Why CPAs Should Embrace Mobile Marketing

Believe it or not, accounting firms that focus on leveraging mobile technology in their practice are ahead of the curve. Mobile marketing is “the now” and the wave of the future. According to recent reports from Wolters Kluwer, CCH, BMO Wealth Institute, and the AICPA, mobile efforts rank in the top three initiatives best-practice firms employ.

Here are some simple things you can do to make sure your firm’s website and marketing efforts are moving in the mobile direction.

Make sure your website is mobile friendly. Google will be deploying what’s called a mobile moniker in mid April that is assigned on to websites on mobile and tablet searches. This alerts the searcher to the site’s mobile friendly design. Speak with your website administrator to ensure the site is mobile ready in 2015. You can test the site on tools, such as Google’s Mobile Friendly Testing tool.
Check your firm’s website analytics report for the past 12 months to see how much traffic comes to the site from mobile and tablet devices. Then compare the report month-over-month to determine the increase in mobile traffic to your site. You should begin to see a pattern of increase, which will only continue to escalate as the year moves forward.
Local Listings. Google, Bing, and Yahoo! each have a free, local listing feature you can use to display your firm’s geographic location, hours, services, and more. This listing will appear on mobile and desktop devices whether your website is mobile friendly or not.
Applications. More and more applications client’s want and need are being offered on mobile devices. You, too, may leverage those apps. Think about expense reporting, accounts payable and receivables, and even mobile/cloud document uploading and downloading features. Providing an added value to clients via anytime/anywhere applications is a win-win for both you and them.
Email. Check your current email template on mobile devices. If you have a multi-column email template, test it using the applications mobile preview feature–both Constant Contact and MailChimp offer this feature. Also, if you send emails to clients, make sure the font size and formatting are easy to use on a mobile device. If not, consider a single-column format for future campaigns.
Content Creation. Developing content in mobile-friendly formats is important. Consider video, images, blogs, and lead generation forms you can use to market your firm’s services, resources, and tools. The more mobile friendly your firm’s content is, the better chance it has to be shared, liked, commented on—all helping to increase your brand and influence your firm’s search ranking.

Mobile technology will continue to move forward, even to wearables. Your efforts to keep your firm moving forward may depend on this technology as well—if not today, in the near future.

What questions do you have about developing a mobile-friendly marketing strategy for your firm?

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Becky Livingston has more than 25 years’ experience in marketing and technology in financial services and engineering firms. She is the President and CEO of Penheel Marketing, a boutique marketing firm specializing in social media and digital marketing for CPAs. In addition to being a marketing practitioner, Becky is also an adjunct professor, author, and speaker. With a graduate degree from Pace University in Information Systems, Becky also holds undergraduate degrees from two other colleges and also has a Certificate in Corporate Training from NYU. She is also an active member of the Association for Accounting Marketing (AAM). Connect with Becky’s firm on Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Plus, Pinterest, and YouTube.