Horses for courses

Only by understanding the 'racecourse', then selecting the right horse to run, can firms ever fully understand their clients and win new business, says David Wallace.

According to management guru Peter Drucker: “Marketing is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is from the customer’s point of view.”

But how many law firms’ marketing activities look as if they have been developed with the client even remotely in mind? Imagine a group of lawyers dressed up in monkey costumes at a hospitality event. Would clients think they were fun and different?

One of the main reasons some marketing initiatives fail is that they are firm oriented rather than client focused, with not enough consideration given to what clients will think, how they will feel, or how they will respond.

Even when some lawyers do put themselves in their clients’ shoes, they assume that they will be annoying clients if they call them out of the blue or if they bombard them with mailings; so they are reluctant to undertake any promotional activities. Yet, if you ask clients, they do want their lawyers to be in touch – admittedly only with helpful calls and relevant mailings.

When asked what they think is effective marketing in formal research, clients tend to say seminars, training workshops, press articles, newsletters, research surveys and speaking at conferences. What these activities have in common is that they all contain something that is actually relevant to their work. The good news is that these are among the least expensive activities for law firms; the bad news is that lawyers’ cooperation and time away from fee-earning client work is necessary.

Less-effective marketing activities, according to clients, are advertising, trade-directory entries, sponsorships and brochures. These are among the more expensive activities, but often require less lawyer input.

Of course, what is important is not to go straight to the promotions stage of marketing and consider only certain activities and write off others, but rather to start with some strategic thinking about the commercial objectives, the marketplace that is being targeted, clients and prospects’ wants and needs, and so on. Different promotional strategies will be required depending on factors like these. No activity should be written off, not even those which clients say are less effective. It’s horses for courses – what works in one instance may not be right in another.

Even looking through a random selection of law-firm websites and brochures today, the partner is clearly the focus of many firms’ marketing – not the client. The client hardly gets a look-in, with few mentions, either direct or indirect. Those firms which manage to truly put the client at the heart of their marketing (and not just as words on a page) and understand the racecourse, will be those which select the right horse for the race and whose marketing will succeed.

David Wallace is an independent business strategy and marketing consultant. He can be contacted at davidw@strategypoint.co.uk.