Legal Marketing & PR

It?s time to get serious about marketing

By Jim Hassett

?I?ve been a lawyer for 31 years, and I?ve never seen it like this.  Do you have any words of wisdom for me??

The question came from a practice group leader at a 1,300 lawyer firm who subscribes to this blog.  She had just finished reading my book, and was looking for more.  At the time, I was not sure what I could add to what she had already read.   

As I thought about this over several days, the answer came to me:   It?s time for lawyers to get serious about marketing.  It may not be a magic solution, but it is an unavoidable fact of life.

Rainmaking has always been important to financial success in the legal profession.  These days, it is becoming a matter of life and death for both firms and for individual lawyers.

When AmLaw 100 firm Wolf Block dissolved a few months ago, the Philadelphia Inquirer asked former Duane Morris chairman Sheldon Bonovitz what would happen to its partners and associates.  ?Lawyers with solid business generation are going to be highly sought after....?, he said.  ?[Others] will have a hard time, unless they are part of a group.?

When the Wall Street Journal blog interviewed consultant Peter Zeughauser a few weeks ago about job security at large law firms, he said ?I think you?re going to see underperforming or poorly performing partners managed out... When I talk about poor performers... I?m referring not just to hours and billable rates, but also their ability to attract clients. I hear from a lot of managing partners the lament that ?my partners don?t act like owners.?  I think these partners ? the partners who ?don?t behave like owners? ? are going to struggle.?

To thrive in today?s increasingly competitive environment, most lawyers need to spend more time on marketing.  This year, we recommend at least one hour a day.  We encourage more, but will settle for less.  To participate in our coaching programs, lawyers must agree to spend an absolute minimum of three hours per week on marketing.  I know that these are high figures for many lawyers, but I also think that putting in the time substantially increases the chances of getting ahead in these challenging times.    

Law firms will also need to spend more on marketing, just to keep up with their competitors.   Traditionally, legal marketing budgets have represented about 2% of revenue, which is very low compared to other businesses.  The figure is typically in the range of 6-8% for professional service firms such as accountants, consultants, and architects and, and much higher in other types of businesses.  I am not sure what will happen to the percentage under the stresses of 2009, but have no doubt it is heading up over the long term.

And no matter what their total budget, law firms need to get smarter about how they spend their marketing money.  I wrote last week about how large firms are getting more serious about analyzing the ROI (return on investment) of each marketing expense, and putting more of their budgets into items like coaching which can be directly linked to results.

Similarly, individual lawyers need to get more serious about analyzing the return on their marketing time.  One lawyer I coached recently had been spending much of his marketing time in a leadership role at his local Chamber of Commerce.  But when we talked about exactly when this might lead to new business, it became clear that the potential payoff was too slow for his situation.   Much of the activity in that particular Chamber involved supporting startups in under-capitalized firms that could not afford legal help in the foreseeable future.  This lawyer needed new revenue sources sooner rather than later, so he decided to spend that time instead with current clients.  He is already starting to see results.

Full post as published by Legal Business Development on May 27, 2009 (boomark / email).