September 21, 2005
Law Firms Struggle with Marketing Issues
Stephen Collins, Juris, Inc. President, and Beth Keno, the head of the Juris Professional Services group, participated at the Midwest Managing Partner Forum hosted by The Remsen Group last week.
Marketing was one of the hot buttons discussed by attending partners. Marketing is still an issue law firms are struggling with. There were a number of questions about what works and what does not, as well as how much spending on advertising is enough.
One of the best discourses on the subject comes from Larry Bodine’s blog, http://pm.typepad.com. In the March 2005 issue of Law Practice, published by the ABA Law Practice Management Section, Larry was asked by the magazine (page 35) "How much money should I spend?"
Larry’s answer is "whatever you’re spending, it isn’t enough." As he notes in an April 7, 2005, posting to his blog, corporations spend from 10 to 15 percent of revenues on marketing while law firms spend less than 2 percent. The bulk of that spending is wasted dollars—tables at charity events, holiday cards, etc. Larry also noted that BTI Consulting Group’s research found that a marketing budget of $14,000 to $17,000 per lawyer yields optimal benefits measured in terms of revenue and profits per lawyer. For more of BTI findings, go to
http://www.lawmarketing.com/pages/articles.asp?Action=Article&ArticleID=329.
In future postings we will address some of the more effective marketing investments a firm can make and the relative weight that should be given to acquiring new clients and developing relationship with existing clients.
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Filed under Marketing by Tom Collins