David M. Ward, Author at The Attorney Marketing Center

Social Media Myths Busted (and other lessons for lawyers)

August 14, 2014 by David M. Ward

I’ve been accused of being down on social media. It’s true that I don’t use it much, but I do use it. I realize it’s a big deal and it’s not going to go away. I also know that many people who read me and connect with me use social media extensively to provide value to their readers and followers and it makes sense for me to make it easier to do so.

I also understand that social media (done right) isn’t about advertising or selling, it’s about networking. I may not let on that I get the difference, but I do. It is a great tool for finding and reaching out to people in your niche, many of whom you would never meet at in-person networking events.

Apparently, a lot of people don’t get or don’t like social media. So when I saw a new book that promises to reveal the truth about social media and how Luddites like me can use it to increase our bottom line, I grabbed a copy.

In Social Media Myths Busted: The Small Business Guide to Online Revenue, social media expert Laura Rubinstein reveals the truth about common social media myths such as “It takes too much time,” “It’s not relevant to me,” and “You have to be an extrovert to be successful”.

After this, I might read, Social Media is Bullshit.

Whatever your take on using social media in your practice, there’s something else to be learned from Rubinstein’s book. Two lessons, actually, that can be used in marketing even if you never use social media.

The first lesson is about how she wrote the book. Although she is an expert on social media, Rubinstein interviewed 30 business owners and social media experts and got their take on the subject. Those interviews are distilled into the book. She was able to cobble together a book imbued with the knowledge and credibility of the interviewees, no doubt making the book better and easier to write.

Interviews allow you to write a book or any kind of content more quickly and easily. If you interviewÂ subject matter experts, their knowledge and experience will add depth to your content. If they aren’t experts, clients for example, their stories can provide context and human interest.

There’s another lesson from crowd sourcing content the way Rubinstein did it, and it’s a big one.

The thirty people she interviewed are all named in the book. They not only get the author’s stamp of approval, they also get exposure to thousands of people who read her book. Do you think these thirty experts might proudly promote this book to their lists and through their social media channels?

You bet your ass they will.

Tens of thousands of people who are interested in social media will hear about this book and want to see what their favorite guru says about social media. Result: Rubinstein is selling a ton of books.

She’s killing it. Bringing in cash, traffic to her web site, and opening doors to new marketing opportunities.

You don’t have to write a book to accomplish this. Interview some experts and post it on your blog. Feature them and their wisdom and they will send traffic to your site.

Where do you find these experts? How about social media?

More ways to create content, build traffic and get more clients, with or without social media: Click here.

Filed Under: Blogging, Leverage, List building, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Web traffic, Writing Tagged With: content marketing, Social Media Myths Busted

Is your marketing message like a horror movie? I hope so.

August 13, 2014 by David M. Ward

Suppose you went to a horror movie and it was 90 minutes of non-stop slashing and killing. No plot, no character development, no suspense. You see the bad guy in action from start to finish. You know what’s going to happen next (more blood and guts) and you don’t care.

Bad script.

A good script plays with your emotions. It makes you think something might happen to someone you care about, but you’re not sure what it is or when it will happen. It tells a story, so that you can feel what the characters feel and get scared right along with them. There is a rhythm to the film, with highs and lows and twists and turns which keeps the story moving towards a satisfying ending.

You need to tell a similar story in your marketing.

Let’s say you handle divorce and you have an email list. Prospective clients subscribe because they are interested in learning more about divorce and haven’t made up their mind about what to do. So, you start emailing. What do you say?

Many lawyers send their list an endless message depicting the client’s pain (bad marriage) and the ultimate solution (divorce). Every email is basically the same.

PAIN. PROBLEM. (HIRE ME). PAIN. MORE PAIN. MORE PROBLEMS. ONGOING PAIN. (WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?) PAIN. PAIN. PAIN. . .

Bad movie. Your audience is more than likely to walk out (un-subscribe).

Nobody wants to listen to a non stop recitation of painful thoughts, any more than they want to watch 90 minutes of evisceration. Give your readers a dose of pain and problems, but then give them some relief before you go at it again.

Tell them about the problem and the solution you offer. Then, talk about something else. Tell them about one of your clients–what they went through and how they came out okay. After that, tell them another client story with a happy ending. Ah, just when they are feeling good and forgetting about their pain, boom, you remind them again about what might happen if they don’t take action.

The problems is still there. It’s not going away. They need to do something.

Next message, you might talk about alternative solutions. Mediation, counseling, marriage encounter.

Options. Relief. Something else that might work. Give them information, ideas, links.

Then, maybe something completely off topic. Talk about the wind chimes on your patio and how relaxing it is to watch the sunset and listen to the chimes after a hard day at work. Your list sees that you are a real person with problems and stress in your life, just like them.

Then you might talk about wills and trusts. This might not be one of your practice areas but everyone needs to know something about this, including people thinking about divorce. Give them a few tips. Refer them to a good estate planning lawyer you know.

Next up, more pain. They thought you had forgotten about that. They were trying to forget about it, but there you are, reminding them again. And you’re right. The problem isn’t going to go away by itself. They have to do something.

You mention that you have a questionnaire on your website that might help them put their situation into perspective. They fill it out. They see that you offer to speak with them, no charge or obligation, to answer their questions and tell them more about their options. They’ve been hearing from you for awhile. They trust you. They call.

Marketing is like dating. You don’t clobber the girl with a club and drag her to your cave. You court her. You let her know something about you and what you have to offer. You give her time to get to know you. You back off and let things develop naturally.

When she’s ready, she’ll let you know.

Learn how to build an email list and use it to get clients. Get this.

Filed Under: Closing the sale, Copywriting, Email, Marketing legal services, Newsletters

Finding the sweet spot in marketing legal services

August 12, 2014 by David M. Ward

If we draw a diagram of the marketing legal services universe we would see three sectors. The first sector is comprised of lawyers who do very little marketing or no marketing. This includes the ones who proclaim that they are professionals, not sales people, and “shouldn’t have to” do any marketing.

Of course every lawyer does marketing, whether they know it or not. Remember, marketing includes all of the little things we do to make our client’s experience with us a net positive. But the lawyers in this sector don’t do much more to build their practice.

The next sector, the smallest of the three, are those attorneys who understand the importance of marketing and who do it big. They study marketing, they have staff, they have a budget, and they are put a lot of energy into growing their practice.

The third sector, and the largest, is where everyone else resides.

If you’re in the first sector, be warned. You’re playing with fire. A practice that isn’t growing is dying, and if you’re not making a conscious effort to market your services, it is only a matter of time before you’re in trouble.

If you’re in the second sector, congratulations. The rest of us admire you. But that doesn’t mean we all want to do what you do. We know that marketing is vital to our success, and we do it, but most of us don’t do it with the same intensity you do.

Are you surprised that I include myself in this sector? When I was practicing, I got good at marketing because I wanted to eat and pay my bills, not because I loved marketing or was driven to build the biggest practice in town. I had other things I wanted to do in my life outside of my legal career, and I did them.

You can build a successful career without being “all in” with respect to marketing. In fact, if you are passionate about what you do as a lawyer and you’re good at your work, you don’t have to do a lot of marketing.

But you have to do some.

Find a few things you enjoy doing and have time to do, and do them. Don’t worry about everything else.

Need a marketing plan? Get this.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

Keeping clients happy is key to attorney happiness

August 11, 2014 by David M. Ward

Happy clients mean returning clients, referring clients, and clients who pay their bills.

All hail the happy client.

How do you make ’em happy? Surprise them.

According to research, it’s not positive outcomes that make people happy, it’s when those outcomes are unexpected.

If a client hires you and do the work they paid for, along with the usual level of care and concern (“customer service”), it is an even exchange. Money paid for services rendered.

When the client gets what they expected, they are satisfied, but no more. If you give them more than they expect, however, if you surprise and delight them, happiness ensures.

Look at the other way around. If you send a client your bill and they pay it, as agreed, you’re satisfied, right? You did the work and you got paid. NBD.

What if the client unexpectedly pays you a bonus. “Here’s an extra ,000, just because.”

Surprised? Yes. Happy? Hell yeah!

Okay, so how can you give your clients a positive experience they don’t expect?

Do the work a little faster. Send a bill for less than you estimated. Throw in work product they thought would cost extra.

Of course you can also surprise and delight them with customer service. They come to your office expecting to fill out a bunch of forms and then wait to see you. Instead, they see you immediately and learn they can fill out the forms at home. They expect you to talk all about yourself and how great you are. Instead, they find you asking about them and their kids. They expect you to bill from the moment they shake hands. Instead, you tell them the first visit is free.

Figure out what they expect and then surprise them with something better.

Start by making a list of the connection points clients have with you and your office. From the time they first see your ad or find your website landing page, they have expectations. What are they? What do they expect to read on your site? What do they expect about being able to contact you and ask questions? What do they expect when they call?

When a client gets a letter or a bill from you, what do they expect? Once the case is filed, what do they think will happen? When the case is over, what then?

Each interaction with you is an opportunity to surprise that client and make them happy. Start collecting ideas for each of those interactions.

How can you surprise them when they are in your waiting room, for example? They expect water, coffee, and soft drinks, right? What if you offered them a healthy fruit drink or a milk shake from the restaurant next door? They’ve got their kids with them and expect them to have nothing to do. You could provide toys and coloring books, but how about a separate play room and a designated employee to watch them while their parents are with you?

It doesn’t make much to give clients more than they expect because when it comes to dealing with lawyers, they don’t expect much. Look for opportunities to surprise your clients and keep them happy. They may not send you ,000 more than you billed, but you’ll be just as happy when they surprise you with two or three referrals.

More ideas for keeping clients happy: The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations Tagged With: exceeding expectations

Every lawyer needs to be able to tell these 5 stories

August 8, 2014 by David M. Ward

When speaking to prospective clients, an audience, interviewers, or professional contacts, you need to be able to tell them about you and what you offer in a way that is interesting and memorable. They should be able to see and understand the people behind the brochure or the web page.

Here are 5 stories you should be prepared to tell that make that possible:

1. Why us

What you do for your clients, the benefits you offer, the kinds of clients you work with, and why someone should hire you instead of other lawyers.

2. Your/your firm’s mission

The big picture about the work you do, your vision for the future.

3. Your personal story

Stories about your past, personal interests, family. The person, not the lawyer, although you can add why you became a lawyer.

4. Client stories

Success stories about people who hired you and received positive results. Have one or two for each practice area/problem and niche market.

5. Partner and/or staff stories

Be prepared to talk about other people in your firm. Clients like to know something about other people who might work with them.

A list of credentials and accomplishments has its place, but to be more effective, talk about people: yourself, your staff, and your clients. Tell stories that show who you are and how you make a difference. Because facts tell, but stories sell.

Filed Under: Communication, Image, Marketing legal services, Networking, Public Speaking Tagged With: stories

You think you’re so smart. Good!

August 7, 2014 by David M. Ward

Lawyers tend to have big egos. Mostly, that’s a good thing. It’s what allows them to be successful. Imagine what it would be like if you constantly doubted yourself and your abilities.

InÂ 10 Things Highly Productive People Don’t Do,Â item 4 caught my attention:

They are not realistic when it comes to their abilities

When it comes to your own skills and expectations; itâ€™s better to be an illusionist than being modest or realistic. Successful people and high achievers are overconfident of their abilities. They believe that they can achieve anything and expect the very best to come. This is very important in order to be productive.

Holding such beliefs about yourself will make you (even if you are the laziest person on earth) tend to take actions in order to justify your own beliefs. It will lower your resistance against hard work.

If you feel incompetent, simply ask yourself if holding such a belief has ever helped you. If not get rid of it and get a new belief because at the end of the day a wrong belief that makes you feel good is far better than a more realistic one that makes you feel incompetent.

Now before you can say this is a recipe for malpractice, it doesn’t mean you should take on work you’re not competent to do and blindly do it. It means believing you can get the work done and that you can figure out how to make that happen.

In the early days of my practice, I often took cases I was nowhere near ready to handle. I believed that if some of the attorneys I’d met could do it, I could too. I spent long hours in the library. I hired experienced secretaries and paralegals. I asked other attorneys for advice. And when I was truly over my head, I associated with bigger firms, watched, learned, and earned.

If I didn’t believe in myself, I would have turned down the business and perhaps never learned what to do.

Successful people start with vision. They see themselves where they want to be, doing the things they want to do. They believe that they are able to do it, and that’s how they become able to do it.

Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity Tagged With: ego, self-confidence, vision

Judgments about trustworthiness are made in less than a second

August 6, 2014 by David M. Ward

According to new research, “people only need to meet someone for less than a second before they decide how trustworthy they are.”

Yikes.

When you meet a prospective client they make up their minds about you instantly. In a single glance, the jury decides whether or not to trust your client or witness. When you are networking or speaking, you areÂ judged before you say a single word.

It has to do with the human face and how our brains process the image. I’ll spare you the scientific details behind the research but the process occurs at a subconscious level, and quickly.

We used to think that people make up their minds about us in the first minute or two, giving us time to make a good impression. You know, smile, make eye contact, show people you are interested in them. Now we know that by the time we do that, people have already made up their minds about us.

Now what? We can’t change our appearance. Our face says “trustworthy” or it does not. All we can do is move forward with the things we’ve always done to make a good impression and earn trust. We’ll thus reinforce the person’s first impression of us as trustworthy, and thus strengthen it, or we’ll counter their first impression of untrustworthy and, one hopes, overcome it.

But then I’m assuming it’s possible to overcome a bad first impression. It has to be. If it were not, it would mean there are people walking around with a face that tells everyone, “you can’t trust me,” and there’s nothing they can do to change that impression. I know life isn’t fair but I think that’s going too far.

How to improve your trustworthiness. Click here.

Filed Under: Image, Networking, Personal development, Public Speaking Tagged With: trust, trustworthiness

How to stand out in a crowded market

August 5, 2014 by David M. Ward

In The Attorney Marketing Formula I talk about how to differentiate yourself from other lawyers. There are many things you can do within your core practice areas to show people how you are different and give them a reason to hire you instead of other lawyers.

Half the battle is being noticed and remembered. We all look alike. We all wear the same suits and speak the same language. Go downtown and you can spot the lawyers half a block away.

Anyway, what if you had something else you were known for? Something that has nothing to do with being a lawyer but everything to do with being you?

Perhaps you are the personal injury lawyer who likes opera. Or theÂ Texas criminal defense lawyer who loves the Yankees. Or a small business lawyer who put herself through law school playing in poker tournaments.

Different. And memorable.

Take something from your personal life, present or past, and wear it like an emblem. When people see you walking down the street, they’ll remember you as the lawyer who used to play in a rock band or the lawyer who collects Native American art.

It’s a little hook to help you stand out, but it also opens up possibilities for networking in a niche market where you have knowledge and contacts.

When I was in grammar school, there was a kid who always wore green socks. Every day, in fact. He had an Irish surname but I think I asked him once and he told me he just liked green. Today, decades later, I still remember his name and those green socks.

Maybe you could be the lawyer who always wears green socks. Or red. Or bow ties. Or a scorpion lapel pin.

I don’t know what your thing is, but whatever it is, once I associate it with you, I’ll probably remember you. It might not be enough to hire you or send your referrals, but you’ve got a better shotÂ than than the lawyers I met once but can’t remember.

Learn more about how to stand out in a crowded market. Get this.

Filed Under: Image, Marketing legal services

Prioritizing tasks: If it’s not a nine or 10, it’s a one

August 4, 2014 by David M. Ward

One of my favorite sayings is, “You can do anything you want, you just can’t do everything you want.” There isn’t enough time to do everything, but there is plenty ofÂ time to do what’s important.

The problem is, when you look at your list of tasks and projects, at a certain level, everything seems important. That’s why we wrote it down. To be productive and reach our goals, we need to decide which tasks are the most importantÂ and should receive top priority.

Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less, suggests using “The 90% Rule” for prioritizing tasks. It allows you to take a step back and look at your list objectively.

Laura Vanderkam at Fast Company explains McKeownâ€™s method:

Youâ€™re looking at a new opportunity. Rank it on a scale of 1 to 10 on how amazing you think it is. Then try this little thought experiment: â€œIf itâ€™s not a nine or 10, then itâ€™s a one,â€ says McKeown. The goal is to take on tasks that are â€œa superb use of my time,â€ he says, â€œand I donâ€™t mean that selfishly. I mean, is this the best way I can contribute to others, to society, is this my very highest point of contribution?â€ The point is that â€œwe need to see the difference between things that are good and things that are exceptionally good,â€ he says. â€œItâ€™s an important distinction in a world exploding with options.â€

Out of ten tasks, one or two are likely to deliver the most value or biggest results. Put those tasks into their own category and put everything else aside. If this sounds like a variation of the 80/20 rule, I agree. And that’s why I like it.

Don’t get hung up in deciding what’s a six and what’s a seven. If it’s not a nine or 10, it’s a one.

Filed Under: Productivity, Time Management Tagged With: prioritazation, prioritizing, prioritizing-tasks