It’s time to move away from marketing strategies based on subjective observations, writes Melanie Trudeau in Using Predictive Analytics to Inform Law Firm Marketing Programs. That’s because relying on non-scientific input from stakeholder and clients – what the marketing partner thinks about attorney bios, what clients say influences their purchasing decision – leads you down a path of doing too many things in too many places for too many people based on too many assumptions. Instead, leverage fact-based, objective data to develop your marketing program:

Analyze patterns and trends to develop predictions about future behavior. To give a simple example, if the data reveal a pattern of higher client attrition for newer clients, define the time it takes before a client is less likely to leave the firm. If data show that clients who reach the three-year mark are 75 percent less likely to leave, you can predict that attrition will be higher within the first three years of an engagement.

Trudeau reminds us that there’s no substitute for cold hard facts when you’re writing your plan. Read the post. Start using data to guide your marketing efforts. You’ll be glad you did.