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The Differences Between Marketing a Product and Marketing a Law Firm ' And Why It Matters
The problem with a lot of law firm marketing is that too many marketers are still using traditional product marketing techniques, as they are taught in business schools, and ignoring the distinctive realities of law firm marketing as opposed to product marketing. But the differences between marketing a profession and marketing a product are profound. The result is that a great deal of effort, time and money is wasted.
What then are these differences, and why do they matter?
What Does This Tell Us?
Experience in functioning in this realm of differences tells us that law firm marketing can work when it's designed to:
To accomplish these objectives, then, the tools of marketing ' seminars, speeches, public relations, advertising, articles, the social media, etc. ' must be tailored within the framework of projecting expertise. This also means that the adjectives and comparisons and superlatives so common in product marketing have no place in professional services marketing. The boast, even when there seems to be a foundation for it, rarely works.
At the same time, the institutional program (that says, for example, that IBM is a great company, therefore you should buy IBM products), even when repeated often, sells no services, although it may help in name recognition. But the limitation of name recognition, as valuable as it may be on its own, is meaningful only in the context of specific skills or products.
The concept of positioning is invaluable. This is a crucial process that begins with understanding what needs prospective clients may have ' and that you can serve those needs. Your position must spring specifically from prospective client needs, and not from your own self-serving assessment of what you have to sell. Use research, if necessary. The better the position, the better the marketing program.
In a sense, marketing professional services is akin to tightrope walking. The limits of professional services marketing are defined by factors that have little to do with marketing itself. The law is the law. The laws of product marketing are few, beyond confining misrepresentation and outright frauds. The laws governing professional services marketing are derived from the nature of the practice, and are governed by both canons of epics and the realistic nature of professional practice. No wonder there is confusion of the two kinds of marketing.
The freedom for lawyers and accountants to market ' to promote their services ' is now about three decades old (Bates v State Bar of Arizona, U.S. Supreme Court, 1977). Still, too many marking programs ' and marketers ' have yet to learn these proven factors. Not to understand is the curse of professional services marketing.
The Differences Between Marketing a Product and Marketing a Law Firm ' And Why It Matters
The problem with a lot of law firm marketing is that too many marketers are still using traditional product marketing techniques, as they are taught in business schools, and ignoring the distinctive realities of law firm marketing as opposed to product marketing. But the differences between marketing a profession and marketing a product are profound. The result is that a great deal of effort, time and money is wasted.
What then are these differences, and why do they matter?
What Does This Tell Us?
Experience in functioning in this realm of differences tells us that law firm marketing can work when it's designed to:
To accomplish these objectives, then, the tools of marketing ' seminars, speeches, public relations, advertising, articles, the social media, etc. ' must be tailored within the framework of projecting expertise. This also means that the adjectives and comparisons and superlatives so common in product marketing have no place in professional services marketing. The boast, even when there seems to be a foundation for it, rarely works.
At the same time, the institutional program (that says, for example, that IBM is a great company, therefore you should buy IBM products), even when repeated often, sells no services, although it may help in name recognition. But the limitation of name recognition, as valuable as it may be on its own, is meaningful only in the context of specific skills or products.
The concept of positioning is invaluable. This is a crucial process that begins with understanding what needs prospective clients may have ' and that you can serve those needs. Your position must spring specifically from prospective client needs, and not from your own self-serving assessment of what you have to sell. Use research, if necessary. The better the position, the better the marketing program.
In a sense, marketing professional services is akin to tightrope walking. The limits of professional services marketing are defined by factors that have little to do with marketing itself. The law is the law. The laws of product marketing are few, beyond confining misrepresentation and outright frauds. The laws governing professional services marketing are derived from the nature of the practice, and are governed by both canons of epics and the realistic nature of professional practice. No wonder there is confusion of the two kinds of marketing.
The freedom for lawyers and accountants to market ' to promote their services ' is now about three decades old (Bates v State Bar of Arizona, U.S. Supreme Court, 1977). Still, too many marking programs ' and marketers ' have yet to learn these proven factors. Not to understand is the curse of professional services marketing.
End of year collections are crucial for law firms because they allow them to maximize their revenue for the year, impacting profitability, partner distributions and bonus calculations by ensuring outstanding invoices are paid before the year closes, which is especially important for meeting financial targets and managing cash flow throughout the firm.
Law firms and companies in the professional services space must recognize that clients are conducting extensive online research before making contact. Prospective buyers are no longer waiting for meetings with partners or business development professionals to understand the firm's offerings. Instead, they are seeking out information on their own, and they want to do it quickly and efficiently.
Through a balanced approach that combines incentives with accountability, firms can navigate the complexities of returning to the office while maintaining productivity and morale.
The paradigm of legal administrative support within law firms has undergone a remarkable transformation over the last decade. But this begs the question: are the changes to administrative support successful, and do law firms feel they are sufficiently prepared to meet future business needs?
Counsel should include in its analysis of a case the taxability of the anticipated and sought after damages as the tax effect could be substantial.