An Effective Gorilla Marketing Strategy for Lawyers

If a Gorilla Marketing Strategy is not the way to go, consider a Guerilla Marketing Strategy instead!  Jay Conrad Levinson first developed the concept of Guerilla Marketing back in 1983, and however you choose to spell Guerilla, a Gorilla Marketing Strategy should definitely be worked into your legal marketing plans.  (Hint, the correct spelling is "Guerilla Marketing"). 

What is Guerilla Marketing, and how can it help your law firm?

The idea behind Guerilla Marketing is that you think "outside the box" to develop different and unconventional ways to market your law practice.  In general, these ideas tend to be more high impact and less expensive that traditional forms of advertising.  Gorilla Marketing Strategies are especially popular among entrepreneurs and small business owners who are looking to find creative and low cost ways to market their products and services.  I advocate the idea of Gorilla Marketing for my attorney clients because it requires my clients to think differently than all the other lawyers that are marketing their practices.

When most lawyers start their law practice, their marketing plan consists of purchasing a yellow page ad, developing a small and low-budget website, and going to their family and friends to ask for referrals.  While this may initially get some business in the door, it is not a viable long term marketing strategy for a small law firm.  Earl Nightingale once said, (and I'm paraphrasing here):

If you want to be successful at something, look around at what all of your competitors are doing, and then do something different.

In other words, if you want to build a successful law practice, look at what all the other attorneys are doing in your practice area, and do something different.  I recently interviewed with 10-15 different attorneys in varying practice areas to determine what they were doing to get clients.  I'll start by telling you what they weren't doing, they weren't implementing either a "Guerilla" or a "Gorilla" Marketing Strategy.  The Number One answer I received as to how these lawyers were marketing their practice was - you guessed it - the yellow pages. 

There is such an urgency among lawyers to get new clients - but so many of the legal marketing activities that I see lawyers engage in are not suited to bring in a predictable and calculated flow of new business.  What lawyers should be doing is attempting any and all possible activities that can ethically bring them new business.  But, this takes time and work, neither of which are in high supply for most lawyers.  In addition, it takes the guts to do something that nobody else is doing.  (And sometimes it is necessary to check with your State Bar to make sure that you are complying with all ethical rules).

The end result is that you have a lot of lawyers that market to bring in new business, and then stop marketing when the business comes in and they get busy.  Eventually, the business slows down again, and the attorney goes back to marketing.  The problem with this is that if you market yourself properly, it normally takes between three and six months to see the fruits of your marketing efforts, even more if you are a personal injury lawyer.  This leads to my next piece of advice:

Never, ever, EVER stop marketing! 

In my practice, I have made it a rule that I will not let a day pass where I don't do something to market my firm.  That may include making a phone call to a referral source, writing a blog post, or sending a handwritten note to a potential referral source.  It doesn't matter what I do - as long as I do it.  One of the key's to an effective Gorilla Marketing Strategy is that you continue to get your message out to people that will either hire you or will send you business, over and over and over and over again.  If you ever stop marketing... it won't be long before you are out of business.

Guerilla Marketing or Gorilla Marketing - it doesn't matter - just remember... learn it... live it... love it... and the phone will always ring.