Brand awareness vs. lead generation: Striking the perfect balance

By Kevin Vermuelen

When it comes to legal marketing, juggling multiple priorities is all in a day’s work.

Some of these tasks focus on raising a firm’s brand awareness and enhancing the thought leadership position of its attorneys, while others primarily concern supporting business development and generating leads to acquire new clients. However, many firms grapple with the dilemma of whether to prioritize lead generation, emphasize brand awareness, or aim for a balance between the two.

The fact is, brand awareness and lead generation are both critical components of any successful digital marketing strategy. How they’re best leveraged together greatly depends on the specific objectives a law firm seeks to achieve.

Understanding brand awareness and lead generation

Brand awareness campaigns are designed to introduce potential clients to a firm’s name, services, and reputation. The goal is to ensure the firm is top-of-mind when someone needs legal assistance or is asked to recommend a lawyer.

Lead generation, on the other hand, is all about action. These campaigns aim to convert website visitors or prospects into actual leads by encouraging specific actions—such as filling out a contact form, subscribing to a newsletter, or scheduling a consultation. Lead generation campaigns come with clear calls to action, motivating people to take the next step toward hiring your firm.

A thoughtful brand awareness campaign will raise law firm’s visibility, along with the demand for its services, setting the stage for effective lead generation. However, brand awareness will not directly generate leads; it just lays the foundation and drives website traffic. Building brand awareness also takes time; it’s a gradual process and often difficult to quantify in terms of return on investment. This makes it challenging to assess the effectiveness of a campaign and to determine whether the effort is truly worthwhile.

By contrast, lead generation delivers measurable results, as marketers can see analytics related to each lead. This type of campaign also acts quickly to identify prospects. Unfortunately, lead generation alone may not be successful unless a firm has already generated sufficient brand awareness. There is also a risk that lead generation will create demand for content instead of the services a practice offers. In other words, lead generation may just bring people to a firm’s website to read the firm’s blog without any intention of hiring your lawyers.

Leveraging both for maximum impact

The most successful digital marketing strategies combine both brand awareness and lead generation. These two approaches are inherently interconnected, supporting a firm’s overarching goal of acquiring new clients.

• Brand awareness feeds lead generation:When a potential client has already heard of your firm, they’re more likely to respond to a lead generation campaign.
• Lead generation benefits from strong foundations:A robust brand presence enables your lead generation efforts to attract qualified leads, rather than just empty clicks.

 

Determining the right balance largely depends on a firm’s unique circumstances and goals. In deciding where to focus their efforts, legal marketers should consider the following:

• Need to build recognition in new areas? Firms entering new geographic markets or introducing new practice areas should focus heavily on brand awareness, with supplemental attention on lead generation.
• Seeking immediate growth?Firms looking to acquire clients quickly to boost the bottom line should prioritize lead generation while maintaining some level of brand awareness to avoid losing relevance.
• Already established? Firms with a strong market presence and thought leadership position can reduce brand awareness efforts, shifting to focus primarily on lead generation.

 

Data analytics hold the key to striking the perfect balance between brand awareness and lead generation. Platforms like Google Analytics, HubSpot, and LinkedIn Insights can help marketers determine whether their approach is boosting their firm’s visibility, attracting qualified leads, or accomplishing both.

By consistently monitoring performance and fine-tuning their approach, legal marketers can align branding efforts with lead generation goals—ultimately leading to long-term growth and consistent client acquisition.

The bottom line

To stay competitive and drive sustainable growth, law firms cannot afford to overlook the importance of both brand awareness and lead generation.

These two strategies work hand in hand, and understanding how to leverage their synergy is key. By combining thoughtful brand-building efforts with effective lead generation tactics, a law firm can stay top-of-mind and consistently attract new clients.

 

Kevin Vermeulen is the senior vice president for business development at Best Lawyers®, the parent company of Good2bsocial, a digital marketing agency focused on law firms and companies in the legal industry. He can be reached at [email protected].