This wraps up my discussion on common marketing mistakes made by law firms. I felt it necessary to write on this topic due to the fact that attorneys are increasingly struggling in their practices. The big thing is that the current struggles of firms are going to get much, much, much (much) worse as the demand for legal services continues to decline. Those who wish for their practices to grow need to stop making some of the common errors which firms have been making since the days when we were citizens of England. In other words, if you keep following the marketing/business plan that was developed by an attorney who looked like this:
then you’re likely to wind up looking like this:
I’m assuming you don’t want to look like the poor chap in the second photo. It is, therefore, important that your firm adapt to modern times.
I looked at a number of topics over my recent articles. Issues which I analyzed include:
- Why attorneys shouldn’t model the marketing of other law firms
- Why lawyers must focus their marketing on what clients care about
- Attorney marketing must focus on return on investment
- Why lawyers must think long-term with their marketing
- “Long-term” tips for attorney marketing
- Why repeat business matters to law firms
The biggest point I repeatedly stressed through each of these articles is that you must own the assets which bring you clients. Examples of such assets include blog posts on your own website, videos on your website, etc. At the end of the day you’re not going to get rich by getting clients from assets which you rent from someone else – you have to own the items which bring people into your office. The other important point is that you must understand that building a successful business is a marathon and not a sprint. By renting third-party marketing assets, and ignoring ROI, you may be able to grow your revenue twenty or thirty percent quickly but your growth will also stop there. If you take a long-term approach, and stick with it, then it may take an additional six months or a year to see exceptional results but those results will come. I focused on the long-term, from day one, in my practice. That focus is one of the big things I credit for my going from starting in my living room in ’06 to bringing in over $1,000,000 in revenue in 2010.
Why do you feel so many attorneys simply keep focusing on the same marketing techniques that lawyers have typically used? Please chime in through the comment form below.
