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Law firm advertising does have a place in
some law firm marketing for many attorneys - when exercised with caution.
I do not recommend law firm advertising,
at least for most attorneys, until other "guerrilla marketing"
strategies are in place. (Did I tell you I am a Certified Guerrilla
Marketing Coach?)
Examples of guerrilla marketing
strategies are relationship-based approaches designed to build a referral
source network, as well as educational or "word of mouth"
strategies.
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There are
plenty of smooth talking advertising salespersons so do be careful.
What Works?
Simply stated, one of the best ways to
know if a given law firm advertising strategy works or not is to ask
around. Inquire among other lawyers in your practice area.
For instance, check with another lawyer
in the section of the bar in your practice area. Ask another member of a
national practice area professional organization, like the Association Of
Trial Lawyers of America (ATLA) that you may hold a membership in.
Watch to see
which attorneys are advertising in your community, and in what ways. If
someone in your practice area has been doing some lawyer advertising for
several years in the same medium or vehicle, you would think it's because
it is working… or that lawyer is just not paying attention. You might
consider that same medium or vehicle as well.
The Media
We will look at the hard facts of all law
firm advertising media. I will give you straight facts about law
marketing in the yellow pages. You'll find out if your firm fits the
profile for attorney
advertising with TV or radio ads.
You might be surprised about the return
on investment (ROI) you get with lawyer
advertising by direct mail, newspaper ads, magazine ads, and billboard ads.
I will give
you an exclusive look inside the real truths about law
firm Internet marketing – an amazing medium that is underrated and
often poorly used.
The Audience
It isn't enough to talk about advertising
media. I'll show you why you should target specific audiences that
will pay big dividends, such as Latino
law firm marketing.
You will learn which law firm advertising
strategy is better than another, for your legal practice.
What degree of client growth and
development do you want for your law firm? Is it where you'd like it
to be?
Sign up for my free 7-week email
course on
Client Development. I'll show you how to dynamically grow and
develop good clients that will make your firm prosper, without increasing
marketing expenses while you reduce your work hours.
Stay the Course
with
Your Law Firm Marketing Strategy!
Before you do advertise, be sure you
don't make the classic mistake of not being in a medium long enough to get
the desired results in law firm advertising. No attorney advertising works
right away.
Here are some interesting figures:
If you start
a law firm advertising campaign, a sure way to lose all or much of your
investment is to pull the ad too soon. Even brilliant attorney advertising
does not produce results instantly. You have to stay the course.
What is the Cost
of Law Firm Advertising?
Often lawyers wonder how much one should
spend on law firm advertising.
The elegant answer is "It
depends" so I hate to make generalizations. Again, I probably would
not spend anything on ads until I had put in place other guerrilla
actions. You may not need any law firm advertising once these are in
place.
That said, the quick and dirty answer
is, you should spend from 5% to 15% of your projected revenue.
Thus if you project doing $100,000 in
revenues you should spend from $5,000 to $15,000 in law firm advertising.
Medium to large firms might look at 2% of revenues as reasonable.
No matter
what you spend, be sure you are tracking results. Lawyer advertising that
does not produce results (prospects, clients or referral sources) is
expensive attorney advertising.
Look for Return on
Investment
Base your thinking on the return on
investment (ROI) of the ad, not the cost of an ad. You need to
think about the risk/reward ratio.
You do not
want to take "stupid" risks for sure, however, you do want to take
reasonable risks when placing lawyer advertising.
This reminds me of another quote:
"Business,
more than any other occupation, is a continual dealing with the
future; it is a continual calculation, an instinctive exercise in
foresight."
-- Henry R. Luce
Read on to find out more on law
marketing media such as yellow pages, TV, Radio, and Internet
marketing strategy.
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by Jay
Conrad Levinson
