Once you’ve set up your new tax preparation business, it’s only a matter of time to start acquiring clients. Your first clients would be your family and friends. Then, you need to start chasing after potential clients by marketing your business.
Any new tax preparer building their own business can be overwhelmed when it comes to acquiring clients. Most don’t know what to do or where to start. Well, here are some tips on how you can market your new tax preparation business.
Tip #1: Create Your Brand
Make no mistake–your business name is not automatically your brand.
Your brand is more than your business name. Your brand is a representation of your business, what service you provide, and what you can offer to your clients.
For example, think of the best restaurant. Now, why did you think of that restaurant? What made it the best?
- Is it because of their food?
- Is it because of the restaurant’s service?
- How about the price? Did you think it’s the best because it’s affordable or expensive?
- How about its reputation? Did you think it’s the best because it wasn’t involved in a scandal? Or maybe it’s the best because it has an outreach program that helps less fortunate people?
There are many more factors to consider why that restaurant is the best. The point is all of those factors make up the brand of the restaurant. That brand helped in making your opinion of it becoming the best.
When you think of what your brand is, you need to think of these factors and what representation do you want it for your business.
Start thinking about your brand by answering these questions:
- Who are your customers?
- What kind of customers do you want to have?
- What problem do I want to solve for my clients?
- What value can you provide your clients? Why is it different from the others?
- Who are your competitors?
- What are those competitors saying about their brand?
- What do you want your business to be known for?
Start answering these questions and build a concrete picture of what you want your brand to be. You can reflect on how you will set your rates or what additional services you can offer.
Once you’ve identified your brand, you can plan effectively on how to communicate it to your potential clients. You can create your logos, store design, product (or service) packages, and other tools to market your business.
Tip #2: Use Creative Tools To Communicate Your Brand
There are many ways to start communicating with your potential clients about your business. One of the first things you should do is to get flyers, postcards, posters, and other printed materials. You need to be able to spread the word about your business.
Hand out flyers near your office. Send out postcards to potential clients. Put up posters in areas with high foot traffic such as supermarkets and retail shops. Make sure that the public knows about your business.
Since we’re living in the Digital Age, you should also set up your website. A website is a great way to get clients because people use Google when looking for services. Attract a lot of customers by investing in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies.
Aside from print-outs, send out emails to potential clients. In email marketing, you can link your website and capture interested people with a click of a button. After getting interested clients, you can follow up with a sales call or a meeting.
Tip #3: Expand Your Word Of Mouth Marketing
Any good marketing strategy begins with the Word of Mouth. You can gain the reputation and strengthen your brand with positive reviews from your past clients.
Word of Mouth marketing is especially important in the tax preparation business. Here are the reasons why:
- Unlike other products or services, tax preparation is seasonal. So, it is not always top of mind for clients.
- Tax professionals handle sensitive information. Thus, clients want to vet preparers before they engage in business with them.
- Clients need to build their trust before they can do business with you. When someone they know refers to you, they will highly consider your services.
As mentioned earlier, your first clients would most likely be friends and family. It’s a good start to build your word of mouth marketing plans. Here’s what you could do:
- Ask them to write a review.
- Ask for client referrals.
- Ask them to pass your flyers or business cards to their friends and family.
Expand on this by doing affiliate marketing. Reward your past clients for successful referrals to motivate them to bring you more.
These are just some of the tips on how to market your new tax business. Get to know the ins and outs of building a tax preparation business by reading the Ultimate Guide for New Tax Preparers. It has various information about building a tax business: from getting your EFIN and PTIN to what equipment you should buy.
