Lawyers usually forget the impact of marketing efforts. It is easy to think that once you have set up the shop, customers will pour in. However, in reality that is not the case. We all are aware of how online presence can help businesses but 35% of small firms that have websites have not updated them in the last three years!
Among solo practitioners, only 14% reported having a marketing budget. This is simply not enough given the dynamics of current businesses globally. Until and unless you don’t explain with your marketing efforts how much value you can bring in, they will not make the effort to test you out.
Traditionally lawyers and law firms have used the art of networking and referrals to generate more business. While they, obviously, would enable them to generate the majority of their business. A solid marketing effort would enable them to create a brand identity which would eventually lead them to have a solid presence.
Marketing in itself is quite tough and not many can master the skills of law and marketing together. This article would go on to explain how laws firms are currently handling their marketing and how they can get better.
Not spending their time on marketing
To bring in business, you have many variables in the equation. Amongst those variables, a variable with quite a high weight is marketing. Now the question arises, how much time should be devoted to marketing? The average daily work demand per lawyer was six hours in 2019. Does that really leave a lot of time to work on your marketing strategy? It’s time the law industry follows the practice of engaging marketing consultants of other industries and keep doing what they do best!
Failing to identify your ideal customers
A common mistake many organizations make while focusing on their marketing efforts is failing to identify their ideal customer profile. The time and energy lost due to the lack of focus on the ideal recipients can be exhausting and also demotivating. Hence, it is a good exercise to identify and do your market research, which enables you to find the right customer. One right customer can be an excellent advocate for future right customers.
Automated marketing efforts
How can you determine if your current campaign is working? Do you have the right tools in place to measure the effectiveness of your strategy and its implementation? Many law firms have not automated their efforts. Leading them to not know what is working and what is not. Having the right parameters and infrastructure in place and keeping track of metrics like open rates, click through rate on your email campaigns can help you understand what the consumers are interested in. There can be hundreds of metrics which can be in place!
No bite in the messaging
Lawyers present a menu of services as opposed to having a strategic thought behind their messaging. In today’s world, consumers have already made 70% of their buying decision before they contact you. The key to convince your customers, especially in such a highly specialized field is to have clear and crisp messaging. Following this can automatically incline the customer to throw in a query at your website as opposed to a competitor!
Dreadful user experience on websites
Your website is your global identity, you can have a fancy office and be the most hospitable lawyer in town but that is for a limited audience. Websites are the first impression of you to your client. Most law firms fail at it! As I mentioned earlier, more than 35% of law firms have not updated their website. Your website gives you the key to show you are an expert in your field. Law firms should look to make websites which are informative, engaging and highly readable.
Not using social media
Just having a website in the modern world is simply not enough. The presence in the modern social platforms and in directories associated with the law firms are equally important. After scanning through your website, the customers would want to get to know you better. This is where social media will kick in. Social media has changed the marketing world totally. Today, it is all about building relationships and communicating online. Your customers will judge you by your persona online and the more engaging and interactive it is, the more you are likely to receive queries!
The power of mobile
More and more people from first using newspapers to then using laptops to search are using a mobile phone now to run searches. All of your marketing efforts have to be compliant with mobile. Mobile computing and searches have far exceeded desktop for several years now. In fact, 70 percent of all online searches come from mobile devices, far outnumbering desktop and laptop. Of that, 31 percent of searches to law firm websites come from mobile search. That means that about half of all of your web traffic is coming to you from a smartphone or tablet user.
Marketing mistakes can derail even the sharpest law firm. A lawyer can’t exist without clients and clients can’t find you if they don’t know you are in practice. It is just a fact of the business world that effective marketing practises are necessary to let the world know you exist.
So if you’re looking to market your firm, contact us.
Comments are closed