PRACTICE MARKETING blog

It happened today again. A managing partner of a boutique law firm had never “attempted marketing” because he felt he wasn’t creative enough. In fact, most of his clients already come from [what I dub, passive] referrals. I’m guessing you’re a bit more creative (or at least you have your moments)… You’re at least pro-active enough with your practice marketing to read this blog post!

As you know, most attorneys and CPAs aren’t “good at marketing,” nor do most claim to be (… or want to be, in some cases). I am often challenged with the “I’m not creative” belief from my clients. They hope to get “new ideas” from me.

As a marketing advisor I must coach my clients to develop doable pro-active marketing skills. They need not become Mad Men! Practice marketing need not be very creative (ingenuity is always wonderful). In fact, too many ideas can become distracting.

I’m sure you also know many peers who think they have tons of great ideas… and fail to execute diligently. In fact, I contend that most of ‘client development’ is an accumulation of simple, everyday, habits. It may be as simple as turning reactive “waiting for referrals” word-of-mouth into pro-active education networking.

Creativity is fun and imaginative.
Still, it takes consistency, diligence, perseverance to complete a task, a project, a goal.

As a marketing advisor I help to generate ideas.
We brainstorm and prioritze.
Moreover, I help my clients to stay the course.

Way beyond creativity lay consistency.
After all, we learn through practice, practice, practice.
Branding is a matter of repetition, repetition, repetition.

Unfortunately, staying consistent can become boring.
Armchair “idea research” seems productive, but rarely yields clients.
What do you think?