10 Ways Social Media Could Be Benefitting Your Law Firm

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Stephen Fairley

When it comes to marketing, I believe in measuring everything. The conundrum many marketers have when it comes to social media is how to measure it since social media delivers as many if not more intangibles than it does tangible things like clicks, likes and visits. If your law firm is already participating in social media, you may want to consider these 10 ways that your firm could already be benefitting: 1. Brand building. Since social media is your unfiltered voice, you have a great opportunity to build your brand. 2. Community. Social media is all about cultivating a community and engaging in a dialogue with prospects and clients who will tell you what they need and want from your firm. This is a great way to gather meaningful market research. 3. Exposure. I talk about the Law of 7 all the time it takes a minimum of 7 exposures for a prospect to decide to make a purchase. Social media gives you a number of different avenues for getting repeat exposure. 4. Authority. Social media helps you establish authority in your area of practice. 5. Influence. As you build your authority, your influence grows and the larger the audience, the greater the influence. 6. Traffic. Social media drives traffic to your website or blog, giving you an opportunity to gather contact information so you can engage directly with prospects. 7. Relevance. Prospects and clients are already checking to see if you are represented in social media whether or not you realize it. You risk being viewed as behind the times if you are not engaging them on major social media sites. 8. Mindshare. You will probably never know how you are affecting people on social media, but you can bet you wont have any chance of gaining mindshare if you dont engage at all. 9. One-up your competitors. There are lots of lawyers who are still not participating in social media, which provides you with a great opportunity to stand out from the crowd. 10. Big wins. If a social media contact refers you on a big case or you get a call from a major media outlet to comment on something youve posted, thats a big win. They dont happen often, but when they do, they make your social media investment incredibly worthwhile.

BUILDING YOUR STRATEGIC MARKETING PLAN Youre already doing it positioning your law firm for new business growth. Perhaps you find networking at community events beneficial, or have created a knockout Web site, or maybe you use an online listing to target potential clients. So marketing your practice is already in progress. This Strategic Marketing Plan shell is designed to support and strengthen your marketing efforts. Fill in this structured outline to formalize your plans for growth. By setting clear objectives, expectations, and the course of your marketing program, youll be able to judge the effectiveness of your marketing investment and recalibrate as necessary. To use this Strategic Marketing Plan document: simply add or cut and paste your specific firm and market information. Whether you work on this plan alone or as a team, its a good idea to distribute to key members of your law firm in order to ensure consistency in your marketing approach. Refer to this document on a regular basis as your marketing plans evolve. Best wishes as you map your continued success.

Strategic Marketing Plan

Your Firm Name Here Date:

Author: Your Name Here

Strategic Marketing

Table of Contents

Page

Financial Summary & Marketing Budget..................................................2 Situation Analysis......................................................................................3 Strategic Objective.....................................................................................3 Marketing Strategy.....................................................................................4 Promotional Marketing Mix........................................................................4

Strategic Marketing

Financial Summary and Marketing Budget

Law Firm Financial Outlook
Review and summarize your past, current, and planned law firm financials. Explain reasons for growth or decline. What internal or external factors are contributing to your situation? Do you require additional resources or human capital to achieve your goals? Firm Tracking Revenue 2004 $00.00 2005 $00.00 2006 $00.00 04-05 CAGR* 00% 05-06 CAGR* 00%

*CAGR Compounded Annual Growth Rate

Law Firm Marketing Budget and Results

Briefly summarize your current marketing budget. How do you determine your spend on marketing programs? Is current-level spend appropriate or is additional marketing funding required to meet your business development goals? Summarize financial results from current marketing programs and set return on investment (ROI) goals. Is your return greater than your total investment? Do you have a formal way to track and report in-coming cases as a result of your marketing programs? How can you improve your internal process for collecting information about the way new clients have located your practice? Marketing Tracker & ROI Calculator Total Marketing Spend (E.g.: Print Advertising, Web Site, Online Marketing, Client Seminars, Directory Listings) # New Clients (From Marketing Efforts) Total New Client Revenue (From Marketing Efforts) Return on Marketing Investment (Total New Client Revenue/Total Marketing Spend) 2004 $00.00 00 $00.00 0:1 2005 $00.00 00 $00.00 0:1 2006 $00.00 00 $00.00 0:1

Strategic Marketing

Situation Analysis
Assess your current marketing situation. Try to answer these questions by focusing on any key trends, market opportunities, or lessons-learned that might help shape the direction of your marketing plan. Overview What are you doing now to generate new clients? How well it is it working? What are you doing well? What needs improvement? Have you achieved the goals youve set for your firm so far? Competition What is the competition doing? How is the competition affecting your business? Customers Are you landing the types of clients that you want? What could you do to better reach the types of prospects that you are most interested in?

Strategic Objective
Set objectives. A clear vision of your goals and objectives will give you more than just direction. It will give you a marketing framework that you can build your law firm around. Be clear, be specific, and set a time frame for implementation. Think about the following items as you construct a strategic marketing statement for your firm: What business goals are you working to achieve? What is your timeframe to meet specific milestones?

Samplesthese are just starting points, feel free to expand explanations to several paragraphs as necessary: Scenario 1: At the Miles & Summer law firm we primarily handle divorce cases. We aim to shift and expand the structure of our practice in order to take on an additional 30% of cases based in real estate. We anticipate that this will be a two year processgrowing the number of real estate cases steadily over that period. Scenario 2: We have recently added two new associates at the Miles & Summer law firm. As a result of the additional manpower we are expecting a 40% boost in law firm revenue over a three year period. In year one, we expect to see a 10% lift as the new associates become acclimated, in years 2 and 3 we envision steady growth to reach the 40% mark.

Strategic Marketing

Marketing Strategy
Determine your marketing strategy. Focus on details as you summarize your marketing strategy. Who is your target market? How will you distinguish your firm from your competitors? What type of brand will you have? How will your firm be positioned? Consider the following:

Target Customers: Who are your new business targets as you strive to reach your strategic marketing objective: new clients, current and former clients, other attorneys in and outside of your practice area, or other professionals, contacts and centers of influence within your community? Brand Positioning: Decide on the nature of your brand. What kind of personality will you present to the world? How do you want clients to feel emotionally when they relate to you? How will they recognize you? How will they remember you? Competitive Stance: What Is Your Unique Marketing Advantage (UMA)? One of the most powerful forces in marketing is the ability to differentiate yourself from your competitors. In a sentence or two, state a compelling reason why a client should hire you instead of going to the firm across the street. That becomes your UMA. Key Initiatives: What are the top five key initiatives that you must implement this year to drive your law firm business growth forward? These initiatives can include your branding direction, marketing outreach, pricing positioning, new directions for the law firm like adding additional lawyers or paralegals, or a shift in location.

Promotional Marketing Mix

Identify your promotional marketing mix. Specifically, what methods will you use to grow your firm? Some examples are advertising, Internet, public relations and seminars. How will these tactics tie directly into your marketing strategy and key initiatives?

1.
2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.

Online marketing (such as Web site content or upgrades, search engine optimization, online banners and sponsorships) Print or online legal directories Print or online yellow pages Client meals and entertainment Event sponsorships/community events Giving or hosting seminars Public relations/media outreach/writing articles Local or outdoor advertising (such as local billboards, print ads, TV, or radio ads)

8.

Strategic Marketing

10 Ways Social Media Could Be Benefitting Your Law Firm

Posted on March 18, 2013 by Stephen Fairley

When it comes to marketing, I believe in measuring everything. The conundrum many marketers have when it comes to social media is how to measure it since social media delivers as many if not more intangibles than it does tangible things like clicks, likes and visits. If your law firm is already participating in social media, you may want to consider these 10 ways that your firm could already be benefitting: 1. Brand building. Since social media is your unfiltered voice, you have a great opportunity to build your brand. 2. Community. Social media is all about cultivating a community and engaging in a dialogue with prospects and clients who will tell you what they need and want from your firm. This is a great way to gather meaningful market research. 3. Exposure. I talk about the Law of 7 all the time it takes a minimum of 7 exposures for a prospect to decide to make a purchase. Social media gives you a number of different avenues for getting repeat exposure. 4. Authority. Social media helps you establish authority in your area of practice. 5. Influence. As you build your authority, your influence grows and the larger the audience, the greater the influence. 6. Traffic. Social media drives traffic to your website or blog, giving you an opportunity to gather contact information so you can engage directly with prospects. 7. Relevance. Prospects and clients are already checking to see if you are represented in social media whether or not you realize it. You risk being viewed as behind the times if you are not engaging them on major social media sites. 8. Mindshare. You will probably never know how you are affecting people on social media, but you can bet you wont have any chance of gaining mindshare if you dont engage at all. 9. One-up your competitors. There are lots of lawyers who are still not participating in social media, which provides you with a great opportunity to stand out from the crowd.

Strategic Marketing

10. Big wins. If a social media contact refers you on a big case or you get a call from a major media outlet to comment on something youve posted, thats a big win. They dont happen often, but when they do, they make your social media investment incredibly worthwhile.

Strategic Marketing