How Accounting Firms Should Market to First-Time Business Owners

19 September 2026·11 min read

Quick answer: Someone who just registered their first ABN doesn't need "switch accountants and save" messaging — they need someone to explain, in plain English, what a BAS even is before they can decide whether they need help with one. Build a separate content and website journey that starts from true zero (ABN, GST thresholds, sole trader vs company, what's actually deductible), package it as a "getting started" service with clear, capped pricing, and go looking for this audience where they are before they know to search for an accountant at all — TAFE courses, business registration touchpoints, local networking groups and small business Facebook groups. Get this right and you're building loyal, referring clients years before your competitors even notice they exist. 📈

Here's an uncomfortable truth about most accounting firm websites: they're written for people who already speak accountant. Terms like BAS, PAYG instalments, franking credits and trust distributions get dropped into service pages like everyone knows what they mean, because for your existing clients, they do. But somewhere out there right now is a tradie who's just quit his job to go out on his own, a candle-maker whose Etsy side hustle has quietly outgrown her day job, and a corporate consultant who's freelancing for the first time — and every one of them is Googling "do I need an ABN" at 11pm, terrified they're about to do something wrong. We started Girly Arcade because we think the businesses that win long-term are the ones who show up for people before they're polished, not just after 💖 — and first-time business owners are one of the biggest, most anxious, most under-served audiences in accounting marketing today.

Please note: general information, not tax or financial advice — every business's circumstances differ, so encourage new business owners to get personalised advice rather than relying on general content alone.

What Most Firms Get Wrong With Brand-New Business Owners

The first mistake is treating "new business" content as a slightly smaller version of "established business" content. Most firms have a "starting a business" page that lists services — BAS, tax returns, bookkeeping, structuring advice — in exactly the same tone and format as their page for a 15-year-old company doing $3 million in revenue. But someone who registered their ABN last week doesn't know what any of those services actually do for them, let alone which ones they need right now. Listing services isn't the same as explaining a journey.

The second mistake is that almost all accounting firm marketing is built around the "switch and save" offer — unhappy with your current accountant, we'll do it better and cheaper. That's a completely reasonable strategy for capturing established businesses, but it does nothing for someone who has never had an accountant to switch from. If every piece of your content assumes the reader already has a BAS lodgement history, a chart of accounts and an opinion about their last accountant, you've made yourself invisible to an entire segment of your local market.

The third mistake is underestimating how much this audience doesn't know they don't know. A first-time business owner often can't tell you whether they're even required to register for GST, whether they should be a sole trader or a company, or what "claimable" actually means in practice. They're not being lazy — nobody taught them this, and the ATO's own resources, while accurate, aren't written for someone who's never seen a Business Activity Statement in their life. If your content jumps straight to "book a consult," you're asking someone who doesn't know what questions to ask to take a leap of faith on a service they can't yet evaluate.

The fourth mistake, and it's a subtle one, is speaking to fear instead of possibility. New business owners are anxious, yes — but most of them are also proud, excited and a little bit terrified in a good way. Marketing that leans entirely on "don't get audited" and "avoid ATO penalties" reads as scary rather than supportive. The firms that win this audience sound like they're genuinely excited for someone starting their first business, not just waiting to catch their mistakes.

Copy-paste asset: The First 90 Days of Business Checklist

Turn this into a downloadable PDF, an email course or a gated landing page — it works as a lead magnet because it answers the question new business owners are actually asking themselves ("what do I even need to do?") instead of just collecting an email address for the sake of it.

Confirm your business structure (sole trader, company, partnership or trust) suits how you're actually operating — not just what was quickest to register
Understand what your ABN does and doesn't cover, and check whether you also need to register a business name
Work out whether you need to register for GST now, or at what point you'll be required to (based on turnover)
Set up a separate business bank account, even as a sole trader, from day one
Choose a simple record-keeping system before the shoebox of receipts happens, not after
Understand what a Business Activity Statement (BAS) is and how often you'd need to lodge one, if registered for GST
Get a general understanding of what expenses may be deductible in your industry, and start keeping evidence as you go
Know your key upcoming dates: BAS lodgement (if applicable), income tax, and any industry-specific licensing renewals
Decide how you'll handle superannuation, both for yourself and for any staff or subcontractors
Book a getting-started session with an accountant before your first BAS or tax return is due, not the week it's due

Once you've got the education piece doing its job, the fastest way to earn trust is to show — not tell — that you understand specific, recognisable situations. Generic reassurance ("we love working with new businesses!") doesn't land the way a concrete scenario does, because it doesn't prove you actually understand their world.

The tradie going out on his own: Ten years as an employed sparky, now registering his own ABN and buying his first ute-load of tools on the business. He's never thought about GST, has no idea if he should be a sole trader or a company, and assumes "doing the books" means keeping receipts in the glovebox. He needs someone to explain structure and GST thresholds in tradie language, not accounting language — and he needs it before he's three months in and behind on record-keeping.

The side-hustle candle seller who's crossed the GST threshold: Started selling on weekends and through a small online store, never expected it to take off, and has just realised her turnover means she may need to register for GST. She's overwhelmed because this wasn't "a real business" in her head until this exact moment, and she's worried she's already done something wrong by not registering sooner. This client needs calm, judgement-free clarity on what happens next — not a lecture.

The freelance consultant who left corporate life: Used to have payroll, HR and finance teams handle everything invisibly — now she's invoicing clients directly and has never lodged a BAS or thought about PAYG instalments in her life. She's used to being highly competent at her actual job and finds it genuinely uncomfortable not knowing the basics of running a business. She responds well to being treated as capable and simply un-briefed, not as a beginner who needs everything dumbed down.

How to Actually Build This: Package, Journey and Channels

Start with a genuine "getting started" service package — not just a discounted first-year deal bolted onto your normal offering. Structure it as a fixed-fee, clearly-scoped package covering the things a brand-new business actually needs in the first few months: an ABN and structure sanity-check, GST registration guidance if relevant, a simple record-keeping setup (even just the right software and a five-minute walkthrough), and their first BAS or tax return handled together rather than dropped on them cold. Price it transparently and put the number on your website. New business owners are often working with tight cash flow, and a firm brave enough to show its starting price builds trust that a "contact us for a quote" page never will.

Your website journey needs its own path, not a footnote on your main services page. Build a dedicated "Starting a Business" hub with its own clear entry point from your homepage, structured as a logical sequence: what an ABN actually does, sole trader vs company (in plain terms, with a nudge toward getting advice rather than a DIY decision), do I need to register for GST, what's a BAS, what can I actually claim. Each topic gets its own proper page, not a paragraph buried in an FAQ, because these are exactly the phrases this audience is typing into Google. Done well, this is also a genuine local SEO opportunity — "do I need an ABN [suburb]" style intent is far less contested than generic accounting keywords.

Then go find this audience before they're searching for you. Brand-new business owners rarely start by Googling "accountant near me" — they start by Googling the thing they're confused about. So show up where the confusion starts: TAFE and short-course business fundamentals programs often welcome guest speakers or resource partners, local council and business registration touchpoints sometimes list recommended local advisers, and small business networking groups and chambers of commerce are full of people in month one, not year ten. Facebook and local community groups for new small business owners, side-hustlers and tradies-going-solo are genuinely active and full of exactly this question being asked in real time — a helpful, non-salesy answer there does more for your reputation than most paid ads ever will. 📱 🌴

💡 Be honest with yourself about the economics of this audience before you build for it. First-time business owners are typically price-sensitive and lower-margin clients in year one — they don't yet generate the complex, higher-fee work an established business does. The payoff isn't immediate profit, it's the client relationship: get someone right at the start and, if you look after them well, you keep them as their business grows, they refer their tradie mates and their side-hustle friends, and five years later they're the profitable, loyal client every firm wants. Build the getting-started package to be sustainable, not a loss leader you resent.

Mistakes to Avoid

Using the same tone and jargon across your "new business" content as your content for established clients.
Leading with penalties and audits instead of clarity and possibility — fear-first marketing repels an already-anxious audience.
Hiding your getting-started pricing behind a "contact us" form when transparency is exactly what builds trust with this group.
Assuming a "switch accountants" offer will resonate — this audience has never had an accountant to switch from.
Only showing up on Google — this audience often doesn't know to search for an accountant yet, so search-only strategies miss them at the moment they need you most.
Treating a getting-started client as a one-off transaction rather than the start of a multi-year relationship worth nurturing properly.

Frequently asked questions

Is it actually worth building a whole separate journey for such a small, low-fee segment?

It's worth being honest that first-time business owners are often price-sensitive and lower-margin clients to begin with — you're unlikely to make strong profit from a getting-started package alone, and it shouldn't be priced to try. The real return is long-term: a well-looked-after new business client tends to stay loyal, grow their fee over several years as their business matures, and refer other new business owners in their network. Treat it as relationship-building with a long payoff, not a quick-win revenue line.

How simple is too simple when writing content for this audience?

It's genuinely hard to be too simple for someone who has never seen a BAS before. Write as though explaining it to a smart friend outside the industry — define every term the first time you use it, use short sentences, and resist the urge to sound authoritative through jargon. You can always link out to a more detailed or technical page for the small number of readers who want more depth.

Should this content live on our main website or somewhere separate?

A dedicated section or hub on your existing website usually works better than a separate microsite, because it keeps everything under one domain for SEO purposes and makes it easy for a getting-started client to naturally graduate into your main service pages as their business grows. Just make sure the navigation and design clearly signal "start here" so a first-time visitor doesn't have to hunt for it.

What's a realistic first channel to test if we've got limited time?

Local Facebook groups for small business owners and side-hustlers tend to be the fastest, lowest-cost place to start, because the exact questions this audience has are already being asked there in public, in real time. Answer a handful genuinely and helpfully (without hard-selling) before you invest in TAFE partnerships or paid content — it'll tell you quickly whether your tone and explanations are landing before you scale the approach further. ✨

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Written by

Kate, founder of Chronically Online

I help Gold Coast and Brisbane businesses grow with branding, websites and marketing that actually works.

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