How to train your brain to come up with marketing ideas

February 25, 2016 by
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This morning, I saw an article with this headline: “Arby’s will offer a vegetarian menu for 1 day only this leap year”. I’m not a vegetarian, and I don’t eat at Arby’s, but the story caught my eye because it is an unusual and creative marketing promotion.

The promotion allows Arby’s to remind the public of their meat-centric menu by extending an olive branch to those who don’t eat meat, and thus, don’t usually visit Arby’s. It uses leap year to underscore that this is a one day special promotion.

(In case you’re wondering, the vegetarian sandwiches are simply regular sandwiches without the meat, sold at the same price.)

So Arby’s gets publicity and, I’m sure, more traffic to their stores. I’m betting that most of that traffic won’t be vegetarians, and that’s probably the point. However this plays out for the company, we have to agree that this promotion is well-played.

Okay, why am I telling you this?

I pay attention to stories about unusual promotions (and regular ones, too) to see if I can find ideas I can share with you or use in my own marketing. When I saw this story, I thought, “How could a lawyer do a “one day” promotion or an “opposite” promotion?

I came up with. . . nothing.

Okay, I suppose a divorce lawyer who represents “men only” could, for one day, accept women clients. An estate planning firm that represents wealthy clients could, for a week or a month, open their doors to “anyone”.

The point isn’t necessarily whether or not you can come up with a suitable promotion for your practice, it is that by thinking about how you might do that, you will stimulate (and train) your brain to be on the lookout for marketing ideas.

The next time you see a business running a promotion, it might cause you to think of a way you could use that idea, or one like it. You will become more observant about how businesses and professionals market their products and services, with or without promotions, and thus become more creative in marketing yours.

It’s the difference between seeing the Arby’s story and saying, “that’s clever” (and perhaps, “I’m hungry”) and asking, “How can I use an idea like that?”

Train yourself to ask “how could I use this idea?” because you won’t get answers to questions you never ask.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With:

What are you working on?

February 24, 2016 by
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What are you working on right now? I’m not referring to your regular work–cases, client work, or the daily activities of running your practice–I’m talking about something else: a project or group of projects designed to take you or your practice to a higher level.

So tell me, what are you working on?

You might be updating your website or expanding your advertising. You might be working on a new office procedure manual, updating your forms or form letters, or writing a series of emails to former clients. You might be putting together a list of names of professionals in your market you plan to call and invite to lunch. You might be working on a new presentation, an ebook, or a video.

You should always have a project you’re working on, and when someone asks, you should immediately know what it is.

There’s always something you can do to improve your marketing or the operations in your office. You can always improve your speaking, writing, negotiation, and sales skills.

So, what are you working on?

Are you learning how to get more referrals? Are you watching training videos about software you bought but haven’t used? Are you planning a meeting with your staff or partners to discuss ways to streamline the workflow in the office, lower costs, or increase profits?

You should always be working on at least one project designed to advance your skills or improve your results. And you should always have time scheduled during the week to work on that project.

You are are a professional but you also run a business. That business has many facets, many moving parts that need to be coordinated and maintained. Your business competes with other firms who do what you do and you need to stay at least one step ahead of them.

Delivering quality legal services isn’t enough. Most lawyers do that. If you want to stand out from the crowd, you have to do more.

So tell me, what are you working on?

Are you working on your website? This is what you need

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Personal development

Create a better marketing message by keeping it simple

February 23, 2016 by
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The best marketing messages are simple. They are easy to understand and easy to remember, and the ideas embodied in them affect the reader or listener on a basic emotional level.

The same can be said for any message.

The strength of a simple message is in its clarity. The reader or listener grasps the message on its face, without explanation or documentation, and without delay. It says what it means and it means what it says.

Robert Louis Stevenson said, “Do not write merely to be understood. Write so you cannot possibly be misunderstood.”

But how does one do that?

Ultimately, this is a function of the writer’s or speaker’s understanding of the essence of the message and their ability to communicate it. In other words, it takes some skill and effort. But there’s a lot you can do to make your message simpler, clearer, and more effective, even if you’re not (yet) a great writer.

Make your message about fewer ideas

Include a few key points in your message, not everything you could say on the subject. This is true no matter who your audience is, but even more so for a lawyer seeking to influence lay people.

Be brief

Spare the details. Don’t write pages when paragraphs will do. See if you can convey the same idea in a sentence or two.

Most people want no more than the bottom line and a fact or two that supports it. You should have additional information available, however, for those who want it. On your website, for example, put your message on the home page; provide links to the details for those who want to drill down to get them.

Write at a fourth grade level

You want your message to go from the page or the lectern to the recipient’s brain at the speed of thought. You don’t want anything slowing it down. So use shorter paragraphs and sentences, and simpler words. “Don’t use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do,” Mark Twain told us.

Use repetition

No matter how effective your message is, it will be more effective if it is repeated often. Repetition helps people understand, accept, and remember your message. It is key to earning their trust and their business.

Think of your message as a campaign speech, if that helps. You address the same handful of ideas and repeat them over and over again, to new crowds and to your die-hard supporters alike.

Repetition makes your message stronger and affects people at a deeper level. The first time they hear it, they may be critical and doubtful. After they’ve heard it several times, they are better able understand and accept the message. Eventually, after they’ve heard your message repeatedly, they can remember it and articulate it to others.

And that’s what you want.

You want your clients and prospects, friends and followers, to know what you stand for and what you promise, and you want them to easily share that message with others.

Need help crafting an effective marketing message? Try this

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Public Speaking, Referrals, Writing

Why should I hire you? Really, tell me why?

February 22, 2016 by
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You make some big promises in your marketing. At least I hope you do. I hope you tell prospective clients that you offer something that’s different and better than what other lawyers offer.

I also hope you explain the “reason why” you are able to do that.

I heard a radio commercial the other day for a Toyota dealer. The copy said that they have lower prices than other dealers. Okay, fine. But a lot of dealers claim they have the lowest prices. So hearing “lowest prices” usually goes in one ear and out the other.

But then the ad explained why they are able to offer the lowest prices. They said, “We sell more Toyotas than other dealers in [the market], so we get more Toyotas allocated to us, and that’s why we can sell them to you for less than other dealers”.

It’s not brilliant, but it does explain WHY this dealer can sell you a car for less. They back up their assertion with a fact that makes their claim to lower prices more credible.

You need to do the same.

In your ads and on your website, in your presentations and on all of your marketing documents, give prospective clients the “reason why” you are able to do what you say you do. Your assertion is more believable and powerful when it is backed up with facts or logic or with a story that illustrates its veracity.

If you say you have a lot of experience in your field, tell them how many years, how many cases, or how many clients. Or tell them some of your accomplishments or accolades that are consistent with a lawyer who has a lot of experience. You teach CLE or serve as an arbitrator or Judge Pro Tem? Wow, you must have a lot of experience.

If you say you work hard for your clients, tell a story about a case that was thought lost and how you burned the midnight oil, hired another investigator or expert, talked to witnesses again, or reviewed your research or notes, and found something that allowed you to win the case.

In other words, don’t just make empty promises, say something that proves what you say.

Your “reason why” needn’t be remarkable or unique, however. In a world where most attorneys offer no reasons why, stating that you can call up every single state and federal decision published in your field of practice since 1892, right from the iPad you carry in your briefcase, may be enough to “prove” that you are the better choice.

So tell me again, Why should I hire you?

For help in formulating your “reason why,” get The Formula

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Filed Under: Advertising, Marketing legal services

I’m married, not dead

February 19, 2016 by
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Did you hear the news? The App store has 17 paid iPhone and iPad apps that are free today! I can’t tell you what they are, however, because I didn’t read the article. Nor did I read yesterday’s article about 12 others apps that had gone free. In fact, it’s been a long time since I’ve read anything about new apps, or downloaded one, free or otherwise.

I stopped looking at other apps when I got married to the ones on my iPhone.

I’m comfortable with my notes apps, calendar, utilities, and games. I’m happy with my news and radio/podcast apps. I’m used to them, they work, and I don’t need to look at anything else. Sure, I dated a lot of other apps when I first got my phone, but not anymore.

Maybe when they invent a new category or something. Until then, I’m happy with what I’ve got.

Okay, I admit that I’ll look at a pretty new app from time to time. Hey, I’m married, not dead. But then I recall that I’m doing just fine in that department and that’s the end of it. And that’s good. I don’t spend time trying out new apps, reading about them, comparing features, or learning how to use them.

I’m happy and productive. And I’ve got a lot more time on my hands to do other things.

But that’s me. You may be different. You may not be married to your apps the way I am. You may enjoy playing the field. That’s okay.

One day, however, you may fall in love and you’ll want to settle down.

You’ll choose five or ten apps that do what you want them to do, and stop looking at others. You’ll be happy and productive and have more time for other things. You’ll get more work done, read more books, or take up a new hobby.

Or not. Who am I to say what’s right or wrong? You may keep looking at new apps, flirting with them, dating them, giving them a place on your home screen for awhile, until something else catches your eye.

And that’s okay, too. You may be married, but you’re not dead.

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Filed Under: Productivity

What would happen if you stopped marketing?

February 18, 2016 by
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A few years ago, I saw a few episodes of a program called, “Life After People”. It depicted what the earth would look like in 25, 50, 100 and 300 years (I think) if mankind was extinct.

It showed our tallest skyscrapers decaying and eventually crumbling into dust. It showed the forests overtaking our cities. It showed some animal species thriving, and others becoming extinct.

It was both a fascinating and frightening portrayal of nature reclaiming the earth, and it made me realize all of things humankind does to maintain and nurture our planet.

Thinking about this program made me think about what would happen if professionals stopped marketing. If we no longer did anything to bring in new clients and keep them happy, what would our practices look like in a few years?

What would happen if you pulled all of your advertising and stopped networking, writing, and speaking. If you never added anything new to your website, posted on social media, or sent your clients and prospects another letter or email?

What would your practice look like if you did nothing more for your clients than the legal work you were hired to do? If you did nothing else to inspire your clients to tell the world about their great experience with you?

If you stopped all marketing, what would your practice look like in a year? Five years? Ten? Would you still be open for business or would the weeds overtake you and hasten your extinction?

Just as mankind maintains the world’s infrastructure and continually creates new and better ways to add quality of life to our days on Earth, so must every lawyer maintain their practice and make it grow.

Do yourself a favor and make a list of everything you do that could be considered marketing. Big things and small things. Old things and new things. Easy things and challenging things. Making this list will help you see how much you do to keep your practice’s engine in good repair.

Then, imagine what would happen if you stopped doing these things and let the practice run on it’s own. No doubt the image you see in your mind’s eye would be sobering, even if you haven’t seen “Life After People”.

Finally, look at your list again and imagine what your practice might look like in a few years if you made a little extra effort to do the things we call marketing a little better, and found some new things you could do to help your practice grow.

And grow you must, because if your practice isn’t growing, it’s dying.

If you want a simple marketing plan that really works, get this

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Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services

It’s easier to find the solution when you know there is one

February 17, 2016 by
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Let’s say you have a problem with your marketing. You’re running an ad, for example, but not getting any response. You’ve studied the ad and thought about how you could “fix” it, but you don’t have a clue. You’re not sure if fixing it is even possible.

You come to me for advice. I look at the ad and immediately spot the problem. I tell you the solution is simple, but instead of telling you what it is, I say, “keep looking at the ad and you’ll find it.

You go back to studying the ad, and guess what? You find the problem and fix it. “It was obvious,” you say. “I don’t know how I missed it!”

What just happened? What happened is that when you first looked at the ad, you didn’t know there was a solution. Sure enough, you didn’t find one. When I told you I saw the problem and it was an easy fix, you were able to find the solution. . . because you knew there was one.

There’s probably a psychological principle at play here, but we don’t need to know what it is to know that this kind of thing happens all the time.

The other day I was playing “Words with Friends” against the computer (“Solo Play”). I almost always beat the computer and I realized that it’s probably programmed that way because if it beat you all the time, you would probably stop playing. So the computer gives you the tiles you need and/or plays words that open up spots for you to enable you to make high-score plays.

The other day I had an opening to make a triple-word score. I looked at my tiles but couldn’t find any words to fill the spot. Against a human opponent, I might have given up and tried something else. But knowing that the computer had probably given me the tiles I needed to find a word for that spot, I kept looking.

And I found it. I don’t know how I missed it.

When you know there’s a solution to a problem, you keep looking for it. You expect to find it and you often do. Even though the problem may seem insurmountable at first, when you know there is a solution, you keep at it.

How can we use this in our everyday problem solving? Should we always assume there is a solution, even if there is no evidence that one exists?

Perhaps not. Life is complicated and not every problem has an accessible solution. An ad that’s not working may not have a simple fix, no matter how much we assume that it does.

What we can do, however, is ask ourselves, “What if?” “What if there were an easy fix? What might it be?” In other words, while you shouldn’t always assume that there is any easy solution, you shouldn’t always assume that there isn’t.

Put the problem aside for awhile and come back to it with fresh eyes. Assume that there is an solution and see if you can find it.

You might not find an easy solution, but you’ve got a better chance of finding one than if you assume one doesn’t exist.

Fix your referral marketing problems with this

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Filed Under: Personal development Tagged With:

Would you hire you?

February 16, 2016 by
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Suppose you were interviewing attorneys to come work for you. You take out an ad or contact an agency and before long, you’re paging through resumes, trying to decide who should make it to the interview stage. One of the candidates you decide to interview is. . . you.

You made the first cut (surprise) and you’re interviewing yourself. Now tell me. . .

Would you hire you?

This is a good question to ask and answer. If you would hire yourself, the next question is why?

What do you bring to the firm in terms of talents and accomplishments? What could you do to make the firm more profitable? Would you be good at bringing in clients? Better clients? Will you bill more hours? Will you be a good fit for the firm in terms of practice areas, target markets, marketing and management philosophies? Will you get along with the other employees?

Whatever you offer as reasons why you should get the job, your next step is to prove it.

You (the applicant) say you would bring in more business to the firm, for example. Why should you (the interviewer) believe that statement? What have you done in the past that provides evidence of what you will do in the future?

The answers might not appear on your resume. Impressive though it might be, if it’s like most resumes, it is a record of where you’ve been, not what you have accomplished. You need to show the interviewer what you have done and make the case for hiring you instead of a plethora of other candidates with equally impressive resumes.

You may never consider working for someone else. You may have always worked for yourself. Nevertheless, this is a good exercise for exploring the “four corners” of value you bring to the market.

To make it more meaningful, you might update your resume and write a cover letter. You might fill out a job application. Then, write down questions you think an employer (you) would ask you, and answer them.

When you’re done with this exercise, you’ll be better able to assess your strengths and weaknesses and see yourself as the world sees you. You can use this information to improve your image, develop new skills, or neutralize your weaknesses.

Once you have done this, I suggest you do it again, but from a different perspective. Instead of pretending that you’re interviewing for a job with your firm, pretend you’re interviewing to be hired by a prospective client.

Look at your website and all of your marketing materials. Note what’s good and what could be improved. Write down the questions prospective clients typically ask you. Add questions they should ask but usually don’t. And then interview yourself and record your answers.

If you can’t make the case as to why someone should hire you, you shouldn’t expect to be hired. Not even by you.

Why should anyone hire you? The answer is in The Formula

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services

When should you do it yourself?

February 15, 2016 by
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I’ve got some Kindle books I need to convert to paperback. I could hire someone to do it for me but I decided to learn how to do it myself. I did the same thing learning how to format the manuscripts for Kindle.

Short term, it makes sense to hire someone to do these things for me. Long term, having these skills means I won’t have to hire anyone or wait for them to do it. So, by investing a few hours reading books and blog posts and watching YouTube videos, I can now do these things myself.

I will always have the option to hire people to do these things for me. But now, I will be better able to diagnose problems and make sure my outsourcers do what I want.

On the other hand, there are some skills I know I’ll never tackle.

I outsource book covers and graphics, for example, because I don’t have artistic talent and because apps like Photoshop have a very steep learning curve. It might be fun taking classes and getting to the point where I could do a decent job of creating graphics in house, and “fun” isn’t irrelevant, but for me, the return on investment isn’t worth it.

Ultimately, ROI must be the primary factor in deciding which skills we learn and which skills we outsource. Few of us have the luxury of learning how to do everything ourselves, let alone the time to actually do it.

But we have to be flexible. We have to evolve.

In my practice, before computers, it made sense for me to dictate letters and documents to a secretary, along with instructions on what I wanted done. After computers, it was often quicker to type things myself.

You know that I’m a big proponent of delegating as much as possible. You’ve heard me say that my objective is “to do only those things that only I could do” and delegate everything else. But in a complex and ever-changing world, this isn’t an absolute.

If it were, I would still be dictating everything and I wouldn’t have fun learning new things.

How to get good at delegating

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Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: ,

What would your clients think if they saw you working?

February 12, 2016 by
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If your clients observed you drafting their documents, speaking to the other party’s lawyer, or arguing a motion on their behalf, do you think you might do things a little differently?

Scientists say you would.

It’s called “The Hawthorne Effect” and it refers to a phenomenon “in which individuals modify or improve an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed.”

When you’re part of an experiment or study and you know you’re being observed (and measured), for example, you work harder or faster, take fewer risks or more risks, and otherwise change what you do in order to better your outcome.

If you have partners, for example, you are accountable to them and no doubt this makes you work harder than you otherwise might.

Because someone is watching.

How could you use “The Hawthorne Effect” to improve your performance? You could get a workout partner or coach and have them hold you accountable. A daily check-in and report is very likely to improve your performance.

You could “go public” with some of your goals, announcing them to people who would care if you don’t reach them. Knowing they are watching will undoubtedly drive you to reach those goals.

Another way to use “The Hawthorne Effect” to your advantage would be to systematically record your results and compare them to previous efforts. Write down how many calls you made this week, or how many words you wrote. Record the number of new clients you brought in this month, and every month from now on.

If you’re not tallying your activities and results, then “nobody” is watching you and you are unlikely to modify your behavior, at least not consistently. When you start documenting your numbers, however, you will naturally push yourself to improve those numbers.

Even though you’re the only one who is watching.

Need more clients? Referrals are the best way to get them

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Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With:
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