14 Great Tax Marketing Ideas

Tax season is often the Black Friday time of year for accountants and tax preparation professionals. Outside of that January through April window, however, business can slow down to a crawl. Many tax marketing ideas are geared toward maximizing sales throughout this brief window and there’s nothing wrong with that, but you’ve got opportunities all year to reach out to your community and provide some needed services to a niche group of people that may need some help.

It all begins with your ability to provide a fast, valuable service. With online software readily available, it is easier than ever before for someone to be able to manage their taxes on their own. What sets you apart? Your ability to save people money, get their taxes done quickly, and solve difficult tax problems that may be hard to do with some browser based software.

Best Tax Marketing Ideas

1. Direct Mail Is Always Good
New businesses are beginning in your community every year. New residents are moving into your community throughout the year. Some of them may need tax advice right now. Do you really want to risk having them seek you out when there are multiple competitors providing the same service? That’s why direct mail, even in the middle of August, is always a good idea. It helps to keep your services at the top of a consumer’s mind. You can even focus your efforts by targeted new businesses or new residents.

2. Have a Good Offer
Providing tax services isn’t always good enough in terms of value. You need a mechanism that will help to carry your marketing message effectively to your potential customers. That can be a specific discount for referrals, free tickets to a local financial seminar, or anything that your targeted demographic would find to be valuable at any point in the year.

3. Newsjacking Can Provide Huge Results
Tax planning is becoming more important for all families and many don’t realize the need for it until it is too late and they’re paying penalties. Use news items that are tax-related throughout the year to promote your own services. This provides a valuable resource through the article and offers people a viable solution to solve the problem right away – your services.

4. Procrastinators Delay All Year
People hate taxes more than almost anything. This creates a lot of procrastinators that not only wait until the deadline to file, but will push them past the deadline with extensions. Reach this group by offering them an easy, zero effort way to get their taxes done for an affordable price.

5. Always Contact Your Previous Customers
Speak with people about your services when it is time to plan their taxes to put your services in the forefront of their minds. Even if you don’t end up having them rush through your door, you’ll get them thinking about their tax needs and that might just result in a sale later on.

6. Schedule Appointments
It’s easier to tell someone “No” over the phone than it is to decline services in person. Schedule appointments with your prospects to bring them in to discuss their tax issues in person. You’ll have a better job of showing them your expertise and you’ll make it difficult for them to turn you down.

7. Build Relationships
You don’t have to personally know someone to create the foundation of a relationship. Simply noticing the color of someone’s shirt and complimenting it will communicate that you’re focused on the person and not their money. If you use their name, you’ll simply enhance this feeling even further.

8. Enhance the Urgency
If you are able to stress deadlines or the ability to get a refund processed, then you’ll create an atmosphere where your call to action will be an effective mechanism. Without urgency in tax preparation, most people will tend to procrastinate as much as possible.

9. Take It Easy
People are apprehensive as it is when it comes to taxes and a stressful environment for them will simply turn them away. Your attitude during your marketing push is what will either drive you toward success or have you walking down a pathway toward disaster. Keep it calm, take it easy, and answer any question with an authenticity that is geared toward service.

10. Raise Your Prices
Although it seems counter-intuitive, raising your prices is an effective way to bring in more revenues. You don’t have to make it an insane amount of money, if you raise your price by $1 and you get 1,000 clients on average per year, well… you can do the math.

11. Value Is What You Make Of It
Even simple tasks that you might not think a second thought about might be a valuable insight for someone who is trying to journey through their own taxes. Don’t dismiss anything because the moment that you do, you’re dismissing those folks who would have found that content valuable and they’re no longer prospects of yours.

12. Always Follow-Up
Feedback is critical to your marketing success. Even if you don’t get a customer out of your leads, their feedback about why they chose to go elsewhere with their business is something you need for future success. Listen with a critical ear, implement changes if needed, and you’ll be able to maximize every marketing campaign.

13. Relationship Aren’t Commodities
You can’t fake a relationship with a customer. If you don’t stay in touch with everyone throughout the year, be it through cards, phone calls, or simple letters, then a good job isn’t going to be good enough. If all you ever do is send people a bill in the mail, then you’re telling them that the only thing you care about is their money.

14. Dare To Be Different
If you’re doing what everyone else is doing, then you won’t stand out. Extend offers, add bonuses, and do something unique that people will find to be of value. There are always good ideas that will traditionally work, but if everyone else is using them and you do as well, then you’ll just blend into the marketing background.