by Traverse Legal, reviewed by Enrico Schaefer - January 5, 2008 - 'The Greatest' Philosophy
Granted, most lawyers don’t think much about marketing. Some lawyers still look at the concept of marketing as somehow unsavory. Why it is some lawyers think this way?
Preserve the status quo: Some lawyers don’t like advertising because they’ve been around a long time and they don’t want to compete. Some of these law firms live off of their momentum and the fact that their law firm name is well known in the community. These law firms fundamentally think advertising is bad for the simple reason that advertising is going to create more choices for consumers.
Advertising is unethical: Some lawyers believe that advertising is unethical. They think it is somehow beneath the profession to create a marketing message for consumers to consider. Much of this way of thinking is driven by the ambulance chaser advertisement message used by some personal injury attorneys. It is true that advertising needs to be regulated when it comes to people who are extremely vulnerable. Someone who has just been seriously injured in an auto accident doesn’t need a high pressure sales pitch, gross exaggeration or the like. But let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water here. A very small percentage of legal consumers are injured people. Most legal consumers are in fact private individuals or corporations looking for a good law firm to help with a business or professional problem. For this group of legal consumers, advertising provides information and educates consumers on choice.
Word-of-mouth lawyers: Many law firms simply rely on word-of-mouth as opposed to advertising. For those law firms that can get by on word-of-mouth, that’s wonderful. But I have never spoken to a lawyer or a law firm, no matter how big, that didn’t want more work, better clients or higher quality projects to work on. Besides, word-of-mouth and reputation are the exact qualities which any lawyer marketing campaign should promote. Many of the lawyers who are considered to be the best in their niche, publish articles, give speeches and participate in presentations for this very reason.
The Internet offers a wonderful vehicle to establish your expertise as an attorney. And there are a lot more eyeballs surfing the web than there are mouths standing at the fence line talking about legal services. I cannot think of any better way to establish and promote your expertise than to publish online. There is no better tool for accomplishing this goal than blogging.
As a founding partner of Traverse Legal, PLC, he has more than thirty years of experience as an attorney for both established companies and emerging start-ups. His extensive experience includes navigating technology law matters and complex litigation throughout the United States.
This page has been written, edited, and reviewed by a team of legal writers following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. This page was approved by attorney Enrico Schaefer, who has more than 20 years of legal experience as a practicing Business, IP, and Technology Law litigation attorney.
