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A proper CPA firm marketing plan should include a healthy mix of SEO (search engine optimization), paid advertising on a platform such as Google, and email marketing. A potential client in the market for a new firm will most likely explore options on Google before being nurtured and closed by a proper email marketing sequence. In this article:
- Strategies for a CPA firm marketing plan
- Recommended plan based on your firm’s budget and capacity for new clients
- Leveraging SEO to charge a premium for your services
Strategies for a CPA Firm Marketing Plan
Strategies Break Even Time Monthly Cost ROI Potential (3-year average) Main Benefit
SEO 7 months $3,000-$7,000 687% Highest ROI Over Time, Presents Your Firm as a Thought Leader
Google Ads 1 month $2,000-$10,000 310% Immediate Placement on the Top of Google Search Results
Email Marketing 7 months $50-$2,000 261% Continually Re-market to Potential Customers without Additional Cost
Meta Ads 3 months $1,000-$5,000 87% Uncapped Impressions are Available
Radio Ads 3 months $200-$5,000 117% Effective for a Wide Reach and Brand Awareness in a Local Market
TV Commercial 6 Months $2,000-$50,000 147% Boosting Firm Credibility in the Local Market
Billboard 2 months $250-$14,000 56% Continual Exposure to High Traffic Areas
Print Advertising 4 months $500-$20,000 98% Targeted Reach with Industry-Specific or Niche Publications
While this table does not represent a comprehensive list of marketing strategies for CPA firms, it provides a place to start building a marketing plan. Next, we’ll go through structuring your plan based on factors existing in your business.
Click Here for Our Complete Guide to SEO For Accounting Firms
Recommended Plan Based on Budget and Capacity for New Clients
Budget Capacity for Clients Use Plan Number
$ High One
$$ Medium Two
$$$ Low (or Looking to Scale) Three
CPA Firm Marketing Plan One
For marketing plan one, we recommend your firm utilize Google Ads to generate leads quickly while utilizing SEO to build a lead generation machine 6-8 months in the future. Billboards are also useful for firms looking to build local brand awareness.
Note: While we recommend using all three strategies together, using one or two will still yield results if budget does not allow the use of all three.
Included Strategies Reason Expected Monthly Cost
Google Ads Google Ads allows firms to generate leads within days of beginning a campaign. They are the fastest path to new clients. $2,000
Billboard Billboards allow newer firms to build a strong local brand while generating thousands of impressions quickly. $1,500
SEO SEO becomes a lead generation machine for firms after 6-8 months. It is the highest ROI form of marketing over the long term. $3,000
Total Expected Monthly Cost $6,500
CPA Firm Marketing Plan Two
Firms aiming to take on more clients due to excess capacity should consider one or all of the following strategies.
Included Strategies Reason Expected Monthly Cost
SEO SEO is the highest ROI form of marketing over a longer time horizon. Investing early ensures the firm’s website becomes a lead-generation machine. $5,000
Google Ads Google Ads produce the fastest leads of any marketing strategy on our list. $3,500
Email Marketing Email marketing re-engages old leads and nurtures new ones to become clients. $250
Radio Ads Radio ads build local authority and brand awareness by placing your firm in front of attentive listeners. $2,000
Total Expected Monthly Cost $10,750
CPA Firm Marketing Plan Three
Firms looking to scale, bring on more accountants, and become a local or regional powerhouse should consider the following marketing plan.
Included Strategies Reason Expected Monthly Cost
SEO SEO allows firms to build websites that consistently rank at the top of Google in a large number of geographic areas and for a large number of services. $7,000
Google Ads Google Ads ensure firms are consistently present on Google for any keyword that could be commercially valuable for the firm. $10,000
Email Marketing Email marketing, sent in the form of news and data reports from the firm, helps the firm remain top of mind for its prospects. $500
Meta Ads Meta Ads boost brand awareness and provide top-of-funnel traffic to the website. $2,000
TV Commercials TV commercials convey a firm’s professionalism and build trust with the surrounding local market. $10,000
Radio Ads Radio Ads continually expose potential prospects to your firm, raising brand awareness quickly. $5,000
Total Expected Monthly Cost $34,500
Leveraging SEO to Charge a Premium for Your Services
In recent years, a shift has occurred in which fewer and fewer college graduates have chosen to work in public accounting, creating a golden opportunity for firms to raise prices and work with their preferred clients instead of taking any client as a necessity.
SEO Hub & Spokes and What They Mean for Your Firm
An SEO Hub and Spoke is a series of pages about the same topic. The topic could be “auditing for fintech companies” or “tax for privately held manufacturing businesses”. Any topic sufficiently specific will do.
When your firm publishes 10-50 pages about the same topic, Google begins to view you as an expert for that topic, allowing you to rank above larger firms in the Google search listings, even if they traditionally rank higher than you for searches such as “accounting firm near me”.
This approach allows you to dominate search results for services and industries that you wish to specialize in.
Charging a Premium
Once traffic has sufficiently grown from your hub and spoke pages about your niche service, you will begin to bring in high quantities of leads related specifically to that service. This allows your firm to truly specialize in the service and raise your prices as lead flow should outpace capacity.
If you have any questions or need help creating a marketing plan for your firm, please reach out on our Contact Us page.