Times are tough for the economy. Even if your law firm hasn’t experienced a decline in business, you’ve undoubtedly heard about other businesses that are taking a hit.
Some law firms have laid off attorneys. Partners are taking pay cuts. Other firms want to merge in an attempt to save themselves. The depressed economy isn’t just affecting the large law firms; small firms and sole practitioners are also experiencing declining revenue as a result of the weakening economy. It’s not surprising that many firms are reexamining their budgets to decide where they can trim expenses if or when their own business takes a hit.
The marketing budget is one expense that many law firms will consider reducing or eliminating entirely in the time of cutbacks. But studies have shown that this is the wrong move. An economic decline actually offers new opportunities and advantages for firms that embrace smart marketing opportunities. Rather than cutting their marketing budget, proactive law firms will carefully consider their marketing activities, pursue a mix of solutions, track the results and redirect resources toward the marketing efforts that yield the best returns.
With careful thought and strategic investment in marketing and business development, law firms will see a payoff from their investment, both during the recession and after the economy picks up steam.
What Types of Marketing Efforts Should You Consider?
A recent LexisNexis/Harris Interactive Survey of Solo Practitioners and Small Law Firms asked respondents to rate the perceived value of various marketing tactics. The two most popular types of marketing were law firm Web sites (considered valuable by 89% of respondents) and legal directories (valued by 82% of respondents) (LexisNexis 2008).
When new clients search for a lawyer, most people will ask their family, friends and business colleagues for personal recommendations. But once people have the names of a few lawyers, they’re then going to attempt to validate that choice, and most will turn to the Internet to help them. Whether prospective clients find you through a legal directory or come directly to your Web site, both are valuable sources for attracting new clients, and they serve complementary purposes.
Web sites: Your Web site is a virtual representation of your firm, an online storefront of sorts. Surveys estimate that law firms spend about 19% of their marketing budget on their Web site (LexisNexis 2008). It’s a significant portion of your budget, so it’s important to make sure that your Web site is working for you.
Read: Social Media for Law Firms
Consider the following:
If your site is intended as a lead-generation source: Are you happy with the number of leads that your Web site is generating? If someone doesn’t know your firm’s name, are they likely to come across your Web site? If they type the name of your city and area of practice into Google or another search engine, does your Web site appear among the top listings? If not, you may need to apply search-engine optimization (SEO) techniques and/or paid search-engine listings to ensure maximum visibility for your firm, and to increase the leads that come through your Web site. Paying for placements on search-engine results is one of the quickest and most efficient ways to increase leads to your Web site. But buying keywords can be tricky. To maximize your ROI, consider working with a business partner who understands the nuances of SEO and pay-per-click listings.
If your site is intended as an information source for existing clients: A strong Web site will include content that is updated frequently, creating a reason for users to regularly visit the site. Because not every visitor wants to read an article—some might want to watch a video, others might want to listen to a podcast—you should make an effort to use different types of media that appeal to different types of visitors. Regularly updating your content with new articles, videos and podcasts that are interesting and informative—with a clear call to action—will keep your clients coming back to the site.
Create original content: Closely tied to your Web site efforts is the idea of creating custom content for newsletters, Web sites, blogs, email blasts and print publications. Sophisticated marketers know that you don’t sell your services just by telling a prospective client, “Hire me” (though it is important to have a strong call-to-action in your marketing message). Each time you can impress a prospective client with your knowledge and expertise, you’re giving that prospect another reason to hire you.
Creating original content costs very little money for attorneys that have the time. If your target customer is an individual or small business, you’ll want to write or speak in “plain English.” That means you should cut out the legalese, ditch the citations, and keep your message short and understandable. Using online technologies, you can then post content to your Web site, write a blog, post a podcast or video, create electronic newsletters, and send email briefings to your customer and prospect list.
Conclusion
As a small business owner, you should rightfully be concerned about how a potential recession will affect your legal practice and the legal needs of your clients.
Analyze your marketing efforts. Where is your law firm spending its money, what tangible results are you seeing from those investments, how well are you reaching prospective clients and how can you attract more business from new and existing clients?
When examining your budget, you must make thoughtful decisions about how and where you spend your money. This is the time to make strategic investments in marketing your law firm, with the understanding that these investments will help continue to generate revenue in the short-term and will help build your law firm’s market share into the future.