Having worked with a plethora of legal practices on strategy and marketing for close to 2 decades, here’s something that your Chief Marketing Officer(CMO) would rather you didn’t know: the most effective marketing strategy is often to keep doing the same thing over and over again. Not very exciting, is it?
This is precisely why your CMO probably breaks into a cold sweat whenever someone suggests sticking with last year’s campaign. After all, how can they justify their considerable salary by simply recommending you do exactly what you did before?
The Seductive Appeal of Change
Every year, “progressive” legal practices engage in what I call the “dance of reinvention.” They gather in conference rooms, armed with presentations about emerging technologies, new social media platforms, and innovative marketing approaches. They talk about “digital transformation,” “paradigm shifts,” and the pressing need to “pivot our strategy for the modern consumer.”
It all sounds terribly important and sophisticated. It’s also, for the most part, complete nonsense.
The Truth About Marketing Effectiveness
Here’s what decades of research actually tells us about marketing effectiveness: consistency wins. Every single time. The evidence is overwhelming, thanks to the work of researchers like Les Binet and Peter Field, who have analysed thousands of marketing campaigns over multiple decades.
Their findings? The most successful brands are those that maintain consistent messaging, visual identity, and positioning over extended periods. They’re the ones who resist the urge to chase every new marketing trend that comes along.
Think about the most successful law firms you know. In Australia, Slater & Gordon, in the US, Morgan & Morgan, or in the realm of commercial practices, Clayton Utz, their branding hasn’t changed significantly in years, perhaps decades. They’re not trying to be “slick” on TikTok or experimenting with virtual reality client meetings. They’re doing what they’ve always done: projecting stability, expertise, and reliability. Yes, I know there are exceptions, as there is with anything!
The Consistency Paradox
This creates what I call the “Consistency Paradox” – the more effective a marketing strategy is, the more pressure there will be to change it. Why? Because consistency is boring. Not for your clients (they actually appreciate it), but for your marketing team.
Consider these uncomfortable truths:
1. Your clients aren’t thinking about your brand nearly as much as you are
2. They don’t notice or care about most of your “innovative” marketing initiatives
3. What they do notice is when you stop being consistent with the things that made them choose you in the first place
The Real Reason CMOs Push for Change
Here’s where we need to talk about the elephant in the boardroom: career advancement. Your CMO’s career progression often depends on being seen as innovative, forward-thinking, and capable of driving change. “Maintained successful existing marketing strategy” rarely makes for an impressive bullet point on a resume.
This creates a fundamental conflict of interest. What’s best for your firm (consistency) may not be what’s best for your CMO’s career (visible change and “innovation”).
The Evidence for Consistency
Let’s look at some numbers that your CMO might prefer to ignore:
- Brands that maintain consistent messaging over time are 3.5 times more likely to be seen as leaders in their category
- It takes 5-7 impressions for people to remember a brand message
- Changing marketing direction typically results in a 6-month setback in brand recognition
These aren’t exciting statistics. They won’t win any innovation awards. But they do point to one undeniable truth: marketing effectiveness is often about the courage to be consistent rather than the creativity to be different.
The Technology Trap
One of the most common ways CMOs justify change is through technology adoption. “We need to be where our clients are,” they’ll say, pointing to the latest social media platform or digital tool.
But here’s another uncomfortable truth: most law firm clients aren’t choosing their legal representation based on social media presence or digital innovation. They’re choosing based on reputation, relationships, and results – exactly the same way they did twenty years ago.
This doesn’t mean you should ignore technological advances. But it does mean you should be highly skeptical of any technology that doesn’t directly support your core marketing message and strategy.
The Cost of Change
Every time you change your marketing strategy, you pay three prices:
1. The financial cost of implementing the change
2. The opportunity cost of what you could have achieved by maintaining consistency
3. The cognitive cost of making your brand harder to remember
That third cost is particularly insidious because it’s largely invisible. Every time you change your message, visual identity, or positioning, you’re essentially asking your market to learn about you all over again.
What Actually Works
So what should law firms actually do? Based on the evidence, here’s what really works:
1. Develop a clear, distinctive position in your market
2. Create simple, memorable messaging that supports that position
3. Maintain consistent visual and verbal identity
4. Repeat your core messages consistently across all channels
5. Resist the urge to change things just because you’re bored with them (that means, don’t let your new marketing recruit play with your brand in Canva).
The Role of Innovation
This isn’t to say that innovation has no place in law firm marketing. But effective innovation should be about finding new ways to deliver your consistent message, not about changing the message itself.
Think of it like a restaurant’s signature dish. The recipe stays the same, but you might find new ways to serve it, package it, or deliver it to customers. The core product – what made people love you in the first place – remains consistent.
How to Handle the Innovation Pressure
If you’re facing pressure to “innovate” your marketing strategy, here are some constructive responses:
1. Ask for evidence that the proposed changes will improve effectiveness
2. Request case studies of similar firms that have successfully made such changes
3. Suggest running small-scale tests before making wholesale changes
4. Focus innovation efforts on delivery mechanisms rather than core messaging
5. Invest in measuring the effectiveness of your current strategy
The Courage to Stay the Course
Perhaps the most important quality in marketing isn’t creativity or innovation – it’s courage. The courage to stick with what works, even when it feels boring. The courage to resist the siren song of the new and shiny. The courage to prioritise effectiveness over excitement.
A Message to CMOs
If you’re a CMO reading this, I understand your position. The pressure to demonstrate value through visible change is real. But consider this: the most valuable thing you can do for your firm might be to protect and maintain an effective marketing strategy, rather than trying to reinvent it. Yes, I hear you say, this is in exception, and maybe it is.
Your real value lies not in creating change, but in creating growth. Sometimes – often, in fact – the best way to do that is by ensuring consistency and preventing unnecessary changes that might damage long-term effectiveness.
The Path Forward
The solution isn’t to never change anything. Rather, it’s to:
1. Be extremely selective about what you change
2. Ensure any changes support rather than replace your core strategy
3. Focus on improving execution rather than changing direction
4. Measure the right things (long-term effectiveness, not short-term excitement)
5. Have the courage to be consistent
Conclusion
The most successful law firm marketing strategies aren’t usually the most exciting ones. They’re the ones that maintain consistency, focus on fundamentals, and resist the urge to change for change’s sake.
Your CMO might not thank me for pointing this out. But your bottom line will. Sometimes the best strategy is simply to keep doing what works, even if it makes for a less exciting marketing meeting.
The next time your CMO suggests a major strategic shift, perhaps gently remind them of this truth: in marketing, boring often beats exciting. Consistency often beats creativity. And sometimes, the best strategy is simply to keep doing what works.
And, after close to 2 decades doing this work, I can unequivocally say, that the firms that we help grow, do the right things, at the right time, all the time. Simple!
