Top 4 Tips for Making Legal Marketing Work

Just like any other company, law firms are susceptible to the dynamics and mechanisms of the market – and consequently can greatly benefit from a right dose of marketing. The specific character of the legal business makes it hard or even impossible to employ regular marketing tactics and strategies – it's quite possible that they won't achieve their business goal or might even hurt the image of the company. Here are top 4 tips for marketers who want to help legal business grow and prosper.

1. Understand who your customers are

Turn on the T.V. and take notice of the first few commercials that come on. Are they advertising the same thing? Do they have the same feel? Television advertising is expensive and a lot goes on before an ad goes live (I know that it may not seem like it at times). One of the key things that premise any advertising campaign universally is a canvass and evaluation of the demographic of your customers. Depending on the service that is offered, clients tend to relate to different things.

Firms who employ the services of environmental lawyers will inevitably want to go with a firm that projects a positive image and this will ultimately translate to the way the particular company will approach a marketing campaign.

2. Collect Data

When a company begins to market their services, it is easy to get carried away by the glitz and glam of the industry and process. Marketing is complicated and it is important to understand and monitor the various outcomes of a particular ad campaign. Some outcomes might be an increase in leads, an increase in web traffic, or it may even be an exercise of building the brand.

Regardless of what the goal is, it is crucial that a goal is identified and that measures are put in place for a meaningful evaluation of the return on investment.

3. Understanding your firm

Legal service providers tend not to be the most exciting companies, they do not need to be. Within the legal market, there are many niches based on specialisations and on the way the company operates. Most successful ad campaigns will have a clear and consistent brand underlying what the ad is designed to achieve. A strong brand allows the firm to differentiate itself from its competitors. So while it is not so important to capture your audience’s attention through revolutionary or shocking presentations and content, it is important to keep in mind that legal marketing does not need to be dry and unapproachable.

4. Don’t underestimate the power of referral services

Referral services can be a great source of leads. Individuals going through a referral service or a directory (both online and in print) are a very specific subset of the general population. They are those who know that they require legal assistance presently. As such, it is sometimes less so about wowing these high conversion potential clients with marketing contrivances and more about being able to provide what it is they need in a clear and concise manner. This is especially true for the legal sector where the sector is not trying to reinvent itself on a daily basis.