Real Life Lessons In Marketing and Business Development: A Case Study
A version of this article was originally published for For the Defense here on March 3, 2025.
In past articles I’ve talked about different marketing and business development topics and (hopefully) given some practical advice on strategy and tactics. But, often, there is a big gap between strategy and implementation—or between “here’s what you should do” and “here’s how it works in practice.” Lawyers I’ve worked with have told me that sometimes the gap feels so large, the task of marketing themselves so overwhelming, or the possibility of success so abstract, that they throw up their hands and do nothing.
I get it. Why spend time and energy on marketing tasks that you’re not sure are the right ones or what success would even look like?
Instead of theory and strategy, let’s talk real life lessons in marketing and business development in the form of a case study on marketing and business development for a criminal defense lawyer.
Our “client” is based on real-life clients we’ve worked with. His name is made up for client confidentiality. While we’re focusing on one lawyer, our case study also draws from our work with a number of clients and firms, and the lessons can be tailored and applied to teams of lawyers, practice groups or firms. Along the way, I’ll offer some tips on how you can apply these lessons yourself.
Meet our client: Like you, our client “Paul” is a criminal defense lawyer. He handles a wide range of cases and issues, including defending clients accused of street crimes, white collar crimes like tax, mail, wire and bank fraud, and bribery and public corruption. He has tried cases in state and federal court and has handled appeals. He has public service experience, having been a public defender, and now has a well-established private practice with his firm.
Paul’s firm, a mid-sized law firm with multiple offices in eastern Pennsylvania, handles matters for individuals, businesses and other entities across several legal and industry areas—including litigation, transactional, regulatory issues—although it is not quite a “full service” firm.
Our work with Paul followed several phases: discovery, strategy and tactics, implementation, review and realignment.
The discovery phase—identifying goals, priorities and positioning
Often, when our team asks clients about their goals, we hear “attract more clients” or “attract better clients.” Sometimes we get “make more money,” as often said with a straight face as with a cheeky smile. Of course, those are overarching goals, but in order to develop a strategy, we need to dig deeper into what that looks like for the lawyer, practice group or firm.
In the discovery phases, we ask a lot of questions, including:
What kinds of clients are you looking to attract and what kind of work are you looking to do for them? Is this different from the clients and work you do now?
Who are your competitors and how are you different from them?
Why do you think clients want to work with you? What have clients said about working with you?
How do your clients and work tend to come to you now? Internet search? Repeat clients? Referrals from past clients? Referrals from other lawyers in your firm or from outside lawyers and other professionals?
What marketing and business development do you do now? What do you like and dislike? Do you feel these efforts are successful–why or why not?
How much time do you have to or want to devote to marketing and business development?
These questions help us understand our clients, their practice and the target markets, and audiences for their marketing so we can develop the right strategies for them.
Paul’s initial goal in reaching out was to be more strategic in his marketing and business development. He has earned a well-deserved reputation as an excellent lawyer within the criminal defense community in Pennsylvania, and in particular with lawyers and judges in his geographic region. He has repeatedly received accolades from peer-review programs such as Martindale-Hubbell and Super Lawyers.
From our discovery discussions with Paul, we learned that one category of target or “gold standard” clients were individuals and entities facing allegations of white-collar crimes. Paul’s style of working with clients is deliberate, thoughtful, comprehensive, and collaborative.
Most of Paul’s clients and cases come through referrals, often from other criminal lawyers. His reputation often drives referrals for clients and matters in his geographic region from lawyers and firms outside the area. While some clients also find his firm through Internet searches, these don’t make up a large proportion of Paul’s work. Because of the nature of his criminal defense work—including the sensitive nature of the allegations and the potential for reputational damage—existing clients rarely act as referral sources. They also aren’t typically sources of repeat work, although there may be follow-on cases that result from the original criminal allegations.
When we talked to Paul about his comfort with marketing and business development, and what he had previously done in that area, he told us that he had been active in both national and regional professional associations and enjoyed the personal networking that those organizations provided. He had a presence on but was not a “power user” of LinkedIn, but understood the importance of the platform for networking. Paul also very much enjoyed writing about criminal law. He felt he had the time to devote to writing and was looking for guidance on how to incorporate more content into his marketing.
Setting the strategic priority—referral sources
Based on our conversations with Paul, we determined that referrals were the primary driver of his client pipeline. In marketing parlance, the strategic focus of his efforts should be bolstering his authority, increasing his visibility, and expanding his connection and reach with potential referral sources.
In plain English, he needed to communicate his skill and expertise in criminal law—and more often—to a wider audience of potential referral sources so that when it was time for them to make a referral, Paul was both top of mind and the clear choice.
The core components of our strategy included publishing authoritative content on criminal law more frequently and to a wider audience, expanding his network of potential referral sources and increasing his engagement with that network. We also recommended that Paul update his firm bio and LinkedIn profile to highlight his experience and expertise, as well as his approach and work style. We wanted his on-line presence to reinforce his reputation as an accomplished criminal defense strategist and a skilled trial lawyer and resonate with the types of clients and work he wanted to attract.
Building the tactical plan
Based on these core components, we recommended that, at the outset, Paul focus his attention and resources on LinkedIn for both network building and as the primary place for publishing and distributing his content.
Paul’s firm posted substantive content on its website and had a modest presence on social media, primarily LinkedIn. At the outset, publishing his articles on the firm website seemed like a simple enough process, but in order to get his content in front of a broad audience, Paul would also need to engage in some outbound marketing to bring readers to the website. While the firm had a centralized customer relationship management (CRM) and email system, Paul (or someone at his firm) would still have to build and maintain a mailing list, develop the email content and manage the email process.
In contrast, LinkedIn’s platform capabilities enabled Paul to tackle his networking, and his content publication and distribution, all in one place. Because LinkedIn is a professional social media network, it also provided Paul with the potential for a much wider audience beyond his own network.
Implementing the LinkedIn program
Although Paul had a LinkedIn account and a modest network of connections, he had not used the platform much. After looking at his contacts and connections, on and off LinkedIn, we put together an outreach program to help Paul build his network. We helped him craft and send a series of messages to his connections telling them to be on the lookout for his articles on LinkedIn. After considering his goals and the time Paul was to dedicate to his marketing and business development, we worked with him to create a schedule of monthly articles six months in advance, and provided graphics, formatting and technical assistance to get his articles published.
Our work with Paul is just getting started, but he is already seeing positive engagement with his content and connections. After the initial six months of articles, we’ll gauge the success of our efforts and make adjustments.
Building a plan that works for you
After reading our client case study, you’re probably still wondering how to put your own marketing and business development plan into action. After all, what works for our client Paul might not work for you and your practice.
Here are some take-aways to help you get started:
Start with the discovery questions and take the time to dig into the answers. You can uncover a treasure trove of information about you, your clients, and your practice that can help you focus on the right strategic priorities.
Be honest with yourself about the time and energy you have to dedicate to marketing and business development. It’s okay if you only have a little time to spend. You can get great results, if you use that time effectively and efficiently.
Consider both what you like doing and what you’re not comfortable with. Writing blogs or articles might be a good fit for you, or you might prefer video or podcasts. If you like public speaking, consider focusing on opportunities to present at conferences or give seminars. But if that makes you shake in your shoes or bores you to death, don’t force yourself to do it. There is not one right way to market.
What resources do you have available to you—people and technology? Are you a sole practitioner or part of a firm with a marketing department and marketing technology, or something in between? It is possible to market yourself effectively, no matter the resources you have.
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