So much to do, so little time to do it. You may not like it, or be good at it, but you realize that marketing is critical for attorneys and you need to do it.
And you need a plan
You can delegate or outsource many marketing activities, including a lot of the planning, but the important bits need to be done by you.
Even if that means using otherwise billable time to do it.
Much of the relationship building inherent in marketing professional services cannot be delegated. Clients hire and want to work with you, not a secretary or assistant. Or your partner.
You can hire people to do things like following-up on your behalf, but you need to talk to the clients and prospects, at least at some point in the process. The same goes for referral sources and other business contacts.
You can’t simply write a check and expect others to do everything for you. You need to be involved in the planning and execution. You’ll get better results when you do.
If you don’t have any plan, where do you start? You start with where you are and what you know.
It may sound daunting and it would be if you tried to do it all at once. You won’t. You’ll do it incrementally–one step at a time.
Start by making an outline of the steps for each part of the process you use. What do you do that could be called marketing, lead generation, follow-up, or client relations? What do you tell prospective clients about your services, when and how often? What do you send to leads or inquiries and to existing clients?
Write it all down. Write down what you do and identify things you don’t do but think you could or should.
If you advertise or do seminars, you might start there because you’ll have some quantifiable data to look at. What do you spend, what publications or keywords, how much business does that bring in?
You might want to start with existing and former clients. What you do between engagements, during holidays, to remember birthdays, or to otherwise stay in touch and keep your name in front of people who have already hired you?
You could start with your newsletter subscribers or social media followers. What do you send them and how often? How many subscribers do you have and how has that changed in the last six months or a year? What subjects do you typically write or talk about and how much engagement does that create?
You might start by identifying the steps you take to respond to inquiries or leads. What do you send them or say to them? What do you offer or tell them to do?
It doesn’t matter where you start. What matters is that you start, because that will help you identify what you need to change or add or stop doing, even if you’re not sure what that could be.
Keep at it. Eventually, you’ll have a better understanding of what’s working for you and what needs to be improved.
At that point, if you haven’t done so already, you might want to talk to marketing experts and see what they tell you to consider, or use an ai to give you additional ideas.
You’ll realize there are many options and variables and you’ll start making some decisions, some of which will be a waste of time but some of which could make a huge difference.
It’s messy and might take a long time. And, once you’ve done it, you’ll need to continue doing it because it’s a process, not a one-and-done event.
The hard part is starting. It’s also the most important part so if you don’t have a plan right now, or know you need to update your existing plan, I encourage you to start immediately.
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