Don’t Just Talk About Advisory Services in Your Marketing

You know that friend of yours (or client) who just started a new business and asked you to like his Facebook page? You followed the page for his new dental practice in order to be polite and supportive, but now your feed is full of dental work close-ups and overly technical dentistry lingo that’s grossing you out.

You’d really like to unfollow the page but haven’t yet out of loyalty to your friend…

Guess what – the same is happening to your own friends, prospects, and followers when you only talk about advisory services in your marketing. The majority of those folks are not likely to be loyal and kind in their response; Unfollow.

It may seem counterintuitive, but it is in your best interests to NOT just talk about accounting and advisory services on your marketing platforms. Why? Because your client and prospects don’t really care.

It’s harsh but true.

They don’t care about KPIs, QuickBooks reports, cash vs. accrual, blah, blah. That’s why they’ve hired you. Your clients pay you to nerd out on advisory work so they can focus on their concerns – of which running a business is only a part. They also have families, hobbies, habits, interests, and free time on the weekends.

There’s more to marketing for accounting practices than merely waving an “open for business” flag for all to see. And that’s what you’re doing when all you do is talk about your “thing.”

“Yes, I know you do accounting. So do those five other practices in my LinkedIn feed. What else do you have to offer?”

Marketing is about building relationships – around business, yes … and also around life’s countless other concerns. So, what can you do?

• Demonstrate authority, yes … and also show your empathy and humanity.
  
  
• Advertise your services, yes … and also your office birthday celebrations and staff member’s cake-making side hustle.
• Share software and legislative updates, yes … and also updates from people YOU follow for helpful life hacks.

If you only ever talked about dentistry with your new-in-business friend, how often would you want to exchange a phone call with him? And if he wasn’t your friend, would you honestly continue to follow his page?

The same goes for your prospects.

What other content should you be providing?

There is a myriad of engaging topics an advisory practitioner should talk about in their marketing. Here’s a short list to start incorporating into your content portfolio (this is just a start – the fodder is almost limitless):

• Related financial topics, like personal budgeting and insurance
• Entrepreneurial hacks (especially financially informed ones) 
• Time and productivity management 
• Holidays and major events (please, however, no cliches) 
• Recommendations for other local businesses 
• Headlines that everyone’s talking about 
• Lesser-known headlines everyone SHOULD be talking about 
• Tips for a richer and more joyful family life 
• Human stories worth sharing 
• Humor – everyone loves to laugh 

The best part is that you don’t have to pretend to be an expert in any of these areas. Stay true to your voice and position in the marketplace but enter into the conversation your target client is already having in their minds.

This is your key to marketing success.

So, before you push out that next email or social media post on the updates to GAAP accounting standards, ask yourself: do my clients and prospects really care about this?

Marketing success is earned through engaging content that actually gets read.

And if your clients and prospects aren’t consuming what you’re marketing … what’s the point?