Marketing Consulting Services
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 47,000 marketing consulting services in the US provide advice and assistance on marketing related issues. Services include marketing strategy and market development consulting and implementation; sales management and development consulting and implementation; and strategic management consulting and implementation. Most marketing consulting firms are small, independent operators.
Variable Demand
Demand for marketing consulting services can vary depending on client needs.
Increasingly Complex Environment
Shifting demographics and the advent of digital technology have fundamentally changed the discipline of marketing and created a more complex and fragmented environment for clients and consultants.
Industry size & Structure
The average marketing consulting firm operates out of a single location, employs fewer than 5 workers, and generates about $914,000 annually.
- The marketing consulting services industry consists of about 47,000 firms that employ 326,000 workers and generate about $43 billion annually.
- The industry is fragmented; the top 50 companies account for about 24% of industry revenue.
- Large management consulting firms that provide marketing consulting services include Bain, Boston Consulting Group, and McKinsey. ZS Associates is a management consulting firm that specializes in sales and marketing. Most marketing consulting firms are small, independent operators.
Industry Forecast
Marketing Consulting Services Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Oct 17, 2024 - Competitors Chip Away at Google’s Search Ad Dominance
- Competitors are increasingly posing challenges to Google’s long-maintained dominance of the search advertising business, according to The Wall Street Journal. The short-video app TikTok recently began allowing brands to target ads based on users’ searches. The AI-search start-up Perplexity plans to introduce ads under its search results – the firm currently has a subscription-based revenue model, charging $20 per month for access to its more advanced AI technology. Amazon is also eating into Google’s share of search advertising as the ecommerce giant serves ads based on customer searches on its site. In 2025, Google is forecast to account for less than half of the US search ad market for the first time in more than a decade, according to eMarketer.
- Consumer packaged goods (CPG) firms are expected to tap the brakes on digital ad spending in 2025 after strong estimated spending growth in 2024, according to eMarketer. The CPG industry is expected to spend nearly $50 billion on digital ads in 2024, up 16.6% over 2023. However, digital ad spending by CPG firms is forecast to moderate to 6.1% growth in 2025 and 5.8% in 2026. Categories that hold the largest shares of CPG digital ad spending include toiletries and cosmetics (35% of CPG digital ad spending), food, and beverages. However, beverages are the fastest-growing CPG category for digital ad spending; nonalcoholic beverage digital ad spending is expected to rise 27.4% in 2024, followed by alcoholic drinks (22.1%), and toiletries and cosmetics (19.2%).
- US net media owner advertising revenues (including cyclical spending such as the Olympics and the presidential election) rose 11% in the second quarter of 2024, according to a September forecast by advertising firm MAGNA. The Q2 2024 growth was led by pure-play digital (search, retail media, social, short-form video), which grew 15.9%. Traditional media spending (TV, audio, publishing, out-of-home, and cinema) rose 0.4% in Q2 2024. MAGNA also upwardly revised its full-year 2024 outlook (including cyclical events) from 10.7% to 11.4% growth. The ad firm expects non-cyclical ad spending to moderate to 6.3% growth in 2025. Pure play digital will continue to lead ad spending gains in 2025 with a rise of 9.3%, while traditional media owners will see a 1.5% decline in spending.
- In September, a US district judge in Virginia heard opening statements in a US Justice Department antitrust lawsuit against Google, which alleges the company’s Ad Manager ad-tech software unlawfully dominates the marketplace for buying and selling online ads, according to The Wall Street Journal. Google’s Ad Manager platform allows publishers to offer and manage ad space and facilitates transactions between ad buyers and sellers. The Justice Department’s suit, which 17 states have joined, alleges that Google unlawfully suppressed competitive technologies while locking publishers and advertisers into using the company’s tools. Google has argued its success in the digital ad space is due to its innovations. The company also suggests the government’s case is out of step with the current online ad market, which it says has moved away from display ads on websites to focus on social media, apps, and connected TV. The Justice Department’s goal is to force Google to divest its Ad Manager product.
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