Legal Marketing: The BluShark Method vs. The Ben Glass Method

Ben Glass and BluShark Digital are two well-regarded legal marketing professionals/businesses who offer different styles of marketing help.

Ben Glass written multiple books on the subject of legal marketing, and maintains a paid-members-only group online to help attorneys with their marketing efforts.  He also offers a digital marketing package that you can buy that contains a number of useful marketing materials you can use with your firm.  Ben holds conferences, blogs regularly, and manages a large legal newsletter.

BluShark Digital, on the other hand, is one of the top legal SEO companies in the United States.  It actively manages the marketing programs of several successful law firms across the country, and the company’s founder appears on different legal marketing podcasts frequently.

While these legal marketing titans may seem similar, their marketing programs couldn’t be more different.  This article will take a closer look at the different styles and try to recommend which might be better suited for your firm.

Ben Glass’s Tried and True Methods

Ben Glass employs classic marketing methods that have worked for decades.  Namely, he focuses on fostering connections with previous clients for potential future referrals.  This is the age-old legal marketing way: do good work for your clients, and more clients will come.  Ben Glass doesn’t take that lying down; he emphasizes actively maintaining the relationship with your previous clients for years through newsletters, Christmas cards, and personal phone calls.

There likely isn’t a better non-internet marketing program that can top Ben Glass’s methods for attorneys.  Ben takes the fundamentals of good marketing that work across industries and applies it to the legal profession:  writing good advertising copy, having plenty of freebies, and employing a funnel system to capture client leads.

Ben employs the same methods to get you into his mastermind group; he gives away brochures and reports about legal marketing to get you on his email newsletter.  Once you’re on it, you’ll receive frequent emails containing tips about legal marketing.  And of course, each email will push either his extensive marketing package or his members-only mastermind group at Great Legal Marketing.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Ben Glass method, I would recommend checking out my book review of one of his larger books and go from there.

BluShark Digital: Internet Legal Marketing at Its Best

BluShark Digital is the MP3 to Ben Glass’s vinyl record, as it focuses mostly on 21st century SEO and digital marketing.  In this day and age, all of the top law firms will have stellar web design and decent SEO occurring naturally from being a major legal authority in the market.  But if you’re starting a law firm (or don’t have an online presence), it may seem impossible to get to the top of Google.

Fortunately, the right digital marketing/SEO company can accelerate your firm, and BluShark Digital is one of the best out there.  If you don’t have the time to set up a physical marketing program (Christmas cards, letters to previous clients, etc.), BluShark will help you get new organic leads from implementing the right SEO.

If you’re starting out with only a few clients, digital marketing (including SEO and Pay Per Click) may be your best bet to produce new client leads.  Choosing the right company is hard; there are hundreds of SEO companies online who seemingly promise the same thing.  You don’t want to blow thousands and have zero new leads to show for it (as my previous firm did).

Digital marketing includes a lot of different strategies (e.g. content creation, link building, web design, PPC, etc.), and on the whole, BlueShark knows their stuff and provides excellent digital marketing services for law firms.  They’ll create a detailed website for your firm with authoritative content that will get you to the top of Google.

From my experience with them, BluShark Digital will give you the best return on your money and deliver real results (i.e. more leads and more clients).

If you’re interested in learning more, I would start with my review of BluShark Digital, as well as my general SEO for Lawyers guide.

Which Style is Right for My Firm?

This entirely depends on the kind of firm you want to run.  Some lawyers like to have their personal touch on everything, from letters to advertising copy.  These lawyers have a vision for how they want to advertise, and they are less trusting of handing over the reigns to a third party.  If this sounds like you, Ben Glass’s methods will give you some excellent ideas to run with.  You can design your law firm’s own marketing program from the ground up exactly how you want it to be.  Ben Glass’s method is also good if you’re looking to spend less on marketing, but you have enough time to develop your firm’s marketing program.

If you’re just starting out, or don’t have the time to invest in starting a new marketing program, then BluShark Digital’s methods would better suit you.  BluShark will take over your digital brand and produce excellent results over time.  It’ll cost more than Ben Glass’s methods, but it’ll produce continuous dividends for your firm without much effort on your part.  As more people each year are looking for an attorney using a search engine, it’s a good idea to have a marketing plan that meets the technological trends.

Is your firm’s marketing program more like Ben Glass or BluShark (or neither)?  Do you manage everything yourself or do you outsource most of your legal marketing?  What’s stopping you from adopting either of these methods?  Please leave your feedback in the comments below!