Marketing legal services like a Grandmaster

October 1, 2012 by
Share

In the game of chess there are strategies and there are tactics. Strategies are the plans–how you will gain space or material that leads to a winning advantage. Tactics are the battles–the maneuvering of your pieces and exchanges of material that allow you to execute your plan.

Marketing legal services is very similar. You create a plan and you execute that plan. Your plan might be to get more referrals from your professional contacts by strengthening your relationships with them. Your tactics might include sending them referrals, taking them to lunch, and inviting them to join you at your next networking meeting.

In chess, the best strategies aren’t created randomly, they emerge by observing the board. You look at your strengths, where you have an advantage, and build your strategy around these advantages. If there aren’t any advantages, you look for differences in your positions and use those differences to create your strategy.

The same goes for marketing legal services. You may not have any significant advantages over other attorneys, but you do have differences:

  • Your background, outside interests
  • Your knowledge and experience
  • Your style and personality
  • Your professional contacts
  • The size of your client list
  • Your web site
  • Your lists (email, mail, directory)
  • Your awards
  • Your publishing credits
  • Your content (articles, reports, books, audios, etc.)
  • Your niche market
  • Your experience
  • Your social media network
  • Languages spoken
  • And so on

You can use these differences to create a marketing strategy.

If you are an “Ambassador” at your local Chamber of Commerce, know how to make and publish youtube videos, or you are personal friends with a prominent blogger, these can all become a part of your marketing strategy.

Where are you different? What do you know how to do? Who do you know? Don’t take those differences for granted. They may not seem significant to you but they can be enough to create a winning strategy for marketing your services.

The Attorney Marketing Formula shows you key strategies for marketing your practice. Click here for more information.

Share
Filed Under: Leverage, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

Getting started with mind maps for notes, outlines, and brainstorming

September 28, 2012 by
Share

Mind maps are a non-linear method of organizing information. I use them to take notes, to create outlines for presentations and projects, and to brainstorm ideas. If you have not used them, I suggest you take a look at this excellent overview.

I usually create mind maps on paper. I grab a legal pad and put the basic idea in the middle. As ideas come to me, I quickly add them as branches and sub-branches. In a minute or two, I can outline a complete presentation or project.

As the overview clearly shows, the advantage to the mind map is that it allows you to capture ideas as they occur to you, “out of order” so to speak, which is how the mind works. One idea leads to another and that leads to another, and so on, which is very different from the linear outlines we’re so used to. Once you have captured those ideas, however, it’s easy to re-write them into a formal outline.

I also use mind map software. Freemind is simple and easy to use and, well, free. There are many other choices. I don’t use the software often, but I do use it for bigger projects.

I’ve downloaded a few mind map apps on my iPhone but find them difficult to use. The “canvas” is too small, at least for me, and I find myself spending too much time working with the app rather than capturing ideas. Some apps do integrate with their desktop counterparts, however, so you could create the mind map on your computer and view it on your mobile device.

Some people create very detailed mind maps, with many sub-branches. They might outline an entire book (or legal case) on a large white board or fill several pages in a notebook. I usually keep things simple, using the map to get a general picture, but I have also used them to outline bigger projects.

If you’ve never tried a mind map you may be in for a pleasant surprise. Not only are they a practical way to discover and capture information you may otherwise overlook, they are a lot of fun.

I used mind maps to outline portions of The Attorney Marketing Formula. If you want to see how my mind works, download a copy today.

Share
Filed Under: Presentations, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

Is your law firm listed on Yelp? You might be getting reviews and not know it

September 27, 2012 by
Share

When my wife is checking out a new restaurant or other local business, she often checks the reviews on Yelp. If they have a poor rating she usually moves on. She may also use Yelp’s directory to find businesses in our area. She found a great auto service business that way and we’re very happy with them.

If you target consumers or small businesses, prospective clients may be checking you out on Yelp. If you have a listing, it’s one more place people searching for an attorney can find you.

The thing is, clients can post a review about you even if you don’t have a listing. You might want to do a search and see if anyone has. While you’re there, create an account so that you can post your details and contact information. This article points you in the right direction.

Once you have an account, you can add your photo, additional details, and special offers (i.e., a coupon, a free report or video, etc.). You can engage with people who post reviews.

The listing is free and it’s easy to set up an account so there’s really no reason not to. Tell your (satisfied) clients to post their reviews. You may or may not get new clients from the directory, but if anyone hears about you somewhere else and goes to check you out on Yelp, you’ll be ready.

Are you listed on Yelp? Have you gotten clients from your listing? Let me know in the comments.

Share
Filed Under: Advertising, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: , ,

Good news: your clients don’t want to leave

September 26, 2012 by
Share

If a client leaves and hires another attorney to replace you, the odds are you’ve screwed up big time. Sure, they leave for other reasons but generally speaking, clients would rather stay with the devil they know (that’s you) than take a chance on the devil they don’t.

They don’t want to take the time looking for another attorney, or take the risk. The next attorney could turn out worse, and then what? It’s easier to stay where they are, even if they’re not crazy about you.

It’s like the story about the old hound dog sleeping on a nail poking out of the floorboards. “Why doesn’t he get up off the nail?” his owner is asked. “Doesn’t it hurt?” “Sure it hurts, just not enough.”

So that’s the good news. You don’t have to be that nice to your clients to get them to stay. You don’t have to smile or show them you care. You don’t even have to be competent (as long as the client doesn’t figure this out). Just don’t treat them like crap.

Of course you would be a fool to set the bar this low. Clients may stick with you because it’s easier than replacing you, but will they come back? Will they give you referrals? Will they Like your page or tell their friends about your web site or seminar?

Your clients may not leave because the nail doesn’t hurt enough, but once their case is done, they’ll find another place to take that nap.

Learn how to make your clients love you. Get The Attorney Marketing Formula.

Share
Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations Tagged With: ,

If Charles Darwin managed your law firm

September 25, 2012 by
Share

Some cynics contend that lawyers aren’t human. They say we are a different species who kill and eat our young and should not be allowed to mate and reproduce.

If Charles Darwin were around, he might point out that the traits that make us good at our jobs, i.e., skepticism, competitiveness, toughness, argumentativeness, etc., allow us to survive and thrive as a species. If that wasn’t true, we would have died out a long time ago.

So there.

There are parallels between Darwin’s theories and the management of a law practice. Darwin concluded that the species that fights for survival, or is adept at avoiding it, is the species that has the best chance of survival. In the food chain, there are those who eat and those who are eaten.

Lawyers aren’t allowed to flee. We have to stay and fight for our clients. By helping them survive, our practice survives. Our clients have more work for us. Other clients are attracted to the strongest lawyers.

Does that mean lawyers must be cutthroat? In the big firm world, I think it does. There are too few clients and too much jungle to cut through. For solos and small firms, there are more options, particularly for those lawyers who embrace Darwin’s other hypotheses.

Darwin said that the species with the best chance of survival are the species that have learned to specialize. There is less competition when you’re the only one with a long snout that can find ants buried deep in the ground. If Darwin were managing your firm, he would tell you to differentiate yourself from other lawyers and look for gaps in the market that you can exploit and dominate.

Sound advice, but advice few lawyers follow. Most lawyers follow the herd and thus, earn average incomes. Skepticism and risk adverseness may make a lawyer good, but it doesn’t make a lawyer wealthy.

Darwin’s theory of adaptation is another area where lawyers are weak. The theory says that to survive in a world of changing demands and conditions requires a species to adapt to those changes and evolve. Lawyers are famously not comfortable with change, however, and often find themselves playing catch up.

Change doesn’t mean recklessness. It means staying informed, being open minded, and willing to try. Lawyers who don’t have a robust Internet presence, for example, are clearly falling behind.

Darwin told us it is, “the survival of the fittest.” If he was managing your firm, he might say that while you may be ready for the competition, if you don’t specialize and you don’t adapt, you may still find yourself on the endangered species list.

If you want to learn how to differentiate yourself from the competition and not get eaten alive, get The Attorney Marketing Formula today.

Share
Filed Under: Law office management, Legal industry, Marketing legal services, Specializing Tagged With: , , , , ,

Selling legal services like Apple sells iPhones

September 24, 2012 by
Share

I went to the Apple store this weekend. As you can imagine, it was packed, buzzing with people who were playing with iPads and Airs and Macs. They were asking about the new iPhone 5. And they were buying.

After the Apple store, I went to a Windows store on the same floor of the mall. Like the Apple store, it was spacious and nicely laid out. There were lots of toys to play with and friendly employees to answer your questions. But unlike the Apple store, there were very few customers. The store was almost empty.

Why the difference?

Nobody needs an Apple product. Everything you need in a computer or tablet or phone you can get from another company, usually for less. So why is Apple poised to become the first trillion dollar company in history?

Marketing.

Apple knows that people buy what they want, not what they need, and so Apple doesn’t spend time talking about how their products are better or that over time, you’ll save money buying a Mac versus a PC. They don’t say Apple is safer or has a shorter learning curve or make a fuss about the quality of their customer service. They know these things are important and they don’t ignore them, but they also know that these aren’t why people buy Apple.

People buy Apple because it’s cool.

But legal services aren’t cool. Nobody stands in line at the door of a law office. This is why Apple is about to become the first trillion dollar company and your firm isn’t.

But you can learn something from Apple and apply it to your marketing.

Apple doesn’t try to convince people they need a computer, a smart phone or tablet. They target people who are already looking for a computer, a smart phone, or tablet. They appeal to people who want the “best” (coolest) and are willing to pay for it.

You should do the same.

Focus on people who know they need a lawyer and are trying to choose the right one. Focus on clients who want the “best” and are willing to pay for it.

Yes, you can also educate your market as to why they need the type of legal services you offer, but spend most of your time and energy on the low hanging fruit: the ones who know they need help and are ready to get it.

Then, show them why they should choose you. Give them all of the reasons. Show them why you are the Apple of legal services. They may not stand in line outside your office but they will want what you offer and pay top dollar to get it.

Want to know how to get clients to choose you? Read The Attorney Marketing Formula and find out.

Share
Filed Under: Advertising, Communication, Copywriting, Marketing legal services Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Marketing legal services Disney style

September 21, 2012 by
Share

Disneyland is 40 minutes from me. I think the last time my wife and I went was when our daughter was little, probably twenty years ago. In our mailbox yesterday was an advertising piece from Disneyland. It’s a big booklet filled with nothing but photographs of people having fun at the park. Kids with big smiles and adults looking like kids.

There are very few words in the booklet. No offers, no statistics, no information. Just pictures. But those pictures tell the story. They say, “come back to Disneyland and have fun like these people,” and that’s all they need to say.

Marketing legal services isn’t the same as marketing “The Happiest Place on Earth”. But why can’t lawyers share a little happiness? Instead of delivering a pile of dry information and dreary forecasts, why not show people what their life will be like after they get our help?

Colorful pictures of people having fun, probably not. But colorful stories of people enjoying peace of mind, security, and freedom are always appropriate.

Get The Attorney Marketing Formula and learn how to earn more than you ever thought possible. 

Share
Filed Under: Advertising, Communication, Marketing legal services Tagged With: , ,

When should an attorney hire (more) people?

September 20, 2012 by
Share

I don’t have any employees right now, but over the years I have hired, trained, and supervised many. Having employees allowed me to substantially increase my income and decrease my workload. It gave me the leverage I needed to grow my practice.

But just because I don’t have employees today doesn’t mean I don’t have that leverage. There are many ways to utilize the time and talents of other people without having them fill out a W-2.

In one of my businesses, I “work with” hundreds of independent contractors who contribute to my income. I’ve never met most of them. And in my attorney marketing business, I use outside contractors who provide professional and technical assistance and are very good at what they do.

Lawyers can do the same thing by using the services of paralegals, attorneys, virtual assistants and other independent contractors. The more you hire, the more time you will have to do high-paid legal work and bring in more clients.

If you’re trying to do everything yourself, not only are you working harder than you need to, you’re not earning as much as you could. You don’t have to take on the headaches of hiring employees, you have other options.

Some attorneys say they can’t afford to hire others because they don’t have enough work. I say they don’t have enough work because they’re not hiring others.

There is an African saying: “If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go with a group.”

Learn how to use other people’s efforts to earn more and work less. Get The Attorney Marketing Formula.

Share
Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Leverage, Productivity

4 tools for finding ideas and content for blogs, articles, and presentations

September 19, 2012 by
Share

How do I create content that will rank well and bring me traffic? What are my prospects searching for? What should I write about?

If you’ve ever asked yourself these questions, help is on the way. I just discovered 4 tools for finding out what people are looking for (aka, what people want to read), generating ideas for content, or fleshing out content you’re already working on.

I know I’m going to be spending some time playing around with these. (After I’ve updated to iOS 6, of course).

Check out the post on this page for a description of these 4 tools.

I don’t spend much time on SEO. Frankly, the whole subject is daunting. But I do pay attention to writing content that people want to read and I am always looking for ideas. That’s why these tools are helpful.

If you have used these tools, or others like them, please let us know in the comments.

Find out how to earn more than you ever thought possible. Download The Attorney Marketing Formula.

Share
Filed Under: Communication, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Presentations, Public Speaking, Social media marketing, Technology, Web traffic, Writing Tagged With:

Why do clients leave?

September 18, 2012 by
Share

You haven’t lived until you’ve been “subbed out”. You’re contacted by your client’s new attorney who informs you that they have been substituted in on their case, here’s the paperwork, please send the file ASAP.

Kaplowie, right in the kisser.

It happens to the best of attorneys. Sometimes you screw up. Sometimes the client can no longer afford you. Sometimes the client doesn’t want to follow your advice and decides to find someone who will tell him what he wants to hear.

But even if you have never had a client leave, you may have had clients who did not return for a subsequent engagement.

Your work may have been stellar and your fees may have been “just right”. So why do these clients hire another attorney the next time they need what you do? Usually, it’s because they didn’t feel appreciated.

You didn’t listen to what they were saying. You weren’t patient. You didn’t ask if they had questions.

You didn’t return their call. You rushed them into making a decision. You didn’t explain what you were doing and why it is important.

When you made them wait for forty minutes before their appointment, you told them their time wasn’t important (and you don’t keep your promises). When you took that phone call during the appointment, you showed them that someone else was more important to you.

There are many ways to show clients you appreciate them and many more ways to screw up. You can learn what to say or do through study and through experience, but one thing you must have and cannot be taught is sincerity.

You can’t fake it. People know. You can’t say the words and have your face say something different. The only way to communicate to your clients that you appreciate them is to appreciate them.

If you do, your job is easy. You don’t have to think about what to do or say or review a checklist. You’ll let them know in a thousand ways how much they mean to you and even if you are clumsy about it, they will know that you mean it.

If you don’t appreciate your clients, you can’t expect them to appreciate you, or to come back the next time they need help.

If you do appreciate your clients, The Attorney Marketing Formula will show you how to let them know.

Share
Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Marketing legal services Tagged With:
« Previous Page
Next Page »