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
Dec 18, 2024 - Omnicom to Acquire Interpublic Group
- In December, advertising firm Omnicom announced it would acquire rival Interpublic Group in an all-stock deal that will create the world’s largest advertising company. The two firms had a combined 2023 revenue of $25.6 billion. Omnicom said the merger will create a company providing end-to-end services across media, marketing, CRM, data, digital commerce, advertising, public relations, and branding. The deal comes as tech firms, including Google and Meta, gain larger shares of the ad market and as big tech’s generative AI efforts are expected to further encroach on traditional ad players’ creative development space. Once the deal is complete, Omnicom shareholders will hold a 60.6% stake in the combined company, and Interpublic shareholders will own 39.4%. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2025, and the combined company will retain the Omnicom name.
- US net media owner advertising revenues rose by 12.4% to $380.2 billion in 2024 as cyclical events, including the Summer Olympics and the presidential election, pushed ad spending higher, according to advertising firm MAGNA. Growth in 2024 was driven by a 15.4% rise in pure-play digital ad spending, generating revenue of $271.8 billion. Traditional media owner ad revenue rose 5.6% to $108.4 billion. In 2024, the strongest ad verticals included automotive (16% revenue growth over 2023), finance and insurance (+15%), and food and beverage (+12%). The technology vertical saw weak spending in the first half of 2024 but accelerated in the second half as tech firms spent heavily promoting their AI-enhanced products. Absent the significant cyclical events that juiced ad spending in 2024, US net media owner advertising revenue growth in 2025 is expected to slow to 4.9%.
- While TV viewership has become more fragmented, it is still a robust driver of traffic to advertiser websites, according to new research by the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB). The VAB study tracked 201 first-time advertisers between April 2020 and April 2024. First-time advertisers that spent $500,000 or less on TV advertising saw an 8% rise in website traffic the month their ad launched and saw an average monthly rise of 20% over the several months the brand remained on TV. Ad buyers who spent between $2 million and $5 million on ads experienced a 9% increase in web traffic in their ads’ debut month and an average monthly jump of 25% throughout the multi-month TV campaign. Advertisers who spent $10 million or more saw web traffic rise 36% in the launch month and a monthly average increase of 42% over the months the ad stayed on TV.
- Marketing leaders are wearing more hats than ever as they are tasked to do more with less, including AI implementation, according to a recent survey by McKinsey. While 87% of marketing leaders surveyed said brand building leads their agenda, they are increasingly taking on other responsibilities, including design (46% of respondents), sales and ecommerce (34%), product innovation (24%), and generative AI (22%). The leading marketer use cases for AI included creative efficiency (39% of respondents), scaling personalization (28%), media optimization (28%), marketing automation (22%), and improvements in customer experience such as search and chatbots (20%). However, McKinsey found that only 5% of marketers are expanding GenAI capabilities, and just 4% are scaling their GenAI use cases.
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