Will Your Business Be Successful?
When there is little competition, business is easy and brute force advertising, using lots of money, works. But, when the going gets tough, brute force is destined for failure.
When the competition intensifies, differentiation decides success or failure. A few large companies may survive by increasing brute force, but most will fail. Companies that differentiate themselves and their service or their products will not only survive, but will succeed.
When the first IBM PC came on the market, there was little competition and IBM had the funds for brute force advertising. When the competition got tough years later, brute force advertising stopped working and instead of differentiating their product, IBM simply pulled out of the PC market.
Today, PCs manufactured by tens of thousands of unknown companies are sold in stores and on the Internet everywhere. What differentiates these computers in the minds of consumers? Only one thing. Price. When a consumer purchases one of these computers, the consumer will look for a computer with a level of functionality in their price range and may then look for the cheapest product.
Apple is the only company that used design to differentiate their computers. Apple computers are the most expensive, and their operating system was not as suitable as the Windows operating system for most people and many software products wouldn’t run on it. Years ago, some industry analysts predicted the demise of Apple Computer, but people bought them because of their design. Now, their computers are more compatible and their TV advertising cleverly proclaims that by differentiating their computers from all others. Even their TV commercials stands out with very clever ads using people to play the part of a computer.
The Sony Walkman was all the rage years ago. Did you even know it is still sold today? It was a great product, but was easily copied. The Apple iPod had a unique appealing design that everyone wanted and today, iPod is the only name in MP3 players. Unlike IBM, at least Sony has learned to differentiate their product. Today, they sell the Walkman Bean which is made in the shape of a bean and comes in hot colors.
According to Amy Churgin, Publisher of Architectural Digest, the magazine achieved success by showing homes of stars to differentiate themselves from other magazines.
Do you want your business to be successful? Note that I said business, not law practice. First, run your law practice like a business. Then, find a way to DIFFERENTIATE your law firm from the competition. How are you going to differentiate your law firm? The early years are over, competition among lawyers is already stiff.
5/21/2006 
4 Comments
This is correct, but leaves out the most important factor for success; organic search engine recognition for commonly searched for legal inquiries. We do this by creating a questions and answers ‘Blog’ where the lawyer asks the questions and gives the answers: each of which becomes a permanent, optimized page, searchable by asking a legal question on the search engines.
I am Israel Rothman, an internationally recognized authority on this topic.
Comment by Israel Rothman — 5/22/2006 @ 11:51 am
I think most lawyers forget that their firm is first a business. Not too many lawyers run their practice as a business, but try to simply practice law.
My question is, if your target market is hourly work, how does your marketing differ than if your target market is contingency fee work?
Comment by Matthew Butler — 6/26/2006 @ 11:55 pm
Other than including a message in advertising that the legal fee is paid upon conclusion of the case, there is no difference when advertising or marketing for a law practice that charges an hourly fee or a contingency fee. Both marketing and advertising can be conducted in a similar fashion.
Of course, depending upon the field of practice and the type of clients sought there will be differences in the message, branding and media chosen.
If you would like some advice, please feel free to post your questions and comments on the Lawyer Advertising Forum (there is a link at the top left of this page). I will be happy to answer them.
Comment by site admin — 6/27/2006 @ 12:18 am
Great points here, a lawfirm is a business first and a legal practice second.
Some more ideas for you from a “legal PR guy”:
Remember that more than a business, every professional selling their time is a brand in and of itself. You, as a professional, are selling yourself as well as your work. Dress properly (always have clean, well maintained shoes), don’t be late, and remember that everyone you meet during your day is a potential lead.
Also remember that when you are working for a client, you are an extension of their brand. Be mindful that while your firm may represent them legally, you are also representing their brand. If you govern yourself properly and according to their wishes, you will find them not only better able to understand and respect you, but that they are speaking well about you to their colleagues.
Which brings me to a third point. Word of mouth advertising is the best kind. Work hard at being in the right places at the right times, and always make sure that, as tactfully as possible, those in other elements of your life (your workout buddies, those you volunteer with, etc.) know that if they ever have a problem in your field, you are successful but never too busy to help them.
Comment by Ross Hendin — 1/22/2007 @ 7:14 pm