Start before you’re ready

July 16, 2024 by
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It’s not new advice, but is it any good? If you don’t know how to swim, should you jump in the pool and flounder about, or should you take some lessons first or find someone to show you what to do (and stay by your side while you do it)? 

Jumping in the deep end without knowing how to swim or doing legal work you’ve never done without some help or preparation is ill-advised, but for many things you want or need to do, getting started is often the best way to do it.

If you’re procrastinating because you overwhelmed with everything you need to do, or you are a perfectionist and convinced that you shouldn’t start because you don’t know what you’re doing and you’re going to mess up, you don’t need to take a course or hire a consultant. You need to start. 

Before you’re ready. 

That’s how you get good at marketing.

Go to a networking meeting and talk to some people. Take out your first ad. Write an article or blog post. Record a video, even if you don’t have a script, a decent camera, or know anything about editing.

Do something. Anything. You might be terrible at it (or you might be a lot better than you expected), but in either case, you’ve started and are on your way.

You don’t need to have experience to get experience. You get experience by taking the first step.

So, when in doubt, start. Before you’re ready.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, success

Maybe you need some new friends

July 2, 2024 by
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Not friends necessarily, business connections—influential people who can send you referrals, introduce you to key people in your target market, give you information or advice, or inspire you. 

Your business network, which you should continually expand and improve.

Start by identifying categories of people you’d like to know. “Business leaders in the health care field,” for example. Then, make a list of candidates—names of people in that field—and learn as much as possible about them and their industry or market. 

Then, find someone who knows them and ask them to introduce you. Or, reach out yourself, tell them you’ve heard good things about them, and want to introduce yourself.

Ask them something about their company or association or news about their industry. Ask questions. Let them do most of the talking. Listen and learn. 

Follow-up with an email telling them you enjoyed meeting them.

What’s next?

You might see an article about the health care industry and send a copy to your new contact. Or write an article and send that.

You might follow up with a question, ask for advice, or invite them to speak at an upcoming event where you know the organizer. 

If you meet someone else who knows them, you might compare notes. Learn more about the contact, what they do, who they know, and what they want. If you hit it off, you might invite them to coffee. Or that might come later. Months later. 

Stay in touch with them. Be of value to them. Find ways to help them or someone close to them. Don’t ask for anything just yet. That time will come. 

Or it won’t.

You don’t know what will happen and you might need to meet many people before you find one who clicks with you. 

But one might be all you need.

Here’s how to do it

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking

What, are you chicken?

June 26, 2024 by
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If you want your practice to grow, one of the best things you can do is stand out from other lawyers and firms. 

Most lawyers and firms don’t. 

They offer the same services, make the same promises, charge similar fees, and use the same marketing strategies. They look and sound and smell like everyone else. 

Think about your competition. Very few stand out. They play it safe, because they think “safe” is smart.

I did that when I was starting out. I wanted to do what other lawyers did. I DIDN’T want to stand out. (That came later when I saw I was getting nowhere fast and needed to do something different). 

You don’t have to do anything radical. Just different in a material way. Add a new service, offer an additional benefit, change your fee and billing structure. Or use different marketing strategies than everyone else uses, or do them differently.  

It could be something as simple as changing up your writing style. That’s what I did. Other lawyers wrote formally, very lawyer-like (and boring), and I wanted to try something different.

I added some variety and spice to my writing, using a little humor and drama, shorter paragraphs and sentences, and went out of my way to make things interesting (not boring).

I got noticed. Opposing counsel commented, and seemed to be a little more willing to talk instead of firing missiles in my direction. My clients noticed and told me they enjoyed the new me.

You don’t have to do the same thing, but whatever you do, start small. Because if you don’t start small, you might overreach and be afraid to continue, or never start at all. 

Try a new billing format, for example. Give it a test run. See how you feel about differing from everyone else (and differing from what you’ve always done), and see how others react. If you’re nervous about how your clients might react, start with new clients who don’t know what you’ve done before. 

Let’s say you decide to communicate with your clients and prospects more often, via a newsletter, blog, podcast, or by sending them articles about their industry or market. If you already do these things, try sending them more often, adding your comments, or branching out to other subjects.  

If other lawyers in your space don’t do these things (or do it much), you will stand out. Clients will see you as different. They’ll see an advantage in working with you, not just because what you send them or do is amazingly better, but because it is different.

Be different. You’ll thank me later. 

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Filed Under: Communication, Legal industry, Marketing legal services

Common sense email marketing

June 18, 2024 by
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Everyone gets unsolicited email and I’m no exception. It’s usually from complete strangers but sometimes it’s from people I know (or knew), who apparently believe that because I know them, or subscribed to their list at some point or bought something from them in the past, it’s okay to continue to send me offers even though I opted out or never opted in.

It’s not okay. It’s annoying, and doesn’t make me want to do business with them. No matter how attractive their offers might be. 

Why do they go to the bother? Because they get enough response to their offers to be profitable and not enough complaints to deter them. 

Word to the wise. Don’t be that guy. Don’t send unsolicited commercial email, even if it works. 

For one thing, it may violate the rules of professional conduct and anti-spam laws in some countries. 

It’s okay to send a personal email to someone you don’t know, inquiring about or inviting them to something you have reason to believe might interest them, but don’t sign them up for your newsletter or put them on an email list. 

But also don’t be that guy who refuses to offer free information (or services) because you don’t want to be tarnished with the same brush as those spammers. Offering free information or services to people who ask for it is not only a respectable way to market your services, it’s a great way to market your services.

It can help you get more inquires or leads, more sign-ups for your seminar or followers for your channel, help you build a bigger and more responsive mailing list, and bring you a lot of new clients. 

Just use a little common sense. And treat people the way you’d like to be treated. 

Always tell people what you will do with their email when they sign up, e.g., subscribe them to your newsletter or send them your report, and also what you won’t do, e.g., spam them or sell their email address to third parties. Tell them you respect their privacy and they can opt out at any time. 

Your prospects and clients will respect you for respecting them, and reward you for it.

Email marketing for attorneys

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Filed Under: Email, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing

Uncle!

June 14, 2024 by
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In marketing legal services, we typically show people something they didn’t know or confirm something they thought they knew. We educate them about the law, the risks, the penalties, the options, and the benefits of taking action, i.e., hiring us. 

Besides “telling,” we also persuade them by dramatizing what they know (or what we’ve just told them) by making the risks and penalties more formidable and urgent, and/or the benefits and relief more enticing. 

We do the latter by providing more information, arguments, or examples, or agitating what we’ve told them by adding more fuel to the fire. Some copywriters call this “twisting the knife”. 

We want them to feel more emotions, enough to tip the balance in favor of taking the next step. If they’re scared, that means scaring them more, but not so much that they shut down.

A little can go a long way. 

The key is to talk about things they care about and make the threat or promise more likeable and believable. 

The most important place to do that is in your headline or title. Show them you understand them and have something important for them, and they will be more likely to notice, click, and read your message. 

In the body of your message, you continue to twist the knife. 

Enough to make them cry ‘Uncle,’ but not enough to kill them. 

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Filed Under: Copywriting, Marketing legal services

Lion or cow?

June 10, 2024 by
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I saw a post that said, “Creative people shouldn’t work Monday through Friday, 9 to 5, moving slowly, like a cow who grazes throughout the day. 

Instead, they should work like a lion: 

  • Sit
  • Wait for prey
  • Sprint
  • Eat
  • Rest 
  • Repeat

So, naturally, I thought about attorneys and marketing. 

Here’s how I see things: 

Unless we’re new, we should focus primarily on our warm market, e.g., our existing clients and contacts, and rely mostly on repeat business and referrals. When you’ve been around long enough and built a sizeable client base, you might never have to do anything else. 

But when we’re new, or hungry, or want to be the King of the Jungle, we go into the cold market and bring in some fresh meat. 

There’s a time to run and catch new clients and a time to do our work and let the clients catch us. 

How to get more referrals

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Referrals

What kind of work do you do? 

June 5, 2024 by
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Lawyers typically answer that question by talking about their practice area or services. “I’m an estate planning attorney,” for example. It may be accurate, but from a marketing standpoint, it’s not the best response. 

Yes, you want to tell people what kind of work you do, but you also want them to know what that means to them (and people they know).  

So, make sure to them the benefits your clients get when they hire you. 

For example, “I help people protect their assets from the tax collector,” or, “I show high-income individuals how to use legal strategies to improve their financial future,” are ways to do that. Follow that with, “I’m an estate planning attorney.” 

Alternatively, you could state your practice area or job description first, “I’m an estate planning attorney,” and follow that with the benefits you offer. 

You can also add something about the types of clients you represent, problems or services you focus on, or other specifics, to give the listener more information and help them see that you are a good match for them. But that might be too much information at first blush and you might want to wait until they ask questions or otherwise show interest in your initial response. 

Tell them what you do; but also tell them how you can help them or the people they know. 

For more, check out my book, How to Sell Your Legal Services in 15 Seconds or Less

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services

Niche your content

June 4, 2024 by
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It’s tempting to write articles and create videos (et al.) that appeal to a broad swath of your market. Anyone who has or wants to prevent a given problem, for example. And that’s exactly what most content creates do. 

But not all. I just saw an attorney’s article that’s targeted to people who “getting married”.

People who are getting married is a niche market, and it’s different from “People who are already married,” “People who are thinking about getting divorced,” “People who want to protect their assets from their spouse,” and many other niches. 

It prompted me to remind you to niche your content. 

Because specifics sell more than generalities. 

If you handle plaintiff’s personal injury, for example, you might target your next article to people injured in an auto collision and focus on the first (and most important) things to do. You might target your content towards people with a child injured on school property, to people who are looking for an attorney who handles claims against governmental entities, or people who are looking for a NEW attorney. 

Targeting your content to specific niches is a smart way to bring in more business. 

A post targeted to people with a child injured on school property, for example, will appeal to a different niche than a post targeted to people who sustained soft tissue injuries in an auto collision. Each will get more relevant “hits” from searches, more prospective clients reading the article, and more inquires from prospective clients who want to talk to about their case.

Because specifics sell more than generalities. 

Okay, but if you target your article to one niche and someone who sees it is in a different niche, won’t you lose their business? If your content is too specific, might you lose as much business as you gain?

Maybe. Or maybe you’ll more than make up for what you lose by attracting clients who feel that your article is speaking to them and want you to be their attorney.

And hey, there’s nothing stopping you from writing other articles for other niches. (And you should).

Years ago, when your only option was to buy (expensive) advertising in a print publication, you had to pick your target audience more carefully. Today, in the digital age, you can create content for a wide variety of niches and prospective clients who find that content not by reading a newspaper but primarily through keyword searches or social sharing. 

Resist the temptation to write content targeting “everyone” and write for specific niches. 

Because specifics sell more than generalities.

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Filed Under: Content creation, Marketing legal services Tagged With:

How do I know I can trust you? 

May 29, 2024 by
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Your clients trust you. That’s why they continue to hire you and refer others to you. You’ve shown them they can rely on you to do what you said you would do, and do it well.  

Now, what if you could earn the same kind of trust with prospective clients (and others)? What if people trusted you before they ever meet you?

You can. And should. 

Getting good reviews is a great place to start. So is focusing on referrals. But there’s something else you can do to build trust. You can use your “content” (newsletter, blog, seminars, articles, videos, podcasts, books and reports, etc.) to show people you are someone they can trust. You do that when:

  • You publish your content on a regular schedule, and on time
  • You provide great information and ideas; no fluff or filler, no click-bait
  • You explain things thoroughly, don’t talk down to anyone, don’t assume your readers know (anything) but also don’t assume they know nothing
  • You’re friendly but professional; you share personal stories but don’t over-share; you edify your staff and colleagues and other members of the Bar and community
  • You tell them what you do and how you can help them, and why they need it, and encourage them to act, but you aren’t pushy

In other words, you treat them the way clients wanted to be treated.  

Your readers and followers, prospective clients and professional contacts, are watching and judging you. They want to know what it would be like to be your client, or refer their client or friend to you. They want to see they can trust you, and this is a good way to show them. 

You don’t have to provide extraordinary quality or be prolific. You just have to show them you do what you say you will do and do it well.

When they see they can trust you, even before they meet you, they are much more likely to hire you and tell others about you.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

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Filed Under: Content creation, Marketing legal services Tagged With:

Marketing fundamentals for attorneys

May 23, 2024 by
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There are lots of ways to market legal services but (news flash) you don’t have to do all of them. A few basics are all you need to build a successful practice and if I were you, that’s what I would focus on.

You can do more, but wouldn’t it be nice if you didn’t have to? 

Okay, what are the fundamentals I’m talking about? 

  1. Repeat business. Serve your clients well, make sure they know about all the services and benefits you offer, and stay in touch with them before, during, and after their current case or matter. 
  2. Referrals. Teach your clients and professional contacts how they benefit when they refer others to you and the easiest and best way(s) to do that. You can ask for referrals, but it’s usually easier (for you) to mention that a case or client you’re talking about (in your newsletter, for example) was referred to you and how much you appreciate your client or colleague for doing that. 
  3. Third party validation. Make sure your clients, prospects, and professional contacts see the benefits other clients got by hiring you. Gather reviews, testimonials, endorsements, and success stories, and feature them in all of your marketing content.  
  4. Build relationships. All of your clients and professional contacts should hear from you regularly, via your newsletter, holiday message, or personal email. Spend personal time (in person or on the phone) with your best clients, referral sources, and closest professional contacts. 
  5. Lead generation, not branding. If you do any advertising, direct mail, networking, writing, speaking, blogging, or any other marketing to the “cold market,” i.e., people you don’t know), don’t make it “one shot”—capture their email, stay in touch with them, tell them more about what you do and how you can help them (and people they know), and never stop doing that. 

The key to building a successful practice is maximizing the lifetime value of your clients, and these fundamentals are how you do that. 

The Attorney Marketing Formula

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Filed Under: List building, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan
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