I was reading a post from a blog on evolutionary psychology discussing fear.  In the post, they quote 50 Cent (I know...bear with me) and Robert Greene from their book The 50th Law:

In the beginning, fear was a basic, simple emotion for the human animal. We confronted something overwhelming -- the imminent threat of death in form of wars, plagues and natural disasters -- and we felt fear...Fear is the oldest and strongest emotion known to man, something deeply inscribed in our nervous system and subconscious...

Over time, however, something strange began to happen. The actual terrors that we faced began to lessen in intensity as we gained increasing control over our environment. But instead of our fears lessening as well, they began to multiply in number. We started to worry about our status in society -- whether people liked us, or how we fit into the group. We became anxious for our livelihoods, the future of our families and children, our personal heatlh, and the aging process. Instead of a simple, intense fear of something powerful and real, we developed a kind of generalized anxiety. It was as if the thousand of years of feeling fear in the face of nature could not go away- we had to find something at which to direct our anxiety, no matter how small or improbable.

Fear creates its own self-fulfilling dynamic- as people give in to it, they lose energy and momentum. Their lack of confidence translates into inaction that lowers confidence levels further, on and on. If you view everything through the lens of fear, then you tend to stay in retreat mode.

I thought this was not only interesting, but relevant to the way a law firm might approach their marketing.

It's natural to feel uneasy and fearful when venturing into situations we aren't comfortable with.  Marketing can be a great source of fear and trepidation since you never know for sure if it's going to work out or not.  Because of the way we are wired, this sense of fear can easily manifest itself in the form of anxiety about your marketing.  

Instead of controlling the fear and making marketing decisions based on past success, measurement of results, testing new programs, trying new platforms, return on investment, etc. people tend to make emotional decisions with their marketing.  As explained earlier, people who view marketing through the lens of fear of failure lose energy and momentum. A lack of confidence translates into inaction that lowers confidence levels further. The end result is that you tend to stay in retreat mode.  As is the case with most things in life....you can't keep doing the same thing over and over and expect a different result. 

Understanding that sometimes you have to fail with a marketing program in order to learn can help ease some anxiety.  In the blog post, the author mentions:

Sometimes you may just have to plug your way through something to gain the requisite experience. Then, that experience can cause a change in mindset that ripples through the environment and changes what is actually possible. You are literally seeing through different eyes.

This new perspective can help open new doors and give you the ability to see opportunities that you may have missed before.