Law firms that recorded high growth in 2020 were four times more likely to use tracking metrics for marketing and business development efforts, according to the survey, of global and mid-size law firms and accounting and financial services firms (A&FS) in Q4 2020 and Q1 2021.
Firms that recorded high growth levels were also found to be investing more in marketing and business development. However, law firms differed from A&FS in terms of areas of investment―law firms invested heavily in their firm’s website, CRM (customer relationship management), and training for lawyers, whereas A&FS firms directed investments to social media and email marketing in addition to CRM.
Scott Winter, director of product development at InterAction, said: ‘While these two sectors will direct their spending in different areas, their plans reflect the recognition that leveraging data-driven insights is an important way to facilitate a more systematic approach to business development.’
Both law firms and A&FS took big hits to their marketing and sales efforts during the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, more than half of high-growth firms experienced a positive impact from the COVID-19 pandemic. The same could be said for only 11% of no-growth firms.
‘The COVID-19 pandemic exposed business development and marketing strengths and weaknesses across every industry, but it also sheds some light on how law and accounting and financial services firms can improve,’ said Brendan Nelson, general manager of LexisNexis Software Solutions.
‘As technology adoption continues to help firms better capture, manage, and gain insights from their valuable data they can adopt a holistic and strategic approach to business development that will successfully drive firm growth.’
Digital marketing accounted for eight out of the top ten marketing techniques used by firms, and data quality was regarded as the main hurdle to clear in order to achieve a successful campaign.
