I’ve had a steady stream of lawyers asking me about the right amount of marketing.
“How much should I spend?”
“How much time should I devote to marketing?”
“How many referral source meetings should I do each month?”
The answer is easy and, to me anyway, it’s obvious.
You do as much marketing as you need to do to meet your goals for your practice.
If you’re busy and you don’t want more work, then you’re doing the right amount. If you’re insufficiently busy, then you should do more.
If you’ve got plenty of free time because you lack clients, then you should spend that time engaging in marketing activities. If you don’t have time and you don’t have enough business, then you need to figure out what you’re doing with your free time. That’s a discussion for another day.
Where it gets tricky is when you are busy, are making plenty of money, and have limited time for marketing. Lawyers in that situation sometimes put their marketing on the back burner. They hold off on keeping up their networks, etc. because they don’t have time.
Deferring marketing can be a mistake for many of us. We skip the marketing to attend to client matters, and the next thing you know we’re in a roller-coaster cycle of feast or famine. We do lots of marketing and get busy, then we stop marketing and run out of new business. Then we repeat the cycle. It makes our financial lives uncertain and frightening.
It’s important to determine the right commitment to marketing time and money and stick to it.
Figuring it out is a trial and error proposition. In the beginning, you’re likely to need a substantial time investment to prime the pump and get things going. In the end, closer to retirement, you’ll be able to cut back on your efforts and reap the benefits of a solid reputation. During those middle-30ish years, you’ll have to closely monitor and tweak your expenditure of time and money.
Most of us will get on that roller coaster for a few years as we find the right balance. We can lessen the extremes of that ride by staying involved in marketing even in boom times and always understanding that we can’t completely abandon our efforts.
Eventually, you’ll bring the ups and downs closer together and establish equilibrium. You’ll find the time and money balance that’s required to keep the phones ringing each day. The key is to always pay attention to the need to generate new business and never allow the daily grind to distract you from keeping your marketing moving forward.
Unfortunately, there isn’t a formula for getting the balance right. The need for a commitment to marketing will vary by practice area and by individual lawyer. You’re going to have to accept the need to experiment as you move forward. The reward for experimentation, however, is substantial. As you figure out what’s required to keep your practice strong and healthy, you’ll lessen your anxiety and stress. You’ll discover the answer for you, and you’ll know exactly how much legal marketing is enough. You’ll be able to relax and keep your practice humming along.
I wish I had a specific answer and could tell you how much legal marketing is enough. I wish it were that easy. Unfortunately, it’s not. Realistically, you’ll have to accept a bit of uncertainty for now in return for the promise of specifics as you conduct your own grand experiment.
With some effort, you’ll know the answer soon. You’ll know what’s required of you, you’ll know that you can keep it up indefinitely, and you’ll feel comfortable in the knowledge that your future is secure.
