David M. Ward, Author at The Attorney Marketing Center

3 reasons to study other lawyers

May 16, 2022 by David M. Ward

This might be hard to believe, but some lawyers know things you don’t know. They may do things you’re not doing, or doing them better, and you can learn a lot by studying them.

You can get ideas for blog posts and other content by consuming theirs, for example. See what topics they’re talking about, especially if those topics are getting a lot of comments and shares, and write about those topics yourself.

Dissect their website. Sign up for their newsletter. Review their advertising, presentations, and offers. See what they’re doing to market or manage their practice.

They don’t have to be super successful lawyers with lots of experience. Just lawyers doing something right. In fact, you’ll probably learn more from someone at your “level” of experience, or a step or two ahead, than someone who is “killing it” in your field.

As C.S. Lewis said, “The fellow pupil can help more than the master because he knows less. The difficulty we want him to explain is one he has recently met. The expert met it so long ago he has forgotten.”

So, information and ideas is the first reason to study other lawyers. The second reason is to find lawyers who might be open to a marketing alliance with you. Someone who will interview you for their newsletter or podcast, for example, while you interview them for yours.

You can share strategies and resources, critique each other’s content, and promote each other’s practice. Help them get what they want and they’ll help you do the same.

Which leads to the third reason to study other lawyers—to find out what NOT to do.

Some lawyers are great at marketing. Most aren’t.

You almost can’t go wrong studying what “most” lawyers are doing and doing the opposite.

How to set up marketing alliances with other lawyers

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

Make this your next project

May 13, 2022 by David M. Ward

Before you do anything to bring in new clients, your next marketing project should be to win back former clients and engage or re-engage prospective clients with whom you’ve lost touch.

Former clients know, like, and trust you. Prospective clients may not trust you yet, but they know who you are and have given you permission to contact them.

Send them one or more emails. Reintroduce yourself and your services to people who can hire you or refer you, immediately or down the road.

It’s one of the most effective marketing strategies you can use.

What do you say to them?

Some clients left because they were unhappy about something. They should probably be called and you should be prepared to apologize and make amends. A surprising number will come back and forget all about their differences.

Most clients don’t have an issue, they simply drifted away. So, hearing from you again, even if you don’t say anything special, may be enough to get them re-engaged.

And, you can write about almost anything. Here are some ideas to grease your wheels:

Just checking in/How are you?/Thinking about you (It’s amazing how well this works)
It’s time. . . (to update something)
Have you moved? (Verify their contact info)
Check out this (article, video, post)
Happy birthday (or holiday)
It’s our anniversary (of working with you)
I’d like your opinion about (something)
I have a question for you
A client success story
A client who didn’t (do something and got hurt) story
A gift to you (free ebook, training, form, checklist)
Let’s connect (your social media channels)
I’m sorry (for not staying in touch)
News (about you, your services, a legal issue) that can affect them
An invitation to an event
Yeah, just about anything

A few guidelines:

Write from “you,” not “the firm”
Be yourself; speak plainly
Build on what they already know and value
Consider including a special offer
Tell them what to do (call to action)
Invite them to join or re-join your newsletter (so you can continue to stay in touch)

You invested time and money to bring in these clients and connect with these prospects. What might happen when you connect with them again?

You might find one or two former clients who hire you again or send you a referral.

You might find a handful of prospective clients who decide they’re ready to get started.

And you might find yourself smiling all the way to the bank because you’re bringing in an additional ten or twenty or fifty thousand per month that would have otherwise passed you by.

Why not write a few emails and find out?

Email marketing for attorneys

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Increase your income, Marketing legal services

More ways to get traffic to your blog

May 12, 2022 by David M. Ward

Yesterday, I said there are other ways to get traffic to your blog besides search. Paid advertising should be considered, but there are others that are free (other than the time it takes to use them, but you can have an assistant do most of this for you) and, arguably, better.

For starters, you should routinely ask your clients, professional contacts, and newsletter subscribers to share your content with their friends, clients, customers, and others who might need help or be interested in your (great) content.

Your blog should also prominently display share icons so visitors can easily share your content on social.

Simple. And smart. When someone who knows you or follows you shares your content, they are referring people to your digital door and implying that you’re good at what you do.

That’s a referral, isn’t it?

What else. . .

Mention your blog and link to it everywhere:

In your email “signature” and the signature at the bottom of articles you publish elsewhere
In your bio, when you are introduced at a speaking event
In interviews, when the host asks you how people can learn more about you
Print copies of some of your content for the table in your waiting room and the table at the back of the room at speaking events
Put print and/or digital copies in your “new client welcome kit” to share with friends and family

You have access to an army of people who know, like, and trust you. Use them.

What about the rest of the universe?

Social media (if that’s your thing) can be a good source of traffic. Flakebook, Quora, Reddit, Linkedin, and many others have groups you can join or discussions about subjects within your area of expertise you can take part in.

Answer questions or comment on the answers provided by others, and link to your blog.

You can do the same thing in consumer or business forums.

You can share your content on sites like Medium and direct readers to your blog for more of your wisdom about the subject.

You can find small blogs in your niche, even those written by other attorneys (or perhaps especially those), and comment on their posts, with a link to your blog. You can also offer to write guest posts for those blogs.

And, when you have enough content, you can gather up your posts and create an ebook, which you can sell on Amazon, and/or offer to visitors to your site, as an incentive to sign up for your newsletter.

There, that should keep you busy for a while. Busy with new clients, that is.

Email (and blog) marketing for attorneys

Filed Under: Blogging, Online Marketing, Social media marketing, Web traffic

2 ways a blog brings you business

May 11, 2022 by David M. Ward

There are two ways a blog can bring you new clients. The first way is to attract prospective clients via search. Your posts get indexed, people search for the information your posts deliver, and/or for lawyers who do what you do, they come and read and contact you to get started or to get more information.

Frankly, it’s a lot of work.

You have to choose the right keywords and use other strategies to help your posts rank higher than the competition. And you have to continue to do it to stay ahead of that competition.

Do it if you have the time or hire someone to do it for you.

But you don’t have to do that. There are other ways to get traffic that don’t take a lot of time or money or expertise.

Which is why I suggest you concentrate on the other way your blog can bring you business: writing posts that visitors want to read.

Posts that help them get answers to questions they’re asking about the law and how a lawyer can help them and persuade them to choose you.

You may get fewer visitors than blogs that focus on keywords, but the visitors you get will be much more likely to see that you deliver value, and much more likely to take the next step.

Which means you don’t need to be a blog post factory. You don’t have to write 10 posts a day as I saw one “expert” recently recommend.

Write a total of 10 or 15 quality posts that answer prospective clients’ frequently asked questions and demonstrate your ability to help them, and your blog can become a client-getting factory.

Once you have this in place, you can write additional posts if you want to, or you can do other things to get more people to read your posts.

In the end, quality trumps quantity. And takes a lot less effort.

How to create a blog that makes the phone ring

Filed Under: Blogging, Web traffic

When good habits go bad

May 10, 2022 by David M. Ward

You’ve got a morning routine to start your day and another for shutting down in the evening. A routine for opening new files and a routine for closing them. A routine for interviewing new clients, writing articles, and posting on social.

You do them the same way every day, and those routines serve you well. They save you time because you don’t have to think about what to do or how to do it.

You just do it.

And because you do it over and over again, you get better at it.

But the strength of your routines and habits is also their weakness.

When we do things repeatedly, without thinking, we typically don’t look for ways to improve what we’re doing. If what we’re doing is working, why should we?

We should because the world changes. There are new tools and processes that can help us do things faster or better.

And because we change—we’re not the same person we were when we started the routine or acquired the habit.

Which is why we should periodically review our habits and routines and look for ways to improve them.

I did that recently when I started my day re-writing my digital task list on paper, in order to be more mindful about what I was doing. I only did it for a few days before realizing I didn’t like it or need it, but I learned something about what I was putting on my list and changed it.

I realized I was trying to fill my day with too many tasks and was often left scrambling to finish them or disappointed that I hadn’t. I put fewer tasks on my list now and have more time and energy to do important things.

I may not have realized what I was doing had I not experimented with re-writing my list.

I regularly try different apps, tools, and websites. I get lots of ideas that way. Sometimes, I find a better tool than the one I’ve been using and replace it.

Trying new things can also be fun. We are curious creatures and enjoy novelty. It makes the world a more interesting place.

Yes, trying new things can also be a distraction from doing our work. But who says all distractions are bad?

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: Daily habits, habits, routines, task list

6 things I learned from writing 2,853 blog posts

May 9, 2022 by David M. Ward

I’ve written a lot of blog posts and thought I’d share some things I’ve learned along the way, to encourage you to either start or re-start your blog:

It gets easier. The more you write, the easier it becomes to write—to find ideas, get the words down, edit, and publish. And the more you write, the better you get at writing, which helps with your other writing and speaking.
It gets faster. The more you write, the faster you get at writing. You can write and post something in less than 30 minutes and get on with your day.
Ideas are everywhere. Everything I read, everywhere I go, everyone I talk to provides me with ideas to write about. The idea for this post came from reading a similar post by a guy who started a blog to build his business.
You can write whatever you want and have fun with it. You don’t have to use your formal lawyer voice if you don’t want to, or spend time finding images, formatting, responding to comments, adding citations or links. Your blog, your rules.
Marketing gets easier. People find you—not just clients and customers, but people who want to interview you for their blog or podcast or present other opportunities (to speak, network, etc.).
It works. My blog brings me a steady stream of (free) traffic, subscribers, clients, and customers. Each post gets indexed and brings more of the same.

And, having a blog means you can also have a newsletter—just copy and paste your blog posts and email them to your list.

You can add a blog to your website or on a separate domain. You can start by posting a handful of articles or anything you’ve written in the past, or answer 5 or 10 frequently asked questions you get from prospective clients (or new clients).

The technology is easy. You can set up a blog in a matter of minutes. And your blog can help you Make the Phone Ring

Filed Under: Blogging, List building, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Writing

No time for marketing

May 6, 2022 by David M. Ward

Lawyers often ask, “How do I find time to build my practice?“

Sorry, there’s no such thing as ‘finding time’. Time isn’t found or made, it just is. The question is, how will you use the time you have?

And the answer to that depends on what’s important to you.

If building your practice is important, you’ll do it. If it’s not, you won’t.

It comes down to self-respect. Believing you deserve to be successful and that you have what it takes to do that.

But I’m not telling you to do anything you don’t want to do. That’s no way to live. You can’t do things you hate and expect to succeed (or be happy). Not long term, anyway.

If you don’t like marketing and aren’t allocating time to do it (but still want to build your practice), you have two choices:

You can find one marketing strategy you enjoy and do that. Do it enough, and that may be all you need.

Or you can find a marketing strategy you don’t hate and look for ways to make it more enjoyable.

Example? Suppose you are a decent speaker or presenter. You don’t love it or hate it, but you know you don’t want to set up a YouTube channel and record videos because you don’t want to appear on camera.

You can record “voice only” videos and post those. Or do a podcast. Or have your presentations transcribed and post the text on a blog. Or do webinars. Or do in-person seminars. Or speak at business luncheons. Or do CLE.

And. . .

Since time is money, money is also time. Which means there’s another question you might ask: “Where do I find the money for marketing?”

Of course you don’t “find” money any more than you find time. You have money. Decide to invest some of it to build your practice.

If that’s important to you.

Finally, if you can’t find anything you enjoy and don’t want to write checks, you have two more options:

You can get a partner who’s good at marketing. You do what you’re good at; they bring in the clients. (I have a friend who did this and their practice is thriving).

Or you can get a job that doesn’t require any marketing. But then you’d need to market yourself to get it.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, success

When good advice is bad advice

May 5, 2022 by David M. Ward

You get a lot of advice from people you know—friends, colleagues, family. And advice from people you don’t know via books and articles, newsletters and blogs.

You might also get advice from people you hire to provide it—consultants, coaches, and therapists.

But is all this advice good advice? Should you follow it?

It depends.

What might be good advice for one person might not be good for you. What might have been good advice at one time in your life might be irrelevant or harmful today.

As a new lawyer, hungry for clients, I was advised to do appearances and seek overflow work from other attorneys. I was told to network and hustle and do whatever I could do to get some business coming in, and to take “anything,“ so” I could get some experience and pay my bills.

“Beggars can’t be choosers,“ I was told.

And that was the right advice for me at that time. As my experience grew and I had more clients, I could afford to be more selective and I said “no” to a lot of things—cases and clients and marketing strategies that were no longer a good fit.

As business coach Ian Stanley, put it, “Becoming successful is about saying ‘yes’. Staying successful is about saying ‘no’.”

When you hear advice about how to build your practice, from me or anyone, you must put that advice in context.

Where are you in your career? What’s right for you, and what isn’t?

The same goes for opportunities—to invest, open another office, take on a partner, or anything else. Even good opportunities can become a distraction.

Take my advice on this subject. But only if it works for you.

Filed Under: Mentors & Coaches, success

Some bad reviews are good

May 4, 2022 by David M. Ward

A client didn’t like your work or didn’t like you. It hurts to hear their words and realize you were the cause of their dissatisfaction, or at least they thought you were. Worse is the idea that their words might influence others to stay away.

But bad reviews are sometimes good for you.

How’s that?

When a client leaves a negative review and points out things they didn’t like, as long as they aren’t lying or fueled by misdirected anger, they’re providing you with valuable feedback you can use to improve what you do.

They’re telling you things they might never say to you directly—things they want you to do or stop doing, for example, or ways you can make the client experience better.

You might disagree with them, but if that’s how they feel, there’s a good chance other clients feel the same way.

And you need to know that so you can do something about it.

Don’t dwell on their harsh words, but don’t ignore them completely. Mine the value in what they say. Their review might cost you some future business, but it also might lead to a wave of glowing reviews and new business once you make some changes you didn’t realize you needed to make.

There’s another way negative reviews can help you. They can deter other clients who aren’t a good fit for you.

If you work from home and don’t have a full-time staff, for example, some clients might not want to hire you. Better they should know this before they hire you and find things to complain about.

If you’re the type who doesn’t sugarcoat your advice or baby your clients and someone complains about your bluntness or lack of empathy, it might lead to fewer clients who need handholding and more clients who appreciate the cut of your jib.

Bottom line, you might get more of the clients you want to work with and fewer of the kind who make you wish you’d gone to med school.

Filed Under: Client relations Tagged With: reviews

How to convert more prospects into clients

May 3, 2022 by David M. Ward

Between you and a new client is your website. And your articles and blog posts, sales pages and other content. It’s the same on social media, in your presentations and interviews.

And if you do what many lawyers do, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.

What do they do? They publish a lot of long-winded, heavy-handed, technical, and otherwise boring content.

And you can’t bore someone into becoming your client.

The solution is simple. Leave out the boring parts.

Edit, cut, simplify. Make your content and copy interesting and easier to read.

And make sure people want to read it by telegraphing your message.

When someone comes across something you wrote (or recorded), they should immediately know that your article or video is for them. Put benefits in the title or headline. Let them see what they’ll learn or get or be able to do if they invest a few minutes reading.

And I do mean a few minutes.

Long articles and copy have their place. But that place isn’t at the entrance to your website or sales funnel.

Up front, keep it brief. You want them to read or watch, not save it for later.

Ever see a movie that took waaay too long to get to the action? You got bored, maybe you fell asleep, maybe you didn’t stick around to watch the whole thing.

Cut those scenes out of your movie.

Get their attention. Tell them what’s in it for them. Get them nodding their head and telling themselves they’ve found someone they need to talk to.

Okay, you get it. Cut out the boring parts and lead with benefits. What else?

There isn’t anything else. Because if people don’t read or listen, they’re not going to hire you.

Assume your readers are impatient, distracted, distressed, and have many other options.

Because all of that is true.

Don’t bury the lead. And don’t expect them to watch your movie if they can’t stay awake

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Content creation, Copywriting, Writing