In response to a client question about average marketing budgets and expenditures for the legal and accounting industries, I conducted some research with the help of the Association for Accounting Marketing (AAM), the Legal Marketing Association (LMA) and a good old-fashioned Google search.

Findings
According to Altman Weil’s Survey of Law Firm Economics, law firms spent an average of 1.7% of their revenues on marketing in 2008, with plaintiffs’ firms and personal injury firms bucking the trend with 4-6% . The median marketing budget was 2.25% of gross revenues, which was a decrease from 2.6% in 2005 (A Job That Pays, and Satisfies: Results from the 2008 Legal Marketing Industry Benchmark, LMA).

Accounting firms spent an average of 2.7% of their revenues on marketing in the same timeframe, which looks to have remained generally consistent since 2006 (2006 Accounting Marketing/Sales Responsibility and Compensation Survey Results, AAM).

Reflections
In a recent study by the American Association of Advertising Agencies (featured in our e-newsletter last November), firms and companies that maintained or increased advertising in a recession had greater gains than their money-cutting counterparts.

Despite the economic climate, the accounting industry has remained generally consistent with its marketing expenditures. Law firms have been cutting back slightly. As recession history undoubtedly repeats itself, those firms who stand out in the gloom of a sputtering economy will shine even brighter when the sun comes out. Just something to think about when calculating next year’s budget.