Content marketing for lawyers made even simpler

December 13, 2013 by
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In Make the Phone Ring, my Internet marketing course for attorneys, I provide a comprehensive list of ideas attorneys can use to create content for their blog or newsletter. They can also be used to produce reports, presentations, articles, videos, and other kinds of content.

Whether you have my course or not, today I want to give you a homework assignment that will help you create ideas for content almost automatically. You see, it’s one thing to go looking for ideas when you need them. It’s something else to have those ideas coming to your in-box every day, filling your mind with raw material and providing you with a starting point for creating rich, timely and interesting content.

Your assignment is to subscribe to three types of newsletters (blogs, RSS feeds, ezines, etc.):

  1. Other lawyers. Find lawyers both in your field and also in other fields and subscribe to their newsletters or blogs. You may start out with seven or eight and then cut back to the best three or four. You’ll get ideas for your own articles, which may include commenting directly on theirs. You’ll also see how often they publish, how long their posts are, and what types of posts they write (case histories, news, commentary, etc.)
  2. Your target market. Read what your target market is reading–news about their industry or local community, for example. Also read the content produced by those who sell to or advise your target market–vendors, consultants, businesses, and other professionals. You’ll learn about the news, issues, causes, and trends that affect your clients, prospective clients, and referral sources. You may also identify new marketing opportunities as you learn about those trends and the people associated with them.
  3. Something different. Subscribe to content that interests you and has nothing to do with the law or your client’s industry. It could be hobby related or any kind of outside interest–tech, travel, food, sports, news. I get lots of ideas by reading outside my main areas of focus, and so will you. You’ll be able to create richer, more interesting content. And it doesn’t matter if your readers don’t share your interest. Not everyone follows sports, for example, but on some level, everyone can relate to sports analogies.

Content marketing for lawyers is relatively simple. Subscribing to other people’s content makes it even simpler.

Get Make the Phone Ring and get more clients on the Internet. Click here.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Presentations, Public Speaking, Web traffic, Writing Tagged With: , , , ,

Email best practices for small business and professionals

December 12, 2013 by
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I’m an email bigot. I judge you by your email. Unfortunately, so do your clients. And other professionals. If your email practices are anything but professional, it is hurting you.

There are also some practical applications for setting up and using email effectively. Here is a short list of email best practices for small business and professionals:

  1. Work email (your fiirm). Use your work email only for official firm business, where you are required to do so. Use your own (professional) email for everything else, i.e., marketing. If you leave the firm, you lose your email address and all the contacts that go with it. The same goes for your email subscriptions.
  2. AOL/Gmail/Hotmail/Outlook, et. al. These aren’t appropriate for business or professionals. Don’t use your ISP, either. I have an email through my cable provider but I never use it. Not only does it sound unprofessional, if I ever change cable companies, I have to notify everyone of the change. Get your own domain name, you@yourname.com. You can still use gmail, et. al, as I do, and simply forward your professional email to your gmail or hotmail or outlook.com account.
  3. Your name. Use your name, either first or first and last, @ yourdomain.com. Don’t use anything cutesy (i.e., bighunklawyer@domain.com). That’s fine for personal email, but not for work.
  4. “From”. Set up your email so that your name appears in the “From” portion. There’s nothing worse than getting an email from someone who doesn’t identify themselves. And use your name, not your firm’s name. Firms don’t write emails, people do.
  5. Email signature. Make sure you put your name and contact information at the bottom of every email. Include your website. You don’t need anything fancy, but do show people how to connect with you and find out more about what you do.
  6. Disclaimers and disclosures. Keep these to a minimum. In fact, if you aren’t required to use them, don’t. They are off-putting and annoying. They make you look distrustful and boring. Nobody actually reads them. They probably don’t protect you. You’re killing electronic trees.
  7. Formatting. Don’t write emails that extend across the entire “page”. They are harder to read. Put a return after approximately 72 characters (mono). DON’T WRITE IN ALL CAPS. Keep sentences and paragraphs short. In fact, keep your emails short.
  8. Subject. The most important part of the email because if you don’t get people to open your email, it doesn’t matter what you say. Say something that lets the recipient know that there is something of value or interest inside.

I write about this subject periodically because I continue to see emails from professionals who don’t follow these simple basic principles. If you write to me, don’t tell me your name, and your email is booboo2785@aol.com, you can’t expect me to treat you seriously. Wake up and smell the coffee.

Here’s a good article on how to change your email address without messing things up.

Here’s a great way to get referrals quickly.

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Filed Under: Email, Image, Marketing legal services, Technology Tagged With:

Ron Burgundy promoting your law practice?

December 11, 2013 by
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Advertising works. Even silly campaigns like the one Dodge is running featuring fictional newscaster Ron Burgundy, played by actor Will Farrell, as spokesman. Sales of the Dodge Durango were up 36% in November versus last year, thanks to these ads and the tie-in with the upcoming sequel to the 2004 hit movie, Anchorman.

Why do these ads work? There’s nothing new being said about the Durango. And the Ron Burgundy character isn’t a car expert, fictional or otherwise. It works because people recognize the character, talk about the ads, and think about the Durango when they are in the market for a new vehicle.

Most lawyers don’t use celebrity endorsements in their advertising, but they could. It’s not as expensive as you might think to hire a former sports figure or B-list actor. In fact, there are agents who specialize in booking their clients for just this purpose. I recall seeing former Los Angeles Dodger’s stars Steve Garvey and Ron Cey doing local TV ads long after they were retired from playing.

Also, you don’t need someone whom “everyone” would recognize. You can hire someone who is well known in your niche market. The former head of a trade association, for example.

But let’s say you don’t want to hire anyone. Hell, let’s say you don’t want to do any paid advertising, (or aren’t allowed to). What then? You can still leverage the celebrity of famous people.

My friend, attorney Mitch Jackson, regularly interviews famous people for his video podcast. These videos bring traffic to his website and bolster his reputation as someone who is successful enough to have famous people willing to “take his call”. In essence, their appearance on his “show” provides an implied endorsement for his practice.

How did he get some of these folks to agree to an interview? I’m sure he’ll tell you he just asked them. Celebrities, speakers, authors, professionals, and entrepreneurs need exposure. I love being interviewed. It free advertising, easy to do, and lots of fun.

If you don’t have a podcast, video or otherwise, you could interview well known people for your blog or newsletter. Who do you know who is famous, if not to the world, within your target market? Do you have a famous client or friend? If not, do you know someone who does?

If nobody comes to mind, ask yourself, “Who would I like to know? Who might my market like to hear me interview? What semi-famous person has a list of followers or fans who would be good candidates for my services?’

Another thing you can do is piggyback on a charitable cause. Invite celebrities to come to an event you are involved with, lend their name to it, or promote it to their social media channels. Celebrities love to be seen associated with causes they believe in.

You don’t need a direct endorsement for your services to benefit from a celebrity’s name recognition. Even mentioning that you met a well known person at an event you attended has value. Hey, you don’t even need to talk to them. Just take selfies with famous people and post them online.

Do you have a marketing plan for next year? Start with this.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Blogging, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Publicity, Web traffic Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Using a script in a presentation

December 10, 2013 by
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Last night, I did a twenty minute presentation on a conference call. It’s one I’ve done many times before. I know the material well enough to deliver it without notes.

This time, I did something different. I wanted the presentation to be more succinct, so I wrote a script. After all, it’s not a live presentation. Nobody would know that I’m reading.

But now, I don’t think that’s true. Using a script in a presentation affected my delivery. I thought I sounded stiff, yes, like I was reading. A few times, when I went off script to embellish a point, I could hear the difference. I felt relaxed and just talked, and that sounds different.

After any presentation, most people don’t remember what you said, they remember how you made them feel. And you make them feel something not so much by the words you use but by your delivery. If you sound unnatural, as you do when you read, (unless you are a professional actor), it loses something. When you speak from the heart, your audience can feel your passion and be affected by it.

Afterwards, I received calls and texts praising the presentation, and this from people who have heard me deliver it before (sans script). They asked if I would do it again, so others could hear it, so I know I covered the right material–not too much, not too little, and for that, I give credit to the script. But next time I do it, I’m not going to use a script. I’m not going to wing it, either. I’m going to take my script and create a series of bullet points and work off of that.

I realize the presentation will probably be a bit longer than I’d like. I’m sure I’ll wander off on a tangent or two. But this way, I’ll cover everything I want to cover, in the right order, and be able to talk to the audience, not read to them.

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Filed Under: Presentations, Public Speaking, Writing Tagged With: ,

Taking inventory and getting organized

December 9, 2013 by
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Most people have way more “stuff” in their life than they need or want or even know they have. I was reminded of this over the last few days while setting up my new laptop.

I went through the old hard drive, making a list of programs to install on the new drive, and realized I didn’t recognize half of the program, and others I never used. There were many programs I didn’t install on the new drive. I mean, how many pdf makers and readers does one really need?

I’ve organized documents and folders. Put things in a more logical order. The new machine is lean and uncluttered. I can see what I have and find what I need. It feels good to be on top of things.

So now, I’m looking at other things in my life I can inventory and organize. December is a good month to do that. I’ll start with my projects and someday/maybes, so I can make decisions and set goals based on what’s important rather than what happens to be in front of me.

Why not do the same?

An easy place to begin is with your physical environment–closets, drawers, desks, the tool shed, the trunk of your car. What can you get rid of? As you eliminate things you don’t use, you make room for new and better things.

In the office, you might organize forms, form letters, and templates. Get rid of or update the ones that are obsolete or that you don’t use. Do the same for books, email subscriptions, and blog feeds.

How about taking inventory of your clients? Some are more valuable to you than others. Which ones can you ask to find another attorney? Which clients should you give more attention to?

How about your friends? Are there people in your life who enervate you? Cut down on how often you see them, or resolve to not see them at all. Do you have a friend you don’t see often enough? Now you’ll have more time for them.

Do you belong to too many groups? Support too many causes? Have too many hobbies or take too many classes? By cutting down on some, you can do more with the ones that matter.

Take inventory of the people and things in your life and pare things down to a more manageable number. Organize what’s left so you can access it more quickly. You’ll be better able to see what you have, what you need, and what you want to accomplish in the coming year and beyond.

Taking inventory and getting organized is a process of deciding what’s important so you can focus on it. When I’m not sure whether or not to keep something, I ask myself if it can be replaced. If not, I’ll hang onto it and look at it again some time down the road. If it can be replaced, out it goes. Usually.

If you’re too busy to take inventory of everything right now, take inventory of what needs to be inventoried. Make a list of possible areas of your life you’d like to streamline and organize. Then, tackle one area each month. By next year at this time, you’ll be a lean, mean, organized machine. With lots of room for new stuff.

Learn how I organize my digital life in my Evernote for Lawyers ebook.

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Filed Under: Productivity Tagged With: , , ,

You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone

December 6, 2013 by
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I don’t know if Joni Mitchell’s The Big Yellow Taxi was the first song to use the lyric, but it’s the one I remember: “Don’t it always seem to go/That you don’t know what you’ve got/Till it’s gone”.

And it’s true. We don’t know how good we have it until we have it no more.

Our health is probably the best example. Most people take it for granted. You don’t realize how well off you are because you’re never sick or injured. One day, something happens. That’s when you appreciate what you had. It’s the same when a loved one dies or a relationship breaks up. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.

It also works the other way. We don’t always know what we’re missing until we get it.

My new laptop arrived yesterday. The old one was slow and noisy and I figured it was on it’s way out. But I never realized how bad it was until I started using the new one. It’s almost silent. It’s quick. The screen is much brighter. What have I been doing to my eyesight? I never realized how bad the old unit was. I didn’t know what I was missing.

Another Thanksgiving holiday has come and gone. We dutifully gave thanks for the good things in our lives. We shared our appreciation with people we love and care about. And then we were done. Okay, check that off the list. Back to work. See ya next holiday.

We need to give thanks every day. For the big things and the small things. For our health and our relationships, for indoor plumbing, for our baby’s smile, and for new laptops.

And we need to stop complaining about what we don’t have.

The new computer keyboard is different. The delete key is in a different place from what I’m used to. The down arrow is smaller than I like. Some people will see these as problems and focus on them. I see them as differences and I will adjust. Some people say Windows 8 is bad. I say it’s just different and I will get used to it.

Think about what you have and be grateful. You’ll get more of it. Because we get what we think about.

Thank you for being a part of my life. We may have never spoken, but I know you are there and I appreciate you.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Inspiration, Personal development Tagged With: , ,

A high school class that has earned me a fortune

December 5, 2013 by
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I took a typing class in high school. I think we learned on Remingtons, ancient mechanical monsters that made typing a labor-intensive chore. The keys would get stuck, corrections were slow and frustrating, and typing line after line of “f-f-f-space, j-j-j-space” barked out by our instructor made the experience anything but enjoyable. But I learned to type.

Still, in my practice, I used a dictation machine and had a secretary do the typing. Even on a fast and forgiving IBM Selectric, typing was frustrating and it was better to let someone else do it.

Not anymore.

Today, with the computer I am able to type quickly and errors are no bother at all. I can get the words down “on paper” as soon as I think them. There’s no need to have someone else do the typing. In the time it would take to dictate, I can have it done myself.

I think that’s true of many attorneys today. But not all. Many attorneys never learned how to type, or if they did, they don’t do it well. If that’s you, I encourage you to do something about it. Take a typing class. There are many available online. Increase your speed and accuracy.

For the record, we’re talking about “touch typing” here–typing without looking at the keyboard. The two-finger jab, no matter how fast you are, doesn’t cut it.

The other day, I wrote about the value of practice for improving our skills. Typing is a skill with a huge return on time invested. The thought of spending 40 hours practicing typing may seem ridiculous when you bill $400 an hour, but it’s not ridiculous at all if it allows you to save 30 minutes a day for the rest of your career. You’ll be in the black in less than 90 days.

And, what if improving your typing skills allows you to lower your secretarial costs?

The idea is to “slow down so you can speed up.” Invest time to learn, practice, and improve. There is a cost, but there is a greater return.

I bought a new laptop last week and it arrived a few minutes ago. It’s my first experience with Windows 8 which I hear is not very intuitive. If I can’t figure it out, I’ll go online and learn what I need to know. I’ll take a class if I have to. Or. . . I might just trade that sucker in on a Mac.

Want more referrals? Quickly? Here’s what to do.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Leverage, Personal development Tagged With: ,

“The best thing I did was to stop trying to build my practice”

December 4, 2013 by
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Attorney marketing colleague, Stephen Fairley, had an an interesting comment on one of his recent Facebook posts. I want to share the comment, by attorney Jules Cherie, along with my thoughts on the subject.

Here’s the comment:

“I know that many people will disagree with me, but the best thing I did was to stop trying to build my practice.

I find that just taking four or five personal injury cases per year is the best way to live both professionally and personally. You have more time for your clients and you have more time for yourself. You are always ahead of the defense and they can’t keep up with you. You also have less overhead. The more cases you take the more staff you need to manage them. This creates a mini-bureaucracy and then there is less personal contact with the clients. I like it when the phone DOESN’T ring.

I would also recommend that everybody read The King of Torts by John Grisham and take note of a character in that book by the name of Mooneyham. Contrast his practice to that of the protagonist.”

Here are my thoughts.

MARKETING

I assume Cherie’s new cases are coming in via referrals. If these are from clients, he gets them because he has built a career of serving those clients and earning their trust and gratitude. If they are from attorneys and other non-clients, they are the result of years of building his skills and reputation and relationships with those referral sources.

He isn’t building his practice today (marketing) because he doesn’t need to. He did it over many years. He planted seeds and is now reaping the harvest. Good for him.

BUSINESS MODEL

Knowing what you want, e.g., big(ger) personal injury cases, helps you to know what you don’t want (e.g., everything else). This is good. Specializing is good. Low overhead is good. Having little or no staff to manage and pay is good.

On the other hand, there is no leverage in a business model like this. It’s all about you and what you do. You don’t earn income off of other people’s efforts. If you get sick or want to slow down or retire, your income stops.

PRACTICE AREA

Four or five big(ger) personal injury cases can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in income. The same is usually not true for divorce or estate planning and many other practice areas. If you earn ten thousand dollars per case or client, you’re going to have a lot of clients or cases to earn six- or multiple six-figures. This may or may not require more overhead and more “marketing”.

You can get big(ger) personal injury cases through advertising and other means, but the biggest and best cases usually come from referrals. To get those referrals you need to be very good at what you do, and many attorneys are not, or if they are, don’t yet have the reputation or connections (pipeline) built to get those referrals.

Although I’m sure Cherie is extremely selective about the cases he takes, he still has risks. Losing even one case, or a judgment or settlement well below expectations, could have a significant impact on his income. He also risks losing whatever costs he might invest in building the case.

On the other side of the risk equation is the fact that one very good case could bring in millions of dollars in fees, more than enough to make up for any loses he might sustain. In addition, there is arguably less risk in handling bigger cases with significant exposure for the defendants and their carriers, and thus potentially greater settlement value, than small(er) cases which are often not worth litigating.

CONCLUSION

Cherie’s practice has many positive aspects. It allows him to focus on doing quality work without the many distractions and burdens associated with running a higher volume practice. As someone who ran a high volume PI practice, I clearly see the appeal. But this business model isn’t for everyone and those who would like to adopt it need to remember that it’s not something that can be accomplished overnight. It takes a long time to build your skills and reputation and make the connections needed to enjoy a small volume referral-only practice. There are no shortcuts.

When I was practicing, I didn’t have time to read fiction. Now that I do, I’ll have to pick up a copy of The King of Torts and learn more about what I was missing.

Leverage is the key to earning more without working more. That’s what The Formula is all about.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Marketing legal services, Referrals Tagged With: , ,

Putting some practice into your law practice

December 3, 2013 by
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A Facebook friend mentioned a recent conversation with a photographer who told him, “You need to practice your craft! Ask any serious musician, actor, actress, vocalist, writer, painter, etc., how often they practice and they will tell you. So often I talk to photographers and ask them the same question and they get a blank look on their face and say, “Practice”?

What about lawyers? Are we not serious professionals? Are we not creative?

We practice law but how many of us practice the practice of law?

Most trial lawyers practice their closing arguments. But how many practice interviewing a hostile witness? How many practice writing a more persuasive brief or settlement package?

Lawyers want more clients but how many practice meeting new people at a networking event? How many practice what they will say to a prospective client who comes in for a consultation?

I’ll admit, in my law practice, I did very little practicing. Over time, I got better at writing and speaking not because I made a conscious effort to do so, not by practicing but by speaking and writing for real clients in real cases. How much better might I have been had I worked on this between clients?

An actor rehearses before he goes on stage. He works on his craft when nobody is watching or in a workshop among his peers. He practices and practices so that he can deliver the best performance. Musicians do the same.

Writers churns out millions of words that are never seen, honing their craft, improving their work product. Painters do studies, dancers rehearse steps, singers do scales.

In law school and in bar review courses we took practice exams, getting ready for the real exam, the one that counts. Why do we stop practicing once we get licensed to practice?

Want ideas for articles, blog posts, and speeches that make the phone ring? Go here.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Personal development, Public Speaking, Writing Tagged With: , ,

The 8-Part Recipe to Get Referrals from Shared Office Space

November 26, 2013 by
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If you rent or sublet shared office space with other professionals, hands down, the easiest source of referrals for your law practice is from your officemates.

Most lawyers view office space as a necessary expense. While this sentiment may be true, it’s short-sighted.

An attorney’s office space should be viewed the same way as an associate; in theory, the income it generates should exceed its cost. And just as your junior associate has a billable hour requirement, your office space should be held to the same standard.

You should generate 1x to 2x your rent in in referrals from officemates every year.

Whether you share office space with lawyers in your own firm or other professionals in a shared office space, you should be receiving at least one to two times your rent in referrals, per year, from officemates.

Clearly not enough to make a practice, but it will take one of your biggest fixed expenses and turn it into a powerful revenue source. For a solo attorney or small law firm, the additional revenue could pay for another marketing campaign, an assistant’s salary or a much needed vacation.

Building referral relationships with officemates takes very little time.

Cultivating referral relationships with officemates takes very little effort or time – a precious commodity in in the legal business. Think about it. You’ll see your officemates every day anyway. This is the easiest networking you will ever engage in.

Plus, it’s fun — or at least less distasteful as compared to other kinds of marketing activities.

But the rules of the referral game still apply.

Whether you network for referrals inside the office or out, the rules of the referral game apply: People do business with those they know, like and trust, and it doesn’t hurt if you send a piece of business before expecting one in return.

But unlike networking outside the office, in a shared workspace, you can build strong relationships as you go about your regular workday.

Use these 8 simple steps to consistently get referrals from officemates.

Here are 8 simple tips that, if done consistently, will generate more referrals from your officemates:

  1. Do the walk-around. Once a day in either the morning or evening, do a walk around the office and say hello to your neighbors. If they’re not busy ask them a few questions about their family, weekend plans or something important to them that is unrelated to business.
  2. Be a good listener. Nobody likes a blowhard, but everyone loves to talk about themselves. Be a good listener and you’ll get the reputation for being a gracious conversationalist without having to say much. It’s a great technique for those of us who are not particularly outgoing. What your officemates tell you about themselves will be topics for future conversations, and will help accelerate the development of your relationship.
  3. Keep them wanting more. If you’ve done a stop-in to a colleagues’ office, hit the eject button early in the conversation. If you are a constant presence in your neighbor’s doorway and you regularly overstay your welcome, you’ll start to find that your neighbors’ doors may be closed. Always leave them wanting more. You’ll be able to develop trust that your visits will be fun and/or productive and won’t waste their time.
  4. Get out of the office together. Have your assistant coordinate a lunch (or do it yourself) once every couple of weeks with one or two of your neighbors. At lunch, try to keep the conversation about things other than business, because it’s likely to end up there all on its own.
  5. Market THEIR business too. While you are out of the office marketing, keep your ears open for business opportunities that you can direct to one of your neighbors. When you give something of value to someone else, it’s human nature to want to reciprocate. This is even more so when you see the ‘giver’ every day in the office. The favor will always be returned.
  6. Be helpful. Offer to cover for your neighbors while they are on vacation or if they are out sick. Even if your neighbor doesn’t need your help, the offer alone will add value to your relationship.
  7. Be generous. Every few months, buy a few pizzas and a six-pack and host an informal happy hour for your neighbors. Do it in the conference room after work hours. It will give you all a chance to blow off some steam without being too formal.
  8. Seek their advice. Ask a neighbor a question about a legal issue you are grappling with. People love to be helpful, and lawyers in particular like to appear knowledgeable. Be appreciative of the advice and see your relationship grow.

The exchange of referrals is merely a natural extension of our personal relationships – without which, the referrals won’t likely happen. As with any good referral relationship, a personal connection must come first.

In the legal profession, long days are part of the job and attorneys spend many waking hours with their office colleagues. In some weeks, you may see your officemates more than you see your spouse or children.

Taking time to get to know the people you share office space with makes work life that much more enjoyable – an investment that will return more than just referral income.
__________________
Stephen Furnari is a corporate attorney and the founder of Law Firm Suites, an executive suite for law firms based in New York City whose attorney clientele exchange $2.5 million in client referrals each year. Mr. Furnari is the author of How to Convert Office Rent into Referral Revenue, the ultimate eBook guide to maximizing referrals in shared law office space. Stephen has been featured in the ABA Journal, Entrepreneur, New York Daily News and Crain’s New York. Follow Stephen on Twitter.

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Filed Under: Guest Posts, Marketing legal services, Referral sources, Referrals
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