2:2 How Much Should Law Firm Marketing Cost to Get New Clients?
Hi Lawyers! Thank you for joining me on this journey to grow and/or streamline your wonderful practice so you can help more people.
Before we jump into this subject…
Do you have an inspirational story about your law firm? How it grew (or crashed), or both?
Maybe you are just starting and want input from the group!
Please reach out! Let’s see if your interview is a good fit for my hungry group of attorneys. Your story can be of real value!
And now, back to our regularly scheduled valuable tip…
How much should Marketing cost to get new clients?
This is part 2 in a 2 part series.
As I shared in the last post, vendors (that are building your websites, creating your ad campaigns and such), have asked me not to share this kind of information.
But our platform here, (yours and mine) is about authenticity, and I love sharing what really goes on. My heart and my work is “on my sleeve”.
This question “How much should law firm marketing cost” is one I get pretty often. But in this video I added the words “to get new clients” which is the whole point behind paying for marketing.
At some point the cost of strategy, creating media and running ads starts to disappear, because it’s built into getting the new clients. But at first, there usually is a cost until you get your strategy working.
PART ONE OF THIS SERIES:
I outlined in the last video in this 2 part series, the 3 categories of law firms who I speak to that want marketing and how long it would take to get clients.
I addressed:
- Law firms who have never done advertising and the public at large doesn’t know you.
- Law firms who have done a lot of advertising and want to do it differently or on another platform.
- Law firms who want or need to switch practice areas.
So in this video I’m outlining different ways you can go about marketing and what that might cost.
So let’s get down to how much marketing should cost to get new clients…
Here are the 3 categories to help you determine marketing costs:
- Hiring a Legal Marketing Director
- Hiring a Legal Marketing Agency
- DYI Legal Marketing
The reason I am addressing those categories is because each will have different time frames and costs involved in marketing.
Hiring a Marketing Director
So first, no matter whether you’re building a new practice area, or already do advertising, or never did advertising before, what does a marketing director in house salary?
According to Ziprecruiter today the salary of a legal marketing director is between $42,564 and $87,603 annually and around $108,885 in California.
Of course we get paid much more working for a global law firm.
Any way you look at it you’re coming out to somewhere between $3547 and $9073.75 monthly not including desk space, benefits, insurance and all the other goodies.
What to expect when hiring an in house marketing director
When hiring a marketing director, expect to pay the director, possibly a video production team, other outside vendors, and the platforms on which you’ll advertise.
Your new marketing director often does not have experience marketing your practice area, and they will also need some time to get up to speed and make the marketing work for you (so be patient with them).
An advantage to hiring an in house marketing director is that you’ll see them every day.
Hiring a Marketing Agency
A marketing agency needs the same amount of time on your project as your marketing director.
They should want to know if you have done marketing before, if you’re switching practice areas, or if you’re already popular in your area and have a good following. Most legal marketing agencies cost between $3,300 monthly and up to $20,000 depending on the scale of the work needed.
What to expect when hiring a marketing agency
When hiring a marketing agency, expect to pay the agency and the platforms on which you’ll advertise.
Also, a marketing agency sometimes provides video production services too. This is the best because they’ll know what scripts and approach will more likely work for your practice area.
But many legal marketing agencies do not provide video production and you’ll need to think about other costs involved like video production.
You’ll also expect to sign a year’s contract, because as I outlined in the last video, it often takes working together for a year to get a strategy dialed in and you seeing results.
Even a seasoned legal marketing agency who has worked on your practice area in similar geographic areas will want enough time to build the campaigns and have them working.
An advantage to having a marketing agency is that they don’t have insurance with you, they don’t need desk space and they have a symbiotic relationship because they are aligned in that they also want you successful because their work also depends on you being successful.
Now this is true for your marketing director and everyone else who works for you, but no one feels it as much as an outside vendor who is easier to let go.
What to expect when doing your own marketing
When doing your own marketing expect to pay for creating the media as well as paying for the platform on which you’ll advertise.
I love law firms who understand their own marketing.
There’s nothing harder for us than working with lawyers who have no idea what’s going on, how hard it is, how much work it takes and that it costs money.
Whether you plan on doing your own marketing, or want to hire someone, knowing exactly what it takes to grow and maintain a healthy law practice is really important to you in any case.
But if you’re the solo practitioner who wants to do all your own marketing at first, you’ll need to dedicate your time up front to building automated systems so that once you start getting clients, your marketing can continue to run behind the scenes as best it can.
I would recommend you to get someone to answer the inquiries.
Understanding marketing is really important when you run any business. And your practice area will have a direct affect on how long it will take you, and what it will cost to get signed clients in the door.
Want a free consultation to talk about your law firm aspirations and creative ideas? It’s easy – reach out.
