Creating an effective marketing strategy for your law firm is crucial. In today’s legal market, the competition can be fierce, leaving both attorneys and law firms seeking the most effective ways to market their practices. Legal marketing can be hard to quantify and difficult to approach if you do not have an effective marketing campaign strategy in place prior to implementation. Many attorneys understandably do not have the time or the skill sets to introduce a legal marketing strategy into their law firm business. However, there are cost effective and time effective things each law firm can do to increase their client base and create more firm awareness.
First and foremost, attorneys and law firms must accept the fact that you cannot expect a substantial return if you are not investing. The saying “you get out of it what you put into it” truly reiterates the mentality attorneys should have when it comes to marketing. This does not necessarily pertain solely to financial resources, but holistically, regarding time and effort as well. In order to effectively partake in marketing your law firm, you need to invest in resources. If you are serious about gaining new clients, creating valuable relationships and developing a presence and reputation within your community, you need to first understand that you must invest, then you can focus on beneficial how-to’s and quantifiers.
Oftentimes, law firms will randomly choose different platforms or marketing efforts to invest in, however they don’t appreciate the value of a quantifiable return on investment. In order to know where your money is most effectively spent, you must be able to quantify what each effort is or is not providing you in terms of return. Whether you want to install a Live Chat system, create paid ad campaigns, develop a social media presence, or send flyers in the mail, if you can’t measure it, chances are you shouldn’t be doing it. Some marketing campaigns are not easily quantifiable and are simply used to build brand awareness. These efforts are not completely wasted however as they build recognition of your law firm. The more you can measure and quantify your efforts, the more accurately you can gauge how successfully you are spending your resources and which marketing strategies are helping you achieve your goals.
An incredibly powerful and effective marketing tool for your law firm is to simply let your clients market for you. This technique shouldn’t necessarily be thought of as a marketing strategy, but rather a way of running a credible practice and providing valuable service. Every satisfied client that leaves your office has the potential to be a marketing resource to you. If you provide quality service and develop a relationship with your clients, they are more likely to refer you to a friend, co-worker or family member of theirs who may be seeking representation. Many attorneys get lost in billable hours and churning clients through a revolving door and lose site of the services they are providing and the reputation they are creating. Marketing through your current clients through word of mouth is rather low hanging fruit when it comes to marketing your law firm and offers huge potential to create new clients.
Whether your firm wishes to invest in radio ads or there is a new association you wish to network with, tracking your efforts is key. Every day, attorneys track numerous billable hours, tracking your legal marketing hours and efforts should be no different. Tracking does not always come in the form of numbers, but should be based on success. Some marketing strategies are simply about numbers and success is measured by whether or not you are getting more return than you are investing. However, if you take joining an association for example, track who you would like to connect with, relationships you would like to cultivate, whether or not you were successful, and whether or not you ultimately created new business.
