Are you thinking of starting, buying or growing an accounting firm? If you want to succeed, there’s one piece of the puzzle that has to be on point: your marketing strategy.
I know what you’re thinking… marketing, I don’t know her! She’s complicated.
Well, it can be.
BUT it doesn’t have to be. If you cut through the noise and have the right strategy, it’s simple and straightforward.
I’m going to share the exact strategy I’d use to market a firm today, and it will work for you whether you are a new firm owner, thinking about starting one or want to grow your existing firm.
Want to watch the video instead? See it here: https://youtu.be/I8n-waHMwxI
How to Grow a Marketing Firm in 2026
1. Pick a Spot in the Market
If you try to market to everyone and be everything to everyone, you’ll appeal to no one.
That’s why it’s so important to pick your spot in the market before you do anything else. This one simple step allows you to get everything else dialed in to attract exactly who you want.
Now, this could look like picking:
- A niche
- A specific location
- A specific service that you really want to focus on (like tax planning)
For example, maybe you’re like, “Hey, I want to focus just on Kansas City.” Or maybe you just want to focus on tax planning.
Whatever it may be, I want you to be very, very specific because once you have that, the rest of your marketing can be effective.
2. Build Credibility Assets
Now that we’re clear on our market, let’s focus on the next important aspect: credibility assets.
I want you to take a moment to think about how you look for a new doctor or choose a new restaurant. You probably use AI or Google to ask for recommendations, right?
Based on that, you start narrowing down your options.
Your prospects are doing the same thing. This means that as a firm, you need to show up in AI search and on Google.
To do that, you need credibility assets. This looks like:
- A website
- A LinkedIn account
- A Google My Business profile
These are all things that feed into your firm showing up in the search results and even support word-of-mouth recommendations.
Let’s say that someone refers you to a friend. That person is likely going to search for you online before they even call you, and if they can’t find anything about you, they’re going to look for someone else.
Alongside all of this, start getting reviews, testimonials and case studies. Put them on your website, share them on social media platforms.
These are all going to build up as social proof whenever someone finds you. Things like Google Reviews help you show up in those search results even more.
Now, you don’t have to spend a ton of money on a website to get started, but you do need something there.
Once you have these credibility assets in place, we can move on to the next step.
3. Become Visible
How can you become known by the people you want to work with?
This could look like:
- Getting on social media
- Posting a few times a week
- Engaging with your ideal clients on there
- Engaging with the people your ideal clients follow
When you’re looking at the people your ideal clients follow, think about how you can build relationships with them and collaborate. This could be hosting a joint webinar or even pitching to be on their podcast if they have one.
You can also collaborate just by supporting them without expecting anything in return. Just show interest in what they do.
After all, the best way to get seen is to make other people seen first.
Another way to get visible is to attend important conferences two to three times a year. These don’t necessarily have to be industry conferences either. The goal is just to be visible offline and start building in-person relationships.
4. Create Interesting Content
Anyone can create informational content. There’s so much of it out there already.
If you want to grow your firm, you need to create content that’s interesting, not just educational.
And before you go, I’m not interesting, hear me out.
Yes, the truth is that accounting by itself isn’t exciting or sexy.
But you know what is? The types of transformations you help people get.
The way you can help people:
- Grow their teams
- Reach a new goal
- Think in a different way
- Avoid making a huge mistake
- Achieve something they didn’t think was possible
These are all things that will interest your ideal clients because they can see the results you can achieve.
5. Put Processes in Place to Track Prospects
Before we even get to the phone call stage with prospects, we want to have some sort of system in place that tracks people throughout the process, from the moment someone raises their hand and shows interest all the way to them either becoming a client or staying on your nurture list.
First, I recommend getting a CRM. If you’re just getting started and that feels overwhelming, you can use an Excel sheet for now.
However, if you’re using Excel, make note… Excel should be temporary.
A CRM will help you keep track of where the prospect is in the cycle.
- Did they actually book an appointment?
- If so, where are they at?
- Do I need to get them back on the phone or a Zoom call?
Many firms miss out on converting prospects because they don’t have a plan in place to take them through the sales process.
So, put a process in place at the beginning to make sure that people are nurtured all the way through.
6. Have an Introductory Offer
I always recommend that firms have some sort of introductory offer that allows people to understand a path forward. The goal is to help them get a great result while not having to immediately pay something that feels like a big investment out of the gate.
What can happen is if, let’s say, a tax plan costs $30,000. For a lot of people who have never worked with someone who really does tax planning, this can feel like sticker shock. So if instead, the firm that offers that $30k tax plan can say, “Hey, we can do this, this, and this, for $5k or even for $2,5k” and then down the road, if it makes sense, they can upsell them that $30k full plan, this makes that whole transition a lot easier because at $2.5k they can still build a lot of trust.
Your introductory offer helps people get comfortable working with you and seeing the value that’s possible from working with you.
The Bottom Line
If I were to build a firm from scratch today, this is the exact strategy that I would use. I would first make sure that I knew exactly who I was marketing to. Then, I would build my credibility assets up and focus on becoming visible. As part of that, I would focus on building relationships and creating interesting content.
On the backend, I would have a simple sales process and an introductory offer that I could then upsell my clients into bigger packages over time.
These are all simple, easy steps when you cut through the noise. But sometimes, it’s the simplest strategies that are the most effective.
