Wednesday, August 24, 2022
Throughout their history, many law firms have moved away from traditional marketing to maintain an honest and pragmatic image. With the rise of digital marketing and increased competition, law firms are turning their focus to full-scope marketing strategies to stand out. Read on to learn about the need for law firm marketing, how to create a budget, and how to track your law firm’s budget with legal invoicing software.
The importance of law firm marketing
Law firms are, first and foremost, a business. All businesses depend on a constant flow of new customers and business to stay afloat, and growth is an important part of the strategy.
With this in mind, many law firms are focusing on marketing to gain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Unlike some of the flashy, over-the-top campaigns we see in other industries, however, law firm marketing aims to show how trustworthy, professional and reliable a firm is.
It is common for law firms to use all available avenues for digital marketing, including search engine optimization, email marketing, social media, content marketing, and search ads.
How much do law firms spend on marketing?
A law firm’s marketing budget can vary depending on its goals. But, interestingly, many law firms have no budget at all, putting marketing efforts on the back burner.
If you intend to set a marketing budget, know that large law firms spend 2% to 5% of gross revenue, while small businesses spend 5% to 10% of gross revenue , according to American lawyer.
However, the budget can vary based on many factors, including location, existing brand and reputation, and practice area.
What should my law firm’s marketing budget be?
When determining your law firm budget, you should consider:
Age of the law firm: Younger firms tend to have higher budgets to capture market share
Practice Area: Different practice areas have different goals and sales funnels
Location: Highly competitive areas will require a higher spend
Current Marketing Efforts: Starting from scratch will require more initial marketing spend to gain traction
Marketing Strategy: The level and types of marketing campaigns may require different investments
Competing budgets: Large law firms in the area can increase the cost of marketing for all businesses
You should also consider retention and acquisition marketing.
Retention marketing is designed to remind your former customers of your services. It generally costs seven times more to attract and sign a new customer than to retain an existing customer, so retention marketing has a better ROI overall.
Acquisition marketing is designed to attract new customers. The budget should be split between traditional and digital marketing efforts, including social media, SEO, PPC, content, and print or TV ads.
Instead of working with an arbitrary budget figure, develop a custom figure based on your needs and goals.
Best practices for creating law firm marketing goals and tactics
It’s important to spend time creating a detailed marketing strategy and roadmap to save time and maximize your marketing budget. With a defined plan, you can evaluate your marketing efforts to see if you’re on track to meet your goals, adjusting as needed.
Set marketing goals
Your marketing objective is what you hope to achieve with your marketing efforts. Without a defined goal, it is impossible to track and measure success.
Marketing goals should always be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound). This ensures that you can track and measure your efforts effectively
For example, setting a goal to “acquire new customers” does not fit the SMART goal framework. You must have specific numbers and deadlines.
Examples include:
Cultivate a brand
The brand is not just for retail products. Law firms also have brands, and the right brand can attract the ideal client. Cultivating a brand is a long and complicated process, but establishing consistent and powerful brand assets such as the company’s mission and vision, the company’s brand values and its unique value proposition is a good starting point .
Take advantage of content marketing
Content marketing is key for law firms from both a general marketing perspective and an SEO perspective. Having valuable content not only establishes a company as a thought leader in the industry, but helps potential clients discover companies as they search for solutions to their legal problems online.
However, it is not enough to produce content for the sake of it. You need to create original, deep and valuable content that addresses common questions or concerns of your target customer. This can include legal blogs and articles, podcasts, video series and infographics.
Includes video content
Video is quickly becoming a huge trend in all marketing, not just for law firms. Audiences prefer video to text because it’s more engaging. Video also helps distill complex topics into more digestible content for better retention.
There are virtually limitless options for video content for your law firm. Consider options such as client testimonials, industry interviews, or Q&A series that address common questions for your practice area. Videos can be used on social media, on the company website, and in email blasts.
Tips for tracking a law firm’s budget and marketing spend
Marketing is an investment, so your marketing budget is not a “rainy day” fund. Whatever you spend on marketing, make sure you spend it.
Consider time and money. Spending your entire marketing budget won’t do much if you don’t spend time on your marketing strategy. You should spend at least four hours per week on marketing activities that you can track task management tools.
Evaluate your ROI. If you’re investing your hard-earned money into marketing, you should clue your progress with timing tools and expense reports to make sure your spending is worth it. Different marketing channels have different timeframes for tracking progress, but all of your marketing efforts should be evaluated on a regular basis.
Analyzing your efforts against your set goals will determine if you are on track to achieve them or if you need to make adjustments. It will also reveal the most successful channels, so you can allocate your spend appropriately in the future.
key points
A flow of new clients is key to the growth and profitability of a law firm. Marketing gets your business name out there and attracts new customers, but you need a solid marketing strategy and budget to direct your efforts and ensure you’re getting the most out of your spend.
©2006-2022, BILL4TIME. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.National Law Review, Volume XII, Number 236
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