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| Based Marketing Works Best for Law Firms |
In his Rhetoric, Aristotle lays out his three tools of
persuasion - good sense, shared values and friendliness. If you closely
watch any modern-day ad campaign, you will see that these tools are
still as valid as the day they were first recorded.
Lawyers,
however, often attempt to persuade their potential clients to hire them
using just one of these three tools - good sense. They will tell
marketers, "It is enough that I do good work." In doing so, most
lawyers and law firms leave two very powerful tools of persuasion on the
table - shared values and friendliness.
For most legal work,
there are plenty of lawyers out there who are good at what they do. At a
certain level, competence is a given. When making a choice among five
equally qualified lawyers, how will a potential client decide? Quite
simply, the decision-maker will proceed based on which lawyer seems to
offer the most-productive long-term relationship.
Relationships
are based on shared values, often defined as trust or trustworthiness,
and friendliness, often defined as putting the interests of the client
and the community before your own professional or personal interests.
There are many ways for a lawyer to demonstrate these qualities.
One
interesting study shows that, when people are asked for their opinion
of professional service providers as a class, only 43 percent give a
positive response. When these same people are asked for their opinion
of a particular service provider, a person they already know, even
casually, the approval rating goes up to 87 percent. That is the
powerful effect of a relationship.
MacArthur Graham discussed
relationship-based marketing at the June 12 meeting of the Rocky
Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association, held June 12 at
Fogo de Chao Restaurant in LoDo, Denver. She is founder and principal
of Layer Cake Creative, a Denver-based marketing and public relations
firm that specializes in professional services marketing.
The key
is to create electronic and print marketing collateral, and individual
business development plans, that demonstrate the full personality of
your firm - not just its capabilities.
In this way, you can
successfully differentiate your practice from other equally qualified
providers within a targeted and competitive market segment. You can
also acquire clients that are a good match to begin with and therefore
more likely to stay with you for the long term.
Conduct a personality test
In
order to enhance and communicate their unique personalities, law firms
and lawyers must first define their personalities. There should be a
definition for the firm as a whole, and then variations on that
definition for the individual lawyers.
Law firms can hire consultants to help them through this process, but there is no need to spend a lot of time and money.
Sit down as a group and answer a few simple questions. What do we do? Is it profitable? Who do we do it for? Who should
we do it for? Who will do it? Do we need to add expertise or
technology in order to do it better? What level of service do we
provide? How can we improve service? With what personality
will we do it? How are we human beings in addition to legal experts?
How will we convey this message - in words and in graphics? In print,
online and face-to-face?
Having the firm's personality defined,
and well-communicated, can prevent lawyers and staff from getting too
much 'off-message' in their individual marketing efforts, especially in
the new world of social media. A written policy or set of standards can
address this concern.
Within the larger context of the firm, each
lawyer should convey his or her unique personality. Not everyone needs
to be the same 'flavor.'
The firm, for example, may be vanilla.
One lawyer can be vanilla with chocolate sauce, another with sprinkles
and another with a shot of Kahlua. One can be hand-cranked, another
store-bought and another soft-serve. One can be in a milkshake, another
in a cone and another on a piece of pie. Just as there are many
variations on vanilla, there are many variations for individual lawyers
within the context of a law firm's basic personality.
The topping
or style that you add should be selected with your unique practice in
mind. It should also reflect the 'pain points' and interests of your
target clients.
Fit the tool to the talent
When
developing individual attorney identity and business development plans,
there is no 'one size fits all' method to create and maintain
relationships. Each lawyer has a different personality and interests.
Some are speakers. Some are writers. Some are networkers. Some enjoy
interacting with others face-to-face, others prefer networking
virtually.
The audience, too, must be appropriate. A great speech
delivered to an audience of people who are in no position to hire you
is a waste, as is an article published in a magazine your clients won't
see. A posting on LinkedIn or Facebook might have little impact on your
target audience unless you have a carefully crafted network of
connections or friends, or you are posting to a specific sub -group.
With
so many tools available to the modern marketer, no one person can use
them all and still be effective. You will be spread too thin. The worst
choice of all is to start an effort and then not follow through.
The
tools you choose must provide you with direct access to decision-makers
in your target market. If you cannot find the best venue for your
efforts, you can create one. This could be a seminar series for your
clients and their friends. It could be formation of a LinkedIn Group
around a newsworthy topic for your clients, potential clients, referral
sources and the media.
Use the tools you select to tell stories
about your clients, the problems they face and how you help them solve
those problems. Use them to start conversations. Over the long run,
conversations are a much better way to create and maintain relationships
than overt selling.
If your firm uses events as business
development tools, be sure to have 'rules of engagement' for these
events. Obviously, there should be a code for dress and acceptable
behavior. In addition, lawyers should do their homework. Who will be
there? Who does the lawyer want to meet? How will the lawyer start the
conversation? How will the lawyer follow up? Under no circumstances
should you sponsor an event where all of your lawyers in attendance
spend the time hanging out together.
In addition, many law firms
seem fond of distributing random gifts with their names on them - like
stress balls, shopping bags or t-shirts. Instead, think of your firm
personality. Think experiential. People value interesting or fun
experiences more than objects. Instead, come up with a way to spend
time with a potential client, doing something that you both enjoy.
Even
the most skilled lawyer will have trouble developing quality work if he
or she is unable to develop and maintain the kind of trusted
relationships that turn into business.
To be successful, each law
firm must have a distinct personality. Each lawyer within that firm
should have a personality as well, which is regularly conveyed to
members of a carefully targeted audience using the appropriate tools for
the topic, the lawyer and the audience. Potential clients who know you
and trust you in any capacity will be more likely to hire you when they
need legal services.
