Don’t measure the easy when it comes to law firm Internet marketing

Are you focused on the easy numbers (clicks, views, likes) when it comes to Internet marketing?

Rather than focusing on something easy, widely respected marketer, author and speaker, Seth Godin suggests that you ask:

What is it that you hope to accomplish? Not what you hope to measure as a result of this social media strategy/launch, but to actually change, create or build?

Focus on the real goal – where do you want to be at at the end of the day – not on numbers.

An easy but inaccurate measurement will only distract you. It might be easy to calibrate, arbitrary and do-able, but is that the purpose of your work?

I know that there’s a long history of a certain metric being a stand-in for what you really want, but perhaps that metric, even though it’s tried, might not be true. Perhaps those clicks, views, likes and groups are only there because they’re easy, not relevant.

Law firm business development and marketing will always be measured by growth in business.

• What business have we retained from existing clients?
• What new business have we realized from existing clients?
• What business have we realized from new clients?
• What business have we gleaned from new industries or areas of law we have not worked in before but developed a strategic plan to get after?

These goals can be and are measured by the bottom line, revenue. Lawyers developing business do not have a hard time knowing where their business is coming from.

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. 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.

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

“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 too many measure the easy numbers.