Challenges and Benefits of Marketing Technology Adoption at Law Firms

Marketing technology, also known as MarTech, describes a range of software and tools that assist in achieving marketing goals or objectives. Over time, marketing technology will continue to evolve and become more crucial in modern legal marketing campaigns, especially as more of us continue to work remotely. However, implementing, maintaining, and optimizing your law firm’s MarTech is not a simple, streamlined process. Rather, law firms should prepare to overcome a few key challenges before they can fully realize the benefits of marketing technology. Here’s what you need to know about adopting new marketing technologies into your law firm.

What are the signs it might be time to implement new marketing technologies? 

Firms often question when or if they should adopt new technologies. When does it make sense? Look out for some of these warning signs: 

• You can’t properly track or even keep up with your marketing processes (whether it’s social media, big data, artificial intelligence, lead management, CRM, SEO, etc.)
• You’re finding inconsistencies or inaccuracies in accounting or processing functions. 
• Manual or separate tracking processes are dragging down your productivity. 
• You have experienced failures or significant slow-downs due to your current systems. 
• Dependent systems and processes don’t operate well together. 

Addressing challenges and benefits of adopting new marketing technology within your law firm.

A recent study showed that 63% of small business owners feel overwhelmed by the amount of technology choices available to help them run their business. That fact is at the heart of why many firms are slow to adopt new technologies – there are so many to choose from, with new systems being rolled out every day and old ones constantly improving, it can be difficult to perform the research necessary to make the right choice. On the other hand, the study also revealed that 72% of small business owners indicated new technologies would offer a bigger return on their investment than new employees (28%).

The typical barriers to technology adoption tend to fall into one of these categories: 

• Budget or financial restrictions – almost every firm has limited resources, and wants to make sure they’re applying them correctly. 
• A lack of technical support and training – it’s a big undertaking to implement new technology and many firms don’t have the staff needed to help.
• Disrupting current processes – even if business isn’t running perfectly, it’s not an easy decision to install new technology that may temporarily change things or slow them down. 

On the other hand, there are long-term benefits to implementing new technologies, which should not be ignored: 

• Enhanced efficiencies and productivity – time is money, and time savings equals more dollars on the bottom line. In fact, the best technologies will continue to improve and lead to further operational efficiencies over time. 
• Increased ability to scale – most firms want to grow, either organically or through acquisition, and the right technologies can help them to do that. 
• Better understand your business – newer systems provide key data and even insights, and that knowledge is powerful when it comes to making decisions for your business. 

4 Steps for Choosing the Right Marketing Technology for your Law Firm

If you do believe it’s time to adopt new technology, it’s essential that you find the options that are the right fit for your firm over the long term. 

1. Understand your business needs.

Before you begin your technology search, compile a list of all the business needs a new solution must be able to provide. You might know that you want to improve efficiency, but that’s not enough. Make a comprehensive list of problem areas and exactly what you need a new solution to address. It’s unlikely that you’ll find one technology to address your entire list, but it will help provide guidance on which areas are most critical. 

2. Research the options.

Once you understand which type of technology you need and which department will use it, research should fall on those individuals. The people who will be the most impacted by the new system are the ones who should understand the options. Keep in mind, you’ll need any new technologies to integrate with your existing platforms and current infrastructure.

3. Gauge the scalability of solutions.

Ensure that any technologies you adopt can grow with your firm. Is the software company planning on innovating at the same pace as your law firm? Will this system help you automate future processes as well, or handle significantly more data in the future? It’s not enough to meet your current “must have” list – think about how this system will streamline marketing strategies in the future. 

4. Obtain quality technical support.

Especially if you don’t have a dedicated support staff for any technology you implement, you need to ensure that vendors you work with have top-notch support. Support should apply to implementation, training, upgrades, and troubleshooting for the life of the contract. 

Takeaway

No one would say that it’s easy to implement new marketing technologies – but it is an important part of growing and scaling your law firm. There are certainly drawbacks that need to be considered, but none of them outweigh the long-term benefits of installing a technology that can help your firm be more agile, make better decisions, stay better connected to prospects, and generate more business.

If you need assistance in selecting and implementing a new marketing technology platform, ask us. We have experience with all of the top systems and understand how they can help your firm. We have experience helping law firms select and implement the correct marketing technologies that in turn help them achieve their desired business objectives.