In this podcast, Bill Bice, an expert in building legal technology companies, speaks about building the marketing foundation for your law firm. Connect with Bill at boomtime.com or follow him on Twitter at @billbice

What has been the number one marketing mistake firms have made

Your audience doesn’t care about you- they care about the problems that they themselves have. We spend a lot of time as marketers looking at data, and when you do that, what’s effective becomes very clear. A lot of standard legal content just doesn’t have the right effect. Talking about yourself doesn’t exactly work either. Then, pair that with the constant problem in marketing which is a lack of consistency.

Why do you think legal marketing so often fails

Law firms are such an interesting market because getting internal support is so challenging. How often do you walk into a building with so many potential authoritative figures? Rarely. For those of us working with firms, getting a consistent plan that’s executed on for a long enough time period is really difficult. So many firms try to do this internally which just contributes to this inconsistency. 

What advice would you give to legal marketers?

Lawyers are really great problem solvers, and the best way to solve marketing problems are with data. The only thing that really matters is- are you getting new engagements? Are you attracting new clients?  Those results take time, but if you follow the data, you’ll be on track. Data also shows long term results in a cost-effective manner. 

How do you leverage “word of mouth” for your law firm?

We named our company after our motive, so take that core concept and amplify the effect. First, you have to do a better job of capturing your audience, you’re really creating a social currency for clients to talk about us. Running a directed marketing campaign can also give other sources a platform to talk about you to their own clients. If you can show as a marketer what the ROI of your service or product is, you have the opportunity to flip the conversation.

What are the biggest marketing opportunities for law firms today?

The contrast between the focus on digital and the budget in firms is obviously an opportunity. And although firms say they’re on LinkedIn, what we see in the market is really a token presence. In terms of the easiest thing to add value to your firm’s presence online, so much benefit out of LinkedIn. It’s the ideal networking platform. It’s the best cocktail party that you actually want to go to! Since a lot of firms aren’t utilizing this, those that do are seeing very noticeable results.

Takeaway

LinkedIn is also great for SEO because referrals come in at the attorney level, not the firm level. Controlling searches for your attorney’s name is valuable. This is extremely easy to do on LinkedIn, and the vast majority of firms haven’t done it. It’ll really improve the capture of these organic referrals. 

If you still need assistance in building a strong marketing foundation for your law firm, reach out to us today.

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