The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

You only need a few

July 8, 2020 by David M. Ward

You can’t serve thousands of clients. That’s okay because you only need a few. A few good clients will lead you to more good clients; soon, you’ll have all you can handle.

If you don’t have a few good clients right now, or you want to speed up the process, you need more new people coming into your world.

You need new leads, new subscribers, new referral sources, new prospective clients, to help fill your pipeline.

But, once again, you don’t need massive numbers. You only need a few.

In marketing your professional services, seek quality, not quantity.

How do you do that?

First, define your ideal client.

What’s their background? What type of business or industry?
What’s their legal situation?
How much work might they have for you?
What’s their timetable?
Do they need anyone’s approval?
How much do they already know about their legal situation?
What do they need or expect from a lawyer like you?
What’s important to them
Etc.

See The Attorney Marketing Formula for help defining your ideal client.

Second, what’s the source of the lead or prospect or subscriber?

Search leads are better than leads from a directory or rented list because they are actively looking for the solutions you offer.

Leads that come via your book or report or by hearing you speak are better than search leads because they know more about what you do and how you can help them.

Referred leads are better still because someone they trust is recommending your content or endorsing your services.

Third, what’s your message?

Tailor your content to appeal to the types of leads you want to attract. Use buzzwords they use in their industry. Talk about benefits that are important to them. Use examples and stories of people like them.

Talk about what they’re talking about. Show them you understand them and can help them, as you have done for other clients like them.

That’s how.

50 of the right people, brought to you with the right message, from the right sources, are worth more to you than 5,000 people who are wrong for you.

That’s why you only need a few.

The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: List building, Marketing legal services

The simplest way to get more referrals

July 7, 2020 by David M. Ward

I built my practice with referrals, prrimarily from my clients. What was my secret?

No, it wasn’t asking for referrals, although I did that and it’s a lot easier (and more productive) than you may think.

It wasn’t giving them something I call “referral devices”–a report, brochure, or referral card they could pass along to friends and family. But that works, too.

And it wasn’t doing good work for my clients, exceeding their expectations, and treating them exceptionally well, although that always has been, and always will be, the foundation of repeat business and referrals.

These strategies work, but I promised to tell you the simplest way to get more referrals. My secret, only it’s not a secret at all. You hear me talk about it all the time.

The simplest way to get more referrals is to stay in touch with your clients, past and present, because while they may never need to hire you again, they can and will send you referrals, and they’ll do that more often when you stay in touch with them.

Stay in touch with the people who already know, like, and trust you and they will lead you to other people. It really is that simple.

What’s the simplest way to stay in touch with people? You already know the answer to that, too. Email is easy, inexpensive, and massively effective. And because you can automate your email stay-in-touch efforts, it doesn’t take up much time.

Would you be willing to invest 30 minutes a week writing an email to your list if it allowed you to triple your referrals?

What do you write? How do you get started?

I show you everything you need to know and do in my Email Marketing for Attorneys program.

Filed Under: Email, Newsletters, Referrals

The 5 pillars of digital marketing

July 6, 2020 by David M. Ward

Once or twice a year, it’s a good idea to review and update your digital marketing plan. This will help you get more leads (and convert them), stay in touch with clients and contacts, stimulate repeat business and referrals, and build your “brand”.

Here’s a brief checklist of things to consider:

Your website(s)
- Home page layout, first impressions, navigation
- “About” you page
- Images
- Contact information/forms
- Content about legal problems and solutions
- Content about your services/offers
- Keywords/focus
- FAQs
- Landing pages
- Mobile friendly
Social media presence
- Which platforms?
- Your bio/links
- Promote your website and other content
- Promote your clients’ businesses/causes
- Promote other professional, bloggers content, events
- Engagement (if that’s your thing)
- Posting schedule
Content marketing strategy
- Blog posts, articles, videos, podcasts, interviews, reports, ebooks, brochures and handouts
- Valuable and/or interesting information
- Tailored to prospective clients and referral sources in your target market
- Demonstrate your knowledge and expertise
- Educate about legal problems and solutions
- Help people get to know, like, and trust you
- Testimonials, endorsements, success stories
- Easy to read and understand
Traffic
- Guest posts on other blogs, sites
- Social sharing
- Advertising
- Social media posts
- Speaking/presentations/networking
- Marketing alliances with other professionals
Newsletter/email
- Stay in touch with clients, prospects; stimulate repeat business, referrals, social sharing, reviews
- Sign-up forms on website/landing pages
- Lead magnets/incentives (to build your list)
- Schedule (weekly, daily, other)
- Content ideas
- Building engagement/fans
- Stimulate feedback, questions

You don’t have to go “all in” on all of these strategies. I don’t. But you shouldn’t ignore any of them.

Get to together with your team to review your current digital footprint and consider what you need to add or update.

This will help you sort out your website

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing

You’re not that important

July 3, 2020 by David M. Ward

You’re not that important and neither am I. Most people don’t think about us or care about how we feel.

Most of our blog posts and articles won’t get any comments, shares, or likes.

Most of the work we do will be forgotten soon after we complete it.

Most of our clients won’t send us referrals, testimonials, or thank you’s.

And that’s okay. It’s okay because that’s the way it is and it has to be okay.

Stop worrying about what people think. If someone says something positive about you, don’t let it go to your head. If someone says horrible things about you, don’t let it ruin your day.

Do the best you can do and let it go. Move on to the next case, the next post, or the next presentation.

You’re not that important and that’s okay. Because some people love you and that’s all that matters.

Email marketing for attorneys

Filed Under: Inspiration

Oh the pain, the pain

July 2, 2020 by David M. Ward

If you ever watched the campy 1960’s TV series Lost in Space, you may recall one of Dr. Smith’s signature expressions.

If not, perhaps you recall the old Verizon TV commercials where the spokesman walked around town, speaking on the phone, repeatedly asking the other party, “Can you hear me now?”

What do these two have in common? Right, the pain.

The Verizon spots dramatized the biggest pain point for customers of other carriers, poor signal quality and dropped calls.

We all literally said, “Can you hear me now?” as we moved to find a better spot.

This demonstration set the stage for Verizon’s promise of better coverage and clearer signals, which landed them a lot of new customers.

In your marketing, you should do what Verizon did: market to the biggest frustration felt by your prospective clients.

Find your prospective client’s pain point, about their legal situation or their current attorney, and build your marketing message around this.

What makes them angry or keeps them up at night? What troubles them most about their legal issue? What is their biggest complaint about their current attorney?

Talk about that, and promise they won’t have that problem when they hire you.

Make the pain, and the relief you promise to deliver, specific to your practice area and market, because not everyone is frustrated by the same things. But if you need an idea, consider the nearly universal pain point for clients, “My lawyer never calls me back”.

Build your marketing around your prospective clients’ pain and promise to take away that pain. You can’t go wrong with that formula.

By the way, you may have noticed that the actor who portrayed the spokesman in the Verizon ads is now the spokesman for Sprint.

Oh the pain, the pain.

More

Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Marketing legal services

Starting or restarting your law practice

July 1, 2020 by David M. Ward

When you first opened your practice, no doubt you notified everyone you knew. You told them what kinds of cases and clients you would be handling, gave them your contact information, invited them to visit your website, encouraged them to follow you on social media, and asked them to keep you in mind if they need your help or know someone who does.

And maybe you got some business that way. But for most new attorneys, merely telling people your “store” is open for business isn’t enough.

That’s because most of the people you know don’t need your services right now. It is statistically improbable. They are also unlikely to know anyone who might need your services.

Some day, that will change. Some of your contacts will need your help. Others will talk to people they could refer.

Will they favor you with their business or referrals?

Maybe. If they remember you and what you do, and understand why they should choose you instead of any other attorney.

That’s why you hear me haranguing about the importance of staying in touch, so that you can be “in their minds and their mailboxes” when that day arrives.

And why the best way to do that is to build an email list.

Social media is fine but it doesn’t hold a candle to email. Never has, never will.

(I should do a video, “Email is king; change my mind”.)

Anyway, when you announce your new practice, offer everyone an incentive to sign up for your newsletter.

Create a report, a checklist, a video, or other freebie that would be of value to your contacts and the people they know, and tell everyone it’s available.

When they sign up, they get your report, learn more about solutions to their problem or the path to their objective, and get to see the kinds of benefits you deliver.

You get to stay in touch with them, tell them more, and remind them that you’re still available to help.

The good news is that you can do this even if you’re not a new attorney or opening a new office.

If you want to know how to write a report that brings in business, this will help.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

You’ve got to know when to fold ’em

June 30, 2020 by David M. Ward

If you believe that success depends on working harder than everyone else, pushing through every problem, and never giving up, you’ve got a rough road ahead of you.

And I’m not sure that road has the destination you’re looking for.

The existential “do or die” attitude may work for some people some of the time, but as a way of life, “die” is probably the more likely outcome than “do”.

Because the stress can kill you. So can the overhead.

Sure, everyone likes a good fight now and then. We thrive on winning and love the thrill of going “all in”.

But not all day, every day.

When you have a losing case, you need to admit it and cut your losses.

If you’re working “eight to faint,” you need to give yourself a break, to let your body and mind recharge.

If you dread going to work every day, you need to reassess your career options and consider doing something else.

You’re not at war. The fate of nations isn’t at stake. It’s okay to surrender.

Because the game of life is a lot like poker. If you want to win long-term, you’ve got to know when to fold a bad hand.

Are you ready to take a quantum leap in the growth of your practice?

Filed Under: success

Networking from home

June 29, 2020 by David M. Ward

Meeting new people is easy, even from home. With a simple email, you can approach people you don’t know and begin a relationship that can lead to referrals, marketing alliances, traffic to your site, sign-ups for your list, and more.

What do you write in this email?

Tell them how you found them. Say something nice about their website or blog, article, or video, or about their story. Tell them something you have in common.

Then, ask to interview them for your podcast or video channel.

Or, invite them to write a guest post for your blog or newsletter.

Or, ask them if you can reprint their article or post, with attribution.

Or, go “old school” and ask them to tell you more about what they do. You can add that you want to see if there’s a way the two of you can work together for your mutual benefit.

Don’t say that much about your practice. Focus on them and what they do.

The goal of this email is to get a response, not to make an impression. If you don’t get a response, or they don’t seem terribly interested, move on. There are plenty of fish (lawyers, business owners, other professionals, etc.) in the sea.

When you do get a response, continue to exchange emails, invite them to a phone call or video call, and get to know more about them. Look for ways you can help them and ways they can help you or your clients.

Stay in touch and get to know them better. Just like you would if you met them in person.

If you want to learn more about how to find, approach, and network with other professionals, without leaving your home or office, my course shows you everything you need to know.

Filed Under: Networking

If they don’t understand, they won’t click

June 26, 2020 by David M. Ward

William Howard Taft said, “Don’t write so that you can be understood, write so that you can’t be misunderstood.”

Clarity is key to effective writing. That’s true for legal documents, demand letters, presentations, articles, and just about everything else we write.

When you write a blog post, email, or ad, the headline or subject line must instantly communicate what your article or ad is all about. If you want them to open your email or read your blog post, you have to give them a reason why.

How do you know you’ve done it right?

One idea is to use “The Blank Sheet of Paper Test”. Ask yourself, “If you wrote this text on a piece of paper and showed it to a stranger, would they understand the meaning?”

You need a bit of room for creative license, however, or you might turn out clear and accurate but utterly boring prose. So use this idea as a place to start, not the be-all-and-end-all.

Note that the rule applies to strangers–visitors to your blog, readers of your articles, networking emails–where people don’t know you from Adam (or Eve). You don’t need to use it when writing to clients or subscribers to your newsletter. They’ll open and read your message because they recognize your name.

So, have I made myself clear? If not, that’s okay. No doubt you’ll open my next email or read my next post anyway, to see what stuff and nonsense I have for you.

How to write email subject lines that get clicks

Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Writing