What are the best marketing ideas for accountants? Eleven to try, from free to paid

The short answer

The best marketing ideas for accountants are the ones a busy firm will keep doing all year. Start with the free, quick ones: a complete Google Business Profile, a steady stream of reviews, a clear niche and a habit of asking for referrals. Then add one idea that takes regular time, such as weekly social posts or a monthly email. Leave paid adverts until the free ideas are working.

The eleven ideas below run from least to most effort. Each has a first step you can take this week and an honest note on what it costs in time and money. You do not need all eleven. Pick three, using the guide at the end, and do them properly.

1. Complete your Google Business Profile

When someone searches for "accountant near me", the map results come from Google Business Profiles, so a complete profile is the quickest marketing win most firms have. Google's guide to local ranking says businesses with complete and accurate information are more likely to show up in local search results.

• First step: fill in every field you can, including opening hours, services, a short description that names your niche, and a few real photos of the office and team.
• Then:check that the firm's name, address and phone number match your website exactly.
• Effort and cost: about an hour, then ten minutes a month to keep it current. Free.

2. Ask for reviews at the right moment

Reviews help a firm get found and help a prospect choose it, and most happy clients will leave one if you ask at the right time. The same Google page says more reviews and positive ratings can help a business's local ranking.

• First step: ask straight after a moment the client is pleased with, such as a tax return filed early or a question answered quickly. Send the direct review link, not a search instruction.
• Effort and cost: a few minutes per client. Free.

Our guide to Google reviews for accountants covers the wording, timing and replies in full.

3. Say who you are for in one sentence

A firm that says exactly who it helps is easier to recommend and easier to choose than one that serves "small businesses". This idea costs nothing, and it makes every other idea on this list work harder.

• First step:look at your ten favourite clients and find what they have in common: a trade, a size, a stage or a software package. Write one sentence, for example "Accountants for builders and trades in Leeds".
• Then: put that sentence on your homepage, your Google profile, your LinkedIn headline and your email signature.
• Effort and cost: an afternoon of thinking. Free.

4. Make asking for referrals a routine

Referrals bring most small firms their best clients, but they arrive by luck unless someone asks for them on purpose. Turn asking into part of how you work.

• First step:pick five clients who are clearly happy and ask each one for an introduction to someone like them. Be specific: "another café owner" is easier to act on than "anyone you know".
• Then: thank every referrer, whether or not the introduction becomes a client, and tell them what happened.
• Effort and cost: fifteen minutes a week. Free, unless you choose to offer a reward.

If you are thinking about paying for introductions, check the rules first. ICAEW's marketing helpsheetsays firms are entitled to pay for the introduction of a client, but warns that such payments create a threat to a firm's objectivity. ACCA and AAT members should check their own body's code before agreeing any payment.

5. Post on social media every week

Regular posts keep the firm in front of clients, referrers and prospects between the moments they need an accountant. Most people who hear your name from a friend will look you up before they call, and a page with recent, useful posts backs up the recommendation.

• First step: choose one platform. LinkedIn suits firms that serve consultants, contractors and other professionals. Facebook and Instagram suit trades, shops, hospitality and personal tax clients.
• Then: post two or three times a week: a deadline coming up, a question a client asked, and a glimpse of the people behind the firm.
• Effort and cost: one to two hours a week if you write it yourself. Free, or the cost of a tool or agency if you get help.

Writing the posts is rarely the hard part. Keeping it up through January and every VAT quarter end is. That is the job Pillr does for accountants: it reads your firm's website, drafts a month of posts in your voice, and schedules each one to LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram once you have approved it. Our guide to social media marketing for accountants covers platforms, post types and how often to post.

6. Send a monthly email

A short monthly email reaches the people most likely to buy more from you or refer you: existing clients, past clients and people who enquired but did not sign up. It is also the easiest place to mention a service clients do not know you offer.

• First step: write one email with three parts: a deadline coming up, one change that affects your clients, and one service they may not know about.
• Check who you can email. The ICO's guidance on electronic mail marketingsays you must not send marketing emails to individuals unless they have consented, apart from the "soft opt-in" for existing customers who were given a clear chance to opt out. Sole traders and some partnerships count as individuals. Every message must offer an opt-out.
• Effort and cost: two to three hours a month. Free or low cost with a basic email tool.

Our guide to email marketing for accountants covers building the list, what to send and how often.

7. Build partnerships with other professionals

Other advisers meet your ideal clients every week, and a few good working relationships can bring steady introductions for years. The best partners serve the same clients as you but do not compete with you.

• Who to approach: solicitors, independent financial advisers, mortgage brokers, bookkeepers, business bank managers, and software resellers or consultants who set up the packages your clients use.
• First step: list three people you already know in these roles and book a coffee with one this month. Ask who their best clients are and what they need from an accountant.
• Then: send introductions their way too. Partnerships last when work flows in both directions.
• Effort and cost: an hour or two a month. Free, apart from coffee.

8. Show up in your local business community

Many small businesses still choose an accountant they have met in person. Being a familiar face at local business events turns strangers into people who think of you first.

• Where to go: your local chamber of commerce, business networking breakfasts, trade association meetings in your niche, and enterprise or start-up events run by local colleges and councils.
• First step: try two different groups once each before committing. Go back to the one where the people in the room look like your best clients.
• Better still: offer a short talk. Ten minutes on a deadline the room cares about does more than an evening of handing out cards.
• Effort and cost: half a day a month. Membership and event fees vary from free to a few hundred pounds a year.

9. Run a webinar or workshop on one deadline

A free session on one clear change shows your expertise to people who are worried about it, and gives you a reason to contact them afterwards. Pick a topic with a date attached, because a deadline is what makes people sign up.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is a good example. HMRC's guidance on who must use it says sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 on their 2024 to 2025 return started on 6 April 2026. Over £30,000 on the 2025 to 2026 return means starting on 6 April 2027, and over £20,000 on the 2026 to 2027 return means 6 April 2028. Each of those groups is a room of people with the same question.

• First step: choose one audience and one topic, then book a 30 minute online session six weeks out. Invite clients and contacts by email, and ask them to bring a friend.
• Then: record it, cut it into short clips for social media, and send every attendee a follow-up with one clear next step.
• Effort and cost: a day to prepare and run. Free or low cost with standard video call software.

10. Give each service and niche its own page

People search for the specific thing they need, such as "accountant for landlords" or "payroll for small business", so a website with one general services page misses most of them. A page for each main service and each niche gives Google something to match to those searches.

• First step: write one page for your most profitable service or niche. Say who it is for, what is included, how you work and what to do next.
• Then: add one page a month, and link each new page from your homepage and your Google profile.
• Effort and cost:half a day per page if you write it yourself. Free, or a web developer's fee if your site is hard to edit.

Our guide to SEO for accountants covers page titles, local search and what to write in more depth.

11. Pay for adverts last

Paid adverts can bring enquiries quickly, but they cost money every month and work far better once the free ideas are in place. An advert that sends people to a thin website with no reviews pays for clicks that do not turn into clients.

• First step: if you try them, start with Google search ads on one service in one area, set a small monthly cap, and count enquiries, not clicks.
• Effort and cost: an hour or two a week to manage, plus the ad budget you set.

Our guide to how to advertise accounting services covers where to spend and what the rules allow.

How to choose your first three

Pick one quick idea, one that builds over time, and one that suits how you like to work. Three ideas done every month beat eleven started and dropped.

• One quick win: the Google Business Profile or reviews. Either can be done this week.
• One that builds: weekly social posts, a monthly email or a new website page each month. These get stronger the longer you keep them going.
• One that suits you: if you enjoy meeting people, choose partnerships or local events. If you prefer writing, choose the email or the webinar.

Whatever you pick, add "how did you hear about us?" to your enquiry form and your first call. After three months you will know which ideas bring clients, and you can drop the rest.

If weekly posting is the one you know will slip, paste your website address on the home page to see the posts Pillr drafts from it, or look at plans and pricing first.

The rules that apply to every idea

Every idea on this list is marketing, so your professional body's rules apply to all of them, online and offline. ICAEW's marketing helpsheet sets out the basics.

• Be honest. The helpsheet says advertising material should be legal, decent, honest, truthful and clear, and that firms must not bring the profession into disrepute.
• Do not knock other firms. Firms must not say anything disparaging about another practice, and must not make unsubstantiated comparisons with the work of another.
• Take care with fees. Where marketing mentions fees, the helpsheet says the greatest care must be taken to make sure the reference does not mislead.
• Get consent for testimonials.Using a client's comments is in order if the client has consented to that use.

ACCA and AAT members should check the equivalent guidance from their own body. This guide is general information, not advice on your own circumstances. Rules and dates change, so check each linked page before you rely on it.

Questions accountants ask about marketing