How can a marketing agency support a whole law firm?

Outsourcing your marketing can support the whole law firm and not just the marketing team

Guest writer, Dan Hodges, is the Head of Account Management at Conscious Solutions. 

What are the benefits of using a marketing agency?

You might consider us biased, but there are many benefits to enlisting the help of a marketing agency for your firm. And the benefits and support aren’t just for the marketing team. The advice, knowledge, network, and connections can reach your legal accounts team, your compliance team and more. 

They know the latest trends and updates

Agencies know where to look for new trends and industry updates. They are signed up for all the marketing newsletters and browse through updates and new trends daily, so you don’t have to. If something is important or relevant to your firm, they’ll let you know. 

And they’ve probably figured out how to implement said new trend, or how the new update will affect your firm so you can ask them the question, instead of having to turn to Google.

You’ve got someone to bounce your ideas off

Ever thought of a great idea, but not known whether it’ll work or how to implement it? That’s what your agency is here for. You’ll have contact with a range of industry experts on who you can bounce your idea or concerns off to come up with the best possible outcome.

They know best practices and what works

You’ll save money. Seriously! Marketing agencies know what works, and what looks nice but won’t help your firm to see the results it wants. Therefore, they can save you time and money on strategies that aren’t going to help your firm reach its goals. Think you need to be on TikTok? Think again. Want to advertise your conveyancing services even though you’ve already got enough work? Nope, don’t do it. Want to add that fancy widget to your website even though it says it will slow your website down? Avoid it. 

You don’t have to figure out problems alone

A problem shared is a problem halved after all! A marketing agency will be on hand to help you if you need it. Whether you’ve got a broken link on your website, you’ve hidden a piece of content and don’t know how to get it back, or your paid advertising campaign isn’t bringing in the clients that you want, your marketing agency can help to solve these issues instead of you having to face it alone.

How do marketing and finance work together?

Marketing is essential for financial success, so it is imperative that the marketing and finance team are on the same page. Marketers need to understand where growth is needed from the finance team, and the finance team need to be convinced that are marketing campaign is going to work. But how should marketing and finance be working together? 

Determine the budget for the campaigns

Without the sign-off from the finance team, marketing is unlikely to go ahead. Without the marketing team proving the concept of their campaign or idea, the budget probably won’t get signed off. Marketing agencies can help to break down the costs and calculate your return on investment (ROI) so your finance and marketing team can understand what campaigns have been successful. 

Help the firm reach its financial goals

Marketing is key to making money, so your firm’s marketing team is essential for helping your firm reach its financial goals. Marketing and finance should ensure goals, objectives and campaign expectations are aligned to get there. Confusion or unattainable expectations are going to cause problems for both teams so it’s important to make sure both teams are on the same page.

Measure success

And to identify whether the firm is reaching its goals, marketing and finance need to work together when measuring what success looks like and how they are going to get there.

How do marketing and compliance work together?

SRA/CLC badges, pricing transparency

One of the ways marketing and compliance work together is by ensuring that all campaigns and marketing platforms are adhering to all the guidelines set out by different governing bodies for example the SRA.

The compliance team are likely to become aware of such legislation first, however, if the marketing team hears of something that could be relevant there should be open communication between the two teams. The marketing team then need to ensure that all regulations are being followed.

Idea generation and collaboration

The marketing team know what works from a lead generation point of view, but the compliance team knows what is essential from a legal point of view. Therefore, marketing and compliance should work together to come up with marketing ideas that fit the goals of the firm but also convey the least risk.

Carry out audits

The marketing and compliance team should carry out regular audits on marketing campaigns to identify any risks or issues that could become a more serious problems and mitigate these before it is too late.

Promote internal communications

It is important that every member of your firm understands updated legislation, the goals and values of the firm and any issues that have arisen that the compliance team deal with. The marketing team is key for distributing this information internally.

How does marketing support practice managers

Organise events

Internal and external events are great ways to promote your law firm to potential clients and candidates and another way to show appreciation for and develop your team. The marketing team and practice managers' goals for each event need to align so the right logistics can be organised.

Support recruitment and retention

The marketing team are likely the people uploading job adverts to your website, and third-party websites and promoting the roles on social media. The marketing team and practice managers need to ensure they are on the same page with what they are advertising and the types of candidates they want to be targeting.

Promote internal communications

It is important that every member of your firm understands the values and goals of the firm, and this can be done by internal communication in a variety of forms.  

How can you improve the relationship between marketing and the rest of your firm?

Communication

Communication should be at the centre of everything your firm does. This could be in the form of regular meetings or catch ups briefing calls before a project starts or audits once a project has been completed. This will help to identify and answer any concerns, queries, or issues in content.

Work on key performance indicators (KPIs) together

By ensuring KPIs are identified by involving the rest of the firm, there will be a higher chance that all departments will be on the same page and therefore working toward the same goals for the firm. This means initiatives are more likely to be aligned and lead to firm success.

Share successes

It’s much easier for different departments to agree with one another if successes are shared. By sharing the success of a marketing campaign between teams or a big win financially for the firm, each department can start to see the results of one another and begin to understand their point of view. Transparency between each team will help to develop relationships with one another.

Be flexible

Flexibility is key for keeping all departments happy, and this should be a value your law firm instils in its team. It’s unlikely that all teams are going to agree on every aspect of the marketing, but if processes are followed, risks are mitigated and each department is willing to compromise, hopefully, the decision can be determined.

Put processes in place

By putting documentation in place that describes the process and what is expected of marketers, the finance team, the compliance team, practice managers and more, you can ensure everyone is on the same page. This saves each team time and increases the chance of campaigns getting the go-ahead.

By following these top tips with each department in your law firm, you can increase the efficiency, satisfaction, and success of each department.

Does your law firm need help to reach its marketing goals?

Following these tips will improve the relationships between different departments and it should help your firm to work collaboratively when implementing its digital marketing strategy which will lead to wins all-round. You could enlist the help of a digital marketing agency or third party to help resolve any conflict and identify what improvements could be made to your firm’s communications.