How clients choose an accountant
- Individuals shop at tax time, on price, convenience and trust. Once they find someone good, many stay for years, so the first appointment is worth far more than its fee.
- Small businesses think longer and switch less. The trigger is a bad experience, growth, a new business or a deadline. They want to know you understand their kind of business, and what it’ll cost.
- Bookkeeping and BAS clients buy relief from a recurring job, often in the weeks before a BAS is due.
- SMSF trustees move slowly and check credentials.
What Meta does well for accountants, and what it does badly
Meta is good at putting a face and a fixed price in front of local people and business owners when they’re thinking about tax, at reaching your followers and website visitors cheaply, and at filling consultation slots in quiet months.
It’s bad at seeing enquiries your website or practice software can’t report, at selling “experienced, personalised service”, and at anything that sounds like a promised refund. So your plan judges the ads on your own lead log: every lead, its ad, and whether it became a client.
First steps that work for accountants
- A fixed price for a named job. “Individual tax return, price confirmed before we start.” One number removes the fear of the bill.
- Several years lodged together. Describe the service, never the person.
- A switch-accountant handover. You contact the old accountant and move the files. Switching feels like admin, so take the admin away.
- A new-business set-up package: ABN, GST registration, bookkeeping software and a first meeting on structure, for a fixed fee.
- A short, free business review with a named outcome, such as what to sort out before the financial year ends.
- Fixed monthly bookkeeping and BAS, with what’s included listed.
Your plan picks one first step and runs one per ad. It skips “maximum refund”, “get more back”, “cheapest in town” unless you can prove it, and money imagery.
Rules your ads must follow
- Only advertise services you’re registered to provide. “Registered tax agent” or “registered BAS agent” only if you are one. Unregistered bookkeepers advertise bookkeeping, not BAS services.
- No promised refunds or outcomes. You don’t control the ATO’s assessment. “We’ll make sure you claim everything you’re entitled to” is fine; “maximum refund” isn’t.
- Describe the service, never the reader’s finances. Meta’s personal attributes policy rejects “Behind on your tax returns?”; “Several years of tax returns, lodged together” passes.
- SMSF advice is licensed. Without a licence, advertise administration and general information only.
- Never ask for a tax file number in an ad, lead form or message.
- Client details stay confidential. No client names, numbers or stories in an ad without written permission.
Your plan covers these rules in full for your practice. It’s general information, not legal advice.