Advertising Your Tax Company: 4 Ways to Plan Ahead for a Busy Season

Tax Day may be months away, but the tax season is just around the corner. For tax planning companies, that means it’s already time to start planning your advertising strategy to build up your customer base for the season ahead.

Even if you enjoyed a large client base for the last tax season, you probably know that no tax company can rest on its laurels when it comes to protecting its client base. Advertising is critical to not only attracting new customers, but retaining last year’s clients as well.

Keep in mind that early tax season prep isn’t just for your business: Many prospective customers are thinking ahead about next year’s taxes, and are eager to start this planning process as soon as possible. By preparing taxes and filing early, your clients can claim and receive their tax refunds faster. Early planning can also aid in their financial planning, affecting everything from charitable contributions to their retirement planning strategy—all of which can have implications on their taxes owed.

Looking for tips to improve your marketing and advertising strategy? Here’s how to set up your business for another successful tax season.

1. ENGAGE EARLY

For tax companies, it’s often true that the early bird does get the worm. Current and prospective clients want to make sure their tax needs are in good hands well ahead of the tax deadline. This means your business needs to have an ad strategy ready and waiting for when they start their search.

You can get a head start on past clients by checking in via email and encouraging them to reach out to discuss their upcoming tax service needs. Social media can help you engage both your current followers and new prospects—use these engagement channels to remind them of the benefits of connecting early, and even filing early.

2. POLISH YOUR COMPANY’S SEO PRESENCE

Use your off-season time to review your SEO efforts and optimize where necessary. Review your keyword strategy and consider new keywords to target or prioritize, especially long-tail keywords targeted to certain specialty services you offer.

You can also check your Google My Business listing to make sure your business information is up-to-date, maximizing your referral opportunities through this channel.

3. TARGET CORE AUDIENCES

As you develop a paid advertising strategy, optimize your spending by identifying audiences you want to prioritize based on their relevance to your company. Create blog posts, videos, and other content demonstrating your expertise in these focus areas, and use awareness-level campaigns across cable TV, TV Everywhere, and social media to reach new customers looking for a tax services company that can meet their specific needs.

Educational content and ad messaging might want to address important tax law changes for the upcoming tax year, with a CTA to connect with your business. Or you might discuss new tax laws and opportunities specific to small businesses or other specialized areas of focus.

4. PROMOTE NEW OR INNOVATIVE SERVICES

Today’s consumers recognize that technology can improve productivity, performance, and value when hiring out services in any industry. Tax companies can leverage this innovation by using awareness-level campaigns to promote new tax software being offered to support their clients. This can range from tax and accounting solutions to software that aids in tax planning and tax optimization.

These upgrades will also be relevant to your existing customer base, improving the value of services they receive while reducing their motivation to seek out a different tax services provider.

Once tax season starts, your company will be short on time and resources to commit to ad strategy development. Take advantage of this calm before the storm, and put together an advertising plan that will clear a path to continued business success in 2021. Not sure where to start? We’re here to help.