Marketing for accountants: how to get more clients

1. 1Decide which clients you want: a sector, a size of business or a service.
2. 2Make referrals easy for clients, banks, solicitors and other advisers.
3. 3Make your website and Google profile speak to that client.
4. 4Use deadlines and rule changes, such as Making Tax Digital, as reasons to get in touch.
5. 5Answer and follow up every enquiry the same day.

Most of this costs time rather than money. Paid options, such as ads and lead sites, work better once these are in place.

A niche makes every other piece of marketing easier. "Accountants for dental practices" or "accountants for builders in Leeds" is easier to find, easier to refer and easier to price properly than "accountants for everyone".

• Pick a niche you already have clients in, so you have experience and examples.
• Learn the sector's issues: the Construction Industry Scheme for builders, NHS income for dentists, stock and VAT for retailers.
• Write your website pages, case studies and LinkedIn posts for that sector.
• Go where those owners are: trade associations, local networking and sector events. If your niche is garages, our guide on how to get more customers to your garage shows what your clients are doing to win work.

You don't have to turn other clients away. A niche is how you're found, not a rule about who you work with. Our guide on how to price accounting services covers building fixed fees for the work a niche brings.

Referrals come from happy clients and from professionals who meet your ideal clients first: banks, solicitors, financial advisers, business coaches and software partners.

• Ask clients at a good moment, such as when you've filed early or sorted a problem for them.
• Make it easy: a short line they can forward, plus a direct number or a booking link.
• Build two or three professional relationships where you refer to each other, and keep them up to date.
• Thank every referrer, and tell them when an introduction became a client.

If you pay for introductions, the ICAEW's marketing helpsheet says firms are entitled to pay for the introduction of a client, but such payments create a threat to objectivity, so firms need safeguards, such as making sure the client knows about the arrangement. Check the referral fee sections of your own body's code before you agree one.

The professional body codes don't stop you marketing, but they set limits. Paragraph R115.2 of the ICAEW Code of Ethics says that when marketing, an accountant must not bring the profession into disrepute, must be honest and truthful, and must not make:

• exaggerated claims for their services, qualifications or experience
• disparaging references or unsubstantiated comparisons to the work of others

ICAEW's helpsheet adds that comparisons must be objective, factual and verifiable, and that promotion mustn't amount to harassing a potential client: repeated calls or visits to someone who is clearly not interested could lead to a complaint. ACCA lists making exaggerated claims or disparaging references during marketing among the conduct it will investigate. AAT and other bodies have their own codes, so check yours.

Two practical points follow. A claim like "we always save you tax" needs evidence or needs to go. And email and text marketing must follow the ICO's electronic marketing rules: you need consent or the soft opt-in to market to individuals by email or text, and the ICO treats sole traders and some partnerships as individuals. You can email limited companies, but should keep a list of those who ask you to stop.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax gives you a reason to talk to every sole trader and landlord in your area. HMRC says people with qualifying income over £50,000 have had to use it from 6 April 2026, with the threshold falling to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028 (HMRC guidance). Each step brings a new group of people who need software, quarterly updates and help.

• Write a plain-English page for each threshold: who it affects, when, and what they need to do. Link to HMRC's guidance rather than restating it.
• Offer prospects a short MTD check, and existing clients a fixed-fee package for the quarterly updates.
• Tell your referral partners, especially those whose clients are sole traders or landlords.
• Time your reminders to the thresholds and to the Self Assessment deadlines.

Keep claims accurate. MTD is a real deadline, so there's no need to exaggerate it, and R115.2 says you mustn't.

• Say who you help, where and with what, in the first line of the home page.
• Give each service a page that says what's included and, if you can, a "from" price.
• State your professional body membership and practising status accurately.
• Keep your Google Business Profile complete, with the right category, hours, services and reviews. Ask clients for reviews with a review link, and never offer anything in return.
• Make getting in touch easy: a phone number that's answered, an email address and a booking link for a first call.

Every route above ends with a phone call, an email or a form. A business owner whose bank has told them to get an accountant, or who has a deadline coming, will often contact more than one firm. The one that answers, books a first meeting and follows up has the best chance of winning the work.

• Answer calls during your busiest weeks, such as January, when you're least able to.
• Capture the essentials on the first call: business type, rough turnover, what they need, deadlines and whether they have an accountant now.
• Book the first meeting on that call, or send a booking link straight after.
• Follow up with a written proposal and engagement letter quickly.

To put a number on missed enquiries, use our missed call calculator: missed enquiries a week × the share who become clients × the yearly fee × 52. An example with made-up figures: 3 missed calls a week from prospects, 1 in 4 becoming a client at a £1,200 annual fee, is £900 a week of first-year fees, or £46,800 a year. Our guide to AI receptionists and answering services compares the ways to cover the phone.