Most lawyers go from case to case, client to client, never stopping to use the successful outcomes they create as marketing leverage for bringing in more clients. That's because they're thinking like a lawyer, not a rainmaker.
Instead of rushing from one case to the next, take a few minutes to think about how you can use the successful outcome (verdict, settlement, closing the deal, estate plan, etc.) to get the story told to the people who can bring you more business.
Here are five ways you could do that.
- Your client. The best time to talk to clients about referrals is right after a successful outcome. When you hand them a check, sign papers, or otherwise bring things to a climax, it's prime time to ask for referrals, for a testimonial, or for other help.
Ask consumer clients to refer you to their friends and family or to other professionals they know. Ask your business clients to introduce you to their vendors or distributors, to write about the case in their newsletter or blog, or submit an article to their local paper. (You can write the article for them).
The favor you ask your client doesn't have to be related to their case. They're happy and willing to help, so ask them to distribute your new report, "like" your new blog post, or invite their friends to your upcoming seminar. And ask them to ask their friends to do the same.
- Your other clients and prospects. Write about your successful outcome in your blog and newsletter. Post it on your web site. Do a little bragging on social media channels. Take advantage of the win to let others see you doing what you do, helping others "just like them" achieve the same benefits they seek.
- Other parties/witnesses. Send a quick note to the other parties and/or their counsel, thanking them for their professionalism. Send a thank you note to experts and other witnesses, for a job well done. It's not uncommon to see the losing side hiring the winning attorney or sending referrals or opposing counsel referring clients when they have a conflict. By the way, do the same thing when you lose a case or settle for less than hoped.
- Your colleagues. Tell other lawyers you know about your case. Send a letter, speak about it at Bar functions, write an article, point them to your blog post. Tell the story and share the legal nuances, give them tips about the judge or arbitrator or experts. Help them do better on their next case and they will appreciate you, reciprocate with good information on their next case, and send business your way when they have a conflict.
- The media. Find something newsworthy or otherwise interesting about the case, your clients or their company and issue a press release or write an article for publication in their trade journal or home town paper. The media are starved for good stories; don't assume there's no news value to preparing a living trust for your blue collar client. In the hands of a good writer, there's always a story to be told.
Leverage means getting more results from the same effort. From now on, leverage your successful outcomes to get more publicity, more speaking engagements, more traffic to your web site, and more new clients.
A personal injury attorney wrote and asked me if I have a strategy for bringing in bigger cases. I was a personal injury attorney for most of my legal career and when I look back at what I did, I have to say that I did not have that strategy. In fact, I intentionally focused on bringing in a volume of smaller cases.
My thinking was that quantity would bring quality. Bring in thousands of clients over a period of years and you are bound to have some big cases in the mix. And that was certainly true for me. But I also recall thinking, as every personal injury attorney does, that one day, I'll get a case that will bring me millions of dollars in fees and I'll be able to retire if I want to. But in twenty years, that never happened. Big cases, yes, but not a single practice-making monster.
But there's something else I understood and that was that I was not one of the big boys. The biggest cases are almost always handled by the biggest names and most of the time, they are referred there by other attorneys. I wasn't prepared to compete in that arena. I didn't have the expertise and, more importantly, I didn't have the passion for developing it.
The best strategy for getting the biggest cases is to become one of the best lawyers. Win bigger and bigger verdicts, develop your skills and your reputation amongst the bar, and when you have the respect of your colleagues, you will get their referrals.
Another way to get big cases is the one adopted by a lot of attorneys who aren't one of the best and that is to appear to be. They swing a big stick with multiple full page yellow page ads and TV commercials, they sponsor charitable events attended by centers of influence in their community, they network with the right people, send press releases celebrating their victories, and otherwise promote themselves so that they appear to be one of the biggest and one of the best. And by and large, it works.
To do this, you need money and some marketing skills, but most of all, you need drive. The biggest promoters have big, healthy egos. They are driven as much by the desire for attention as the desire for money. I'm not taking anything away from them. They are usually good enough to serve their clients well and smart enough to bring in one of the best when they aren't.
If you're not one of the best and you aren't willing or able to become one, and if you're not willing to do what the big promoters do, there is an alternative: target niche markets. Become the biggest fish in a small market where word of mouth is strong and limited resources (and hubris) can go a long way. Become the attorney everyone in that market thinks of when they think of injuries. Network in that market, write for that market, serve that market and the centers of influence in it, and over time, you'll get big cases. Do it well enough and long enough and you may even get one of the very biggest.
Filed under Advertising, Image, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Networking, Press release, Publicity, Referrals, Specializing by 
If you're interested in marketing your law practice online (and you should be) there are two resources I want to recommend. The first is a new book, "The New Rules of Marketing & PR" by David Meerman Scott. The sub-title is, "How to use news releases, blogs, podcasting, viral marketing & online media to reach buyers directly." That about says it all. I've just started reading it and can tell you, it's excellent. Highly recommended.
The other resource is a free ebook from consultant Brandon Cornet at websmartlawyer.com. It covers web sites, blogging, search engines, lead generation, and has links to oodles of resources. Valuable stuff.
Cornet's ebook is itself a fine example of viral online marketing, in that it is a free download from his web site (you don't even need to supply an email address to get it), coupled with good content that demonstrates his knowledge and experience. Sure enough, here I am "distributing" it to you, and thus, this strategy could quickly generate hundreds of qualified leads for Cornet's consulting services.
It illustrates another key marketing concept, niche marketing. Cornet could hold himself out as, simply, an Internet/website consultant, hoping to appeal to "everyone" but, like so many others, he would find his voice drowned out by his many competitors. Instead, by targeting lawyers, he narrows his focus, which should make it easier to both generate leads and close them, since clients (and that includes lawyers) prefer specialists.
Both books agree, the Internet has forever changed the rules of marketing. Those who ignore this, do so at their peril.
Filed under Blogging, Book review, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Press release, Publicity, Specializing, Technology, Web traffic by
I just sent out a press release announcing the re-opening of The Attorney Marketing Center, the re-naming of the newsletter, and some background about me.
There are several free services available for sending a press release. I chose PRLog.com because it was easy to open an account and easy to send the release. They had also been recommended.
There are many paid press release distribution services. Two of the best known are PRWeb.com and BusinessWire.com. Why would you choose a paid service? One reason is that busy editors are, arguably, more likely to read a release coming from one of these services than one of the free ones.
The paid services also allow targeting, and since I want to reach lawyers, using the free, untargeted services would seem to be pointless. Not so. The free services do a good job of distributing your release to search engines and directories where they will take up permanent residence and point to your web site, and this provides immediate, tangible value. Sure, I'd like a writer or editor to pick up my release and run it or contact me for an interview, but that is unlikely given the tepidness of my "news".
Check out some of the services available. Search "press release distribution". Most provide good tips on writing press releases and other valuable information.
And here is my press release.
Filed under Press release, Publicity by
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