One of the Midlands leading independent law firms, Blakemores Solicitors, today announced results of Lawyers2you, a direct marketing campaign which has got lawyers out from behind their desks and interacting with the general public, providing access to direct legal advice as never before.
In response to imminent changes in the legal services market brought about by the Legal Services Act 2007 (LSA), Blakemores launched their direct consumer marketing campaign under the brand “Lawyers2you” 12 months ago.
The Legal Services Act reforms the way legal services in England and Wales are regulated and puts the consumer interest at the heart of the regulatory framework.
In response to this it was decided that traditional legal branding was inappropriate as it conveyed stuffiness and an inapproachability which the consumer found off- putting. Guy Barnett, Chief Executive of Blakemores explains:
“We wanted to ditch the term “Solicitor” from our consumer brand because our market research indicated that the consumer is confused between the difference between Solicitors, Barristers and Legal Executives. The term “Lawyer” encapsulates all three and sits well with our status as a Legal Disciplinary Practice.
The “2you” part of the re- brand emphasises the direct marketing approach to our strategy and our flexibility in making ourselves available to clients in locations with heavy footfall such as shopping centres and our willingness to visit clients at home”.
By the end of 2011 the LSA will permit Alternative Business Structures (ABS) to enter the market place. The Act has been commonly referred to as “Tesco Law” as these are the type of organisations that we will be competing with. Our objective was therefore to create a brand ahead of this time frame that could directly compete.
The strategy was launched in September 2009, with initial trials being undertaken and much consumer and client research. Within three months we were so convinced by the successes we were experiencing in attracting new clients that we brought our official launch date forward by six months.
Following on from the New Year’s sales, consumers across the Midlands woke on the 4th January 2010 to find 12 Lawyers2you legal services stands in every major shopping centre in the West Midlands and Warwickshire”.
Through these stands consumers can obtain information packs and fixed price tariffs on all legal services and make enquires direct with the advisors on the stands, without any need for an appointment. More problematic enquires are referred back to the customer care centre where they are then forwarded to one of the firms 200 specialist lawyers.
The firm are currently processing over 3,000 new enquires a month, with a month on month growth in enquiries of over 15%, which means by the end of 2010 the project will be generating in excess of 5,000 leads a month.