3
O P I N I O N
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had an architecture/engineering firm tell me they are “too small” to have a marketing department. Many of these firms have 150 or more people and multiple offices, yet they don’t want to allocate any expenses toward marketing personnel. ‘We’re too small’ If that’s your justification for not having a marketing department, you’re either blessed with a super team of all-stars, or you’re kidding yourself.
Christina Zweig Niehues
on billable projects, and are on average 11 percent billable. You might be able to get away with having no marketing department if you meet the following criteria: 1) Your firm has little competition in a market that is “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had an architecture/engineering firm tell me they are ‘too small’ to have a marketing department. Many of these firms have 150 or more people and multiple offices.”
According to Zweig Group’s 2017 Marketing Survey of A/E/P and Environmental Consulting Firms , 91 percent of industry firms have a full- time marketing staff member or marketing department. For firms with one to 24 people, 64 percent have a marketing department, usually with just one full-time person. For firms with 25 to 49 people, 80 percent have a marketing department, with a median number of two people. For firms with 50 to 99 people, 95 percent have a marketing department, with a median number of four people. For firms with more than 100 people, almost all firms surveyed had a marketing department, usually with five or more people. For firms concerned with utilization/chargeability, 45 percent of firms said marketing staff also work
See CHRISTINA ZWEIG NIEHUES, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER November 6, 2017, ISSUE 1223
Made with FlippingBook Annual report