The Attorney Marketing Center--Earn More. Work Less

Milk it

December 16, 2021 by David M. Ward

You like the idea of writing shorter emails and articles and using them to stay in touch with your subscribers and followers. You like being able to get your blog post or newsletter done in less than an hour.

You have time to do that. But what if you need to or want to write longer pieces?

Some content can take hours to write. Or days. You can’t do that every day or every week.

You don’t have to.

You can use all the research and writing you do to create a 5000 word article, report, podcast, or presentation to create additional content, the kind of content you can create in minutes because you’ve already done the heavy lifting.

The research is done. The writing is done. Go back to your original material and create new content:

A summary of the key issues or arguments
Profiles of the parties or stakeholders
Additional issues or cases related to your subject
A list of resources
Answers to FAQs
Additional comments by you or others
Additional cases or examples you didn’t use
Recommendations for readers in different niches
A PDF collection of your slides, notes, or case summaries
Transcripts of interviews from your research
And on and on

Each of these ancillary bits of content shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes to put together.

You might get a month or two of additional posts out your original post or presentation.

Each post gives you another opportunity to stay in touch with and provide value to your readers and followers. Each post gives you another opportunity to be found through search and social.

And, when you think you’ve milked your original content dry and there’s nothing left to write, write one more post summarizing and linking to all of your posts, for the people who came late to your party, and for those who will come next month and next year.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Email, Newsletters, Online Marketing

Plagiarizing for fun and profit

December 15, 2021 by David M. Ward

Yesterday, I talked about finding blog posts and articles written by other lawyers and rewriting them, as an easy and effective way to create your content.

Today, I have an even easier method.

No, I’m not going to tell you to plagiarize their content—copy it and call it your own.

You can’t do that. But you can plagiarize your own content.

You can re-post or re-send something you’ve shared in the past.

Take one of your old posts and post it again. Without changing a word.

Can you really do that?

It’s your content. You can do whatever you want with it.

But should you?

Yes. Here’s why.

You’ve got new subscribers who didn’t see your article before. You’ve got readers who saw it months or years ago and won’t remember. You’ve got readers who read it before weren’t ready to do anything with the information. And readers who did something but need to be reminded to do it again.

Do you do everything I tell you to do? No, you don’t. Which is why you’ll hear me say it again.

Sometimes I re-write, update, shorten or lengthen my old posts. Sometimes, I write a new post on the same idea. But you don’t have to do any of that and if you don’t want to or you don’t have time, don’t bother.

Click and send that puppy and get on with your day.

Now for the best part.

You can take some of your better articles or posts, load them into your autoresponder, and schedule them to go out over the course of the next few weeks or months. When the cycle ends, you can reset it and let your best stuff get sent all over again.

Automate your self-plagiarism. For the win.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Email, Newsletters, Writing

You don’t get extra credit for originality

December 14, 2021 by David M. Ward

Nobody reads your blog, your newsletter, or your other content, and compares what you wrote to your competitor’s content.

Nobody.

But even if they did, they wouldn’t favor you because you wrote something or offered something unique, or disfavor you because you wrote about the same topic other lawyers wrote about.

So don’t worry about coming up with original ideas. You don’t have to do anything original to pass this class.

Which means your content creation problems are solved. You’ll never stare at a blank page again.

All you have to do is find out what others are doing that’s working and do the same thing (but better).

If 27 other lawyers write about a case in the news today, you can too.

Put it in your own words, use your own examples and stories, and you’re good to go.

In fact, not only is this “okay,” it is a smart approach because all those other lawyers writing about that case is “proof of concept”. They’re writing about it because they know their readers want to know about it, which means your readers do too.

Want to test this?

Do a search on your top keywords or your practice area and find another lawyer’s blog or article. They don’t have to be local to you, anywhere will do.

Go to the first article or post that catches your eye. Copy it and re-write it. Change the title or headline, give your opinion, talk about a case or client of yours to illustrate, and you will have something ready to publish.

The good news is that even though you wrote about the same subject, your article will be original.

The bad news? No extra credit.

More: Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Newsletters, Writing

No pressure

December 13, 2021 by David M. Ward

The headline of your article or post or the subject line of your email are critical. If you don’t grab the reader’s attention and persuade them to continue reading, they often don’t.

Which is why good writers spend a lot of time getting their headline or opening right.

You should, too.

But that doesn’t mean you should start your writing there. Because the pressure to get it right might throw you off and stop you in your writing tracks.

So it’s often best to start writing somewhere else.

Sure, sometimes you know the perfect opening before you write anything. That happens to me sometimes, but usually it doesn’t.

So I start somewhere else.

I start with a rough idea, a question or a couple of points I want to flap my gums about. Sometimes, I start with the end—the conclusion, summary, or takeaway.

But I usually don’t know what that will be until I’m well into the writing.

So basically, I start wherever I feel like starting.

I might write some bullet points, a working headline. or copy and paste a quote I want to use. I might have a story I want to share.

More often than I like to admit, I have only a very basic idea I want to talk about and just start typing. And see where that takes me.

Once I’m done, I go back and write (or re-write) the opening.

There’s enough pressure on us to get the writing done, especially on schedule, and make it half-way decent. The sooner I can get some words on “paper,” the sooner I can finish writing and get it out the digital door, so I try not to dawdle.

The point is, you don’t have to write in any kind of order. Start with something easy, whatever is in your head or your notes, or whatever words appear on the page once you start typing.

And let those words show you your opening.

How to build your law practice with an email newsletter

Filed Under: Writing

Would you hire you?

December 10, 2021 by David M. Ward

Here’s an interesting exercise. . .

Pretend you are someone else. A prospective client who’s never heard of you or what you offer.

You come across your website, presentation or other content. You read or listen. Examine the services, benefits, and offer.

Would you respond? Make an appointment? Call and ask questions?

Would you send referrals? Forward the link? Recommend the content?

If so, why? What persuaded you? If not, what stopped you?

You may not be your prospective client and you may have different standards than they do, but you can put yourself in their shoes and give yourself an objective once over.

Do you make a good impression? Are you the kind of lawyer you would want to work with?

Do you appear honest, caring, and thorough? Are you tough enough? Smart enough? Successful enough?

Do you answer frequently asked questions, show the visitor you understand their situation, and persuade them to take the next step?

Does something need to be fixed, added, or removed?

Give it a shot. Take a look and ask yourself: Would you hire you?

The Quantum Leap Marketing System for Lawyers

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing

Show ’em

December 9, 2021 by David M. Ward

Actors carry a portfolio of headshots to show casting agents what they look like in different roles. Wedding photographers, home improvement companies, real estate agents, and other businesses keep photos of the houses they’ve sold, the kitchens they’ve remodeled, and the weddings they’ve shot.

If they can do this, why can’t you?

But how?

The practice of law is abstract. Intangible. You can’t show people photos of you doing your work?

But you can do the next best thing.

You can show photos of you on stage, giving a presentation. You can show photos of yourself on the courthouse steps, copies of articles you’ve published, and certificates or awards you’ve received.

You can create a “brag book” or section of your website dedicated to displaying third party validation of your capabilities. A place to publish screen shots of reviews, testimonials, letters of praise, success stories, and positive press coverage you’ve received.

Do you have any famous cases or clients (and permission to so mention)? So, mention them.

Do you sponsor a Little League team? Photos, please.

Have you written a book? Where’s the cover?

Do you teach CLE or serve as an arbitrator, mediator, or judge pro tem? We’d like to see you in action.

And hey, what about your personal side?

Do you like to cook? Paint? Build? Do you restore classic cars? Help out at your kid’s school?

They have nothing to do with your practice but everything to do with you, and people want to know about you.

So show ’em.

Filed Under: Image, Online Marketing

You can’t hire someone to do your pushups for you

December 8, 2021 by David M. Ward

Jim Rohn said it, and he was right. Some things can’t or shouldn’t be outsourced.

Your marketing is one of them. Because professional services are personal services.

Committees and corporations may pay you, but you are hired by and build relationships with individuals.

You can outsource or delegate many marketing activities, but most of them should either be done by you or supervised by you.

You wouldn’t hire someone to go on dates with your spouse and you shouldn’t do that with your clients. You need to know them, so you can serve them, and they need to know you so they will give you that opportunity.

Staff and outside vendors can assist you, advise you, and do a lot of the legwork for you, but they shouldn’t do everything for you.

Don’t get me wrong. I believe you should delegate as much as possible. I’ll say it again, “you should ONLY do those things which ONLY you can do”.

One of those things is building relationships.

Where do you find the time to do that and also do the legal work?

I’m glad you asked.

The answer is to delegate as much of the legal work as possible.

If it can be done by an employee, it should be.

You diagnose the problem and write the prescription. Your staff carries out your orders. You supervise, make sure they’re doing the right things, and doing things right.

Marketing is a lot more than building relationships, but with a professional practice, it’s the most important part.

Make sure you allocate time to do that.

Ready? Quantum Leap Marketing System

Filed Under: Client relations, Law office management, Marketing legal services

Go deep

December 7, 2021 by David M. Ward

In a recent newsletter, James Clear said, “Double down on your best relationship. It’s the investment with the highest return.”

What did he mean?

He meant make the most of your existing relationships, they might be all you need.

Your existing and former clients will lead you to new clients. Your current professional contacts (referral sources) will lead you to new contacts, new opportunities, and the clients that go with them.

Go deep, not wide. Focus most of your attention on what you already have.

How do you do that?

Make a list of your top ten clients and another list of your 5 best referral sources and get to know them better.

Learn about their world, their industries, niches, and communities. Get to know their family, their employees, and their professional contacts. Add value to their lives by providing information, introductions, leads and traffic, advice and counsel.

Get to know everyone they know and look for ways to help them, too.

They will lead you to all the business you can handle.

You may start out with 10 or 20 people on your short list, but if you do this right, they will lead you to thousands.

You can always go wide. Network, advertise, blog, dance your ass off on social media. But if you focus on going deep, you may never have to.

The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

I don’t need you

December 6, 2021 by David M. Ward

I want you to hire me, sign up for my list, and tell others about me.

But I don’t need you to do any of that.

I’m doing very well, thank you, and while I work hard to keep my clients happy and coming back to me, I’ll be just fine if they don’t.

That, my friend, is the attitude you should adopt with your clients and prospects and professional contacts. That is the attitude of a successful lawyer and it will attract a lot of new business.

Now, don’t say any of this. You’ll come off as an asshat. This is about your attitude, the attitude of someone who is good at their job and knows it. A lawyer who doesn’t chase business but has business chase them.

Success breeds success, because success is attractive.

What if you’re not quite there? How do you adopt that attitude?

Use your imagination. Literally. See yourself as the person you want to be. Feel what you would feel so you can “act as if”.

And keep doing that until you are that, and more.

The success you seek, the image you want to portray, is first a state a mind, then a state of reality.

When a prospective client meets you, they want to feel like they’ve found the right lawyer for the job. Your confidence and countenance will go a long way to doing that.

But be careful. Don’t overdo it. There’s a fine line between confidence and cockiness.

More than confidence, clients want a lawyer who appreciates them, so don’t forget to take your humility pills and thank your maker for your good fortune.

And thank your clients for choosing you.

Because no matter how good you are, or how successful you are, you couldn’t do it without your clients. And they didn’t have to choose you.

The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Client relations, Image

What’s better than a referral?

December 3, 2021 by David M. Ward

According to a study reported in Selling Power Magazine, 80% of all introductions turn into sales, whereas just 55% of referrals do.

Here’s what they found:

1% of all cold calls turn into sales.
5% of all leads turn into sales
55% of all referrals turn into sales
80% of all introductions turn into sales.

Knowing this, and knowing that asking for introductions is probably easier than asking for referrals, you should be asking yourself, “Who do I know I could ask for an introduction?”

Maybe everyone. Because everyone knows someone you’d like to be introduced to.

When you’re speaking to a client who mentions taxes, for example, you could ask them who they use to prepare theirs. When they tell you about their accountant, you could ask them to introduce you.

And when you’re speaking to an accountant who does taxes, you could ask them if they have any clients or contacts who are a match for (your ideal client). If they do, ask them to introduce you.

Any time you speak with someone who knows a professional, a business owner, or anyone else who is influential in your niche or local market, find out how they know them and ask for an introduction. This is a simple way to build your network.

And yes, you can also ask for introductions instead of referrals when someone mentions they know someone who needs your services, or is otherwise a likely candidate therefor.

Now, why do you suppose it’s easier to ask for an introduction than a referral?

Is it because a referral implies that you get something out of it, while an introduction seems more benign? Is it because an introduction seems less intimidating and easier to make than a referral?

Why the difference?

I don’t know. All I know is that according to a survey. . .

Of course, if you’d rather cold call and pay for leads, who am I to insist otherwise.

Lawyer-to-Lawyer (and other professionals) Referrals

Filed Under: Referral sources, Referrals