Like a broken record, I promote the idea that you can market your law practice in only 15 minutes a day. You repeatedly hear me say, “Put 15 minutes on your calendar and make it an appointment with yourself.”
But I know that many lawyers don’t do it.
Is that you? If 15 minutes a day is too much, how about 5 minutes?
The beauty of five-minute marketing is that it can be done on the spur of the moment. You don’t have to schedule anything. When you’re waiting for your next client, when you’re eating lunch, when you’re driving, you can make calls, dictate emails, or brainstorm ideas.
You can even write the first draft of a blog post or article. Yes, in five minutes.
The trick to writing an article in five minutes is to separate the idea-getting from the writing. Set up a notebook dedicated to ideas for articles or posts. When you have five minutes, add a few bullet points, examples, or sub-topics to each idea.
When you have another five minutes, you’ll be ready to crank out the first draft of an article.
Assuming you’re writing about something you know, with notes in hand, in five minutes you should be able to write 200 to 400 words. More if you dictate them.
Whether you type or dictate, the trick is to write for five minutes without stopping to edit or even to think. Remember, you know this subject and you know what you want to say about it. That’s enough for a first draft.
That draft will be rough and better for it because it will sound conversational. At least it should.
Put the first draft aside and come back to it when you have another five minutes. Re-write, add links or cites or quotes, edit and polish.
As proof, I wrote the first draft of the foregoing in about five minutes. I’m taking another ten minutes or so to make it pretty for you.
Whether it’s writing articles or emails, calling former clients to say hello, or calling other lawyers to talk about how you might work together for your mutual marketing benefit, you can do a lot in five minutes.
If you’re not willing to commit 15 minutes a day to marketing, make a list of things you can do in five minutes and keep it handy. If you are willing to commit 15 minutes a day to marketing, during those 15 minutes you can do three of them.
How to talk to lawyers about referrals
