Marketing Yourself as a Consultant Solicitor

Article summary: Marketing as a consultant doesn’t have to be overwhelming. If you find the prospect of promoting yourself uncomfortable, a handful of consistent habits, including being visible, easy to find, and easy to recommend, do most of the work for you. However, if you enjoy marketing, there’s plenty of room to be more proactive without it feeling forced. Either way, it’s about steady effort over your first year, not a single big campaign, and mainly comes down to choosing the marketing efforts you can realistically do yourself.

“Marketing yourself” is one of those phrases that can have very different reactions, depending on who you ask. For some lawyers, it sounds like an exciting new part of consultancy, offering more control, visibility and a chance to build their own reputation. For others, it sounds uncomfortable at best and an unwelcome extra job at worst, especially for those who’ve not had to do much marketing for themselves in the past.

No matter your thoughts, it’s probably easier than you expect to do some successful marketing in your first year as a consultant. This article looks at what it truly involves in your first year, whether you’re dreading it or looking forward to it.

Considering consultancy? Read the rest of the articles in this series:

• Your First Year as a Consultant Solicitor
• Finances as a Consultant Solicitor
• Building Your Client Base as a Consultant Solicitor
• Building Your Support Network
• Junior Lawyers: Preparing for Consultancy

What if self-promotion doesn’t come naturally to me?

If the idea of “marketing” makes you wince a little, you’re in good company. However, you don’t need to change who you are to make it work! For more reluctant marketers, the goal is to make sure a few consistent, low-effort things are in place so people who’d naturally come to you can find you easily.

What can this look like?

• Being easy to find. Make sure your contact details and current role are accurate and up to date wherever clients or contacts might look for you.
• Letting your work speak. You’ve likely already built a reputation over years of practice. Now, you just need to make sure that your reputation is visible, rather than assuming people will just work it out.
• Staying in touch without an agenda. A brief message to a former contact just to say you’ve moved often does more than any formal marketing activity. Plus, it doesn’t need to feel like selling. Find out more in our building your client base article.
• Choosing one or two channels, not all of them. Trying to be active everywhere is what makes marketing feel exhausting. Pick the one or two places your clients and contacts are most likely to be. This is far more sustainable, whether your focus is on LinkedIn, Facebook, local networking groups, bigger expos or something else.

None of this requires enjoying the spotlight. Instead, you need to focus on consistency applied over months rather than in a single push. Also, remember that plenty of well-established, highly successful consultants would describe themselves exactly this way: not natural self-promoters but subtly marketing themselves where it matters. So, there’s no need to see this as a weakness to overcome before you start.

I’m more comfortable putting myself out there

If you’re someone who doesn’t mind marketing, or even actively enjoys it, your first year is a big opportunity to build a profile in a way that’s not always possible at a traditional firm. As a consultant, there’s considerably more freedom to shape how you present yourself and to move at your own pace. That might include:

• Actively sharing your expertise, whether that’s writing, commenting on developments in your area of law, or speaking at events. This tends to work best when it’s specific to your area of practice or particular niche, rather than general commentary, since specificity is usually what makes people remember and refer you.
• Building a more visible personal presence, particularly online, where a consistent, professional profile can steadily bring in new work over time. This doesn’t need to mean posting constantly. A stable, recognisable presence usually outperforms frequent but inconsistent activity.
• Being more proactive with your network, rather than waiting for contacts to come to you. This could look like reaching out with something useful, such as a relevant update or an introduction, over than a direct pitch. Find out more in our building your client base article.
• Getting involved in your wider professional or local community, whether that’s through events, panels, or informal groups relevant to your specialism. This helps build relationships and visibility at the same time while still feeling natural rather than transactional.
• Experimenting a little, since consultancy gives you more freedom to try things out. Not everything will work, and that’s fine. The point is finding out what happens over the course of the year, rather than settling on one approach from day one.

Even here, the same underlying principle applies: consistency over time beats a single big effort. A profile built up steadily over a year tends to be far more effective and sustainable than an intense burst of activity that fades after a few weeks. The lawyers who get the most out of this stage tend to be the ones who treat it as an ongoing project instead of a huge campaign with a hard deadline.

Habits that work for almost everyone

Regardless of how you feel about marketing, a few habits tend to serve every consultant well, especially in their first year:

• Keep your professional profiles current, even if you’re not actively posting. An accurate, findable profile on LinkedIn does some of the work for you in the background. It’s often the first thing a prospective client or referrer checks before making contact.
• Say yes to visibility opportunities that come your way, even small ones. Rather than waiting for the perfect moment to start, an invitation to speak, write, or be introduced to someone new is usually worth taking up, even if it feels like a minor opportunity at the time.
• Give it time to compound. Marketing rarely produces an immediate return. The value can show up months later, in referrals or enquiries that can be traced back to something you did without realising it would matter at the time. It’s easy to judge an early effort as “not working” simply because the result doesn’t arrive immediately.
• Keep it proportionate to your comfort level. The aim is a sustainable habit you’ll still be doing in month ten, rather than an ambitious plan you abandon in week three. A bigger effort isn’t worth it if you won’t keep it up.
• Look at what’s already working. If a particular contact, referral source, or activity is delivering disproportionate results, try doing more of that rather than spreading effort evenly across everything.
• Review and adjust periodically, not constantly. Checking in every few months to review what’s actually bringing in enquiries or interest (and dropping what isn’t) helps you keep focused without constant second-guessing.
• Don’t underestimate word of mouth as a form of marketing in its own right. A satisfied client mentioning you to someone else can be more effective than any formal activity. This is a natural by-product of doing good work, so make that your number one focus.

Marketing support

If the firm you choose offers marketing support, it’s worth exploring. At Setfords, our expert marketing team offers ideas and tips for marketing yourself, as well as more specific initiatives including marketing materials and support in raising your profile online. This can help you boost your marketing efforts and generate more new work as a result.

In conclusion

Marketing yourself as a consultant doesn’t require becoming someone you’re not. Whether you lean reluctant or enthusiastic, the principle is the same. Choosing a few consistent habits you can keep up over months can do more than a single dramatic effort. Our top advice is to give it time, keep it proportionate to what feels sustainable for you, and let it build in the background of your first year.

There’s also no need to get it right immediately. Most consultants adjust their approach a few times in their first year as they get a better sense of what feels natural and brings results. This is a normal part of finding your footing rather than a sign of a false start.

Ready for consultancy?

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