Why are Law Firms bad at Marketing?

Recently I’ve been working with many law firms.  One thing I’ve noticed is that their marketing efforts are subpar compared to other product and service companies.  One of my friends, Walter Foster, is a SuperLawer (that is a real term) that specializes in   employment and labor law, and comes from a long line of attorneys, so I thought I’d ask him.

Walter tells me that, historically, marketing was frowned upon by attorneys.  If a firm advertised it was usually the Personal Injury guys that advertise on TV, and gave the profession a black eye.  In the past, an attorney just hung out his shingle at his main street office and waited for people to come in with a need.

Well times have changed, and there are many attorneys from which to choose.  From a layman’s perspective, they all look alike, and it is not until your matter is closed that you know whether your attorney is “good” or not.  So how does an attorney get the word out, and how does that potential client know that an attorney is right for him?

Most firms still get the bulk of their business via referral, but it is becoming more acceptable to do some marketing to help grow a firm.  But many attorneys are still perplexed about how to “sell the invisible”.  Their experience and knowledge is intangible, so how does one get the word out without appearing boastful?

What do you think?  I’ll give my thoughts in the posts to come…

This entry was posted on April 11, 2009 at 1:21 am and is filed under Law Firms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

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