Great article in the Buffalo Business Journal about the lawyer marketing efforts of Buffalo law firms. The essence of the article is that law firms are not going to get the best clients from aggressive marketing.
What Buffalo’s big firms do invest in is any kind of communication that might give clients and potential clients a chance to know their lawyers better.
So those marketing staffers get involved with everything from client-friendly seminars on targeted areas of practice to newsletters on topical legal issues to event sponsorships, networking opportunities and charitable activities.
Per Hodgson Russ Marketing Director Linda Schineller:
As in any professional services grouping, whether it be legal, accounting or medical service, what you’re really buying is talent and information. If you showcase it in a seminar, people then get an actual glimpse of the product.
That’s why professional marketing blogs are so popular. Blogs showcase a lawyers knowledge and skill in a niche area of the law.
I talk with 40 or 50 good law firms a month. When they hear how blogs work, they’re excited. It’s the same type of marketing discussed here – getting clients to know lawyers’ talents.