Marketing at NORDIA LAWFIRM (DENMARK), by Rasmus LUND

We have a general marketing strategy contained in a so-called “strategy paper” describing the overall strategy and marketing strategy of the firm. The partner in charge of marketing regularly follows up towards each law firm department and the head of each department follows up towards the employees in that department.

In terms of advertisement, we paid for a series of advertisements in a special professional branch magazine called “DesignMatters” for and we used this to opportunity to have several personal interviews with us in other sections of the magazine. I enclose an example of the adverts.

I don’t think you get a new client only because you advertise, but combined with other activities and networking the adverts help you getting known and gives you a kind of “official recognition” in the market.

So far we have only made dinners, lunches etc, but in some cases we have invited different client in the same branch or with same interest to a common dinner. We are planning to make symposia inviting other professionals as speakers and then a large group of clients as guests. It is important not only to talk business, but to get a better personal relation, because this creates trust between you and the client. The outcome is positive, because during a dinner you get a chance to talk much more and develop ideas than during a normal meeting.

My personal marketing plan is presently under construction. It will be a plan describing what new clients to pitch on, what branches to be known in, what networks to join, a number of articles to be published. I will be part of our “Pharma-Lifescience” department and this department will have an overall marketing plan to be concretised in individual plans for each employee in this department. On a regularly basis (every week or month) the head of each department coaches each employee in relation to his/her personal plan.

The mere effort of writing down some activities and goals and to do follow up will always make you do an effort in a stressful day where clients and busy cases normally takes most of the time. If you systemize and work a according to the plan, you will get results. Many of our existing clients have come as a new client a consequence of a specific marketing activity. The same applies for selling for services to existing client.

Rasmus LUND, Lawyer (Copenhagen - DENMARK)

NORDIA LAWFIRM

Member of EUROJURIS DENMARK & EUROJURIS INTERNATIONAL

Marketing of law firms, lawyers and their services

Legal Marketing

The Jurismus survey
This year Jurismus has done a survey about marketing of law firms, lawyers and their services. Marketing is a topic that pops up now and then and the idea of doing a whole day on marketing was born last year in Berlin at the Eurojuris Congress when Jurismus had a short session of marketing discussions. It became obvious then that it is a topic that concerns everybody and that there were big differences in the amount of time and money dedicated to marketing in different law firms and countries.

Purpose and participation
The purpose of the survey was to see if law firms/lawyers market themselves and if they do, to what extent and how. We also wanted to see if there were limitations for lawyers marketing their services in different countries and how these limitations affect the marketing of lawyer services.

The survey questions were sent out to all members/law firms of the network and we got 60 answers. The participating countries were Netherlands, France, Denmark, Italy, Germany, Norway, Austria, Spain, England, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and Finland. This means that almost all member countries were represented. Even though there can be quite big differences in marketing policy between two law firms from the same country they should be influenced by the same limitations or lack of limitations. It has therefore been interesting to compare the answers from different law firms from the same country to see if this is right.

Results
The results of the survey show quite a big variation of answers. Our first question was about the existence of restrictions, ethical or legal, for a lawyer to market himself and his services. Almost all of the participating countries have some kind of restrictions. As for England, Norway, Belgium and Netherlands the answers vary between yes and no, which could perhaps mean that the rules have changed recently or maybe that the rules are not very clear.
A majority of the participating law firms have a marketing policy. It’s particularly common among the firms from England, Norway and Italy. Not as many have a marketing group or similar but more than half of the firms have a marketing budget. The size of the marketing budget vary a lot, from 3 000 Euros per year to 500 000 Euros per year and some firms dedicate a certain percentage of their yearly turnover to marketing, between 1-5 %. The amount, of course, relates to the size of the firm but you can also see that some firms seem put a lot of money and effort on marketing regardless of size.

A small part of the firms measure the return on investments dedicated to marketing actions. It could be by client surveys or by measuring the profit gained from clients the firm has got thanks to marketing actions, but most firms just ask their clients how they found the firm and why they use just their firm. The outcome of these investigations show that most marketing actions work and what is most important is to be seen and heard in the right places. You can also see that doing good work always pay off since many clients go by recommendations. Many have the experience that personal contacts with existing clients and potential clients are more rewarding than for example advertising in newspapers.

The survey gives a lot of examples of marketing actions done by law firms and I cannot list them all but I will mention the most frequently used. A lot of the law firms which do market themselves, send out newsletters or client journals, organize lectures and seminars, participate in different kind of networks and advertise in professional magazines, newspapers or just the yellow pages. The answers show that these are the most common marketing measures. Larger firms also organize client dinners, cocktails, golf tournaments and outings and sponsor for example football teams, charity events and similar events.

Some firms use Internet banners and flyers to market themselves and some send out brochures. Not so many firms use TV and radio for marketing purposes but there are some, which give expert comments concerning legal topics and others, which do advertisements on TV or on the radio.

Even if a majority of the participating firms market themselves actively and have some kind of marketing strategy only a minority of the answering lawyers have a personal marketing plan. Despite not having a personal plan almost half of the participating lawyers does undertake marketing actions regularly. It could be everything from writing a newsletter to own clients, giving lectures and pro bono work to actually calling existing clients on a continuous basis to see how they are doing or telling them about an interesting legal topic or potential clients to see if they need help with anything the firm can offer.

Conclusions

The result of the survey shows that there are quite some differences in how law firms and lawyers market themselves. A majority of the participating firms do it very actively and spend a lot of money and time on marketing. But some do not even have a strategy or budget for marketing. You can tell by looking at the firms, which have chosen to participate in the survey, that many of the firms are quite big law firms. This could of course have influenced the result. It is possible that the firms, which do not market themselves actively, have chosen not to participate in the survey.
Since the size of the law firms vary and the number of participants from each country vary a lot it is difficult to draw any certain conclusions, but something that stands out is that the law firms from Norway and England seem to do a lot of marketing and tend to do more “aggressive” marketing while law firms from Belgium and Austria do much less marketing and in a more discreet way. The answers from the other participating countries are more diverse.
Since this is a topic that concerns all lawyers more or less; we all want to sell our services to both existing clients and potential clients, Jurismus will do a follow up on the survey. We have already dedicated a whole day on marketing at our congress in Brussels this year and it was a big success. Next up is our coming Newsletter, which will contain articles from some of the participants in the survey, and for the future I think the discussions will continue at our meetings.

Marketing at Matthew Arnold & Baldwin (M.A.B.)

Hilary THORPE
MABLAW - London UK

hilary.thorpe@mablaw.co.uk

Business development
MAB is enjoying a period of rapid change and expansion. Just over a year ago we opened a new office in Milton Keynes, having acquired part of another firm’s former practice. The previous November, we opened an office in London. Both new office openings were publicised with launch parties, supported by a marketing initiative to current, former and prospective clients, highlighting our expansion.

Corporate and individual marketing initiatives
We regularly host marketing events, and encourage our people to participate. They’re also expected to develop their own marketing initiatives, with a plan for activities that fit within our overall marketing programme.

Press coverage
Our solicitors regularly write articles for journals and the press (for example explaining the impact of new legislation), effectively raising their own and the firm’s profile. Since these articles often appear in regional newspapers, such as the Milton Keynes Citizen and Watford Observer, and in national dailies, including the Times and the Daily Telegraph, we make sure they are relevant and interesting to both local and national audiences.

Making the news – our newsletters
Our quarterly newsletter, MAB link, gives us the opportunity to show how we take the lead on dealing with the latest legislation and other topical issues. We post the newsletters to existing and potential clients who express an interest, and also make each issue (and our archive) available online.
To ensure MAB newsletters are relevant and enjoyable, we maintain a balance between legal matters, business advice and stories with a broader appeal, such as the various events we sponsor, our own practice news and significant employee achievements.

Building alliances
Cross selling is another marketing tool we use frequently. Our website has details of our alliances with national organisations and local businesses, whose services we can suggest if they are appropriate to our clients. For example, if clients need documents translating, we have good relationships with translators and can recommend their services. Some referrals can result in reciprocal work for us, for example if our clients instruct an insolvency practitioner we have referred them to, we are likely to receive referrals back from that insolvency practitioner.

A leading role in the community
We have found maintaining a strong presence in the local community is not only a good way of fulfilling our corporate social responsibility, but is also an effective way of marketing our services.
For example, every year MAB sponsors the Watford 10k charity run. This not only helps make the event possible, but also brings us valuable local press coverage. It’s the ideal opportunity to work alongside other businesses – this year co-sponsored with Clydesdale Bank and Baker Tilly (a leading independent firm of chartered accountants and business advisors). Links like these are mutually beneficial, providing potential sources of business for all concerned.
We are also closely connected with Watford Football Club, through pitch-side advertising and sponsoring action replays on their giant screen. Besides regularly promoting MAB to thousands of spectators, this also gives us access to Watford Football Club’s corporate hospitality suite, which is a very popular venue for entertaining clients on match days. We’re now looking to establish similar community links at our London and Milton Keynes offices.

Attracting clients through networking and corporate events
Networking is a very effective way of reinforcing our business presence and meeting potential new clients. Our solicitors regularly attend breakfast meetings and seminars, and we also organise our own seminars and other events such as golf days, cricket days, spa days, charity balls and wine tasting evenings.
MAB is always looking for fresh and appealing ways to entertain, impress and attract clients. A good example of this is the Tower of London tour arranged by our Insolvency Department for an existing client earlier this year. MAB also has football and cricket teams who play against existing and prospective clients. These matches serve the dual marketing roles of further networking and increasing our presence in the local community. As with many of our marketing activities, they are not only remarkably effective, but also good fun!

http://www.mablaw.co.uk/