Should accountants use events in their marketing? [LIVE from Digital Accountancy Show]
Discover how to use events to build trust with prospective clients
I’m just back from an incredible few days at Digital Accountancy Show.
If you weren’t there, all I can say is that you missed out!
Incredible content & speakers (I would say that), next-level production (and lasers), and an amazing feeling of community throughout the day.
Anyway, whilst I was there, the team behind the ‘Ask The Accountant’ podcast invited me on to chat about my involvement in the show + whether accountants should use events in their own marketing.
Short answer - yes, they should.
Long answer below… or you can watch/listen to me chatting about this LIVE here.
Here are my notes from the podcast interview:
Why run events?
Online marketing channels are noisier than ever (this is being amplified by hoards of generic AI-driven content)
People are tuning out for this reason and tuning in to things that are hyper-relevant and focused for them
In a world of remote work post-COVID, people are craving more human interaction
In-person events allow you to quickly establish trust and credibility with prospects in a much shorter space of time than you could online
The majority of other firms aren’t and simply won’t do this - it’s differentiated
You can do this to add value to both prospective and existing clients (it’s leveraged)
How should you approach events?
Setting up an event should be broken down into 4 steps:
1. Goals & purpose
Why are you running the event?
Who is it for? e.g. both prospective & existing clients
Is it going to be online or offline?
What is the theme/topic for the event?
2. Pre-event
How do you set the event up?
What is your plan for getting bums on seats?
Incentivise existing clients to bring at least 1 person with them (referral)
Bring in complimentary speakers and ask them to invite their audience (introducers e.g. bank managers, insurance agents, funding brokers etc)
Online marketing - which channels? What budget?
3. During the event
What is the structure of the day?
How will you allow time for networking?
Will food/drinks be provided?
How long will the sessions run for?
4. Post event
How will you follow up with prospective clients?
Sending out post-event surveys for feedback
What else can you do to nurture/convert those prospects?
Tools & tech you need to run your event
Here are some of the tech & tools you might need to run an event:
Eventbrite - this will take care of the registration page, ticketing, reminders etc (plus, if you’re hoping to attract a local audience, you’ll get some registrations by appearing on their events page)
Email marketing - something like Mailchimp will allow you to send more personalised reminders + follow up emails to registrants/attendees
CRM - this will allow you to store prospects and keep notes on any conversations/activities that have happened. If you use platforms like ActiveCampaign this will have email marketing built in so you don’t need to use Mailchimp separately
What topics should you cover in your event?
My favourite answer… it depends.
The topic you choose should be closely aligned to the specific Ideal Client Profile (ICP) that you want to attract.
If your ICP is start-up business, then an event covering accounting & finance basics + an introduction to tech like Xero, Dext, Pleo etc could work well.
If your ICP is established businesses doing £2M+ then that topic likely won’t land. You might want to consider talking about exit strategy, acquisitions, sources of funding etc.
The point here is that like all content, you need to have a detailed understanding of who your ideal clients are. The better you know that, the more focused your content will be. The more focused your content, the better results you’ll get from any marketing activities.
Are there any examples of accounting firms running interesting events?
I know of a firm in New Zealand whose target clients were contractors, subbies, and people working in the building trade.
They needed to get them using Xero, so they hired out a local pub, put some money behind the bar for free beer + pies, invited all of the local trade, and did a very good job of converting many of them into clients.
It doesn’t need to be rocket science, you just need to understand your ideal clients.
Which event formats work best?
Cmon guys, you already know the answer by now… it depends.
Depending on the size of your event and ideal client, here are some formats worth exploring (either on their own or a combo of several):
Educational presentation - standard presentation accompanied by slides (no death by PPT please)
Fireside chats - interviews either with yourself or other guests/experts
Roundtables - facilitated discussions about a particular theme or topic
Hot seats - an opportunity for attendees to ‘mastermind’ and help share experiences and insights (great if you get a room of people all in the same niche)
Networking - standard networking format
Hope some of these notes help.
There’s a little more in the recording above if you have time to listen back to that.
Until next time!
Jordan
P.S. You might have noticed I haven’t sent this for the past couple of weeks. Sorry about that. Going forwards, I’ll still be sending these but at a reduced bi-weekly frequency.
P.P.S. My next newsletter will recap my presentation from Digital Accountancy Show titled ‘How to use Chat-GPT and 17 other AI tools to automate your marketing’. It’s not all sunshine, AI, and rainbows. There’s a strong word of warning in there.
P.P.S. Quick shout out to one of my subscribers Veshali who kindly came up to me at the show to tell me this is the only newsletter she reads every week. Veshali - thank you 🙏