Let me give it to you straight.
If you’re a law firm owner asking, “How much time should I spend on marketing?” what you’re really asking is, “What’s the bare minimum I can get away with?”
And that question is costing you money.
Because here’s the hard truth: marketing isn’t something you visit when you have time. It’s something you build your week around if you want predictable, controllable growth.
First: Stop Treating Marketing Like a Side Project
Most lawyers treat marketing like flossing. They know they should do it. They feel guilty when they don’t. And they cram it in right before something painful happens—like a revenue dip.
That’s amateur behavior.
If you want to run your firm like a business, not a glorified job, you must accept this:
Marketing is a core operational function. Not a hobby. Not an afterthought.
So how much time should you spend on it?
The Baseline: 20% of Your Professional Time
As a rule of thumb, a firm owner should dedicate at least 20% of their professional time to marketing-related activities.
If you work 40 hours a week, that’s 8 hours.
Yes, eight.
Before you object, understand what counts as “marketing”:
- Creating educational content (articles, videos, newsletters)
- Networking and referral relationship building
- Reviewing ad performance and lead quality
- Improving intake systems
- Recording podcast appearances or speaking engagements
- Strategizing campaigns
- Client follow-ups that generate reviews and referrals
This isn’t fluff work. This is revenue work.
And if you’re in growth mode? That percentage climbs.
If You Want Aggressive Growth: 30–40%
Firms that want to dominate their market don’t dabble in marketing. They immerse themselves in it.
When you’re launching a new practice area, entering a new market, or scaling aggressively, marketing should command 30–40% of your leadership focus.
Because growth doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by deliberate exposure.
More visibility.
More conversations.
More positioning.
More follow-up.
More repetition.
The firms that win are the ones that show up relentlessly.
But Here’s the Catch…
Spending time on marketing does not mean doing everything yourself.
In fact, one of the biggest mistakes I see law firm owners make is confusing “marketing leadership” with “marketing labor.”
You should not be:
- Designing graphics
- Editing videos at midnight
- Writing every blog from scratch
- Manually posting on five social platforms
That’s technician work.
Your job is:
- Setting the strategy
- Approving messaging
- Being the face and authority
- Reviewing metrics
- Making decisions
You can delegate tasks. You cannot delegate vision.
The Real Question Isn’t Time. It’s Priority.
If your calendar doesn’t reflect marketing as a priority, your bank account eventually will.
Look at your last two weeks.
How many hours were spent:
- Improving client acquisition?
- Increasing conversion rates?
- Strengthening referral channels?
- Building authority positioning?
If the answer is “whenever I had time,” you don’t have a marketing system. You have marketing hope.
And hope is not a strategy.
The Compound Effect Most Firms Miss
Marketing is not a one-week play.
It’s cumulative.
One article leads to a search ranking.
One ranking leads to traffic.
Traffic leads to consultations.
Consultations lead to cases.
Cases lead to testimonials.
Testimonials lead to authority.
Authority leads to higher fees.
But that chain only forms if marketing activity is consistent.
Miss a few weeks, and momentum dies.
Go quiet for a month, and the market forgets you.
Stop nurturing referral partners, and they refer elsewhere.
The marketplace rewards consistency, not bursts of enthusiasm.
The CEO-Level Mindset
If you own the firm, your highest-value activity is revenue generation.
And marketing is the engine of revenue.
You can hire associates to handle cases.
You can hire paralegals to handle paperwork.
You can outsource bookkeeping.
But you cannot outsource responsibility for growth.
If your firm stagnates, it is almost always a marketing issue, not a legal skill issue.
A Simple Weekly Framework
If you want something practical, here’s a starting structure:
- 2 hours – Content creation or authority building (video, article, podcast)
- 2 hours – Relationship marketing (referral partners, networking, follow-ups)
- 2 hours – Review metrics and improve campaigns
- 2 hours – Strategy and planning for upcoming promotions or campaigns
Eight hours. Every week. Non-negotiable.
Put it on your calendar like court.
Because in the marketplace, you are always on trial.
Final Word
If you want average results, spend average time.
If you want predictable growth, market every week.
And if you want market dominance, build your schedule around the activities that make the phone ring.
The firms that win are not the best lawyers.
They are the best marketers who happen to practice law.
Marilyn Jenkins, Founder
MJ Media Group, LLC | Law Marketing Zone
Marilyn Jenkins, a digital marketing expert with 16+ years of experience, helps businesses grow through paid advertising, social media management, and SEO, especially Google Business Profile optimization. Her clients have achieved significant growth, some exceeding $2 million in sales and experiencing 14x ROI. You can learn more about Marilyn at https://lawmarketingzone.com