High Growth Study 2025: Insights into Today’s Best-Performing Firms

We’re excited to announce the release of Hinge’s 2025 High Growth Study—the 10th edition of this landmark publication. We began researching High Growth firms way back in 2008, and in 2016 we published our first study in this series. A lot has changed in a decade!

Most of that change was driven by the maturation of digital tools and techniques that gave firms unprecedented access to new markets and an extraordinary ability to measure marketing performance. Today those technologies continue to evolve, especially AI, which has emerged as a central theme in this year’s study.

For the first time in four years, growth across the professional services industry declined, returning to pre-pandemic levels. The best performing firms, however, maintained their elevated growth rates and continue to significantly outpace the rest of the field. How do they do it, year after year?

Let’s dive in!

How We Conducted the Study

This year, 770 firms across 6 core industry groups participated in the study. Our sample represented over $87 billion in combined revenue and almost 440,000 employees. We survey professional services firms of all sizes, and they conduct business on six continents.

Figure 1. Composition of Sample by Industry

During our data analysis, we grouped the participating firms into three categories:

• High Growth—Firms that achieve at least 20% compound annual growth over a three-year evaluation period
• No Growth—Those that experienced zero or negative growth
• Average Growth—The rest of the sample.

Occasionally, we look at a group called Low Growth. This group includes both Average Growth and No Growth firms.

Five Features of High Growth Firms

At the heart of this study are the High Growth firms. We examine them to understand what they do differently so that ordinary firms can adopt their strategies and habits. Below are five key takeaways from this year’s study. To see all the findings, you can download the full executive summary for free.

As you can see in Figures 2 and 3 below, these firms grow 4X faster and are up to 30% more profitable than their lower performing counterparts. Interestingly, all three growth categories experienced higher levels of profitability compared to the previous year, with the No Growth firms increasing the most (from 14.5% to 20.9%).

Figure 2. Growth Rate and Profitability by Growth Category

1. They Prioritize Content and Differentiation

The top three items on this list are the same as last year. Producing high-value educational content was High Growth firms’ highest priority. That makes sense, as it is perhaps the best way to expose your expertise to new audiences (primarily through written and video content) and establish trust over time. This priority goes hand in hand with the fourth and fifth priorities: developing thought leaders and reaching out to find new opportunities to speak, write and podcast.

Top-performing firms are also concerned about differentiating their firms. There are many ways to differentiate a firm, from specialization to unique business model to telling a powerful story. When you have a differentiated firm, buyers are more likely to notice and remember you. And if your point of differentiation is particularly relevant to their business challenge, you may have a significant advantage over competitors in getting selected.

Social media marketing falls in the third position. For most firms, this takes place on LinkedIn, the premier social networking platform for professionals. Social media marketing can include publishing and promoting content, networking and sharing expertise, and advertising.

Compare your own firm’s priorities for this year to those of the High Growth firms. Are you missing any opportunities to build your visibility and reputation?

Figure 3. Top Marketing Priorities in 2025

2. They Spend More on Marketing

There once was a time when High Growth firms spent less on marketing, but that trend has reversed. We know that these organizations have a strong interest in building a sophisticated tech stack. And that commitment likely has raised their marketing budgets. We also know that they tend to have more personnel devoted to marketing. While the budget number does not include salaries, more people means more activities, which require more money. Clearly the investment is worth it. Their 2X investment yields more than 4X the growth.

Figure 4. Marketing Budget as a Percentage of Revenue*

3. They Have a Strong Interest in AI

What do High Growth firms want to learn more about this year? You can think of this question as a proxy for where these firms may be headed in the future. Artificial intelligence is the story of the year—and perhaps the decade to come—so it is no surprise that it tops the list. AI also happens to be these firms’ top business challenge. In this context, AI is much more than ChatGPT, Copilot or Gemini. Firms are looking for ways artificial intelligence can help them deliver services more efficiently, uncover deeper insights and create unprecedented value for their clients.

These top-performing firms also want to find new ways to provide a superior experience for their clients. After all, happy clients are long-term, high-value clients. In addition, they are exploring new opportunities to create content and develop their Visible Expertise. And as the marketplace evolves, strategy has to change with it. High Growth firms are looking into the offing to find the next advantage. Finally, they look to the latest advances in technology to create a competitive advantage.

Figure 5. Topics to Learn More About in 2025

4. They Outsource Specialized Marketing Skills

Outsourcing is an important way firms like yours can access specialized talent and technology, while keeping costs under control. While most firms outsource at least some of their marketing activities, High Growth firms do it more aggressively. They know that outsourcing specialized expertise makes sense in many situations. They can access better talent for far less than bringing the talent in-house. Review the list below to see the skills they outsource most often. Then compare it to the marketing skills you outsource. Are there any you might be better off handing off to a pro?

Figure 6. Top Outsourced Marketing Skills

5. They Are More Digitally Mature

The scale below consists of five levels, with the least sophisticated at the top and the most advanced at the bottom (you can read what each one signifies in the executive summary report).

No Growth firms have made significant progress in their digital maturity since we last asked about it two years ago. The High Growth cohort, on the other hand, has made just modest gains. There is one exception, however. At the highest level, which we call “Intelligent,” these high performers have increased 150%, compared with a 20% increase for the No Growth group.

As AI and automation become more powerful—and bigger factors in firms’ success—advanced digital maturity is likely to be a huge competitive advantage. This is particularly likely in industries such as accounting and legal where many routine tasks are likely to be entirely automated in the future. Where do you stand on the digital maturity scale?

Figure 7. Level of Digital Maturity

What’s Your Strategy to Thrive in a Changing World?

If there’s one thing you can count on in business it is this: Nothing stays the same for long. Your buyers are changing. Technology is changing. The services you deliver are changing. It takes a great deal of foresight and insight to win at this game.

Fortunately, High Growth professional services firms have already blazed a trail for firms like yours. They have learned what works and what is a waste of time in an age of unpredictability and rapid change. So what can you do? Compare the habits of High Growth firms in this post with your own marketing program. Where are you in alignment and where are you off the rails? What adjustments can you make to emulate these high performers? There is a blueprint here to achieve sustained business success—if you choose to follow it.

And don’t forget to download the full executive summary (it’s free!). It contains many other ideas to inspire your own marketing program. What changes will you make to propel your business forward?