Too many attorneys fail to understand how public relations work. They think an advertisement promoting their firm counts or that ONLY high-profilelitigation cases receive media attention. Nothing could be further from thetruth. Every day hundreds of small and medium-sized law firms are quoted inwidely-read publications, ranging from top tier press to local community press, raising awareness of their firm and gaining credibility as experts in the marketplace. Firms that don’t realize this and don't incorporate it as part of their business development plans suffer from missed clients.
The truth of the matter is that a solid public relations plan MUST be is at the heart of every good marketing plan for ALL law firms. After all, public relations is all about building 'relations' with the right groups.
Common reasons cited by lawyers for not incorporating public relations are: not having enough time, a lack of understanding of its role, or the dearth of resources to make public relations part of their business development plans.
Couple with long held stereotypes of the press, such as reporters’ interest lying with big law firm news or reporter's only wanting the drama and not the facts, and the cynicism reporters have towards attorneys, it’s no surprise that media relations is frequently relegated to the bottom of business development activities, particularly if the firm has already achieved some “visibility” that did not result in new clients.
The irony of course, is that both groups need each other for their work. Reporters are continually seeking sources for their stories, and attorneys need to get more than their qualifications, out in the market place in other words, they need to get known, liked and trusted in their target market.
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