In today’s market, operating a law firm is rewarding and, at the same time, punishing. Aside from staying infallible and error-free, you have to deal with increasingly demanding clients. You will find that all the things you learned in law school did not fully prepare you for the big bad world.
A lot of my clients are attorneys and law firms, and without fail, the biggest hurdle many attorneys face is constantly finding new clients, especially when there is a downturn in the economy. While some law practices have no trouble attracting clients, they are isolated incidents.
Law firm marketing is a complex and multifaceted discipline. As a lawyer, you’ve been to school and spent many years learning and refining your legal practice. The time you’ve spent learning marketing likely pales in comparison, so it shouldn’t be any shock if you find marketing to be both daunting and stressful.
Tips on marketing your law firm or legal practice can be obtained from many websites, although most of them aren’t really any good. I would, however, like to save you from the major mistakes that lawyers unwittingly – or even wittingly – make. These are mistakes that I constantly see from even well-established firms that have been marketing for years.
Having a Very Broad Market and Target Market : This is possibly the biggest mistake a law firm could make in marketing itself: spreading itself too thin when it comes to practice area and client type. To illustrate the problem with this type of marketing, imagine that you’re someone who needs a lawyer to handle a landlord-tenant issue. He hears about this law firm that pretty much does everything – from tax laws, intellectual property rights, injury law, to landlord-tenant issues. Then he hears about this other firm who specialize solely on landlord-tenant matters. It is highly likely that the prospective client will approach the law firm who concentrates on landlord-tenant matters, since they are experts on the issue that he specifically needs help on. Your law firm’s marketing strategy should recognize this client consideration.
Conflicting marketing types: There are many types of marketing that lawyers can choose from. Television, print ads, online advertising, law firm search engine optimization, billboards, and many other types of marketing all have loads of potential. However, if you being by trying all of them, then you’re going to fail at all of them. All modes of marketing require time and energy before they can reach their full potential and be completely successful. It would be both most effective and efficient to pick the one that works best for you and stick with it. Focus on one medium at a time.
Not Overseeing a Marketing Firm or Consultant : There are a lot of great consultants and firms out there who will provide you with awesome marketing services. I consider myself one of them. There are also many consultancy firms whose marketing services leave a lot to be desired. Reviews and feedback is valued highly, and even sought, by all firms – the good ones, included. They need to communicate with you to figure out how things are going and whether what they’re doing is working for you or if you want to change directions. Periodic checks with long intervals won’t do; they should be regular to ensure that everything is in place.
Marketing a law firm can swing both ways: it can be greatly beneficial to you, or it could make you bleed cash. To avoid the latter, do it right.