Tag: law firm marketing strategy

How to Realign Your Law Firm Goals this Spring

Around the new year, many law firms become motivated to set or reevaluate goals, plan for the year ahead, and improve current processes. Unfortunately, time moves quickly. The new year may slip away, but spring is another great time to realign your law firm goals, evaluate what went well or needs improvement, streamline operations, and get a “fresh start” for the rest of the year.

Law firms should take advantage of spring cleaning and use it to freshen up and realign law firm goals.

Law Firm Goals Review

Before law firms can make major “spring cleaning” changes, they should check in on the goals set for the new year. Spring is on the verge of a new quarter, so it’s good for law firms to check in with the goals that were set in the new year and the performance of the first quarter.

If the law firm is on track to reach goals by the end of the year, excellent! If not, this is a time to reevaluate needs, priorities, and goals, and get a pulse on the status of the firm’s health as a whole.

Ideally, the year began with SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound). These goals are clear and measurable, meaning they’re easy to assess and evaluate.

The key to SMART goals is measurement. Though it may seem obvious, law firms must measure their goals to see if they’re on track to reach the desired outcome, and what can be adjusted to put the firm in a better position to succeed.

Website Updates

Whether large or small, law firms of all sizes need a functional website to grow and evolve. Websites can become outdated quickly, impacting a law firm’s brand and reputation.

Websites should get a refresh regularly, but if a law firm has grown or made major changes in the past year, an update is a must. Perhaps there’s a new practice area or new office for the firm, or a revision to aspects of the brand like the logo or mission statement.

No matter the change, this is an excellent opportunity for law firms to revamp the website and ensure it accurately reflects the brand.

Record Cleanup

A law firm’s records are important for tracking financial activity and transactions. Without clear and accurate books, a law firm can’t make sound business decisions about the future of the firm or its financial health.

Spring is a good time for law firms to “deep clean” the books. They should review the files and accounts, cancel unused subscriptions, and organize receipts and records. While it may be early in the year, there are things your firm can do to prepare for the end-of-year frenzy. Now is the time to evaluate your need and future goals for the remaining of the year. A law practice management solution, like PracticePanther, offers streamlined billing and online payments, and reporting, making record cleanup a simple, straightforward, and fast process. This not only helps with the spring overhaul, but firms can monitor their books more easily throughout the year.

Marketing Strategy

Like goals, marketing strategies need to be evaluated and revamped regularly to stay ahead. Spring offers an opportunity for law firms to refresh marketing strategies and see what’s working (and what isn’t) to develop more effective solutions.

What worked in the past may not work this year, so law firms should consider changes in the new year like:

  • New marketing trends
  • Social media account updates
  • Automated email template updates
  • New SEO best practices
  • Site audits
  • Marketing analytics and KPIs

All firms need marketing, no matter how small or simple the firm or its business development. PracticePanther simplifies tracking your marketing strategy success with features such as legal CRM to keep track of and tag leads based on a custom source.

Inbox Cleanup

Busy law firms can amass a lot of old files, documents, spam, and client correspondence in a physical or email inbox. Left unchecked, the inbox can become disorganized, overwhelming, and more difficult to tackle in a reasonable length of time.

Cleaning the inbox is always time-consuming, but law firms should set aside time in the schedule to completely clean out the inbox (both physical and digital) to bring it back to a “clean slate.”

This is also a good time for law firms to do some additional digital cleanup, such as deleting old files and folders from the computer, updating apps and programs, and running a cleaner program to remove all the “junk” that can slow an operating system down.

Fee Agreement Updates

Fee agreements are ripe for problems with compliance. In the spring, law firms should review and revise fee agreements to ensure they’re still in compliance with the local jurisdiction’s ethical rules. This is especially true if the law firm has added a new practice area in the past year.

Other changes can prompt an update of the fee agreement, such as changes to the forms of payment the law firm accepts, file destruction policies, and more.

Compliance reporting comes up quickly, and if a law firm isn’t prepared, it can be a mad dash to get everything together. Even if the deadline isn’t until the end of the year, it’s best for law firms to use the spring-cleaning period to check the CLE status.

If the state requires reporting of all courses, and some certificates are available, they can be sent in early. If the state is self-reporting, the certificates should be organized in preparation for a possible audit. It’s important that the certificates are backed up, such as with a cloud-based digital storage solution.

Technology Evaluation

Law firms have a lot of technology at their fingertips, whether in an all-in-one practice management solution or individual apps and subscriptions. All of this can add up, especially if certain apps or features aren’t used enough to make it worthwhile.

Along with the rest of the spring cleanup, law firms should take stock of all technology expenses for the firm and evaluate which options are beneficial. For example, the firm may have tried a subscription service or app on a trial basis (which has since shifted to paid) that no one uses. These costs can slip through the cracks, especially if they’re small.

PracticePanther all-in-one law practice management software eliminates the need for costly subscriptions by keeping many operations in-house. Your firm can process online payments with our built-in payments processor, send documents for signature with native eSignature, and even send text messages to clients with 2-way business text messaging without leaving the platform.

© Copyright 2022 PracticePanther

Article By PracticePanther

For more articles on the legal industry, visit the NLR Law Office Management

Demystifying Marketing for Your New Law Firm

You’re not a marketer— you’re a lawyer. But any seasoned attorney knows that you need to get your new law firm’s marketing strategy in order if you hope to catapult your business to success. The problem is, you probably have no idea where to start.

There are many different marketing strategies out there. You might not know which ones are most important, or how to go about implementing a marketing plan that makes sense for your firm. In any case, you will need to figure out which strategies work best for your firm if you want to beat out the competition and become the go-to attorney in your area.

Why You Need to Market Your Law Firm

Whether you are a brand new law firm or have an existing practice, it is important that you get started on your marketing plan. There are many different elements that go into marketing a business. You need to choose how you will be identified in advertising and online, connect with other lawyers online, choose your branding logo and colors, purchase business cards, and engage in other efforts to get your name out there.

There are two primary ways budding law firms become successful— they build or engage in strong referral programs, and they become well-known within the community. Back in the late nineties through the early 2000s, you might have been able to purchase a billboard ad or create a commercial to get business in the door.

However, in today’s society, you have to market yourself online as well. But before you get ahead of yourself, first you need to figure out what marketing must-haves you will need the first day that your new law firm opens for business.

New Law Firm Marketing Must-Haves

Before you can open up the doors to your new law firm, there are several marketing materials you will need to have established and on-hand. Some of these are physical materials while others are various virtual tools. Both are equally as important at this stage of your business.

You will also need to begin at this stage of your marketing strategy if you are an established firm that is rebranding yourself. This often happens when existing law firms take on new managing partners, or simply have decided to go another direction in their branding.

No one said marketing your law firm was going to be easy. And you can also expect it to be time-consuming. But your efforts shouldn’t go unnoticed if you plan your marketing strategy out correctly.

Traditional Law Firm Marketing Materials

First and foremost you should begin your marketing efforts on your branding. Choose colors, what you want your firm to go by, and your brand logo. You want to be thinking about how you want your potential clients to perceive you as their lawyer when designing these elements.

From there, you can draw up and print your business cards. Once these are ready you can begin your new law firm’s networking efforts.

The new generation of lawyers who are anxious to get their practice up and running might be less interested in traditional law firm marketing materials such as postcards, newsletters, and other tangibles. But these tried and true methods of marketing are essential for your business.

A key component to marketing in 2021 is your Internet presence. You need more than just a good website. You need to set up your legal services description and professional biography, your website content, your law firm email address, and your professional email signature block.

You should also start to think about setting up your new law firm’s social media profiles including LinkedIn. Remember: referrals are one of the best ways for new law firms to get clients. And the only way to get referrals is by making connections— both in-person and online.

You may want to consider sending out formal announcements to colleagues and others who may be in your network that your law firm is officially open and accepting clients. Sending tangible cards and virtual announcements can both help gain exposure for your new law firm.

Search Engine Optimization for Law Firms

Your law firm is not likely to be successful if you do not have a strong online web presence. When potential clients are looking for a lawyer, they aren’t going to wait until they happen to see a billboard or commercial for a lawyer. They are going to open up their web browser and search Google for the “best (practice area) lawyer near me”.

You want your new law firm to show up in one of those top displayed search results because these are the only ones most internet users will click on. This is where search engine optimization (SEO) matters.

The legal industry is one of the most competitive online. You will be going up against established law firms that likely have teams of digital marketers working to boost their sites in the rankings. Your law firm may be new, but you cannot afford to not implement an SEO strategy for your site before or shortly after you open for business.

Marketing Tools You Need That Can Wait

Once your law firm opens, your marketing efforts shouldn’t stop there. You will need to continue to fine-tune and implement additional marketing measures to help your new law firm succeed.

Once you have your bearings and are ready to expand your marketing efforts, you can strategize further. Do you want to become involved in community organizations? Join bar associations? set up regular email campaigns? Maybe you want to send client retention gifts or order swag items and set up giveaways. Perhaps your focus is on giving back to your community.

No matter what your vision is for your law firm, you will need to continue to reimagine your marketing strategy over time. Even five years is too long to go without revitalizing your law firm’s marketing efforts. Your law firm should always be keeping up with marketing trends. This will help your firm stay ahead of the competition and point today’s clients to you and your law firm for the help they need.

© 2021 Denver Legal Marketing LLC
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