Hampshire Sponsor Article

Are you throwing good money after bad?

When Orion Legal Marketing parachutes into a law firm or barrister chambers when first appointed, our starting point is often to review what they are already doing in terms of Marketing & BD.

Usually, we find there’s a big annual event or a long-running advertising campaign in a publication. And then it gets to the awkward bit when we ask – “What is the return on investment on that?” – and it all goes silent.

It can be tempting to carry on what you’ve always done because it’s ‘safe’. Or there’s the idea that if you stop doing something, somehow that will be perceived negatively by others, or your competition will swoop in and take advantage. But in reality, legal sector Marketing & BD budgets are often small, so they need to be smart. 

If you don’t measure, you don’t know. Every Marketing & BD activity should have some form of metric. Some are easily trackable such as website traffic, cost per lead, or conversion rate. 

For that big annual event, unless its primary purpose is to create revenue, you could use the Return on Objective measurement of success. 

• Why do you hold it? Is it to attract new clients, reward existing ones, increase referrals, cross-sell, develop your reputation, etc?

• Who makes the guest list and why? Clients, prospects, influencers? 

• After the event, make sure you measure success against these objectives. Did that prospective client want a follow-up meeting? Did that banker or accountant introduce you to someone? Did that existing client start using another of your legal services or commit to a new instruction? 

Avoid the ‘sunk-cost fallacy’ which is the tendency to stay the course to justify a previous investment of time, money or effort, even if changing tack may lead to a better outcome. Instead, dispassionately assess your Marketing & BD activity through an impartial, forward-looking lens focused on future returns, and if it doesn’t meet your objectives, cut your losses and reallocate the budget elsewhere. 

Don’t throw good money after bad. Don’t be shackled by the past. Rise above, accept failure if it happens, learn and move on. Doing so will give you the best chance of future marketing & BD success.