Marketing legal services Archives - Page 84 of 134

Activating your list for fun and profit

May 8, 2015 by David M. Ward

You have a list of clients, prospects, and professional contacts. What are you doing to activate that list and turn it into repeat business and referrals?

How do you get that list to DO SOMETHING?

Some of the people on that list will do something merely because you stayed in touch with them. When they need something you offer, or know someone who does, they will click or call.

What about everyone else?

What about the people who need you but think the problem will go away by itself? What about the ones who don’t know how bad the problem can get if they don’t do something?

What about the people who don’t realize all of their options? What about the ones who didn’t have the money before, or didn’t want to spend it?

What about the ones who know people who need your services but didn’t think about referring them?

You need to do something to get these people to do something.

But what?

How about creating an event and inviting them to it? A webinar, teleseminar, or video hangout.

Invite your list to see some new information, or new ways of looking at the solutions. Teach them how to stop the problem from getting bigger and keep it from happening again.

You’ve got to get them thinking about the problem again. Comparing solutions. Considering the options. What better way to do that than to invite them to access this free information from the comfort of their tablet or smartphone?

During the event, make them a special offer. A free consultation, perhaps, so they can discuss the specifics of their situation with you. Or a discount, bonus, or inexpensive partial solution. Tell them you now take credit cards or offer a payment plan.

Give them an incentive to do something and tell them what to do to get it (e.g., call, fill out a form, stop by the office).

Record the event so you will have something to offer to new subscribers. Transcribe the recording and turn it into a report or ebook.

You can create an event today and announce it to your list tomorrow. By next week, you can have more people calling, subscribing, and referring.

How to set up an email list for your website or blog

Filed Under: Email, Increase your income, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Seminars and webinars

How to get your employer to approve your marketing plan

May 7, 2015 by David M. Ward

Back when I was selling a relatively expense marketing course, from time to time I would hear from lawyers asking for suggestions for getting their firm to pay for the course. “If nothing else works,” I said, “see if they will agree to reimburse you after you bring in a new case or client using what you learn. If not, negotiate. Maybe they’ll split the cost.”

No risk to them. How could they say no?

The other issue, then and still today, is that some firms aren’t always on board with some of their associates’ marketing activities. How do you convince them that what you want to do isn’t a waste of time or money and won’t embarrass them?

How do you get your employer or partner to approve your marketing plan?

I have a few suggestions.

First up, it’s often better to beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission. Especially when what you’re doing is working and you’re bringing in new paying clients. Money is a salve for all wounds.

So do what you want to do (on your time and your dime) and show the firm that it’s working.

What if what you want to do will take a long time to bear fruit and you can’t hide it that long? What if it is difficult to tie what you’re doing to the results you’re getting?

In this case, instead of running at full speed, start with baby steps.

For example, I consulted with a lawyer recently about his firm’s website which is sadly in need of work. I suggested he create his own website. Start with one page, with just his bio, practice areas, contact information, and a link to the firm’s website.

Show this to your overseer and get them to okay it. It’s really nothing more than a business card and they can hardly argue that it is radical or harmful in any way.

Once you have buy in, you can (slowly?) add features to the site and see what they think.

You might add a contact form, for example, so visitors can email you directly from the site. Or a page with some details about your services. If anything isn’t approved, you can always modify it or remove it; you’ll stilll have the basic site and you can try again later.

By the way, every lawyer who works for a firm should have their own web presence. You want to brand your name online, not your firm’s. Even if you are a partner in your firm. In case you haven’t heard, partnerships do break up.

For other marketing ideas, try nibbling away at current protocol by suggesting variations on what is already approved, rather than suggesting something completely different. If you have a standard lunch presentation you do now, suggesting a different topic or different venue should be relatively easy to get approved. Suggesting advertising to a firm that has never advertised is a different story.

Another idea for convincing your firm to okay one of your ideas is to find other lawyers in your jurisdiction who are doing something similar. Use them as a case study to show your firm that what you propose isn’t unusual and, as they can see, it actually does work.

This can work especially well if the lawyer(s) you point to are direct competitors with your firm.

For a simple marketing plan that really works, get this

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

Advertising legal services Gary Halbert style

May 5, 2015 by David M. Ward

Suppose a reporter for a decent sized publication contacts you for an interview. They heard about something you did and they want to do a story.

Nice.

They write the story and run it. They mention some of your accomplishments, quote you several times, and generally make you look like a stud.

Very cool.

Your phone starts ringing. A lot of people saw the article and want to talk to you about their case or legal situation. You sign up some new clients.

Awesome sauce.

The article includes a link to your website and your website heats up with traffic. You see a big bump in email subscribers and social media followers.

Who knew?

As a result of that interview, your practice starts to take off. You have your best month ever.

What do you do next?

You want the momentum to continue, so you take that article and run it as a paid ad in other publications in your niche market. You’ll probably have to add the words “paid advertisement” somewhere on the page but that’s no big deal.

Every time you run the ad you get more business. So you keep running it, bringing in more clients, making more money.

One reason the ad works so well is that it doesn’t look like an ad. It looks like a feature article or news. More people read articles than read ads and more readers translates to more business.

There’s just one problem. The odds of a reporter contacting you to interview you are pretty slim. If they did, the odds that they would do a puff piece that makes you look like the best lawyer in town are almost non-existent.

So don’t hold your breath.

Instead of waiting for the reporter who will never call. . .

. . .write the article yourself. Or hire someone to write it. Make sure it looks and reads like a newspaper article, and then run it as an ad.

Legendary copy writer, Gary Halbert, was a master of editorial style advertising. He sold me on the idea of running ads that don’t look like ads. When I was advertised my first marketing course in bar journals, all of my ads looked like articles.

Newspaper style headline. No graphics or photos. Quotes from me, talking about the benefits, as though I had been interviewed by the author of the “article”.

And they worked. Those ads brought in millions of dollars in sales.

Editorial style ads (“advertorials”) will also work for advertising legal services.

Filed Under: Advertising, Marketing legal services Tagged With: Gary Halbert

Ten ways to earn an extra $1,000 per month

May 4, 2015 by David M. Ward

How would you like to earn an extra $1,000 per month within the next 90 days?

I chose $1,000 because that seems to be big enough to whet your whistle, but not so big that it’s out of reach. Feel free to pick a bigger number if you want to.

Now, time for some brainstorming.

Let your mind run wild and throw some ideas on paper, on a white board, or on your screen. Shoot for a minimum of ten ideas, ten different ways you could earn $1,000 a month, or more, within 90 days.

The best way to come up with ten viable ideas is to start with twenty or thirty. So keep writing as many ideas as you can.

Don’t edit or judge anything. Just write it down. Nothing is silly or impossible when you are brainstorming.

Your ideas could be related to

Marketing your services–a new strategy, a new market, or a new way of doing what you already do
Managing your firm–eliminating unnecessary expenses, lowering costs
Creating a new service–a new profit center, a new “front end” service that creates more clients
Fees, billing, and collection–charge more, get paid faster, eliminate unpaid accounts
Creating a new offer–a free service, a discounted service for first time clients, bonus services, service package(s)
Finding new referral sources and/or joint venture partners
Offering your clients a product or service from a joint venture partner, or as an affiliate
Creating a new product (ebook, course, resource guide, etc.) to use as a marketing tool and new revenue source
Starting a new business
Contacting former clients, to stimulate repeat business and referrals
Setting up a new website, improving your existing website
Getting bigger clients/cases–bigger fees, bigger retainers, clients with ongoing legal needs
Getting more traffic, more subscribers, more prospect inquiries
Closing more prospects–better sales process, overcoming objections
And so on

With multiple ideas, you’re more likely to find one that you’re willing to do. Or you might find two or three ideas you can do that bring in an aggregate of $1,000 a month.

90 days is a long time. Maybe too long. You might be better off looking for ideas that could start producing in the next 30 days. A shorter deadline means there’s no time to think (or procrastinate), you have to start doing.

What could you do this week that could bring you an extra $1,000 a month?

Want to get paid faster? Collect unpaid invoices? Here’s howÂ

Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

Growing your law practice through osmosis

April 30, 2015 by David M. Ward

Yesterday, I did a consultation/strategy session with an attorney who has been practicing less than two years. During the session, we talked about his income. In the first three months of this year he has averaged $10,000 per month, which is more than double what he earned per monthÂ last year.

What made the difference?

He purchased and read The Attorney Marketing Formula in January of this year and thinks this can’t be a coincidence. He’s giving me the credit, and that’s great, but here’s the thing. He hasn’t really implemented anything from The Formula. Nothing major, anyway. In fact, he told me there were some concepts he was still unclear about.

So how could this have immediatelyÂ caused his income to more than double?

I think I have an answer. I think that although he hasn’t done anything new to market his services, he’s thinking about it. Those thoughts are changing what he says and does in almost imperceptible ways.

Now, he knows what’s possible. And important. His subconscious mind is starting to percolate with ideas. He’s paying attention to things he may have glossed over in the past.

He may not realize it, but merely by reading about marketing, he is becoming better at marketing.

I can’t wait to see what happens when he implements some of the strategies and techniques he has learned.

Click here to check out The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Personal development, success

Consider offering your clients a maintenance contract

April 24, 2015 by David M. Ward

We just got bids on a new heating and air conditioning system for our house. A couple of the vendors pitched us on their maintenance contracts. For $100 to $130 a year, they will come to the house three times per year to inspect everything and do minor servicing. If something needs repairing or replacing, you get that at a discount.

It’s a good deal for the consumer, although probably not necessary the first few years when everything is under warranty. I think one of the vendors was willing to give us the first year free.

It’s a good deal for the vendor because (a) it gives them first crack at getting hired for repairs, (b) it gives them the opportunity to get referrals, (c) it gives their service techs something to do when they’re not doing big jobs, and (d) it brings in revenue.

Could you do something like this? Offer your clients some kind of service or maintenance contract? If you handle small business matters or estate planning, no question this is something to consider. For other practice areas, maybe not.

A maintenance contract allows you to regularly get in front of clients and do issue spotting. You get to see if their documents need updating, and you also find out what other work they need, in their business or personal life.

If it’s something you don’t handle, you can refer it to other lawyers and other professionals (e.g., CPAs, financial planners, consultants, et. al.) who have agreed to offer discounts and other perks to these referred clients.

Clients get work done they might otherwise delay on taking care of, to their detriment. They get a good deal, too.

Also, you get face time with your clients once or twice a year which can only strengthen your relationships with them. They may not needÂ any work themselves but you will undoubtedly get referrals.

Then there is the additional revenue this will bring to your coffers. If you have 200 clients paying you $200 a year, that’s an additional $40,000 a year, not counting any additional work or referrals.

If you don’t like the idea of charging clients for this for some reason, or your practice area doesn’t allow you to provide enough value to your clients to justify a fee, e.g., you handle personal injury only, consider offering this service to your clients at no charge.

You see them once or twice a year, or talk to them on the phone, or send them a form to fill out and then call them. If they need your services, they get to hire you at a discount and/or they get some added benefit.

If they don’t need your services but they need something else, you will refer them to high quality professionals (or businesses) with whom you have already negotiated a “special deal”.

Would a PI or criminal defense client avail themselves of this benefit if it were free? Why not give it a try and find out?

Lawyers are complicated;Â marketing is simple

Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing legal services

The one thing that made the difference

April 17, 2015 by David M. Ward

In an interview yesterday I was asked what was the one thing that made the difference in my career. What was it that helped me become successful.

Back then, I said, meaning back when I was starting out and I was broke as a joke and just wanted to pay my bills, marketing made the difference.

When I learned how to bring in more clients, and better clients, everything changed.

Later, when I was making lots of money but had no time for anything but work, the key to my success as a sole practitioner was getting comfortable with delegating. This is difficult for many lawyers because we are very uncomfortable relinquishing control. But I did it and it allowed me to work only 3 days a week.

My income, went up, too, because I had more time for marketing and to improve my office’s systems.

In more recent years, the “one thing” that has made a difference for me has been passive income. When money comes in no matter what you do, even if you don’t do anything, well, it doesn’t get better than that. This allowed me to retire from the practice of law and do things I’ve always wanted to do.

So here’s my advice. If you need more money right now, study marketing. Get good at it. Make it your focus. Find something that works well for you and go “all in”.

If you have money but no time, hire more employees (or outsource) and learn how to delegate.

I know it’s hard but it gets easier. When I ran my practice, I resolved to do “only that which only I could do”. To my pleasant surprise, I found that there was very little that only I could do.

Delegate as much as possible and use the free time for more marketing, to improve your office’s work flow, and to have a life.

And if you have reached the point where you’ve got a handle on the money and the time, start thinking about what comes next. You might never want to retire or move onto to something else, and that’s okay. But knowing that you have enough cash and investmentsÂ or passive income to do so, is a very good thing.

Marketing is easier when you have a plan

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Productivity, success Tagged With: delegating-work

3 Keys to promoting your event or offer

April 13, 2015 by David M. Ward

So you want to get people to register for your seminar, hire you for your service, or buy your new book. What should you do?

Promote it.

Promoting isn’t announcing. Announcing is merely stating the facts. Promoting has an emotional element to it. Here are 3 keys to promoting your event or offer.

(1) Get excited

If you’re not excited about what you are promoting, you can’t expect anyone else to get excited. If they’re not excited, they’re probably not going to look at what you’re offering, let alone sign up.

Start by asking yourself why you are excited about your offer. What’s new about it? What’s different? What will it allow people to do that they can’t do now?

Put your thoughts on paper or record them. Tell people why you are excited and, more importantly, make sure you sound excited.

Don’t go over the top, and don’t make up things. Just share how you feel about it.

Instead of just saying that you are excited, illustrate it. For example, you might say that as soon as you heard about this, you ran to your laptop and started writing. Or at breakfast, you couldn’t stop talking about the upcoming seminar, “just ask my wife!”

(2) Urgency

Tell people why they need to act immediately. Tell them why they should not delay.

What will they gain by taking action now? What will they lose if they don’t?

If there is limited seating or phone lines or quantities, tell them, and be specific. If you’re offering an added benefit for the first ones who respond such as preferred seating, additional bonuses, or lower pricing, tell them.

Make sure they know why they shouldn’t wait, and then tell them what to do: go here, do this, do it now.

(3) Repetition

Don’t tell them once, tell them several times.

They may not have received your email, or read it. They may have been busy with other things and forgot. They may not realize that what you are promoting is as good as you say it is, or believe you when you say you’re not sure it will be repeated.

So tell them again, and tell them in different ways.

In one version of your message, appeal to their desire for gain by emphasizing the benefits. In another message, appeal to their fear of loss by telling how many others have signed up or how many seats are left.

Get excited, use urgency and repetition to promote your event or offer and you’ll get more people signing up.

Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, List building, Marketing legal services, Presentations, Writing Tagged With: promoting

It’s official: I’m running for President (but don’t vote for me)

April 10, 2015 by David M. Ward

No matter what you think about politics, there’s no question that it can be a great way to advance your professional career. You get to meet a lot of influential people. You get your name and face in front of potential supporters and future clients. You get to sharpen your speaking and networking skills. And for the rest of your life, your bio will note that you are a former candidate for office, meaning you aren’t the average schmo.

So consider running for office. Just make sure you don’t win.

If you win, and you’re honest, you’ll have to take a big pay cut. If you want to continue to win, you may have to sell your soul.

Okay, it might be alright to win an unimportant local office, but only if you can serveÂ part time. Just don’t get carried away and think about running for higher office, unless of course you are already wealthy and/or idealistic to the extreme.

Another way you can ride this pony is to work behind the scenes to support a candidate. Your name may not become well known to the public, but you get to go to rubber chicken dinners with people who can send you business, teach you about marketing and building your brand, and introduce you to other influential people.

So yes, I’m running for President; if you want to work for my campaign, let me know. I can’t pay you anything, and remember, we’re not going to win this, so if you’re really talented or hard working, please don’t apply for the job.

That’s all for now. I’ve got to finish working on my concession speech.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking, Public Speaking, Referrals