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Accountants as Influencers – an untapped market by Adjunct Professor Dr Brett Davies and Mark Kratochvill
Accountants as Influencers –
an untapped market by
Adjunct Professor
Dr Brett Davies and
Mark Kratochvill
Accountants as Influencers – an untapped market
Page 1
Accountants as Influencers – a brave but necessary new world
by
Adjunct Professor
Dr Brett Davies and
Mark Kratochvill
1. What is an influencer? An influencer is an individual or business who exert an influence over a community of people through their presence. Accountants have been fulfilling this role for many years. Accountants are the cornerstone of the business and taxation communities. They are the first port of call for most of us. On a larger scale, often, influencers have previously been celebrities and those who had a strong presence in traditional media such as broadcast TV and newspapers. The impact from this type of influencer has decreased in line with a decline in audience numbers. People have become more educated and require a deeper connection than they did previously. We don’t trust doctors, lawyers or Dennis Lilley anymore, unless they are experts in that area. In contrast, the audience for new media has increased and the people who are followed by large audiences are able to influence more effectively. They are therefore able to review products, comment on services and recommend different brands or companies based on their experiences and expertise.
An accountant is a more powerful influencer in their community than a celebrity
endorser.
This is because they are a more reliable and credible source of information in their profession. A celebrity endorser is just acting from a script.
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Accountants are living what they are posting online in their professional lives. They are also more accessible within their community. They can usually be contacted by telephone, email or online messaging. This increases the level of engagement between an influencer and their community. So, whatever the area of expertise, there is always a community making information accessible. Being influenced and influencing others.
2. Who can be an influencer? Influencers are normal people who have an above average impact on a community. They are often experts in their field who keep their communities updated with regular articles and posts. They are trusted by their followers and maintain a strong connection with them. As an accountant, you are trusted by your clients and have an impact on them. You are easily able to engage with them using social media. This relationship leads to greater influence. So, any accountant or financial planner can be an influencer.
1. Publishing articles and blogs about industry specific topics. 2. Posting regularly on social media. 3. Sending email newsletters to a mailing list. 4. Replying to bloggers and people who comment on your posts.
As an influencer, you are engaged in content which you consider valuable to your target audience. You are always engaged and see value in the content that you publish. You may also be following topics discussed in forums relating to your area of expertise.
3. From content poor to content rich To influence today you need to be accessible and visible online to your potential target audience. Google tells us that the best way to achieve this is to publish high quality and original content. In other words, to be content rich. There is no point in creating content for the sake of creating content. The Internet is full of information that is rarely read and largely ignored. Keeping visitors reading your content for as long as possible is the aim. The longer they are active, the more engaged they are with your content. They begin to understand you on an intense level. They believe in what you say and in your brand and what you stand for. For example, at our law firm, Legal Consolidated we customise our content to niche areas and avoid repetition of generic content.
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The smaller the niche the bigger the market.
For example, create content aimed at those in specific occupations to engage potential clients from those areas. We at Legal Consolidated create content about areas of interest that relate to our areas of expertise. There are a few layers that show the stages towards becoming an influencer.
Layer 1: The browsers.
The people who have a quick look at your content without taking any significant action. These are the window shoppers who may or may not come back in time. There is no loyalty – yet. Most people start their focus on the first layer as it can be achieved easily using Pay Per Click providers such as Google, Facebook, Linkedin etc… The effectiveness of this depends on many factors. The most significant I think is the product or service being relevant to your target audience. Legal Consolidated has dabbled in pay for clicks. We have moved away from this. The target audience has been too broad. We are all in the business of offering sophisticated products and services to our clients, who need a certain level of knowledge, to see their true value. The question is, how much can we educate our clients by using our own influence. Potential clients will need to read relevant content and be advised before taking any real action. Therefore, the client will need to invest an amount of time that will be greater than the exposure they will experience. It will not be a one click, impulse scenario. The number of impressions seems to be an impressive statistic. However, it loses relevance when the potential clients interest lacks depth. These were some of our campaigns:
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In the above campaign we try and highlight a common problem in our community. We live for a long time, but our minds give up.
And here again is the same theme. Sometimes we are smarter when we are younger.
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Employment law is best approached by the Accountant ensuring that all their commercial clients have strong legally binding Employment Contracts. We seek to empower the Accountant and make them look good in front of their clietns.
Layer 2: The engaged.
The level of engagement is people who are prepared to click on a link to a related web page, comment on a blog or sign up to a mailing list. They may also make contact by telephone or online chat asking for further information. Brett was against online chat to begin with because he believed people prefer to telephone the law firm. However, after extensive testing this has not been the case. Chat is now an important part of our website offering. This is because it gives people are very low risk way of talking with one of our lawyers. It is less in their face.
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With chat we can see who is on line and what they are doing:
With chat we can see which pages our cl ients have been to:
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This layer is more interesting as it includes the people who want to take your content a step further. This is an excellent opportunity to get an insight as to what your target audience is reacting to. For example, there may be common questions that can be published in an FAQ’s section. We sold 18,000 Family Trust deeds last year on our website. However, we had less than 200 people contacting us to build this document online. When someone needs help it is a wonderful opportunity to improve our legal online documents. Or you can see which content the client has viewed before their engagement with you. Or you can send out a customised email to address a unique area of interest. These are all more valuable as it creates a mutual relationship between you and your target audience.
Layer 3: The influencers.
These people share your content with others or republish your content in some form. This is one of the main objects of our marketing:
This is the aim as they have already developed a level of trust within their online community and can easily advise their followers based on their own experiences. The third layer is by far the most valuable and is usually an earned combination of the first two having been established over time. This is not something that can be purchased as it is about the trust that is built between you and your target audience. This level of trust and confidence is not easily achieved by having a broad approach, but by focusing in on champions to introduce you to their community. This type of endorsement has a domino effect and becomes larger as more people interact on social media.
4. Summary Social media has increased the importance of influencers for Accountants. For seemingly forever, marketers have used influential people to sell a product or service . What’s new is social media and the internet, which give accountants (real people with skills) an opportunity to be an influencer, as well as easier ways to engage. Influencers have always existed, and the Internet is your new medium.
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Influencer marketing remains “under-utilized” for accountants.
According to a recent survey by Traackr and Top Rank Marketing, 43% of accountants report being in the experimental stages of influencer marketing; another 28% said their programs are tactical. The numbers are more lopsided on the accounting house’s B2B side: just 15% of B2B marketers report having an ongoing, integrated program.
