Match-up 1: (1) Attorney Referrals vs. (11) Blog
(1) Attorney Referrals
Then there were four. As has been demonstrated throughout this tournament, attorney referrals are a strong source of new business for law firms. There is no substitute for having another “lawyer’s eyes on a case” before deciding to take the case. But the part about attorney referrals that all lawyers love the most is that they don’t have to wade through a lot of “bad” or “non-cases” to find a good one. This is the aspect that separates attorney referrals from all other marketing and advertising efforts.
As has been previously discussed, these “golden-goose” referrals aren’t without cost. The best way to develop a strong attorney referral network is by developing a solid reputation amongst your colleagues. Unfortunately, this is not a task that can be performed overnight. The best referrals typically go to those viewed as the best lawyer for the job. That usually translates to the seasoned veteran.
Young attorneys, as well as, those looking for new cases now, may not be able to rely on a steady stream of attorney referrals for new business. Even veteran attorneys with a strong referral base, can’t always count on their attorney referral networks to produce the enough quality cases to support their practices.
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(11) Blog
At the risk of sounding redundant, if you’re going to implement on thing on the web to market your firm, it should be a law firm blog. Better than a mere website, a firm blog provides you platform to interact with potential clients, position yourself as an expert, and continuously generate new clients.
There are numerous cost-effective and user-friendly blog platforms from which to choose. The major cost involved with maintaining a firm blog is simply the time to write posts.
My Prediction: As strong and valuable as blogs are, they just can’t compete with a good attorney referral network.
Match-up 2: (10) Marketing Consultants vs. (9) Organic Search
(10) Marketing Consultants
Marketing consultants are the designated-hitters of the your law firm’s marketing plan. They handle the brunt of managing your law firm’s marketing and advertising efforts. The important aspect to hiring marketing consultants is really two-fold.
First, make sure your prospective consultant has experience. It is essential that your consultant not only have experience with SEM, social media, and education-based marketing in general, but also specific experience with law firms. Having one without the other will lead to inefficient and ineffective performance.
Second, make sure your firm’s marketing goals are aligned with your consultant’s incentives. Too many lawyers continue to pay high premiums for marketing and advertising strategies that simply don’t bring in new business. Look for performance-based marketing solutions that produce measurable results.
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(9) Organic Search
More and more people are turning to the internet to hire lawyers. Ranking highly for relevant keywords absolutely will generate more traffic to your fim’s website and/or blog. As long as that traffic is targeted, it will turn into new cases for your firm.
However, the competition for keywords in the legal profession is high. It requires diligent strategy and effort to rank for highly targeted terms. The truth is, most lawyers simply don’t have the time to run a comprehensive search engine optimization campaign. Therefore, they usually need to hire a search engine marketing consultant anyway (see above).
My Prediction: Most lawyers simply don’t have the time or knowledge required to run a comprehensive search engine optimization campaign. Ultimately, they will have to rely on search engine marketing consultants to find success with this aspect of law firm internet marketing.
AttorneySync is a law firm Internet marketing consultancy that specializes in law firm websites, legal blogs, and professional law firm seo strategies. 
