I recently saw a headline advertising a financial survey of the AE industry (not PSMJ’s survey). It announced, “Total marketing spending has increased by over 50% in the industry.” Certainly an attention-grabbing headline. But if you studied statistics, you’ll realize that swings of this magnitude simply don’t occur in large data sets representing many different firms.
To be sure this was the case, I checked PSMJ’s 2017 Financial Performance Survey to see if there was a big change from 2016. Looking at all the firms that participated in our surveys both years, I found a very slight decrease in total marketing expenditures. Looking at only the firms that participated in both the 2016 and 2017 survey, I found a very slight increase in total marketing expenditures. Certainly nothing like a 50% swing.
We strongly encourage you to benchmark your firm’s financial performance to identify which areas are most in need of improvement. And you should check multiple surveys when you do this. That way, if you see something that looks a bit strange in one survey, you can verify with other surveys that these results are real.
About the Author: David Burstein, P.E., is Director of Client Services for PSMJ Resources, Inc., the nation’s largest provider of management information to the engineering/architectural professions. As part of his responsibilities, he provides consulting and training services on the subjects of strategic planning, marketing, project management, human resources, quality, finance, and ownership transition.
To learn more about PSMJ 2017 Financial Performance Benchmark Survey Report click here.