Turning Business Development Ideas into Reality

Growing your firm is essential for small law practices. It is something that needs to happen but that most attorneys fail to dedicate an adequate amount of time. One takeaway that you need to have when strategizing business development ideas is that they need to be actionable. Big picture talk is great, but you need to have step-by-step goals to reach the big picture. Without these actionable items, your ideas will rarely become a reality.

Focusing on the Return on Investment

No matter what the strategy is for growth, you need to focus on the ROI or return on investment. Without tracking expenses and gains, you will likely be throwing money away. Before investing any money in a new marketing scheme or business development idea, you should define the goals of the investment. Knowing your goals will help you to measure your ROI. The goals should be broken down into benchmarks that will help inform your decision on whether to keep investing in the opportunity, change tracks or go in a new direction. 

Say your firm decides to sponsor an event or program. Sponsorships are a great way to get the word out about your firm. They are also a valuable networking opportunity. But sponsoring an event without trackable goals could be a waste of time and money. Start with an overall goal of the sponsorship such as generating three new clients. Then establish a plan to make that happen. Decide who will represent the firm and what their individual goals will be. Any contacts that are made during the event should be noted, and a follow-up email or card sent. You can weigh the expenses of the event against any new business that was obtained through contacts or referral sources and decide if the ROI was justified.

Understanding the Reach and Impact of your Content

Any marketing communication should be tracked and analyzed to see what kind of an impact it is having on your contacts. One of the most natural areas to start is with email communications. If you send out a newsletter or other templated email, you can track the number of people that are opening the email (open rate), those that opened the email and clicked on a link (Click Through Rate) and those that have unsubscribed. Tracking these metrics will determine not only the reach of your email marketing efforts but also if it is having a positive impact on your audience. You can assess whether to continue the campaign or to change the format.

Social media campaigns, blogs, and other online marketing efforts can also be tracked and analyzed. Some programs can help you determine the number of website visitors, their engagement and if they are converting into paid clients. The world of digital marketing and tracking your digital marketing efforts could fill pages; suffice it to say here, you should be monitoring each campaign and using metrics to guide your spending. If you do not have an in-house marketing department, you should be working with a reputable outside company. Basic knowledge of digital marketing will go a long way in making sure that your firm is having success with each of your campaigns.

Investing in the Future

Once you have the data, your law firm will be able to track information on the success of your investments. Regular meetings about your business development ideas and marketing strategies will help you assess what is working and what should be reconsidered. A firm grasp on your firm’s investments and the ultimate revenue from those investments will help to inform your decisions for each year to come. Over time, if you do not see substantial growth, then your strategy should change.