Do you make these mistakes in marketing your law practice?

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There are two mistakes you can make in marketing your law practice and unfortunately, most attorneys are guilty of both.

What are the two mistakes?

  1. Not having a marketing plan, and
  2. Not executing that plan.

As a result, most attorneys don’t do any marketing, at least not with any consistency. Let’s face it, if you don’t have a plan–a list of projects and tasks and a schedule for completing them–any marketing activities you do will be sporadic and isolated. You’ll never generate momentum or sustained growth.

Having a cool web site (or any web site)  may be good for your ego but if you don’t have any traffic to it, that’s all it will be. Traffic doesn’t happen by itself. You need a plan and you need some activity or that traffic will never materialize.

Don’t get down on yourself. The problem isn’t you. It’s not a lack of self-discipline, poor organization, or bad habits. You aren’t lazy and you don’t need to get motivated. What you need is a better plan.

You need a plan that is

  1. Simple (so you can do it), and
  2. A good fit (so you want to do it).

If you want to do something and you believe you can do it, you will do it. You won’t have to force yourself to do things you don’t want to do, you’ll do it because you enjoy it.

In his remarks to the 2005 Stanford graduating class, Steve Jobs said, “Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” A friend of mine puts it this way: “When you love what you do and do you what you love you’ll never work another day in your life.”

If you don’t enjoy being a lawyer, common sense says to either change careers or find some aspect of practicing law you do enjoy. That might mean a different practice area, different clients, or a job with a different firm. If you don’t, you’ll never be happy and you’ll never do “great work.” The same can be said for marketing.

The good news is that there are lots of ways to market legal services and you only need one or two. You don’t have to be good at networking AND writing AND seminars AND getting web traffic AND social media AND referrals. Pick something that sounds good to you or feels right. For once in your career, put logic aside and listen to your gut.

Maybe nothing feels right or maybe you don’t know enough yet about the different options. That’s okay. Make no decisions, take a step back and simply learn. Read, observe, see what others are doing. Soak it all in and eventually, you’ll find something that’s a good fit.

And then, you need a plan. We’ll talk about that tomorrow.

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Poll results and NEW poll: What are you doing to increase your income?

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Last week’s poll provided some interesting results. The numbers themselves were as predicted–most who responded said their income and/or number of new clients was down. You can see the results and add your vote if you’d like–the poll is still open.

There were some comments suggesting that attorneys are adapting to the current economic situation by taking on new practice areas.  How about you? If your income has suffered, what are you doing about it? If you’re doing better now than in the past, how did you go about it?

Please take this new poll to share with our readers what you are doing to increase your income. Feel free to add your comments as well.

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Poll: How has the economy affected your law practice?

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How has the economy affected your law practiceHow has the economy affected your law practice?

If you practice real estate law, the last couple of years have probably been rough. On the other hand, some real estate lawyers are reinventing their practices and appear to be thriving. The economy has been good to them.

I believe that while some lawyers are doing better in this economy, most lawyers are not. Most are treading water and more than a few are going under.

To me, this is obvious. There are fewer (paying) clients and fewer jobs for lawyers. This morning I read an article about a law student who looked at the job market and asked the dean of his law school for a refund. I previously noted a law school graduate who sued his law school for misrepresenting his prospects for a job.

So, are things better or worse for you? Are you hanging in there or hanging by a thread? Please answer by responding to this (anonymous) poll:


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