“Nothing succeeds,” McDonald’s founder Ray Kroc once said, “Like success.” Many solo practitioners and small boutique law firms try to develop successful marketing strategies and practices that allows the firm to be apparently, successfully competitive with larger law firms. As a practical matter, this approach often obscures an even more important objective: successful marketing to a law firm’s target audience.
Law firm marketing often take a shotgun approach and tries to reach as many people as possible. The internet is at its best, however, when a boutique or small practice knows who they want as clients, to grow a better practice.
While there are indeed reasons to stay off-line, this list is much shorter than reasons to have a Web presence. If it will be done badly…don’t go online. If there’s a chance of compromising your security…avoid the Web. If you have no interest in monitoring the site…be wary of leaving your digital footprint.
But if you want to develop tools so as to be found on the Internet, and be seen as a premier law firm for specific clients: you need the Web as a marketing tool.
Many attorneys have come to recognize that an “everything but the kitchen sink” approach is not as effective in the long term, as is focusing in with their marketing. While it is great, and intensely satisfying, to be able to cast a visibly wide marketing net, the broader the message is in scope, the less it will speak to any specific type of potential client. Many times, legal marketing efforts are more effective if they speak to a particular, narrow target audience.
Both off-line and on-line lawyer advertising become just a part of the background, or rehash of the same old content, when it is merely part of a WWW. Using search engines will be instrumental to breaking from the pack. And merely competing with larger firms becomes part of what every firm does, without being tailored to the audience you really want to reach.
• Ask your web designer about creating links back to your site.
• Design with an eye on eliminating traffic blockers: Java and Flash may look nice…but block search spiders!
The good news is, you have every right to demand details about traffic reports if you use a web designer and hosting service: the more specific your expectations about traffic (and being given the tools to monitor it), the better you’ll be able to assess how well your web marketing is doing.
Know Your Client Base, Serve your Client Base. This is not necessarily difficult if a firm takes a careful look at the demographics of your typical client. This means designing marketing messages and content, squarely aimed at the most lucrative practice areas, which are not necessarily the law firm’s most lucrative. The point is to target growth areas. It also means more in that a law firm should consider what type of client in that practice area is the firm’s most typical type of client and how they are under-served. For example, a family law firm may find that the firm particularly appeals to either men or women: and add estate planning. A particular personal injury firm may find that the majority of its clients are blue collar: and need employment law.
• Newsletters and E-letters. Unlike most mid- to large-sized law firms, smaller firms tend to have better rapport with individual clients. Newsletters can exploit this competitive advantage, by being tailored to what affects your clients right now (consider Blasts!…instead of talking about general market conditions, a blurb can detail new regulations affecting your (e.g.) three separate grocer clients. Of course, the watchword in disseminating any information to your clients is also security…that any information concerning your clients is absolutely sacred: including their desire to opt in to your newsletter.
Whatever the demographic breakdown of a firm’s most common clients, the law firm’s web-based legal marketing also needs to be introspective…advertising to their existing base may increase loyalty: especially when times get hard, and when more competitive smaller firms may be trying to lure away your existing clients.
Conclusion
Any sound approach to a law firm’s online legal marketing will focus on (a) defining prototypical clients that the firm wants to attract and (b) how to reach those populations can be far more effective then an unfocused shotgun approach.
The bottom line should reflect that a law firm has successfully chosen to reach fewer people, but with a more compelling, “action” message.
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