Many law firms are busy with marketing. They post regularly on LinkedIn, send emails, attend events, sponsor local initiatives, refresh website content and invest significant time and budget into “being visible”. On the surface, marketing looks active and consistent.
But busy does not always mean effective.
Without regular auditing, marketing activity can quietly become a collection of habits rather than a strategy – consuming resource without delivering clarity on what is actually driving the right work into the firm.
Why Marketing Can Feel Productive Without Being Effective
One of the biggest challenges for law firms is that much of marketing impact is difficult to measure accurately.
You are often relying on:
- Fee earners recording enquiry sources correctly
- Clients remembering how they first heard about you
- Referrers being clear about what influenced their recommendation
Add to this long decision-making cycles, multiple touchpoints and human memory, and it becomes clear why marketing performance often feels vague.
This is not a failure of marketing. It is the reality of professional services.
The Marketing Influence You’ll Never See
Some of the most powerful marketing activity happens quietly and invisibly.
A potential client may have noticed your firm repeatedly on LinkedIn months before making contact. Someone might see your office daily and associate it with stability and credibility. Your name could be mentioned in a local Facebook group you’ll never be aware of. A referral partner may feel more confident recommending you because your website reinforces your expertise.
These subliminal signals build familiarity and trust over time. They influence decisions without leaving a neat trail of data behind them.
This is why law firm marketing can never be measured with complete accuracy – and why expecting it to be is unrealistic.
Why You Still Need to Measure What You Can
Because not everything can be measured, some firms avoid measurement altogether.
That is where problems begin.
While you may never be able to track every influence, you can review patterns, trends and indicators. You can look at where enquiries say they came from, which practice areas are growing, which messages resonate and which activities consistently support visibility and engagement.
To keep your marketing budget healthy and to get sign off and engagement from the partners, it’s important for marketing teams to be able to show a ROI.
Some areas that you can measure include:
- Website traffic, trends and patterns
- Search engine and AI overview rankings
- Social media engagement and growth
- New enquiry volume and quality
- Conversion of new enquiries
- Returning / repeat work
- Referral volume
- Email open rate and click throughs
- Online review ratings
- Net Promoter Scores
- Billing and profitability
What a Meaningful Marketing Audit Should Look At
A law firm marketing audit does not need to be overly complex. At its core, it should review whether marketing activity aligns with what the firm is trying to achieve.
This includes looking at whether marketing objectives are clear and understood internally, whether enquiries align with the firm’s priorities, whether the website supports credibility and conversion, and whether content and communications reflect the firm’s positioning.
It should also consider whether marketing activity is joined up. Disconnected efforts often look busy but lack cumulative impact.
Most importantly, an audit should lead to decisions. If reviews don’t result in changes, they become reports rather than tools.
Why “It Was a Referral” Isn’t Enough
Many firms stop analysing once they hear the word “referral”. But the more important question is not that you were referred – it is why.
Was it your reputation in a niche area? A previous piece of thought leadership? Consistent visibility online? Confidence created by your website or content? A strong relationship? Or because you are paying them a referral fee?
Understanding what supports referrals allows firms to strengthen them. Taking referrals for granted leaves them vulnerable.
The Role of SMART Marketing Objectives
Clear, SMART marketing objectives are what turn audits into something meaningful.
When objectives are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound, they give firms something tangible to review against. They allow you to assess progress even when attribution is imperfect. They also help teams understand what marketing is trying to achieve, rather than seeing it as a collection of disconnected activities.
Without objectives, it is impossible to know whether marketing is on track – or simply busy.
From Activity to Effectiveness
Unaudited marketing activity often leads to effort without clarity, budget without confidence and decisions based on instinct rather than insight.
Audited marketing creates focus. It helps firms refine what they do, stop what no longer serves them and invest more confidently in the activity that supports the work they actually want.
Marketing does not need to be louder. It needs to be more deliberate.
Talk to Consortium About Auditing Your Marketing
If your firm feels busy with marketing but unclear on whether it is truly effective, it may be time to step back and review properly.
Consortium works with law firms and professional services businesses to craft clear marketing strategies and support them with ongoing, outsourced marketing support.
Get in touch to discuss how your marketing can move from busy to effective – and start delivering more of the work you really want.