For so many lawyers, marketing is the last thing on their minds.  It is easy to see why this is the case.  First, time spent marketing is time spent away from working on cases and earning money.  The rewards for the time you spend marketing does not show up in the bottom line as billable hours do.  And second, marketing is not something that many lawyers learned or have experience in.  Therefore, marketing to go out and get more clients gets put aside until things get desperate.

In actuality, marketing is the most important aspect of business development for every law firm, from the big firms to the solo practices.  Educating yourself and taking risks on the marketing side of the business is so important to growing your practice.  Christy Burke, founder of Burke & Co., writes a column about lawyer networking and business development for a publication called Marketing Your Law Firm.  Lawline.com invited Christy to talk with us about some of the tips she gives lawyers and law firms.

One major recommendation is to use lunchtime as a chance to meet with contacts and potential clients to create a relationship and open the lines of communication.  It is important to develop a working relationship, and continue to network to increase the amount of relationships you create.  Marketing is truly a numbers game, and too many lawyers limit the amount of people they talk to and deal with.  Getting yourself out there and branding your name and your practice will allow you to reach more people.

Of course, there are many different ways for lawyers to market themselves.  For more of Christy Burke’s tips, please enjoy Lawline.com’s interview with her below.