Tuesday, January 26, 2016

Generating Goodwill AND New Clients by Affiliating with Worthwhile Causes

In this day of digital marketing, one of the most underused and unappreciated marketing tools available to law firms is cause marketing – those efforts in which the law firm affiliates itself with a worthwhile cause, event or other type of endeavor.

Reasons for implementing such a program are several-fold. Affiliating with a cause or special event can:
  • Generate a great level of visibility
  • Facilitate interface between firm attorneys and prospective clients
  • Provide a means for building a contact database
  • Underscore the branding of the firm
  • Elevate the firm’s overall credibility in the eyes of the community and amongst its prospect groups.
Law practices must get creative in developing marketing programs that dovetail with what they are all about. For example, our agency worked with one PI firm (that was unable to compete on TV with more financially well-heeled competitors), to create a campaign directed toward high school juniors and seniors, encouraging them not to text while driving. Another marketing initiative for a full service firm involved promoting the arts among young people. In most cases, cause marketing programs are multi-faceted, with overall costs that are considerably lower than what a full-blown advertising campaign might entail.

In most such marketing initiatives, awareness is generated through a multiplicity of online, traditional and grassroots vehicles. This means looking for ways in which the same promotional material can be used in a multiplicity of ways (e.g., posted on the firm web site, on social media, via press release, as fodder for a feature article, on flyers distributed to the appropriate target audience) before, during and after a particular event. The key lies in looking for those opportunities that can extend the life of the effort.

In short, when it comes to cause marketing, a little creativity can often pay huge dividends for everyone – prospective clients, the community and the firm itself.

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