If you are putting out law firm advertisements in magazines, newspaper or even online, putting these advertisements together can take a lot of time and skill. Some of the programs many use to put together these advertisements can be quite expensive.
For many law firms, the cost, or reoccurring cost, of these programs can be prohibitive or il-advised. Even if they have the money, many law firms would not have to deal with software where licensing is required for each and every employee that uses a program.
It can be easy to lose and misplace licensing information after paying for it when you have many employees. This is especially true the larger the law firm. If an employee leaves, sometimes licensing is not even transferable — and a new license has to be obtained for a new employee.
Yes, some of these magazines, newspapers or even online webpages might also help design your advertisements for you just to get you to advertise. But in some instances, that might not be true. And even if they will, you might not be happy with what they have put together — and may want to design it internally within your law firm.
By designing advertisements internally, you can often convey the message you wish to convey better. You can also give the advertisement that look and feel that you feel puts your firm in an attractive light. Both are important when you are spending funds on advertising.
As referenced in previous blog entries, there are great open source word processing software out there. For example, Libre and Apache Open Office are good options for those looking for an alternative to expensive word processing suites.
When it comes to designing advertisements, there is similarly an open source program that you can get. The program is known as Scribus. Scribus is a free, open source program that has almost all the features you can find in other paid software.
Scribus has many page layouts that you can use. Scribus is also helpful with typesetting and can be used with professional grade images. If you are a law firm that is putting together advertisements, you may want to give Scribus a look.
Scribus is a great program that is no cost. You will find a ton of features. And you can design your advertisements with it internally without having to rely on the newspaper, magazine or other company you are advertising with to put it together for you. You also do not have to pay for expensive software and keep track of all the licenses. So, before you spend a lot of money on more expensive software, you ought to give Scribus a look.
If you have any thoughts, feel free to share them below.