An annual analysis of how law firms market themselves has launched its latest survey. The Professional Services Marketing Survey will collect data on the last 12 months as it seeks to identify the trends and impact of marketing in professional services.
Now in its sixth year, the survey initially looked at how law firms marketed themselves through the disruption of the pandemic and the recovery that followed.
This year’s survey picks up where the last left off, around two questions in particular: whether marketing budgets will keep rising, and whether marketing will earn a greater hand in firm strategy.
The 2025 findings were based on a survey of 130 law firms and accountancy firms across the United Kingdom. It found that the average firm invested 3.1% of turnover in marketing and business development, excluding salaries. For a firm turning over £10 million, that equates to around £310,000 a year. The figure climbed from a low of 2.6% in 2022, returning to the level recorded in 2020, suggesting that confidence had returned to the market.
Despite the renewed investment, marketing’s influence over firm strategy remained limited last year. Just 18% of firms said their marketing and business development teams drive the strategic process, while 67% said they contribute without leading. The 2026 survey aims to discover whether that balance has shifted.
This year’s survey also widens its scope, assessing how firms are approaching areas including brand and content marketing, CRM, automation and artificial intelligence.
Laura Lack, community manager of the report’s authors Law Firm Marketing Club, said: “The recovery in marketing budgets is encouraging, and it suggests firms once again see marketing and business development as central to growth rather than a cost to trim.
“The more telling story, though, is influence. Firms are clearly willing to invest, yet marketing still rarely leads the strategic conversation, and that gap between spend and influence is one of the clearest themes to come out of the research.
“Tracking how that picture changes is exactly why we run this survey each year. With the 2026 edition now open, we will begin to see whether marketing’s role in law firms is genuinely shifting, and we would encourage firms of every size to take part and add to the picture.”
The LFMC Professional Services Marketing Survey for 2026, sponsored by SurSum, can be completed here.
