The research is clear as day – while everyone’s obsessed with digital metrics and pretty pictures, the firms that actually grow are the ones who understand how to properly integrate print and digital in their marketing mix.
We need to talk about print marketing for law firms. And before you roll your eyes and mutter something about “digital transformation,” let us explain why this matters.
You see, print marketing for law firms isn’t just about slapping your logo on some fancy paper (though heaven knows enough firms do exactly that). It’s about understanding three fundamental principles:
- Market Orientation First, you need to understand who you’re actually talking to. Not who you think you’re talking to, not who you want to talk to, but who your actual clients are. Remember, your opinion about your firm is the least qualified one in the room.
- Strategic Implementation This isn’t about choosing between digital or print – that’s kindergarten thinking. It’s about deploying both in the appropriate mix. Sometimes that’s 70-30 print to digital, sometimes it’s 20-80. The ratio doesn’t matter – what matters is the strategic logic behind it.
- Distinctive Assets Your business cards, brochures, and other materials need to carry your distinctive assets – those codes that make you instantly recognisable. And no, your logo alone isn’t enough.
Now, let’s address the elephant in the room: cost. Yes, print costs more per unit than digital. But here’s what the digital evangelists won’t tell you – print has permanence. It sits on desks. It gets passed around. It has what we call presence-in-absence.
The research shows something fascinating: businesses that employ both print and digital marketing see significantly higher client/customer retention rates than those who go all-in on either approach alone. This isn’t just correlation – it’s causation.
So what does this mean for your firm? It means you need to:
- Stop thinking in false dichotomies
- Start thinking in terms of appropriate mix
- Focus on distinctive assets across all media
- Remember that market orientation trumps personal preference
Let’s conclude with something that might seem controversial: The future of law firm marketing isn’t digital. It’s not print either. It’s both. The firms that understand this will be the ones still standing in five years’ time.