The Marketing Budget Benchmark Study by The  AAM and the Hinge Research Institute 2017 looks at the marketing spend at Accountancy firms. It lists the top five marketing spend categories as:

• Sponsorships
• Networking Events, Tradeshows, and Conferences
• Advertising
• Professional Association Expenses
• Website Expenses and SEO

However, it notes that high-growth firms spend differently from low growth firms. 

• Consistent with the overall trend, High-Growth firms place a much greater emphasis on online and content marketing.
• High-Growth firms place less emphasis on advertising and sponsorships relative to Low-Growth firms.

This argues strongly that some big-ticket spends like Sponsorships should be cut from a Marketing budget relative to online and content marketing. 

What is particularly interesting, however, is that the 2015 report has the same findings: 

• Consistent with the overall trend, High-Growth firms place a much greater emphasis on online and content marketing.
• High-Growth firms place less emphasis on advertising and sponsorships relative to Low-Growth firms.

Yes, they are exactly the same. Clearly, the message has got through to the high-growth companies while the low-growth ones are still stuck in Groundhog Day doggedly over-spending on the wrong categories.

Just like last time.