Law firms are under constant pressure to allocate their law firm marketing budget wisely and achieve the highest return on investment. In today’s competitive legal landscape, attracting new clients and keeping the current ones are crucial for success. Therefore, optimizing marketing efforts and budgets becomes imperative.
Do you need help maximizing your budget? Here are five valuable tips to help law firms like yours get the most ROI. By implementing these proven approaches, you can utilize your marketing investment effectively, yielding substantial returns like client acquisition, retention, and sustained growth.
#1 Determine Your Business Goals
Before you can allocate a budget, you need to determine your marketing goals. Are you looking to increase revenue, expand your client base, or improve client retention rates? Once you have a clear understanding of your goals, you can determine which marketing channels will be most effective in achieving them.
Acquisition
According to a study, 76% of consumers search online before visiting a physical store to get what they need. If you want to reach a larger audience and boost your online presence, allocate more of your marketing spending to boosting brand awareness and producing high-quality content.
Retention
Even if your firm already has a steady stream of clients, you still need to spend on marketing. You can spend your money to retain your clients in several ways.
If a law firm’s goal is to retain clients, there are several ways they can spend their marketing budget to achieve this objective:
- Email marketing is an effective way to stay in touch with existing clients. Use email newsletters to share important updates and personalized content that’s relevant to their needs.
- Social media marketing helps you build a community around your law firm. Take advantage of it to answer questions and engage with clients on a more personal level.
- Host client appreciation events to show your clients how much you value their business. The event could be a holiday party, a networking event, or a charity fundraiser.
- Implement a loyalty program to reward clients for their continued business. You can give them discounts on future services, exclusive content, or access to special events.
Referral
Having a presence online is beneficial for existing clients who want to refer you to someone they know. Your online visibility assures potential clients that they’ll work with a trusted firm.
If your goal is to increase referrals, you can invest your marketing dollars in a referral program to reward clients who bring in new ones, as well as case studies and user-generated content to showcase your law firm’s success stories.
Expansion
Of course, you can also allocate your budget with the goal of surpassing your revenue record and growing your firm. The more clients you have, the more you’ll earn. These goals can come to life by doubling down on your digital marketing efforts that have worked, be it SEO, PPC advertising, social media marketing or event marketing.
Aside from your goals as a law firm, consider your target audiences’ journey on the sales funnel when deciding your firm’s marketing budget.
For example, let’s say your campaigns to drive brand awareness are performing well but conversions are low. You must adjust your budget allocation to focus more on efforts that can help improve your conversion rates, such as retargeting ads, landing page optimization, lead nurturing, and referral marketing.
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#2 Consider Your Firm’s Current and Projected Revenue
To work out your marketing budget, you need to have a clear understanding of your current revenue. It’s also important to consider your projected revenue. If you’re expecting significant growth in the coming year, you may want to allocate a larger percentage of your revenue toward marketing to support this growth.
When you base your legal marketing budget on your financial standing, you avoid overspending, ensure you’re investing in the right channels, and make informed decisions.
#3 Know That Law Firms Spend Marketing Budgets Differently
You’ll see rough estimates from various sources about how much law firms should be spending. Some say 11% of the company gross revenue, while others allot as low as 5%. Some recommend going halfway between those two numbers.
While each suggestion has its merits, one size doesn’t fit all. Several factors affect your law firm’s budget
Law Firm Age and Size
Smaller law firms tend to have a higher marketing budget to get their brand and services known. Most law firms begin with a higher than average marketing budget and trim their spending as they gain traction.
Meanwhile, marketing budgets can be lower for large law firms with established names. This money serves more of a fund for maintaining their online presence. Old firms that have established legacies offline can attract new clients too by allotting a small portion of their law firm’s budget for marketing.
Field of Expertise
Marketing budget allocation also differs depending on the firm’s or attorney’s field of expertise. Criminal defense, immigration, civil litigation, and personal injury firms should invest more in marketing because they offer on-demand services. If they invest more in marketing, they can rise above the competition.
The fields of family law, estate law, inheritance law, and other practices relying on word of mouth and traditional marketing methods typically have a more relaxed marketing strategy. But these law firms should still allot a digital marketing budget to ensure they have a presence online to boost their credibility and attract more clients.
Office Location
Is your office in a city where law firms can be found left and right? Saying that the competition is tough is an understatement, and you must allot a higher marketing budget in this case. Divide your offline and online marketing budgets to boost your presence and let potential clients discover you.
#4 Create a Realistic Budget for Law Firm Marketing
Once you’ve calculated your revenue and considered the factors mentioned above, it’s time to determine your budget. You can use these suggested percentages in your budget allocation.
| Sales Funnel Stage | Budget Allocation | Marketing Channels |
| Awareness | 10% |
|
| Consideration | 20–50% |
|
| Decision | 40–70% |
|
Again, adjust the allocations according to your firm’s goals, size, age, field of expertise, and location.
#5 Evaluate Your Marketing Results
To make sure that your law firm’s marketing expenses will be worth it, follow these tips.
- Calculate the cost per lead per marketing channel by dividing your marketing expenses by the number of leads the channel has generated.
- Qualify your leads. Ensure they have a high likelihood of converting into paying clients.
- Take only the cases you can handle. Doing this allows you to provide your clients with competent representation, solidifying your reputation in the long run.
Get the Most out of Your Law Firm Marketing Budget
Maximizing your firm’s marketing budget is crucial in today’s competitive landscape. We hope you find these five tips valuable to help you increase your ROI and achieve your business goals.
Ensure that your hard-earned marketing budget is spent wisely on successful marketing campaigns. Local Business Marketing Solutions specializes in growing law firms like yours through digital marketing across multiple channels.
