The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

Not motivated? Try this…

April 23, 2024 by David M. Ward

You don’t want to do it. You might not want to do anything. You’re in a funk.

Action is the cure for what ails you.

The good news is it doesn’t need to have anything to do with the task you’re avoiding. Any meaningful action you take can reset your brain and get you back on track.

Grab a sheet of paper and write down one thing you would feel good about getting done today. It doesn’t matter what it is, or how big it is, only that it’s something you would like to get done.

It could be sending an email to someone who’s asked you a question, jotting down bullet points for an article or letter or brief you need to write, or reviewing a file and thinking about what’s next.

Once you choose something, do it. A small win is a win. Enjoy it. It might be all you need to snap out of it and get back to work.

If you’re still resisting, set a timer for 25 minutes (Pomodoro), or if you’re not up to that, set a timer for 5 minutes, and work on the task. When you’re done, you should feel a bit better. Energized, maybe. Feeling a hit of dopamine from completing a task on your list.

You can also reward yourself by doing something fun. Watch a short video or play your favorite game for a few minutes. More dopamine.

By now, you may feel ready to tackle the thing you’ve been avoiding. If not, do something else meaningful, continue doing that, building momentum, until you are ready.

If that doesn’t happen, if you’re still not up to it, take the rest of the day off and start over tomorrow. New day, new you.

Filed Under: Productivity

How often should you email your newsletter list?

April 22, 2024 by David M. Ward

More often than you think. Because you (probably) think that if you email “too often,” you’ll annoy them and they’ll unsubscribe.

That’s true for some people. But not all.

In fact, the people who need your help the most, and are arguably more likely to hire you, typically want to hear from you more often, not less.

On the other hand, people who signed up to get your free report and aren’t really interested in your newsletter (or your services) might not like it if you email often and may leave.

That’s okay. They weren’t a prospective client. Just a subscriber. And subscribers come and go.

But things aren’t always black and white.

Many subscribers are interested in your services, but aren’t ready to hire you and may not be for a very long time. You don’t want to push them away; you want them to stay on your list until they eventually hire you or refer you.

But I wouldn’t worry about it. If you provide valuable and interesting information in your newsletter, things usually take care of themselves.

So, choose the frequency that feels right to you.

Consider your market (business or consumer) and the length and complexity of your newsletter. Does it require research or are you having a chat with the folks?

Most of all, consider how often you can comfortably publish so you can keep doing it.

For most attorneys, a short email once a week is about right.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Email, Newsletters

Compelling reasons to hire you

April 18, 2024 by David M. Ward

They need you. They want you. But that doesn’t mean they’re ready to hire you. A lot of things can get in the way between “interested” and “take my money”. It’s up to you to convince them to take the next step. Or more accurately, to provide them with sufficient facts and emotional appeals to enable them to convince themself.

For starters, that requires understanding their problem and how it affects them. Where is their pain? What do they fear? What is their objective and, if they don’t achieve it, what it will cost them and how will they feel?

If they don’t know this, you need to tell them. And provide examples of what happened to other people in their situation.

If they do know what can happen, tell them anyway, and invoke their emotions.

Remind them of the consequences and how bad things can get. And remind them that all is not lost, there are things you can do.

This may take a while. You should be prepared to tell them these things not once but repeatedly until they’re ready to act.

Vary your approach. One time, give them good news. Rainbows and furry animals. Next time, remind them that war is hell and paint a picture of the bloodshed that may ensure.

Use different examples and arguments. Bullet points and essays. The Yin and the Yang. If before you dispassionately told them “just the facts,” now you might get in their face with urgency and alarm.

And don’t stop. You can’t just send them a memo and expect that this will do the trick. You need to stay in touch with prospects (and clients), alternatively poking them and hugging them, and all the while, letting them know you’re ready to talk to them.

The words you use, your copywriting strategy, your tone, are all important. But nothing is as important as continually being “in their minds and mailboxes”.

This is where you hold an edge over your competitors. They may have a better track record or other reasons why someone should hire them, but most don’t stay in touch.

They don’t understand that marketing legal services is a process, not an event.

But you do. And that’s how you win.

Filed Under: Closing the sale, Copywriting

Are you attracting the wrong clients?

April 17, 2024 by David M. Ward

You don’t want to attract people who can’t afford to hire you. You also don’t want to attract clients who have gone through several attorneys before you and “can’t seem to find the right one”.

But you also don’t want to attract prospective clients who are completely happy with their current firm and not looking for anyone else.

You want to attract your “ideal” clients, those with the right combination of needs and wants and temperament, who are looking for the help you provide and are willing and able to pay for it.

You may occasionally work with a client who isn’t ideal, i.e., tolerate them, but you shouldn’t target them.

You should target your ideal and focus on them in your marketing.

Start by taking inventory of your current and former clients. Make a list of positive attributes you want to attract, i.e., attributes exhibited by clients you’d like to clone if you could, and another list of negative ones you want to avoid.

Create a profile of your ideal clients’ industry or market, their problems and goals, their financial strength, and other factors that define what makes them ideal.

You want more clients who are like your best clients; this is what they look like.

What then? How do you find them?

The best way is via referrals. People tend to associate with people much like themself. People in their market or industry or neighborhood. People in their age group or who have similar interests. People they know, like, and trust.

And the businesses and professionals they work with or patronize.

Whatever it is that makes your ideal clients ideal, referred ideal clients makes them better.

Because they come to you pre-screened and pre-sold.

Yes, there are other ways to find ideal clients, and they may provide you with bigger numbers. Advertising in a trade publication, for example, might generate a lot of leads who fit the profile you seek. But there’s no easier or more profitable way to bring in ideal clients than through referrals.

How to get more referrals

Filed Under: Referrals

Too long; didn’t read

April 16, 2024 by David M. Ward

Lawyers tend to write articles and documents and memos and cover letters and emails… that are too long. They seek completeness and accuracy and to persuade someone of something, but often wind up doing anything but. Their writing is often long-winded, repetitive, boring, and ultimately persuades no one.

Search engines favor longer articles. But to be effective, they have to be well written. If they are, in terms of sales, long copy usually pulls better than short copy.

What can you do? Learn how to write long copy effectively or hire someone to do it for you. One takes time and practice, the other takes money and the good sense to invest it.

But that’s not the end of the story.

Yes, write long when you’re selling something (your services) or want to make love to Miss Google. But it’s okay to write short copy in your blog or newsletter, on social, in email, and for other purposes. In fact, it is often the best thing you can do.

Writing shorter pieces allows you to write more often. Your audience hears from you more frequently and is more likely to read what you wrote. That gives you more opportunities to “speak” to them and remind them about what you do and how you can help them.

You’re able to be in their minds and mailboxes more often, leading to more new clients and legal work for you.

This is a short message. If you got this far, it means you read it. We connected. That’s good.

Something else. Not only does writing longer articles mean you connect with your audience less frequently, your readers often save those longer articles to “read later” and we all know that later often never comes.

Yes, they do see that you emailed them again or published another post and that has value even if they don’t read your message. But it’s better if they do.

Ultimately, the best thing to do is to write both long and short articles, posts, and emails, and let each do their job.

How to start and write an effective email newsletter

Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Writing

Education-based marketing

April 15, 2024 by David M. Ward

One of the best ways to market your legal services is to teach clients and prospects about the law. That’s what they want to know when they go to a search engine or click a link. They want to know how bad their problem or situation is, available solutions, the risks, and their options.

And if they are searching for a lawyer, they want to know why they should choose you.

Educate them and they will be much more likely to choose you, because the information you share not only helps them decide to do something about their situation, it shows them you have the knowledge and experience they need and want.

Which is why you do seminars and presentations, write articles and books and newsletters, and create other types of what we now call “content”.

One of the simplest ways to do this is through a blog. You can add a blog to your website, or set up a separate blog, easily and inexpensively (WordPress is free), and use it to write anywhere, even on your phone.

A major benefit of a blog is that you own all the content. You don’t have to send people to other platforms that might bury your content, censor it, or distract visitors with content from other lawyers.

A blog also supports any other marketing you do—networking, social media, advertising, and referrals. People hear about you and visit your blog to learn more. As they consume your content, they sell themselves on taking the next step.

That next step might be to contact you and ultimately hire you, or sign up for your newsletter, which allows you to stay in touch with them until they hire you.

Okay, before you ask, the answer is no, you don’t have to be ‘blogger’ to benefit from a blog. You don’t have to do all the things bloggers do: SEO, engaging with visitors, curating comments, or creating a never-ending series of fresh posts to please the hungry search engines. You don’t have to post continually on social media, appear on other people’s podcasts or channels, or advertise.

You can do any of that if you want to, or use your blog as a sort of online brochure, a place YOU send people to learn more about you and what you do.

To do that, set up a simple blog (it takes ten minutes) and write 5 or 10 posts about your area of expertise. Link to your blog from your website, put the url on your business card and in the “signature” of your emails, and when you talk to someone and they want to know more about what you do, send them to your (website and) blog.

This is an easy and extremely effective way to educate prospects, clients, and referral sources about what you do and why someone should hire you.

How to set up a blog for your law practice

Filed Under: Blogging, Online Marketing

How to get more prospects and clients to say ‘yes’

April 12, 2024 by David M. Ward

You’re in the risk mitigation business. You help your clients avoid or prevent risk and lessen the consequences when something goes wrong. The safer a client or prospect feels about the advice you provide them, the more likely they are to follow that advice.

The same is true for hiring you.

How can you reduce your clients’ (especially new clients’) perceived risks and, therefore, make it more likely that they will hire you?

Submitted for your approval:

Free content. Articles, blog posts, presentations, books, reports, webinars, podcasts. Show them what you know, how you think, and how you can help them.
Free consultation. Give them an hour with you to hear what you think about their problem, recommend solutions, and get a sense of what it will be like having you represent them.
Money-back guarantee. They are satisfied with your work or pay nothing. Limit this to one week or one month, or one case or engagement. Enough for them to see what you can do and decide if they like the cut of your jib.
Special offers. Discounts or free services for new clients, or for specific services, situations.
Testimonials and reviews. Lesson their risk by proving you can do what you promise, as you have done for others.
Likability. All things being equal, clients prefer hiring lawyers they know, like, and trust. Help them get to know and like you and they’ll be more likely to take a chance on you (and then you can earn their trust).

These may not be appropriate for every practice or service, but consider them. You don’t have to advertise or promote your offer to everyone, offer it ad hoc, and see what happens.

If something works, it could provide you with an incredible advantage over your competition, and bring in a lot of clients who otherwise might have said, “I need to think about it”.

More. . .

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

How do you know what prospective clients really want?

April 11, 2024 by David M. Ward

Sure, you can ask them. During a meeting or consultation or over coffee. You can also look at their website or blog, read their book, listen to their presentation or interviews, or send them a survey or questionnaire.

The problem is, people often don’t tell us what they really think or want.

Some don’t know what’s possible or have trouble articulating what they need
Some tell you what they think makes them look intelligent, more successful, or a better person
Some tell you what they think you want to hear
And some play everything close to the vest and don’t tell you much of anything

If you really want to know what people want, we’re told to watch what they do. What do they purchase, who do they hire, what do they invest in? But even this can be misleading or give you an incomplete picture.

One of the best places to find out what prospective clients really want is to watch what they do on social media.

See what they talk about, comment about, or ask. See what they’re excited about or complain about. Yes, there is a lot of pretending on social, but people often get emotional about things they want or don’t want, let down their guard and reveal what’s really on their mind.

But perhaps the best way to find out what prospective clients really want, and one of the simplest, is to talk to the person who referred them to you. There’s a good chance they know.

Which is yet another reason why you should prioritize referrals as a source of new business.

How to get more referrals from your clients

Filed Under: Communication, Referrals

Winning

April 10, 2024 by David M. Ward

Okay, maybe you’re not the best lawyer in town. Other lawyers have better skills, more experience, a better track record, deeper pockets, more charisma, and better connections. They look better, smell better, and have a boatload of energy.

How can you possibly beat them?

By working harder than they do? Maybe. But that gets old.

You beat them not by outworking them, but by out-marketing them.

That doesn’t mean your marketing has to be amazing. Just better. You do a few things well and do them more consistently and enthusiastically.

It means knowing your market—what they want and need—and committing to helping them get it.

It means providing great “customer” service to all of your clients, and building strong relationships with your key clients and referral sources.

It means making marketing your top priority. Something most attorneys are unwilling to do.

They go through the motions. Or believe they only have to do good legal work and the growth of their practice will take care of itself.

You know, the ones who say, “I didn’t go to law school to become a salesperson…”. Who don’t understand that the legal work is only one part of building a successful practice. Or think marketing of any kind is unprofessional and beneath them.

You can beat them.

Because you understand that a law practice is a business, first, and job one is bringing in a steady stream of clients and keeping them happy.

When you do that, you might not be the best lawyer in town, but you might be the wealthiest.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, success

Tell ‘em about the client who said no

April 9, 2024 by David M. Ward

Or waited too long to say yes and got burned. Or hired a lawyer with less experience and lost the case. Or didn’t follow your advice and had to spend thousands more to have you fix it.

Your words of warning or advice might go in one ear and out the other. So don’t just tell them, show them. Paint a picture in their mind, visually depicting what happened to other clients.

For example, if you have a client or prospect who says, “I need to think it over,” you might respond with something like this:

“I had a client say the same thing to me, but unfortunately, he didn’t ‘think it over’. Now, every time he opens his mailbox, a pile of collection letters falls out. Two weeks ago, Sherrif’s deputies knocked on his door and served him another lawsuit, and last week, his car was repossessed. Now, he has to ask his brother-in-law to drive him to work.”

Word pictures show people what’s at stake and give them a mental image that won’t let them forget it.

Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting