How difficult can it be to understand that the legal services market has changed? Radio 4's 'Chambers' broadcast its first episode this week and they are still referring to the legal changes to come in 2011/12. They are correct in that, at least, as alternative business structures will be sorted out by then, but they are still missing the bigger picture.

Halifax Legal Express has just launched and I believe it represents the first move from the big brand organisations since the recession hit and the banking sector fell over. It didn't make many headlines, but then it probably wasn't meant to. I understand that the service will be promoted through the Halifax Estate Agency and is being promoted to the staff of the now huge Lloyds TSB and HBOS group.

The big brand legal service providers probably aren't looking for a 'big bang' change in the market. Your firm is not going to be hit by the big brands' destructive wave of change in the same way that some firms have with the PII cost increases and the domestic property market malaise. There will be a gentle sinking away of business to these branded suppliers, possibly unnoticed by many firms.

The big brands will use direct mail and other low-profile promotional techniques to spread the message about their legal services. But they have no magic tricks that win them business, they just repeatedly tell people the benefits of using their service, over and over again. Your firm can do the same thing in a way that suits you, directed at your past satisfied clients, in your chosen areas of law, in your region of the country.

Marketing management and promotional activity are no longer the luxury of bigger firms. To defend your share of the legal services market you need to regularly tell your clients the value of what you do for them. Find a way your feel comfortable doing that now, before your traditional local competitors do.