Unfortunately, many firms are forced to put their marketing efforts on the backburner. Work with clients and other priorities comes first, for obvious reasons. But failing to market your firm hurts your long-term success. Many firms end up stuck between two difficult decisions – focus on marketing at the expense of client attention or neglect marketing to deal with client issues they face every day.
The good news is these aren’t the only two choices.
Outsourcing your firm’s marketing makes it possible to stay focused on client obligations and other priorities, while not letting your marketing efforts slide.
How Do You Know Outsourcing Your Firm’s Marketing is a Smart Option for You?
There are pros and cons to outsourcing marketing for your firm. It helps to understand what you’ll be faced with by keeping marketing in-house versus what you’ll get if you work with a marketing firm.
Keeping marketing in-house means:
- You need to find a qualified employee
- You need to pay wages and benefits to marketing staff
- You need to supply them with technology and a physical workspace unless they work remotely
- They need to stay up-to-date with the latest practices and trends in addition to implementing marketing tactics
Outsourcing, on the other hand, gives you access to someone whose full-time job it is to keep up with trends without having to employ them. You’ll be working with someone who already has everything they need in terms of equipment and a physical workspace without having to invest in new equipment.
You’ll get everything you need for marketing your firm that you’d get from a full-time employee, but you don’t need to pay them wages or worry about providing benefits or other resources.
Additionally, if you have a smaller firm and don’t need to focus on marketing full-time, you can create a part-time or temporary arrangement.
Outsourcing isn’t without challenges, of course. You’ll need to invest effort in finding a qualified firm to work with. Sometimes, working with a firm is expensive. But for many law firms, it’s worth the effort and the expense. It’s likely to cost you less long-term, even if you spend more upfront.
How Do You Choose a Marketing Firm for Outsourcing?
If you think you’d like to try working with a marketing firm, start by assessing your options. The following questions can help you narrow down your choices:
- Are there any firms I’m considering?
- Can I speak to colleagues to get referrals?
- Do I need full-time or part-time marketing assistance?
- Are there specific goals or approaches I’d like to try?
- Will I be starting from scratch or can a firm build on my firm’s existing marketing efforts?
Once you answer all or some of these questions, you can schedule consultations with a few legal marketing firms. In addition to gathering information from a company and assessing its ability to handle your firm’s marketing needs, make sure you ask for a few references. You’ll also want to be clear on what they’ll charge and what you need to do next if you’d like to pursue a professional relationship.
If you believe it’s time to outsource your marketing efforts, we can help. We’ll create a custom arrangement that addresses the marketing concerns and goals of your firm. Our team understands how challenging it is for successful lawyers to market their firms when they already have so much on their plates. Contact Legal Web Design to learn more.
