Determining return on investment of marketing initiatives is a constant challenge. Not every marketing initiative will directly result in a new client. Therefore, in addition to attracting new clients, marketing success can be measured by:
Client Satisfaction and Retention
- Duration of client relationships (years)
- History of increased revenue with client
- Client has multiple relationships within the firm
- Percentage of clients who would refer the firm to others
- Strong base of regular and ongoing client referrals
- Positive responses to a client survey or focus group
Client Service
- Very few client complaints
- Clients pay bills on time
- Ability to respond daily to emails and phone calls
- Clients actively refer others to the firm
- Sought after employer
- Client service guidelines that are followed by everyone in the firm
Cross-Marketing
- Clients utilizing many services of the firm
- Compensation system rewards growing existing relationships
- Professionals actively introduce clients to others in the firm
- Firm hosts events where clients can meet other people at the firm
- Clients are aware of the breadth and depth of services offered
- Professionals are aware of the breadth and depth of services a given client needs
Referral Source Development
- Strong base of people who regularly refer business to you
- Having concise materials for referral sources (make it easy to be referred)
- Loyalty of referral sources – you are on their “short list”
- Ability to summarize what your best referral sources have in common (industry, profession)
- Scheduling at least one meeting per month (coffee or lunch) with various referral sources
- Your willingness to seek out and make referrals for them
Networking
- Increased referrals of A-level clients
- Having two to three networking meetings each week
- Loyal friends and contacts who will always return your call
- You actually start to enjoy staying connected to great people!
- You always make time to meet with someone who was referred to you
- You look for ways to open doors for others on a regular basis
- You realize effective networking is more about looking for ways to help others (versus what’s in it for you)
- You stay in touch with people “just because” versus only calling them when you need something from them
Targeted Business Development
- Having a top ten list of prospective clients
- Having a plan with each prospective client on what your next steps are to land their business
- Number of proposals submitted to A-level clients each year
- Number of new clients you attract
- Revenue of new clients you have attracted
- Strong sales pipeline with dates, action items and next steps
Proposal Development
- The existence of a proposal archive – so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel each time
- Current examples of representative experience for everyone in the firm
- Number of proposals submitted to A-level clients each year
- Having a client-focused approach to proposals that starts with a summary of the client’s situation and our approach to meeting the client’s needs (not with firm history and bios)
- Number of new clients attracted from a competitive bidding/RFP process
Market Research
- By taking the time to research a new client or prospect before the first meeting
- Keeping an electronic file or “dossier” on top prospective clients
- Tracking the activities of key clients or prospective clients using Google
- Alerts or other web-based research tools
Trade and Professional Association Involvement
- Number of years the firm has been involved with the association
- Regular attendance at meetings
- Member of the firm serves in a high profile position within the organization
- Regular speaking engagements for the group
- Regularly contribute articles to the association’s publication
- New clients who hired the firm because of its perceived industry expertise
- Strong network of contacts within the industry
Advertising (print and web-based)
- New clients who cite specific advertising as one of the reasons they hired the firm
- A measurable call to action in the ad (like registering for a seminar, or in other way making contact with the firm because of its advertising)
- Higher name recognition in the marketplace based on independent market research
- Increased search engine rankings (due to web-based advertising)
- Inquiry calls into the firm
Branding and Identity
- Compliments from clients, contacts and referral sources on the firm’s branding and identity
- Professional looking materials including logo, letterhead, brochures, and website
- All materials are consistent and have the same strong visual identity when viewed together; everything looks related
- Your firm “becomes known” for some element of its branding or identity
- Higher level of overall professionalism conveyed through the firm’s brand and resulting identity materials
Public Relations
- Cost of commensurate advertising space – then multiplying that number by three or four
- Number of media impressions – how many people had the opportunity to see the article, hear the interview
- Number of bylined articles published per year
- Number of times firm professionals are quoted in the press
- Number of reporters each professional knows and has a relationship with
- How often the firm gets substantive content in publications read by A-level clients
- Number of news releases the firm proactively distributes each month
Trade Shows
- Number of new client or referral source leads generated as a direct result of the firm’s participation in a trade show
- Number of visitors who leave their card or ask for additional information
- Number of firm professionals who participate in the event
- Also being a speaker at the event (not just a trade show vendor)
- Level of proactive follow up after the event
Community Involvement
- Number of professionals in the firm serving on non-profit boards
- Number of lawyers in a law firm delivering pro bono work (hours per year)
- Firm creates an environment and culture where volunteerism is encouraged and rewarded
- The firm’s good name in the community as a “community leader”
- Professionals are volunteering for organizations they are committed to and passionate about
Social Networking
- Number of social networking sites you are actively involved in
- Number of groups you engage with and participate in online
- Willingness to share expertise and NOT use social networking to directly sell
- Amount of time spent each day or week on the one or two social networking activities deemed most worthy of such time
- Number of new relationships developed because of presence on social networking sites
- New clients generated, or new business partnerships developed because of social networking involvement
- A solid profile and status updated at least weekly
Strategic Communications
- Communications developed for specific audiences – not broad-based “firm newsletters”
- Ability to target various segments of client base with targeted messages relevant to them
- Responses from clients to various communications
- Level of client retention and flow of referrals into the firm
- Number of direct responses from clients and referral sources because of a communication
Marketing Database
- Professionals are committed to keeping the data current
- Database allows segmenting of client type for targeted communications
- It is easy to make changes and updates to client information
- The marketing database interacts with other firm data (like client revenue numbers)
- Billable time is saved by not needing to send individual lists to professionals for updating
- As a result of the database, it is easy to communicate with various groups of clients, contacts and referral sources
- The database contains email addresses for each person
Website
- The content is regularly updated
- The site provides a steady stream of client inquiries
- Clients comment on the relevance of the information contained on the website
- The website reflects the overall branding and identity of the firm
- The site is search engine optimized resulting in higher rankings on
- Google and other search engines
- By using Web-trends, Google Analytics or other programs to track and measure website visitors, activity on the site, direct client inquiries from the website, seminar registrations using the web-based registration option
Client Events
- Number of clients who attend the event
- Results of the event evaluation
- Number of clients who would attend the event next year (from
- evaluation)
- Number of clients who have attended the event year after year
- Number of professionals from the firm who attend and actively build relationships
- Number of new clients or new matters generated from the event
- Commitment by all to proactively follow up with attendees
- Adding attendees to the firm’s marketing database
- Relationships built from the proactive follow up done by the professionals at the event
- Clients asking “When is the next one?” and “Can I bring a friend?”