What drives growth at today’s fastest growing consulting companies?
For over a decade, we’ve been asking this question and finding the answers in our annual High Growth Study. Since its inception, this research project has tracked the evolving marketing strategies of successful consulting firms. The 2025 High Growth Study: Consulting Edition reveals the critical factors that separate today’s fastest growing consulting companies from the rest of the pack.
In today’s blog post, we’ll share a few of the findings of this year’s research report on consulting companies. You can purchase the full research report for your company here.
The Fastest Growing Consulting Companies
Today’s consulting firms are wrestling with a host of issues, many of which have been with them for years, such as price sensitivity, a talent shortage, generational changes in the workforce, and the need to develop new skills. But they also face challenges unique to this moment.
The 2025 High Growth Study provides a comprehensive analysis of these challenges and the strategies that High Growth firms employ to overcome them.
Despite the many challenges faced by businesses that sell consulting services, the High Growth firms grew at an impressive clip: at least 20% compound annual growth rate over a three-year evaluation period. They represent just over a third of the sample of 384 consulting firms who participated in the study.
With a growth rate of 41.7%, the High Growth firms grew 4.4 times faster than average—a significant improvement over last year’s performance, when median growth for the top-performing cohort was 35%.
What can we learn from these fast growing companies? How are they responding to the challenges of today’s marketplace? Which marketing techniques do they employ? Let’s take a look at some of the findings from the full study.
Finding 1: AI and Automation Lead the Conversation
For the past five years, a thrum of uncertainty has rattled the consulting services landscape. In 2025, unpredictability is still with us, though its vibrations have diminished a bit to make way for a new seismic wave: the breakout of artificial intelligence (AI).
According to our data, the consulting industry is grappling with incorporating AI and automation into their businesses. This challenge was reported to be the number one challenge facing consulting companies today.
The entire consulting industry is trying to figure out how AI is going to affect their operations, service delivery, and marketing. AI promises to transform consulting—with all the opportunities and threats that come with disruptive change.
At the same time, AI is changing the way services are marketed. Whether or not these promises are kept remains to be seen, but AI’s sharp ascent to prominence is truly remarkable. It is no surprise that AI has shot to the top of firms’ list of biggest challenges.
Finding 2: Content Creation Is Here to Stay
Like last year (and the year before), creating content remains the top marketing priority for High Growth consulting firms.
In a pool of options including over a dozen options (including partnership marketing, marketing technology, buyer journey mapping, developing thought leaders, and more), the High Growth consulting companies selected creating content as their top marketing priority for 2025.
Clearly, content marketing continues to play a major role in these firms’ success.
High Growth consulting firms understand that producing educational, helpful content showcases their thought leaders and builds trust with potential clients. This approach aligns with several key findings from the 2025 High Growth Study. Content marketing serves as a powerful engine for generating digital leads, using valuable, expert insights to capture the attention of prospective buyers. It also complements the use of case stories, which can provide specific examples, and context, further demonstrating a firm’s capabilities (see Finding 4 below).
By consistently delivering high-quality content, firms can differentiate their brand in a competitive market and establish themselves as thought leaders. This is particularly crucial in the face of rising competition from new firms and the evolving landscape of AI. Content creation also provides tangible metrics for measuring marketing effectiveness, allowing firms to track website traffic, content downloads, and social media engagement. In short, content builds trust, generates leads, demonstrates expertise, and positions a firm as an industry leader.
Finding 3: High Growth Consulting Firms Generate Digital Leads
High Growth consulting companies generate a significant portion of leads digitally—and notably more than their peers in the No Growth category. They achieve about 40% of their leads online. Digital leads come from various sources, including website contact forms, content marketing, social media, webinars, and digital advertising.
This is a benchmark for digital lead generation, but we believe it could—and probably should—be higher. As you can see in detail in the full report, even High Growth firms haven’t achieved the highest levels of digital maturity with consistency. As that situation improves, we expect this number to increase.
Finding 4: Consulting Firms Use Detailed Case Stories in Their Marketing and Business Development
When we look at which techniques are used most often by the fastest growing consulting firms, developing and publishing case stories came in second—a finding unique to the consulting industry.
What does this tell us about how these companies appeal to their buyers? Case stories demonstrate past performance and showcase success in a relevant and compelling format. They build trust and resonate with potential clients. They provide tangible evidence of expertise. They also show the impact of services. By highlighting specific client challenges and successful outcomes, case stories provide a powerful way to demonstrate the value of a firm’s services.
How accessible are your firm’s case stories? Are they published on your website? Do you feature the stories in your other marketing materials? Have you tried delivering them in alternative formats, such as video?
Finding 5: High Growth Consulting Firms Outsource Specialized Marketing Tasks
Outsourcing specialized marketing skills is a strategy High Growth consulting businesses have used for many years. In this year’s report, we see that High Growth consulting firms outsource skills more often than their No Growth peers in nearly every category we measured.
Topping the list are web design, SEO, video production, and graphic design.
Outsourcing provides access to specialists, the latest tools, and cost-effective solutions. High-quality outsourced providers will prioritize transparency about their results, making it easier to measure your return on investment. Make sure you hire agencies or consultants that know your industry.
Finding 6: Measuring and Utilizing Marketing Metrics is a Mess
A new addition to this year’s research was a question asking companies to rate their proficiency in capturing and utilizing marketing and business development metrics. The data tells a clear story: This is a massive challenge for consulting organizations.
While the fastest growing companies did report a higher level of proficiency than Low Growth companies, the difference was marginal. Three quarters of Low Growth firms have low proficiency in using metrics, compared to 60% of High Growth firms. This finding highlights a huge weakness in both groups.
We asked those who reported low or some proficiency why they gave their rating. Common answers included time constraints, lack of dedicated personnel, budget limitations, outdated technology, and difficulties in connecting data across platforms.
No professional services marketer will tell you that tracking metrics is unimportant. But what’s clear from the data is that there is a lot of work to be done on this front.
Dive Deeper with the Full Report
These findings offer a glimpse into the strategies of the fastest growing consulting firms in 2025. The full 2025 High Growth Study: Consulting Services Edition provides a comprehensive analysis of the factors driving success in today’s market. It offers detailed insights, data-driven recommendations, and actionable strategies. This report is an invaluable resource for any consulting firm that wants to thrive in the face of change. Ready to dive deeper and unlock the secrets of high growth? Get the full report here.
