| With the uncertainty of the economy, legal marketing | | | | start by identifying how much you want to spend. |
| agency Beyond All Reasonable Doubt Marketing is | | | | While there are no hard and fast rules across the |
| advising law firms to take a serious look at their | | | | different types and sizes of law firms, it makes sense |
| budgets. While marketing, advertising and public | | | | to budget your marketing as a percentage of |
| relations dollars frequently are cut to reduce expenses, | | | | expected revenue. Several studies have pegged |
| marketing experts agree that a down economy is | | | | overall law firm marketing budgets to be between 2 |
| actually the time when marketing efforts should remain | | | | percent and 3 percent, with leading firms spending 5 |
| in place, and if anything, be enhanced. | | | | percent or more. |
| “When other law firms reduce their spending and | | | | Second, prioritize your initiatives by looking at both |
| cut their marketing, they have less presence in the | | | | costs and expected benefits. This is easy if you |
| marketplace,” explains BARD Marketing founder | | | | tracked your efforts in past years. Remember that |
| and president, John Sailer. “This means the time is | | | | some of the lower cost initiatives may bring strong |
| ripe for a savvy law firm to grab market share – to | | | | value while some of the higher cost initiatives may |
| reach the audience that is still there but who is hearing | | | | bring very little value. With this said, it is imperative to |
| from fewer of your competitors.” | | | | track outcome of every initiative. |
| When planning your law firm’s budget, you should | | | | |