This article appeared in Marketing the Law Firm, an ALM/Law Journal Newsletters publication reporting on the latest, and most effective, strategies for Chief Marketing Officers, Managing Partners, Law Firm Marketing Directors, Administrators and Consultants.

The year 2020 will go down in history as one of the worst in terms of its impact on law firm marketing and business development budgets. The end of Q3 2020 saw the average marketing budget decline by 33.2% on a year-over-year rolling 12-month basis, according to Thomson Reuters Peer Monitor. That translated into nearly $3,000 less per lawyer FTE than in the same quarter one year prior.

There are myriad reasons for this decline: a lack of ability host the usual activities, firm bans on travel, and redirecting of marketing dollars toward other firm priorities among them. All of these are perfectly understandable.