To Niche or Not to Niche: An Essential Question in Law Firm Marketing
To niche or not to niche? When it comes to legal marketing strategies, there are different schools of thought on this topic. You may be “pro-niche” or you may be “no-niche.” Or you may be a combination of both, like me.
Why Niche Your Practice?
It’s certainly helpful to concentrate your law firm marketing efforts in a particular area. This does not limit you; rather, it helps you better focus your efforts. The benefits of niching your practice include:
- Targeted legal marketing materials.
- A clearly-stated Unique Competitive Advantage, (UCA), or elevator speech. (Just a reminder: selecting a niche doesn’t mean that you can never work with clients outside that niche.)
- Improves your name recognition and branding.
- Makes you more memorable to people you meet.
- Increases your chances of getting referrals.
How to Determine a Niche
(Refer back to your answers to the law firm marketing exercises in my last 2 posts and look for overlaps between what you have to offer and what your clients need. Brainstorm possible target markets or niche names.)
Why Be Flexible About a Niche?
Your ideal client profile may change over time. In addition to building confidence and experience, this will help you determine who you enjoy working with and who you don’t. You’ll discover which practice areas energize you and which ones drain you. (It’s much easier to apply legal marketing strategies to potential clients whom you’d enjoy working with and in 
practice areas that energize you.)
During this experimental phase, you may want to remain open to possible target markets. It’s important to pay attention to the types of clients who come your way.
What Types of Clients Are Most Commonly Referred to You?
When you get inquiries from prospective clients, what’s drawing them to you and your services? Keep track of your clients and see if they don’t begin to naturally fall into one or more groups. You may find that you attract clients you can learn from or who can learn from you. Their situations may mirror your current or recent challenges. Becoming aware of these commonalities is a way to let your niche find you, helping you develop your law firm marketing.
Only One Niche?
It’s fine to have more than one specialty or niche. Often attorneys have a bread and butter niche – a segment that can afford to pay them well and another one, perhaps for starving artists, whom they love working with but who pay scholarship rates. Sometimes it’s helpful to test the waters to see if there’s a demand for your specialty. You can continue working with an established clientele as you determine whether or not to branch out into a new practice area. Remember, nothing is set in stone. You can always rename your business, print new business cards and update a website. That’s the beauty of legal marketing.
***************
Where can you read articles like: “9 Proven Keys to Recession-proof your Law Practice”;
“4 Secret Strategies of Law Firm Marketing” or “Supercharging Your Law Firm’s Referrals?”
In The Rainmaker Advisor Journal. To get your free trial copy, go to www.therainmakeradvisor.com
http://www.therainmakerblog.com/admin/trackback/122850
