How to Stand Out from the Crowd

'Firms should start with the marketing strategies that have the potential to give the highest return on investment, that are the least expensive, easy to measure, give them great marketing penetration and that they have some knowledge in implementing,' says Nader Anise of Boca Raton, FL-based legal marketing consultancy Nader Anise Lawyer Marketing. These strategies include focusing on a niche, enhancing visibility, leveraging your online presence, cultivating a referral network, being patient and measuring the return.

To maximize a marketing budget, concentration is key. Along those lines, identifying her niche was so important to Kathleen Hopkins that she and the co-founders of Seattle-based Real Property Law Group decided against using any individual names when establishing the firm 5 years ago. Instead, they opted for a firm designation that described their practice. 'We market who we are by our firm name,' she says of the five lawyers at the firm ' adding that ethics rules in Washington prohibit lawyers from describing themselves as specialists in a particular practice area. Real Property Law Group, which only handles large commercial real estate transactions, also has partners who target their marketing at commercial real estate brokers and who are members of the local Business and Owners Management Association. Partner Stephen Day is an architect who serves as a member of Seattle's historic preservation board, which promotes his historic rehabilitation tax credit practice.