It would be easy to get tunnel visioned when it comes to marketing your law practice.
After all, the bulk of our time is spent on content, social media, email campaigns, ads, SEO and the like.
But marketing a law firm obviously has more parts to it than these.
Here are a few things to consider that add to the overall impact your firm's efforts are going to have.
Answering the Phone
Few things are quite as infuriating as trying to call a business, using their number, only to find that nobody picks up the phone.
It's true, of course, that if you're practicing in a very small firm (just you, or you and a couple of people) you're going to have trouble not letting things go through to voicemail sometimes.
But by and large, implementing a system where your clients and prospective clients are ALWAYS talking to a human when they speak is going to be the far better option.
For bonus points, make sure that the people picking up the phone know what's going on in the office, have access to the right calendars, and understand how to use the transfer function without hanging up on the caller.
Yes – even if they're lawyers.
The Team Engagement
I've written before that asking your staff to be involving in sharing your content online is a solid strategy to expand your firm's social media reach.
But it goes further than that.
Having a positive, engaged team that interacts with each other visibly online sends a powerful message to readers about what your firm's culture is like.
And in a world where, more and more, people are making buying decisions based on more than just perceived expertise, presenting a cohesive and supportive image to the world at large is a great way to send that message without just posting things like “gee our team is great”.
The Way your Talk about your Firm
Let's say it's been a long week and you're unwinding with a glass of your favourite beverage down at the local. Someone strikes up a conversation.
How do you sounda about your own firm?
Do you sound excited to be in business, powerfully motivated and energetic?
Or do you sound like Eeyore after a bad day?
The energy you bring to your own firm is infectious. Every time you speak with others is a chance to show them (and possibly remind yourself) that despite the challenges of practice you are up for the task and excited to get up n the mornings.
Alignment
Does the way your firm looks online align with how it looks in practice?
What about you? Do you talk like you write, and write like you sound in video?
If part of our marketing strategy is to create an overall perception of ourselves and our firm (which it is) then it's best to avoid the idea that the perception is some kind of corporate split-personality disorder.
The reason is simple: people are hard-wired to shy away from anything that seems dishonest.
So if you spend $150k to develop a 2 minute marketing video that makes you look like the world's most powerful, articulate and effective lawyer and someone turns up to your office to find that you're dressed in your pyjamas eating cold pizza out of a box, that's going to create some dissonance.
Create consistency. By and large, be the same person online that you are in the real world – don't put on a “lawyer marketing” mask every time you sit down to produce some content or engage with people. This way you can at least be confident that the people you are targetting have a vague idea what kind of person you are before they walk in the door.
It's a Complete Picture
Ultimately every interaction a client or potential client has with your law firm is part of your marketing equation – it all impacts how they respond to you and your firm.
So while we tend to focus on specific marketing tactics as the bulk of our dedicated efforts, don't let these other things completely out of sight.
