NAICS code for marketing, digital marketing and marketing consulting

This page is for marketing agencies, consultants and freelancers choosing a code for SAM.gov, a state vendor registration, a bank or insurance form or a tax return, and for sellers building a list of agencies. An in-house marketing team doesn't get its own code: it takes the code of the company it works for.

The NAICS codes for marketing work

How to choose between them

Ask what the client pays you for. If it's a plan, a recommendation or a strategy they carry out, it's consulting (541613). If it's a campaign you produce and run in media, it's an agency (541810), whether the media is a newspaper or a paid social platform. If it's code, a website or custom SEO, the Census Bureau puts it in programming (541511).

"Digital marketing" has no code of its own, so split it by the work. A digital agency whose revenue is mostly managing paid campaigns is 541810; one that mostly sells strategy is 541613; one that mostly sells SEO and websites is 541511. Social media management and content marketing aren't in the Census index; we'd code them by the same test. Use the activity that earns the most as the primary code and list the others where a form allows several. SAM.gov does, and federal buyers set one code per contract, so the extra codes decide which solicitations you see.

SIC codes for marketing

There is no single SIC code for marketing. The one most forms want is 8742, Management Consulting Services, for marketing consultants, or 7311, Advertising Agencies, for agencies. From the Census concordance:

SIC 8742 is the trap: a list built on it is mostly general management consultants (541611 alone has 104,494 establishments) with HR consultants and executive recruiters mixed in. Use the NAICS to SIC converter for other codes.

How many marketing businesses there are

County Business Patterns (CBP) 2023, establishments with paid employees:

Marketing consultancies are mostly very small: about six employees per location on average, against about 13 at advertising agencies, and agency payroll works out at about $107,000 per employee against $83,000 (our calculations from the table). The top states for marketing consulting are California (9,390), Florida (6,745), Texas (3,719), New York (3,447) and Georgia (1,956). For advertising agencies they're California (2,462), New York (1,610), Florida (1,367), Texas (1,264) and Illinois (655), though New York's agencies employ more people (45,266) than California's (32,122).

CBP counts locations with paid staff, so solo consultants and freelancers aren't in these numbers. CBP 2023 uses NAICS 2017; none of these codes changed in 2022.

SBA size standards

From the SBA's Table of Size Standards, effective March 17, 2023 (13 CFR 121.201 on the eCFR shows no later change), in average annual receipts:

A footnote changes the arithmetic for agencies: for 541810, revenue is measured excluding "funds received in trust for an unaffiliated third party," with commissions counted as revenue. An agency that passes large media budgets through to publishers can be small under 541810 at a gross billing level that would otherwise be far over the line.

Where the code is used

• Federal and state contracts. Marketing work is often bought under 541613 or 541810. Register both if you do both, because the contracting officer's code decides your size status for that contract, and any interested party can appeal a solicitation's code to the SBA's Office of Hearings and Appeals within 10 days.
• Tax returns. The IRS list is coarser than NAICS: 541600 covers all management, scientific and technical consulting, 541800 covers advertising, public relations and related services, 541910 market research, and 541510 computer systems design. A marketing consultant's Schedule C uses 541600, not 541613.
• Insurance. Professional liability for strategy advice and for running ad spend are different risks, so describe the work that earns the most.

Finding marketing companies by code

On EDGAR, agencies file under SIC 7311 and 7310, and direct mail under 7331. 7310 is mostly ad platforms and marketplaces such as Angi and Thryv rather than agencies, and 8742 is led by management consultants such as Booz Allen Hamilton, so check each company's business description.

Public holding companies are a small slice; almost all of the 52,258 consultancies and 15,512 agencies in CBP are private. The list of marketing agencies covers where to find them (association directories, award entries, client case studies). A Bebop search can describe the agencies you want, such as "B2B paid media agencies with 10 to 50 staff in Chicago", and return the firms and decision makers with the reason each fits.

Worked example: coding a digital agency

Illustrative example. The agency and figures are invented.

Northbeam Creative (northbeam.example) earned $900,000 in fees last year: $450,000 for building and running paid search and social campaigns, $350,000 for strategy retainers and $100,000 for SEO. It also passed $1.5 million of client media spend through to the platforms.

1. Primary code. Campaign work is the largest fee line (50%), so the primary code is 541810.
2. Extra codes. It adds 541613 for strategy and 541511 for SEO in SAM.gov.
3. Size. If the media money is held for clients and passed to the platforms, the SBA measures 541810 revenue without it: $900,000 a year, far under $25.5 million. Even as a 541613 bidder, where no such footnote applies, it's well under $19.0 million.
4. Tax return. Its Schedule C or corporate return uses the IRS code 541800, Advertising, public relations and related services.

Next step: if you sell to agencies rather than run one, read lead generation for marketing agencies for how agencies buy and how to reach them.