17 Jul Unregulated advisers beat law firms in Google rankings
News that solicitors are missing out on business to the unregulated sector will come as little surprise to those in the law profession.
Research revealed this week by the Legal Services Board has shown that Google searches found many law firms missing from the first page of Google in response to basic legal questions.
Normal searches the public would enter like ‘legal help for divorce’ or ‘where to go for legal advice on a will’ brings up results for unregulated organisations on a regular basis.
The analysis concludes that the unregulated sector accounts for some 20-30% of total sector turnover, raising questions for regulators about the boundaries between the regulated and unregulated sectors.
As a public relations and marketing firm that has and continues to work with solicitor practices we can hardly say that the results are surprising.
We believe most law firms are still playing catch up with many of the new players who entered the market after the advent of so called Tesco law, towards the end of the last decade.
A failure to embrace the different ways people shop for legal services now is behind many problems the high street lawyer faces.
At this very moment people the length and breadth of the land are making tentative steps, which will require the purchase of legal services somewhere down the road.
Web searches and social media recommendations are now major avenues for businesses of all kinds, including solicitors.
If these traditional firms are to survive they have to polish up their act. The good ones are engaging on many levels- and this means investing in marketing.
The help is there for law practices. PR, marketing and communications advice has never been so relevant for an industry, which has to quickly move with the times.
The future remains bright for the practices willing to adapt. We hope this LSB report will make many more sit up and take action.
