The New Year is upon us and many firms are making resolutions for 2014. Including a marketing resolution for your law firm can help it receive the recognition and attention that it deserves. Marketing allows the public to identify what your firm has to offer, increases brand awareness, name recognition, and referrals, thereby attracting more customers.

Below are six strategies to consider when creating your firm’s New Year’s resolutions:

1. What services does your firm need? –Each firm can benefit from different types of marketing programs. Your firm may need assistance with advertising, graphic and web design, video production, public relations, and/or the creation of a new marketing plan. Consider using a brainstorm session with your employees to decide which areas of your practice needs improvement and why.
2. Envision success – Remember you have to spend money to make money. Think about the target audience you’d like to reach. If they’re younger, focus your marketing on social media or Google ad words. If they’re older, use traditional marketing efforts such as direct mail, trade shows and print ads. Thinking about how your audience receives information can be the key to marketing success.
3. Think about what your firm can offer to these markets – What makes your practice stand out? Do you have more than one “wow factor”? Remember to inform your potential customers about all of the services available that can enhance their lives. Provide as much information to the public as you possibly can. Release photos, press releases, videos, and social media posts to attract media attention – people still read and listen to the news, which can get the public talking about your firm and eventually lead to an increase in sales.
4. Make a plan – Successful marketing takes time; develop a solid marketing plan to review your firm’s needs and create future goals. An effective marketing plan includes understanding your target audiences’ needs, reviewing your competitors’ marketing initiatives, differentiating your practice from the clutter and managing your budget. How are you going to make your business stand out? Are you going to improve upon the same marketing tactics that competitors use or are you going to think outside of the box and generate your own marketing campaign?
5. Budget your time and money – Make sure your firm has the time and finances to properly execute marketing campaigns. For instance, writing a weekly blog can be time consuming, especially if you have other projects on your radar. Make sure the employee in charge of the various marketing projects is consistently able to make updates. Don’t start a project and put it on hold for a month – marketing efforts are most effective when done consistently over a long period of time.
6. Do you need outside help? – Your busy staff may not have the time to effectively execute marketing tasks that you have planned. Instead of piling more tasks on your employees’ heavy workload, consider hiring a marketing firm to constantly keep your firm consistently in the public eye. A fully integrated firm can help you with one or several service areas and will already have years of experience under their belt.

If your firm needs help with social media, marketing, advertising, direct mail, video production, web design, or public relations, please contact our experts at PR4Lawyers. Contact Aimee Dineiro at Aimee@pr4lawyers.com or call her at 1-866-PR4Lawyers.