Market your services or lose out

Our advertising and marketing sub-committee sat down to review our strategy for the year ahead. Various initiatives were rubbished: adverts in the Daily Mail, banners on random websites and a low cost TV campaign on weird Sky channels that nobody really watches – and those that do probably won’t make the
best of clients; and then we pondered long and hard the plans that looked like they had legs and would promote more footfall towards the firm.

This year we have had
a particularly successful
advert in our local tube station,
Notting Hill, which is colourful, informative, and has attracted some attention from the alleged 20 million people who walk by
it every year. While obviously most of these are tourists wending their weary way towards Portobello market, some will be local residents in need of some legal advice, not knowing where to go and finding our ad a helping hand.

We also gave the green light for a large TV screen in a local shopping centre. Our advert
can be seen by a large number
of shoppers, was designed and produced free of charge, and is
a rather catchy number.

What is more, we decided to support a local music event.
This involved us designing an
A4 page advert or, our preferred option, employing someone to design the ad. That caused us
the greatest of problems and provoked the most discussion. Nothing makes lawyers talk more than the vexed issue of advert design.

Should we play it safe with
a simple, discreet advert embodying the concepts of tradition and professionalism,
or should we do something
a bit wacky that might make somebody think: ‘Hey, these guys look like fun, I might give them a go.’

Obviously, we veered towards the latter concept and debated long and hard into the night, conceptualising an advert with
a nice cartoon telling a story at its centre. But what about the style of the cartoon? Japanese manga? Or perhaps something a little more traditional, perhaps along the lines of Snoopy?

We wanted our advert to stand out and be noticed, but were
we taking the right approach?

Small firms with a fairly modest advertising and marketing spend can’t really afford the skills of an advertising agency; indeed, a cartoonist we might employ is likely to charge £350 for the design.

Nevertheless, unless you advertise, skillfully market your services and reach out to the public, your firm will be passed by and others will grab the work.

There is, however, no denying the fact that my knowledge of advertising and marketing is not that great. I have had to learn rather a lot on the hoof, sometimes by trial and error.

But, no, Cosmo the office labrador will not be getting an Oliver Fisher-themed coat this winter. SJ

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