Return On Investment For Attorney Marketing and Advertising
What Should You Really Expect
From Your Marketing and Advertising Efforts?
One of my ground rules for a successful business is this: expect immediate and positive results from your marketing and advertising – if you don’t see immediate and positive results, stop it.
Yet the number of businesses that throw money at their marketing and advertising, continuously, without having the slightest idea of what works, is staggering.
And attorneys are no different. More than 98% of you market and advertise your firm the exact same way your competitors do – with little knowledge of what works – and even less of an idea of what the ROI is.
The first step (for any business) is tracking your marketing and advertising investment. It’s so damn easy, yet very few business owners do it. Do yourself a favor – start doing it today. It’s the first step in taking your firm to the next level.
What ROI Should Attorneys Expect
Before I jump into ROI specifics for any future efforts you might wish to consider, let’s talk about what you’re doing currently. I have one simple rule regarding a businesses current efforts.
If it’s making you money now – leave it alone. If you see at least $2 put back in your pocket for every $1 you spend, you’re already half-a-lap ahead of most of your competition. Your business is not going to have exponential growth, but it’s not going to remain stagnant either.
Just consider some of the alternatives highlighted on this website, and then make a decision on budgets and allocation.
Now let’s talk about the ROI you should get from effective marketing and advertising – which is typically not what you currently do now.
Effective marketing and advertising should have an average return of between $10 – $20 (gross) for every $1 dollar you spend. Practice areas such as Bankruptcy and Family Law will see returns near the former, while those in Personal Injury, the latter.
So, if you invest $5,000 a year in your marketing and advertising efforts, you should see a minimum return of $50,000. If you spend $20,000 a year, you should see a minimum of $200,000.
Remember folks, these numbers are an average – some marketing efforts work better than others. A balanced marketing effort is where the biggest ROI is. Here’s a couple of examples of single channel efforts which is how you start to market your firm effectively.
I have a client (Bankruptcy attorney) that saw a 3 month ROI of $17,280 from an $11,200change to his yellowpages campaign. For the 3 months, his return was $1.54 – take that over a 12 month period, and his ROI is $6.17 – just on a single marketing channel….the yellowpage changes. Not great, but it’s only one of the four channels he’s working on.
And here’s an example of one method that can have an ROI much, much greater than others. For instance, a recent client (PI Attorney) had his web site redesigned so it was front-and-center on Google, Yahoo and MSN. He realized a 3 month ROI of $242,000 on a $6,000 investment – that’s $40.40 for every $1 he spent. Do the math on a 12 month return – it’s just sick.
Effective marketing will have a huge impact on your bottom line – if you track first, determine a budget, and then allocate smartly.
Review this site and see which strategies you can implement on your own immediately with little or no-cost – then consider other options where you’ll need some help. Contact me when you’re ready.