What is Accessible Marketing? A Guide for Businesses
When people hear the word accessibility, they often think about ramps into buildings or subtitles on videos. But accessibility goes far beyond that especially in the world of marketing.
Accessible marketing is about making sure that your digital content, campaigns, and customer experiences can be used, understood, and enjoyed by everyone. It’s not just about legal compliance but rather it’s about removing barriers that prevent people from engaging with your brand.
Why It Matters
Here’s the reality:
1 in 5 people is neurodivergent
1 in 4 people lives with a disability
That’s millions of potential customers, employees, and advocates. If your marketing isn’t accessible, you’re unintentionally shutting them out losing opportunities, trust, and revenue in the process! Not good!
What Accessible Marketing Looks Like
Accessible marketing combines design, strategy, and empathy. It’s making sure that your marketing doesn’t just look good, but also works for people in different circumstances. This might mean:
Writing content in plain language so messages are easy to follow (so no complicated jargon!)
Ensuring websites and emails meet WCAG 2.2 accessibility standards
Using strong colour contrast so text is legible for everyone
Adding alt text and captions so images and videos are understood by all audiences
Offering different formats (written, video, audio) so people can choose what works best for them
Put simply: accessible marketing is barrier-free marketing! Hurray!
The Business Case
I’ve seen companies:
Increase conversions by over 20% after updating their website for accessibility
Improve recruitment outcomes by making job ads easier to navigate
Strengthen customer loyalty by showing they value everyone, not just some
When you design marketing that works for more people, you open your business up to more customers, more engagement, and more success.
How It’s Different from Inclusive Marketing
Inclusive marketing is about representation—making sure your campaigns reflect diverse voices and communities. Accessible marketing is about function making sure everyone can actually engage with those campaigns. The most effective businesses do both.
Where to Start
The good news is you don’t need to overhaul everything overnight. Start small:
Add captions to your next video
Use headings and bullet points in your blogs
Test your website with an accessibility checker
Ask your audience for feedback on where they face barriers
Every step you take moves you closer to being a brand that truly reaches everyone.
At Tania Gerard Digital UK, I specialise in helping companies build accessible marketing strategies that combine compliance with creativity. If you’d like to know whether your marketing is truly barrier-free, let’s chat.