Proof: Advertising Works!
"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half," said department store merchant John Wanamaker. Now, thanks to ALM Media we have the report, "An Analysis of Advertising and its Effect on Law Firm Revenue Growth."
Click the link, complete the form and you'll have the PDF report. I wish I had evidence like this when I was the marketing director of a large law firm. I was dealing with a marketing partner who was a combination troglodyte and bully, who zeroed out my advertising budget. I explained that the firm had bought ads for many years in a row -- if only to announce a new office, partner or charitable donation -- and that we could save a lot of money by planning, and purchasing a schedule of ads. He insisted on proof that advertising worked.
"Firms that make a commitment to advertising have higher growth rates," states the new four-page report. ALM conducted a series of research analyses throughout 2005 to quantify advertising effectiveness -- to measure whether an increase in law firm ad spending leads to an increase in law firm revenues. Their industry-wide findings measured the relationship between law firms' advertising spending and their revenues by comparing firms that advertise and those that do not. Among the findings:
Firms that make a commitment to advertising have higher growth rates.
Financially successful firms advertise.
- Firms that advertise make more money than those that don't.
And here's the really intersting data:
Firms that spent $100,000 or more in at least 3 of the 5 years included:
- Arnold & Porter LLP
- Baker & Daniels
- Barnes & Thornburg LLP
- Crowell & Moring LLP
- Dickstein Shapiro Morin &Oshinsky LLP
- Epstein Becker & Green, P.C.
- Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner
- Foley & Lardner
- Fulbright & Jaworski L.L.P.
- Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe LLP
- Holland & Hart LLP
- Howrey Simon Arnold & White
- Jones Day
- Kirkpatrick & Lockhart LLP
- Littler Mendelson
- Morrison & Foerster LLP
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
- Proskauer Rose LLP
- Ropes & Gray LLP
- Shook, Hardy & Bacon L.L.P.
I'll bet you've heard of all these firms.
