Why your accountancy firm needs its own client enewsletter

Most of us have signed up to receive email newsletters – the good, the bad and the ugly. We look forward to receiving the ones we like and value, but soon unsubscribe from those crammed with irrelevant content or a blatant barrage of sales messages.

Just when they looked to be all but dying out, about three years ago enewsletters underwent a renaissance. Everyone was doing them again; some were superb and they helped brands to build better customer relationships. Enewsletters can be a particularly effective marketing tool for accountants and other service-based businesses.

“Enewsletters can be a particularly effective marketing tool for accountants and other service-based businesses”

Why are email newsletters popular?

Email marketing is where you send out pure sales-related content, for example, information about your latest offers. But enewsletters contain news, features and other content designed to inform recipients – to increase their knowledge.

The key reason why people sign up to enewsletters is they want to learn more about things they’re interested in. Many of us love enewsletters and those that national newspapers send out every day are now among the most popular. Your average enewsletter design is now far better and enewsletters are much easier to read on smartphone, which has also helped to boost their popularity, because you can read them wherever you are (almost).

If someone has signed up to receive your enewsletter, it’s less likely to be spam-filtered. And research suggests that the average enewsletter open rate is high, providing you have a good subject line and the recipient recognises the sender. Pick a good mix of high-quality, relevant, timely content and your click-through rates can also be high.

“If you provide valuable information that benefits subscribers, they’re more likely to know, like and trust you – and buy what you’re selling”

Highly effective

When well written, produced and distributed, email newsletters are a highly effective way to reach prospects and existing customers, ensuring that you remain in their thoughts (or occasionally pop into their heads, at least).

If you provide valuable information that benefits subscribers, they’re more likely to know, like and trust you – and buy what you’re selling – the ultimate aim, of course. In a business context, your enewsletter information should enable recipients to increase their knowledge, solve their problems, save time, money or otherwise become more profitable and successful.

Having your own enewsletter can make your small accountancy firm appear bigger and more professional – and more interested in its clients – which can really set you apart from your competitors. Adding value to your customer relationships in this way can ensure that your customers remain loyal.

“Latest news, tips, updates and key-date reminders are all common enewsletter content, but longer-from content can also prove popular ”

Question of balance

Latest news, tips, updates and key-date reminders are all common enewsletter ingredients, but longer-from content can also prove popular. You can tell recipients about latest developments, whether in their sector, the small-business world or at your business (don’t overdo this). Sharing your insight via enewsletter is a good way to underline your credibility as an expert, while competitions and giveaways are also popular. Research suggests that subscribers are happy to hear about new offers or latest deals via enewsletters (but limit this also). Think “tell, tell”, rather than “sell, sell”.

Some businesses send out weekly enewsletters, while others send them out every two weeks, each month or quarter. Many accountants send out Budget specials, of course, while many have sent out special enewsletter to explain the latest Covid-19-related changes. Frequency is key, because you mustn’t bombard recipients, you simply want to keep them connected, engaged and informed.

“Part of email marketing’s attraction is it offers a great return on investment – some believe a £42 ROI for every £1 you spend”

Return on investment

Enewsletters can be created for very little cost, even if you buy content. Part of email marketing’s attraction is it offers a great return on investment (ROI) – some believe a £42 ROI for every £1 you spend (source: Direct Marketing Association). That’s a pretty compelling claim.

Testing and analytics enable you to quickly find out what works best, whether that’s your subject lines, content type or when to send your enewsletter. Setting up and managing a customer enewsletter is relatively straightforward, but if you just don’t have the time, knowledge or inclination, paying someone else to do it for you could prove a wise investment.

In my next post, I’ll provide a step-by-step guide to setting up an enewsletter for your accountancy firm, together with some important legal considerations.

• With 15 years’ experience as a leading writer of small-business content, Mark Williams is the founder of Dead Good Content, which specialises in writing readymade and bespoke content for accountancy firms and others that want to market their services to small businesses.

The golden rules of using LinkedIn to attract new customers

LinkedIn has some 610m users in more than 200 countries and territories (20m-plus in the UK). More than 260m LinkedIn users log into the site every month, with 40% of those being active daily users.

LinkedIn describes itself as the “largest global community of business professionals” who “come to LinkedIn [to] consume professional content”. They have “a very different mindset and intent from [those using] other social media platforms”.

According to LinkedIn, 80% of its users “drive business decisions” and its audience has twice the buying power of the average web audience. LinkedIn says 90m of its users are “senior level influencers”, with a further 63m “decision-makers” and 10m “C-level execs”.

LinkedIn is rated the top social network for lead generation, with “94% of B2B marketers using it to distribute content”. It’s hardly surprising that so many UK businesses are using LinkedIn to raise awareness of their brand, generate new leads and win new customers. However, if you get it wrong, it can have the opposite effect. So, what are the golden rules of using LinkedIn?

1 Use LinkedIn to its full potential

Searching LinkedIn can reveal much valuable information. You can quickly identify target companies and key people. Contacting them may or may not prove successful, but using LinkedIn only in this way offers limited value. In any case, usually it’s harder to get to speak to people who’ve never heard of you.

A wiser, longer-term strategy is to build your LinkedIn network and provide your connections with valuable, relevant content, whether links to industry or business news, insightful features, blogs, engaging facts and figures, or links to your own content, published on your website or LinkedIn. This approach can raise your profile and even result in leads contacting you.

Don’t take a “scattergun approach” to building your network. Find the right people at the right companies – think quality rather than quantity.  Send polite connection requests and a brief thank you message to those who accept.

2 Get your posts and content right

Using LinkedIn simply to broadcast your sales messages or beg for business isn’t recommended. And people see right through any “modest bragging” (ie making a seemingly humble statement to publicise your achievements), although it is OK to occasionally draw attention to your successes.     

LinkedIn has evolved from a jobs/careers platform into a content platform. More than 130,000 articles are created on LinkedIn every week, so, your content has to be up to scratch. Give your connections engaging, valuable information, knowledge with which they can start conversations. Think carefully before commenting, sharing or liking other people’s posts, because it will influence perceptions of your business. Be selective.

As LinkedIn puts it – “Share content that matters”. It recommends sharing behind-the-scenes stories, while always including an image and asking questions as a way to “start conversations”. The site also has a feature called Content Suggestions, which enables users to “discover trending topics and articles to share with target audiences”. Furthermore, you can sponsor your best posts to guarantee that they reach a much larger audience.

3 Be a LinkedIn regular

If you’re using LinkedIn just a few times a month, your chances of success are very limited. “Companies that post weekly see a 2 x lift in engagement with their content,” according to LinkedIn. Better to set aside 10-15 minutes two or three times a week for your LinkedIn activity, commenting on, liking and sharing posts, starting and joining conversations, congratulating your connections on their successes and anniversaries, etc. In tandem with posting your own content, this will ensure that you consistently appear on the site.

Vary the times of your daily LinkedIn sessions, to increase the chances that more of your connections will see your posts. Research suggests that the best days to post are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, early in the morning, at lunchtime or in the early evening. The more active you are, the more visibility you’ll have – but that doesn’t mean spewing out an endless stream of posts. Balance is crucial.

4 Have a winning profile

Whether for your company or yourself, getting your LinkedIn profile right is essential, because you must make a good first impression. You have about 2,000 characters to describe your company, its relevance and what makes it special. Be concise, but don’t leave out key facts. Update your profile regularly, adding to need-to-know information, with key search terms included, so those searching on LinkedIn will find you.

Including a good image on you profile page is believed to attract up to six times more visitors to your page. LinkedIn has published excellent best-practice advice on how to create a good profile page and even has awards for company profile pages, which offers lessons to others.

5 Always be totally professional

LinkedIn is not the same as other social media channels. It’s a professional platform. Showing some personality is good, but always remain professional. Don’t swear in posts nor directly criticise others. Avoid football and politics. If you wouldn’t say something in a face-to-face professional meeting, don’t say it on LinkedIn. Avoid arguments and consider all LinkedIn communication to be public (it can easily be screen-shot and shared).

Don’t be too pushy or bombard connections with sales information as soon as they connect. People hate that. Get to know the person first; build the relationship; find out about their needs, be genuinely interested in them and then explain how you can help. Jumping in too soon with a hefty sales pitch is not advised.     

6 Join the right groups

A good way of ensuring that you’re having the right conversation with the right people is to join the right groups on LinkedIn. There are various groups for UK SMEs. Normally, group managers review requests to join and possibly ask for additional information to make sure that you meet their membership criteria. Membership approval is solely up to the group. Once you become a member, you can make, like and comment on group posts, thereby raising your profile. LinkedIn provides advice on finding and joining groups.

7 Consider getting a LinkedIn Premium Business membership

A free LinkedIn account may be sufficient, but paying a monthly subscription (£49.99) for a Premium Business package can open up many more features, including being able to message many more users, even if you’re not connected. According to LinkedIn: “InMail is 2.6 times more effective than email or cold calls.”

Moreover: “Premium Business [offers] valuable insights [and] complete access to competitor data, industry news and analytics.” Free one-month trials are available. Alternatively, LinkedIn offers a Sales Navigator package, which offers advanced lead and company search. Users can “target the right buyers, understand key insights and engage with personalised outreach”. You can watch a free demo.

And finally…

It’s unrealistic to expect sales straight away from your LinkedIn activity, as with many things in business, you must take a longer-term view. LinkedIn probably won’t provide all the answers when it comes to generating leads and attracting and retaining customers, but if you invest enough time and effort, it could be an important part of your sales and marketing strategy.

• This blog was commissioned by TVC Group/Economist Group and published by Aldermore.