Have you ever been asked to provide the return on investment (ROI) for a marketing campaign? Panic sets in as you realize the impossibility of the task. Even if you know the number of impressions, click-through rate, engagement rate, likes, shares, time on web page, downloads, etc., it can be difficult to follow individual leads through the sales cycle to a conversion — intake call or initial consultation. Furthermore, attributing a lead to a single marketing initiative is shortsighted because that lead probably had multiple touch points with the firm.
For years, we’ve focused on marketing campaigns that generate “qualified leads” — for instance, a LinkedIn advertising campaign to promote a white paper written by one of your practice heads. These types of traditional digital marketing campaigns that target high-volume leads tend to result in low-quality prospects. (Note that I’m not saying LinkedIn advertising is pointless. Rather, I’m saying that the goal of law firm LinkedIn ads shouldn’t be lead generation. I cover LinkedIn advertising campaigns in more detail in a previous blog.)
As digital marketing matures, firms in the B2B space must start thinking beyond “lead generation” and “ROI.” The client journey is no longer linear; it’s complex, sophisticated and multi-faceted. Power has shifted from the marketer controlling the sales process to the potential clients who can thoroughly research firms in their own ways. With this power shift, prospective clients undoubtedly interact with your firm through multiple touchpoints before deciding to retain counsel, so traditional attribution models used to measure campaign success are becoming obsolete.
It’s time to discard the traditional sales funnel, where leads follow a structured and controlled path to become clients. Instead, we need to embrace the client journey.
A Fictional Client Journey
Consider this sales pathway of a business owner looking to hire outside counsel. These steps can happen in any order.
Google Search: The owner conducts online searches using various keywords, clicking through multiple websites to learn about various firms’ practices and attorneys. In addition to visiting the firm websites, they see several directory, survey and ranking sites, like Best Lawyers, AVVO, Chambers and Lawyers.com.
Social Media: While browsing their LinkedIn feed, they see a post an attorney shared about a new regulation affecting their company. A connection (possibly subconscious) is created, tying the attorney to the information.
Legal Media: They scan their daily Law360 digest to stay up to date on legal news and information affecting their business. Firms and attorneys that write consistently about their areas of interest become top of mind.
Word of Mouth: They call several people in their referral network to learn more about the firms on their shortlist.
CLE Event: While completing their final CLE hour, they attend a PLI course led by an attorney from one of the firms they researched. The attorney appears insightful, intelligent, experienced and transparent.
Podcast: During their commute, they listen to a podcast featuring an attorney who discusses a recent ruling likely to affect the company’s expansion plans.
After four months of information-gathering, the prospect decides to retain your firm. How would you theoretically attribute a “conversion” in this scenario? To all of the above! But it’s impossible to precisely measure and track each touchpoint throughout the business development process.
Shifting to a Multi-Faceted Legal Marketing Approach
Instead of focusing on “lead generation” in B2B marketing, law firms should pivot to a model that emphasizes three key pillars:
- Develop meaningful connections through networking strategies to better understand the potential client’s pain points and nurture authentic relationships. Traditional business development strategies like in-person events and occasional phone calls to referral sources still work and can be supplemented with digital strategies like building and engaging with LinkedIn connections.
- Educate the marketplace by creating informational content. Blogs on your firm website, client alerts, case summaries, and articles in industry and business publications provide valuable resources for your audience.
- Build brand awareness by showcasing the firm’s values, culture and competitive differentiators in multiple channels — web, social, events, sponsorships. As an example, think about a video on the firm’s home page. The goal of the video should be to deepen your visitors’ understanding of the firm by conveying its values, expertise, successes, etc., through visual content. (You know that “viewers” are not going to convert directly to leads because people don’t hire an attorney or firm after watching one video.)
Additional Tips for Greater Transparency and Less Friction
Within these three key pillars, marketing teams must enhance transparency and reduce friction in the business development process. Here are some practical tips.
- Make Content Accessible: Remove barriers like gated content that requires filling out forms, because lead captures restrict access and do not generate high-quality prospects. It’s better to try to increase your content reach.
- Establish Credibility: Get your practice heads quoted and published in relevant media to build authority and credibility. While blogging on your firm website has its benefits, content published on authoritative media sites has an added layer of credibility.
- Participate in Podcasts: Use podcasting to demonstrate your attorneys’ knowledge and experience in an authentic forum where conversation is unscripted and naturally humanizes its hosts and guests.
- Engage on LinkedIn: Encourage senior partners to participate actively on LinkedIn by growing their connection base and engaging with prospects, referral sources, community members, industry leaders and colleagues in a meaningful way. (I realize this can be a difficult ask!)
These marketing and business development tactics will help build trust in your target markets. By implementing these strategies, you will spend less time worrying about capturing and attributing leads and more time fostering genuine demand and long-term relationships.
Embracing the Complexities of Legal Marketing
Understanding that purchasers of legal services follow a complicated and diverse path will help you abandon outdated models. Legal marketers who understand a potential client’s challenges and offer solutions are better positioned to develop meaningful connections and achieve a higher success rate.
If you have any questions about shifting your legal marketing approach, reach out to Jaffe at info@jaffepr.com.