Five Ways to Maximize Marketing Efforts

As business development, marketing and client service teams assume a much more central role in law firms, there is a time grab that happens for those attorneys who want to expand their book of business or maximize their thought leadership. With every request for external exposure, there is also an assumption that one effort of marketing will result in millions in new revenue. Yet, we all know that the responsibility to implement all marketing initiatives is on the lawyers.

While not too time consuming, it is critical that lawyers not rest their efforts after their article is published, the presentation ends or the webinar closes. These five tips below will help lawyers reshape their thoughts as they pursue additional marketing visibility.

1. Don't Wait for the Phone to Ring

While we as business development professionals would love to say that every piece of external outreach works magic, the truth is that consistent follow up is imperative. Whether they engage in publishing articles or speaking on webinars, podcasts, speaking engagements, follow up and repetition are necessary to move the needle on developing their personal brand and to attract potential clients.

Action step: Share the content with colleagues in your firm, clients and post on LinkedIn. The law of averages sharply increases when multiple people are aware of and sharing lawyers' content.

2. Let the Data Work for You

We live in a data heavy society, so it should be no surprise that with the right analytical tools, legal marketers can be extremely focused and strategic in their business development efforts. As I like to say, gone are the days of putting content in a bottle and throwing it into the ocean, hoping someone responds.

The detail and accuracy of analytics for marketing efforts is amazing and at the fingertips of your marketing team. As long as they're engaging the right platforms and data, you could see (down to the names, in some instances) who's engaging with your content.

Action step: Lawyers should schedule a meeting with the firm's business development/marketing team to understand how these metrics and analytics are tracked. Collaborate with them to develop a system of reporting and strategic analysis to pinpoint the next prospective client.

3. Don't Be a One-Trick Pony

When lawyers are sharing their insight and expertise in the marketplace, it can truly differentiate them among the thousands of attorneys that share the same area of practice. I've always coached my attorneys to focus on an area of law that they enjoy and focus their efforts on a topic within that area that their clients are mentioning or that the industry has demanded.

While this laser-focused approach will bring specific notoriety, it's important to also be agile in conversations. As your lawyers engage in client conversations, it is likely to open around the topic they read about or heard you speak about, which you should acknowledge. With the progression of the conversation, your lawyers need to be prepared to pose thoughtful questions about their business and industry needs.

For example, if your lawyers speak with in-house counsel at a bank about a recent presentation she gave on Fintech regulation, also be aware that they have many needs outside of that one narrow sliver of information.

Action step: Research, research, research. Learn as much about clients/prospects attending meetings. Learn what they've been focusing on, where the industry is heading and be prepared with questions to ask about how the one piece of information they sought you out for ties into their overall business objectives.

4. Know Your Firm's Capabilities

Clients want value in their relationship and trends show they want fewer firms to be involved with their work. It's a matter of convenience, time savings and cost consolidation. However, it is highly unlikely that a majority of their legal spend will be shifted to your firm if the client isn't aware of your relevant offerings or if your lawyers haven't built that trusted advisor status of keeping their eye on every issue that could affect them. They must know what your firm does well and what is relevant to the client's industry.

Action step: It may sound simple, but every lawyer much review your firm's website and study the service offerings. Surf around as if you were the client shopping your firm and look for all areas of law that your firm could service your client. Make a point to encourage your lawyers to schedule a coffee meeting to learn more about their colleagues, their practices and how they may be of service to your client.

5. Avoid the Bait and Switch

It's a terrible feeling when you buy a product that's been marketed beautifully, seemingly provides all of the answers to your needs, but then doesn't live up to expectations. This experience damages your trust in the product and in the brand. Why would lawyers set your client's experience up similarly? Lawyers must be extremely wary of over promising and under delivering. If you go to market with a unique offering, specific knowledge or the optimal solution to an industry problem, lawyers must be fully prepared to walk the walk.

Action Step: Review all external facing personal branding messaging. Marketing content including lawyers' website bios, LinkedIn bios and speaker abstracts need to be updated quarterly. Ensure that lawyers' areas of strength are highlighted similarly within all communications. These items are easy to overlook and are often assumed to be up-to-date. All it takes is one external view on outdated or inaccurate content to dilute a brand.

*****

Rich Bracken, Director of Coaching for Society 54, advises attorneys and professional services firms on revenue generation initiatives by leveraging data analytics, client service strategies and differentiated branding. He is also the Chair of the Legal Marketing Association of Kansas City. Connect with Rich on LinkedIn  and at Society54.com.