Accessible Marketing Guide: What It Is & How to Do It Right
Accessible marketing is the practice of creating campaigns, content, and customer experiences that people of all abilities can access and understand, including neurodivergent audiences such as those with ADHD, autism, and dyslexia, who make up an estimated 15–20% of the population.
It goes beyond meeting basic accessibility standards to make sure your marketing actually reaches everyone it's meant to, not just the audience it was unintentionally designed for.
It's no longer a niche consideration. It's a measurable business advantage that most brands are still leaving on the table.
This guide covers what accessible marketing actually means, why it matters more now than it did even two years ago, and exactly how to start applying it, from inclusive language to accessible design, using the same framework I use with clients like the NHS, Greene King, and Help for Heroes.
What Is Accessible Marketing?
Accessible marketing means designing campaigns, content, and customer journeys so that people of all abilities, including neurodivergent audiences such as those with ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and dyspraxia, can genuinely engage with them.
It goes further than basic web accessibility compliance. Technical standards like WCAG address things screen readers and assistive technology can measure: colour contrast, alt text, keyboard navigation. Accessible marketing adds a layer standards alone don't cover: cognitive accessibility, how easy your content actually is to process, understand, and act on for a brain that works differently to the "default" one most marketing is built for.
In practice, that means:
Plain, direct language instead of jargon or ambiguous phrasing
Content structured for scanning, not just reading top to bottom
Multiple formats for the same information (text, video, audio)
Reduced sensory overload, no autoplay, no flashing animation, no overwhelming colour
Customer journeys that don't assume everyone processes decisions the same way
Done properly, accessible marketing doesn't just serve neurodivergent audiences. It tends to improve the experience for everyone who's tired, distracted, on a small screen, or simply in a hurry, which, on any given day, is most of your actual audience.
Why Accessible Marketing Matters Now
The business case has moved well past "the right thing to do."
The audience is larger than most brands assume. An estimated 15–20% of the UK population is neurodivergent. Add the wider disabled community, over 15 million people in the UK, and the Purple Pound, disabled households' collective spending power, was last widely estimated at £274 billion, though that figure is now several years old and likely understates the current number.
The legal risk is rising, fast. Disability discrimination tribunal claims in the UK rose 79% in the year to March 2026, according to law firm Littler's analysis, and UK employment tribunal cases specifically citing neurodiversity nearly doubled in five years, climbing from 265 to 517 annually, per Irwin Mitchell's tribunal analysis. Disability discrimination now accounts for roughly 15% of all tribunal claims, and compensation for it is uncapped by law.
Untrained teams are a measurable cost, not a hypothetical one. Research from the Chartered Management Institute puts the cost of the UK's "accidental manager" problem, staff promoted without leadership training, at an estimated £84 billion annually, with 82% of UK managers having received no formal training before stepping into the role. Separately, Acas data shows over a third of employees feel their employer doesn't train managers on neurodiversity at all.
And it works. Businesses implementing accessible marketing strategies have reported engagement increases of 30–40% after rolling out neurodivergent-friendly content and campaigns.
Inclusive Language: The Foundation of Accessible Marketing
Language is usually the first, cheapest, and most overlooked place to start. Get this right and much of the rest of accessible marketing becomes easier by default.
Write in plain English. Short sentences. One idea per sentence where possible. If a reader needs to re-read a line to understand it, it needs rewriting, not because the reader is at fault, but because the sentence did too much work.
Avoid idioms and ambiguous metaphors. Phrases like "hit the ground running" or "boil the ocean" are genuinely confusing for many autistic readers and anyone processing English as an additional language. Say what you mean directly instead.
Define jargon the first time you use it. Don't assume familiarity with acronyms or internal terminology, even ones that feel obvious inside your own industry.
Use headings that describe what follows, not clever wordplay. A heading like "The Real Cost" tells a scanning reader nothing. "The Real Cost of Untrained Managers" tells them exactly what's coming and whether to keep reading.
Choose identity-first or person-first language deliberately, and consistently. Many autistic and ADHD communities prefer identity-first language ("an autistic person" rather than "a person with autism"), though preference varies by individual and community. When in doubt, mirror the language the person or community you're writing about actually uses.
Break up dense paragraphs. Two to three sentences per paragraph is a reasonable default for anything meant to be read on a screen. Dense text blocks are one of the most common barriers for readers with ADHD or dyslexia, not because the content is too complex, but because the format makes it hard to hold a place while reading.
Accessible Design Principles for Marketing
Language solves half the problem. The other half is how your content actually looks and behaves.
Reduce cognitive load. Simplify interfaces and layouts so a reader isn't holding multiple things in working memory at once. Clear visual hierarchy, one primary action per screen, and generous white space all reduce the mental overhead of figuring out what matters.
Design for attention differences. Visible progress indicators, the ability to save and return to a task, and calls-to-action that stand out clearly from surrounding content all help readers who process information differently, particularly those with ADHD.
Manage sensory sensitivities. No autoplaying video or sound. No aggressive flashing or animation. Give users control over motion and contrast where possible. What reads as "dynamic" to one visitor can be genuinely uncomfortable, or even a trigger, for another.
Offer more than one format. Not everyone learns the same way. Providing the same core message as text, video, and a simple visual means more people can take it in the way that actually works for them, and it's good practice for search visibility too, since it gives you more content types to be found by.
Test with neurodivergent users, not just neurotypical ones. The only reliable way to know whether your marketing is genuinely accessible is to have neurodivergent people actually try to use it, rather than assuming from a neurotypical perspective what "should" work.
The IMPACT™ Framework: A System for Doing This Properly
Most accessibility advice stops at a checklist. In my work with clients including the NHS, Greene King, and Help for Heroes, I use IMPACT™, a framework built specifically to turn accessible marketing from a one-off audit into a repeatable system.
IMPACT™ for external communications:
Inclusive Language
Machine Readable
Prove Credibility
Accessible Design
Community & Representation
Test & Iterate
IMPACT™ for internal communications:
Inclusivity
Measurable
Progress
Accessibility
Communication
Time
The framework works because it treats accessibility as an ongoing discipline rather than a single project. "Test & Iterate" specifically exists because accessible marketing isn't something you finish, it's something you keep checking as your content, your audience, and the guidance itself keeps evolving.
How to Get Started with Accessible Marketing
If you're starting from nothing, don't try to fix everything at once. A realistic first step:
Audit your highest-traffic content first, your homepage, your top landing page, your most-opened email template, rather than trying to review everything simultaneously.
Fix language before you fix design. It's cheaper, faster, and often the more impactful change.
Build accessibility into new content from the start. Retrofitting existing material is always more expensive than designing it in from day one.
Test with real neurodivergent users, even a handful of people, rather than relying on assumptions or a checklist alone.
Treat it as ongoing, not a one-off project. Standards, guidance, and your own audience all keep changing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does accessible marketing cost? Building accessibility into new campaigns from the start typically adds 10–15% to production time, largely just planning and testing, with minimal added cost. Auditing and retrofitting existing material costs more, depending on scope; a comprehensive audit for an SME typically runs £2,000–£10,000+.
Is accessible marketing the same as web accessibility (WCAG)? No. WCAG covers technical, measurable standards, contrast ratios, alt text, keyboard navigation. Accessible marketing includes those but goes further into cognitive accessibility: language, structure, and sensory design that WCAG doesn't fully address.
Do I need to be a web developer to do this? No. Most of the highest-impact changes, plain language, shorter paragraphs, clearer headings, reduced jargon, require no code at all. Design and technical changes matter too, but language is the cheapest and fastest place to start.
Where to Go From Here
Accessible marketing isn't a trend, and it isn't optional compliance dressed up in friendlier language. It's a measurable way to reach more of your actual audience, reduce legal risk, and build content that performs better across the board.
If you want a second pair of eyes on where your own marketing stands, book a workshop for your team, or get in touch to talk through what an accessible marketing audit would look like for your business.
Sources: Littler analysis of UK employment tribunal claims, year to 31 March 2026; Irwin Mitchell, UK employment tribunal analysis; Chartered Management Institute, UK "accidental manager" research; Acas, workplace neurodiversity confidence data; DWP Family Resources Survey 2023/24.