If you’ve ever found yourself asking, “How much should we really be spending on marketing?”, you’re not alone. It’s a question that every firm asks at some point. And if yours hasn’t, perhaps it should.
In both our personal and professional lives, we naturally apply a cause-and-effect mindset to major decisions. We evaluate investments like property, hiring, or technology based on the return they are likely to generate. It’s logical. It’s measured. It’s smart business.
Yet when it comes to marketing, business development (BD), and client relationship management (CRM), many firms fall into one of two traps: either they underinvest due to uncertainty about ROI, or they over invest without a clear strategy or way to measure success.
This article looks at trends from Beaton research and how firms can take a more deliberate, client-centric approach to budgeting and evaluating marketing, BD and CRM efforts.
Why traditional ROI logic should apply to how much you spend on marketing
You wouldn’t renovate your home unless you believed it would increase its value. You wouldn’t hire a new employee without a clear role and metrics for success. In the same way, spending on marketing, BD and CRM should be guided by clear expectations of value and impact.
Too often, professional services firms approach these areas with vague objectives and limited data. Hospitality events, sponsorships, client gifts, and corporate branding exercises can dominate budgets but are they generating meaningful returns?
The real question isn’t just how much to spend, but how to spend it wisely.
Setting and analysing your marketing spend
Analysing marketing spend and setting BD, CRM and marketing budgets is a feature for almost all professional services firms. When doing this, most firms ask;
“Did we get a return on our marketing investment this year?”
“What should we add, increase, reduce, or cut altogether next year?”
These are useful but they only scratch the surface.
More insightful firms go further:
“Is our marketing and BD spend delivering value to our intended audience—our current and prospective clients?”
“And how do we know?”
These final two questions shift the conversation from cost to client value and force us to ask whether we’re measuring what matters. Are we basing decisions on hard data, or gut feel and anecdote? Are our investments aligned with what clients actually value?
Evaluating marketing, BD, and CRM spend beyond the spreadsheet
At Beaton, we work closely with professional services firms across Australia and beyond. Increasingly, we’re seeing firms ask how to measure the effectiveness of their client-facing activities. Not just how much they spend, but how much value clients perceive in what they’re doing.
We see a number of firms who spend large on hospitality, client functions, sponsorships, lunches, entertainment etc. But often they are unable to measure the true value of doing this food, beverage and conviviality.
Phrased in that more client-centric way….they don’t have the data that enables them to know what value their clients get from these things.
More than just ROI, consider the value delivered to clients and prospects through your marketing, BD and CRM spend.
A managing partner might say, “My client told me that event was fantastic.” But when we ask clients directly, responses are often more nuanced.
At Beaton we’re in the business of measuring the effectiveness of BD, CRM and marketing activities in professional services. We ask your clients “of the activities your firm undertakes, how useful are they?”
Key insights from our research
The importance of measuring the value your clients derive from your marketing, BD and CRM activities is critical.
Here are three insights from our research across professional services that may help.
1. Client focussed CRM activities work best
The most impactful CRM activities in the eyes of clients are:
- Acting on client feedback
- Resolving problems when they arise
These may not be glamorous but they are effective. They demonstrate responsiveness, empathy, and value creation. Compare that to sponsorships or entertainment, which often offer little measurable benefit to the client.
Key takeaway: If you’re not actively capturing and responding to feedback, you’re missing a major opportunity to strengthen relationships and improve service delivery.
“Acting on feedback” and “Resolving client problems” are the two most useful CRM activities in the clients’ eyes.
2. Personalised communication cuts through the noise
Our data shows that clients overwhelmingly prefer:
- Communications on subjects of interest
- Customised presentations
Generic email campaigns and social media posts often go unnoticed. But a customised update that addresses a specific concern or opportunity? That’s remembered.
Communications need to be timely, relevant, and tailored though, not just generic broadcast emails sent from a CRM system.
Key takeaway: Relevance drives engagement. Invest in personalised, client-specific communication instead of relying solely on automated campaigns.
3. Budget allocation should reflect client priorities.
If your firm is spending more on hospitality than on collecting and responding to client feedback, it may be time to rethink your strategy.
That’s not to say client functions or entertainment have no place. They can play a role in relationship-building. But they shouldn’t overshadow higher-impact initiatives like:
- Listening to clients
- Acting on what they tell you
- Providing content and insights that matter to them
Key takeaway: Align your spending with what clients actually value, not just what’s easiest or most familiar.
As competitors ramp up their spend on marketing, BD and CRM investments, what are you doing to ensure yours is more effective?
Consider competitors when budgeting marketing spend
Clients are reporting an increase in marketing, BD and CRM activity from the firms they work with. In other words, the volume is going up, but not always the value.
This presents two major risks:
- Standing still while competitors evolve.
If you’re repeating the same activities as last year, you may already be falling behind. - Being part of the noise.
If your activities aren’t delivering meaningful value, clients may start to tune out.
- Standing still while competitors evolve.
To cut through, firms need a clear strategy that places client experience at the centre and data at the heart of decision-making.
From spending to strategy: A better approach
Marketing, BD and CRM aren’t costs to be minimised, they’re investments in your firm’s future. But like any investment, their value depends on how well you manage them.
With competition increasing and client expectations evolving, it’s never been more important to make sure your budget is working for your clients and not just your brand.
Rather than asking, “How much should we spend on marketing?” a better question might be: “How can we ensure our marketing, BD and CRM investments deliver measurable value to both our firm and our clients?”
That means:
- Developing a clear framework for evaluating ROI, not just in financial terms, but in client experience and retention.
- Building feedback loops that measure what clients find useful.
- Rebalancing budgets toward activities that demonstrably improve client satisfaction, loyalty and engagement.
Would you like help evaluating whether your marketing, BD or CRM spend is aligned with what your clients value most?
Talk to Beaton. We specialise in helping professional services firms measure client satisfaction so you can invest with confidence.
