MARKETING THE LAW FIRM

Marketing your law firm suggests that you know who your market is i.e. the actual people or business you expect to use and pay for your legal services, right? We hope you do know your market because we have observed that there is a lot of kick and follow and muddle through in this business of marketing legal services perhaps with a vague hope that something will come of it all.

A quick word on marketing : at the beginning or during really fluid times your market may be unclear or you may just be winging it. This is okay as long as it is not The Plan. It is just like finding your way out of traffic: you know in what direction you are headed but when there is a really knotty lane you just need to get out of there.

So, yours truly attended a product marketing event where the title was 'Knowing Your Target Market' by Lanre Towry-Coker of Afritickets and some of the insights are very applicable and adaptable to your law firm.

1. Sit down and define the ideal client: Size, location, social class, income levels e.t.c

2. Customer service: When your clients are upset how will you know and when you know what will you do about it.

3. Revenue: Can these clients pay for your services and are they in a large enough number to sustain your law practice?

4. Is there a need for your law firm's services or are other law firms taken up all the need? This means you know that you are in for bloodthirsty competition and compulsory innovation.

5..Market demographics: Demographics is a long word that means the type of people that stay in a particular area. So the demographics of Ikeja are different from those of Yaba. This matters because it determines where you will focus your marketing efforts. So, if your law firm focuses on the Indian community the Ilupeju area is more productive than say the Yaba area on account of the concentration of the community in the Ilupeju area.

These are some of the questions you will answer to give a direction to your law firm as you go about marketing.