Ethical Legal
Marketing and
Determining Your
Return on Investment
Houston Bar Association
Law Practice Management Section
April 21, 2016
STACEY BURKE
ATTORNEY/OWNER
415 WESTHEIMER, SUITE 209A
HOUSTON, TEXAS 77006
OFFICE (713) 714-8446
FAX (877) 314-9990
STACEY@STACEYEBURKE.COM
WWW.STACEYEBURKE.COM

Stacey Burke
Licensed Texas lawyer since 2001
Select Speaking Engagements and Publications
• Legal Technology
 Needles Case Management Software
 MyCase Case Management Software
• Legal Industry Professional Associations and Publications
 American Association for Justice
 Asian American Bar Association
 Houston Bar Association
 Houston Trial Lawyers Association
 Kentucky Justice Association
 Law Firm Marketing Mastery
 State Bar of Texas
 Texas Bar Today
 Texas Women Rainmakers CLE
 Trial Magazine
 University of Texas Law School CLE
• Public Relations and Marketing Professional Associations
 American Marketing Association
 Houston Social Media Breakfast
 Public Relations Society of America
www.staceyeburke.com

Inquiring Minds Want To Know
• How much can I
spend?
• How much should I
spend?
• What should I spend
on?
• How much does
everyone else
spend?
• Is my spend
working?
www.staceyeburke.com

How much can I spend?
• Common Marketing Budget Calculation Methods:
 Percentage of Revenue: Law firms (except for personal injury
firms) spend 2% to 5% of gross revenues on marketing.
Other industries budget between 5% and 15%.
 Competitive Parity: Defensive strategy wherein you allocate
based upon what competitors do to defend your market
position.
 Objective-Based: Set marketing goals for the year so you
know what your budget is expected to cover.
• What Else Can I Do?
 Analyze past efforts.
 Research legal industry trends.
• Don’t forget to include your total marketing
investment, not just the media spend (marketing
staff, software, payments to agencies and vendors).
www.staceyeburke.com

How much should I spend?
Factors to consider when determining how
much to spend on marketing:
1. Location
2. Size of firm
3. Areas of practice
4. Expectations – maintain revenue stream or increase
client base?
NOTE: Once you set your budget, spend all that you have
allocated and don’t wuss out.
www.staceyeburke.com

How Do I Pick The Right Vendor?
• Ask questions
• Talk to references in
your same industry
and/or city
• Check them out online
• Secret shopping of
customer service
• Are you a large
enough customer to
get their attention?
www.staceyeburke.com

www.staceyeburke.com

What should I spend on?
How marketing funds are allocated is driven by what you do, how
competitive it is, and how your target customers behave.
No matter what your budget is, you should always spend on:
• Website
– Brochure versus lead generation vehicle
– Mobile responsive
• Digital Marketing
– For the service industry, getting found online, positive online reviews, and
“social proof” are among the most important considerations in digital.
– Search engine marketing will constitute the biggest portion of your online
spend.
 This includes SEO, SEM, PPC, and content marketing budgets.
• Email
– 92% of online adults use email, with 61% using it on an average day. Email
marketing has an ROI of 3800%.
– Text NEWSLETTER to 38470 to subscribe to my newsletter.
• Social Media
– Your PNCs use social media every day, so be sure to invest in social media
marketing, especially advertising now that most channels are pay to play.
www.staceyeburke.com

State Bar of Texas
Advertising Approval Process
www.staceyeburke.com
• Submission process varies slightly by the type of
advertisement. The fee has increased to $100.00 per
submission.
– Print/Solicitation Letter
– Television and Radio
– Internet
• 1 original + 1 copy of the application form
• 1 original + 1 copy of the script/solicitation + envelope
• 1 recording of the ad (required recording type varies by ad
type)
• Prepayment of $100.00 fee per ad
• File at least contemporaneously
• Must be mailed, not emailed or faxed
• See https://www.texasbar.com/adreview/

Texas Disciplinary Rules of
Professional Conduct
www.staceyeburke.com
• Rule 7.02 – No false or misleading statements. You cannot
create “unjustified expectations.”
• Rule 7.03 – Thou shalt not solicit
• Actors cannot portray clients or attorneys
• Use Disclaimers, such as: “No attorney-client relationship is
formed when submitting information.”
• Mailers must have ADVERTISEMENT on the envelope/exterior
and on the first page of the mailing.
• Watch out for case results. If you advertise them, you must
include:
1. That you are lead counsel or counsel primarily responsible for the
victory
2. The amount actually received by the client, showing or
incorporating expenses and attorneys’ fees [the net]
3. The nature of the case and the damages suffered by the client

How much does everyone else spend?
Competitive landscape analysis isn’t easy and competing isn’t novel.
Web Stalking Tools:
• SpyFu – https://www.spyfu.com/ See up to six years of data on your
competitors’ keywords and rankings.
• SEMRush – https://www.semrush.com/ Monitor competitors’ organic keyword
positions, find relevant long tail keywords, see your competitors’ PPC ads, and
more.
• SimilarWeb – https://www.similarweb.com/ Benchmark your website against
any competitor for all relevant metrics.
• Alexa – http://www.alexa.com/ View sources and quality of traffic to other
websites.
• Google AdWords Auction Insights – Gain information on other advertisers
participating in the same auctions as you. See:
https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2579754?hl=en
• Ahrefs – https://ahrefs.com/ Track backlinks, keywords, and brand mentions.
• Google Alerts – You don’t need gmail address https://www.google.com/alerts
• Subscribe, follow, sign up for competitors’ blogs, social media, and e-news.
NOTE: Spend where your competitors don’t, as you will have less
competition and a cheaper acquisition cost.
www.staceyeburke.com

Is my spend working?
www.staceyeburke.com

Is my spend working?
• Google Analytics
• Social Media Key
Performance
Indicators
• Call Tracking and
Recording
• Tracking Emails
• Form Submissions
• Cost (per lead/case)
www.staceyeburke.com

www.staceyeburke.com
Facebook.com/MarketingLawyer
s
@StaceyEBurke
www.SlideShare.net/StaceyBurke
http://bit.ly/SEBPCnews
Text NEWSLETTER to 38470
Text LAW to 38470

STACEY BURKE
ATTORNEY/OWNER
415 WESTHEIMER, SUITE 209A
HOUSTON, TEXAS 77006
OFFICE (713) 714-8446
FAX (877) 314-9990
STACEY@STACEYEBURKE.COM
WWW.STACEYEBURKE.COM