One of the most famous law firm marketing myths of all-time is the story of the mighty referral.
I was most recently reminded of this story by a post on the Lawyer Marketing Consultant’s blog.
Usually, as told by the lawyer, the story goes something like this:
“I have been practicing for 25 years (the traditional start to most law firm marketing myths) and the only new business I need is from my referral network. You see, it’s free advertising.”
While referrals can be an excellent source of new clients, they should never be an excuse for excluding other practice growth strategies. Let’s look at the truth behind this myth.
First, referrals are not free. Lawyers always think that referrals are simply incidental to the practice of law. You represent a client. That client has family and friends who they refer to you in the future. Or, you have lawyer-friends that refer you cases because they like you or think you’re competent. If that’s your concept of your referral network, then you aren’t taking any advantage of that network at all.
The truth is that referrals are the product of good relationship-building. And just like every other relationship, they need to be nurtured. This nurturing has a cost associated with it. Whether it’s time or money, in order to get referrals, you must make an investment.
Second, referrals are usually un-targeted. Your former clients aren’t lawyers. They don’t know all the fields and jursidictions in which you practice. Further, while the lawyers in your referral network may have a general concept of the fields in which you practice, they aren’t able to target a specific audience. Furthermore, if their practice is similar to yours, they are probably cherry-picking the good cases anyway.
Finally, referrals are very limited when it comes to the volume of new clients they can generate. Even extensive referral networks can’t compete with other marketing efforts when it comes to volume of new clients.
The bottom-line is that referrals shouldn’t be your only source of new clients. There are numerous strategies available that will generate new clients with even better return on investment than referrals.
The trick is figuring out which strategies are working. The only way to effectively determine the success of any marketing service is by measuring return on investment. In the end, it is all that matters.
AttorneySync is a law firm Internet marketing consultancy that specializes in law firm websites, legal blogs, and professional law firm seo strategies. 
