How we Helped an Accounting Firm Reconcile its Audiences Online

Who is Virtus Group 

Virtus Group is Saskatchewan’s largest independently owned accounting firm, providing professional accounting and advisory services to individuals and businesses for more than 50 years.

The Challenge

Virtus Group was well established, yet no one outside of their own clients knew who they were.

They were a "best-kept secret"—able to operate on the level of national firms that serve business clients... except that businesses didn't know about them! They had only ever done a bit of traditional advertising, but mostly word of mouth.

Strategy

We discovered that stress levels and anxiety generally increase during tax season and they are the reason why so many individuals and business people have trouble with sleep. This enormous pressure affects them emotionally. We thought that by tapping into a specific circumstance that’s common within our target audience, Virtus Group could be considered as part of the solution when it comes to professional accounting and advisory services.

Creative

This translated into a creative idea that connected Virtus Group with a particular situation that many individuals and business people experience. We wanted to remove that stressful burden off our potential clients’ backs to provide professional consultation as they sleep and relax.

Results

During Year One of the campaign, we employed digital marketing tactics the firm hadn’t used before, including retargeting and social media ads. The campaign ran for a year and was very successful, driving phone calls, event signups and various site conversions we tracked. During that first year alone, site traffic jumped from 25,000 to 62,000 users—an increase of 148%. 

Since setting up and optimizing the Virtus Group website for conversions and tracking analytics, we’ve seen goal-related outcomes increase by 65.8% over 12 months, from 383 conversions in May 2019 to 635 in May 2020. We also learned that 50% of all conversions were coming from smartphones

Website traffic for Virtus Group has increased significantly since our first marketing campaign launched in Year One. More importantly, conversion outcomes have increased. This has meant not only more traffic on virtusgroup.ca, but more qualified traffic—members of the target audience who are taking the actions they need and we want them to take. 

Overall, we’ve helped Virtus Group realize their goals of building their B2B client base, increasing awareness of their brand and services, and positioning them as serious contender in business consulting.