Do those guys that run around saying “the best marketing is to do good work” still exist?

They just annoy the crap out of me. Usually, those guys (and it’s not always guys) are older, experienced practitioners that have been around awhile and have established reputations.

My suspicion is that they don’t want you to market your practice because it will only take business away from them. They want to protect what they have so they tell you to back off. I’m especially impressed when they claim that they aren’t acting in their own self interest, they’re acting to protect the profession.

Sweet – conflict of interest – baloney. I never listened to them and I don’t expect you to either.

Should you do good work? Should you be excellent? Of course, you should. Doing excellent work is “table stakes.” You’re expected to be excellent. Don’t do the marketing to generate the business if you can’t do the work (that’s why you don’t see me trying to build an intellectual property practice, or a life sciences practice, or a … – you get the idea).

There was a time when the leading lawyers in a community generated all their business from word of mouth. Not anymore. In my area the most respected, successful family law attorneys do something outrageous – they advertise (of course they also do excellent work).

I admire two local lawyers I’ve worked with in Raleigh. They’ve both been around for years. They’re great. If there’s a huge case, then you can count on at least one of them to be involved. Until the past few years they never advertised. Times have changed. They advertise now. One is all over television. The other runs an aggressive print ad campaign. One is with a 50+ lawyer firm and one runs a 7 lawyer firm.

The best marketing is not “doing good work.” The best marketing is a good strategy combined with the tactics that work for you. It might be pay per click advertising or referral source lunches or a seminar series. It varies by person, market, and practice focus.

You’ve got to do good work, but you’ve got to have someone to do it for. Don’t let those established lawyers talk you out of making yourself visible in the community. You want to be known, liked and trusted and the known part won’t happen fast enough if you leave it up to your happy clients to spread the word.