David M. Ward, Author at The Attorney Marketing Center

Simple and effective content marketing for attorneys

July 23, 2024 by David M. Ward

You write a blog or newsletter, do a podcast, speak from the stage, write books, create videos, show up on social media, for two reasons: (1) to build your list by attracting leads and others who are interested in your content, and (2) using that content to show people what you do and how you can help them.

The easiest way to do the latter, i.e., demonstrate your capabilities, is to create content in which you talk about your cases and clients.

Talk about the problems they came to you with and what you did for them.

And that’s it.

This is the essence of effective marketing, content, or otherwise.

The reason is simple. People like to hear about other people with the same or similar problems and desires and how they overcome those problems or achieved those desires.

They love a good story, especially when it’s about someone like them.

It’s also the ideal way to show yourself “in action,” helping your clients with the same issues.

This kind of content practically writes itself. You simply describe the case or client and what you did for them.

You rarely need to do any research. Just tell what happened.

It doesn’t matter if what happened is strikingly similar to other cases or clients you’ve talked about, or what other lawyers say about their cases or clients. Each story is unique because your clients are unique, and so are you.

So, easy?

Easy.

And effective. Since so much content online today is generic, either ai generated or devoid of stories about actual clients and an actual attorney with a unique personality, your content will stand out.

Filed Under: Content creation, Online Marketing

If they “want to think about it,” let them

July 22, 2024 by David M. Ward

You’ve met with a prospective client, discussed their problem or desire, and explained what you can do to help them, but they don’t sign up.

They might need to talk to someone, do due diligence about you or your firm, consider their other options, think about your fees and their ability to pay, and… and… the list goes on.

When they tell you they want “to think about it,” what should you do?

The answer is simple. Let them. Tell them you appreciate their consideration, you’re available to answer additional questions or provide additional information, smile, shake hands, and ask for their parking ticket so you can validate it.

Some attorneys do more. They go back over information they’re already provided, remind the prospect about deadlines and urgency, and make the case (again) for choosing them instead of someone else.

And then, in the days that follow, they call the prospective client and/or email them, and ask if they’re ready to get started.

Following up with prospective clients is smart. It’s good to show them you want their business, are ready to earn it and don’t take it for granted. It’s not good to contact them repeatedly to get them to say “yes”.

When an attorney does that, they appear desperate. They look like they need the business, which differs from “wanting” it.

Nobody wants to hire a lawyer who appears desperate. So, when someone tells us they want to think about, we should take the hint. Give them time to consider it.

Don’t leave 32 voicemail messages saying, “Have you decided yet?”

Filed Under: Closing the sale

Invert your pyramids

July 19, 2024 by David M. Ward

Some prospective clients want to immediately know everything about what you can do to help them. All the details, the entire process, and as much proof as you can provide.

Others don’t.

When they first encounter you, most people simply want to know if you have something to say they want to hear. If looks like too much work to find out, they often don’t stick around.

One solution is to write shorter pieces so visitors can see at a glance what you have for them.

For longer pieces, the simplest thing to do is to fashion your marketing documents and website content with an inverted pyramid. Newspapers used a journalistic style to do this, with the most important information at the top, followed by increasingly less important details.

Use a headline to capture attention and give readers the big picture and follow that with the “Five Ws” (who, what, when, where, why) in descending order of importance. This way, the passing reader can quickly get the gist of your message and move on if they aren’t interested, while others, with more interest in your subject, and more time, can continue reading and learn more.

In the digital age, you have other options than they did in the 1800s when the inverted pyramid structure was first used. You can link to additional pages, use call-outs, charts, photos, and other visuals such as larger or colored fonts, and other graphic flourishes, to call attention to elements you want to emphasize, “hide” others from immediate view (and link to them), or “stage” how and when certain information is delivered to the reader.

Pay attention to how bloggers and online publishers make it easier for their readers to consume their content and emulate them.

No matter what you do, if you want more people to read your words and decide they want to talk to you about representing them, follow this rule of thumb: don’t tell them everything at once.

Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Content creation, Online Marketing

It’s easy to mess this up (and easy to fix)

July 18, 2024 by David M. Ward

Look at the multitude of emails in your inbox. Without opening each email, can you tell who sent it?

If you recognize the name of the sender, or other identifying information appears in the “subject,” you probably do. If you don’t, what do you do?

Do you open the email and read it to find out who sent it? Do you delete it? Or mark it as SPAM and then delete it?

Ah, but if you delete it, you might miss something important. If you mark it as spam, this will hurt the sender’s “reputation” in the eyes of email service providers, and affect their email deliverability rate.

Why should you care? Because the same thing can happen to you if you do the same things they do.

Recently, I signed up for a newsletter from a reputable company I wanted to hear from. I got their welcome email, followed by several follow-ups.

So far, so good.

Then I got an email from the same company, but the “sender” was a different person. I didn’t recognize their name and deleted it.

A few days later, I got another email from someone else at the company whose name I also didn’t recognize.

And this continues.

It’s annoying and I’m “this close” to unsubscribing, in which case, everyone loses.

Don’t let this happen to you.

Send your email to clients, prospects, subscribers, and colleagues with your name as the sender. Not your firm’s name, not the name of someone else in the firm.

You.

Recipients see your name, recognize it, and let you into their inner sanctum (if they deem you worthy).

Problem solved.

Email is a personal medium. A sender and a recipient. And through that process, a relationship begins. As you nurture that relationship, it gets stronger, providing your recipient with additional value and information, eventually leading to new business for you.

If you send your email from different names, people get confused about who’s contacting them and that relationship often never develops.

Make it easier on yourself and your recipients by sticking with one sender’s name. Ideally, yours.

Email marketing for attorneys

Filed Under: Communication, Email, Newsletters

Start before you’re ready

July 16, 2024 by David M. Ward

It’s not new advice, but is it any good? If you don’t know how to swim, should you jump in the pool and flounder about, or should you take some lessons first or find someone to show you what to do (and stay by your side while you do it)?

Jumping in the deep end without knowing how to swim or doing legal work you’ve never done without some help or preparation is ill-advised, but for many things you want or need to do, getting started is often the best way to do it.

If you’re procrastinating because you overwhelmed with everything you need to do, or you are a perfectionist and convinced that you shouldn’t start because you don’t know what you’re doing and you’re going to mess up, you don’t need to take a course or hire a consultant. You need to start.

Before you’re ready.

That’s how you get good at marketing.

Go to a networking meeting and talk to some people. Take out your first ad. Write an article or blog post. Record a video, even if you don’t have a script, a decent camera, or know anything about editing.

Do something. Anything. You might be terrible at it (or you might be a lot better than you expected), but in either case, you’ve started and are on your way.

You don’t need to have experience to get experience. You get experience by taking the first step.

So, when in doubt, start. Before you’re ready.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, success

Long time no see. Let’s fix that.

July 15, 2024 by David M. Ward

Your best clients, closest friends, strongest business contacts, people who know, like, and trust you and with whom you communicate most—your “strong ties”—are often your primary source of referrals and opportunities to grow your business.

What about everyone else?

What about former clients and business contacts you haven’t spoken to in a long time? People who know your name but aren’t now actively involved in your life? Experts say these are your “weak ties” and if you’ve been around for more than a few years, there are far more of them than your weak ties.

And they represent a potential bonanza of business and prosperity for you.

They can provide you with valuable information about your (their) market, introduce you to people you’d like to know, send traffic to your website, promote your content and events, provide you with a testimonial or endorsement, and otherwise help your practice grow.

But their value isn’t so much what they can do for you, it is how easy it is for you to get them to do it.

You don’t have to spend time or money to identify them, and meet and get to know them. You just have to reconnect with them. You don’t have to win their trust, you just have to kindle it.

And it can be as simple as digging out their contact information, reaching out and saying hello.

Is that it? Just call or write and say hello?

Yes.

Acknowledge the passage of time, ask how they’re doing, and wish them well

You can do more. You can also send them something, perhaps an article you found (or wrote) and thought might interest them. You can offer to meet and buy coffee or lunch, or invite them to your upcoming event. Or find out what they need or want and help them get it.

What’s next? Perhaps you’ll get together with them and continue the conversation. Or invite them to sign up for your newsletter so you can keep in touch. Or simply calendaring a few months and contact them again.

You might not need to do anything else.

How about contacting them and finding out?

Filed Under: Communication, Increase your income, Relationship marketing

Have you lost your edge?

July 11, 2024 by David M. Ward

If your practice isn’t growing, it might be because you’re not doing the things you did when you started out, or you’re not doing them the way you did before.

You’ve become complacent. And lost your edge.

Fortunately, you can switch back to the way things were. But to do that, you need to get out of your comfort zone and be willing to take some risks.

Risks that you might fail. That you might lose money or embarrass yourself. Or you might not like doing the work, and then what?

But you can do this. It’s not like the work is inherently difficult. You don’t have to dig ditches or work for peanuts like I did starting out, taking cases that paid total fees of $300 and doing things I was not (yet) good at, or things I hated.

Don’t dwell on the negative. Give it a try.

It might be rough and make you question life, but (surprise) it might not. You might find it more fun than annoying, more invigorating than daunting.

Begin by making some goals. Make them big, nearly impossible; so big they make you laugh.

Why?

Well, when you were new, you might have been desperate (like me) and willing to do anything, put up with anything, risk everything, but now, if you’re not desperate and the fear of failure and becoming homeless isn’t driving you, you need different motivation.

To wit, big, hairy, crazy goals that put a smile on your face. That might be just what you need to let go of your resistance, get out of your comfort zone and get to work.

But tell no one. Make a pact with your ego to make something happen first, and then you can surprise anyone who might care.

Then, make a plan. Choose a target market, ideal client, and one or two marketing strategies. Grab your calendar, schedule time for marketing and practice development, and put one step in front of the other.

One more thing. No matter how hard it might be, it will be infinitely easier than it was when you were new. You have experience, now, professional contacts, and satisfied clients willing to work with you and refer others.

Compared to the old days, it will be a cakewalk.

This will help

Filed Under: Increase your income, Inspiration, Marketing Plan

Why you’re not getting more referrals (and what to do about it)

July 9, 2024 by David M. Ward

Referrals are the Sina Qua Non of a professional practice. No doubt, you get referrals, perhaps a lot of referrals, but I promise, you can get more.

Maybe enough more to pull back on (or eliminate) your other marketing strategies, because referrals are extremely profitable and relatively easy to get.

If that sounds good, I suggest you begin by figuring out why you’re not getting more referrals.

The simplest way to do this is to survey your clients, especially at the end of the case or engagement. Ask them about your legal work and the “customer service” provided by you and your staff.

What did they like, what do they think could be improved, and why?

You need to know.

They may have misunderstood something or expected something different. They may have had a bad experience with someone on your staff. They may think you did a good job but had an issue with some minor aspect of your service that is bothering them.

After they fill out the survey, talk to them to learn more. You may not be comfortable hearing negative feedback, but it is important to hear it because it will allow you to improve your services and client relations and thus get more referrals.

Besides improving your service, there are other reasons you might not get as many referrals as you could. Here are a few of the more common reasons:

Your clients are satisfied with your services and willing to send you business, but don’t have the business to send. The solution is to target other types of clients and markets.
Your clients may not know who would be a good referral for you. Teach them about your practice areas and the kinds of clients you serve or want to serve.
Your clients may know people who need your services, but think you’re successful and busy and don’t need or want more work. The solution is to educate them that your practice was built on referrals and you appreciate receiving them.
Clients might not know the value of referrals. Make sure they understand that the referred client gets help without taking time or risk shopping around, the referring client gets the satisfaction of helping a friend, and you get a new client without advertising or networking in the cold market.
Your clients may be uncomfortable making referrals. Make it easier for them to do it by telling them what to tell the referral about you and how you can help them, and also what to tell you.
Finally, you may not be getting as many referrals as you could simply because you haven’t shown enough appreciation for past referrals. Make sure you thank your clients who send you referrals orally and by sending them a handwritten thank you note.

Referrals the lifeblood of your practice. This is how you get more of them.

Filed Under: Referrals

Your practice isn’t growing? Here’s why.

July 3, 2024 by David M. Ward

Uh oh, more homework. But essential if you want to get more clients and better clients, increase your income, and build a more successful career.

Here’s the thing. Your practice is a reflection of the decisions you make, and those are based on what you know, what you believe, and what you do.

Yep, it’s all about you.

Here’s the other thing. If your practice isn’t growing, it’s because you’re not growing.

Ouch.

Maybe it’s because you’re so busy doing client work you haven’t had time to do “inner work”.

Find the time. Your future depends on it.

Yes, you can get help. Your staff, outsourcing, ai, partners, consultants. But ultimately, it all comes down to you.

Because it’s your practice, your reputation, your future.

And while you can get help, you can’t outsource your life.

What’s your homework? Reading books and taking courses and talking to people who have achieved what you want to achieve. Brainstorming ideas, deciding which ones to work on, then working on them.

Not really that difficult. But necessary.

Because if you want your practice to grow, you have to grow.

Filed Under: Personal development

Maybe you need some new friends

July 2, 2024 by David M. Ward

Not friends necessarily, business connections—influential people who can send you referrals, introduce you to key people in your target market, give you information or advice, or inspire you.

Your business network, which you should continually expand and improve.

Start by identifying categories of people you’d like to know. “Business leaders in the health care field,” for example. Then, make a list of candidates—names of people in that field—and learn as much as possible about them and their industry or market.

Then, find someone who knows them and ask them to introduce you. Or, reach out yourself, tell them you’ve heard good things about them, and want to introduce yourself.

Ask them something about their company or association or news about their industry. Ask questions. Let them do most of the talking. Listen and learn.

Follow-up with an email telling them you enjoyed meeting them.

What’s next?

You might see an article about the health care industry and send a copy to your new contact. Or write an article and send that.

You might follow up with a question, ask for advice, or invite them to speak at an upcoming event where you know the organizer.

If you meet someone else who knows them, you might compare notes. Learn more about the contact, what they do, who they know, and what they want. If you hit it off, you might invite them to coffee. Or that might come later. Months later.

Stay in touch with them. Be of value to them. Find ways to help them or someone close to them. Don’t ask for anything just yet. That time will come.

Or it won’t.

You don’t know what will happen and you might need to meet many people before you find one who clicks with you.

But one might be all you need.

Here’s how to do it

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking