How do you advertise accounting services? Where to spend, and what the rules allow

The short answer

To advertise accounting services, pick one service and one kind of client, put a single clear offer in front of them, and send every click to a page that makes it easy to enquire. For most small UK firms that means Google search ads first, because they reach people who are already looking for an accountant. LinkedIn ads suit firms that serve a named type of business. Facebook, Instagram and local press suit firms selling personal tax and small business work in one area.

Accountants are allowed to advertise. The limits are on what the advert says. It has to be honest, provable and polite about other firms, and it has to meet both the UK advertising codes and the code of your professional body. Those rules are set out below, with sources.

Advertising is the paid part of winning work. If you have not yet set up referrals, reviews and a Google Business Profile, start with our guide to how accountants get clients, because those cost nothing and make every advert work better.

Three things to fix before you pay for an advert

Most wasted advertising money is lost after the click, not before it. Fix these three things first and a small budget goes much further.

• One offer."Accountancy services for all businesses" gives nobody a reason to click. "Self Assessment returns for landlords, fixed fee" does. Choose the service you most want more of and advertise only that.
• One landing page. Send the advert to a page about that service, not to your home page. The page should repeat the offer, say who it is for, show what it costs or how the fee is worked out, and have one way to get in touch.
• One way to count enquiries. Use a contact form or a booking link that tells you where the enquiry came from. Ask every new caller how they found you and write the answer down. Without this you cannot tell a good advert from a bad one.

Google search ads: people already looking

Search ads are the best first advert for most firms, because the person has typed what they need. Someone searching "accountant for limited company Bristol" is choosing a firm now. No other advert reaches people at that moment.

The costs are controllable. Google's own guide to Search campaignssays you pay only when someone interacts with your ad, such as clicking it, and that you decide how much you want to spend. You can also limit where the advert shows. Google's location targeting help says that, depending on the country, you can target regions, cities or postcodes, or a radius of at least one kilometre around a location.

• Bid on specific searches."Accountant for contractors Leeds" comes from someone ready to hire. "Accountant" on its own also brings students, job seekers and people looking for another firm's phone number.
• Exclude what you do not want.Add negative keywords such as "jobs", "salary", "course" and "free" so you do not pay for those clicks.
• Target only the area you serve. If your clients come from within fifteen miles, do not pay for clicks from the rest of the country.
• Match the advert to the page.If the advert says "fixed fee company accounts", the page it opens must say the same thing at the top.

LinkedIn ads: a named kind of business

LinkedIn ads are worth testing when your ideal client is a business owner or finance lead you can describe by role and sector. LinkedIn's ad targeting page says adverts can be aimed using job title, company, industry and seniority. That makes it possible to show an advert only to, say, directors of construction firms.

These people are not looking for an accountant at the moment they see your advert, so a "hire us" message rarely works. Offer something useful instead: a short guide to a change that affects their sector, a checklist, or a seat at a webinar. The enquiry comes later, from the people who found it helpful.

An advert also sends people to your firm's LinkedIn page. If the last post there is two years old, the advert has paid to show a prospect that the firm looks inactive. Have a few weeks of recent posts in place before you spend anything. Our guide to what a small accountancy firm should post on LinkedIn each week gives a pattern you can follow.

Facebook and Instagram ads: local and personal tax

Facebook and Instagram adverts suit services sold to individuals and very small local businesses: Self Assessment, landlord accounts, sole traders, new company set-up. Like LinkedIn, they interrupt people who were not searching, so the advert needs a reason to act now. A deadline is the most honest one an accountant has.

• Tie the advert to a date. The run-up to 31 January and the start of a new tax year are when people who have been putting it off are ready to hand it over.
• Show a person. A photo of the partner who will do the work, with a plain sentence about who you help, beats a stock image of a calculator.
• Keep the first step small. Ask for a message or a short call, not a signed engagement.

Local press, leaflets and sponsorship

Offline adverts still work for a firm whose clients live or trade nearby, but they are the hardest to measure. Use them when you can name the audience: the members' newsletter of a trade association in your niche, the programme of a local business show, a sponsored place at the chamber of commerce breakfast.

• Give each advert its own way to respond.A separate web address or a line such as "mention the Gazette" lets you count what came from it.
• Check the list before you post anything. ICAEW's marketing helpsheet says firms sending printed marketing by post should check that the people they are contacting are not registered with the Mailing Preference Service.
• Book more than once. A single insertion is easy to miss. If you cannot afford to repeat an advert, choose a cheaper place to run it.

What to write in the advert

A good advert for an accountant says who it is for, what you will do, what it costs or how to find out, and what to do next. It makes no claim you could not prove. That is both the rule and the style that works, because people choosing an accountant are looking for someone careful.

Every part of that advert can be checked. The fee really is agreed first, the call really is free, and the person on the call really is qualified. Compare it with the claims that cause trouble.

• "The leading accountants in Bristol." ICAEW says that a firm claiming to be the leading practice in an area should make the basis of the claim clear on the face of the material, and advises the utmost caution.
• "Better service than your current accountant." This discredits other firms, which ICAEW and ACCA both prohibit.
• "We will save you thousands in tax."You cannot know that before you have seen the client's affairs, so you cannot hold the evidence for it.
• "From £50 a month" with nothing about what is included. State what the fee covers, the period, and whether VAT is added.

The rules: ASA, ICAEW, ACCA and AAT

Two sets of rules apply to an accountant's advert: the UK advertising codes that apply to every business, and the code of ethics of your professional body. They point the same way. If the advert is true, provable and says nothing about other firms, it will almost always pass both.

• The advertising codes. The Advertising Standards Authority says its remit coverspaid search listings, press adverts, leaflets, claims on a company's own website, and a company's own social media content when it is directly connected to its services. The CAP Code section on misleading advertising says marketing must not materially mislead (rule 3.1), and that before publishing you must hold documentary evidence for claims people are likely to regard as objective (rule 3.7). Rule 3.47 says you must hold evidence that a testimonial is genuine, and contact details for the person who gave it.
• ICAEW. The marketing helpsheet says firms are entitled to advertise, that advertising material should be legal, decent, honest, truthful and clear, and that all advertisements must conform with the requirements of the Advertising Standards Authority. Under paragraph R115.2 of the ICAEW Code of Ethics, firms must not bring the profession into disrepute when marketing. The helpsheet lists what that rules out: disparaging statements, unsubstantiated claims of size or superiority, exaggerated claims, and unsubstantiated comparisons.
• ACCA. Section B13 of the ACCA Code of Ethics and Conductsays a member in public practice may inform the public of their services by advertising. Adverts must not be misleading, either directly or by implication, and must not discredit the services offered by others, whether by claiming superiority or otherwise. It also says an advertisement shall be clearly distinguishable as such, and names the Advertising Standards Authority's codes as requirements to meet.
• AAT. AAT's guidance on marketing and promoting your businesssays members shall be honest and truthful, and may bring the profession into disrepute if they make exaggerated claims about their services, professional status, qualifications or experience. It warns against names and descriptions that mislead, such as using "chartered" or "audit" when you are not entitled to, or "accountancy" when you are only licensed for bookkeeping.

You stay responsible when someone else writes the advert. ICAEW's helpsheet says firms may outsource marketing to agencies but remain responsible for any marketing or publicity carried out on their behalf. ICAEW also offers a paid copy checking service for marketing material, described on the same page, which is worth using before a large print run.

This summary is general information, not a ruling on your own advert. If you are unsure about a claim, ask your professional body before it goes out.

Start small and measure enquiries

Run one advert, for one service, in one place, for a month, and count the clients it wins. That tells you more than any benchmark, because your fees, your area and your niche are your own.

• Count clients, not clicks. A cheap click that never enquires is worth nothing. Track enquiries, first calls and signed engagements for each advert.
• Compare the cost with the fee.Divide the month's spend by the clients won. Set that against what the client pays you in the first year, and remember that a client who stays is worth more than one year's fee.
• Change one thing at a time. If you rewrite the advert, the page and the targeting together, you will not know which change helped.
• Reply the same day. A paid enquiry that waits three days for an answer has usually gone to another firm.

If you are weighing an agency against doing it yourself, our guide to what a firm should spend on social media management sets out the questions to ask before you commit.

Keep your own pages active behind the adverts

Someone who sees your advert will usually check the firm before they get in touch. They look at your website, your reviews and your LinkedIn or Facebook page. Recent, useful posts tell them the firm is active and knows its subject. A page that went quiet long ago undoes the work the advert has just done.

Regular posts are also the cheapest advertising a firm has. Two or three a week, answering the questions clients ask you, will reach people for nothing and give your paid adverts something credible to point at. The usual problem is keeping it up in busy season. That is the job Pillr does for accountancy firms: it reads your website, drafts a month of posts in your firm's voice, and schedules them to LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram once a partner has approved each one.

Paste your firm's URL on the home page to see the posts Pillr drafts from your own website, or look at plans and pricing first.

Questions accountants ask