From Ledgers to Landing Pages:
Why Business Data Interpreting Is the Next Step for Accountants and Bookkeepers
As accountants and bookkeepers you are at home with numbers. You live in spreadsheets, you monitor financial trends, you make sense of the data that makes the whole business world turn. But what if you could use that same analytical focus you bring to your finances to unlock growth in another vital business area – marketing?Business Data Interpreting – or BDI for short – is the idea of integrating those insightful financials as well as the mystery of marketing data to create the ultimate small business advisory service. If you're already advising clients on their cash flow, P&L and tax responsibilities, why stop there?
In other words, it's time to measure twice — and cut through the noise.
The Connection between Marketing and Money
If you think about it, here's the truth: a small business can make sense on the books, but if its marketing isn't attracting enough leads and converting visitors into customers, one way or another those numbers are going to slide. The opposite is also the case – a flashy website or social media profile in the absence of financial discipline can obscure problems beneath the surface.
A complete perspective demands we consider both sides of the equation. As a trusted adviser, you are uniquely positioned to make a difference.
So, you're dealing with a hairdresser, let's say. You know their income is down, and they have fallen behind their target number of appointments. You also know they have been sharing on Instagram and has an entry-level website. Rather than commiserate or sell them on 'marketing more', you can simply look at their analytics and community dialogue. A little sleuthing — often nothing more than a look at the back end of their website or in their social media analytics — might show that visitors are leaving before they get to the booking page, or that critical posts are being seen by the wrong people.
The odd thing is that this kind of analysis, like a financial audit, gives you clarity and direction. It's data in action.
The Tools Are Already There
The great news is that pretty much every platform your clients are using to market themselves has integrated analytics. Website builders like Wix, Squarespace and Shopify feature clean performance dashboards. Email platforms such as Mailchimp keep track of opens and clicks. Social networking sites all now offer audience engagement stats, and tools like Eventbrite and Google Business Pages provide insight into campaign and search visibility.
QR codes, in fact, even have data – you can log in and see how many people scanned them, when they scanned them, and from where.
Most likely, your clients aren't going to be checking these insights on a regular basis, nor will they have the know-how to do so. But you do – or you could. Taking this approach allows you to advise more strategically.
Start With Your Own Practice
Start with some self-analysis before you offer it to clients. How's your website traffic trending? Are your newsletters even being opened? Is your social media content feeding visibility or filling time?
If you've never done this before, treat it as a sort of weekly business hygiene — a short check-in that takes less than an hour but can uncover powerful patterns. Even if you don't love marketing, it's imperative to know how it's impacting you if you're spending time (or money) on it.
This also translates to knowing how to talk to clients about their marketing in a grounded, helpful way. You don't want to learn to be a marketer. You're just broadening your lens as a data-focused adviser.
Stage 2-to-Stage 3: Practice Scalability with BDI
If you're considering scaling your practice to the next level and entering Stage 3 of the Practice Scalability Framework, BDI might be a bold, strategic step forward.
You have two paths here. One way to do so is to develop this expertise in-house and make it available to a handful of clients – possibly on retainer. The challenge of analytics has many small business owners just as confounded as they are by accounting. They are likely to be very relieved and grateful to hear that you want to help their business.
The second route is to build a team. Hiring a part-time or freelance data analyst — someone who knows their way around digital tools and reporting — can help scale this service, even if you don't become an expert in everything. This person doesn't need to possess expertise in finance, just someone who can track marketing data, make sense of that data and work hand in hand with you to derive insights.
Either way, the endgame is the same: providing clients with a clearer, smarter and more cohesive view of their business.
Make Insight Your USP
As both finance and marketing are increasingly data-driven, your ability to string the pieces together is a valuable asset. You don't need to be a marketing guru. You already know what to do, just with a different dataset.
Start small. Track your own stats. Ask one client if they would appreciate help understanding theirs. Build confidence from there. Sooner rather than later, you should discover that Business Data Interpreting is just one step in the line of services that your organisation can deliver.
Your clients are already depending on you to provide clarity. Now you can tell them the whole story.
Get advice from an expert.
IAB CEO Sarah Palmer has recorded a video course about scaling your business – the bookkeeping business roadmap.
