Marketing a solo or small law firm is hard work. The competition
is steady. The potential clients are savvier than ever before.
Plus, you've got, like, real work to do.
It's true that the majority of solo and small firm lawyers find
distasteful anything that takes them away from substantive work,
for which they are billing. Of course, they also intuitively
understand that, without new clients, there will be no more new
billing. So, there's a real push and pull between effectively
gaining new clients, and efficiently serving the ones you've got.
The latter is absolutely essential, since referrals (the lifeblood
of successful law firms) often emanate from satisfied, existing or
former clients. Nevertheless, attorneys who begin to rely too
heavily on internal referrals, and ignore or neglect existing or
novel marketing channels, place themselves at risk, by reducing the
number of avenues through which they can acquire clients. Think of
the model as various pipelines feeding into a single source;
eliminating a pipeline reduces inflow. In this case, that inflow is
law firm revenue.
Modern law firm marketing can be frustrating. Internet marketing
feels more like you're dumping content into a vortex, without a
graspable notion of the effect it has. Sometimes, it can feel like
you're doing the same thing everybody else is trying to do - just
less well. Things become routine; your marketing becomes boring -
even to you.
If you're thinking along those lines, here are three ways to
shake things up:
Post It Notes. Businesses used to send mail
correspondence all of the time. Now, that method of advertising has
slowed considerably, as more marketing dollars and effort are
filtered to online campaigns. Nevertheless, people do still look at
their mail. So, if you've been considering a paper mailing, it's
not as crazy as it sounds. There is a strategy to apply, though: Go
for odd or unusual mailer shapes. Remember that getting the mail is
still a largely tactile experience. Your recipients are going to
feel what they have in their hands, before they do anything else.
Odd-shaped mailers are more noticeable, and will increase view and
open rates. Sound familiar?
Boost Mobile. Social media remains extremely
popular, especially now that grandparents are posting and sharing
photos of their grandkids. Add the massive use of social media
services to the staggering adoption of smartphones (even 90 percent
of late-adopting lawyers are using them), and the result of that
equation becomes clear: People are using smartphone apps to access
social media services. And, statistics bear out that in-app search
is increasing. So, if your potential clients are using Facebook's
app on their smartphones more than anywhere else, it makes sense to
expend advertising dollars and time in that space. As an
experiment, 'boost' a Facebook post, which will expand the number
of users who see it; it's cheap, and it may be highly
effective.
The Tube. For men and women of a certain age,
"the tube" still means television - even if YouTube is the second
most popular search engine, after Google. (. . . which owns
YouTube; but, I digress . . .) Video advertising is compelling, and
suits modern attention spans better than traditional, text-based
advertising. If your law firm is not using video advertising, this
may be a good time to try it. Put a short, introductory video on
your website. Create and manage a YouTube channel. Try YouTube
advertising; you can control your budget, set target options and
access analytics.
If your law firm marketing is feeling a little stale, hit the
refresh button.