David M. Ward, Author at The Attorney Marketing Center

Marketing. Me no likey.

October 11, 2022 by David M. Ward

“I hate marketing. I’m not good at it. I don’t know what I’m doing.“

Can you relate?

Lot of lawyers do.

How do I find prospects? Get them to visit my website? Get them to make an appointment?

How do I convince anyone to hire me when there are so many other lawyers who do what I do?

Everyone tells you to read books and blogs and take courses or watch videos and you’ll learn what to do.

Which is true. But it’s only part of the answer.

And if you do nothing but reading, you might make things worse because the more you read, the more you start thinking there’s too much to do and you don’t want to do any of it.

Instead of “learn, then do,“ I suggest you “do, then learn.“

You don’t learn and get motivated and then do it. You do it, and that gives you the motivation and teaches you what you need to know to get better at doing it.

And forget about trying to do “marketing”. Forget making a plan. Put your spreadsheets away. Just do something.

Write an article or an email. Or a list of bullet points for a presentation or for your bio.

It doesn’t have to be long. Or good. You don’t have to show it to anyone yet. Or ever.

This is what I did when I first embarked on this journey. I started small and gave myself permission to do a terrible job.

And found out it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was actually pretty good.

And then I did something else, and that wasn’t terrible, either.

One foot in front of the other. Before you know it, you get some results. Positive feedback. Clicks. Sign-ups. Clients. Repeat business. Referrals.

Forget marketing. Just bring in some clients.

A good place to start

Filed Under: Inspiration, Marketing Plan

Color helps convey mood, graphics direct the eye and explain the message, and other visual elements also have important jobs to do, which is why every website, PowerPoint slide, and email are infused with them.

And that’s part of the reason I stick primarily with black and white.

In a world of color, it’s easier to stand out when your message is black and white. The same is true of layout and other visual elements. Our minds tend to lump together things that look alike, and notice things that don’t.

If you want prospects and email subscribers to think of your email as a commercial message, “more of the same advertising and promotions” they see from every attorney, use lots of color and graphics and make things big and bold.

If you want people to open and read your email, however, make it look like an email.

The old-fashioned kind—plain text (or html that disguises urls but otherwise simulates plan text).

When we get email, the first thing all of us do is look for a reason to delete it. If it looks like an ad or promotion, there’s a good chance it’s going in the bin.

But we don’t delete personal email, at least not without reading it first.

Make your email look like an email. Personal and important. Solemn and professional. And more people will read it and pay attention to your words.

Other benefits of plain text email are that it makes your messages easier to read and less likely to go into a spam folder. It also saves time because we don’t have to find graphics, get permission to use them, and crop and position them.

Many of these benefits apply equally to a website, which is why mine is also primarily black and white.

I’m not suggesting everything you do adhere to a plain text model. It shouldn’t. But think about this idea the next time you create something to send or show folks who can hire or refer you.

How to use email to build your practice

Filed Under: Content creation, Email, Image, Newsletters

Owning your practice vs. running your practice

October 7, 2022 by David M. Ward

There’s a lot going on in an active law practice; if we’re not careful, we spend most of our time reacting to what happens instead of making things happen.

We handle the cases, work with the clients, fight the fights, put out the fires, send out the bills, and then we do it again. And again.

We don’t do enough (or any) planning. Or managing our plan. We don’t decide what we want to happen, and what we’ll do to make it happen.

We just keep busy doing what’s in front of us.

But if you’re in charge, there are things you need to do to make sure the practice runs the way you want it. One of these is to manage your numbers.

Tracking how many, how often, and how big. But not just the ultimate results (new clients, revenue, etc.) but the numbers that drive those results.

These are your KPIs—your “Key Performance Indicators”. They include things like advertising dollars spent, keywords, networking events attended, articles and blog posts, consultations, social media campaigns, and whatever else you do to drive traffic to your website and prospective clients to your door.

You need to know your numbers. So you can do more of what’s working and less of what isn’t.

Don’t obsess over the numbers. But do watch the trends. But don’t rely solely on the numbers. Your instincts and judgement are also important.

Running a practice means keeping an eye on what’s going on. Or hiring people to do that and keeping an eye on them.

One more thing.

If you don’t run your own practice, if you work for someone, you still need to track your numbers. So that when it’s time for a performance review and you’re asked what you been doing, you’ll have some numbers to show them.

Filed Under: Law office management

Another reason to write your own reviews

October 6, 2022 by David M. Ward

Yesterday, I talked about taking the nice things clients say about you, your services, and the way they were treated, putting their words into writing, and asking those clients to post a review at your favorite review site.

You get better reviews that way, and more of them.

But this is based on clients spontaneously thanking you or otherwise saying nice things to you or about you. What if they don’t? Or don’t do it enough?

You can send your clients surveys and ask for their feedback, and you should. You’ll find out what they like but may not say, and what they don’t like (so you can fix it).

But there’s something else you can do.

Sit down, sharpen your pencil, and write the review you would love your clients to write.

Yes, out of thin air.

And make it good.

Even if the things you write in that review aren’t true. Actually, especially if they aren’t true. Because this review isn’t really a review, it’s a wish list. A summary of the things you would like clients to say about you in the future.

Now for the good part. After you write this review, ask yourself, what would I have to do to get my clients to say things like this about me?

And do them.

Filed Under: Client relations, Law office management Tagged With: reviews

Why you should write your own reviews

October 5, 2022 by David M. Ward

Most clients don’t leave reviews, even when they love you. That’s why you should write your own.

Hold on, I’m not suggesting anything unethical. Here’s what I mean.

The issue isn’t that clients don’t appreciate your work or the way you take care of them. They do. They tell you that all the time.

They say thank you. And mean it. They tell you how relieved they are that you got them out of a jam. They say you did a great job, you’re a great lawyer, and they are glad they found you.

Nice things. The kinds of things you would love for them to say in a review.

They usually don’t post a review, however, because they’re busy. Or don’t think about it. Or don’t know know how important it is.

But if you make it easy for them, they will.

Which is why you should take the words they say to you, or send you in an email, and write the review for them.

Send them an email, thank them for their kind words, and quote back to them what you heard. And then ask if they would post those words in a review and give them the link to the review site you prefer.

Tell them they can add to or edit what you wrote any way they want to, and can submit it without showing their full name. You can also offer some additional language they could use if they agree with it. Things you know they think or feel but didn’t actually say.

Make sure they know how important reviews are to a lawyer, and to the people who are looking for a lawyer. And thank them again.

Not everyone will say yes, but you will get more reviews. And every single one will be good.

Filed Under: Client relations, Marketing legal services Tagged With: reviews

When you SHOULDN’T do email marketing

October 4, 2022 by David M. Ward

Email marketing rocks, for reasons I’ve spoken about many a time. But it’s not for everyone.

There are a few situations where a lawyer in private practice probably shouldn’t do email marketing.

Such as. . .

(1) Your firm or jurisdiction doesn’t allow it

There’s a difference between cold email, sent to strangers, and permission-based email sent to clients, business contacts, subscribers, and others who have opted in to a list or otherwise want to hear from you.

If you want to use email to build your practice, make sure your firm understands the difference. If they don’t and you can’t convince them or find exceptions (and you like your job), email marketing isn’t for you.

(2) You don’t need or want more business

You’ve got all the work you can handle, earn more than you can possibly spend, and are reasonably certain that this will continue. You don’t have a reason to do email marketing, or any marketing at all.

(3) You don’t believe it works for your practice

Why wouldn’t staying in touch with clients and business contacts result in repeat business and referrals?

I’ll give you a minute.

But hey, if you really believe it’s not right for you, you shouldn’t do it. Your heart won’t be in it and, frankly, you’ll find a way to mess it up to prove that what you believe is true.

(4) You don’t want to do it

That’s legitimate. There are a lot of marketing strategies that work incredibly well for a lot of lawyers I don’t want to do, and I don’t.

To each his or her own.

And that’s all I can think of.

Note, I didn’t mention “not enough time” or “don’t know how”. I don’t buy either of these. Any more than I accept “I tried it and it didn’t work.”

Like anything, it works if you want it to. It doesn’t if you don’t.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Email, Newsletters

My blog is better than your blog

October 3, 2022 by David M. Ward

Ready for some good news? You don’t have to write a better blog or newsletter.

That doesn’t mean you can write junk and call it a day. You have to deliver value and make it interesting enough for your readers to continue to read it.

Because if they stop reading you, they might forget you.

Of course, the more valuable and interesting your content is, the more likely it is that your readers will see why they should talk to you about their situation, and/or share your information with others.

You also want to attract traffic and sign-ups to your blog and newsletter.

But that still doesn’t mean you have to be better.

It means you have to be different.

If you can, write about different topics than the competition. But that’s not the only way to be different.

You can write about the same topics (cases, issues, problems, trends, ideas, methods, etc.) other attorneys write about and still make your content unique.

You can do that by offering a different opinion about the subject than other lawyers offer.

You can do that by offering additional information, examples, and resources than others offer.

But the easiest way to make your content unique is to present it in your own unique voice.

Your voice is a depiction of your unique personality. So, be yourself.

Not your lawyer self, necessarily, your authentic self.

Relax and talk to your reader (one reader, not “everyone”), like you would if you were talking to them over your favorite beverage.

Combine that with stories from your practice and your content will be original and interesting and attract the kinds of people who want to hear what you have to say. And after you’ve said it, come back to hear more.

That’s how you get and keep readers, and how you get and keep clients.

How to write an email newsletter that brings in clients

Filed Under: Blogging, Newsletters, Writing

Don’t let your daddy take your T-bird away

September 30, 2022 by David M. Ward

Is practicing law fun for you? Do you enjoy what you do and look forward to coming to work every day?

My guess? You like some things, but not everything. Sometimes, you can’t believe you get paid to do what you do; other times, you think you should have your head examined.

That’s life.

Hey, if everything was easy as pie and your days were filled with nothing but sunshine and lollipops, you probably should have your head examined because you’re living in the real world.

There are good parts and bad parts to being a lawyer (or any occupation) and they go together. You can’t have one without the other.

Problems, challenges, disappointments, losses—they’re part of the deal. You can’t change that. Nor should you try because your very existence depends on it. People don’t hire lawyers when everything is hunky dory.

But one thing you can do, should do, is to have more good days and good moments than bad ones.

Because if you don’t, why bother? Do something else with your life.

Okay, let’s assume you’re going to stay. Now what?

Now you focus on the good things. The wins, the big paydays, the smiles on the faces of the people you help.

Focus on the fun.

Because what you focus on grows.

You want more good times? Think about the good times you already have.

Start by taking inventory. Make a list of what you like about your job. What do you appreciate? What do you love?

Write them down. And, as good things happen, write those down too (in six-minute increments—because that’s fun, isn’t it?)

Find the joy in what you do and you’ll get more of it.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction

You are amazing

September 29, 2022 by David M. Ward

You’re having a bad day (or week). You don’t want to listen to one more problem or complaint from a client who doesn’t appreciate all you do for them.

Yeah, it goes with the job, but sometimes. . .

And then, you get an email from a client thanking you and praising you. Or you get a review that tells the world how great you are. Or a client fills out your survey and gives you top marks and smiley faces in all categories.

It makes your day. And reminds you why you do what you do.

We all get these. Letters from clients, from business contacts thanking us for a referral, from meeting holders and bloggers thanking us for our great presentation, interview, or article.

Save these. Put them in a file or add a tag or label so you can quickly find them.

Don’t forget the kind words you receive in person or over the phone. You might get one today. When you do, send yourself an email, recount what they said, and add it to your file.

Call it your “praise” folder or “kudos” file. And when you’re having a bad day, think nobody cares, or start questioning your choice of career, re-read some of these letters and feel better.

You are appreciated. People do recognize your abilities and hard work. You have proof.

And, if you want to, you can use some of that proof in your marketing.

Testimonials and positive reviews aren’t just good for what ails ya. They’re also good for prospective clients who want to know if you’re good at your job.

Good? You’re amazing. And you can prove it.

Filed Under: Inspiration, success

Tell me about yourself

September 28, 2022 by David M. Ward

Everyone’s favorite radio station, we’re told, is WIIFM—“What’s in it for me?” They tell us that prospective clients don’t care about you or what you want; it’s all about them.

So make it about them.

Make your content, offers, stories, and examples about your reader or prospect. Because that’s why they’re reading your article or copy and that’s why they will hire you (or won’t).

Just tell them about your services and benefits. Leave yourself out of the picture.

No, don’t do that. You will always be in the picture because you’re the one who will help them get what they want.

If you don’t tell them about yourself, if your articles and sales pages are only about your services and offers, that’s boring. And generic. And unlikely to persuade anyone to choose you.

(NB: don’t write articles or sales copy that any other attorney could grab and slap their name on.)

If you want clients to hire you instead of any other attorney, tell them about yourself.

Anyway, aside from that, the reality is, people do care about other people and that includes little ‘ol you.

Sure, they care about themselves a lot more, but don’t for a minute think nobody wants to know anything about you.

They do. They want to hear your story. Especially if they’re thinking about hiring you.

They want to hear about your experiences working with other clients. They want to know what you think about things. They want to know where you’ve been and where you are going.

Because they want to see what it would be like having you as their attorney. But they’re interested in you even if they’re not shopping for a lawyer.

Because people are interested in and care about people.

Something else.

If your reader finds your story interesting, if they relate to you, if they feel that in some way they know you, they will be more likely to hire you.

Knowing is the first step. Liking is second. Trusting may take more time, but the more you tell them about yourself, the more likely this is on the way.

Don’t overdo it. Don’t be one of those people who talks incessantly about themselves.

Me, me, me, doesn’t win friends or influence people.

But don’t hide yourself and talk only about your services. Make your articles and copy mostly about them but also about you.

Because if they hire you, it’s going to be about both of you.

Filed Under: Content creation, Marketing legal services, Writing