4 Biggest Marketing Technology Mistakes Made by Accounting Firms

With every year, the advancement of technology seems to get faster. Just a decade ago, ideas like artificial intelligence (AI) and cryptocurrency were considered relatively fringe concepts—fun to ponder and great subjects for fiction, but not something we work with on a daily basis.

Today we see major tech companies like Google, Meta and Microsoft racing to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into AI research and development. And while cryptocurrency may not be fully accepted in the mainstream, the blockchain concepts behind crypto are already making huge advancements in areas like banking, security and online privacy. 

Marketing is another area where tech seems to be moving forward at a brisk rate. We see literally thousands of new options emerge on the marketplace every year. And while that doesn’t mean you need to upgrade your marketing technology stack annually, it’s still important to be aware of developments so you can strategically incorporate new tech into your operations. 

Below are some of the biggest mistakes we see firms make as they learn about, purchase, and evaluate their own use of marketing technology.  

Sticking with the way they’ve always done it 

This is by far the most common mistake we see from accounting firms. And despite widely held stereotypes, this misstep is not exclusively reserved for older generations in the workforce.

Plenty of millennials and Generation Z professionals find themselves a comfortable routine with technology and become unwilling to change from it, even when doing so would help them be more efficient. 

Using the same accounting firm marketing technology for a long period of time may work for a while, but it will eventually put a cap on the firm’s growth potential. It could also lead to a lot of inefficient time spent completing tasks that could have been done a lot more quickly.

To avoid this mistake, schedule time periodically to evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing technology and whether or not it may be time to make changes.  

Not integrating tech with an accounting firm website 

In the digital-first era, we commonly think of any business’ website as its “online storefront.” Consider your accounting firm website as a physical storefront. Is it old, neglected, and visually unappealing? Or warm, inviting, and pleasant to engage with?  

Remember that like a traditional storefront, sometimes less is more. Just because you can add or integrate a new kind of marketing technology to your website, doesn’t mean you necessarily should. It’s important to keep your focus on the user—don’t overwhelm them with every single fancy pop-up or elaborate disappearing form.  

Instead, think about a consistent, efficient way to connect your website with the rest of your marketing tools. Many advanced platforms will even handle this automatically. For example, when someone fills out a form on your website, they should also be added to your prospect database, allowing you to get in touch with them using your automation platform. 

Keeping accounting firm marketing technology siloed  

Many firms we work with assign the marketing technology to a “champion,” a particular person or team within the organization that takes ultimate responsibility for the way these tools work.

This type of delegation can be a good approach for getting things done efficiently, but it also tends to result in a silo effect where only a few people at the firm know what’s going on with its marketing technology. 

A good way to overcome this challenge is to schedule periodic check-ins with the team that owns the marketing technology platform and the rest of the firm. During these meetings, the champion(s) can explain how things work with technology, and more importantly, how it will affect the rest of the firm’s work.  

Remember, these don’t necessarily need to be physical gatherings. Some firms find success with holding a virtual “office hours” type of meeting, allowing people to drop in at any time and ask questions as they see fit.  

However, if you decide to do it, overcoming siloing requires your team to make a conscious effort towards making sure the rest of the organization is at least aware of what’s going on with your marketing tech. 

Using too many different tools for accounting firm marketing 

Also known as “shiny object syndrome,” this mistake is common among lots of accounting firm marketing leaders. They start to believe that the next solution will be the perfect one for their firm, solving all their problems. Once that option is implemented, they soon get bored and move on to the next “shiny object,” repeating the cycle. 

Even without this affliction, it’s easy for accounting firm marketers to feel that they need a single software tool for every task. Some people just haven’t learned that they don’t need a new application for each marketing campaign or platform.  

If this sounds like your firm, one of the best ways to quickly streamline many different aspects of your operations—including marketing—is through the use of an accounting practice management software platform. This kind of tool provides features like reporting and analytics dashboards, employee time tracking, and detailed workflow management to ensure that technology is a help for your marketing campaigns, not an obstacle to overcome. 

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