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LAW FIRM MARKETING:
By It is generally recognized that the best marketing an attorney can do is to "create good work for a satisfied client." Successful attorneys are instinctive marketers who naturally do the things which create opportunities to produce good legal work and grow a base of satisfied clients. But that "natural" marketing process is complicated when expanded from the individual "rainmaker," to the "team-marketing" required in the typical multi-practice law firm. I frequently meet with attorneys who are not satisfied with their firm marketing activities. The common complaint goes something like this: "we spend money on marketing, but we're not sure about the results?" Or,"we have a plan, the committee is in place, but nothing seems to happen after the meeting." Why is it so difficult for successful "self marketing" attorneys to integrate the marketing function into a firm culture? I think the problem is rooted in the sometimes blurry perception of legal services "marketing," and, I suggest the solution lies in more clearly understanding how the marketing process actually impacts the typical law firm. DEFINING LEGAL SERVICES MARKETING Some attorneys view marketing as an ad campaign, a seminar, a firm newsletter. Others see it as a strategic plan and a budget. Some see marketing as the key to long term firm positioning and growth; others are uncomfortable with marketing's intrusive and at times "commercializing" aspects. Many attorneys don't understand the impact marketing will have on the operations within the firm and they resist it, rather than evolving firm policy and procedure to incorporate a dynamic marketing decision-making process into the flow of the firm's operations. It is easier to see the impact marketing will have on the culture of the typical law firm if we begin with the following structural definition of marketing: Legal services marketing is a process of strategic, administrative, and operational decision-making, the objective of which is to maximize shareholder's return on investment. In my experience many law firms dissatisfied with marketing efforts do not understand marketing at this structural level and as a result may fail to adequately integrate marketing into the firm culture. SOUND MARKETING STRATEGY IS THE FIRM'S BUSINESS On the strategic level, marketing and good business planning intersect. The strategic marketing plan essentially identifies the firm's short and longer term objectives in terms of profitable practice area development, firm positioning within usually several market segments; the targeting of prospective clients, and cross-practice marketing techniques, to name a few strategic planning elements. The strategic planning process will often bring to the surface conflicting issues or areas not addressed or clarified by shareholders and managing partners. It clarifies business goals and accelerates the decision-making process which to a large extent defines the firm's "future." The point of strategic planning is to assure the firm's administrative and operational marketing efforts are anchored to a set of goals or objectives grounded in the real "business" aspirations of firm shareholders. Legal services marketing that is not based on sound strategy might succeed in a limited tactical arena -- generating firm awareness where there was none, for example -- but over the longer term, marketing without strategic goals eventually exhausts itself and confuses the potential client pool. The strategic marketing plan can be the most difficult and wrenching step in the process of integrating marketing into the law firm. But it is probably the most important step to successful longer term legal services marketing. ADMINISTRATING THE MARKETING PLAN, ALLOCATING RESOURCES Decision making at the marketing administrative level is where firm resources attorney time, money, staff resources, outside consultants are allocated by shareholders to execute the strategic marketing plan. Priorities are more clearly defined at the administrative level, and resources and scheduling are adjusted accordingly. This is usually the level where the firm's managing partner, business manager, or marketing committee and possibly an array of attorneys and support staff become involved in the plan. Good administration is essential to good marketing. If, for example, inadequate funding is allocated to marketing, or attorneys choose not to write a newsletter, or produce a seminar on a pertinent topic; or the marketing committee is indecisive on an issue from one month to the next, the plan will become ineffectual and wither at the administrative level. OPERATIONS, MARKETING DAY TO DAY The third stage of decision making is where most marketing decisions are determined and most of the work is accomplished. The operational level is the day-to-day process that accomplishes the multitude of seemingly mundane tasks which actually constitute marketing in the typical law firm. Has the press release copy been proofed and approved for distribution on time? Is the printer delivering the firm newsletter as planned? Are the mailing lists updated? The business magazine needs film for the new firm ad, where is it? An editor just called requesting an interview with an attorney about a recent court ruling, whom should we contact? These kinds of decisions are made daily by marketers, and if not made promptly and efficiently, the firm's marketing plan, despite well defined objectives at the strategic level and adequate resource allocation at the administrative level, will surely falter. Attorneys are busy, pressured professionals, immersed in providing clients with good legal work. They don't have time to manage the operations of the firm's marketing plan. But it is helpful to understand that good legal services marketing is essentially a decision-making process that occurs on the strategic, administrative and operational level within most law firms, and that the individual attorney plays a key role in the overall efficiency of that "team" process. Robert J. Philbin, a senior partner of the marketing communications firm Hershey Philbin Associates, Inc., was educated at Dickinson College, The Pennsylvania State University and Temple University and is a contributing commentator to LawNews Online. |
It's
no accident that successful attorneys are also successful
marketers. But marketing a law firm is much more complicated
and often misunderstood.