How to Choose the Right Marketing Company for Your Law Firm

How to Choose the Right Marketing Company for your Law Firm - PSM Marketing

I have a prospective law firm client who found PSM through the SEO we do.  It’s a firm in Scottsdale, Arizona. My process is always to offer to meet with and talk to the firm in our PSM Video conference Room, which I did with this law firm. It was a very positive meeting and the lawyers seemed very engaged and interested in our services. The CFO of the law firm was particularly engaged (nodding and taking copious notes)! I knew right away that I could develop a great relationship with her. So fast forward a couple of weeks.  I use an Outlook add-on called Boomerang that reminded me to reach out to her again and let her know PSM would love to work with her firm.

When we did talk again, it turned out that she was tasked by the lawyers to also talk with two other marketing firms. I suggested that to really compare “apples-to-apples,” I would be happy to provide a list of questions she could ask other marketing firms to determine their qualifications in law firm marketing.  Anytime a prospective client asks you to develop questions for your competitors, it’s already a win!  The questions are important because it allows you to provide questions that will highlight your expertise and pull out your unique points of differentiation.   So now, my prospective client is armed with the questions that will ultimately showcase PSM’s capabilities as a legal industry outsourced marketing firm, and hopefully demonstrate that the two firms she is talking to are not as qualified.

Questions You Should Ask a Marketing Company

I wanted to share the questions with you because I see too many law firms getting pulled into engagements with “marketing firms,” that are really just about SEO, social media advertising, digital communications, or other areas that while important to law firms, are not the turn-key solution PSM offers. So my hope is that if you are looking at hiring a marketing firm to serve as your firm’s outsourced marketing department, you will use the list I shared with my prospective client to find the firm that will serve your needs and be THE most qualified.  Here are the questions you should ask a marketing company:

  1. How many law firms have you worked with?
  2. What type of law firms were they?
  3. Have you ever served as an in-house Marketing Director or CMO? If so, where?
  4. How many team members do you have at your marketing firm?
  5. How many people on your team have specific experience working with law firms?
  6. Does your proposal include a marketing assessment and strategic marketing plan development?
  7. Can you send us a redacted example of one of your plans?
  8. How many strategic marketing plans have you created for law firms?
  9. How do you track ROI for each service you provide?
  10. How do you bill for your services?
  11. How many five-star reviews do you have on Google?

Asking the Right Questions Helps You Choose the Best Marketing Company

While a lot of marketing firms claim to know the intricacies and complexities of marketing sophisticated legal services, very few really do. If you use the questions above with the marketing firms you are interviewing, you will be able to truly conduct an apples-to-apples comparison of their responses and will be able to choose the most qualified firm for your needs.

I hope these questions are helpful to you and am always available to answer any questions you have.  You can reach out to me at terrie@psm-marketing.com.

PSM Marketing