Dan Brian is Digital Marketing Director for Riddle & Brantley, a mid-size personal injury law firm in North Carolina. In his spare time, he runs Marketing for Justice, a membership group providing digital marketing know-how to law firm marketers.
I’m no stranger to asking for money — at least in my 9-5 as Digital Marketing Director for a mid-size personal injury law firm. I manage a pretty big chunk of dedicated budget encompassing SEO, PPC, video marketing, social media, and more, but digital marketing moves at the speed of light, and there are always opportunities to try new things.
That said, some asks are bigger than others: it’s one thing to spend $49/month trying a new software tool; it’s another entirely to allocate $8K per year to a new call tracking technology (ugh, don’t get me started…).
I’m lucky that in my position, I’ve earned the trust of our managing partner, and I have significant autonomy and decision-making authority when it comes to budgeting decisions. But I can’t just put everything on the company card without asking. And I know I’m far from alone in this camp. In my side hustle membership group, Marketing for Justice, other in-house law firm marketers are always asking, “How do I get my managing partner to buy into a new marketing campaign?”
Here are 3 proven strategies you can use to do just that:
1. Lean on Data
Attorneys, more than many in other professions, want proof (I mean, that’s kind of their MO, right?). So when pitching a new marketing initiative, always come prepared to defend your recommendation with data.
There are many ways to do this, but in my experience, it’s best to rely on data “in the wild.” Don’t just accept at face value what a marketing vendor says a campaign will do. Get out there and do some digging.
For example, what cost-per-click or cost-per-lead are other firms seeing in the space associated with the marketing channel or strategy in question? Based on those numbers, you can apply your firm’s own historical intake-to-case conversion rate to determine what you might reasonably expect to spend per signed case and the potential revenue associated with the new marketing campaign.
PRO TIP: I can’t overestimate the importance of talking with other law firm marketers in similar practice areas when building a data-based case for investment. If you don’t have your own contacts, reach out to legal marketers on LinkedIn — you’d be surprised what folks are willing to share to help out a peer in the field. This can be especially effective if you’re able to connect with marketers at larger, high-profile firms that your managing partner knows and respects: “Oh, so and so is doing it? Hmm…”
2. Start Small
Digital marketing changes fast and you have to adapt, but that doesn’t mean throwing all your eggs in the newest, shiniest basket. One of the things I always advocate is for marketers to set aside a “moonshot” budget for experiments. Your managing partner is far more likely to approve a new marketing campaign if you approach it with the understanding that it’s an experiment with no long-term (or especially expensive) commitment.
It’s no secret that attorneys hate long-term contracts (even if they are a necessary evil). Pitching a new marketing campaign that’s going to “lock them in” or leave them on the hook if things don’t work out could be a recipe for disaster if you don’t come with data, references, and the belief that it can work.
PRO TIP: Start small, but don’t go too small. Make sure that in testing any new marketing channel or strategy, you allocate enough budget to generate enough data to make an informed decision about whether or not it’s working. Spending $50 on a one-off Facebook ad campaign isn’t going to tell you much. For most marketing campaigns, an initial $1,000-5,000 investment is enough to figure out what’s going on.
3. Keep Score
Throwing money at marketing without measurement is not going to end well. In trying to get buy-in from a managing partner for a new marketing campaign, present your plan with a clear objective in mind. Set a clear goal and hold yourself accountable. Saying to a managing partner, “I’d like to spend $1,000 on a TikTok ad campaign and generate two signed cases,” is far better than “I’d like to spend $1,000 on a TikTok ad campaign and see what happens.”
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