过去几年，中国区域法律市场蓬勃发展，但也竞争激烈，扎根本土的律师事务所开始愈发意识到良好市场策略的重要性，ALB与他们聊了聊其中的经验与“试错”，以及他们的下一步市场计划。
中国律所的市场策略正迈入“个性化时代”。一方面，经过过去几年的尝试，律所开始根据自身业务定位，以及所处区域经济特点，制定更为精细有效的市场计划；另一方面，伴随互联网营销、IP运营等概念逐渐变为常规，律所也开始重新匹配线上线下资源。律所对市场策略的思考，正越来越“回归本源”。
“一家律所的业务有两个关键点：一是营销，实现法律服务的成交；一是交付，并把服务质量做好。”广悦律师事务所主任黄山律师说，“但律所的营销特别基于专业能力，导致前后端无法分开。”也因此，律所市场策略变成了一个有点复杂的问题。
尤其对本土律所来说，伴随区域法律服务市场竞争愈发激烈，“本土所如果想做好市场，可能要花比全国性规模律所多几倍的努力和投入，才能达到差不多的效果。否则伴随规模大所品牌的进一步巩固，本土所更难留住优质客户和优秀合伙人”。
因此，过去几年广悦在市场领域逐年加大投入，“要整体发力，把市场培育起来”，黄律师说。
同为华南律所，专注婚姻家事和财富传承业务的广东五美律师事务所有着相似感受。五美主任李小非律师告诉ALB，“律所的市场费用确实在逐年提升，目前在年度营业额当中的占比约为10%”。
天册律师事务所是长三角地区的老牌大所。谈到做区域市场的经验，管理合伙人蒋国良律师说，天册建所已经是第36年，“事务所的成长是一个从自发到自觉的过程。我们从比较传统的模式，逐步向专业化、体系化转变”，过程中，市场策略在最近几年被提到了非常重要的位置。
虽然由于市场投入分散在律所、团队、合伙人几个层面，较难统计具体数据，但投入意愿和具体投入金额的增长是确定无疑的，“这两年市场人员配备也在加强，未来会继续扩大市场团队，把市场做成更为系统的行为”，蒋律师说。
清晰的自我定位
区域性律所愈发重视市场策略的表现之一，即设定十分清晰的自我定位，并据此铺开市场行为。
以天册为例，蒋国良律师告诉ALB，“天册自我定位为‘围绕着市场主体提供法律服务的机构’。我们以公司为核心客户。像个体一样，公司也要经历‘生老病死’不同发展阶段，我们围绕着公司全生命流程提供全面的法律服务”。
“尤其天册成立在杭州，江浙地区的民营企业构成非常庞大的市场群体，也是长三角地区的经济特色，我们正是根据这样的市场环境特点，这些年对于企业客户的法律服务需求进行了全面理解。”蒋律师补充道。
在此前提下，天册在过去几年做出了系统性的市场动作。蒋律师介绍说，首先是在管委会下成立业务和市场发展委员会，在全所层面展开协调；其次是在2019年，将原有的六大业务部门细化为22个专业组，进一步实现业务引领发展；最后，天册自2018年展开全国布局，目前已经形成涵盖京津冀、长三角、大湾区的初步格局，未来也将着力投入新办公室的市场建设。
而在具体的市场手段上，天册则总结了“专业建设”和“影响力建设”两个关键词，从和业内媒体合作，到组织专业研讨并针对大型客户展开内部培训，再到及时分享法律法规及案例研究，都围绕这两个目标展开。
作为华南地区，尤其粤港澳大湾区的领先律所，广悦则打出了“粤港澳大湾区涉外商事法律服务平台”的招牌。
黄山律师给ALB解释了其中几个关键词的含义：“第一是大湾区，这是很扎实的市场，也是广悦的优势所在，我们会先把大湾区的龙头站稳，再去做下一步定位；第二是涉外商事，商事意味着主要从事面对企业客户的高端业务，而涉外是广悦的特色。我们最近还有个新口号：成为‘大湾区的红圈所’。这既意味着要有较高的营收能力，也代表着较高的服务品质。”
“第三是平台，广悦经过13年的发展，开始从单体律所向平台发展。一方面我们会在大湾区的几个核心城市，以及海外地区开设分所；另一方面，平台也意味着希望吸收更多、更专业的合伙人。”
在此基础上，无论是直接或者间接的市场行为，“都将围绕着这一具体定位去发力，以这个标准要求自己”，黄山律师说。
另一个例子是广东五美律师事务所，律所给自己的定位是“华南地区法律服务专业化领域的行业领跑者”。李小非律师告诉ALB，五美的市场行为正是围绕这一定位打造的。“首先是高密度、高频率的专业输出，包括视频号每日更新、公众号定期发布专业文章、定期制作并发布专业细分领域的大数据报告、出版专著等。”
“其次是增加律所、专业律师以及五美品牌形象的曝光率，包括鼓励律师活跃在电台、电视台、报纸杂志等传统媒体；同时通过开设直播课、拍摄普法系列短视频等新媒体方式输出品牌影响力。”李律师接着说，“最后，是持续开展‘五美家事沙龙’系列品牌活动，获取客户资源。”
作为婚姻家事领域精品所，李小非律师还特别提到了通过公益行动塑造律所定位的重要性。她举了个例子，“我们长期关注反家暴领域，每年都会撰写专业文章、发布行业大数据报告等。印象中五美发布第一份反家暴大数据报告是在2017年，当时《反家庭暴力法》刚出台一年，市面上很少有专业机构关注这个细分领域，报告时至今日还在引发相关采访和法律问题咨询，展现了我们的专业力量和公益热忱”。
邱彦是北京兰台（成都）律师事务所管理合伙人、运营总监，对于西南地区，尤其成都法律市场有着深入观察。他告诉ALB，在这一区域，“大部分规模化律所和部分精品化律所已经有了明确清晰的市场定位，在业务领域，均采用了专业部门划分的方式，通过专业培训、企业宣讲、多平台合作的手段来塑造这一定位”。
具体到市场手段，邱彦观察到，西部所，尤其规模化律所，主要通过自行组织的开放类线下活动，以及在自有官方线上平台推出律师，来扩大品牌知晓度。
自己的故事不但要讲给客户，也要讲给同行。邱彦观察到一个有趣的现象：最近两年，越来越多律所通过律协等官方平台组织的线上线下专业活动和文体活动，提升在行业内的认可度和美誉度。例如近年成都法律行业出现了非常频繁的文艺活动和体育赛事，“这些活动成为了律所重要的自我宣传途径，通过向同行展示律所的文化、理念和亮点，以吸引更多人才加盟、带来新客户，继而实现专业领域的扩充和发展，以及创收增长”，邱彦说。
有区域特点的市场手段
区域性律所针对所在区域特点展开服务是应有之义，换句话说，制定律所的市场策略，前提是了解所在大市场的特点。
“每个地方的市场都不一样，法律服务业不跟随当地产业走，就没有发展的可能性。但也要甄别哪些产业对法律服务存在旺盛需求。”黄山律师说，“举个例子，在大湾区，一些城市的制造业很旺盛，但法律服务业却不发达，因为制造业对法律服务的需求相对较少；但房地产、资本市场、交易并购等对法律服务需求则特别旺盛，而且付费能力和意愿高。”
因此，针对大湾区经济特点，在传统领域外，过去几年广悦特别强调新兴领域市场的开拓，尤其是互联网行业和广州的城市更新领域。“新兴产业发展快速，交易额巨大、过程又很复杂，对法律需求很迫切。这样的领域未来几年会不断出现，是我们关注的重点。”黄律师说。
伴随全国布局的推进，天册在过去几年正逐步淡化自身的区域性特点。不过从长三角走向全国的过程中，蒋国良律师坦言，天册确实感受到面对不同区域市场、不同客户、办公室的不同发展阶段，采取的市场策略也要有所不同。
“在长三角，尤其杭州市场，我们主要为客户提供长期、全覆盖的法律服务，不少客户我们已经服务了10年以上，且涵盖各个法律专业，在这个市场需要凸显天册多专业协同和深度服务能力。”蒋律师解释道，“而在其他市场，我们主要寻求体现天册在某些专业领域的突出能力。例如在IPO领域，通过一些外省项目，我们已经让大家知道天册在资本市场领域的服务能力和竞争力。”
不过，过去几年，即便本土所更为熟悉区域市场，但伴随全国性律所深入布局，他们也开始感受到市场层面的压力。
“全国性规模律所成立时间普遍较长，规模较大，因此市场识别度较高，容易吸收不错的合伙人加盟。大部分本土律所此前对市场品牌的投入不多，伴随自身规模还不大、市场知名度尚不高的现状，做市场其实难度更大。”黄山律师坦言。因此，当下本土所有意识、肯投入把市场做起来相当重要。
基于此，邱彦从长期协助西部律所制定市场策略的经验出发，指出在“抢人才以夺市场”的传统手段之外，区域所不妨多做新尝试。
举例来说，西部律所可以更多通过科技手段触及未开发的市场和群体，例如通过线上工具连接律师和客户，让客户通过app实时了解案件进程；在传播端，则可以通过与媒体平台合作，利用短视频输出有吸引力的内容，达到流量增长，实现品牌知晓度的扩散，再通过后台数据分析精准划分客群，进而转化流量。“目前成都有众多律所、律师团队或个体律师开通了各大平台的短视频官方账号，许多都实现了粉丝量过百万甚至千万，相信他们也从中获得了需要的市场。”邱彦说。
而在人才端，目前成都地区已有律师团队通过培养或招聘“律师经纪人”为其开拓新市场和整合已有市场，从而达到市场获取的宽度和质量的市场工作目标，并且实践证明是有较好效果的，而这也证明了未来非律师在行业内发挥的市场作用也会愈发重要，邱彦告诉ALB。
此外，通过与权威法律媒体和专业评级机构获得更多高质量客户认可；通过与高校的合作——例如冠名赞助各类校园活动——来实现精准投放，甚至与客户共享高校资源，也都是区域性律所值得考虑的市场手段。
市场背后的问题
伴随区域性律所市场推广实践增多，经验及所谓“试错”不断积累，他们也开始思考市场策略背后，更深层的律所制度性问题。
“只有实行一体化管理才能更好实现律所层面的市场策略，否则律所的市场接触点全在律师个体身上，律所本身不具备对资源的控制能力，就谈不上进行市场投入。”
- 黄山，广悦律师事务所
在广悦的黄山律师看来，律所做市场背后存在两组矛盾，第一是律所和律师之间的矛盾。“首先，只有实行一体化管理才能更好实现律所层面的市场策略，否则律所的市场接触点全在律师个体身上，律所本身不具备对资源的控制能力，就谈不上进行市场投入。”他坦言。
在此基础上，最理想的情况是：律所进行市场投入，帮助律师增加业务，律师的增益又有一部分回归到律所，从而形成良性循环。而现实往往存在差距，因此一家律所是否能够理顺所有权、如何衡量市场投入与收益，将决定它的市场投入意愿。
天册的蒋国良律师对此深有同感。“事务所能走多远，关键在于是否能够寻找到平台和优秀律师之间的平衡点。”他一直在思考：“（市场行为）如何能够让律师的价值得到体现、收益得到良性的保障，同时又让事务所形成平台影响力和竞争力，更有效地把大家连接在一起，互相成就价值？”
蒋律师观察到，如今律师越来越关注平台和品牌的赋能，而且“平台的加持不仅局限于品牌美誉度，而且包括后台服务、专业支撑、研究能力……对平台的要求愈发综合”。
黄山律师看到的第二对矛盾，则存在于市场部和律师之间。
“许多律所都设置了专业的市场部，但市场部人员通常是非律师，它的成功转化率有多少？目前看来，市场部独立拿回业务的概率不大，必须和律师团队合作，这就引发了新问题：客户来了之后如何做利益分配？如何计算市场部的贡献？这个机制要理顺。”黄律师说。
如果解决这些矛盾，黄山律师坦言广悦“有经验也有教训……教训是，我们以为依靠非律师从事市场活动能起到决定性作用，结果是失败的。法律服务的专业性决定了非律师只能起到辅助作用，例如专业文章的输出，必须由律师完成，非律师只能协助排版、设计等”。
广悦决定换个做法，于是成立了品牌宣传与市场拓展委员会，发动有能力的律师从事市场行为，搭建起包括网站更新、媒体推广、专访策划、国际评级机构申报、外部合作等的一体化品牌宣传架构，并由律所对提供市场服务的人员进行奖励。
天册也在做新尝试，以实现律所、团队、个人市场策略的有机结合。
在事务所层面，蒋国良律师告诉ALB，天册的业务市场发展委员会“处理的很多是专业组未见思考的问题，例如律所需要在哪些领域加大投入、哪些业务部门可以通过交叉实现更多业务量等”。
蒋律师举了几个具体例子：在知识产权领域，IPO项目涉及大量知识产权法律服务需求，需要从事务所层面搭建机制、推动合作；在税务领域，由于天册服务于大量商业主体，他们普遍拥有税务法律服务需求，也需要事务所建立内部机制，推动税务律师深入服务现有客户。
“而专业组层面的市场，更多关注专业研究、市场布局、人才培养。”蒋律师说，“从合伙人，到专业组，再到事务所，把立体、全面的市场行为组合起来，才能起到好效果。此外，事务所和专业组之间的市场资源分配也要做好平衡，要在其中找到平衡点。”
下一步计划
聊到律所的下一步市场计划，一个绕不开的话题是近年如火如荼的线上推广。
“同样一种行为，在不同行业里起到的市场效果是不一样的。”天册的蒋国良律师如此坦言对线上推广的看法。“律师提供的是专业性服务，例如天册定位为商业主体法律服务提供者，我们的客户多是商业决策者，他们中有多少会通过线上途径寻找律师？”
因此，在蒋律师看来，比较符合律所特性的线上推广手段是专业研讨类活动，例如2021年天册举行的一场私募合规和争议解决专业论坛，受制于疫情防控要求，现场只有约50人，但有近2000人次在线参与。“我倒觉得线上解决的主要是沟通效率、手段问题，线上研讨会等可以吸引此前不了解律所的人参与，但后期转化率也不可忽视。是否能通过线上触点引发客户的进一步交流和分享？这是最重要的问题。”蒋律师说。
五美的李小非律师也认为，线上推广不能跟风，要找到适合律所定位的最佳途径。她告诉ALB，疫情期间，“五美家事沙龙”转为线上举办，但交流和互动效果有限；与此同时，五美开始尝试通过视频号发布短视频，一方面关注时事热点、持续输出家事法律的干货内容，同时输出律所品牌的价值观，这些视频“不以获取网络流量为目的，而是为了突出律师的专业性和品牌的美誉度”。
“未来将有更多90后的律师和90后的客户……不同年龄层的思维可能有所不同，我们需要容纳更多的年轻观点，发挥年轻人的作用，在市场领域也一样。”
- 蒋国良，天册律师事务所
不过，对于线上推广，蒋国良律师认为律所还是要保持开放心态。“未来将有更多90后的律师和90后的客户，我们也在看客户的偏好，一家机构总要能够接受新事物。”他说，“经济更新迭代比想象中来得更迅猛，不同年龄层的思维可能有所不同，我们需要容纳更多的年轻观点，发挥年轻人的作用，在市场领域也一样。”
谈到未来的市场计划，黄山律师表示广悦还将以突出重点业务领域为核心，这既包括广悦具备传统优势的海商海事、房地产领域，也包括当下发力的城市更新、互联网法律服务，以及“未来可期”的涉外法律服务、婚姻家事、劳动法等领域。“只有随着市场变化不断投入新领域，才能说自己是一家高品质的律师事务所，才有可能向‘大湾区红圈所’的标杆进发。”他说。
邱彦则相信，未来区域性律所将更多发现市场和品牌策划的红利，“要勇于尝试新手段和工具，去触及未知市场或未知需求群体，而不仅仅靠挖掘人才的单一方式提升市场实力”，他说，“一味的‘内卷’只会限制行业的发展和进步，我们应该懂得通过合作与共享，实现对市场的获取，从而达到律师和律所的需求，以及推动行业的健康发展。”
GETTING THE WORD OUT
In the past few years, China's regional legal market has been booming, but competition is also fierce. Local law firms have increasingly sensed the importance of having good marketing strategies. ALB speaks to some of them about their experience, their "trials and errors,” and their future marketing plans.
The marketing strategies of Chinese law firms are entering an era of customization. On the one hand, after several years of exploration, law firms have begun to develop more refined and effective market plans based on their business positioning and the economic characteristics of certain regions. On the other hand, as Internet marketing, brand operation, etc. become more common, law firms are also starting to decide how much to allocate between online and offline resources. They are increasingly going back to the basics when it comes to market strategies.
"The business of a law firm is in fact quite simple. It has only two key pillars: one is marketing or being able to sell services; and the other is high-quality delivery. However, the marketing of a law firm is particularly based on professional competence, making it impossible to separate the front and back offices,” says Huang Shan, director of Wang Jing & GH Law Firm. As a result, law firms’ marketing strategies have become somewhat complicated.
Especially for regional law firms, with the increasingly fierce competition within regional legal markets, "if a regional firm wants to have effective marketing, it may need to spend several times the efforts and investment of a national firm just to achieve similar results. Otherwise, with the further consolidation of brand power by large firms, it will be even more challenging for regional firms to retain clients and top talent, which is fatal," says Huang.
Therefore, Wang Jing & GH has been pouring more and more resources into marketing in the past few years so as to "make a concerted effort to build up the market."
Also based in South China, Guangdong Wumei Law Firm, which specializes in marriage and family law and inheritance, feels the same way. Li Xiaofei, the firm's director, shares with ALB that "our marketing expenses have indeed increased year by year and now account for about 10 percent of our annual turnover."
T&C Law Firm is a well-established major firm with 36 years of history in the Yangtze River Delta region. Talking about the experience in regional marketing, its managing partner Jiang Guoliang points out that his firm is gradually shifting from a more traditional model to a specialized and systematic one. In the process, marketing strategy has been elevated to a very important level in recent years.
Although it is quite difficult to provide specific data as marketing investments are allocated at firm, team and partner levels, it is clear that both the willingness to invest and the amount invested have increased. "The staffing of the marketing team has also been strengthened in the past two years. We will continue to expand the team going forward," says Jiang.
CLEAR POSITIONING
One manifestation of regional firms' growing emphasis on marketing is to set a clearly defined market positioning and conduct their marketing activities accordingly.
Take T&C Law Firm as an example. According to Jiang, "T&C positions itself as 'an organization that focuses on providing legal services to market entities,’ which means enterprises are our core clients who go through different stages of development just like individuals. Therefore, we provide a full range of legal services around an enterprise's life cycle."
"In particular, T&C is based in Hangzhou, therefore private enterprises in Jiangsu and Zhejiang constitute a very large client base. Over the years, we have developed a comprehensive understanding of the legal service needs of corporate clients based on the characteristics of such a market environment." Adds Jiang.
Against this background, Jiang explains that T&C has made several market moves in the past few years. First, the firm set up a business and market development committee under its management committee to ensure coordination across the firm. Second, in 2019, the original six business units were further divided into 22 practice groups to further pursue practice-centered development. Lastly, since 2018, T&C has been building a nationwide footprint and now covers the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta region and the Greater Bay Area (GBA). In the future, T&C will also focus on the market development of these new offices.
In terms of concrete marketing efforts, T&C has summarized them into two key themes: "building up professional capability" and "enhancing influence.” Efforts that center around these two themes include cooperating with media, organizing seminars, providing internal training for clients, and promptly sharing updates on laws, regulations and case studies.
As a leading law firm in South China, Wang Jing & GH Law Firm has been branding itself as "a legal service platform for foreign-related commercial matters in the Greater Bay Area.”
Huang dissects the meaning of this branding: "The first key word is GBA, which is a very solid market and where we hold competitive advantage. We will first focus on consolidating our market leadership here. The second key word is foreign-related commercial matters, which means that we mainly engage in high-end business for corporate clients, and foreign-related services are our specialization. In addition, we have come up with a new slogan recently: to become the 'red circle firm of the GBA.’ This means both higher revenue and higher service quality."
"The third key word is platform. After 13 years of development, Wang Jing & GH has begun to develop from an individual law firm to a platform. We will open branches in several major cities in the GBA and overseas. Becoming a platform also means that we want to attract more top partners."
On this basis, whether it is direct marketing -- such as writing articles, hosting seminars and giving lectures, engaging in online promotion and other activities that may directly attract business, or indirect marketing, such as working with the media to raise brand premium, they “all focus on this specific positioning and benchmarked against this specific goal," says Huang.
Another example is Guangdong Wumei Law Firm, which positions itself as "the industry leader in legal services specialization in South China.” Li tells ALB that Wumei's marketing activities are indeed centered around this positioning. "First, we focus on intensive and frequent export of professional expertise, including daily updates by our WeChat Channel video account, regular publication of professional articles on our WeChat account, regular production and release of big data reports on specialized areas of practices, publication of monographs, etc."
"Second, we work to increase the exposure of the firm, our lawyers and Wumei's brand image, including encouraging lawyers to actively appear on radio, TV, newspapers, magazines and other traditional media. Meanwhile, we enhance our brand influence via new media channels such as livestreaming classes and short videos to improve public awareness. Lastly, we also have the ongoing branding campaign of 'Wumei Family Affair Salon' to generate leads."
Qiu Yan, managing partner and chief operation officer at Lantai Partners’ Chengdu office, has in-depth understanding of the legal market in Southwest China, especially Chengdu. He shares with ALB that in this region, "most large law firms and some boutique firms have already established clear market positioning. Their teams are divided by practice areas and their market positioning is shaped through seminars and cooperation with different media.”
When it comes to marketing activities, Qiu observes that firms in West China, especially large ones, enhance brand awareness mainly by organizing open house offline campaigns and promoting lawyers on their own online channels.
Law firms not only need to promote themselves to clients, but also to peers. Qiu notices an interesting trend: in the past two years, an increasing number of law firms have been promoting their industry awareness and reputation via online and offline professional activities and cultural and sports activities organized by official channels such as lawyers' associations. "Such activities have become an important channel for law firms to promote themselves and to attract talents and new clients by showcasing firm culture,” says Qiu.
MARKETING WITH REGIONAL CHARACTERISTICS
It goes without saying that regional firms should provide services according to the characteristics of their home regions. In other words, a firm should understand the characteristics of the broad market in which it operates before developing marketing strategies.
"Every local market is different. It is impossible for legal services to develop unless they follow local industries. However, it is also important to identify which industries have high demand for legal services. For example, in Guangdong province, Dongguan and Foshan have a booming manufacturing industry, but their legal industry is muted because the manufacturing industry has little demand for legal services. On the other hand, the demand for legal services for real estate, capital markets and M&As is particularly strong, and clients are able and willing to pay,” comments Huang.
Therefore, in view of the economic characteristics of the GBA, Wang Jing & GH has been emphasizing the exploration of emerging areas in the past few years, especially the Internet industry and the urban renewal projects of Guangzhou. "Emerging industries develop rapidly, with huge turnovers, complicated processes and an urgent need for legislation. Such areas will continue to emerge over the next few years and are a focus for us," says Huang.
As its nationwide presence progresses, T&C Law Firm has been gradually placing less emphasis on its regional characteristics in the past few years. During the transition from a firm based in the Yangtze River Delta region to a national firm, Jiang admits that T&C has had first-hand knowledge of the need to adapt its marketing strategies to different regional markets, different clients, also different stages of development of its offices.
“In the Yangtze River Delta region, especially in Hangzhou, we mainly provide long-term, full-coverage legal services for clients. We have been serving many clients for more than a decade, covering various legal practices. In this market, we need to showcase our multi-practice coordination and capability of providing in-depth services. In other markets, we mainly seek to demonstrate our outstanding capabilities in some specialized areas. For example, by undertaking IPO projects, we have proved our competitiveness on some new markets."
However, even as regional firms become more familiar with their own markets, they have begun to feel pressure as national firms expand their presence.
"National firms are generally larger and have a longer history. Therefore, they have a high degree of market recognition and can attract top partners. On the other hand, the disadvantages of regional firms are notable. Most of them have not invested much in branding. Coupled with their small scale and low market awareness, it is even more difficult for regional firms to conduct marketing." Admits Huang. Therefore, it is critical for these firms to be aware of the importance of marketing and to be willing to invest in this area.
Qiu, based on his years of experience in assisting firms in West China with their marketing strategies, suggests that regional law firms make new attempts.
For example, firms can reach untapped markets and groups through technology. Specifically, online tools can be used to connect lawyers and clients so that clients can stay updated of case progress in real time through apps. As for promotion activities, they can cooperate with media platforms to distribute attractive contents in the form of short videos to drive traffic and build brand awareness. Today, there are many law firms or individual lawyers in Chengdu who have opened official short video accounts on various platforms, and many of them have gained millions or even tens of millions of followers.
In addition, gaining recognition from more blue-chip clients via authoritative legal industry media and professional rating, partnering with universities, such as naming and sponsoring campus activities, are also worthy of consideration by regional law firms.
STRUCTURAL PROBLEMS
As regional law firms increase marketing campaigns and accumulate experience and so-called "trial and error,” they have also begun to think about the deeper problem behind their marketing strategies, which is a firm’s internal management structure.
- Huang Shan, Wang Jing & GH Law Firm
Huang of Wang Jing & GH believes there are two types of conflicts behind the marketing of law firms. One is the conflicts between the firm and its lawyers. "First of all, only law firms that adopt a centralized management structure can implement market strategies at the firm level. Otherwise, a law firm's market contact points all fall on individual lawyers, and the law firm itself has no control over resources and accordantly no incentive to invest in marketing.”
In this context, the ideal situation is that a law firm invests in marketing to help lawyers acquire business, and lawyers return part of their earnings to the firm, thus forming a virtuous circle. However, the reality is often different. As a result, a firm’s willingness to invest in marketing hinges on how well it organizes its ownership structure and how it measures marketing investment and return.
Jiang of T&C Law Firm concurs. “How far a firm can go depends on finding the right balance between itself as the platform and its top lawyers. How can we ensure (marketing activities) give full play to the value of lawyers and generate positive results, while at the same time let the firm build its influence as a platform to more effectively connect everyone together to achieve mutual value?"
Jiang observes that nowadays lawyers are paying more attention to the empowerment of platforms and brands, and "the support provided by a platform is no longer limited to brand reputation, but also includes back-office services, professional support, research capability... The requirements for platforms are becoming more comprehensive.”
The second conflict Huang sees is between a firm's marketing department and its lawyers.
"Many firms have set up marketing departments, but marketing staff are usually non-lawyers. So, how likely are they able to convert clients? At present, it seems unlikely that a marketing department can secure business on its own. Instead, it has to work with a team of lawyers, which raises a new question: how to allocate the rewards once a client is acquired? How to quantify the contribution of the marketing department? This mechanism needs to be straightened out," says Huang.
In solving these conflicts, Huang shares that Wang Jing & GH "has learned both experiences and lessons... The lesson we learnt is that solely relying on non-lawyers for marketing will not be successful. The nature of legal services means that non-lawyers can only play a supporting role. For example, the drafting of professional articles must be done by lawyers, and non-lawyers can only assist in matters like typesetting and design.”
As a result, Wang Jing & GH decided to make a change. It has set up a brand promotion and market development committee to mobilize capable lawyers to engage in marketing activities, and developed an integrated branding framework comprising website updating, media promotion, interview planning, rating application, external cooperation, and so on, and the firm will provide material rewards for marketing services personnel.
T&C Law Firm is also making new attempts to ensure the proper coordination of marketing strategies for the firm, teams and individuals.
At the firm level, Jiang tells ALB that the business development committee of T&C "deals with many issues that practice groups have not considered, such as which areas the firm needs to invest more in and which business units could secure more business volume via cross-selling.”
Jiang gives several examples. In the IP space, the committee found that IPO projects involved a huge demand for IP legal services, and it was necessary to build mechanisms and promote cooperation at the firm level. With regard to tax services, as T&S serves a large number of commercial entities who generally have tax planning needs, the firm also needs to establish internal mechanisms to encourage tax lawyers to provide in-depth services for existing clients.
"On the other hand, marketing activities at the team’s and individual levels focus more on professional research, market presence and talent development. From partners, to practice groups and then to the firm, we need to ensure an all-round coordination for market activities so as to achieve good results. In addition, we need to strike a balance in terms of the allocation of marketing resources between the firm and practice groups. It is like finding the right balance between the 'planned economy' and the 'law of the jungle.’
NEXT STEPS
When it comes to the next steps of marketing for law firms, an unavoidable topic is online promotion that has been in full swing in recent years.
"The same marketing activity could have different impact in different industries." Jiang of T&C Law Firm is frank about his view on online promotion. "Lawyers provide professional services. For example, T&C is positioned as a legal service provider for commercial entities. Most of our clients are business decision makers. How many of them will look for lawyers online?”
Therefore, in Jiang's opinion, professional seminars are the most suitable online promotion tools for law firms. For example, a private equity compliance and dispute resolution forum held by T&C in 2021 had only about 50 attendees physically due to COVID restriction measures, but attracted 2,000 attendees online. "I think online solutions are mainly about communication efficiency and means. Seminars and other events could attract those who don't know the firm before to attend, but the subsequent conversion rate should not be overlooked," says Jiang.
Li of Guangdong Wumei Law Firm also believes that law firms should not blindly follow online promotion but should find out the best way that fits their positioning. She tells ALB that "the Wumei Family Affair Salon" was moved online during the pandemic, but effective interaction were limited. At the same time, Wumei began to release short videos to closely follow hot topics and continuously offer useful tips related to family laws. These videos are created "not for the purpose of generating online traffic, but for showcasing the professionalism of our lawyers and our brand.”
- Jiang Guoliang, T&C Law Firm
However, Jiang agrees that law firms should keep an open mind about online promotion. “There will be more Gen Z lawyers and clients going forward. We are also observing client preferences. An organization has to be open to new things. We need to accommodate more views of the younger generation and give play to their roles in marketing activities."
Speaking of future marketing plans, Huang says that Wang Jing & GH will still focus on key areas of practices, including its traditional strongholds of maritime and real estate, urban renewal and Internet legal services, as well as promising areas such as foreign-related legal services, marriage and family law, and labor law. "Only by constantly investing in new fields as the market changes can we say we are a top law firm and can we strive towards the goal of becoming the 'red circle firm of the GBA.’”
Qiu believes that, in the future, regional law firms will discover more dividends of marketing and brand planning, and "should not be afraid to try new things and tools, to tap unknown markets or groups, and should not just rely on talent acquisition to improve competitiveness. We should learn to grow market share via cooperation and sharing, so as to drive the health development of the entire industry," says Qiu.