5 Reasons Law Firm Marketing Matters More Than Ever

Most law firms don’t treat marketing very seriously. Either they try to do it in-house, or they don’t do any marketing at all. Would you ever advise your clients to practice law? Take on their own cases? No, of course not. It’s a valid profession. Well, marketing is the same thing – it’s a valid profession that deserves to be understood. If you don’t know how to do it yourself, hire someone else to do it for you.

You Lack A Business Background

You hire a marketing agency because you don’t have a background in business. Marketing agencies live and breathe business. They know how to position them for maximum effectiveness. In law, there’s an air of aloofness – an idea that you have to appear ultra-professional.

And, while you should maintain professional standards, this doesn’t mean you need to be stiff and cold. You have to be personable, and marketing agencies are experts at this. They’re also good at leadership, which you may not be. After all, you were not trained to be a leader or business owner. You were trained to be a lawyer.

Your Specialty Is Law, Not Marketing

Your specialty is law, not marketing. The unfortunate mistake that a lot of law firms make is that, while they recognize their own specialty, they fail to recognize others’. This is a mistake you do not want to learn from the hard way.

Take these Vancouver car accident lawyers, for example. They do an exceptional job with their marketing. They have a professionally-designed website, make use of social media (linking out to social networking sites that are maintained by a dedicated professional marketing department), and they also put their phone number right up there at the top.

Why is this important? Well, the phone number thing is something that a lot of lawyers don’t do well. And, even when they do, they don’t always create the best user experience after the fact (e.g. they don’t return phone calls).

Yet, this company effectively uses SEO to create a good user experience all-around. One other thing to note is the placement of the search bar. It’s very easy to locate and use. According to usability expert Jakob Nielsen, you should put your search bar in a very prominent place – easy for the user to find.

These are the types of things you want to do with your website.

You’re Naturally Defensive, And Good Marketing Is Offensive

You’re naturally defensive, as a lawyer. You’re always looking out for what could possibly go wrong. That’s what makes you such a great lawyer. It’s also what makes you a terrible marketer.  Marketing agencies must be offensive by nature. They are tasked with going out into the marketplace and culling up leads. You may not like that word – leads – but don’t get too hung up on the words.

Clients are hungry for expertise, there’s a saturated market full of high-priced lawyers, and what you really need to be concerned about is efficacy and efficiency, not semantics.

You Need To Budget For Marketing – It’s A Real Expense

Marketing, just like your water bill, electric bill, and rent, is a real expense. It deserves a solid and permanent place in your budget, and for the same reasons – you can’t operate a firm without any of these things.

You Need To Make Marketers Familiar With Your Industry and How It Operates

Ideally, you will work with marketers that already understand your industry. On the off chance that you’re working with a more general agency, you will want to get them up to speed about your firm in particular and your industry, specifically.

Even if you’re working with an agency that’s familiar with your industry, you’ll want to educate them about your firm, your specialties, and what you have to offer to the marketplace. Besides, any good agency will ask you if you don’t tell them.

Leonard Bryer started a small business from the ground up, and is now able to semi-retire. When he’s not out bird watching, he’s sharing what he has learned with others by posting online. His articles appear on many of today’s top websites and blogs.

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