Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog : Law firm marketing, legal editor, legal marketing, attorney marketing, business development, marketing consultant, legal consultant, business development

Over the last three years the relative portion of legal work given to the largest, full-service law firms has declined from 26% of legal fees billed to only 20%. The decline of the 50 law firms in the U.S. with more than 750 lawyers is quantified by new LexisNexis/Counsellink research, Enterprise Legal Management Trends Report.

You can get a copy here. In the chart below, locate the sloping, bright green line.

The decline of Biglaw has been well-documented by The New Republic, Above the Law and The New York Times. Richard Susskind has launched a book-writing career on the topic. But this is the first time I've seen actual statistics.

Another telling statistic is that legal departments are not consolidating with “Largest 50,” according to the report. Instead they are sending legal work to the new winners: "Large Enough" firms with 201-500 lawyers.

Three years ago, “Large Enough” firms were responsible for 18% of overall legal billings. In the most recent 12 months, the same firms are now responsible for 22% of legal billings, the report says. (See the red line in the chart below.) An even more dramatic shift is seen in high fee litigation cases -- those matters that generate fees totaling $1 million or more. “Large Enough” firms grew their portion of U.S. high fee work from 22% three years ago to 41% in the trailing 12 months.

Meanwhile, firms with 50 or fewer lawyers are also cleaning up. As shown in the chart below (see the purple line), they are the firms that get the biggest proportion of legal billings -- 30% of it.

The report represents analysis of a snapshot of data available via the CounselLink Enterprise Legal
Management platform. Currently, the collective stream of data and processed invoices represents more than $10 billion in legal spend, 2 million invoices, and well over 300,000 matters gathered over the past 4 years, with the volume of data available for analysis growing at a rapid pace.

Larry Bodine is a journalist, lawyer and business development advisor to law firms. He is currently pursuing a project to publish legal news for consumers in newspapers, TV stations and web sites. For more information, you can reach him at 520.577.9759 and larrybodine.com.

In terms of billed hourly rates paid by clients, the average hourly billing rate of a partner in a U.S. law firm is $381 per hour, according to the Enterprise Legal Management Trends Report published by LexisNexis.

Of course, a partner’s practice area has a dramatic impact on the hourly billing rate. For example, advice and counsel for mergers and acquisitions commands a higher-than-average billing rate of $630 (see chart below).

What's interesting is that the research shows an increase in rates starting in 2010. The research says that partners rates increased 2.7% over the previous year, on top of an increase of 2.5% during the previous 12 month period.

The findings run counter to other reports about clients taking discounts, legal work being commoditized, pressure from overseas legal process outsourcing, and a decline in demand for legal services. Reports this year from Citi Hildebrandt and Altman Weil painted a grim portrait of the profession.

"As an amalgam of different law firm sizes, practice areas and locations, it’s a reasonable indicator of how hourly rates are trending. Hourly rates continue to climb, even if growth has slowed. However, these growth rates are well below the high single-digit growth the industry garnered during peak periods prior to 2008," the LexisNexis report states.

The $381 hourly rate is mathematical calculation for a wide range, where partner fees range from $170/hour for insurance defense work, to $392 to employment and labor, and $527 for IP and trademark work.

The report adds that alternative fee arrangements were used in 10% of matters and 6% of billings in the past year. They are most commonly found in three practice areas: finance, loans and investments; employment and labor; and litigation.

Larry Bodine is a journalist, lawyer and business development advisor to law firms. He is currently pursuing a project to publish legal news for consumers in newspapers, TV stations and web sites. For more information, you can reach him at 520.577.9759 and larrybodine.com.

For a related story, see New Statistics Illustrate the Decline of Biglaw

Lawyers are smart people.  Most lawyers have attended presentations on how to develop new business and enhance their practices.  As a result, most of them clearly understand the theory behind business development.  Most of them sincerely want to get more work and better work.

So, why do most lawyers fail to achieve their business development goals?

The two primary obstacles are fear and lack of time.  Fear is generated when lawyers are asked to step outside of their comfort zones and engage in new activities.  Lack of time causes lawyers to push business development to the back burner, never giving it the chance to mature into habit.

“The best way to overcome these obstacles is to develop a customized marketing plan and tactics that fit a lawyer’s unique personality (thus overcoming fear),” said Craig Brown, “and to develop good business development habits (using a pipeline) that keep these activities front-and-center.”

Brown discussed how to motivate lawyers to engage in business development at the monthly educational meeting of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association, held Sept. 10 at Sullivan’s Steakhouse in LoDo Denver.  Brown is a former lawyer and principal consultant with LawVision as well as founder of the Motivera Group and Modena Seminars.

“Lawyers will be successful when they are comfortable with and get satisfaction from business development, and when they develop the habit of regular engagement in business development activities,” said Brown.

Lawyers are not “designed” to sell

The average lawyer who is asked to sell differs from the average sales professional in many important ways.  In a well-known study, Dr. Larry Richards used the Caliper Profile to discover the personality traits common to various successful professionals – including lawyers.

Richards uncovered certain personality traits that set lawyers apart from non-lawyers.  Lawyers score high on abstract reasoning (82 percent), which is no surprise.

Richards found that lawyers score high on skepticism (90 percent), autonomy (89 percent) and urgency (71 percent).  “The skeptical lawyer will question everything; the autonomous lawyer will resist being managed; and the urgent lawyer will be impatient and want to see immediate results,” said Brown.  “None of these qualities is particularly helpful when it comes to business development.”

Richards also found that lawyers score low on sociability (7 percent) and resilience (30 percent). “Lawyers with low sociability scores are reluctant to open up their personal lives to others,” said Brown.  “They play it close to the vest.  The less-resilient lawyer is unable to bounce back easily from criticism or rejection.  These qualities hinder lawyer efforts at business development.”

In a related study, Richards focused on lawyers in particular -- comparing a group of lawyers, all rated as excellent lawyers by their peers, who differed only in their business development skills.

“The biggest differentiators between the rainmakers and less successful lawyers were ‘ego drive’ and ‘resilience,’” said Brown.  “Ego drive is the desire to persuade others for the sheer joy of getting someone else to agree with them.”

Resilience is the ability to bounce back from criticism or rejection.  When a prospect says ‘no,’ a lawyer with low resilience takes the rejection personally and wants to quit.  A lawyer with strong resilience feels challenged and just wants to try harder.

“Lawyers as a group differ from other professionals in their personality traits,” said Brown.  “Plus, lawyers who are successful rainmakers differ considerably from lawyers who are not.  This does not mean that lawyers as a group cannot be effective rainmakers.  They need to be aware of their natural tendencies, discover what works for them, and then work harder at it.”

No “one size fits all”

“Business developers who work in roles that are consistent with their personality, values and interpersonal characteristics are more likely to outperform those who are less well-matched,” said Brown.  “It is important to match lawyers with business development activities that fall within their comfort zones.”

To do this, Brown developed a tool called the Lawyer Behavior Profile.  “This tool is a personal GPS for building a lawyer’s practice,” said Brown.  “It is objective, designed specifically for lawyers and focused specifically on business development traits.  Its goal is to help lawyers best deploy their strengths and work around their weaknesses in the business development process.”

The Lawyer Behavior Profile is a deep-dive assessment that Brown’s company administers to its clients.  

Quick Tool to Understand Prospects

In addition, Brown shared a shorthand tool devised for quickly understanding and categorizing the personalities of prospects.

This tool charts each person on two characteristics – orientation and speed.  A person’s orientation can be towards tasks or towards people, or somewhere in between.  A person’s speed can be methodical or quick, or somewhere in between.  Plotting these elements on two axes generates four quadrants and four distinct personality types.

People who are methodical and task-oriented are “analyzers.”  To analyzers, it is important to “get it right.”  They pay attention to details, are systematic and analytical, and are problem solvers.  Common career choices for analyzers are scientist, engineer, accountant, ERISA attorney or IP attorney.

“When trying to persuade an analyzer to engage in business development activities,” said Brown, “use facts, numbers and information.  When trying to get an analyzer to do business development, let them use information to persuade.  Research projects and articles that can be shared with clients and potential clients are good activities for analyzers.”

People who are methodical and people-oriented are relators.  To relators, it is important to “get along.”  They are agreeable, need to be liked, interested in others and often serve as peace-keepers.  Common career choices for relators are counselors, teachers, ministers, social workers and arbitrators.

“When trying to persuade a relator to engage in business development activities,” said Brown, “emphasize activities that maximize interaction – events where they can meet people and create relationships.  Networking (including social networking) is a good business development activity for relators.”

People who are quick and task-oriented are directors.  To directors, it is important to “get it done.”  They are focused, direct and blunt.  They need to be in control.  Common career choices for directors are CEO, drill sergeant, dictator, athletic coach and managing partner.

“When trying to persuade a director to engage in business development activities,” said Brown, “emphasize activities where they can be in control.  Board leadership or organizing a seminar (but not necessarily speaking at the seminar) is a good business development activity for a director.”

People who are quick and people-oriented are performers.  To performers, it is important to “get appreciation.”  They are creative individuals who see the “big picture” rather than the details.  They enjoy opportunities to socialize and be recognized.  Common career choices for performers are sales person, entertainer, social director, advertising executive and trial lawyer.

“When trying to persuade a performer to engage in business development activities,” said Brown, “emphasize activities that allow them to be creative in public.  Giving speeches and making presentations at a beauty contest are good business development activities for performers.”

Build habits using a pipeline

Once you have found the best match between a lawyer’s personality and business development activities, the challenge becomes time.  The best way to overcome the obstacle of time is to develop solid habits that become part of a lawyer’s regular routine.

“The best tool to accomplish this goal is the pipeline,” said Brown.  “Pipelines provide organization, prompt next steps, track conversations and next steps, analyze networks, and help lawyers move from credibility and awareness (lower-level goals) to relationships (higher-level goals).  Many lawyers like the analytical approach and structure of a pipeline.”

A pipeline is simply a list of qualified prospects that a lawyer would like to transform into clients – and a system that tracks exactly where a lawyer is in the process and the next step that needs to be taken.  A sales pipeline is a system to organize, motivate and direct a lawyer’s sales activities – in the shortest amount of time.

A pipeline begins with a chart that includes the name of the target entity; the target contact within the entity; target revenue numbers; information, history and notes about the contact; next steps to be taken; and deadlines to be met.

An important part of the pipeline is the stage of the relationship.  There are seven stages:  (1) target identified, (2) initial communication made, (3) steps taken to build relationship, (4) meeting held to assess legal needs, (5) steps taken to build trust, (6) agreement to hire and (7) file opened.

Analyze pipeline stages

“Ideally, to keep a pipeline flowing, a third of these targeted contacts should be in the first few states, a third in the middle stages and a third in the final states,” said Brown.

“A lawyer with a lot of targets in the first stages is good at meeting people, but needs to concentrate on transforming awareness into productive relationships,” said Brown.  “A lawyer with most targets in the middle stages needs to learn about closing the deal.  A lawyer with most targets in the final stages needs to worry about the pipeline running dry once that work is done.

“At stages three and five (building relationships and building trust), pursue activities that include your targets,” said Brown.  If you are giving a presentation or a seminar, for example, ask your target to be a co-presenter.  If you are writing an article, ask your target to be co-author, or send your targets a copy with a nice note.  If you are hosting an event, invite your targets to attend.

“Finally, when meeting with a target, a lawyer should try to discover the target’s personality type and modify his or her approach to better match the client’s personality,” said Brown.  “Use a Google search to learn more about the target.  Do a LinkedIn exercise to discover common connections.

“Check out the target’s office space,” said Brown.  “Analyzers will be surrounded by stacks of documents and magazines.  Relators often will have a lot of pictures of family, friends and colleagues in their offices.  The offices of directors will usually be Spartan.  Performers will entertain interruptions, like phone calls and text messages, during your meeting.  They will prominently display any awards.”

Once you understand a lawyer’s unique personality type, you can decrease their fear of marketing by coming up with a plan and tactics that meet their comfort level. Once they are comfortable with the tactics, you can address a lawyer’s perceived lack of time by devising a pipeline.  Spending just 30-60 minutes a week on pipeline activities can develop the essential habit of business development. 

Author Bio: Janet Ellen Raasch is a writer, ghostwriter, copyeditor and blogger at Constant Content Blog who works closely with professional services providers – especially lawyers, law firms, legal consultants and legal organizations – to help them achieve name recognition and new business through publication of newsworthy and keyword-rich content for the web and social media sites as well as articles and books for print. She can be reached at (303) 399-5041 or jeraasch@msn.com.

Amy Kovar, writing on the LexisNexis Law Firm Marketing Blog provided an interesting list of blogging ideas for October and November in many different areas of law.  Check it out and give one a try.

Each month, we highlight upcoming events, anniversaries, holidays and observances that have a legal connection. These occasions may help inspire blogging topics. And because relevant online searches can spike in the days leading up to these events, topical blog posts may yield higher-than-normal traffic, while also improving your website's search engine rankings.

The second half of October and early November are full of occasions with legal tie-ins. Because there are so many events, we've categorized them by practice area.

Of possible interest to Civil Rights Attorneys:

• October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month
• October is Gay and Lesbian History Month
• Oct. 14: Native American Day
• Oct. 17: United Nations' International Day for the Eradication of Poverty
• Oct. 20-26: Freedom from Bullies Week
• Oct. 21-27: Freedom of Speech Week
• November is National American Indian Heritage Month

Of possible interest to Corporate Law Attorneys:

• October is National Crime Prevention Month
• October is National Cyber Security Month
• October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month
• Oct. 16: National Boss's Day
• Oct. 16: Support Your Local Chamber of Commerce Day
• Nov. 3-9: International Fraud Awareness Week

Of possible interest to Education Law Attorneys:

• October is National Bullying Prevention Month
• Oct. 20-26: Freedom from Bullies Week
• Oct. 21-25: National School Bus Safety Week

Of possible interest to Elder Law Attorneys:

• October is Health Literacy Month
• October is Long-Term Care Planning Month
• October is National Organize Your Medical Information Month
• Oct. 15: Medicare open enrollment begins
• Oct. 20-26: National Save for Retirement Week
• November is National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month
• November is National Family Caregivers Month
• November is National Home Care and Hospice Month
• November is National Long-Term Care Awareness Month
• Nov. 1-7: National Patient Accessibility Week

Of possible interest to Environmental Law Attorneys:

• Oct. 18: Forty-first anniversary of the passing of the Water Pollution Control Act

Of possible interest to Estate Planning lawyers:

• October is Long-Term Care Planning Month
• Oct. 20-26: National Save for Retirement Week
• November is National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month

Of possible interest to Family Law Attorneys: 

• October is Antidepressant Death Awareness Month
• October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
• October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month
• October is Gay and Lesbian History Month
• October is National Bullying Prevention Month
• October is National Organize Your Medical Information Month
• Oct. 17: Get Smart About Credit Day
• November is Military Family Appreciation Month
• November is National Adoption Month
• November is National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month
• November is National Family Caregivers Month
• Nov. 1: National Family Literacy Day

Of possible interest to Health Care Law Attorneys:

• October is Antidepressant Death Awareness Month
• October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
• October is Health Literacy Month
• October is Long-Term Care Planning Month
• October is National Organize Your Medical Information Month
• Oct. 15: Medicare open enrollment begins
• Oct. 17-24: Food and Drug Interaction Education and Awareness Week
• Oct. 24-31: Prescription Errors Education and Awareness Week
• November is National Home Care and Hospice Month
• November is National Long-Term Care Awareness Month
• Nov. 1-7: National Patient Accessibility Week

Of possible interest to Insurance Law Attorneys:

• October is National Crime Prevention Month

Of possible interest to Intellectual Property Law Attorneys:

• Oct. 29: Forty-fourth anniversary of the creation of the Internet

Of possible interest to Labor Law Attorneys:

• October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month
• Oct. 16: National Boss's Day

Of possible interest to Personal Injury Lawyers:

• October is Antidepressant Death Awareness Month
• Oct. 21-25: National School Bus Safety Week
• Oct. 24-31: Prescription Errors Education and Awareness Week

Of possible interest to Real Estate Law Attorneys:

• October is National Crime Prevention Month

Some good tips from Amanda Green to dispel common stereotyping of attorneys:

All professions face stereotypes--all humans, in fact. The following are common stereotypes waged at lawyers. These stereotypes are, obviously, not true of every lawyer, but have spurned countless jokes and harmed many reputations. If you’re a lawyer losing business or self-esteem to these problematic notions, check out our suggestions for dispelling the myths and ending the jokes.

There are No Good Lawyers

A popular joke starts with the question, “Why won’t sharks attack lawyers?”

The answer is, “Professional courtesy.”

Lawyers are perceived as sharks, willing to go after what they want, no matter who gets victimized in the process. The common misconception about attorneys is that they’d represent the devil if it would earn them more money.

How to Dispel the Stereotype

Of course, it can’t be true that all lawyers are evil, because there are over a million lawyers in the United States alone. Attorneys are people too and they have human feelings, thus leading to emotional decision making, honesty, trust – and all of the other human emotions considered to be good. The best way to dispel this stereotype is, simply, to be emotionally invested in your work and clients.

All Lawyers Lie

Despite so much evidence to the contrary, people still like to apply the “liar” stereotype to lawyers. An article titled, “Why Lawyers Are Liars,” published by the Washington Post, pinpoints some legitimate reasons and sources as to why lawyers lie, but it doesn’t state the very obvious:

Despite widespread belief, not all lawyers are dishonest.

How to Dispel the Stereotype

It may be necessary to provide potential clients and the general public with proof of attorney honesty. Show them cases you won through ethical arguments. Or, you can provide proof of honesty by offering low minimums on billable hours. You can quickly dispel this stereotype by providing evidence of lawyers rising above the call of duty to be honest. Tell them Abraham Lincoln was a lawyer and he may very well be history’s most honest man.

Personal Injury Lawyers are all Ambulance Chasers

People have this notion that personal injury attorneys hang around emergency rooms, waiting for ambulances to pull in with the perfect client. This stereotype is laughable at best, but it’s all too common and can really be detrimental to an attorney’s professional reputation. After so many years of college and hard work, a personal injury attorney is reduced to the punch line in a joke about chasing ambulances.  

How to Dispel the Stereotype

You can dispel this stereotype simply by asking, “When was the last time you ran into a lawyer in the emergency room?” Most people never have, because personal injury attorneys don’t rely on hospitals to garner their business. They rely on smart advertising and their reputations for providing help to those in need.

If you’re still unable to convince a person that a personal injury lawyer isn’t a slime ball, remind them of the service these lawyers do.

Imagine a person is drunk driving and side-swipes an 18-wheeler, killing the driver and injuring many others. Accidents involving tractor-trailers tend to be very serious and costly, so a lawyer is sought after by the victims who can't afford their medical bills. Ask them how this can be perceived as bad, when these people so desperately needed--and received--service.

Keep Fighting the Good Fight

If you’re a good, honest and ethical lawyer, you simply need to continue practicing law to provide proof to the world that you exist. If someone begins telling lawyer jokes or being inappropriate, you have two choices. You can politely listen to the joke. Or, you can kindly explain that those types of jokes hurt and promote stereotypes. Do the latter and you’re doing your part to help dispel stereotypes.   

Author Bio: Amanda Green is a freelance writer who loves to write on legailty, marketing and personal finance. In her spare time she loves to try new dishes in the kitchen and maintain a healthy lifestyle. 

Have you given up on the old way of marketing?  Here is an article by Bill Magana that encourages us to take up the old habit.

Snail mail is back in fashion. The more the world communicates online, the more that items sent via traditional mail will seem unusual, special and memorable.

Old, traditional forms of mail marketing have become new again and even trendy, and they convey a warm-and-fuzzy retro feeling that appeals to many market segments, from young hipsters to nostalgic boomers. Consider trying some of these options:

Postcards

Photo by SameDayPrinting via Flickr

Mailing a postcard costs only half as much as mailing a letter in an envelope — and postcards are more likely to be read, according to Deliver Magazine. Use postcards to reach out to your existing or potential customer base to announce special events or sales, drive traffic to your website, or simply remind people of who you are and what you can do for them. No matter the purpose of the postcard, pay particular attention to your graphic design, which can be a powerful way to reinforce your company's image and logo.

Holiday Cards

Photo by CTSI-Global via Flickr

Sending a Christmas card is a way to provide a gentle and joyful reminder to your customers of how important they have been to you over the past year. Christmas cards can be more subtle than postcards. You don't need to plaster your logo all over the cards' covers. Instead, use a traditional, humorous, or sophisticated image on the cover, depending on your intended audience, and let your signature line inside speak for itself. The more attractive the cover, the more likely your card will be saved and displayed on mantelpieces at home or on cubicle walls in the office, so select or design the cover carefully.

3-D Mailings

Photo by Spitalfields via Flickr

If you are promoting a product that is entertaining and fun, and you want your mailing to really stand out, consider sending 3-D mailings. With the help of a professional printer and die cutter, you can create multi-dimensional objects that remind people of your company's business in a humorous way.

For example, a marketing company sent out cards that, when opened, featured 3-D pop-ups that looked like quaint medicine bottles, with labels saying they were cures for things such as "Budgetary Constrictions." The cards were packed in clear envelopes cut in the shape of old-fashioned medicine bags, which were far more likely to attract attention than plain, conventional envelopes.

These mailings were more expensive than conventional mailings, but according to Deliver Magazine, written by the U.S. Postal Service, they drove traffic to the company's website at a higher-than-normal rate.

Another way to implement 3-D mailings is to ride the current wave of popularity of 3-D movies by enclosing 3-D images along with 3-D glasses in your promotional material. Putting on the glasses to see what the image looks like will prove almost irresistible to many of the mailings' recipients.

Letters

Photo by SteveNakatani via Flickr

Don't overlook the power of the tried-and-true direct-mail letter campaign. A marketer writing for Forbes said she has seen a letter get a response that was 1,300 percent better than that received from a fancier mailing package. She advises companies to write the letters using a conversational tone that sounds like a one-to-one conversation.

Author Bio: Bill Magana is an NYU grad who spent a dozen years in marketing at a Fortune 500 company.  He left corporate America a year ago to launch his own consulting business. So far, so good!

Part two of Laurie Lee Swoboda's guest blog appearance about Co-Op marketing campaigns. Read part one here.

Why is it so difficult to promote a Co-Op marketing campaign within the legal industry? As a concept, it has proven successful. Then why the resistance? What makes it a Win-Win? You can create a successful Co-Op by pooling resources and branding your Co-Op as an authority while supporting a community.

Five Steps that will create harmony and ensure the Legal Marketing Co-op meets expectations.

Align these steps throughout the development process and you will have a successful Co-Op marketing campaign.

1. Pinpoint Market

   Find a recognizable underserved community, this will become your target niche market.  Select legal industries complementary to that community. For example: If targeting U.S. Veterans; pool boutique firms that specialize in government benefits, foreclosure prevention, medical malpractice and bankruptcy.

2. Develop Monthly Budget

   Budget should never be an afterthought. Properly executed, Co-Op advertising can outproduce traditional single media buys allowing for more spend. Use sustainable marketing methods that will expand the Co-op’s footprint into the niche market. By becoming authorities in your niche market you reduce advertising spend and increase ROI.

3. Outline Process

   Transparency and guidelines must be in place. Establishing rules in advance provides controls within your Co-op. Co-ops that ultimately succeed develop procedures that allow all members equal exposure and participation within the marketing campaign. If you don’t have the internal systems to allow transparency, you need to create them. 

4. Identify Expectations and Goals

   Unite as a team. What is the measure of success for each firm? How long will the Co-Op exist? Create a code of conduct that will guarantee a certain standard of customer service.

5. Fashion a Motto

   People care about “inclusion” in a brand’s message, when they share the same values. People who have a strong relationship with a single brand state that they “share values” with that brand. What does your niche market value?

   “Lawyers for Veterans: advocates of economic justice, individual respect, and community wellbeing by serving the legal needs of our Colorado Veterans.”

Have you attempted or completed a Co-Op advertising campaign? I would love to hear your experiences!

Author Bio: Laurie Lee Swoboda is a strategic, multi-talented internet marketing guru & web designer with an eye for marketing perfection. Even though her skill set is vast, she continues with her education to this day. While her primary expertise is developing groundbreaking marketing campaigns, she is a social media architect, brand identity guru, content creation wizard, blogger extraordinaire, business development fanatic and web design solution enthusiast. Read more athttp://about.me/llswoboda and http://laurieknowsmarketing.com/. 

Laurie Lee Swoboda is providing a two-part guest blog appearance about Co-Op marketing campaigns. Read part two.

Cooperative Marketing (aka Co-Op Marketing) more specifically, Co-Op Marketing for Attorneys is a relatively unknown form of marketing, defined as a sharing arrangement in which law firms pool their resources and brand as one unit. These resources include their industry specialties, their physical time, their finances and other suitable collateral. Co-Op Marketing is a cost-effective technique for a group of firms to reach an entire community or niche market. This technique can assist smaller firms to acquire a significant market share of any niche market.

Co-Op Marketing for Attorneys includes six components: targeting a well-defined niche community, a marketing campaign that targets that niche community, identifying a group of legal firms that complement the niche, branding the Co-Op to identify with that niche, developing systems in which the progress of the Co-Op can be tracked, and creating a pre-determined monthly advertising budget based on the group’s financial resources.

I approach Co-Op Marketing for Attorneys from the standpoint of community enlightenment or a socially responsible marketing ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socially_responsible_marketing) perspective.

Successful marketing in this day and age takes root by aiding a community, whether you are Johnson & Johnson targeting expectant mothers with their “Text4Baby Tips” text marketing campaign or a group of bankruptcy attorneys targeting victims of predatory lending through Co-Op Marketing. Reaching your target audience through a marketing campaign of support and useful advice devised to serve that community will ensure that your Co-Op efforts are successful. A win for that community and a win for the Co-Op.

A Co-Op Marketing campaign for attorneys advertising budget may include: internet marketing, print advertising, radio and/or television to direct mail. It should include speaking engagements, community events, newsletters, video, email campaigns, free eBooks and webinars. It must connect with the community (niche) through social sharing networks and community forums.

In case you're thinking your law firm is unable to take advantage of co-op marketing, you may want to reconsider. Co-op Marketing for Attorneys in this manner solidifies the Co-Op's brand, promotes good faith among the community, and as a result, the Co-Op will continue to retain clients and effortlessly strengthen the community they serve.

Have you attempted or completed a Co-Op advertising campaign? I would love to hear your experiences!

Author Bio: Laurie Lee Swoboda is a strategic, multi-talented internet marketing guru & web designer with an eye for marketing perfection. Even though her skill set is vast, she continues with her education to this day. While her primary expertise is developing groundbreaking marketing campaigns, she is a social media architect, brand identity guru, content creation wizard, blogger extraordinaire, business development fanatic and web design solution enthusiast. Read more at http://laurieknowsmarketing.com/.