The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

Podcasting for your supper

August 19, 2020 by David M. Ward

In the last few weeks, I was a guest on a couple of law-related podcasts. I told my story, shared some ideas, and got my name and links promoted to an audience of lawyers interested in marketing and productivity.

When you’re the guest on a podcast, good things happen. You get traffic to your website, subscribers to your newsletter, and more clients or customers.

And, that podcast lives on the net forever, which means you’ll continue to get more business from it–indefinitely.

Not bad for less than an hour’s work.

I say work but it’s really a lot of fun. You’re the guest of honor, the host says nice things about you, and you get to pontificate about your area of expertise.

So, how do you a piece of this sweetness?

In my case, by publishing a lot of content. Eventually, you get noticed and invited.

But you can make “getting discovered” more likely to occur.

Here’s one way:

Identify podcasts (video channels, blogs that do interviews) in your niche. The bigger their audience, the more credibility and influence they have with your target market, the better. But don’t ignore the little guys and gals. They may be big some day, and some of the big boys follow the little guys, looking for ideas and. . . potential interviewees.
Follow them, listen to them, read them, get to know them.
Engage them. Email them and compliment what they’re doing. Add comments to their posts and episodes. Ask questions/offer suggestions for additional topics. Suggest other individuals who might be a good guest.
Share their content with your list(s). Make sure the podcaster knows this, and provide them links to your website, blog, and socials, so they can see what you do and what you might offer them as a guest.
Consider interviewing them for your podcast, channel, blog, or newsletter.

Eventually, you’ll get noticed and invited.

This isn’t as much work as it sounds. You should already be reading, listening, and following these folks–to get ideas for your content, to find potential networking and joint venture partners, and to keep up-to-date with what’s going on in your niche.

Getting invited to someone else’s podcast is also a lot easier than starting your own.

Yes, starting your own podcast is a great way to build your brand, get more subscribers, and bring in more clients–but it takes a lot of time.

More time than what I spend on marketing, which consists primarily of writing a simple daily email (and speaking on other people’s podcasts.)

How to use email to get more new clients, repeat business, and referrals

Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: interviews, podcasting

Marketing legal services made simple

August 18, 2020 by David M. Ward

Marketing is complicated–but it doesn’t need to be.

In fact, all you need to do is answer 2 questions.

These are the questions prospective clients want you to answer. Answer them well and you’ll be on your way to signing up a new client.

The first question won’t surprise you:

“Why do I need an attorney?”

Yes, many prospective clients know the answer to this question, but not everyone.

Some think they need an attorney’s help, but they’re not sure.

Some know they probably need an attorney, but tell themselves all kinds of stories to avoid admitting it, or avoid spending the money.

Some think that given enough time, the problem will resolve itself. Some think they can fix it themselves. And some think that if they do nothing, things won’t turn out as badly as they’ve imagined (or been told).

Your job is to answer this first question–on your website, in your presentations, in your articles, and in your conversations with prospective clients and the people who can refer them.

Tell people why they need an attorney and what can happen if they don’t hire one.

Now, as important as this is, an even better marketing strategy is to focus your efforts primarily on people who already know they need an attorney.

They know they have a problem, they know they can’t fix it themselves, and they know that bad things will happen if they don’t have an attorney by their side.

Target people who are in pain, who fear what is happening, or about to, and are actively looking for an attorney.

They make much better prospects, and clients.

Which leads to question number two:

“Why should I choose you?”

People know there are other attorneys who can help them. Your job is to convince them to hire you instead of your competition.

Show them why you are better. Show them how you are different. Show them why they should immediately stop looking and book an appointment with you.

Because when you’re the best, you’re in demand. There’s a long line or people at your door, ready to sign up, but you’re busy and not everyone will get in.

Lots of people want you, but not everyone will get you.

That’s why they should choose you. And that’s why they will.

If you need help answering question number two, start here:

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Uncategorized

Compounded Referrals

August 17, 2020 by David M. Ward

You’re going to love this.

You’ll love it because it’s a simple (and proven) way to bring in more referrals.

A lot more.

Instead of getting referrals onesy-twosy, you’ll get them in bunches.

Two referrals lead to five. Five referrals lead to ten.

When referrals beget referrals, your client base grows geometrically, not mathematically.

The referrals come from the new clients who are referred to you. They also come from the original referring clients who see that their referral was appreciated by the client they referred, and by you.

Treat your clients right and they come back to you and refer others.

It’s called “client math”.

A new client is worth more to you than the value of their initial case or engagement. Their value includes the fees you earn from their repeat business, over their “lifetime” as your client, and from all of the referrals they send you.

You could also include the value of the fees that come from the clients they refer who themselves send you referrals.

Oh, so now you like math!

Okay. What do you have to do to foster this growth?

I hinted at this above, when I used the word “appreciated”.

When you show people you appreciate their referrals, or anything else they do for you, they tend to do more of it.

When you recognize and thank someone for sending you a referral, they usually repeat that behavior.

Yes, it is that simple.

All you have to do is tell the person who made the referral that you appreciate them, and say “thank you”.

Send a thank you note. Not a form letter, a personal message that shows them you noticed what they did and that it means a lot to you.

Send a letter, not an email. A hand written note is even better. It shows you took your valuable time to pen a personal message.

You may do this already. But you may not be doing it as much as you could. And by that, I mean thanking the client or referring party at each stage of the process.

Don’t wait until a referral or introduction turns into a new client. Thank the client or contact for the referral or introduction immediately, because you appreciate what they’ve done and you want them to do it again.

Then, after you speak to the prospect or the professional, thank the referring party again. “I spoke to John Jones and you were right–he’s a great guy! Thanks again for introducing us”.

Then, if that introduction or referral leads to new business, send another thank you. (If appropriate, or you get the new client’s permission to tell the referring party that their referral signed up.)

A small gift (e.g., a book) is also a good way to say thank you.

Well, there you have it. Smother people with appreciation. Make them feel good about what they did and they’ll do it again.

How to get (a lot) more referrals from your clients

Filed Under: Referrals

Why I email every day

August 14, 2020 by David M. Ward

Comes this question from a subscriber: “Do you notice you sell more courses by emailing every day? Just curious how effective it is.”

The answer is, “Yes, of course. That’s the point.”

It’s why I do it and why I suggest you do it, too.

You don’t have to mail every day, but the more often you do, the more products or services you will sell.

Provided you write something your subscribers want to read, meaning something they can use or something they find interesting.

I write for attorneys who want to earn more and work less. So, I write about that. If you’re interested in those subjects, and you like the way I write, you read my emails–because you want to.

The more people read your emails, the more they come to know, like and trust you. They see that you understand them and know what they want, and you develop a relationship with them, which leads to more clients or sales.

Those clients or sales come from your subscribers, from the people they refer, and from the traffic they send to your website. Because, when you write something helpful or interesting, people share it. The more you write, the more they share.

Start with once a week. Do more, if and when you want to, but don’t do less. Your competition writes once or twice a month, or once in awhile, and are soon forgotten.

When you write infrequently, people forget who you are or that they subscribed to your newsletter, and off you go to their spam file.

When they see your name in their inbox on a regular basis, however, they know who you are. Even if they don’t read everything you write, if and when they need your services, or have a referral, they know where to find you.

Okay, I have time for one more question. . yes, the guy in the back row who desperately needs a haircut . .

“If you write too often, don’t people un-subscribe?”

Sure. For a lot of reasons. But they un-subscribe for a lot of reasons even when you don’t write often.

Don’t worry about the ones who don’t stick or don’t hire you. Write for the ones who do.

I don’t have a massive email list. And a lot of my subscribers come and go. It doesn’t matter, because the ones who come and stay are the ones who buy and refer.

I get most of my business through email. You could, too.If you want to know how, sign up for my Email Marketing for Attorneys course.

Filed Under: Email, Newsletters

How to build your referral network

August 13, 2020 by David M. Ward

Your referral network is more than just people who are willing to send you clients. It includes people who are can introduce you to people they know who are influential in your target market.

This includes other professionals, business owners, consultants, sales people, and others who sell to or advise people in your niche. It also includes bloggers, authors, editors, meeting planners, podcasters, and others who have a list or a following.

It also includes people who can send traffic to your website, promote your events and offers, and provide you with testimonials and reviews.

Because a referral is more than just, “I have a new client for you”.

When you think of referrals this way, you realize that there are a lot of people you’d like to have in your network.

How do you find them?

The simplest way is to leverage your existing contacts. Your current and former clients, professional contacts, and other people who know, like and trust you, can lead you to people they know that you’d like to have in your network.

Prospective clients can also send you referrals and/or introduce you to others.

Okay, so what do you do?

Well, how aggressive are you willing to be?

If the answer is, “not very,” then simply stay in touch with everyone in your existing network.

Send them something useful–information, a checklist or form, your newsletter–and ask them to share it with people they know who might like to get a copy.

For better results, suggest who that might be–their colleagues, their clients, or their friends and family, for example.

You could also invite them to an event you’re conducting, and ask them to tell people about it.

Make sure you have a way to capture the email addresses of the people they tell about you. Build your list and you will build your referral network.

Now, if you’re willing to step things up a bit, pick up the phone or email a specific person you know. Tell them you’re building your network and could use their help. Ask them to introduce you to someone they know.

Ask a former client to contact their accountant or broker or former business partner, for example, and suggest that the two of you get together or speak on the phone.

Why should their contact speak to you? Because the two of you “might have some mutual business interests” or simply because the client thinks the two of you “should know each other”.

It doesn’t have to be brilliant. Just as you want to build your network, these other folks want to build theirs. With a mutual friend or client introducing you, everyone wins.

Here’s how to build your practice with email

Filed Under: Referral sources, Relationship marketing

Do you talk too much?

August 12, 2020 by David M. Ward

Many lawyers are verbose. They use 100 words to explain something when five or ten will do. They “bury the lead” under paragraphs or pages of background information. They clear their throat for ten minutes before they get to their first point.

Early in my career, I did this. I’d like to think I’ve nipped that habit in the bud.

Why are lawyers like this?

Could be because we were taught to be thorough, to leave no stone unturned in our efforts to persuade.

I’m sure some lawyers want to impress people with the depth of their knowledge, the breadth of their experience, or the thoroughness of their research.

Some want to display their intelligence. Some want to hide their shortcomings behind a wall of words.

And, in a profession that often equates value in terms of time, more words or pages or minutes can mean more income.

But most people, especially high-achieving, busy people, don’t want or need all the details. They want their lawyer to get to the point.

They want us to be more concise.

How do you do that? How do you write an email, memo, or article, or do a presentation, that clearly and concisely says what you want to say, and no more?

How do you persuade someone to do something or believe something, without taking them to school?

Knowing your audience helps. What do they already know about the subject? What questions are they likely to have? What problems do they want to solve, and what’s in it for them if they follow your advice?

Confine yourself to what you know your reader or listener wants or needs to know and leave the scholarship on the bookshelf.

Providing examples and stories helps. Help the reader understand what you mean, with fewer words, by showing instead of telling.

Re-writing and editing help. Cut out the fluff, use shorter sentences and paragraphs, and make the page scannable with lots of white space, bullet points and numbering.

More than anything, see if you can boil down your message to a single idea.

Ask yourself, “What’s the ONE thing I want my reader (or listener) to take away from this?”

What do you want them to know, believe, or do?

Use that as the lead to your presentation, the subject line in your email, or the conclusion of your article.

And once you’ve delivered that takeaway, stop talking.

Filed Under: Email, Newsletters, Presentations, Public Speaking, Writing

Why I don’t have an email signature

August 11, 2020 by David M. Ward

At the end of my emails, after I “sign” my name, you won’t find anything more than a link to my website.

No social media links, logos, or images. No list of my credentials, disclaimers, or anything else.

This is true for both my newsletter and personal email.

Why do I do this?

One reason: I don’t want to look like everyone else.

When everything is pretty, you stand out by being ugly. When everyone’s email looks like an ad, a magazine article, or a web page, you stand out by looking like someone who banged out some words (to a friend) and clicked send.

I don’t want to look like I’m trying to impress anyone, or pushing products or services like a carnival barker.

That doesn’t mean I don’t promote anything. I do that in almost every email. But unless I’m writing a full-on sales pitch, my promotional efforts lean more towards “informing” or “recommending” rather than selling.

Email is a medium of personal communication. Even if it is sent to thousands, it’s just the two of us spillin some tea.

If you like what you read, if you’re interested in learning more, you can follow the link to my website, or follow the second link I provide to the applicable sales page, and see what it’s all about.

Like this: If you want to learn more about using email to build your practice, check out my email marketing for attorneys course.

Filed Under: Email, Newsletters

Clean up on aisle nine

August 10, 2020 by David M. Ward

I’m cleaning up my filing system. Why? Because I’ve got too many digital files (and duplicates thereof), in too many folders, on too many hard drives and in too many cloud accounts.

It’s a mess and I’m in the process of cleaning it up.

The first step is to move everything into one digital pile, to eliminate duplicates and see what I’ve got.

(I still have some paper docs which I’ll scan and upload later.)

I’m using Google Drive but you can use any cloud service, a local drive, or both (i.e., to back up your backups).

My new system reflects the different roles or areas of focus in my life and consists of these top-level folders:

Personal, Business One, Business Two, and Miscellaneous. I also have an Inbox.

Each of the top level folders has sub-folders related to different areas of my work or personal life, or different steps in my workflow.

There are many ways to organize sub-folders:

Category
Date
People (Clients, Partners, Family, etc.)
Cases
Steps/stages
Type of media
Projects
Subject/topic

I’ll use different organizational structures for different areas of my life and for different projects.

As for file-naming, I plan to be specific but not too specific because it would take too much time to maintain this and because each file will enjoy the context of the folder(s) that house it, meaning I’ll have clues as to what something is by where it is filed.

When I’m done, I plan to add shortcuts to “frequently accessed files” on my desktop (Quick Access menu), and/or by adding a star in Google Drive.

And then, I’m going to re-organize my notes (in Evernote, etc.) with a similar setup.

This is a work in progress and I’m open to ideas. What does your file system look like?

Filed Under: Law office management, Productivity

You’re not in the information delivery business

August 7, 2020 by David M. Ward

Prospective clients visit your website and dig through your articles or posts. They watch your videos or listen to your podcasts. They consume your FAQs.

They have questions. You have answers. And I’m sure you do a good job of providing valuable information.

There’s just one thing.

If all you do is give people information and answer their questions, you’re dropping the marketing ball.

Prospective clients want information, it’s true. They visit your site, read your article, or watch your presentation because they’re curious about the law, their rights, their risks, and the solutions that are available to them.

If you satisfy their curiosity, however, by explaining the law and telling them everything they need to know, you’re not giving them a reason to hire you or take the next step in that direction.

Basic information? Sure. General guidelines? Of course. But anything you do beyond that is antithetical to the purpose of your marketing.

Which is to convert prospects into clients.

Look at your website. Look at your email sequences, brochures, ads, and other marketing communications. Are you satisfying curiosity by telling people everything, or building curiosity and inspiring them to call or write?

You’re not in the information delivery business. You use information to attract people who are looking for solutions, tell them enough to show them they’ve come to the right place, and persuade them to contact you.

Because if they don’t do that, they don’t get the help they need, and you don’t get the clients you want.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula

Filed Under: Copywriting, Marketing legal services

Timeless or Timely?

August 6, 2020 by David M. Ward

If you produce content for a blog, a newsletter, a podcast, or anywhere else, one question you need to answer is how much of that content should be evergreen.

Evergreen content is important because that’s what first-time visitors to your blog and new subscribers to your newsletter are looking for. They have questions or a problem and they’re looking for answers.

If you’re starting a new blog, make sure you have at least 10 or 15 evergreen posts to start out.

Talk about the kinds of things clients typically ask you about. Talk about problems and solutions, risks and benefits, frequently asked questions about your services, and the like.

These serve as the foundation of your blog, attracting visitors though search and sharing, and helping them to understand their situation and learn what you do and how you can help them.

Once you have some evergreen content posted, you can write about anything else, whether timeless or timely.

Write about your interesting cases or clients, news in your target market’s industry or niche, trends, ideas, and more.

Yes?

One more thing.

On a blog, you have the option to indicate the date each post was published, something I’ve done since I started and still do today. Some visitors, however, see an older date and conclude that the information is out of date, even if it’s not.

Omitting the date, on the other hand, as many bloggers do, may cause visitors to wonder how current the information is, and reject it if no date can be found.

If you’re wondering what you should do, take a gander at what Darren Rowse of Problogger.com says about the pros and cons of timestamping blog posts.

And, for more about the kinds of content to include on your blog or website–what to write about, where to get ideas–check out my course on online marketing.

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing