Marketing Your Law Firm - Moving Beyond the Facebook Cocktail Party
Lawyer marketing is a key component to the success of a law firm. In order to market your services effectively, it is imperative that you stay focused on the impact of your messaging.
The challenge is avoiding getting swept up in the “latest thing” or the “fun” of it all– just ask Caesar and Cleopatra whose attendance at wild parties has been chronicled through history. While many business development consultants are focused on helping their clients become more visible using social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube (all of which can be a lot like a cocktail party), it’s important not to let these marketing formats dominate your marketing efforts without examining the real value to your lead generation efforts.
It’s incredibly easy to spend too much time on social marketing efforts – especially if you listen to social network gurus who say that the rewards will be greater if you simply put more time in. After all, the time that you spend on social networking sites reduces the time you’re spending doing other marketing activities—and therefore needs to be balanced with the quality and value of connections made.
Reconnecting with law school friends and their in-house chums may be fun, but it won’t necessarily help you to grow your practice. An additional hour on Facebook is unlikely to lead to Mitsubishi’s associate general counsel or Microsoft’s chief patent lawyer visiting your profile and contacting you for information or to make a referral. Keep these points in mind the next time you log on to spend “just a few minutes” networking and end up spending an hour.
The scope and quality of your attorney marketing efforts should always be focused on making and building the right connections. Rather than focusing on what’s trendy, consider your goals. Instead of sticking with what’s comfortable – with passive marketing on Facebook and many other social platforms that can be like working the room at a cocktail party – work on building one-on-one relationships with your clients and prospects. Stay focused, know what’s going on around you, and don’t lose sight of your bigger marketing strategy.
