What they used to look like and what they now look like. Also a lot of detail on how they are achieving their results. Go to https://www.robnixon.comto download.

2. While you're on my website go to the BLOG and feast on dozens of articles and other content. https://robnixon.com/blog/

3. If you want me to work with you privately and coach you and your firm to success then let's start a dialogue. Send me a private message here on LinkedIn, tell me a bit about your firm and what you're looking to achieve. Ideally you're between $500K and $5M in revenue now. Message when you're ready