The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

5-minute networking

August 21, 2025 by David M. Ward

Who says networking requires endlessly going to meetings and introducing ourselves to strangers? Why can’t we network with people we already know?

We can, and we can do it in a few minutes.

Go through your list of clients and business contacts, choose someone you haven’t connected with for a while, and send them a quick email or text.

It might be a lawyer you worked with a few years before. A business contact you haven’t talked to in a couple of years. An old client or prospect.

Anyone who might recognize your name.

What do you say? You say hello and ask how they’re doing.

You don’t need to say anything else, ask anything, offer to send anything, or suggest lunch.

You just say hello.

They might respond and say hello back. They might ask you a question, call you or invite you to lunch.

If they don’t, no harm, no foul. You’re not doing this to drum up business; you’re just keeping your name in front of people. If they want to talk to you, your message might prompt them to do that. If not now, eventually, when they need your help or know someone who does.

Reach out to someone this morning, let them see you’re still around (and thinking about them), and enjoy the rest of your day. The next time you connect with them, good things might happen.

If not, at least you didn’t drive across town after a long day of work and introduce yourself to strangers.

Filed Under: Networking

Networking for lawyers who hate networking

August 19, 2025 by David M. Ward

Building a successful law practice often involves developing connections with influential people, resulting in referrals, introductions, and opportunities. As Jim Rohn used to say, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” If you don’t enjoy networking or haven’t been successful at it in the past, it might be because you’ve been networking with the wrong people.

Who are the right people? Yes, professionals and business contacts who know the kinds of people who would be good clients for you, and the people who can refer them, but it’s more than that. The right people are people who inspire you.

When we associate with people who inspire us, we feel inspired. If we associate with people who encourage us to do better, we do better.

Not everyone who is doing better than you will inspire you, however. Their success might actually discourage you by setting the bar too high. You want to be selective and associate with people who not only have connections that are a good match for you but who encourage and motivate you to reach for the success you desire.

Quantity doesn’t necessarily lead to quality. You can’t depend on finding the right people at a typical networking group meeting or by asking struggling business owners for introductions.

A better approach is to put together a plan to meet the most influential people in your target market.

That means doing a little research.

Learn all you can about the leaders in your target market and don’t rush to connect with them. Give it time. The right opportunity to meet them will eventually reveal itself to you.

In the interim, work on developing your authority and desirability as a networking contact. Work on your public speaking, publish articles, write a book, get some publicity.

Get people talking about you. Become the person you would like to meet. When you do, networking will be easy for you because influential people want to associate with other influential people.

Filed Under: Marketing Plan, Networking

3 reasons you’re not getting more referrals (and what to do about it)

August 14, 2025 by David M. Ward

Referrals are the lifeblood of every professional practice. They’re good for your ego and your bank account and should be the mainstay of your practice-building efforts.

To get more referrals, there are three things you can do.

First, you can start by being more referable.

That means getting great results for your clients, of course, but it also means making sure they see and appreciate your effort. Copy them on everything, explain why you did what you did, and encourage them to talk to you if they need or want more information.

Keeping your clients informed will go a long way toward getting repeat business and referrals, even if you don’t always deliver remarkable results.

Being more referable also means making it easier for people to refer.

One way to do that is to give them alternatives to providing your name and number to their contacts and recommending they call you, something they might resist doing. Something as simple as giving them articles you’ve written that they can share with their contacts could be a “gentler” alternative for both your client and for the prospective referral.

And for you.

The second thing you can do to stimulate more referrals is to solicit more feedback.

Talk to your clients and professional contacts, take them to lunch, send them quarterly surveys, ask them to fill out a form on your website, and find out what they like about working with you and what they think you could improve.

Don’t be shy about it. Ask for feedback, listen to what they tell you, and take action to fix any problems, improve your workflow and client relations practices, and otherwise make the experience of hiring you (and referring you) easier for everyone.

The third thing you can do to get more referrals is to ask for them.

Many clients don’t know you want referrals. They think you don’t need them or you’re too busy and don’t have room to take on new clients. Other lawyers and referral sources might think the same thing.

Make sure everyone knows that not only can you handle more clients, you want more referrals because the more referrals you get, the more you can reduce your other marketing expenses and amortize your overhead, something that benefits all of your clients.

Finally, consider that the number one reason your clients and contacts don’t refer you as much business as they is probably because they haven’t thought about it.

Which means the simplest thing you can do to get more referrals is to stay in touch with everyone and help them think about it.

Filed Under: Referrals

Following up with leads and inquiries

August 12, 2025 by David M. Ward

Wouldn’t it be great if you didn’t have to follow-up with prospective clients, if they found the answers to their questions and booked their own appointments?

But they don’t, do they? You need to tell them what they need to know (even if they don’t ask), tell them what to do to take the next step, and make sure they do it.

You could ‘wing it’ and perhaps you do. But it’s better to use a system.

A follow-up system will help you sign up more clients more quickly and with less effort. You will have fewer questions to answer, fewer objections to overcome, and fewer delays to slow down the process.

A system will help you close a higher percentage of leads and prospects, with less work and overhead and friction. When someone calls or writes, your system tells you precisely what to tell them; you have documents and links ready to send them, and you don’t have to rely on your memory—you follow your checklist.

Professionals don’t wing it; they use a system. I encourage you to create and use your own.

Keep it simple. Start by identifying the first step—what to say, what to do and when.

What will you tell them? What will you offer them? What will you say to get them to take the next step?

Set up a file with forms and templates and answers to FAQs. Make notes about how to handle leads that come in from ads, from referrals, and from visitors to your website. For each type of case or matter, identify language to describe the benefits and value of what you do and pair these with illustrative stories of cases or clients.

Automate subsequent follow-ups via letters or texts or calls. Decide how many follow-ups to make and how often. Account for those prospective clients who need a lot of hand-holding and won’t be ready to hire you for weeks or months, and for others who want to get started immediately.

You don’t have to figure it all out immediately. Just start. Think about your last new case or client—what you said and did, what worked and what didn’t. You’ll figure it out, one step at a time.

Filed Under: Handling objections, Law office management, Marketing legal services

The number one reason your practice isn’t growing (and how to fix it)

August 7, 2025 by David M. Ward

If your practice isn’t growing, there’s a very simple reason. It’s not growing because you’re not growing.

You’re the same lawyer today as you were yesterday. You know more and can probably do more, but you don’t, and you won’t unless you change your philosophies and activities—what you think about and what you do.

Your practice is a reflection of the decisions you have made in the past and the decisions you are making today. To get better results, you have to make better decisions, and to do that, you need better information.

You have to read the books, take the classes, and seek the advice of experts. You have to use different strategies than you usually use, and do them in different ways. You have to take more risks with your marketing, learn from your mistakes, and double down on your successes.

Because marketing is a process, not an event. You have to work at it. And do something most attorneys don’t want to do—stand out.

Most attorneys choose to blend in and be just like most of their competitors. They offer the same types of services, offer similar promises, and charge similar fees. They go out of their way to avoid being different and effectively become invisible.

If you want to be more successful, you can’t do that. You have to stand out.

That means doing things that are different and uniquely valuable. Something your competition doesn’t do.

Most attorneys don’t, which is why most attorneys never enjoy the level of success enjoyed by the few who do.

It’s a profession, yes, but it’s also a business. If you want your business to grow, you need to grow. Or it won’t.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Personal development

Why your content isn’t working

August 5, 2025 by David M. Ward

You work hard on your blog or newsletter, recording videos or podcasts, or posting tips on social media. It’s good content, your target market is seeing it, but you’re not getting new clients.

Why?

It’s likely that while your market is seeing your content, they’re not reading or watching it. They’re busy, and you’re asking for too much of their time, so they “save” your article for later and forget about it.

Could it be that simple? Yes. And the solution is just as simple. Create content that’s easier to consume.

Shorter articles and posts. A few hundred words, not a few thousand. Once a week, not 3 times a day. And while you’re at it, make it interesting, not academic. Tell stories, don’t lecture.

There’s a time and place for more comprehensive material, but when most of your material looks like “work,” you’re making it less likely anyone will want to consume it.

And hey, don’t push so hard.

Yes, you’re in the business of selling your services, and your readers and clients need your services and benefit from them. Asking them to call you to discuss their situation and explore their options might be precisely what they need, but if they feel like you’re chasing them, don’t be surprised if they run in the other direction.

That doesn’t mean you should be passive. You’re a professional, an advocate, and not merely in the information delivery business. Tell your readers what they need to know, tell them what to do, and why, and tell them what might happen if they don’t.

And then invite them to contact you to take the next step or learn more.

Content marketing isn’t difficult, but it’s still marketing.

Filed Under: Content creation, Marketing legal services

Marketing legal services requires just 3 things

July 31, 2025 by David M. Ward

At its core, marketing your services is simple. You don’t need to follow a checklist with 27 steps or account for a multitude of elements. You just need to do 3 things.

First, you need to get the attention of the right people. That means identifying and appealing to the self-interest of people who need or want something you can give them.

Target people with a legal problem you can solve or a desire you can fulfill.

Second, you need to stimulate them to take action. That means motivating them to call or click, read something or do something, by telling them the benefits for doing that—what they will get or avoid, how they will be better off—and not leaving this up to them to figure out.

Tell them what to do and why they should do it.

The third step is to get them to take that action immediately. Now, while their need or desire and interest are highest.

You don’t want them to hear another attorney’s message or become distracted by their phone or an appointment. You want them to take action now, not later, because (you must assume), later will never come.

And that’s it. 3 steps. Attention, benefit, urgency.

But as simple as this is, many attorneys’ marketing messages miss one or more of these elements. They don’t tell prospective clients what to do, don’t motivate them to do it, and/or don’t provide enough urgency to do it immediately.

And it cost them a fortune.

But not you. Because you know what to do, and why, and because it is simple, you won’t forget to do it.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

Your 5-second introduction

July 17, 2025 by David M. Ward

“Hi, I’m Joe. I’m a business attorney here in Small Town.” Within seconds, most people won’t remember what Joe said.

Joe’s introduction is accurate but forgettable. It tells people who he is, not what he does, for whom, or why it matters.

We can do better.

It’s as simple as showing new contacts a picture. Something they can see in their mind’s eye, and immediately appreciate your value—the reason clients hire and trust you.

It doesn’t need to be clever. Five seconds isn’t enough time for cleverness. Not enough time to get into detail or tell any stories. That can come later, if there is more time, or you’re on a stage.

For now, tell them what you do, for whom, and why it matters.

What problems do you solve? What benefits do you deliver? What kind of clients do you help?

That’s all you have time for, but it’s enough. Enough to get your new contact to see your value and remember you. Because if they have or have had the problem you mention, or are close to someone who has, your message, however brief, is going to resonate and stick with them and open the door to hearing more.

Which is all you can hope for in a 5-second introduction.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking

I thought about you this morning

July 15, 2025 by David M. Ward

I just got back from my daily walk. I usually listen to podcasts when I walk, and today, I listened to the aptly named “Walking is Fitness” podcast, which provides information and inspiration that helps people get started on their fitness journey and make it a habit.

That’s when I thought about you.

No, I didn’t think about your fitness level, or lack thereof. I thought about how a podcast might be a great way for you to get more clients and increase your income.

Hold on. I know I’ve mentioned podcasting before, and as I mention it now, I can hear you say, “I don’t have time for that,” but hear me out. Perhaps you do.

The walking podcast is just ten minutes. The man who does it records it on his phone while he is walking. Ten minutes out in nature, talking about what he does and knows and recommends.

Do you have ten minutes’ worth of information you can share about your work? Could you explain the law, share a war story or two, and encourage listeners to go to your blog or read your article and contact you to talk about their case?

If you don’t have ten minutes’ worth of information, how about 5?

You can script your message and read your script. Or jot down some bullet points and just talk. It really doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have something valuable and helpful to share, and share it. All you need is something to say and an app to record your voice. Add the recording to one of the many free podcasting platforms and post a link on your website and on social media.

Sounds good, you say, but how often do you have to do this? That’s up to you. You can post once or twice a week, once or twice a month, or once in a while.

One more question. Yes, you, in the back…“Most people listen to podcasts while doing other activities, like walking or driving or at the gym. How do you get listeners from your podcast to your website?”

The answer is to give them a reason to visit—more information, a free consultation or another limited-time offer, a helpful form or checklist to download — and a shorter and easier to remember version of the URL to your website.

But don’t worry about all of this, or any of it. As long as people are hearing your message and your name, you’re building awareness for your “brand” that will eventually lead to more traffic, more leads, and more business.

Filed Under: Content creation, Marketing legal services

Do you really need a blog?

July 10, 2025 by David M. Ward

No matter what your practice areas or type of practice, if you don’t have a blog, or you only post occasionally, you should reconsider your strategy and in this post, I’ll tell you why.

I’ll start by telling you that, according to many studies, businesses with blogs get 55% more web traffic and generate 67% more leads than those without blogs.

I’ll also point out that clients resist hiring attorneys if they don’t know who they are and they often need to interact with a lawyer or firm seven times (the rule of 7) before they consider hiring that lawyer.

In addition

A blog allows you to demonstrate your expertise and start a conversation with potential clients. Your posts allow visitors to “hear” your voice and get to know you. They see that you’re a real person, someone they would be comfortable hiring.
Consistently posting about the law and your work and illustrating your posts with examples from your practice builds trust in your abilities and your commitment to your clients.
A blog will bring you leads and inquires. Visitors to your site read your blog, see what you do, and want to learn more. You get more calls and appointments, and these are higher quality because they come from visitors who came looking for an attorney and read your posts.
A blog can bring you more referrals from visitors who share your posts with their contacts or link to them on social media.
A blog is one of the best and simplest ways to build an email list. Not everyone who visits your site is ready to take the next step. Adding an email sign-up form for your newsletter allows them to get more information and allows you to stay in touch with them over time, and a blog shows them why they should.
A blog is a very low cost marketing strategy, especially compared to paid ads
It takes less time to maintain a blog compared to seminars, networking, speaking, and other marketing strategies

Your blog is can also be a resource for your clients and referral sources. Your blog shows them reasons to hire a lawyer (you) they might not have considered. This is better than a simple FAQ page, which rarely includes stories and the context of blog posts.

Couldn’t you simply write ten or twenty articles and post these on your site instead of setting up a blog? You could and, compared to having no educational content on your site, you should. But the more you write about your practice area(s) and services, the more search engines will associate you with your niche and you will show up higher on search results pages.

Convinced? Where do you start? With a simple blog post, welcoming visitors to your blog, telling them what to expect, and inviting them to post questions or contact you.

This can help

Filed Under: Blogging, Online Marketing