Promotion of a legal firm during recessionary times

Abstract

Nearly 80 years earlier, Henry Ford advised during the 1930 depression that: "A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time". The purposes of this case study was to determine whether legal firms have taken cognisance of these wise words and have refrained from cutting back on expenses, and more particularly its promotional budget expenses during a down turning economy. It was discovered that, like nearly 80 years ago, costs today is still an important issue when considering and exploring promotional opportunities. Small legal organisations have in general indicated that cost effectiveness is an important factor to take into consideration when deciding which type of promotion to explore. A further prerequisite was that the promotion should be target market orientated and effective. Interestingly enough, more than 60% of the sample organisations have failed to analyse their target market before commencing with any type of promotion. This immediately raised the question whether costs have not been wasted on wrong promotional efforts, rather than costs being an issue when considering promotion? It was concluded that small legal organisations have failed to properly analyse their target market and hence was unaware of their client's needs. Various types of promotion were undertaken by the organisation, but in many instances were ineffective and costly. Should organisations have properly analysed their target markets they would have been in a better position to select an effective and less costly type of promotion. Limited recommendations were made in an attempt to assist small legal organisations to firstly analyse their target market which will result in more cost effective marketing and will enable them to address the needs of their target market directly.