How Age and Experience Impact Law Firm Marketing Effectiveness
The research undertaken by Ghidotti into the needs of legal marketers across the U.S provided some surprising perspectives. We found that some of the assumptions legal marketers have about who effectively contributes to law firm marketing efforts made for fascinating reading.
The research broadly divided respondents into two groups; Leaders who are confident that their firm is in a good position to succeed and that their marketing efforts are effective. And Strugglers who have a challenge getting their firm’s lawyers and leadership team to engage with marketing activities.
Leaders represent 55% of the survey respondents, and Strugglers make up 45%.
Age Isn’t Everything
We found that marketers often assume that someone older is less likely to be engaged and effective in creating or sharing the firm’s owned media content such as videos or blog posts. However, the legal marketers in our study, regardless of age, shared a different view:
- When asked if lawyers in different age groups exhibit different levels of willingness and capabilities when it comes to contributing to content development for the firm, 37% said “absolutely,” and 49% said, “to some degree.”
- The majority of those who feel there is a difference nevertheless say that lawyers under 40 and those 40-60 are among the most willing and effective contributors.
In addition, the majority of respondents say their firm has well-known and well-respected attorneys who develop their own thought leadership content to benefit their practice overall — and that in 51% of cases, these attorneys are over the age of 60.
Content Development is Hard
It is true that content development isn’t always easy. Having enough internal resources to get content developed and persuading attorneys to participate in the firm’s content development tops the list of significant challenges cited by legal marketers in our survey. Achieving this buy-in to content marketing activities is a particularly significant problem for the Strugglers.
Nearly half of respondents say that their firm struggles to define a clear marketing strategy; this is far more common among Strugglers (71%) than Leaders (28%).
Why it Matters for Law Firm Marketing
How can legal firms address this challenge? Defining a clear marketing strategy is a good start — content development is much more manageable with a specific topic and goal in mind. In many cases, it may simply be the lack of clear direction that hinders firms’ abilities to engage their lawyers in content development.
- 92% of legal marketers say their firm’s attorneys are expected to develop content for the firm’s owned media activities; it is critical for firms to address the challenges associated with getting attorneys to participate.
- 81% of respondents said their firm asks attorneys to share the firm’s content on their personal channels, but only 9% say the attorneys usually or always do.
- 73% cite getting attorneys to participate in content development as a significant challenge.
It is clear from the research that legal firms should understand that all lawyers, regardless of age, can be influential content developers, and having clear parameters for content creation sets people up for success.
We also found that few firms take advantage of law firm marketing approaches like prospect nurturing and marketing automation which can reduce the burden of content development on attorneys by repurposing content and having it automatically shared with potential prospects.
Elevating thought leadership is one of the many benefits of content marketing, but perhaps is most valuable for your law firm when it comes to lead generation. New clients are essential for the growth of any firm, but being able to keenly identify your target audience is a puzzle piece often missing from many legal marketers’ plans.
Conducting client research with brand personas and keyword research are just a few ways to kickstart the process in understanding your audience, while publishing the right content turns those audience members into potential customers. As the old adage goes, content is king.
You can find the full 2021 Ghidotti Legal Marketing Peer Insights Executive Summary on our website. You can also read our blog and listen to The Ghidotti Podcast for further insights and expertise into growing your businesses with effective marketing strategies.
You can find the full 2021 Ghidotti Legal Marketing Peer Insights Executive Summary on our website. You can also read our blog and listen to The Ghidotti Podcast for further insights and expertise into growing your businesses with effective marketing strategies.
