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Will Martindale-Hubbell Go the Way of the Yellow Pages?
At the beginning of 2007, law marketing guru Larry Bodine urged lawyers to cancel their yellow pages ads, which had been rendered obsolete in an Internet era. Now, many law firms are considering that same advice when considering whether to retain a listing in the venerable "Yellow Pages for Lawyers," Martindale-Hubbell.
An informal survey of Philadelphia firms by Stacy West Clark of the Delaware Valley Law Firm Marketing Group found that "more law firms than not" had decided to either eliminate or scale back their use of Martindale-Hubbell, according to this recent article, Martindale-Hubbell Faces Challenges. With more and more corporate clients turning to the Internet as a source of information on law firms, some firms and their marketers question whether the costs of a Martindale listing are justified or are better spent on developing a robust Internet presence.
Martindale-Hubbell has been responding to concerns by rolling out different services that would make listings "indispensable tools" for corporate counsel. For example, Martindale now allows lawyers to post articles and to view traffic driven to the firm's Web site as a result of a link from Martindale. These services will offer a benefit to corporate counsel looking to find an attorney and also aid law firms in evaluating the usefulness of Martindale-Hubbell to their marketing efforts.
Barry Solomon, head of client relations at LexisNexis, which owns Martindale, views the new developments as a long-term effort, a work in progress. But will change at Martindale-Hubbell come quickly enough to keep it relevant in the Internet Age?
Posted by Carolyn Elefant on December 20, 2007 at 04:00 PM | Permalink
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