Divorce Lawyer Advertising: New Challenges

Jun 18
18:48

2011

Will Beaumont

Will Beaumont

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The internet is drastically changing the way that a divorce lawyer reaches his clients. The problem, however, is that smaller communities have not fully embraced the internet. This means continued challenges in getting before potential customers.

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Only recently,Divorce Lawyer Advertising: New Challenges Articles attorneys have been permitted to advertise in some jurisdictions. In response to constitutional challenges of freedom of speech, bar associations allowed attorneys to advertise, but many recently have updated their advertising rules delineating further what is acceptable to do. While legal advertising may still be developing, it has to do so in an environment that is rapidly changing as more potential clients are beginning to use the internet. This is particularly acute problem for attorneys such as a divorce lawyer, who focus on practice areas dedicated to representing clients on the consumer level.

A divorce lawyer has a number of challenges in getting before the public. The first challenge is that, unlike personal injury, there is not enough money to fund profitably television commercials or a large commitment to billboards. The second challenge is that there is not yet an avenue that can be consistently relied upon to get the word out about the services offered. While the internet can be a good method of informing the public in a more cost effective way than traditional mass advertising, not all communities rely heavily on the internet. This is particularly true in small towns and areas that are not as dense as major cities where residents feel do not feel the need to rely on the internet to distinguish which professional services provider from which to choose.

This means that a divorce lawyer wishing to target these areas needs to determine another way to advertise their business. Billboards or another mass marketing technique should work well here because of the decreased costs for such options. Many people, however, do not like leaving their own community for professional services. A problem develops then for Family Law attorneys wishing to attract both markets, as this can become cost prohibitive. While costs may be lower to in a smaller market phone book, for instance, it will still likely be necessary for a divorce lawyer to maintain multiple offices in order to have the best chance of attracting an audience as wide as possible.

What then to do? Statistically, most businesses fail because of a lack of capital, and so the fundamental answer for a divorce lawyer to such marketing challenges is probably to start slowly with a commitment to one approach. As business picks up, it should be possible to move from the smaller markets to the larger ones or vice versa. It will be crucial to understand that getting clients in different areas will be change depending on the market that you are in and how potential clients in that market receive information.

It is fairly obvious right now to many that people in larger cities and towns are trending away from the phone book, for instance, in determining which Family Law attorney to hire. It is important not to think that this is necessarily true for people where the population is much less dense. In these places, phone books, billboards, etc. are not only cheaper, but they should also be a more effective way of communicating your message, as people in these areas have not yet become as comfortable and reliant on the internet.

The above material is intended for information purposes only. It is not intended as professional legal advice and should not be construed as such. Attorney William H. Beaumont practices in New Orleans, La.