Marketing a Plaintiff's Personal Injury Practice - The Pros and Cons of Law Firm Marketing Tactics

So, you recently won a major verdict, or settlement and are ready to take your plaintiff's personal injury firm to the next level.  How do you put your limited law firm marketing budget to good use?   Do you pay for a billboard on a local highway, buy television advertising, go on the Internet, target a niche community?  There are many directions you can go in and this article objectively addresses the pros and cons of a number of the more popular law firm marketing tactics.

Network Referrals

Pros:  Minimal cost - very high return on investment, relationships can be perpetual and provide a steady stream of business, can open new business opportunities, additional revenue source on referrals,

Cons: Can take considerable time and effort to build network, not all lawyers have the skill set to network effectively, fee sharing with another plaintiff's firm can reduce profit margins, ensuring accountability on cases you refer, may not always be a reliable source - circumstances change

Television

Pros: Can lead to high volumes of incoming cases, Low cost per qualified lead relative to other forms of traditional marketing, immediate results, measurable and controllable

Cons: Expenses of producing ads, expertise required to stand out and maximize response, may be less effective at lower frequencies, national firms can buy ads cheaper than local ones

Media Coverage

Pros: Exposure to huge numbers of consumers, Having a tv or radio legal program can help your firm dominate a market, can have sustained positive impact on firm's brand, You are always one case away from potential stardom

Cons: Hard for PR firms to deliver without truly newsworthy material, need to be very lucky, or very connected for homerun-type publicity, easy to get caught up in distracting and self-serving efforts that do not generate results

Yellow Pages

Pros: Once a powerful lead generation tool: measurable, consistent and predictable

Cons:  Internet has greatly diminished its effectiveness, too many brands caused saturation, hard to compete with big spenders

Internet Search Engine Optimization

Pros: Can yield high return on investment, provides flexibility for focusing on niche, there is room for small budgets despite big spenders, investment can have positive long term lead benefits, measurable, highly qualified leads, consumers prefer organic search results

Cons: Requires several months of ramp-up time, vendor choice is absolutely critical in keeping cost per lead low, changes in algorithms require regular program to stay on top, if keywords are not in the top 5 results in Google, you do not exist, more challenging to use to target new torts, best results require more time / resource  investment.

Pay Per Click

Pros: Immediate results, easily measurable, works with any budget, great for immediate response to toxic torts and product defects, small budget programs can be "do-it-yourself", no clickthrough - no pay, allows for very strategic niche marketing that other firms may not be aware of

Cons: High value keywords get bid up and return on investment goes down, can lose money until expertise is developed, pay for every lead, consumers prefer organic listings to pay per click ads.

There are many marketing options, but whatever you choose make sure to always monitor and measure impact to maximize the efficiency of your plaintiff's personal injury marketing program.