How to Avoid Detrimental Legal Marketing Pitfalls

Marketing your legal practice is challenging for most practitioners. To build reputation and extract value from your marketing efforts, here are the 3 pitfalls that you should avoid:

No. 1: Failing to adhere to relevant rules & regulations

Lawyers in every jurisdiction must comply with their professional code of conduct, which often covers what they can (or cannot) do when promoting themselves to the public. Not all such regulations are common-sensical. For example, in Hong Kong, if a solicitor states his or her fees as being ‘from’ or ‘upwards of’ a stated figure – something extremely common in the commercial world - that is considered a breach of the local Solicitors’ Practice Promotion Code. 

Have experts and industry people who are familiar with professional regulations run your marketing engine.

No. 2: Information overload

Us lawyers are used to reading lengthy paragraphs. Our clients aren’t. Across the websites we’ve re-done, the single most common factor is in hosting too much information on a website or marketing deck.

Attention spans are shorter than ever. To encourage effective absorption of content, layer your key information, and do it across graphics and videos which complement your value proposition. And extend an option for those interested in a further dialogue to reach you easily.

No. 3: Lack of brand personality

From our experience, many law firms that launch a new website often miss the next step in establishing their brand personality.  

To avoid this pitfall, answer the following questions. What sets you apart from other firms? What are you and your firm passionate about? What are the values that define your business? What's the story behind your brand? Convey these to your target audience, in a way that they can resonate with.

Remember: Do what everyone else does, and you’ll get lost in the crowd.