Earlier this year there was an article by Jessica Sharp published in The Legal Intelligencer, and republished this week on Law.com’s Small Firm Business. Since the “10 Tips for Lower-Cost Law Firm Marketing” don’t get old with age, their worth mentioning.

They include (with my usual comments in parentheses):

  1. Keep bios fresh with articles, press quotes, and speaking engagements (and delete, or at least, remove the “date” from old ones);
  2. Put videos on web site, as they are more effective than headshots, and help set up a more personal connection with your lawyers (make sure to get some training first from a good media/communications consultant in your area);
  3. Ensure your marketing materials are easily downloadable with a link from every page of your site (it lessens the work of visitors, who simply won’t spend time in the majority of cases searching for them);
  4. Make your “newsroom” on your site interesting with more than press releases (it should include press coverage, quotes, recent articles, and other “newsy” items of interest);
  5. Take advantage of virtual marketing utilizing LinkedIn and YouTube (make sure your web site has a link from/to these online outlets);
  6. Start a blog (but make sure your are committed to regular, weekly posts. Get other lawyers in the firm or practice group to agree to contribute on a schedule);
  7. Make sure marketing and business goals are aligned (too often they are not in sync and send a confused message to the outside world);
  8. Find out what is written online about you and your firm by monitoring your reputation online (one way to do that is set up Google Alerts on yourself and firm’s name);
  9. Ask “why this is important” before issuing press releases (and make sure that “newsy” items are just that. If no one outside the firm would really care, it ain’t news); and
  10. Don’t forget the importance of face-to-face meetings (this should really be listed No. 1. IMHO it is much more valuable than the previous nine.)

I agree with Jessica that “[M]ost of these tips cost next to nothing.” So, in these trying economic times, there isn’t a good reason for not doing them because of budget concerns.