How can small law firms compete with larger law firms when it comes to marketing their legal services?
This is a question I am often asked, so here are some easy wins for small law firms when it comes to their marketing….
Speed Of Movement!
This is one area where I get quite excited. I am at heart a small law firm marketing man. This is not to say small profits, or not even necessarily small number of staff, but to me it absolutely does mean a small decision making unit who can act quickly. If you can do this in any small law firm, you can have amazing results. The major advantage is the speed of being able to test new marketing initiatives whilst your larger law firm competitors organise a committee meeting to discuss any new opportunity. Often they will then organise a sub-committee to break off and investigate this exciting opportunity, only to report back three months later, to be sent back to find out more information and finally six months later a decision is made when the opportunity is well and truly missed! If you do not work in a larger law firm, or have never done, you might think I am making this up. Nope! I have seen it myself and now refuse to work with any law firm where I am not dealing directly with the decision makers of which there can be an absolute maximum number of three!
No ‘Brand’ Marketing
Another huge advantage for small law firms when it comes to their marketing is the necessity to ensure that all marketing they undertake actually produces results. I often see larger firms throw huge sums of money at marketing initiatives without tracking whether it puts more money in profit costs than it costs to produce the leads (by a margin of at least 10 to 1). Larger firms can use the ‘brand’ argument to waste money on ineffective advertising or marketing. Smaller firms know that to do so is not acceptable.
Specifics:
Websites
This is an area where time and time again my small law firm clients beat their bigger competitors. They are able to make their websites much more personal and approachable, and guess what, people still buy people so this always works.
They can also move quickly to find new niche areas of law and promote these using Pay Per Click advertising. Rather than wait for their IT department to help or to outsource it to a new supplier they can be savvy and learn how to do this for themselves, learning the skills from a service like my Marketing4Solicitors service.
They can write their own content for their website and prove their expertise in a certain area of law whilst the larger players often baffle visitors to their websites in an attempt to prove their expertise.
Again, if they follow the step by steps I provide in Marketing4Solicitors they can very quickly and easily beat larger firms of solicitors in jumping to the top of Google using proven Search Engine Marketing methods. I know because I have seen and done this for many small law firms. They reap the benefit for many years onwards so it is well worth the small amount of time it takes each month to get to the top of Google.
Personal Relationships
A huge amount of work can be generated for smaller law firms through personal relationships. Firstly by generating referrals from their own clients (you have to ask for them by the way – don’t just expect clients to drop them off day after day) but also by creating relationships with the many other business owners that already have access to huge numbers of potential clients for you. Creating and maintaining relationships with these referrers of business can provide significant results for small law firms. Most fail here simply because they do not make the effort, but if I was running a small law firm an awful lot of my time, effort and energy would be spent here.
Summary
Small law firm marketing can be incredibly effective. Take regular action and see amazing results that can literally blow the big boys away.
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