Utilising a blog on your company’s website can establish your firm as an authoritative figure in the accounting field. Each new blog post allows you to offer valuable tips, hints, and advice that can guide readers through financial challenges. As you continuously assist them in overcoming these obstacles, they will naturally begin to view your firm as their go-to source for financial guidance. This is how long-term client relationships are cultivated.
However, there is another aspect of maintaining a blog that can positively impact your bottom line. By consistently generating new topics for your blog, you gain a deeper understanding of what your (potential) clients truly desire from an accounting firm. In essence, not only does your blog shape the content you produce, but it also shapes your company into the coveted accounting powerhouse sought after by your clients.
Gathering ideas
The competition
Examine the blog posts of your competitors or the LinkedIn posts made by their employees. They will be addressing the most common topics brought up by their clients. This gives you the opportunity to delve into those same topics and potentially surpass their posts with more valuable content.
Additionally, pay attention to the discussions that stem from their posts, both on their social media accounts and in the comment sections. As you read these conversations, keep an eye out for any client complaints or suggestions. These interactions can help you identify areas where your competition may not be as strong as it could be, allowing you to position your firm as superior in those specific aspects.
By drawing inspiration from these posts, you can develop your own content ideas while also incorporating a value-add that sets you apart from your competitors. You will effectively leverage your competition’s weaknesses to enhance the strengths of your own firm.
Readers
We emphasise the importance of engagement on social media and blogs. It’s not just about creating posts, but also creating opportunities for interactions. The more you engage with readers, the more questions they will ask. These commonly asked questions can become topics for future posts.
The benefit of addressing these questions is that it helps you focus on what matters most to your clients. For example, it can help you identify the areas of greatest concern for individuals starting their own small businesses. By addressing these concerns in your blog, you can offer service packages tailored specifically to help new business owners succeed. Thanks to your blog, your firm has gained a reputation for providing a package that enhances the chances of success for new business owners.
Case studies
Case studies serve as valuable resources for potential clients to understand how you have successfully addressed specific challenges and provided effective solutions. Whether presented as individual web pages or featured blog topics, these case studies demonstrate your expertise and credibility in addressing similar issues. By showcasing your ability to solve complex problems, readers can easily relate their own situations to the ones presented in the case studies, establishing your firm as a trusted partner in resolving their unique financial challenges.
(Hint: The word “specific” is emphasised because generic case studies are ineffective. Any accounting firm can share stories about helping clients achieve better returns, so it doesn’t distinguish your firm. The general rule is: if anyone can say it, it’s not worth saying.)
One of the benefits of case studies is their ability to identify niche-specific problems for clients. For instance, let’s suppose you authored a blog post describing how you assisted an interior design firm in reorganising their pricing structure to increase revenue despite servicing fewer clients. If this blog receives significant engagement (comments, reposts, etc.), it indicates that many business owners are seeking someone who can analyse their numbers and offer strategies to achieve similar results – doing less work while generating the same or even higher revenue, just as you accomplished for the client in the case study.
Your company now has the initial foundation for an additional range of services that have been specifically tailored to assist clients in accomplishing this objective.
Brainstorming sessions
There is no regulation mandating that you must generate all of the topics independently. Assemble your team for a session every few weeks to brainstorm ideas derived from common client inquiries. This collaborative approach will foster innovative thinking and ensure a comprehensive range of subjects to cover.
The sessions can cover a wide range of topics and still generate valuable blog ideas. Even if the main focus is not on blogging, these sessions can yield excellent suggestions to assist a specific client. It’s important to document all the top ideas that arise during these sessions.
What innovative ideas did your team develop?
Do clients possess a comprehensive understanding of their true hourly earnings from their business when their rate is adjusted to encompass all significant figures?
What seven key recommendations can be provided to Business Type X in order to swiftly enhance their financial performance?
What are the five most common mistakes new business owners make?
What are the actual costs of opening a restaurant in [your city]?
Furthermore, incorporating these generated ideas from a brainstorming session will enhance the content of your blog. This, in turn, will provide valuable insight into the preferences and needs of potential clients for your organisation.
