Law firms are planning to increase their investment in social media activities as they struggle to stand out from the crowd, according to the annual Lexis Nexis InterAction Law Firm Marketing & Business Development Survey. The annual survey of more than 100 law firm marketers, which is published today, finds just 49% of the respondents from US firms - 73% of the sample – dubbing their business development efforts as successful, with this proportion falling to 25% for respondents at European and Asian firms.

Thirty-eight per cent of the respondents anticipated an increase in their marketing budgets while most (70%) expected to prioritise digital initiatives by investing in their websites and social media. Forty-two per cent of those surveyed identified analytics as a major priority for investment.

Meanwhile, marketing spend as a proportion of firmwide revenue was up one percentage point from last year’s survey to 6%.

Meghan Frank (pictured), global director of marketing at LexisNexis Legal & Professional Software Solutions, said: “Improved technology integration combined with actionable data greatly enrich client engagement and can help firms grow new business development opportunities.”  

The report found that marketing and business development heads were increasing their influence within their firms with 60% presenting to the board at least once a quarter.

Asked to name their top challenge, a quarter of the respondents (28%) said they were pursuing too many opportunities, making this the most-cited choice.

‘Firms have been only marginally successful in winning new business over the last few years,' the report states. 'Lack of follow-through combined with pursuing too many opportunities has hurt many business development initiatives. To keep their firms moving forward, marketing and business development leaders will need to focus pursuit efforts with a streamlined approach that provides efficient and effective win paths.'

Last month, DLA Piper replaced Norton Rose Fulbright as the leading US law firm for digital marketing, according to the latest annual report card, the Social Law Firm Index, published by consultancy Good2bSocial.