Insights spoke to Trish Carroll, founder of GALT Advisory, on common issues missed when firms seek to market their services, and how to market law firms more effectively. Carroll founded GALT Advisory after a decade of leading the marketing and business function at Minter Ellison. GALT specialises in helping firms develop business and marketing strategies, including business strategy sessions for senior executives and Boards.
“Focusing on the largest sector of the legal market, smaller firms, it’s all about understanding your market. By market, I mean the industries and specific business concerns of their clients, or if it’s a personal services area such as family, elder and criminal law, understanding precisely what segments of these markets they are targeting.
“For example, in a family law context – are they trying to attract clients who are middle to senior management level income people, or high net worth individuals? The type of marketing needed to attract this segment will be different to lower-income people.
“In the area of elder-law, the same concept applies – are you targeting older people who are dealing with estate planning and transitioning out of family homes to nursing care, or are you targeting the children of older people who are dealing with these issues for their parents?
“Understanding the difference means you’ll be using appropriate marketing tactics and channels to reach your target audience.”
Often also overlooked is the advantage of niche expertise, and the marketing opportunities this offers.
“Firms that target specific niche areas, such as criminal, entertainment/media, workplace health and safety and so on are able to market in a very direct and coherent way, much the same as successful consumer brands do,” said Carroll. However she warned that “a more generalist approach” was likely to be both more expensive and less successful.
“The solution to this is straightforward – narrow the focus and use all the usual marketing tools to go after that segment of the market. Don’t be afraid to engage an advertising or brand agency to help you – as you might be the best lawyer or law firm in the world but if no one can find you and no one has heard of you then it’s an uphill battle to grow a successful business,” said Carroll.
Carroll cited Stacks Law Firm as a good example of targeted marketing, with their radio ads – “Get Stacks for your compensation” – reflecting a discernable brand backed by advertising dollars across public relations, TV and print advertising.
“You’ll see partners appearing on morning television,” observed Carroll. “This is fantastic promotion and it doesn’t just happen, it’s part of a well planned, integrated communications campaign that would have been orchestrated by an external PR firm.”
This is the issue, Carroll noted, for many smaller firms, who are “caught in a bind because they want to increase revenue and profit but don’t want to invest in the marketing tactics that will help them attract clients.
“Many law firms think that marketing, advertising and promotion are 'tacky' and they rely on word-of-mouth and their networks and hope this will continue to build a pipeline of business that enables them to grow and be successful. Well, sometimes it does but often it doesn’t. There are a lot of small law firms with partners earning very low incomes and I think that’s at least in part because they are afraid to embrace modern, and proven, marketing techniques.”
In short, finding the firm’s niche focus, and investing in a marketing strategy built upon proven marketing techniques are two easily implemented solutions for the marketing pitfalls many law firms encounter.
Trish Carroll presents on Client Relationship Strategies – Delivering Value for the College’s New South Wales Legal Practice Management Course. Trish’s module focuses on: developing good client relations; delivering value; and service level agreements.
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