Two directors. One mission.
Marketing and AI built for finance firms.
We’re Bailey and Luke. We built HandL Agency because every finance firm we worked with had been let down by agencies that didn’t understand their industry, their compliance or their clients. So we built the one that does.
Why we built an agency just for finance.
We met at another agency a few years before HandL Agency existed. Different roles, same client problem: every finance firm we worked with had been let down by the agencies that came before us. Strategies built for plumbers being sold to accountants. Generic AI tools pitched at firms regulated by the FCA. Account managers learning the difference between an IFA and a bookkeeper on the client’s retainer.
The conversation kept coming back to the same thing. Finance firms needed an agency that already understood the industry on day one. The compliance, the language, the long deliberation windows, the way buyers in finance actually make decisions. Nobody was building it, so on the 9th of October 2023, we did.
Two years on, HandL Agency runs marketing and AI for accountants, bookkeepers, financial advisors and insurance brokers across the UK, Europe and the US. Every brief starts with the same assumption: we already know your industry. You don’t have to teach it to us.
What clients get from HandL Agency.
We don't take on e-commerce, SaaS or property clients on the side. Every account on our books is an accountant, bookkeeper, financial advisor or insurance broker. That focus is why your first call is about growth, not about explaining what KYC, MTD or a fact find actually means.
The financial services sector has more rules around marketing and AI than any other industry. FCA standards, GDPR, your internal compliance team. We build every campaign and every AI workflow with those rules in scope from the first draft, so your firm grows without putting itself at risk.
You'll work with Bailey and Luke from the first call through to every change after. So the people setting your strategy are the people running it and your firm gets a partner who knows the ins and outs of every aspect.
Quarterly catch-ups, dinners, beers, pool nights, coffees, darts, football, rugby and cricket. We spend real time with the businesses we work with because the work's better when the relationship is.
Meet the directors behind the work.
Bailey Wilshire, Director and Head of AI
Bailey leads the AI side at HandL Agency. Audits, automations and consulting that give finance firms back the hours their qualified teams are losing to admin. The work’s grounded in what finance firms actually run on a day-to-day basis, so the AI fits the firm first time rather than getting reshaped six months later.
Luke Iles, Director and Head of Digital
Luke leads the digital marketing side at HandL Agency. SEO, Google Ads, paid social and email marketing for finance firms that want a pipeline that doesn’t depend on referrals. His SEO campaigns have won at the UK Search Awards, and outside client work he runs his own experiments to keep HandL Agency ahead of every Google update.
And the team behind HandL Agency.
Bailey and Luke own every account but they’re the first to say the work doesn’t get done without the incredible team behind them. Some of the industry’s brightest SEO experts, paid media specialists, developers and AI engineers who care deeply about finance firms getting it right.
Every campaign that wins clients, every site that ranks and every automation that saves a finance firm hours has been built by someone on the team. Their work is what HandL Agency is and is the reason we are one of the leading marketing and AI agencies within the finance niche.
The sectors of the finance industry we work with.
Marketing and AI built around accountants, bookkeepers, financial advisors and insurance brokers. Click below to see how we help each one.
Accountants
From self-assessment season to year-end packs, we cut the admin and bring in clients between busy periods.
Bookkeepers
Automate the categorisation, chase and reporting work eating your week. Build a pipeline beyond your existing client list.
Financial Advisors
Cut KYC, suitability and meeting prep time using AI. Bring in qualified leads beyond referrals and introductions.
Insurance Brokers
Handle renewal season admin, speed up new business quotes and keep clients engaged between renewals automatically.
Marketing and AI under one roof
HandL Agency runs two engines for finance firms: digital marketing that brings in clients, and AI that gives your team the hours back to look after them. Most agencies do one or the other. We do both, run by the same team, pulling in the same direction.
How we work with clients.
Some of our best client conversations have happened over dinner, not over Microsoft Teams.
In-person catch-ups. Dinners with the finance firms we work with. Drinks after a big launch.
Quarterly strategy reviews where we actually look back at what’s worked, what hasn’t and what’s next.
Clients who feel like partners give sharper feedback, ask better questions and push the work harder. The result is marketing and AI that compounds, on accounts that stay with us for years rather than quarters.
Ready to work with an agency that actually gets finance?
In 45 minutes, we’ll show you exactly where you’re losing hours, where your pipeline’s leaking clients and the two or three things that would make the biggest difference to your firm in the next 90 days.
Whether that’s AI, marketing or both, you’ll leave the call with a clear picture you didn’t have before. Quarterly strategy reviews where we actually look back at what’s worked, what hasn’t and what’s next.
Jump on a call with Luke and Bailey today.
Not ready to book a call? Take the 3 minute AI scorecard first.
Or call us on 0117 457 6659, email contact@handlagency.com, or fill in the contact form.