As 2026 approaches, many professional service firms are starting to think about their marketing plans for the year ahead. The temptation is to jump straight into the tactics: brainstorming campaign ideas, planning website updates, or diving into budget spreadsheets.

However marketing in 2026 won’t be about doing more of the same. It will be about doing what actually matters for your firm’s growth.

Before you get caught up in the busy work of marketing planning, it’s worth pausing to ask some deeper questions. These five essential questions will help you assess where your firm is now and identify exactly where your marketing efforts need to focus next.

1. Is our marketing actually aligned with our business strategy for 2026?

This might seem obvious, but it’s one of the most common issues I see in firms of all sizes: the business strategy and the marketing plan simply don’t talk to each other.

If your leadership team is focused on growing a particular service line, entering a new market, or improving client retention, then your marketing should be directly supporting that goal. Yet in many firms, marketing activity runs completely separate from commercial objectives.

Take action now: Schedule a meeting between your marketing team and senior leadership. Ask these specific questions:

• Do our current marketing efforts directly support our firmwide and partner-level business objectives?
• Have we actually involved marketing leadership in strategic planning sessions?
• Are business development and marketing teams working toward the same measurable outcomes?

If the answer to any of these is no, you’re likely wasting time and money on activity that won’t move the needle for your firm’s growth.

Practical next step: Create a simple one-page document that maps each major marketing activity to a specific business objective. If you can’t make that connection, it’s time to question whether that activity should continue.

2. What does ‘value’ actually mean to our clients right now?

Client expectations have shifted dramatically. What clients valued five years ago (generic thought leadership, free seminars, large in-person events) may no longer carry the same weight in their decision-making process.

Professional service buyers today are looking for clarity, confidence, and relevant insights that help them solve real, immediate challenges. They’re more time-pressured than ever, which means they’ll only engage with marketing that’s genuinely focused and useful to them.

Make it practical: This is your moment to dig deeper into client understanding:

• When did you last have genuine conversations with your clients about their current priorities and concerns?
• Have you refreshed your client personas or insight base in the past 12 months?
• Are you adding genuine value to their thinking, or just adding to the noise they’re already dealing with?

Actionable approach: Set up 15-minute informal calls with five of your best clients this month. Ask them what their biggest challenges are right now and what type of content or insights would actually help them. You’ll be surprised by what you learn.

Marketing that truly resonates always starts with deep client understanding, not content calendars or social media schedules.

3. Are we still doing things ‘because we always have’?

Many firms carry over marketing activities year after year without ever asking whether they still make sense for their current situation.

That expensive conference sponsorship that generates no leads. The quarterly newsletter that sits unopened in inboxes. The social media posts that generate plenty of impressions but zero meaningful engagement. It’s easy to stay busy with familiar activities, but the question is: are they actually working?

Time for a marketing audit: Look at each activity and ask:

• What specific business outcome does this deliver?
• When did we last see a clear return on investment from this activity?
• If we stopped doing this tomorrow, would our clients or prospects even notice?

In a tighter economy, firms need to focus their resources where they can make the most impact. That means being willing to let go of tradition in favour of what’s actually relevant and effective.

Practical exercise: List all your current marketing activities and put them into three categories: keep (delivers clear value), refresh (has potential but needs updating), or stop (no longer effective). Be honest about what goes in each category.

4. Do we have the right people and structure to deliver what’s actually needed?

Even the most brilliant marketing strategy will fail without the right people to deliver it effectively. I regularly see firms with one junior marketer expected to lead strategy, write content, manage social media, and organise events all at the same time.

Or they have a talented team that’s stuck being reactive because there’s no senior oversight to set proper direction and priorities.

Ask yourself honestly:

• Do we have enough capacity and capability to deliver our stated goals?
• Do we have strategic marketing leadership, even if it’s on a part-time or fractional basis?
• Are our business development and marketing functions properly joined up, or are they operating in separate silos?

Consider your options: In 2026, firms that invest in the right structure (whether through internal hires, targeted training, or bringing in fractional leadership) will move faster and smarter than those trying to make do with inadequate resources.

Next step: Map out what marketing expertise you actually need versus what you currently have. If there’s a gap at the strategic level, consider whether a Fractional Marketing Director could provide the senior oversight your team needs to be more effective.

5. How will we actually show results beyond vanity metrics?

It’s time to completely reframe how you think about marketing success. Yes, it’s easy to measure clicks, followers, and email open rates. But do those numbers really tell you whether your marketing is helping to win work, grow relationships, or support your firm’s reputation in meaningful ways?

Focus on what actually matters:

• How many qualified enquiries came directly from marketing sources?
• Are we increasing visibility in our specific target sectors or geographies?
• Are we improving win rates through better proposals and positioning?
• Can we track how marketing touchpoints influence the client journey?

Marketing in 2026 will be judged not by how much activity gets done, but by what it actually delivers for the business. That starts with aligning your metrics to commercial outcomes and tracking them consistently.

Make it measurable: Set up simple systems to track enquiry sources, monitor mentions in your target sectors, and measure the impact of marketing on your proposal success rates. These metrics will tell you far more about your marketing effectiveness than social media followers ever will.

Time to reflect and act

These five questions aren’t always easy to answer, but they are absolutely worth the effort. If your firm can reflect honestly and make strategic adjustments now, you’ll be in a much stronger position when 2026 arrives.

The key is not just thinking about these questions, but actually acting on the insights they reveal. Start with one area where you know changes are needed, make those adjustments, and build momentum from there.

Remember: successful marketing in 2026 will be about strategic focus, genuine client value, and measurable business impact. Everything else is just noise.

Need help?
If you would like help with your marketing, bringing on a marketing consultant with a fresh pair of eyes can make all the difference. I work with B2B businesses and professional service firms in London, Kent, the UK, and Europe, specialising as a legal marketing consultant. Please get in touch or book a free 30-minute consultation.

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