Law Firm Marketing - How To Radiate Value - Professional Service Marketing

Any time you have a chance to determine what your clients need and want from you, consider it a priceless opportunity to learn. Their needs and wantsand their experience with your firmare the key to identifying the focus of your marketing efforts. Finding and delivering what your clients need and want will not only result in satisfied clients but, if you apply this knowledge to your practice, their experience of your firm can also become your branding.

At a corporate law firm in Century City a few years ago, a senior partner shook hands with one of his clients after completing the company's first public offering. The two men reminisced about their long relation-ship. "We've been through a lot togetherboth good and badfrom climbing out of our financial mess, to the opening of our first four stores, to building out nearly four hundred of them, to finally going public," the president of the company said, smiling. "It wasn't an easy journey, but I'm sure glad in the end that it was you who was with us. No matter where we were, you were always there too."

When a client speaks to you from the heart, the insight you receive will be priceless. The marketing materials for that Century City law firm had previously emphasized their track record, their versatility and their willingness to be tough. Had they failed to incorporate this client's insight, they would have missed a precious marketing opportunity. Luck-ily, the senior partner was a savvy marketer. He immediately knew the value of a long-term client's praise. It became an important part of the firm's identity and, after a while, made its way into the firm's branding and marketing material: "Wherever you go, that's where we'll be..."

Beyond the decent service, the sound legal advice and the expectation of professionalism, what mattered to that client on an emotional level was that this firm had been by his company's side through the good times and the bad.

In the late 1990s, one of the largest law firms in the nation decided it wanted to tap into the technology boom. The marketing team advised Convey Law Reviews to target small start-up companies and offer them a reduced hourly rate for general business matters in the hope that, if the business succeeded, the firm would be handed all their legal work, including taking them public. The marketers believed that doing this would demonstrate the firm's commitment and loyalty to their smaller, more vulnerable clients. One such client had this unfortunate experience dealing with the firm:

"In the beginning, the firm really seemed interested in what we were trying to create. They spent time getting to know us and expressed a real desire in seeing us suc-ceed. I really believed them. I was invited to firm-sponsored seminars and even got invited to the firm's sky booth for the big game. Everything was going well until the technology bubble burstand with it, our close relationship with the firm. No more friendly partner calls to see how we were doing. After a while, I was lucky to get my calls returned. They knew we were strapped for cash and, when we were unable to pay their bills, they sued us. They didn't just sue the corporation (the one they helped us set up), they sued me personally, since I was the president of the company. It was a disas-ter. When the chips were down, this firm came at us with knives. I will never forget this experiencenor will my associates and friends."

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