Are you in the process of researching legal marketing agencies? If so, you know that it can be difficult to prioritize the qualities to look for in the agencies with whom you speak.
In this post I’ve tried to make that task easier by explaining what I consider to be the most essential values and capabilities that are shared by the best legal marketing agencies.
Hire a legal marketing agency that has these values and capabilities, and your odds of a successful partnership will be strong.
The Essential Values
Transparency
When you hire a legal marketing agency for your law firm it is essential that the agency embrace transparency. The agency should go out of its way to share the goals of their strategies, the specific details of their tactics, and then of course the data that speaks to the efficacy of those tactics.
A high level of transparency indicates that the agency has a specific plan for achieving your goals, and that they are using data to measure whether that plan is producing the desired outcomes. It also indicates that the agency values your investment and wants to show your that by continually earning your trust.
Empathy
A great legal marketing agency must value empathy, which is the ability to share in the feelings, thoughts, and emotions of another.
Simply put, great marketing is impossible to achieve without the ability to be empathetic. Your legal marketing agency must be able to empathize with your potential clients in order to produce marketing materials that will address their most fundamental issues.
A high level of empathy indicates not only that your marketing agency will be able to effectively market your services, but also that they will be able to understand your priorities and points of view.
Exclusivity
Exclusivity refers to the agency’s willingness to work with your competition. Some of the biggest and most well known legal marketing agencies in the world (coughFINDLAWcough) do not value exclusivity, and frequently work with numerous law firms who all compete for the same business, in the same market.
If a legal marketing agency is willing to work with your top competitors, they cannot possibly act with the best interest of your firm in mind throughout the duration of your relationship.
The Essential Capabilities
Marketing Strategy
If the legal marketing agency you hire does not create and present a compressive strategy for achieving your goals, that’s a bad sign. Great marketers will insist on what we call a measure twice, cut once approach. They will use all available data to create a marketing strategy with defined, measurable key performance indicators.
If strategy development is not a line-item on the marketing proposal you receive, consider this a red flag.
Technical
The legal marketing agency you chose must have strong technical capabilities. This refers to all things digital technology; web development, basic software development, technical SEO knowledge, etc.
The agency you hire ought to have in-house technical expertise in order to ensure that your firm’s digital marketing initiatives are not inhibited by any technical limitations.
Design
One way to think about marketing is as a pursuit to not only get in front of your prospective clients, but to look your best when you do. Many of the less effective marketing agencies you’re likely to come across in your search will neglect design. After all, it’s a specialized and not particularly cheap skill set to hire.
The legal marketing agency you choose ought to have in-house design talent. This will ensure that their deliverables always achieve the goal of making your firm look good whenever it’s found, online or off.
Legal Writing
When people are in a situation where they’re considering hiring a lawyer the stakes are normally high. For that reason it’s critical that your legal marketing agency have the ability to produce accurate legal content that not only addresses your potential client’s questions, but does so in a way that does not mislead them or violate your state bar’s law firm marketing rules.
Every piece of content that is published on behalf of your law firm reflects on you. The legal marketing agency you choose must use qualified legal writers who will ensure that your content is not only highly accurate, but more importantly, that it does not open your firm up to liability.
If you’re in the process of researching legal marketing agencies for your firm and have questions about the process, please feel free to leave them in the comments below!
