6/9/2017 AmountConsultantsSpendonMarketing,MostEffectiveMarketingforConsultants|ConsultingSuccess

Marketing for
Consultants: Strategies,
Budget, ROI and More:
Survey Results
BY Michael Zipursky - 36 Comments

We recently conducted a survey on marketing for consultants where we asked

our readers 3 questions:

1. What type of marketing do you spend the most time on?

2. Which of the above has made your business the most money?
3. How much money do you spend on average marketing your business each
year?

The responses came ooding in. My spreadsheet lled, I put on my glasses and
got down to making sense of all the data.

After crunching the numbers here are the survey results. Id love to hear what
you think about them in the comments below.

Wed like to share these results with as many consultants as possible, so feel
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6/9/2017 AmountConsultantsSpendonMarketing,MostEffectiveMarketingforConsultants|ConsultingSuccess

Wed like to share these results with as many consultants as possible, so feel
free to use the social media buttons to the left to share this on Twitter,
Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+.

What Type of Marketing Do You Spend the Most

Time On?

As you can see, its quite clear that consultants that took the survey tend to
favor working on generating referrals and developing their network. These two
marketing methods are known to be e ective for any service professional so this
doesnt come as a surprise.

Interesting to note is that few consultants spend time on advertising their

consulting business. As a consultant, I can tell you that advertising in a very
targeted fashion can generate a strong ROI. Opportunity exists here. Social
media and educational marketing through writing and reports also came in at
10% and 9% respectively.

Here are the same results as above but in a bar chart format.

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6/9/2017 AmountConsultantsSpendonMarketing,MostEffectiveMarketingforConsultants|ConsultingSuccess

What Type of Marketing Makes Consultants the

Most Money?

This is what youve been waiting for, right? After going through hundreds of
responses below youll nd the marketing strategies and tactics that are making
consultants, the ones that took this survey, the most money.

From these results we can see that referrals and networking generating the
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From these results we can see that referrals and networking generating the
highest ROI for consultants. Behind those were presentations and seminars at
9% and cold calling at 8%. Many people have said cold calling is dead. These
results clearly show that while it may not be the most comfortable marketing
method or the most e cient, it does generate consulting revenue.

Here is a bar chart of the same data.

How Much Money Do Consultants Spend

Marketing Their Business?

Here we looked at how much money consultants spend each year marketing
their business. The numbers are all over the place on this one.

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6/9/2017 AmountConsultantsSpendonMarketing,MostEffectiveMarketingforConsultants|ConsultingSuccess

The data suggests that the average consultants spend on an annual basis is
$7,462 USD marketing their business. The highest amount was $200,000 and
the second highest was $120,000. This was an anonymous survey so I dont
know who these people are. But I would love to do an interview with them (so if
youre reading get in touch).

The lowest anyone spent was $0. And yes, there were several people claiming to
spend nothing on marketing. This either means youre totally new to marketing
and have not yet recognized the importance of marketing to build your
consulting business. Or, youre so well established that you dont need to
promote your business at all and the phones are constantly ringing (or your
inbox is full, and Im not talking about spam).

I found this data to be too vague. So I dug into the numbers to create a chart that
would be more valuable for you (at least I hope it is).

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6/9/2017 AmountConsultantsSpendonMarketing,MostEffectiveMarketingforConsultants|ConsultingSuccess

The above chart clearly shows how much money consultants are spending on
marketing their businesses. About 20% of consultants are spending more than
$6000 annually. More than 25% spend $2000-$5000 each year. And about 45%
of consultants spend less than $1500 a year.

What do you make of this data? This is the rst time weve conducted a survey
like this but I think, based on the response we received, I might want to run this
again.

Look forward to your comments, thoughts and questions below and feel free
to share this with your colleagues and other consultants.

Please Share This Article If You EnjoyedIt:

EMAIL LINKEDIN TWITTER FACEBOOK

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35Comments ConsultingSuccess.com AdedoyinAdebayo

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Recommend 6 Share

Jointhediscussion

JoshuaYoder5yearsago
Thesearegreatresultstothesurvey.It'sprettypowerfultoseewhateveryoneelseis
spendingonmarktingandwherethey'replacingtheirefforts.

It'salsoaverycompellingargumentforthepowerofnetworkingandreferrals.

JoshuaYoder
2 Reply Share

MichaelZipursky Mod >JoshuaYoder 5yearsago

Joshuagladyoufounditvaluable.
Reply Share

JoeHughes5yearsago
Thankyouforsharingtheresults.IguessI'mnotsurprisedbuildingrelationships,
referrals,andpartnershipsisthewaytogo.Thosearethetoolsthathaveworkedbest
formetoo.I'msurprisedtohearthatpeoplearesayingthatcoldcallingisdead!Cold
Callingisverymuchalive,withonecaveat.Youcan'tjustcoldcallandpitchyour
servicesanymore.Noonehastimeforthat.Youhavetocallwithsomethingvaluable
foryourprospect.Saysomethinglike,"I'veshoppedatyourstore/eatenatyour
restaurant/beenacustomerofyoursbeforeandI'vebeenthinkingaboutthewayyou
doX.IhaveafewrecommendationsonhowyoucanimproveX.TheyareA,B,and
C.Let'smeettochataboutitalittlebit."Whenprospectsseethatyou'vedonesome
homeworkandlegwork,theyrespondcompletelydifferently.
4 Reply Share

MichaelZipursky Mod >JoeHughes 5yearsago

Joegreatpointoncoldcalling.Thatdefinitelyisamoreeffectiveapproach.
Alwaysplacethefocusonvaluefortheclient/prospect.
Reply Share

KarinWills5yearsago
Idon'tknowwhattothinkasitwouldbehelpfultoknowwhatrevenueornewclients
etc.weregainedasaresultofthedollarsspent.Also,itwouldhelptoknowwhichof
themanyoptionsusedhavethebestresults.

Thankyouforsharingtheinformationtodate.
Reply Share

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MichaelZipursky Mod >KarinWills 5yearsago

You'rewelcomeKarin!
Reply Share

BrandiStarr5yearsago
Ijusthadaconversationwithsomeoneaboutthemosteffectivetools,sheisnota
consultantandbloggingforherishugeandnetworkingislukewarm.Forme
(marketingconsultant)itistheoppositenetworkingismybreadandbutterandmy
bloggeneratesverylittlebusiness.

Greatstudy,Ialsothinkthatthosewhoclaimtospend$0arelikelyrelyingonsocial
mediaorignoringsomeofthecoststhatdon't"seem"likemarketingexpenses.
Reply Share

MichaelZipursky Mod >BrandiStarr 5yearsago

Brandimanypeoplestillviewmarketingasanexpensewhentheyneedto
consideritaninvestment.
Reply Share

RichardLanguage5yearsago
Thisisagreat,helpfulsurvey.Thanksforaskingthequestionsandcrunchingthe
numbers!

Ihaveafewfollowupquestions.Wecanseehowmuchtimepeoplespendon
differentmarketingstrategies.Howmuchmoneyaretheyspendingoneachmethod?
Sincemostpeoplearespendingtimeonnetworkingandreferrals,andtheaverage
amountpeoplearespendingonmarketingisabout$7500,whataretheyspending
moneyon?Whatarethemosteffectivewaystospendmoneyforbuildingnetworks
andreferrals?
Reply Share

MichaelZipursky Mod >RichardLanguage 5yearsago

Richardgreatquestions.Ican'tprovideanswersbasedonthedata.We
madethesurveysimpleforapurpose,togetlotsofresponses.Butafter
seeinghowpopularthiswaswe'llconsiderrunninganothersurveyinmuch
greaterdetail.Regardingyourlastquestion,youcaninvestingoingtohi
qualityeventsandconferenceswhereyourclients/prospectswillbe,aswell
assetupareferralsystemwhereyouawardcustomerswithgiftsandother
itemstheywillappreciateandfindvaluableitcostsmoneytodothisbutit
helpsbuildaWOWexperienceandcreatesloyalty.
Reply Share

Miguel5yearsago
Howmanypeopleresponded?DidImissthis?
1 Reply Share

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Harbims>Miguel5yearsago
Ureadmymind,Ijustaskedthesamequestion.
Reply Share

MichaelZipursky Mod >Miguel 5yearsago

Miguelcloseto1000
Reply Share

Info5yearsago
Greatwork,youguyssimplyrock.Justonesuggestion,canyouguysalsogather
resultsorfindingsregardingthereturnonthemarketingefforts?
Reply Share

MichaelZipursky Mod >Info 5yearsago

Notfromthelimiteddatawecollectedthistime.Butwemayextendthisintoa
followupsurvey.
Reply Share

Harbims5yearsago
Thanksforsharingtheresults,canweknowhowmanyconsultantparticipatedinthis
survey.

Thanks
Reply Share

MichaelZipursky Mod >Harbims 5yearsago

Harbimsrepliedtothisabove.
Reply Share

Dpoulos5yearsago
Interestingresults,mypracticeisgrowingandI'mdeadaverageonthespendandthe
activitydivision,anditstrikesmeascorrectthatwespendthemosttimeonthethings
thatmakeusthemostmoneyevenratscanmanagetopushthebuttonthatbrings
thefood!Inoticethatalotofmy"marketing"expensesarerelatedtofueling
networkingactivities,settingupandpromotingpresentations,andsettingup
circumstanceswherethesetypesofactivitiescanoccurprofessionalmemberships,
eventregistrationfees,directorylistingsetc.
Reply Share

WamyTheMayorKufakwandi5yearsago
thisisgreatdataandveryvaluablesinceitshowsfornewconsultantslikemyselfthat
thereisaneedtospendtimeonmarketingyourbusiness
Reply Share

MoizVaswadawala5yearsago
Wasthissurveylimitedtoaparticulargeography,ifyeswhichgeodidthiscover.
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6/9/2017 AmountConsultantsSpendonMarketing,MostEffectiveMarketingforConsultants|ConsultingSuccess

Wasthissurveylimitedtoaparticulargeography,ifyeswhichgeodidthiscover.
Woulddealsurveyoutcomeapplytodeveloping/emergingmarkets.
Reply Share

MichaelZipursky Mod >MoizVaswadawala 5yearsago

Moizthesurveywasnotlimitedtogeography.Consultantsfromaroundthe
worldtookpartinthis.
Reply Share

PrasannaHiwase5yearsago
DearMichael,
CanyouthowsomelightonIndianMarketregardingtheManagementConsulting
Business?
IwouldliketoknowthetrendsinIndianMarket.
Reply Share

Seabelo455yearsago
Thankyouforsuchvaluableinfomation....asanewconsultantInowknowwhereto
mostlyfocusregardingmymarking.
Reply Share

MichaelZipursky Mod >Seabelo45 5yearsago

You'rewelcome,gladyoufoundithelpful:)
Reply Share

April5yearsago
HiMichael,

Thankyouforputtingthissurveytogether.Iamnotsurprisedbytheresults.
Itconfirmsthatfacetofacemeetingsandpersonalcontact,connectingwithpeopleis
themosteffectivewaytogetnewbusiness.Oncepeopletalkwithyouandtrustyou
cantrulybringvaluetothemandtheirbusinesstheywillhireyou.
Reply Share

WendellN.5yearsago
Totrytogetalookathoweffectivetheamountoftimespentonthesemarketing
effortsis,IcrunchedthenumbersofMr.Zipursky'ssurveyresultstoproduceone
moreindicator.Thisbarometerisobtainedbysimplydividingthepercentofmoney
madebythepercentoftimespenttogeneratethoseincomeamountsresultingina
quotientinwhichthehigherthevaluethemoreproductivethatactivitywasin
generatingmonetarypayoff.

Inabusinesswithasmanyvariablesasconsultingitishardtotakeanyofthese
factorsbythemselvesasincomeisalmostalwaystheresultofmultiplefactors.
Howeverifyouarespendingahighpercentageofyourtimeonsomeofthelower
performingendeavors,youmaywishtoreprioritizethesemarketingstrategies.
Althoughpublicityworkandwritingarticlesandreportswerenoshowsonthemoney
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Althoughpublicityworkandwritingarticlesandreportswerenoshowsonthemoney
producinglisttheyprobablywereacontributingfactorcombinedwithothersor,atthe
least,maketheEsteemorSelfactualizationlevelsofMaslow'spyramidandarea
learningexperience.

%MoneyMade%TimeSpentProductivityQuotient

Referrals38192.00
seemore

Reply Share

MichaelZipursky Mod >WendellN. 5yearsago

Wendellthanksforcrunchingsomeadditionalnumbers.You'recorrectthat
therearemanyfactorsandthisinitialsurveydoesn'treallyprovideenough
datatogiveafullpicture,butgladtoseethatmanyreadersfounditvaluable.
Reply Share

Evan5yearsago
Thankyoufortheinfo.IthelpedmestrengthenmybeliefsinthedirectionI'mtaking
aregoodforgeneratingbusiness.And,thankyouforthetimetodothisandnotmake
itateaser.

Allthebest,
Reply Share

MichaelZipursky Mod >Evan 5yearsago

Evanappreciatethekindwords.
Reply Share

Islam5yearsago
Niceone
butihaveaprobleminreadingthecharts
Iamcolorblind:)
anyway,Thanksfortheefforts

Allthebest,
Reply Share

MichaelZipursky Mod >Islam 5yearsago

You'rewelcomeIslam.
Reply Share

KasraSorouri5yearsago
thankyouMichael
Itwasappreciativejob.
Reply Share
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AarniHeiskanen5yearsago
Michael,thanksforthesurvey.Thisissuehasn'tbeenstudiedtoooften!
Reply Share

Keith5yearsago
Greatdata!Iknowtheaveragespendwasaround$7500,butlookingatthegraphit
seemslikethemedianspendmaybehalfthat.Doyouhavethemedianspendfrom
thesurvey?(sinceaverageisheavilyinfluencedbyoutliers)
Reply Share

Deema4yearsago
veryhelpful,thankyouforcompiling!canyougiveexampleson"Networking"spend?
Reply Share

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