Digital Marketing and IP (Benchmarking Study 2025) provides practical insight into how IP lawyers, IP firms, IP consultants, and other IP professionals currently approach digital marketing. The report looks at channel usage, perceived effectiveness, website performance, marketing capability, communication challenges, hardest-to-reach client segments, and the marketing services respondents plan to invest in next.
Key findings:
- LinkedIn is the dominant active channel, used by 85% of respondents, followed by IP events and conferences (73%) and the company website (65%).
- Positioning is the biggest communication pain point: 50% struggle most with communicating their unique value proposition, while 46% struggle with differentiation from competitors.
- The main execution barriers are operational: 54% cite limiting budget, 50% lack of time, and 46% difficulty targeting the right audience.
- Future investment intent is strongly foundations-first: 71% would invest in LinkedIn profile optimisation, 69% in creating engaging LinkedIn content, 65% in a marketing plan or strategy, and 63% in website optimisation.
- The website is often more of a credibility checkpoint than a conversion engine, with strong demand for better booking paths, testimonials, and lead-capture features.
- The central conclusion is clear: many IP professionals do not need more random marketing activity - they need clearer positioning, stronger messaging, and better conversion foundations.
The report shows that the core issue for many IP professionals is not simply visibility. It is clarity. In a category where services are technical, intangible, and often difficult for clients to evaluate upfront, stronger marketing performance depends on helping the market quickly understand who you are for, what makes you different, and why you are the right choice.
