Marketing for accountants, bookkeepers, agents and other professional services
Clients come by referral. Then they look you up.
Accountants, bookkeepers, insurance agents, attorneys, consultants: nobody picks you from an ad. Someone they trust gives them your name, and then they check whether you look like the real thing.
They have a problem that involves money or risk, and they can't solve it alone. They ask someone they trust for a name, search for that name, and decide from what they find.
In this order
Start with these four
None of them costs money. Get the first one working before you move to the second.
Step 1: Be easy to check up on
A complete Google listing, a home page that says who you help, and your own photo and name. A referred client who can't find you moves on to the next name.
What to put on your home page →Step 2: Ask for referrals on purpose
Most clients would gladly send you someone. They don't think of it. Ask at the moment you have just solved their problem.
Turn happy customers into referrals →Step 3: Answer one client question a month, in writing
The question every new client asks, answered in plain words. Send it as an email and post it on LinkedIn. It shows how you think before anyone has paid you.
LinkedIn, one post a week →Step 4: Collect reviews, within your rules
Reviews matter here as much as anywhere. Some professions restrict testimonials, so check what your licensing body allows before you ask.
How to ask for reviews →
Where to spend your time
Every channel, ranked for professional services
You don't need all eight. Start at the top and stop when your week is full.
Start hereWhere your first hours should go.
Add nextWorth it once the first ones are running.
Can waitFine to skip unless the note applies to you.
Nothing to post?
Three posts for this week
Post 1: Show your work
A problem you solved this month, with the client's name left out.
Caption to start from
A client came to us with [problem]. [Timeframe] later: [result]. If that sounds familiar, [next step].
Post 2: Help
A deadline that is coming up, and what to have ready.
Caption to start from
[Deadline] is [date]. Have these three things ready: [one], [two], [three].
Post 3: Be a person
Why you chose this line of work.
Caption to start from
I became a [profession] because [reason]. [Number] years in, the best part is still [part].
What can wait
Paid ads and directory listings that charge a fee can wait. Referrals close faster and cost nothing.
Do this today
Email your three best clients. Thank them, and ask whether they know one person you could help the same way.
Other kinds of business
See them all →Membership
Stuck on what to do next? Ask people who do this every day.
Members get a private group for questions and feedback, plus members-only playbooks. $99.99 a year — about $8.33 a month.
See what's included