The economy stinks right now; we all know it and we can’t dispute it and it doesn’t matter whether you call it a recession, a depression, or the end of the world.  But, even now, you still need lawyer marketing.  How can you possibly spend more on anything when you are having to downsize on everything?  Well, it is all about strategy (which I know my attorneys understand).  Let’s say you stop marketing.  Your business will then have to rely on your current caseload and referrals.  Now, if you are an established firm with plenty of current clients and you regularly get plenty of referrals, this may not affect you too much.  But, if you are worried that things are drying up or that people are no longer able to afford your legal fees, stopping your law firm marketing is pretty much guaranteeing nothing is going to come in the door.  You have to have something going to keep things going.

So, let’s say you know you need some type of marketing, but you don’t know how to spread it around to be cost effective.  Many of the best strategies involve using the internet.  Phone books are very expensive, there is a long commitment, and they are rarely used anymore (people go to the online versions or to Google).  Television is always a great choice, but you have to have a lot of money to put behind it, as well as a great vanity number (800-Joe-Smith may be memorable to you, but your potential clients may not remember your name).  Newspapers can be a good option depending on the type of paper you go through.  But, when it comes to being cost effective, the internet is the way to go.

Search engine optimization typically takes 6 months to a year to be effective.  While I recommend eNewsletters and BLOGs, they still take time to show up well.  And, the whole point is that you really don’t have time to wait that long right now.  So, how do you get some immediate results?  The fastest answer is to get up a basic website (it doesn’t have to be fancy to be effective, but it does have to have certain features) and then put up a pay per click campaign.  PPC campaigns are great because you can come up with an infinite list of potential phrases that someone might type in to find you.  Then, you only pay if they click on your listing and go to your site (as opposed to TV or the like where you pay a fee no matter how many people see the ad or respond to it).  By choosing keywords that are very specific to where you are and what you do, you can get away with spending a limited amount of monthly funds.  You can always adjust your budget (unlike Yellow Pages where you are locked in).  There are also certain times of day or days of the week that are most effective for particular clients (Tuesday is the best day for criminal attorneys).

So, it is not about how much you spend, it is about spending your lawyer advertising dollar wisely and making sure to have something in place for when things inevitably slow down.