Question

Topic: Strategy

Ideas For An Email Subscription Incentive

Posted by nichelle on 4/28/2015 at 4:39 PM ET 500 Points
My client is selling an insurance product that protects against an audit.

They want to enter the world of content marketing, which is great. The problem is I don't have any idea how to incite people to sign up to the email list.

Any ideas?
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  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/28/2015 at 4:45 PM Moderator
    Who is the primary target audience? Where? What do you/client know about those folks and what topics are important to them?

    Content marketing works best when you really understand your audience's hot buttons and can deliver something that is really interesting and compelling for them. Of course it's key to have a precise and narrow definition of each segment of the target audience, so each person is offered content that shows you really understand what they want and need.
  • Posted by nichelle on 4/28/2015 at 7:09 PM Author
    Good point(s) and thanks for the clarifying questions.

    The target audience is small and medium business owners in Canada who use an accountant.

    Maybe a checklist to score their accountant? Using the wrong accountant could waste them valuable money and increase their tax risk, so it is relevant to the product, and also hits on saving money, which small business owners love.

    I see your point about hitting the pain points of the target audience but the client is reluctant to narrow down the target market any further.




  • Posted by mgoodman on 4/28/2015 at 7:54 PM Moderator
    Can you come up with a topic that would sound less self-serving but would speak to a burning need among small business owners? It doesn't have to deal with accounting or taxes, as long as it's important to the target audience.

    Canada is a large country. Maybe narrow the target to just Vancouver or Toronto? If you're successful in a limited area you can always expand. That's better than trying to reach all corners of a huge country and learning afterward that your marketing plan wasn't as efficient as you would have wanted.
  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 4/28/2015 at 8:10 PM Accepted
    Is the insurance something that's unique to a single accountancy, or is it a product that accountants could sell to their clients?

    Do you have any statistics on the number of people annually who are audited, and the average amount of fines/penalties? The right numbers may make it a "no brainer" to signup. Good accountants may even provide such insurance for no additional fee to their clients to show how expert they are.
  • Posted by nichelle on 4/29/2015 at 10:38 AM Author
    @mgoodman: I wasn't clear in my original post - the client is an insurance firm, not an accountant. In that way, I didn't think the "accountant rating checklist" was too self-serving. Maybe it still is, what do you think?

    Our first targeted area of Canada is actually PEI (the smallest province), but thank you for pointing out the need to start small and scale what works.

    @Jay: We do have numbers of businesses audited, but the average cost per investigation varies too much to put a number on it. We agree that it's a "no-brainer" when the information comes from an accountant, but from an insurance agent...people are sceptical. They are hoping that accountants will sell to their clients, but until the ethics review board declares it appropriate they can't offer that route.

    For now they are direct selling to business owners.

    I'll keep looking into finding that burning need.
  • Posted by saul.dobney on 4/29/2015 at 10:57 AM Accepted
    People will sign up if they see good content. I'm assuming, by an audit you mean a tax audit? In which case discussion of tax affairs and tax changes. A financial systems check list - where are your records? Do you have your house in order? What do you have as back-up? How are you dealing with security? Compliance guidance. Case studies of audits in different industries. For example, a retailer audit would presumably be different to a software company audit. A description of legal powers and fines/remedies that tax authorities have. A guide to specialists and emergency legal help. Advice from the taxman - what do they want to see. A non-finance directors guide to sound business record-keeping. Relevant case-law as it comes out.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 4/29/2015 at 1:58 PM Member
    The best incentive is free content that's better than other people's paid content.
  • Posted by nichelle on 4/30/2015 at 7:05 AM Author
    @Saul: Some good ideas there, thanks. Because we are targeting business owners that use accountants, they are not likely to want information on compliance, record keeping etc. (that's what they pay their accountant for) but I like the case study idea. Advice from the taxman is interesting if I could spin it the right way - "what the CRA doesn't want you to know" - or something like that.

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