Primary Research Group (_www.primaryresearch.com_
(http://www.primaryresearch.com/) ) has published a new study -- The Survey of Law Firm E-marketing
Practices. Data in the report is based on a survey of 46 (mostly major) law
firms. A few results are presented below:
EDITORIAL CONTENT DEVELOPMENT
The law firms in the sample employ a surprisingly low number of editorial
employees, a mean of less than one writer per firm. Firms with more than 200
lawyers employed a bit less than 1.5 writers per firm or less than one per 300
lawyers since the mean number of lawyers in the 200+ lawyer’s category was
478.
The firms in the sample employed a mean of less than ½ proofreaders per
firm, and the largest number of proofreaders employed per firm was two.
In many industries, an expanding web presence led companies to hire more
editorial employees and to spend more on content development. This is less the
case with the law firms in the sample. Most have not increased their
spending on editorial staff in the past two years, though a substantial minority
say that they have.
About half of the firms in the sample hire freelancers to produce editorial
content but only 13.51% note that they do so frequently.
BLOGS & BLOGGING
A shade less than 20% of the firms in the sample published their own blogs.
Firms with 20 or more distinct practice groups were the most likely to
publish blogs, and nearly forty percent of the firms in this category did so.
The mean number of blogs published per law firm was 0.96 though this figure
also reflects the firms that do not publish blogs.
Only 16.67% of firms have a policy of surfing the web to market the firm’s
opinions and prowess through legal blogs by responding to postings or making
commentaries in such blogs to demonstrate legal expertise or in some way
promote the law firm.
More than 37% of the law firms in the sample plan to increase their spending
on blogs as promotional vehicles, although close to 44% have not used blogs
for this purpose.
WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT
More than half of the firms in the sample hired a consulting firm when they
overhauled (or initially created) their firm’s website. Only a shade less
than 12% of firms in the sample did most of the website design or overhaul work
in-house, and these were mostly smaller firms
Mean spending on website overhauls was $40,583 for the firms in the sample,
with median spending of $27,500.
The firms in the sample received a mean number of 27,462 unique monthly
visitors to the firm website, with a median of 8,000.
E-NEWSLETTER PUBLISHING
Close to 60% of the firms in the sample published e-newsletters, as did
nearly 90% of the firms with 200 lawyers or more.
The mean number of e-newsletters maintained by the law firms in the sample
was 7.45; the median, 4.
Mean spending on electronic press release services was also relatively
modest, with mean annual spending averaging just a shade less than $536.00.
OPT IN EMAIL MARKEING
Nearly 58% of the firms in the sample use opt-in email marketing to promote
the law firm.
BANNER ADS AND SITE SPONSORSHIPS
Mean spending by all firms on banner ads and website sponsorships within the
past year was only $2038.50, a figure that also incorporates the many firms
that did not spend anything on banner ads or website sponsorships.
SEARCH ENGINE PLACEMENT
Only 12.5% of the firms in the sample have paid search engines for higher
search engine placement, a practice that was more common among smaller than
larger firms.
A bit more than 32% of the firms in the sample say that it is “likely” or “
very likely” that within the next two years that they will hire a consultant
to help the firm to appear higher in search engine rankings.
PODCASTING & WEBCASTING
Less than 3% of the firms in the sample have ever done a podcast to help
market the law firm.
The study presents more than 175 tables of data describing the use of
various emarketing practices by major law firms. Data is broken out by firm size
and by the number of distinct practice groups.
For more information view our website at _www.primaryresearch.com_
(http://www.primaryresearch.com/) .
James Moses, Research Analyst
Primary Research Group, Inc.
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