Too many law firms sponsor charitable events thinking that it will give them name recognition in the community and lead to more clients. In most cases that approach is a mistake.
Don’t get me wrong. If your firm is a sponsor for philanthropic purposes, good for you. If the sponsorship is for marketing purposes, in most cases it is a total waste of money for several reasons:
-Not enough firm representatives attend, sometimes not even the partner who pushed for the sponsorship,
-Firm is not a significant sponsor, just one of the crowd
-Sponsorship is for the wrong reasons – because a spouse asks or a non-client, etc.
-Little or no planning goes into working the event
-Often the table sponsored is half empty
So,
If you sponsor an event for marketing purposes, own the event – or at least be the main sponsor or forget it. The money could be better spent on other more meaningful marketing activities.
