How to beat "Tesco Law"

As we creep towards 2012, the office Christmas decorations are being dusted down for another outing and we have experienced the first month of the much feared “Tesco Law”.

The sky hasn’t fallen in (although blizzard conditions are apparently on the way) and we aren’t in a state of anarchy. The Co-op, however, has announced that it will offer legal services and even has a pilot scheme underway in some of its Bristol branches. It’s still too early to comment on the quality of those services, but there’s plenty to speculate on how this could affect traditional legal providers.

In effect, the legal profession has just become a free market. There’s going to be more competition, and that means that established law firms face a battle on their hands for their clients. This is not just from the traditional competition, but from some of the most sophisticated and successful marketers around. The quality of the service they provide may not be as good, but it will often be more convenient, probably cheaper and certainly more vocalised. So just what is a law firm to do?

• Tell Your Clients How Great You Are

Sending newsletters shows that you are a thought leader in the legal sector. So comment on the latest developments to impress your clients and remind them of what they would be missing should they jump ship to their local supermarket.

• Tell Your Clients How Great You Are

Social Media is becoming the great referrer of our age, with a client joining your page on Facebook visible to all their friends. And remember, if they need your services, their friends may well too.

• Tell Your Clients How Great You Are

The Co-op may have deeper pockets when it comes to marketing, but they don’t yet have the credibility of an established law firm. Google will play an increasingly important role in your new business model, so make sure your site is well optimized to appear regularly in the search engines. Then, regularly blog so that when someone does lands on your site they know you are an opinion-former who will give them the best legal advice. If you video it, you can appear more approachable and convert more traffic to clients.

So it’s not all doom and gloom for specialist law firms as they face competition from companies with far greater marketing budgets and brand recognition. But you will have to fight, and online is the battlefield where the victory will be yours, so long as you commit to telling your clients how great you are.

Tags: Social Media, Tesco Law, newsletters, video

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Comment by Kerry Quinn on November 21, 2011 at 18:20: Thanks Mike, I'm sure you will find my most recent blog post of interest, as I touch on service and security from the consumers point of view http://www.deferolaw.com/profiles/blogs/tesco-law-good-for-consumer...

Thanks

Comment by Mike Gorick on November 21, 2011 at 16:26: The best form of defence is attack.

The new entrantas will not be able to demonstrate the same level of compliance that law firms have to.

With the recent and ongoing fiasco's such as that with the banks there is a danger that they will fall into the same or similar traps and be too clever for their own good in the end. Remember also that the banks did not survive the estate agents market. Big does not necessarily mean the best outcome for the consumer and consumers are not daft. All they all do for the most part is white label such services. e.g. insurance services.

What the consumer wants in the current climate is service and security. So market that!

Editor Comment by Richard Pettet on November 12, 2011 at 18:53: There are a few examples of good and bad lawyer videos here.

Comment by Kerry Quinn on November 12, 2011 at 18:41: Thanks Richard. Video marketing is just one marketing tool a law firm can use as part of their marketing mix. It really depends on the size of firm, services, budget and objectives for sure. One of the purposes of using video marketing is definitely to get your human side and personality across, the message can indeed vary. Following on from what Christopher said - a badly sounding and poorly-lit human head if we were to be pedantic is not worth the time and effort to do at all, as it would not yield best marketing practice or achieve the correct message for you or your brand.

Comment by Richard Barr on November 12, 2011 at 16:53: Yes but..... I went to talk a while back from a solicitor who advocates low budget videos - just a snatch from a webcam or similar. He said that the aim is to get across your human face and a simple message. I would be wary of slick, expensive looking productions, unless of course are a slick expensive looking solicitor, which I am not!

Comment by Kerry Quinn on November 12, 2011 at 16:09: I couldn't agree more Christopher - getting it wrong could result in reputation issues so we could argue the fact that it would be best to outsource video marketing initially to ensure you get it right first time around. Having said that; there are law firms out there producing some great videos so it depends on how savvy a law firm marketing department is and what risks they are prepared to take. You have certainly mentioned some common pitfalls; however, I think highlighting the benefits of incorporating a video marketing strategy into a law firm should not be overlooked.

Video marketing represents a range of benefits and allows you to show your expertise, engage with your audience, build rapport and builds credibility. From an SEO perspective, it helps drive traffic to your website and
boosts website performance. As you can see, there are compelling reasons why law firms should use video marketing. Not only can it put you in touch with potential clients, it can help you convert them too.

I also agree that careful consideration should go into what the video content should be, and which person/s should execute it. To conclude: video production for law firm marketing should be left to the professionals if you lack the expertise and have the budget to outsource.

Comment by Christopher Salmon on November 11, 2011 at 11:47: Great insight about becoming a 'thought leader' Kerry - but I'll always be sceptical about video marketing. Many firms fail to realise what a challenge (and expense) good video marketing can be, so we see the same old stuttering, poorly-lit talking heads ad infinitum.

It's one area of this brave new social marketing world where I would suggest it's better not to try, than try and fail. If your firm is determined to attempt video marketing, be sure your chosen staff have the charisma, gravitas or enthusiasm to deliver their 30 secs of fame flawlessly, and that they match the look and feel of your brand. That, and be prepared to pay the professionals to produce it.

Comment by Kerry Quinn on November 9, 2011 at 20:25: Thanks Richard, I totally agree. Legal marketers can now be at hand to help law firms by educating them on the ethics of social media, legal blogging, email marketing and the benefits of using video marketing. In doing so, we encourage rapport building, instant credibility and cost efficiency to law firms with little or no marketing budgets, thus helping them to keep their share in the market place. Every platform is not going to work for all law firms, so it is important to identify which one's will work best and engage, be consistent and authentic too.

Editor Comment by Richard Pettet on November 9, 2011 at 11:42: It means legal marketers will, in the long-run, have to up their game. When I first started in the legal profession 11 years ago, many marketing staff were not really qualified in 'marketing', certainly at smaller firms - they were former secretaries, practice managers or lawyers who dabbled. Legal marketing depts have moved on since those days, however, some of those people still survive, and although they're good at what they do in the market that they are used to, when they're up against the uber slick agencies that will manage the new entrants into the market they might struggle. It could be a great time to be a legal marketing professional if you embrace the methods that other industries have been using for years, engage in social media, blogs, video etc, and, yes, that might mean cartoon-faced women with clipboards a la Quality Solicitors, it might mean viral YouTube videos (like your Eric Carmen inspired gem), it means a Twitter account and all the rest...... but now is the time to get that stuff right because from the public's point of view, on the consumer side, there still aren't many dominant recognisable legal brands.

Comment by Professionals in Law on November 9, 2011 at 11:00: Thanks for this Kerry. We've got a particular interest in how 'Tesco Law' is going to affect the way we work and change the typical career trajectory of a legal professional. I'll be really interested to see how the manner in which law firms market themselves is shaken up by the introduction of ABS and the unique challenges and opportunities that this presents to marketing professionals who choose the sector.

We've blogged about how we think it may affect lawyers - any thoughts on why now is a great time to be a legal marketing professional?

http://www.the-epilogue.com/2011/10/will-every-little-help/