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Message: Hi, I thought you might be interested in this article I found. Marketing for Lawyers: Diversity is Critical Diversity is important in all aspects of life. For the purposes of this discussion, we are not going to get into racial diversity (although that is extremely important). In this article we will discuss diversity as it relates specifically to marketing for lawyers. There are three aspects of marketing diversity that are critical to the success of a law firm. These are: Diversity in case selection, client industry and pricing. Let’s explore each of these three areas. Matter/Case Diversity One of the first things we teach our clients is that they must focus on a specific market niche in order to command fee premiums and differentiate their law firm from their competitors. You can imagine the strange looks I get when I raise the subject of case or matter diversity with those same attorneys. Although niche marketing is a critical component of marketing for lawyers, it is wise to have two or three areas of expertise within your niche. For example: A Transactional Immigration attorney can specialize in obtaining visas for people with extraordinary ability and in obtaining visas for temporary foreign workers. Artists, athletes and scientists will be attracted to this attorney because of the first specialty, while international hotel chains will be interested in working with him because of the second. The diversity of this approach helps hedge against a limit (natural or imposed) being placed upon either of these programs. There are dozens of examples of this in just about every practice area. Diversity of Client Industry If you work with clients in only one industry you will eventually get burned. This is particularly true of lawyers in business-to-business transactional practices. I have come across several lawyers who worked only with auto companies for their entire career. Those lawyers are struggling now. In some of the consumer law practices (criminal defense, family law, probate law) you may think there is an immunity from falling victim to “more of the same”. This is true to a certain extent – unless you live in a company town and the company moves or closes up. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Detroit, Michigan and Hartford, Connecticut are all serious examples of this situation. Pricing Diversity No discussion of marketing for lawyers can ever be complete without bring up the subject of fees. Fee diversity (pricing diversity) is another critical element of law firm success. A good rule of thumb is: No one client should make up more than 10% of your revenue. The reason for this is to avoid waking up one day to find out that a huge portion of your law practice just fired you. Big revenue clients, clients that allow you to pile up the billable hours, should always be part of a marketing plan for lawyers. But careful attention must be paid to the mix of clients. A good law firm always has its ranks stocked with clients at all pricing levels. Diversity in this context is critical to the success of any law firm. If you are developing a marketing plan make sure you take into account the mix of clients by industry, case type and price. If you don’t you may wake up one day to find out you need to start from scratch. Link: http://www.rainmakerlawyer.com/site/permalink/marketing_for_lawyers_diversity_is_critical/