Having followed the QualitySolicitors debate in the Gazette you may feel we have been in a type of ‘phoney war’ for the past couple of years. Now the battle for the domestic and SME legal services sectors has started with the launch of QS’s Legal Access Points in WHSmiths around the country. The ferocity of the debate around QS on these blogs clearly highlights the two sides of the arguments (see the comments after any blog that mentions QS).

However the battle analogy doesn’t help QS or non-QS firms think about their marketing and promotions. QS firms have made a strategic decision to use a third-party brand to convey the benefits of the services they offer. There are similar promotional initiatives like Blakemores’ ‘Lawyers2you’ in the Midlands or groups like highstreetlawyer.com and others. Some firms have retail outlets in city centres or choose to promote their services effectively and efficiently in other ways. However, QS’s is the biggest assault on the public’s consciousness of legal services as it will be backed by television advertising and a celebrity launch.

This is the start of clear, overt competition for the attention of the public and SMEs for their choice of where they go for legal services advice. There is an old ad agency truism that fits well in this situation that can help all firms look at their future position. It comes from the USA’s advertising competition in the 1950s over soap power advertising: 'if one business advertises their soap powder, all soap powder sales rise'.

The fight is not exclusively between providers of legal services. It’s more a battle to get the public and SMEs to think about where they buy their legal services. If our current £10bn (guesstimate) legal services market grows because of QS and other businesses promotions, then all firms can benefit. But only if they promote their services effectively and efficiently in their areas, as a viable alternative for potential clients. This competition between providers becomes a well-known commercial task of gaining (or losing) market share (think of the newspaper and magazine market’s competitiveness).

Marketing management offers many ways to analyse and plan a response to the new market conditions. You could compete head-on or use other promotional techniques to gain market share that suits your budget. One of the most important aspects of deciding which way to go is something we have been working on with both a QS firm and many non-QS firms.

Our experience shows that changing the internal organisation of a firm to focus on clients’ needs is the essential element of future competitiveness. A firm that evolves its services to quickly and satisfactorily deliver the benefits of legal services to their clients will remain a profitable business.

To achieve that firms need an accurate database of past clients and promotional materials that focus on the benefits of their services for identified target client groups. Capturing client inquiries and retaining them as future clients means ensuring your internal organisation allows easy client access into your firm and follows-up closed matters with relevant communications about further services.

QS is using a loyalty card scheme which is not a unique idea of solicitors but how would your firm match or compete with that in your local area?

All of this is about competition between solicitors firms with or without a brand. We’ve not mentioned the other competitors like the Co-op, Halifax, other banks, insurance companies and new entrants. These businesses are after your current and past clients and are ‘battle hardened’ marketing machines.

The raw commercial realities of winning and maintaining a competitive market share are here. Without a clear marketing management approach, firms are likely to be trampled underfoot in the charge towards the future profitable clients.

Alastair Moyes is a director at Marketlaw and co-author of Marketing Legal Services, the current marketing handbook from Law Society Publishing