Long gone are the days when regional law firms were thought of as high street alternatives, only serving the needs of the local community. Now the term “regional law firm” doesn’t really cut it.
Many firms that exist and thrive outside of the capital, are generating significant profits, servicing national and international client portfolios and attracting top talent away from the national firms. This is in part due to their people-first attitudes, excellent locations and the flexibility and different lifestyle a legal career outside of London can provide.
It’s clear that so-called “regional firms” are serious competitors to national or international firms…but does their presence in the media reflect that? And should national media fit into their PR strategy?
Regional media – not to be underestimated
Unsurprisingly regional firms lead the charge when it comes to regional media. But it’s one area that’s often significantly underestimated by London firms, and London-based PR partners too.
Take North West Business Insider – the print edition is read by 550,000 people each month, with web traffic for the main site around 181k. The Business Desk generated around 255k visitors in June 2024. The publications share multiple newsletters each week, direct to decision makers across the region, and the value of them shouldn’t be underestimated. However, neither should they be the only place regional firms look to secure coverage.
In our experience, regional firms often have regional coverage down pat, but if they want to compete with national players, they often have national coverage aspirations too. However, sometimes they’re unsure how to realise them. Here’s a few key pointers:
Understand what news works where
Where appointment releases and deal announcements will go down well in regional media, this isn’t what national journalists are looking for.
Instead think about reactive commentary, op-ed angles or big deal stories with a significant value and name attached to them. This is what national press are looking for. Work closely with your agency to agree a number of reactive topics you want to own, and make sure they’re always on the lookout for quick turnaround ops that align with these.
Here’s a blog I wrote offering some advice on how law firms can capitalise on breaking news.
Build personal relationships
Identify the publications that your target customers are most likely to read, and the content you want to be part of. Do you think potential clients are most likely reading The Times, The Daily Mail or listening to Radio 4? Then ask your PR team to introduce you to relevant journalists that they already have connections with at these publications. These discussions are often on background, meaning they’re not for a specific piece, they’re more of a get to know you session, so you understand what the journalist wants to cover, and they know what you can help them with.
Journalists are always looking for legal professionals to help them explain changes to law or landmark cases in order to make them more relatable for media, so becoming the friendly lawyer they can turn to for this insight goes a long way.
Here’s another shameless plug to an article on ‘How law firms can promote thought leadership on legislative changes’.
Make life easy and deliver every time
Finally and perhaps most importantly to building relationships with national journalists is to make their life easier. Journalists are often up against it so the easier you can make their life the better. Once your PR does secure an opportunity for you, confirm if you can progress with it asap, so the journalist knows to expect comment or a call.
Then move quickly, a good PR team will have mechanisms and ways of working that make this as streamlined as possible to work closely with them to provide easy-to-understand comments, that can be dropped in the piece the journalist is working on without any edits or back and forth.
The more you can provide comments in this manner journalists will see you as a safe pair or hands and trusted figure and they’ll likely begin reaching out to you.
Final thoughts
Firms in the regions are doing incredible work and have high-level expertise at their fingertips. And while regional media certainly has its place in their PR strategy, firms that have big growth ambitions need to be raising the profile beyond the region they call home.
On the other side, national journalists are always looking for new contacts, and voices outside of London, so it’s the perfect opportunity for regional lawyers to start making an impact in national media.
To read more about our experience working with businesses in the legal sector click here.