If you have built an app, and you have recognised that you need to get in front of accountants and bookkeepers, here are some quick suggestions.

If you want to sell to accountants and bookkeepers, you need to

  • articulate how it will make them a hero to their clients.
  • be clear on how it will help their work
  • be clear on what problem your solution solves.

Facebook is quick, interactive, and useful for discussions and research.

FaceBook groups are rich with insight for researching real issues users are experiencing. Within relevant Facebook groups, search for keywords about your solution, using the search field on the top left. Read through the existing questions within the group and try to solve them with your solution, where applicable. Create blog posts, to answer common questions, and add them as responses to encourage people to visit your site for the solution.

Join relevant forums, introduce yourself, explain what the solution does, give them information about the solution, and how the integration works. Don’t try and sell! Encourage them to ask questions on the post, as it will encourage the post to rank higher, and be seen by more people.

For future posts consider drip-feeding educational content.

FaceBook Groups I suggest you join include:

Don’t let the FaceBook black hole take over your life, just spend 15 minutes a day, do a search, respond, and then get out of there!

Reach out to the accounting software solutions and accounting and bookkeeping associations, and ask if there are opportunities to:

  • Exhibit at conferences or roadshows – this can be very expensive
  • Present internally to their staff – their staff are connected with thousands of accountants, so you want their staff to know about you.
  • Contribute to their blog, or other content creation or social media activities.

Also look out for relevant meetup group – like the Cloud Accountants MeetUp I coordinate in Brisbane. Treat the presentation opportunity as a learning opportunity for yourself too.

Explain how your solution meets these criteria:

• Budget-friendly.
• Easy to learn and use.
• Customisable.
• Plays well with others.
• Flexible.
• Scales with your business.

Support partners events:

• Budget-friendly. Develop introduction slides that are supremely easy to use and upload them to SlideShare so they are easy to access.
• Offer to provide a speaker or merchandise
• Customisable. Offer community sponsorship – like this example here from Shopify.

Showcase your diversity

Look within your team and leverage from the diversity in your team, highlighting that your team is made up of humans, (which of course it is!) and sharing aspects that may resonate with the accounting and bookkeeping community. In June 2018 I asked Blenda Eltz to explain Receipt Bank in her native language Portuguese. I then asked people to “Tag your Portuguese small business clients below to hear her explanation.” Within 2 days, 10 Portuguese speaking accountants and bookkeepers were tagged into the post. I don’t want to give customers the wrong impression, that a solution has full support in a language when it doesn’t. However it is a point of comfort and connection in a fast moving digital world. The following day, by chance I was at another conference, and  Sofian Saoudi from ReceiptBank was providing a comprehensive explanation in French, to an interested French speaking accountant.

Expert support

Carolyn Stebbing is the Creative Producer at Little Village Creative in Melbourne. Her team have a rare talent for understanding branding and content through the eyes of the accounting and bookkeeping community. She can assist with your marketing and writing efforts. She is a regular attendee at accounting conferences, and her team works with other Cloud App solutions, so are familiar with the uniqueness of the community.

Carolyn’s contact details are:

Carolyn Stebbing
Managing Director/Producer
+61 424 737 182
littlevillagecreative.com.au
carolyn@littlevillagecreative.com.au

Finally – get lots of five-star reviews!

This is just a quick list I’ve pulled together, if you want more personalised suggestions, or help to connect with the accounting and bookkeeping community, please connect with me.