3 Ways to Improve Your Marketing Using Psychology

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Accounting marketing is challenging, in part because what you’re offering clients doesn’t easily lend itself to compelling photographs. Being inspired to purchase a product or service by great pictures isn’t a sign of immaturity or ignorance; it’s just a human trait. We’re inclined to desire what we can see because we can picture ourselves with the item, enjoying its touch and increasing our own appeal as we bask in the glow of its attraction. That’s basic psychology, and it is a powerful driver within the marketing world.

That particular trick of the brain isn’t easily applied to accounting, but there are numerous others just as powerful that you can use to help convert your audiences into actual clients. Addressing the realities of behavior and psychology makes a massive difference in the response your marketing receives. You can get a jump on the competition by tailoring your messaging to meet the desires of your audience, both voiced and unvoiced. Start with these three, simple strategies and see what happens.

  1. Put a lid on anxiety. Money inspires fear in a huge number of people, for all kinds of reasons. Fear of mismanagement, fear of looking stupid, fear of the unknown, fear of poverty…the list goes on and on. Many feel intimidated by the thought of even talking with a CPA because doing so might reveal their inadequacy in one or more of those areas! You become more attractive as a provider when you address these fears and provide reassurance. It can be done subtly as well as overtly. Either way, you’ll get the best results when you offer a haven free of judgement and rich with compassion for the anxiety that so often accompanies any sort of financial discussion. Let potential clients know that you understand and respect their concerns, and that you don’t expect them to know any more than they already do about how to proceed. Communicate that your firm is a soft landing place that will gently help them uncover and resolve their real or imagined financial challenges, and where their relative lack of knowledge is both accepted and expected.
  2. Improve your interface. Waiting and being confused are two of the most negative experiences most people face on a daily basis. When you eliminate these experiences from your website, newsletter, emails and other ways of interaction, you’re easing the path to positive feelings about your firm. Make it easy to find information and answers on your website. Use direct, simple language that isn’t too technical for the average reader in your articles and emails – unless they’re written for financial professionals, of course. Check the speed of individual pages and work with your webmaster and site host to do everything possible to ensure fast page loads. You’d be amazed at the number of would-be site visitors who click back to the search page when a page stalls instead of becoming instantly viewable.
  3. Be easily accessible. You know where your office is. Your readers should too. The same goes for your direct line, main office number, email address and social media links. Too many firms fail to make this information obvious on their websites and other communications. It’s important! Having a map, preferably an interactive one, on your contact page should be a given. Offering visitors an actual email address is basic civility, even when there’s also a contact form. Some people strongly prefer to address an identified individual rather than reaching out through a nameless, faceless form. This is especially true when the subject involves financial matters, no matter how innocuous. And when a potential client calls you, be absolutely, positively certain that he or she will not reach a generic voicemail box or one that says “the mailbox for this number is full.” How discouraging! If you want clients to find you and feel welcome then you’ve got to show them that and make it super easy.

The heart of marketing is connecting with people, so keeping human psychology and behavior in mind when you create everything from copy to websites only makes sense. If you follow these strategies, you’ll be on the road to positive relationships with those you want to reach.

 

Originally published on Marketing Ideas for CPAs

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Sarah Warlick

Sarah Warlick founded Proof Positive Content to provide professional service firms with high-quality content that resonates with their target audiences. Sarah's writing appears in books, on the websites of over a dozen Top 100 Accounting Firms and in Accounting Today, Forbes and other leading publications, but usually under another name. Ghostwriters rarely get the glory - their clients do!