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We Asked. You Responded. We said, “Say What ??!!??”
We were pleased to get a lot of great data and insights from our 2013/14 Survey of CPA Firm Best Lead Generation Practices, but there were a few results that got us to a point where we were a-scritchin’ and a-scratchin’ our head.
One of our conclusions is that there’s still a long way to go before CPA firms have a complete compliment of lead generation campaigns, tools, technologies, and dedicated lead generation strategies and tactics.
From the Survey: “Too many firms aren’t using their website to capture leads, and the state of the art of using marketing technology to automate the lead nurturing process is in its infancy. This puts the industry behind the curve when it comes to trends in digital marketing.”
Here’s few of the more interesting takeaways we got out of the survey data that support our conclusion:
- 63% of firms say that their website is one of the least effective tactics for lead generation. No wonder: 60% don’t have the tools or technology to convert a website visitor into a lead
- Over 80% of firms are keeping track of where leads are coming from, but less than half of that number are measuring the success of their lead generation activities
- Less than 40% of firms say that they are measuring the success of their lead generation campaigns. For an industry built around numbers, it seems odd that measuring marketing results isn’t a more widely used practice.
- While firms believe that partner resistance and buy in from management is among the least challenging aspects of lead generation, 67% say that getting enough time or resources is among the biggest challenges
- Medium and smaller firms don’t consider content marketing to be an effective lead generation tactic … but larger and more progressive firms cite this as one of the most effective tactics
More Education About Lead Generation Means Better Accounting Firm Marketing
One question kept tugging at us as we analyzed Survey results: are accounting firm marketers and partners up to speed when it comes to online lead generation strategies, tools and technologies?
Our feeling is that more education on lead generation and more discussion at the management levels of the firm is warranted. For example, when constructing the annual firm strategic plan, pinpointing how, where and when lead generation is going to be used to reach overall and niche market growth goals should be an important part of the discussion.
When we repeat this Survey sometime in the future, I believe we’ll see that inbound marketing for CPA firms has really taken root and is being driven by integrated lead generation campaigns, tools and technologies.
So, instead of saying “hmmmm….”, I expect we’ll be saying, “AHA!!!!”.
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