What do millenials want from their accountant?
Keen to connect with the thriving audience of millenial start-ups? You need to play where they play… online.
Ever wondered what millenial business owners expect from accounting firms? They’re the generation who reached adulthood smack-bang in the middle of the Global Financial Crisis, witnessing firsthand how a corporate career can slip through your fingers. As a result, entrepreneurship became a valid career choice thanks to its lifestyle balance and the flexibility to be your own boss.
There’s no denying they’re passionate, committed business owners – however Gen Y tends to lack the skills or desire to handle the bookwork alone. That’s where you come in. Millenials are on the hunt for knowledgeable advisers who can grow to become a valued mentor to their business. Research conducted by Bill.com shows they want someone who:
- Responds to communications in a timely manner
- Provides strategic insight and guidance for their business
- Is versatile and able to give a wide range of accounting, tax and financial services
- Translates complex financial concepts into terminology and reporting they can understand
In short, the ability to establish and maintain a highly communicative relationship is ranked higher than technical proficiency. Millenials want someone who cares about them and their business. They want someone who’s in their corner and provides clear, concise advice time and time again.
How to deliver that advice?
If you’re keen to show Gen Y you can offer all those things and more, you need to talk to them in their comfort zone – through social media, blogs and enewsletters.
Social media
If you don’t have one already, now’s the time to create a social media marketing plan. That’s a summary of everything you plan to do and hope to achieve on social media. It will serve to guide all your content, comments and imagery and should work to inform, educate and inspire your target audience. Ask yourself, what does Gen Y need to know? How can we help support their business? What can we offer that sets us apart from the rest? Consistently answering these questions by posting engaging and knowledgeable content will see millenials stop their scroll.
Top tip: Social media calls for a more personal approach than traditional marketing tactics like newspaper advertisements. While you should always err on the side of professionalism, sharing a few unique details about the people behind the brand makes a huge difference – so remember to keep it real.
Blogs
Google loves unique social content. Millenials love Google. So fill your website with fresh, educational and shareable content on a consistent basis – ‘consistent’ being the key word there. A blog isn’t something to be tacked on to a website and added to whenever you find the time. Show it the respect it deserves by offering genuinely valuable content that your audience cares about, promote it across your social media channels and watch it grow to become a trusted source of information. That way, Gen Y will keep coming back for more.
Top tip: To take your blog to the next level – learn the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) to make your site even more valuable to Google and bump it up the search rankings.
Enewsletters
Email marketing is one of the best ways for businesses to build relationships with their clients, reach potential new ones and ultimately convert leads into sales. That is, as long as the information you dish up in each enewsletter is valuable, current and genuinely of interest to your target audience. Use it as a tool to direct Gen Y back to your website, your blog (which will be bursting with even more interesting info) and invite them to see exactly how you can help them, and their business, thrive.
Top tip: Remember, a lot of them time, work-life balance wins out over business growth for millenials – that’s the whole reason they became their own boss in the first place. So use your enewsletter content to share stories outside of your business too, like holiday suggestions or useful gadget updates, marathon training tips or brain boosting smoothies. They want someone to engage in their business as an ally, not a supplier, so demonstrating you have the same values will stand you in good stead.