I wrote this blog to answer one of the most common questions I get asked…
How do I get in front of more people?
To put it simply, there are two ways to do marketing:
- Wait for new clients to come to you (Inbound Marketing)
- Go out and get in front of people (Outbound Marketing)
If you had a steady stream of people lining up to work with you, that would be amazing, right? Unfortunately, it doesn’t always happen like that.
Yes, most accountants grow their business from referrals and word of mouth, but it’s not a good business strategy to rely on it. So what should you do?
Outbound Marketing for Accountants
If you want to grow, you’re going to have to reach out to people. That’s exactly what Outbound Marketing is.
Most people will think of Outbound Marketing in terms of tactics like cold-calling, but that’s not necessarily what we recommend.
Here’s a quick overview of what we’ve seen works:
It’s important to note that this only works well when you have a defined target market.
We have compiled our Guide to Outbound Marketing which includes some outbound email templates to get you started. Download it here.
- Research
- Do some research on your target market.
What are their pain points?
Where do they hang out?
Where can you find their contact details?
- Do some research on your target market.
- Find email address
- Once you have found their website URL (eg. www.www.bizinkonline.com), use a tool like hunter.io to try to find their email address.
- Send email
- Send them a personal, one-to-one email from your inbox. Don’t use bulk email marketing software like MailChimp or Bizink’s Email Marketing, as you do not have their permission to send them bulk emails.
- A genuine, one-to-one email that shows how you can help someone is perfect. It is considered part of the normal course of business.
- What to include: this email should quickly introduce your firm, but make sure to cut to the chase and let them know what’s in it for them. Keep it short and simple, don’t complicate the email because people will quickly scan it anyway.
- Follow up
- It’s unlikely that 1 email alone will do the trick. We suggest you do a series of them with various topics. You might send some useful content (like an eBook) at the start and once they have warmed up a bit, you might encourage them to book a meeting.
Free Outbound Email Templates for Accountants
We have compiled our Guide to Outbound Marketing which includes some outbound email templates to get you started.