A prospective client recently asked us if a local vendor could serve them better than a national legal vendor.  Since we have heard the question before, we thought we should address the question.

If you wanted to treat your office staff to lunch, you would order take-out from a restaurant down the road and not one in the next state. That logic works for many tangible products and services.

Internet marketing, however, is a different matter.

The Internet does not have a specific geographic address. The physical location of your marketing vendor is not nearly as important as their quality and industry experience. Many attorneys have asked us, “Would I be better off dealing with a local vendor?” After all your law firm probably meets face-to-face with other service providers where a local presence is required.

Why is online marketing different?

Choose Best Over Closest

Your law firm will receive better service from a Web marketing vendor that has proven it can bring cases to the firm. That may not necessarily be the one closest in proximity to you.  Keep in mind that the top ranking, most successful legal websites are almost always developed by a legal specific vendor.

The advantages of using a legal-specific marketing consultant can be summed up in two phases: industry knowledge and related data.

Industry Knowledge

A vendor that represents law firm clients across the nation will have extensive knowledge about a broad range of marketing techniques that work best for a variety of firms. Effective strategies for a local pizza joint will not work for a law firm, but what works for a law firm in North Carolina is likely to work for a law firm in California. A local vendor may not have a bird’s eye view of the current legal marketing landscape.

Some vendors, regardless of their location, will not be able to provide conversion-oriented information, such as a legal content strategy and the number of conversions and cases your law firm should expect.  At Consultwebs, we knew it was critical that we invest in several licensed attorney writers who know how to write for prospective clients while keeping ethics requirements in mind, a Social Media team that constantly seeks and writes about legal topics, an Outreach team that has legal experience and connections with relevant information sources, a Marketing Consulting team that constantly seeks new legal marketing techniques for our clients, a Search Marketing team that is knowledgeable about law firm online marketing, a Design team that analyzes law firm websites and delivers conversion-based law firm designs and experienced Account Managers who are trained to be knowledgeable advocates for the law firms to which they are assigned.

A local vendor will not have the personnel, experience and expertise to develop and maintain your site to obtain the growth and cases you seek. An added benefit to using a national vendor is they will be able to provide this industry knowledge without sacrificing your confidentiality. In other words, working with a national scale vendor means you can be sure they are not using the same strategies for your competitor.

Related Data

At Consultwebs.com, we have access to a large amount of websites that we constantly analyze and gather data from, all with a legal focus. It is rare that a local SEO vendor would have that depth of resources. Vendors that are doing their job well will follow national trends and apply them to all of their clients, whether near or far.  Consultwebs, for example, provides each client with a highly qualified and trained Account Manager who meets with our clients frequently to provide guidance and an analysis of how our clients’ websites are performing. Our Account Managers also play an important role in developing the online marketing strategy for our clients. They collaborate with our team of experts and work with our clients to craft the strategy for a successful campaign.

Local ≠ Best

Some law firms have difficulty trusting that a marketing vendor outside their demographic could keep an eye on top competitors or share an understanding of the firm’s local culture.  Details such as understanding your firm’s culture will naturally come about with any strong marketing partnership into which you enter.

Keep in mind that your local competition may not necessarily be the firms with whom you are vying for online rankings. Your strongest competitor in the search results may not be down the street from you. With Web marketing, all competitive surveillance is done online. Any quality vendor can be trusted to closely monitor your top competitors and work up a strategy to beat them.

When it comes to your firm’s culture, it is important that your vendor understand where the firm is headed on paper as well as in reality. Increasing communication is needed to develop the most accurate snapshot of the firm and cast the best vision for the future. Strong communication makes any business partnership a successful one; your marketing provider is no exception.

Ultimately, your firm will benefit by trusting your marketing to a group that understands the legal profession, no matter your practice’s location.