The #1 Marketing Mistake that All Law Firms Make

I hear it over and over again, “we want to grow our law firm but it’s not easy...” 

A few follow up questions, and the real issue is revealed, “I understand why the Bar association has so many rules and regulations when it comes to advertising to clients, but it makes it almost impossible for us to utilize today’s technology.” 

My answer is always the same, “you are going after the wrong audience.” 

Instead of chasing one client, law firms should be focusing on building referral networks. It’s that basic BNI concept you always hear about - farming versus hunting. A strong referral marketing campaign does two things - eliminates most Bar advertising restrictions and can significantly increase the number of new cases.  

I’ll give an example, a family law firm recently reached out to us at INGAGE and asked me to discuss handling their online advertising campaign. On our discovery call, the firm shared that they had hired and fired over seven different marketing companies to execute their ads campaign and all of them had no luck. Why were they missing the mark? Were all of these agencies inept or did they just not have the right offering? 

As with all prospective clients, we performed a quick analysis and discovered that the cost for successfully running the campaign would generate almost no profit based on the client’s average retainer fees. The problem wasn’t the other agencies, it was their tactic. They chose a strategy that would never succeed. They had to jump through all types of hoops with their state’s Bar to get final approval, it was a massive loss of time and money. With this knowledge in hand we implemented a referral marketing strategy utilizing content creation, LinkedIn, and Email marketing. The firm’s attorneys now meet with one potential referral a week and over 10 solid referrals a year are generated.  

The math breaks down to: 

5 attorneys x 1 referral meeting a week = 52 potential referral partners 

52 referral partners x 10 referrals a year = 520 new cases 

Sounds easy right? It can be, let us tell you how, schedule a call to learn more. 

About the Author

Katherine Doble is the president and founder of INGAGE. Since founding the firm in 2011, Katherine has developed award-winning social media and online campaigns for all sizes of organizations, from top Fortune 500 companies to privately-owned businesses.