Marketing Your Law Firm

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Marketing Your Firm

THE IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING YOUR LAW FIRM

By Tom Henell, Chief Marketing Officer - NAPLIA

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Advertising and marketing are terms that are not commonly utilized in the legal industry. Those firms that do advertise typically specialize in niche practices, such as personal injury or family law. And, “marketing plans” would generally be considered more the necessity of product-based industries.

However, according to Webster’s, “marketing” is defined as, “the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service”. And, whether you know it or not, you do this everyday, and it is a process that is too important to ignore. The perpetuation of your firm may be dependent on a solid marketing plan that involves a proactive approach to maintaining your existing clients while prospecting for new ones.

In 1977, The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Bates v. State Bar of Arizona that the First Amendment protected lawyer’s right to advertise their services. This decision not only upheld a lawyer’s right to advertise, but Justice Blackmun further elaborated that lawyer advertising was both permissible and desirable because it provided a way for lawyers to provide information to potential clients and may offer great benefits.

The Massachusetts Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 7.1, supports the Supreme Court decision and provides reasonable guidelines for maintaining the integrity of legal advertising. There is a fairly clear distinction made between communicating legitimate information concerning a firm and their practice, and the act of solicitation, which is not permitted. It is important to review these rules of conduct, consult an experienced ethics attorney, and engage a marketing agency that is familiar with lawyers marketing ethics.

Importance of marketing

In today’s business environment, competition among law firms for new business can be fierce. In addition, tough economic times cause consumers to reflect more seriously on financial decisions and examine their options more carefully than at any other economic time. It is essential for firms to review ways to connect deeper with their existing clients and explore the mediums available to prospect for new clients.

The upside potential of marketing far exceeds the downside risk. Studies confirm that sales and profits increase when marketing is maintained, even during a recession or business slowdown. In fact, companies that have continued to market during past recessions continued to outgrow their competitors exponentially after that time period. When marketing is cut back or ignored, for any reason, the result is almost always diminished awareness, few sales, and a smaller share of market. Studies consistently have proven that companies that have the intelligence and guts to address their overall marketing efforts will get the edge on their timid competitors.

Creating a marketing strategy

The challenge, at any time, is to develop a smart marketing plan that delivers true results. As mentioned, marketing is an element of your business that you cannot afford to avoid. It is not acceptable to say that you don’t have time to market. What you need to do is redefine marketing and understand that it is essential to communicate your services to existing and potential clients. Marketing does not refer solely to advertising. Many law firms believe that their marketing plan consists of advertising in the yellow pages, or local newspaper. Advertising can be an important element of your marketing plan, but the greater view of marketing refers to setting the tone of your brand; creating your image. It refers directly to everything from your business card, to your website, to networking with your racquetball partner. There are a number of books that are available to assist you in understanding marketing. If you do not have time to become an expert on marketing, hire one. The investment will pay for itself and allow you to concentrate on your practice.

In a service industry, like the legal industry, the emphasis and real value of your business is commonly the customer relationship. Developing a successful customer relationship can spawn a lifetime of committed buying. And, to do so does not require vast advertising budgets. Phil Kotler stated in Marketing Management, “marketing innovation is gained by creating customer satisfaction through product innovation, product quality, and customer service. If these are absent, no amount of advertising, sales promotion, or salesmanship can compensate.”

Therefore, it is essential to understand your customers and their decision process. Most decision processes follow a standard pattern. This pattern begins with awareness. If a client or prospect does not know that your firm exists, or that you provide a particular service, you’re not even in the game. Awareness is followed by evaluation, which leads to perception and decision. The most effective marketing plans understand this pattern and will incorporate elements that increase touch points along each.

One of the most important assets to your marketing plan is your existing clientele. These are individuals who have experienced the quality of your service and too which you have already established a bond of trust. The key is to expand this bond to develop a strong visceral tie. Many firms overlook their existing clients as ways to increase their revenue. There are numerous statistics that confirm the exponential cost savings of maintaining and increasing revenue from existing clients over acquiring new clients. So, although 80% of a firm’s revenue may come from existing clients vs. 20% from new clients, they may contribute only 20% of their marketing efforts to existing clients and 80% towards acquiring new clients. When you look at the numbers it is difficult to justify such logic.

Websites, newsletters, and articles are very cost-effective ways to expand your existing relationships with your customers. Develop a strategy that allows you to increase your touch points with your customer and actually increases the value that you provide them. Tim Sanders in his best-selling book, Love is the Killer App, emphasizes that by expanding your own knowledge, and unselfishly sharing this knowledge with your network will provide you a ten-fold return on the investment of your time. Providing your clients, and colleagues, with value-added information further strengthens your intimate connection with them, and will ultimately provide you a profitable return.

This is not to say that acquiring new prospects and clients should not also be an essential piece of your marketing plan. When looking at a new business acquisition campaign, you need to understand who your target audience is and think in terms of providing the right message, to the right people, at the right time. Think in terms of strategic strikes as opposed to mass advertising. Then deliver clear concise messages with the information this audience wants to see.

Marketing your law firm on the Internet

For many years, I was responsible for the interactive division of a large international media agency. In this role, I worked directly with leading companies to develop their Internet marketing strategies. I observed that most companies viewed the Internet as an advertising vehicle, or solely as a sales channel. What they failed to take advantage of was, the Internet is indisputably the most effective information channel to come along. By effectively utilizing your website as an information source, you are utilizing the most cost-effective way to deliver information and interact with your clients. The key is to think from your client’s standpoint and understand why individuals would access your site and what information they would be looking for.

The Internet provides unique ways to interact with your clients that other media cannot. First of all, it offers interactivity. Visitors can choose which information they desire to review, can contact you via email, and may register for your firm’s newsletter allowing you to create a database of prospects. And, this is all done in a non-invasive manner as the visitor is choosing which information to review. Search engines and online directories can place you in front of qualified consumers specifically at the time they are engaged in their awareness and evaluation period. Directing these prospects to a professional quality website and delivering the information these prospects are looking for, will increase the number of prospects you convert to actual clients. When someone does a search for a lawyer online there are only two possible outcomes; they are going to find your firm, or they are going to find another firm.

Your website can provide the depth and breadth of information that other mediums cannot match. Do not overlook this cost-effective marketing tool.

Conclusion

The saying goes, “if you are going to do something, do it right”. You are marketing your firm, whether intentionally or not, and it is important that you project the image and messages that reflect the same quality of your service. By being bold in your marketing efforts you invoke the progression of economic value. That simply stated means, a differentiated position demands premium pricing where and undifferentiated position can at most only sustain market pricing.

Take control of your marketing efforts and develop a specific strategy. If you don’t have time to manage the process, outsource this function. A qualified agency can develop marketing solutions that work for you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. These solutions work educating potential consumers even when you are too busy to think about sales and find new business. If you pay attention to your marketing efforts your return on investment will justify the effort. A good marketing plan is certainly a long-term strategy for success.