Wednesday, January 17, 2007 7:53 AM
Ari Kaplan wrote a nice article for Law.com this week, saying Don't Break Your New Year's Resolutions on Technology. In the article, Mr. Kaplan highlights some interesting uses of web technologies, including a lawyer who produced a video for YouTube and another who has developed his own MySpace website. According to the article, neither lawyer suggests that new business started knocking down their door as a result of their initial forays onto the web, but both felt the effort was worthwhile.
This latter statement made me think about all of the more traditional marketing and advertising that is done by lawyers. I don't pretend to be an expert on either subject, but looking strictly at the question of whether lawyers get a good return on investment for any of their marketing and advertising, it seems to me that some common sense can be a reasonable guide. If a lawyer spends money on a billboard advertisement, perhaps he/she will know how many cars a day drive by the sign. Perhaps they are even sophisticated enough to use a special phone number available only on the billboard, so as to capture how much new business or leads they get as a result of the billboard. Or, maybe, they just ask each potential new client 'how they heard about us?" Similarly, an advertisement in print media may come with metrics such as number of subscribers and maybe follow up surveys wherein an attempt is made to gauge how many people recalled the advertisement or the name of the lawyer of firm behind it.
But, in either case, it seems to me that attempting to specifically measure how much new business a lawyer or law firm receive as a result of any advertisement or marketing effort is an inexact science. That is, they may never know exactly how many new matters from existing clients or new clients themselves resulted from the effort. And, that is okay with most. Mainly, because they believe that these efforts are all part of a larger, longer term effort to raise awareness of the lawyer and/or law firm and the skills and knowledge they can offer. At the end of the year, if the lawyer or firm increased business by, say, 20%, they dollars spent on advertising and marketing could be deemed as money well spent (i.e., a nice return on investment).
Which brings me back to the lawyers highlighted in Mr. Kaplan's article. I am not suggesting YouTube and MySpace is for everyone. For many lawyers and law firms, use of such sites simply would not fit into their overall image and strategic plans. Instead, podcasting, a weblog or online advertising might be a better fit. However, for those who do believe YouTube and MySpace fits, the use of such sites are not much different in my mind than a billboard or phonebook advertisement. At the end of the day, the goal in each case is all about raising awareness.
One of the lawyers in the article is a solo who handles petty drug offenses. Another is just starting a solo practice in Florida from scratch. They may well have determined that in raising awareness via the web, they are also using the most likely platform for reaching their potential clients. Potential clients who may be more likely visiting websites like MySpace and YouTube every day rather than leafing through a phonebook somewhere.
In the end, my common sense look at legal marketing and advertising tells me that when you are dealing with an inexact science, trying new mediums and communication streams is not a waste of time. You don't have to jettison the methods you have used for years; but maybe augmenting these methods with something new could pay some dividends. Read Mr. Kaplan's article, check out some of the great blawgs from Legal Marketers for ideas, and just think about what new technology you may want to try this year...it is still January, after all, so there is plenty of time for all of those resolutions.