Don’t Play Hide and Seek with your Clients
Be Where Your Clients Can Easily Find You
When you know what your potential clients read and where to find them, you’ll be on your way to finding and keeping more of them.
To demonstrate let’s take a short quiz. In what magazines will you find advertising for the following three products?
- Olive Oi.
- The New Everclear Albu.
- A Wide-Screen TV
Do you know the answers? Let’s take a look.
- Olive Oil - Food & Win.
- The New Everclear Album - Rolling Ston.
- A Wide-Screen TV - Consumer Report.
How did you know the answers so quickly? This may be an oversimplification, but big-time advertisers laser-target their marketing to their specific audience. You should too. You want your advertising to land in the publications that your clients read. And fortunately, you don’t have to spend the money Everclear does to publicize their new album.
As a small firm, you can get free publicity and get your article or ad published (or at least get mentioned) in something your target audience reads at no cost to you.
Read What Accountants Read; Just Don’t Expect Your Clients to Find You There
It’s important to keep up with your industry. It might even make sense to get published in an industry journal, but if you’re expecting to find clients there, you might be barking up the wrong tree.
If you want to reach your potential clients, you must put your message where it will do the most good. You need to appear in the magazines, newsletters and other publications they read. For example, if you want to reach banking executives, you probably already know that they read banking publications. Photographers read photography publications and bicycle shop owners read publications about bicycles and bike shops. They don’t read about accounting. No surprise there.
How Do I Find Out What My Clients Are Reading?
The best place to start is to simply ask. Ask your clients what publications they read to keep a finger on the pulse of their industries. Another simple way to find out what they are reading is to take inventory of the publications in their waiting room. You can also look at media directories available in the library. Consider those publications aimed at small business owners, like Entrepreneur and Inc. Magazine as well.
Don’t Ignore Trade Associations
National Trade Associations typically have a magazine or other publication in which you can advertise. However, the local affiliate organizations also publish newsletters that could prove to be great places to advertise. It’s targeted to your local market and it’s cheap. For as little as $50 you can advertise in a local trade publication and enjoy a better response than the national publication. As a matter of fact, many newsletters will welcome your advertising in them to help offset the cost of publishing.
Consider Running a Column in a Local Newspaper
There are other ways to get free publicity for your business as well. Local publications, like newspapers or magazines, are often looking for content with a small price-tag. Ask local editors if they would be willing to run a financial column of which you could be the writer. While you may not get paid, your byline alone would get you enough business to compensate for the time you spend writing the column.
Looking for More Ways to Promote Your Business?
Universal Accounting Center has spent over 25 years training financial professionals how to market their services. If you would like to learn more about our valuable program, the Universal Practice Builder, visit our website and watch a short video clip in which our President and CEO, Allen Bostrom, explains how, in becoming a Profit Expert, you can become the premier accounting and tax practice in your area. Don’t wait to advance your business and grow your clientele. Visit Universal Practice Builder today!
