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| Law Firm Marketing: Success
is in the Details There is
a common misconception in a large segment of the legal profession
that marketing equates to advertising and spending a lot of money.
That couldn’t be more wrong. Marketing in law firms is all about sweating
the details. The details cost you a little extra time and attention,
but can deliver big dividends to your firm down the road. It is the
best way to differentiate your firm from others. Most important for every
law firm are your relationships with clients. It’s the trust your
clients develop in you, your knowledge of their business and industry,
your responsiveness, anticipation of client needs, and, of course,
the results you deliver. Virtually every activity
touches on marketing. Your firm’s success in marketing and business
development depends on many factors. While the following checklist
is not exhaustive, it is a good gauge of major factors that impact
marketing results. How does your firm measure up in these ten key
areas? Are your lawyers focused
on developing long-lasting relationships with clients? Are your clients
happy with your responsiveness and results? Keep in mind that while
you are trying to secure new clients for your firm, your competitors
are actively trying to get work from your existing clients. Do your lawyers contact
clients just to check in on how they are doing and inquire about their
business? They should visit client offices and demonstrate genuine
interest in their business. Do they read the clients’ industry publications
to keep current with the challenges clients face? Do they know their
clients’ hobbies and special interests and invite them on outings
(sporting events, theatre productions, concerts, etc.)? Have you asked your
clients about your own progress? Repeat clients should be interviewed
after each engagement. One-time clients should also be interviewed
to gauge their level of satisfaction. After all, if they had a wonderful
experience working with you, they may refer additional business your
way. If they had an unpleasant experience, it is likely that they
will tell ten of their colleagues why they should not use your firm!
It is important that you understand any shortcomings so you can correct
them as soon as possible. Do your lawyers and
management treat your staff as valued partners?
Your employees spend eight or more hours of their daily lives
helping you succeed. This is
their career. Are your employees
happy working in your firm?
Are your employees delivering great service to your clients?
Happy, contented staff members will return dividends by the
truckload by projecting positive attitudes and suggesting ways to
improve service and reduce unnecessary costs.
Profitability in a firm is not entirely the result of the lawyers. How do you demonstrate
respect for your employees’ positions? One easy and inexpensive idea is to ask employees
if they want business cards soon after they are hired. It is a small investment on your part that will
allow employees to professionally promote the firm and demonstrate
your respect for their contribution to the success of the firm. Do your clients receive
the same personal attention and high level of service regardless of
which attorneys and staff provide service? If not, it is time to have a discussion with
your lawyers and staff to establish service standards. Clients need
to have a clear understanding of what to expect when they work with
your firm — strive to exceed those expectations! Differentiating your
firm from your competitors in superior service is critical in making
your firm stand out in the eyes of current and future clients. Further customize your
service standards to specific clients by asking your clients for their
preferred method of communication (email, fax, letter, telephone),
how they would like their invoices presented (what information to
include), etc. Understand their objectives
for the work you are doing, their desired result, and then work to
surpass their expectations. The Internet is your
firm’s window to the world. Your
website is your vehicle to convey a professional image to current
and potential clients. Review
your website from a client’s perspective.
Do you have content your clients would be interested in?
Is the content easy to find and free of legalese? Do you have appropriate disclaimers for your
attorney licensures and geographic locations? Update your website
regularly to keep the content fresh and give your clients and others
reasons to come back and visit often. Better they find information
of interest to them on your website than on your competitors’. Does your URL make sense
to others? Your website address should be intuitive and simple. For example, www.briggs.com. Does everyone in your
firm understand the firm’s goals for the next five years and what
must be done to succeed? The plan serves as a roadmap that defines
goals and measurable objectives which your firm then communicates
to all personnel to strive to attain. Planning is important for your
firm, practice groups, as well as individual lawyers. Firm Plan — Critical
to Every Firm. Regardless of the size or practice concentration
of your firm, the firm-level plan identifies the goals and objectives
that set the course for the future.
It is from this plan that detailed objectives for practice
groups emerge. The firm plan anticipates the future needs of your
clients, and positions the firm to be on the leading edge of new services
and opportunities that arise. It will also define specific areas to
develop that will allow you to continue to build your firm in an atmosphere
of respect and professionalism Practice Groups and
Individual Plans. Group and
individual attorney plans are designed to achieve your firm’s overall
goals. They are developed to relate specifically to an industry or
practice and include objectives to support your firm’s plan.
Individual plans are tailored to a specific lawyer’s long-term
practice/career goals and support the practice group plans. Does your brand convey
your firm’s desired image and message? Every firm has a brand, intentional
or not. It is your firm’s image,
reputation and style. Visually, it is your font/logo, the colors you
choose to convey who you are, and your tagline — those few brief words
that describe your firm. Consistency is important.
All communication materials should have the same look and feel. Clients
will become accustomed to your look and it will quickly become recognizable
to them whenever they see it, whether it be on your communication
materials, in advertisements, or listings in trade or community publications. Be sure that your website
URL is on everything that your firm uses to communicate: letterhead,
invoices, business cards, brochures, and promotional items. Are attorney profiles
rich in content that have relevance to clients?
Discuss how clients benefit from using this specific lawyer
as opposed to just listing his or her experience and credentials Are the profiles tailored
to your practice? Remember, there is nothing wrong with having a profile
that discusses your full practice, as well as individual profiles
that focus on areas of concentration Be familiar with the
Rules of Conduct that apply to you, based upon your licensure. For
example, many states require that lawyers be certified as area specialists
in order to use the term in describing their practices. Don’t refer
to yourself as a real estate specialist unless you are certified in
that area. Do you have one current
master list of every lawyer’s contacts — clients, potential clients,
referral sources, industry contacts, and former attorneys — that is shared by appropriate support staff? If an address changes, it is important that
everyone has access to the updated information. It is incredibly embarrassing
for a firm to send correspondence to an incorrect address when a client
has previously notified someone in the firm of their address change.
Worse yet is when a client contact dies, the lawyer knows it, but
the database is not changed. The firm could send correspondence to
a deceased client contact because the contact was still active on
the firm’s mailing list. Is the information shared
by all lawyers? A shared list, or database, will allow you to track
existing relationships. Lawyers
can then see who other attorneys know, which can help in the firm’s
marketing efforts. Personal relationships are key
to marketing. If another lawyer in the firm has a relationship with
a potential client, you can work with that lawyer to strategize about
a possible presentation on the services you would like to provide. Are you tracking important
information on the contacts? Doing so will provide great benefits
for the firm’s marketing efforts in identifying future service opportunities.
There are three basic areas of information that you can easily track
on all of your contacts: the person’s occupation, the industry they
work in, and their status (client, potential client, referral source,
trade association colleague, etc.). Tracking personal information
on the contact can also prove most useful. Hobbies and favorite sports
are a useful tool to reference for future client entertainment opportunities. Where does your business
originate? Focus on organizations with members who have potential
to refer you business. Review the professional
and trade organizations where the firm and individual attorneys are
active members. Are there additional areas where the firm should be
represented? Who in the firm would best fill that role, and has the
time and interest to do so? Compile a list of community
activities of the firm and individual attorneys, as well as any financial
support the firm may provide. Are there additional community organizations
where the firm should be represented? Are there attorneys in the firm
with a strong interest in becoming involved in a new area? What pro bono efforts
did the firm and individual lawyers undertake in the last year on
behalf of legal assistance groups or other nonprofit organizations?
Should those efforts be stepped up?
In what areas?
Who will lead the effort? Clients expect that
your firm will do great legal work. Finding ways to continually improve
your relationships with clients and the service you deliver will differentiate
your firm from others and serve your firm well in the future. Firms
that are complacent will see their profits and client base erode as
competitors slowly chip away at seemingly loyal clients. Successful law firms
— those that continue to improve year after year — focus on people,
service and communication. Deliver exceptional service to your clients
and treat each one as if they were your only client. Focusing on these ten
key points doesn’t require a big investment, just executing on the
details. ©Erickson Marketing, Inc., 2006 DONNA ERICKSON is the president of Erickson Marketing, Inc., a marketing consulting firm working exclusively with law firms. She has more than 17 years of hands-on experience developing and implementing marketing initiatives in law firms and for ten years served as the director of business development and marketing for Briggs and Morgan, P.A. She can be reached at (612) 669-5548 or Donna@EricksonMarketingInc.com. |
