‘Why do we need to improve the effectiveness of our marketing? We have just had our best year ever, profits have increased by 25%, and we couldn’t be busier.’
This is a common reaction from law firm senior partners when the subject of marketing effectiveness is raised. Granted, some firms are currently doing so well that they can probably afford to be this complacent.
But even though the current benign economic climate and the continued globalisation of legal services is leading to record levels of activity for UK commercial lawyers, the competition in many legal markets is getting noticeably tougher. Just ask those firms that are reliant on banking, insurance or property work. And what about the City firms being squeezed by the ‘magic circle’ at one end and the niche and provincial players at the other?
That some firms are responding more successfully than others to these competitive challenges can be observed in the marked differences in profitability between firms that ostensibly operate in similar markets. Greater effectiveness of marketing and business development activities is one of the reasons behind their success.
So how do law firms learn from the best in order to improve the effectiveness of their
own marketing?
Benchmarking law firm
marketing practices
Every two years, Wheeler Associates and market research company, McCallum Layton, undertake a benchmarking study of law firm marketing as part of a wider study involving all business advisory firm sectors. The 1999 study, Marketing the Advisers II, has just been completed and involved 61 leading UK law firms, including more than half of the top 50.
Through interviews with the most senior marketing professional in each firm, usually the marketing director, we benchmarked firms’ marketing practices against six critical marketing processes: understanding the market, marketing planning, managing clients, winning new business, building the brand and internal marketing. We also looked at the resources used by law firms to support their marketing.
