The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

Don’t “fact” people to death

April 29, 2020 by David M. Ward

Lawyers are fact merchants. We dwell in the land of research and evidence. But while a thorough recitation of the law and the facts may be necessary in the courtroom, in marketing it’s the kiss of death.

And I do mean death.

When you give readers and listeners, prospects and clients, nothing but the facts, you murder them. They’ll ready for a dirt nap before they finish the third paragraph.

Your prospects don’t want to know everything you know. They want to know that YOU know the facts and the law, and that you know how to use them to help them get what they want.

Think about novels or screenplays. They need just enough narrative to set the stage but it’s the story that people pay to see.

Facts tell but stories sell.

There are exceptions. But they are rare.

So, give folks a smattering of the facts and intersperse them with your opinions and advice, quotes from others, and most of all, stories.

Tell your readers or audience what happened to your client or your friend or to you, and what might happen to them if they don’t do what you recommend.

Need more referrals? Start here

Filed Under: Communication, Marketing legal services, Writing

10 ideas for blog posts that get read (and shared)

April 27, 2020 by David M. Ward

Is your blog post idea machine running out of gas?

No problem. Here are 10 ideas to fill your tank:

“Best of”: Best articles/posts/videos/sites you read of saw this month or this year.
Interviews: A great way to build relationships with influential people and get more traffic to your blog as they promote the interview.
Client success stories: feature a client’s legal victory, business, charitable work, or life’s story.
Surveys: survey your clients or colleagues or bloggers and post the results.
Statistics: Everyone loves facts and numbers. Could be related to your practice area or your client’s industry or your local market.
How-tos: Teach your readers about the law or about general consumer or business matters.
Book reviews: your comments about a book you read related to your field, your client’s niche or of general interest.
Awards: Choose a client or fellow professional who’s doing good things and feature them in a post.
Summaries: Do a “round-up” post that summarizes and links to some of your previously published posts.
Predictions: Who will win, what will change, when it will happen.

There you go.

And yes, you can (and should) share your posts with your newsletter subscribers. Which is what I’m doing as soon as this is posted.

For more ideas for your blog (or newsletter), get this:

Filed Under: Blogging, Email, Newsletters

Stop marketing

April 24, 2020 by David M. Ward

You’ve created content that isn’t bringing in much business. People aren’t following your links or answering your call to action.

What are you doing wrong?

It could be a lot of things, but I’m going to go with one I see a lot of lawyers (and others) do.

You’re “marketing” instead of communicating.

Your content is too promotional. All about you. Trying too hard to get the reader to act.

And they can see you coming.

Yes, you want them to act. But there’s a better way to do that than pushing out promotional content. Let go of the self-promotion and create content that connects with people on an emotional level.

Offer helpful information or advice or share an emotional client story.

Talk to people about what they’re already thinking. Engage them. Show them you understand them. Build a relationship with them.

You want them to like and trust you. And not lump you together with all the other lawyers who are flogging their services and talking all about themselves.

Yes, they want to know about you, but before they’ll listen, they want to know you’re worth listening to.

So, talk about your reader. His life, his problems, his pain.

Then you can let him know you have solutions and invite him to read more or contact you about his situation.

If you do it right, your reader will listen to you and take the next step.

My email marketing course shows you how to do it right

Filed Under: Content creation, Email, Marketing legal services

A better way to plan your day

April 23, 2020 by David M. Ward

Most of us make lists. Tasks we need to do, projects we need to work on, errands we need to run.Â

The process of making lists helps us to think about what we need to do; the list itself serves as a reminder of what still needs to be done.Â

The problem with making to-do lists, however, is that weÂ often haven’t thought through why we’re doing the things on our list. We might keep busy but we aren’t necessarily productive.Â

We can flip the switch on this by adding one additional step.Â

Before writing a list of tasks, think about your desired outcomes. At the end of the day, (week, year, etc.), what do you want to have accomplished?

What would that look like? How would you feel?

Write that down.Â

Then, write your list.Â

Without thinking in outcomes, your to-do list might include an assortment of calls, letters, meetings, and documents you need to prepare. Will doing these things help you achieve your goals?Â

Maybe, maybe not.

On the other hand, outcome thinking, or starting with the end in mind, helps you get clear about your purpose and helps you make a better list.Â

If your desired outcomes for the week are to settle two cases and sign up one new client, for example, your list would prioritize tasks likely to achieve those outcomes.

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how busy you were. All that matters is that that you achieved your desired outcomes, and how good that feels.

Have you read Evernote for Lawyers?

Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: lists

A simple way to grow your email list

April 22, 2020 by David M. Ward

Everyone loves free stuff and that includes people you would like to have as subscribers to your newsletter.

Which is why one of the easiest ways to get more subscribers is to conduct a giveaway.

Here are the steps:

(1) Choose a prize.

Your prize could be one of your legal services, e.g., an hour of your time. That’s likely to lead to higher quality leads because few people will sign up for your list unless they’re interested in your services.

If you want more subscribers, you might offer a gift card or book, something that will appeal to people who don’t need your services immediately but might in the future.

Another idea is to offer a product or service from another professional or business. A financial planner’s start-up package, for example, or dinner for two at a local restaurant (coming soon).

Better yet, see if the professional or business will donate the product or service.

(2) Set up a landing page for your giveaway, on your website or free-standing.

Describe the prize details and the rules, (e.g., enter once, when the contest ends, how to enter).

You can identify new subscribers by tagging them on the landing page or having them added to second list.

(3) Promote your giveaway. Some options:

Email your existing list and ask them share.
Ask the prize creator or donor to share the contest. They get additional exposure that way.
Promote the giveaway on social media. You can do this with your personal connections and to groups you belong to.
Ask your personal and professional friends to promote the contest to their lists and on social media.
Mention the giveaway on your blog, podcast, interviews, videos, etc.
Add additional emails to your autoresponder asking new subscribers to share the contest on social media.
Advertise the giveaway.

(4) Pick a winner.

Export your list of new subscribers and choose the winner. You can do that manually or you can use a free randomizer tool.

All that’s left is to announce the winner, deliver the prize, and start planning your next promotion.

For more ways to build your list, see my Email Marketing for Attorneys course.

Filed Under: List building, Newsletters, Online Marketing

If you can get one client, you can get 100

April 21, 2020 by David M. Ward

Are you over-complicating your marketing?

I’m going to go with “yes” because most people do that. Especially lawyers who, by and large, would rather be doing something else.

So, this is me telling you to make things simple (and easy) for yourself by focusing on just one or two things.

One or two strategies. One or two markets. Let go of everything else (at least for now).

If you did that, how much time and money would you free up?

How much additional mental energy would you have if marketing only required you to do one or two things?

What things?

Something that’s already working.

Look at your current and recent client lists and figure out where they came from.

Referrals? From whom? What preceded the referral? What did you do to help it along?

Advertising? Which publications or platforms? What did you offer? What did you spend, what was your ROI?

Did they come through your website? How did they find you? What did they do before they contacted you (e.g, read something, opt in, etc.)

Did they come through organic social media? Which platforms? What did you do to engage them and get them to take the next step?

You don’t need to be a rocket surgeon to figure this out. Find something that’s working for you and do more of it.

If it brought you even one client, it can bring you a lot more.

What if more than a few things are working for you? What if you’re getting new business through several means and there is no clear winner?

Dig deeper.

Which method(s) are bringing you better clients (lots of work for you, willing to pay top dollar, ability to refer, etc.)?

And. . .

Which method(s) do you like best?

Because if you enjoy doing it, you’ll do more of it.

When I was practicing, it was referrals, all day every day. I enjoyed it and focused on it and got good at it.

If that sounds good to you, here’s a good place to start.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

Hit pause and take inventory

April 20, 2020 by David M. Ward

Many people are feeling lost right now, uncertain about their future and what to do about it. Out of desperation, some are considering major career changes, thinking they have no choice but to start over.

If you know someone in that position, you might suggest that they stay put. Remind them that no matter where they are right now, they’re probably in a better position than they’d be in if they started from scratch.

They’ve got skills, experience, contacts, and a reputation. They’ve worked hard to get where they are.

Instead of jumping ship and working on a new career, they might be better off working on themselves.

That’s what Sue Hawkes, founder and CEO of a consulting firm, did when she had hit bottom.

â€œMy life was in a deep, dark hole at age 42. I was living in a friendâ€™s second home, I was working through my divorce, the economy and my businesses were in a shambles. It was 2008 and all areas of my life were challenged. I made a resolution to mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally, intellectually, and financially intentionally improve myself by the time I was 50 by making long term, consistent and incremental improvements. I learned to say no to anything misaligned with my plan which included: learning to delegate without guilt, prioritizing my time and sticking to it, journaling my gratitude for a positive attitude, surrounding myself with supportive people who are champions of possibility, finding clarity in my purpose and personal values, and giving back to others. Over time, adding these small changes and practicing them changed my focus and my life.â€

Sometimes, changing careers is the right decision. Before anyone takes that leap, they consider building on what they already have.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Personal development, success

An easy way to get targeted traffic to your blog

April 17, 2020 by David M. Ward

An easy way to get targeted traffic to your blog sounds good, doesn’t it? Â

How about if you didn’t have to do any of the writing?Â Even better.

No, I’m not talking about hiring writers to create your content for you. I’m talking about leveraging other people’s writing by aggregating “clips” or blurbs from other blogs in your target market.Â

Blogs written by people in your client’s industry or market. Or by vendors, consultants, and other professionals who sell to or advise that market.Â

Find blog posts and articles in the niche, copy the headline, the lead paragraph or two, and the link to their post. Cobble together five or ten of these into your post.

Add your own title and call it a day.Â

You’re doing your readers a favor by providing them with links to content they want to consume.

You’re doing the other bloggers or professionals a favor by promoting their content and bringing them additional traffic and readers.Â

And you’re doing yourself a favor by building traffic to your site from search engines and from readers who share your posts with others.Â

Do you need permission? Fair use, isn’t it? Besides, who wouldn’t want you to promote their content?

You might want to let them know after the fact, however, because that could lead to more good things.

They might reciprocate and share some of your original content with their readers. They might see what you do and ask to interview you or invite you to write a guest post. They may refer you some business.Â

Since you already read deeply in your target market, (you do, don’t you), you have access to a lot of content to share. So, this shouldn’t take you much extra time.Â

If you do have extra time, you could add a few comments to your posts–mentioning what you liked about the original post, offering your own stories or observations, or mentioning the writer’s other articles you recommend.Â

Give this a try. Write one post and see how it goes. You can then make it a regular feature or start another blog that exclusively features the best content in your niche.Â

For more blog content ideas, get this

Filed Under: Blogging, Web traffic

How are you doing?

April 16, 2020 by David M. Ward

I haven’t connected with you in a while and thought I’d check in and see how you’re doing.

Or something like that.

Go through your phone or your email and contact your clients and other people you know. Say hello. Share a positive thought. Let them know you’re thinking about them.

It’s called networking and it’s a good idea on any day but especially today, when the world is on lock down and everyone is going a bit stir crazy.

And yes, you can do this with business contacts.

Remember opposing counsel on that case you had last year? That vendor you met at a conference? The web guy you hired a few years ago?

Them, too.

Ask about their work or ask them about a colleague you both know or ask them how they’re holding up.

What you say isn’t really that important. What’s important is that you show up in their in box.

Your words will be appreciated and, no doubt, reciprocated. Sometimes, your message will lead to a phone call or a video chat. You might learn something interesting or valuable.

You will keep your name in front of people who haven’t thought about you in a long time. You’ll strengthen your relationships with others.

Will this bring you repeat business? Referrals?

It might.

But don’t do it for that reason. Do it because it makes you feel good to brighten someone’s day.

How to get referrals from lawyers and other professionals

Filed Under: Client relations, Networking