Lawyer Marketing Consultant Choices

Coaches, Coaches, Coaches. They seem to be all the buzz in the marketing world. But what are they? What do they do? Why do you need one? Dave Lorenzo on his Rainmaker Lawyer Blog answers those questions and more.

If you are a lawyer looking for a marketing consultant you have lots of choices. Lawyer marketing seems to be a topic that is gaining interest these days. The downturn in the economy, big law firm layoffs and the growing popularity of the Internet and Social Media have driven lawyers to ask for help with marketing.

As the number of lawyers looking for marketing assistance increases, the number of people who are willing to take their money is also increasing. This means selecting a lawyer marketing consultant just became more difficult. While there are many excellent, qualified people who can help you with marketing your law firm, there are also people who are peddling garbage. These people make us all look bad.

Here are the people to watch out for as you seek assistance with lawyer marketing:

Social Media Coaches

Anyone who tells a lawyer that social media is a standalone marketing strategy is a charlatan. Blogging, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, LinkedIn and other social media tools can play a role in marketing but they need to be integrated with the marketing fundamentals and your overall strategy. Social media is just media. There are two other aspects involved in good lawyer marketing: Your message and your target market.

Social media coaches are usually “one trick ponies”. This means they know how to get you 1000 friends on Facebook but they can’t tell you what to do once you have them.

Business Coaches

If you want to learn about how to build a law firm from the guy who works with the local Deli Owner and the local Car Mechanic than a business coach is a good choice for you. Hiring a business coach to learn about lawyer marketing is like using a hammer to drill a hole in a piece of wood. I guess it can work but it is not the best alternative.

Business coaches apply set methodology to each client. Everyone is working with the same template. They use their “system” as a differentiator but ultimately it doesn’t work for professional services, let alone highly regulated, high profile lawyers.

You can compare a lawyer hiring a business coach for help with marketing to a patient with a brain aneurism going to a podiatrist. Seeking help is the right thing to do but you will be working with someone who is focused on the wrong end of the problem.

Part Time Lawyers

These people really bother me. Most often, they go to a marketing seminar and they buy some kind of kit in a box. They then spend a weekend adapting that material to the practice of law and they offer themselves out as an expert in lawyer marketing.

Here’s a question: If they were so good at lawyer marketing, why would they want to share that information with you? Wouldn’t you think they would use their great marketing prowess to build their own law firm? Why do they need a part time gig selling stuff to lawyers – like Amway or Tupperware?

Former Lawyers

These folks are the worst. They used to be lawyers and they couldn’t cut it or they were disbarred. Now they are holding themselves out as experts in lawyer marketing. How do these people expect to have any credibility at all? They are frauds, plain and simple. They are not truly successful law firm marketers because they have little to no experience in marketing and they are no longer lawyers.

Who Should You Hire?

You are probably expecting some kind of pitch for my services now. You will not receive one. I take on less than 20 new clients for one-on-one coaching in any given year, so I am not the ideal choice for most people. Instead I recommend you go through this website with a fine tooth comb and implement some of the ideas you can find here. They are free and there are over 500 pages of them. You can also visit:

www.LegalMarketingForLawyers.com

Watch all the free video tips on that website. Combined, these websites will give you better information than most of the people listed above.

You don’t have to spend money for help with lawyer marketing. You just need to do a little research and take some action.

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Please be sure to visit www.hardinglaw.com, the website for the law firm of Harding & Associates, for more information on California family law.