Don’t Measure The Easy When It Comes To Internet Marketing

These goals can be and are measured by the bottom line, revenue. Anyone saying we can’t directly measure this type of return from Internet marketing, is just saying it’s too hard, we’ll chase numbers instead.

Lawyers developing business do not have a hard time knowing where their new business is coming from. Ask them. If they don’t know, they probably aren’t developing new business. They’ll feel comfort in your easy to track numbers.

If you want to look at incremental measurements, look at whether a lawyer is becoming a recognized authority in their niche area of law and building a powerful network of relationships with clients, prospective clients, referral sources, and the influencers of all three.

Rightfully so, law firms and lawyers use blogs and other social media, including Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. These mediums, used effectively, build relationships and build a name, the two linchpins of business development in law.

However, lawyers and law firms take the easy way out in measuring success here. They look at analytics — subscribers, web traffic, followers, connections, likes, and comments.

Analytics are the golden calf worshipped by marketers and lawyers spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on websites and other Internet marketing. It’s as if their budgets and jobs depend on these numbers — they probably do.

Jill Avery, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, interviewed by Amy Gallo for a Harvard Business Review piece, says:

Good marketing is not about winning creative awards or telling interesting stories. It’s about “delivering customers and sales. It puts a bit more rigor on what’s historically been much more intangible.

Focus on sales when you establish goals for Internet marketing and when you measure success — or failure. What can we do in incremental new revenue? Did we hit that goal at year one, year two and year three.

Every law firm claims to be different, while all are all focused on the same metrics. From Godin:

System innovations almost always involve rejecting the standard metrics as a first step in making a difference. When you measure the same metrics, you’re likely to create the same outcomes. But if you can see past the metrics to the results, it’s possible to change the status quo.

No question there are lawyers and a few law firms measuring the difficult — and the real goal — but sadly, most measure the easy numbers.

[Source:-abovethelaw]