Law Firm Marketing: Don't Do It All On your Own
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To be successful with Internet marketing and social media, you must recognize and play to your strengths and weaknesses.
The goal in life is not to eliminate your weaknesses. In fact, many people make the mistake of focusing too much on trying to overcome their weaknesses when their time and mental energy would be much better spent in trying to maximize their strengths.
There are two major reasons why you should spend time identifying your marketing and business development strengths and weaknesses. It helps you surround yourself with the right people and it gives you a clear picture of what areas you need to spend your time on versus outsourcing.
If writing a blog post 5 times a week or posting updates on a Facebook account multiple times a week for your firm is not your thing, you need to find a reliable resource who can take charge of these and similar tasks, because developing and implementing a powerful marketing strategy is critical to the success of your business.
Many attorneys waste far too much of their precious time, energy, and potential profits by trying to do everything for themselves as a way of "saving a little money" or not wanting to give up "control."
Remember, control is an illusion. Don't let your need for control or your need to be right every time get in the way of becoming a successful entrepreneur.
When it comes to taking on another project or heading up a new initiative, consider the real cost to your business in terms of lost time, wasted efforts, poor productivity, and decreased revenues. You are the most important person at your firm and your time is valuable.
It used to be said that 'time is money,' but that's not true in our modern society. Time is worth more than money because you can always make more money but you can never make more time.
Here are a few common examples of what many attorneys try to do single-handedly when they would be better off delegating or outsourcing:
- Creating, maintaining and writing for a monthly E-zine (e-newsletter) to send to current and prospective clients
- Setting up and writing for a weekly blog
- Setting up an maintaining Twitter and Facebook Accounts for your firm
- Writing and distributing press releases
- Creating and launching a direct mail campaign
- Developing their own law firm websites or learning how to build one from scratch
- Search Engine Optimization to increase traffic to your Internet Marketing efforts
- Designing a comprehensive law firm marketing plan or strategy
- Implementing systems and processes to better manage their client and prospect relationships
I'm not saying you should outsource your entire firm or use a law firm marketing company for everything, but unless you have a lot of extra time or specific experience in certain areas, you will not be able to represent yourself and your firm in the best possible light without the help of other experienced professionals. Remember, asking for help is a sign of strength and wisdom, not weakness and senility.
There are many ways that you can alleviate the pressure of developing and effectively using all of these exciting and effective marketing strategies on your own:
- Use existing staff in house who have talents and abilities in certain areas that you may not have been previously aware of and assign them specific tasks such as writing a blog 5 times a week or compiling a contact list with updated email addresses for past or prospective clients.
- Outsource just the initial set up of specific marketing tools or hire an outside firm to set up, write and maintain the entire initiatives from start to finish.
- Work with a law firm marketing professional to create a Marketing Action Plan (MAP) to focus your efforts and avoid common pitfalls.
If you need help creating a MAP for your law firm or want some help in jumpstarting your business development efforts give us a call at 480-659-9700 or contact me and let us help you get moving in the right direction.
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