Busting Myths About Marketing Automation for Law Firms

In the age of digitalization and artificial intelligence, marketing automation has been developed to effectively facilitate marketing processes. It refers to a wide range of marketing analytics and automation tools. It saves time and resources for law firms so they can focus more time on their marketing strategy. Many big firms have started to use marketing automation software, while others remain hesitant to do so. If you’re still skeptical about how marketing automation would help your firm, this post will go over common marketing automation myths for law firms. 

“Automated marketing just generates messages automatically.”

While it is true that the main task accomplished by marketing automation software is automatically sending nurture messages to current and potential clients via email, the concepts behind marketing automation are much more than that. Marketing automation is about maximizing your efficiency in order to avoid writing and sending the same kind of messages to each individual every single day. It is also about targeting and identifying what the needs of your clients are; eventually delivering the right content, to the right people at the right time. In addition, marketing automation tools also allow you to examine and analyze your social media accounts and take proper actions to better capture the interest of your target audience. 

“It will be easier to use automated marketing than manual processes.”

Marketing automation is not easy. Setting up your marketing automation platform and customizing it to the way you work requires time and effort. Monitoring is still required for every campaign in order to ensure that you are properly analyzing the data you collect to maximize your marketing results. The main functionality provided by marketing automation is to remove the need to perform repetitive actions. Your resources can thereby be redirected towards more creative and strategic tasks. 

“Automated marketing is only useful for emails.”

Email is only one of the many functions of marketing automation. Marketing automation software enables you to collect data from various channels including your website and your social media properties. In fact, marketing automation software enables you to execute integrated multi-channel campaigns that you can measure with incredible accuracy.

“Automated marketing is for big law firms only.”

Even if your firm is comparatively small, it is likely worth trying out marketing automation in order to save time from some of your manual marketing tasks. Then you can invest your resources and time in higher-level strategic activities instead. If you are unsure about which marketing automation software to use for your firm, take advantage of some of the free trials that are available so you can try out different offerings to decide which one suits your business model the best.  

“Market automation will make you seem robotic and impersonal.”

Marketing automation does not have to be robotic. You can still personalize your content so that engages with your target clients and prospects directly and personally. You can start by segmenting your contacts into narrow workflows so you can ensure that each client or prospect receives content that they actually care about, such as content related to what they have previously engaged with. If you use the software correctly, your content and delivery should never come across as impersonal and robotic. 

“Traditional systems will not be replaced by market automation.”

You may feel satisfied with your current marketing tactics so you do not necessarily see the need to amend your marketing strategy. However, this may prevent you from competing with other law firms. As the competition for legal services grows, firms that use the software in an effective and innovative way will be able to outperform their competitors in the coming years.

“Only the marketing department will benefit from marketing automation.”

Marketing automation does not only benefit the marketing function at your law firm. Your attorneys and business development professionals can also benefit from the use of marketing automation software. Marketing automation software doesn’t only help law firms to uncover qualified leads but also enables them to nurture and manage their contacts over the entire lifespan of their time in your database. This enables your attorneys and business development professionals to learn more about your target audience as well as to provide them with valuable content throughout the client journey.

“Marketing automation is only good for generating leads.”

Marketing automation platform enables law firms to better manage opportunities and leads. Nurturing prospects into clients is the main goal of marketing automation software. However, marketing automation goes beyond lead generation. Marketing automation enables your firm to create opportunities for up-sells, cross-sells, and future engagement, hopefully leading to repeat business. Post-engagement workflows also encourage current clients to stay loyal and connected to your firm. Providing valuable content to your existing clients is an excellent way to deliver more value and generate loyalty amongst your clients.

Takeaway

There are many marketing automation myths for law firms going around. It’s important to understand what is true and what is not about the process so you know what to expect. When used properly, marketing automation tools enable legal marketers to avoid redundant work and focus on creative and strategic types of tasks.

The number of firms using or experimenting with marketing automation platforms continues to grow. If you would like more information on how marketing automation software can help your firm achieve your marketing and business development objectives, please contact us today.

Updated and Republished from Jul 22, 2019.