The ‘Show me, don’t just tell me’ approach to effective business marketing could be tricky for law firms, especially family lawyers.
The nature of their work often involves sensitive, confidential information and complex requirements which cannot be mentioned for marketing purposes. The law firm cannot explicitly verbalise their results, or even exercise poetic licence in promoting their value to the public (with the same flexibility or creativity that less regulated business sectors could).
People looking for family lawyers often feel anxious, angry, or numb during this emotionally challenging and stressful episode in their lives. There are strict ethical guidelines for marketing to such a target audience, who is more vulnerable than most to even the slightest hint of subjective persuasiveness. Besides, each family law case involves different people and circumstances, and the successes of past cases handled by a law firm cannot be marketed as comparable to solving the next.
Yet family lawyers, like any other professional, still need to communicate what they do to prospective clients. While what law firms say and claim may be restricted in terms of marketing speak, the mediums or channels by which these messages are conveyed can still communicate reliability, trustworthiness, and professionalism. In this regard, print marketing provides versatile solutions to achieve positive marketing outcomes for the family law firm—in ways you may not even have thought of.
Tangibility creates trust
The family law firm prospect’s customer journey may start with something intangible, like a Google search or recommendation from a friend or community organisation. But they will soon want to suss out the law firm and family lawyer in person. Then, what they see, hear, and touch (i.e., any tangible touchpoints associated with the law firm) will shape their perception affecting their decision, “Do I want to engage this firm as my family lawyer?”
Imagine the difference in level of trust that is inspired in a prospect’s mind by a visit to these two hypothetical law firms assumed to have the same professional legal capability:
Scenario 1
You navigate by GPS to a rundown office building with dusty windows and weeds out front. There is a small faded sign bearing the company name and suite number among other faded signs on the side of the building’s entrance.
- You can’t quite tell if you have come to the right place because you cannot read the company name clearly on the one sign. You walk into a dimly lit corridor and look for the right suite.
- When you finally find the office, the front door bears the name of the company on a piece of printed A4 paper affixed with Blu Tack.
- When you step into the reception area, you’re still not sure if you’re in the right place because there are no obvious signs to suggest that this is a family law firm.
- You meet the lawyer, who gives you their business card.
- After you speak with the lawyer, they hand some printed information over to you, and you had to ask, “Do you have an envelope or something I could put these in?
Scenario 2
You navigate via GPS to a modern office building with neat landscaping. You know you’ve come to the right place because there’s one or more tangible indications of the law firm’s presence there: large company logo mounted on the side of the building, sturdy A-sign on the sidewalk, outdoor advertising billboard indicating family law services in close proximity.
- You quickly spot the company logo and suite number on a large and prominent directory board. You walk into a brightly lit corridor and look for the right suite.
- You find the office quickly as you spot a lifesize pull-up banner bearing their logo even before you get to their front door. By the front door is a frosted glass sign bearing the logo of the company and its services.
- When you step into the reception area, you see the logo and ‘family law practice’ displayed prominently, as well as a section where their company brochure and professionally printed sheets on family law topics are easily accessible.
- You meet the lawyer, who gives you their business card.
- After you speak with the lawyer, they hand you some information printed on their company letterhead, enclosed in a sturdy corporate folder emblazoned with their logo.
Of course, no legal client would use print marketing as the primary criteria for choosing a family lawyer, yet it is clear that quality print marketing supports the strong branding of a professional, trustworthy and reliable firm.
Why print marketing?
The cost of marketing materials may be seen as an expense, but investing in quality goes a long way to create positive perceptions of your brand at multiple touchpoints with your law firm. Positive perceptions encourage a feeling of safety, emotional connection and trust. Research outcomes for print marketing speak for themselves.
The Internet may have given us widespread digital marketing, but print marketing and advertising regularly come up tops in studies as more reliable and trusted forms of persuasion.
- Print media trumps digital because of its higher sensory and emotional impact during content review, recall, purchase willingness, and subconscious desirability.
- 82% of people surveyed by Marketing Sherpa trust print ads more than TV, mail, radio, or other ads.
- 80% of consumers take action after reading a print advertisement.
Handy print marketing checklist for family law firms
Here’s a great marketing resource we have made easy for you. How well is your law firm taking full advantage of print marketing to create better brand awareness before they need you, and stronger positive perceptions in the mind of your prospect every time they interact with you?
- Outdoor billboards
- Outdoor ads
- Vehicle graphics
- External signage
- Large format banners
- A-frame directional sign
- Clear/Frosted door/window signs
- Branded shopfront/reception lobby design
- Portable in-room banners
- Printed company brochure
- Printed information sheets
- Business card and letterhead
- Branded corporate folder
- Personalised direct mailers
Increasing your marketing impact with Clockwork Print
At Clockwork Print, we have the experience and access to resources to make the above marketing ideas a reality. If you want an insightful print marketing audit for free or just ask some marketing questions, we’d love to help. Contact us today on 08 6254 9999 or email us at clockwork@qualitypress.com.au, to discover what you may not have thought was possible for your family law firm with print marketing.
