Every time the economy hiccups, a chorus of digital gurus sings the same refrain: “Whatever you do, don’t cut your marketing budget - future you will thank present you!”
Nice slogan. Shame it ignores maths.
First, do the sums
In normal conditions, most commercial practices spend 5% – 18% of revenue on marketing and business development. When fee income drops by half - as many firms experienced during the pandemic and as some are feeling again in today’s stop-start economy - that ratio silently doubles. Suddenly marketing is 14% – 39% of turnover, and nobody noticed because the monthly retainers auto-debit.
Rule #1: shrink spend until the percentage returns to sanity. Anything else is blind faith.
Cut fat, not muscle
This isn’t a rallying cry to turn the lights off on LinkedIn or sack every freelancer. It’s a surgical reset:
- Rank every activity by attributable value. If you can’t track it, park it.
- Slice the bottom third without mercy.
- Re-tool the middle third: tweak targeting, messaging, landing pages.
- Double-down on the top third - provided it still aligns with the firm’s referral strategy.
A real example (names off, numbers on)
One mid-sized firm we support was ploughing R 10 000 a month into Google Ads for generic keywords such as “corporate lawyer Johannesburg”. Clicks trickled in; files did not.
We split the same budget:
- 50 % to a thought-leadership syndication platform (Mondaq).
- 50 % kept on tightly-focused search ads (only long-tail queries + brand terms).
60 days later:
- Website sessions traced to Mondaq backlinks ↑ 205 %.
- Average session length 3× longer than ad traffic.
- Domain Authority jump: +7 points - worth months of SEO slog.
- New matters opened: three from syndication; zero from cold ads.
Same spend, triple results, and a permanent content asset that doesn’t vanish when the credit card stops.
Refuse the one-size-fits-all bundle
Firms get fleeced by “full-service” vendors peddling bundles they can’t explain:
- Retargeting loops: Great if you sell trainers; pointless for mergers & acquisitions.
- Display banners on gossip sites: Who hires litigation counsel between celebrity click-bait?
- Daily social posts: Consistency matters, but nobody briefs counsel off a meme.
If any line item can’t be tied to reputation building, referral nurturing or searchable expertise, kill it.
Where to hunt for hidden leaks
Negotiate like it’s a matter
Agencies that value long-term relationships will flex. Ask for:
- Variable fees indexed to spend.
- Rolling 30-day reviews instead of annual lock-ins.
- Interim “pause” clauses if revenue dives.
If they won’t budge, you just learnt their real priority.
Reset, then rebuild with intent
Cutting spend isn’t defeatist; it’s triage. Once the bleed stops:
- Re-map goals. Revenue targets, referral sources, practice-area focus.
- Layer spend back in chronologically: first reputation assets (articles, case studies), then amplification (PR, syndication), finally selective pay-per-click to plug gaps.
- Measure monthly. If you can’t prove contribution in 90 days, redeploy.
The Bottom line
Ignore the prophets of perpetual spend. In lean markets, smart firms prune costs brutally, redeploy capital where return is proven, and exit stronger. Cut the budget - just don’t cut the bits that make you the obvious first call.
