{"id":30174,"date":"2016-03-31T19:33:54","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T19:33:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.findlaw-admin.com\/ability-legal\/legal\/practice\/don-t-mistake-lawyer-marketing-activity-for-effectiveness.html"},"modified":"2016-06-20T18:51:58","modified_gmt":"2016-06-20T18:51:58","slug":"don-t-mistake-lawyer-marketing-activity-for-effectiveness","status":"publish","type":"practice","link":"https:\/\/lp.findlaw.com\/legal\/practice\/law-marketing\/don-t-mistake-lawyer-marketing-activity-for-effectiveness.html","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Mistake Lawyer Marketing Activity for Effectiveness"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline\">\n    <div class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-content\">\n                    <p><em>This article was edited and reviewed by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/our-team.html\" rel=\"noopener\">FindLaw Attorney Writers<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n                | Last reviewed\n        <time>\n                            June 08, 2026\n                    <\/time>\n    <\/div>\n\n    \n    <details class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle fl-gutenberg-byline-legally-reviewed\">\n        <summary>\n            <i class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n            Legally Reviewed\n        <\/summary>\n\n        <div class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle-content\">\n            <p><em>This article has been written and reviewed for legal accuracy, clarity, and style by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/our-team.html\" rel=\"noopener\">FindLaw\u2019s team of legal writers and attorneys<\/a> and in accordance with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/company-history\/editorial-policy.html\" rel=\"noopener\">our editorial standards<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/details>\n\n    <details class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle fl-gutenberg-byline-fast-checked\">\n        <summary>\n            <i class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-icon\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\n            Fact-Checked\n        <\/summary>\n\n        <div class=\"fl-gutenberg-byline-toggle-content\">\n            <p><em>The last updated date refers to the last time this article was reviewed by FindLaw or one of our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/company\/our-team\/contributing-authors.html\" rel=\"noopener\">contributing authors<\/a>. We make every effort to keep our articles updated. For information regarding a specific legal issue affecting you, please <a href=\"https:\/\/lawyers.findlaw.com\/?fli=bylinelink\" rel=\"noopener\">contact an attorney in your area<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n        <\/div>\n    <\/details>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n<p>Last week, a lawyer called to inquire about my services. She was frustrated because she&#8217;d spent the last year actively <a title=\"Law Marketing\" adhocenable=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/legal\/practice\/law-marketing.html\" rel=\"noopener\">marketing<\/a> herself and those activities had produced little new business. She wondered what she was doing wrong.<\/p>\n<p>She relayed that in the last year, she had:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Founded the local chapter of an international association of lawyers in her practice area.<\/li>\n<li>Organized four networking events for local businesswomen and the women lawyers in her firm.<\/li>\n<li>Given two CLE programs for her local bar association.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>My response: You must be exhausted!<\/p>\n<p>This is the classic case of mistaking marketing activity for marketing effectiveness. She was devoting a lot of time to marketing, but the time was not focused on those people and activities that were likely to produce the kind of results she wanted.<\/p>\n<p>She was focusing her time and attention on developing new relationships. Expanding your network can be an effective business development strategy, but it usually takes a long time to pay off and can be very time-consuming in the interim.<\/p>\n<p>When a lawyer is <a title=\"Networking for the New Attorney\" adhocenable=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/legal\/practice\/how-to-start-a-law-firm\/networking-for-the-new-attorney.html\" rel=\"noopener\">just starting her career<\/a>, this can be a great place to focus marketing energies.<\/p>\n<p>In the case of this lawyer though, she had been practicing for over 20 years and had a bountiful Rolodex. Rather than focusing her attention on generating new relationships, I suggested she focus on nurturing relationships she&#8217;d already established.<\/p>\n<p>Marketing to people who know you and your work almost always trumps marketing to &quot;strangers.&quot; When you <a href=\"https:\/\/www.findlaw.com\/legal\/careers\/how-to-find-a-legal-job\/networking-developing-mutually-beneficial-relationships.html\" adhocenable=\"false\" title=\"Networking: Developing Mutually Beneficial Relationships\" rel=\"noopener\">cement relationships with people already in your network<\/a>, your marketing is more effective and you&#8217;ll spend less time on business development.<\/p>\n<p>Activities likely to be more efficient and effective for her were those designed to mine her existing relationships &#8212; whether by setting up one-on-one meetings with past clients, sending articles of interest to past referral sources, or going to visit the office of a current client.<\/p>\n<p>When it comes to your marketing, there&#8217;s no such thing as a &quot;good&quot; or &quot;bad&quot; marketing activity.<\/p>\n<p>Effective marketing produces results; ineffective marketing doesn&#8217;t. What produces results for one partner in your firm, may not work for you at all (and vice versa).<\/p>\n<p>To determine your own most effective marketing activities, answer these questions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>What marketing activities were you engaged in over the last year?<\/li>\n<li>How long did each one take?<\/li>\n<li>What results did the activity produce? (Remember that not all worthwhile activities produce immediate business. Some produce referral sources, visibility among prospective clients, or a deepened relationship with an existing client.)<\/li>\n<li>Which activities were more efficient, given the results they produced?<\/li>\n<li>Which activities were least efficient, given their results?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Put the efficient activities on your business development &quot;to do&quot; list and cross off the least efficient ones.<\/p>\n<p>Don&#8217;t get caught in the trap of mistaking activity for effectiveness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, a lawyer called to inquire about my services. She was frustrated because she&#8217;d spent the last year actively marketing herself and those activities had produced little new business. She wondered what she was doing wrong.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false},"practice_categories":[6453,6451,6455],"class_list":["post-30174","practice","type-practice","status-publish","hentry","practice_categories-law-marketing__client-acquisition","practice_categories-law-marketing","practice_categories-law-marketing__marketing-channels"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lp.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/practice\/30174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lp.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/practice"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lp.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/practice"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lp.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"practice_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lp.findlaw.com\/legal-api\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/practice_categories?post=30174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}