Tax Preparation Marketing Strategies

While you'll never compete with the large national tax preparation chains, you can win in your local market with a smart search ad campaign. This may be the first (and last) place your prospects go when looking into their options for tax prep.

Looking for a way to drum up business outside of tax season? Promote mid-season offerings and specials—like tax planning strategy sessions—to your clients. This will also make your service "stickier" come tax season.

If you don't already have one, get your tax prep business a profile on search engines and other online directory and ratings sites. Then, reach out to recent clients via email to ask them to leave a review of your business.

Consumers have no shortage of self-serve, online options when it comes to tax prep. You'll need to clearly communicate to them why you're a better choice. Make sure you messaging and differentiators are solidified before you go to market so you can maximize your efforts.

In addition to paid search, you'll want to target customers in your market with strong SEO content. This includes new or refreshed site content that is targeted to keywords customers are searching (e.g. "CPAs in Dallas"). Don't forget the local angle/city name! This type of approach can be tricky, so work with an expert partner to ensure success.

Don't let a full year go by before reaching back out to last season's tax clients. Keep in touch throughout the year with email, SMS and valuable informational content to stay top of mind. This helps build credibility and trust to ensure that come next tax season, your clients will be back.

Building a name for your insurance brokerage in your community is like building trust. You can't compete with the big insurance companies on a national scale, but you can still win in your own backyard. Use brand-friendly channels like radio, connected TV and OOH (billboards, sponsorships, etc.) to make yourself a household name.

In the uber-competitive tax planning industry, cost per customer acquisition can creep up quickly. Make sure you're working with an expert partner who knows how to balance and optimize your online media spend for maximum ROI. This requires a partner that understands how to implement multi-attribution analytics to give you the full picture.