And another thing about social media marketing. . .

March 7, 2014 by
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I have an addendum to yesterday’s “enough-with-the-social-media-blitzkrieg” rant.

One of the keys to social media marketing, we are told, is engagement. “It’s a conversation, not a speech,” they say. We are told not to simply push out information, but to engage people, befriend them, earn their trust, and eventually invite them to see what we do.

But what if we don’t want to have a conversation? What if we don’t want to engage? What if we want to use social media to make a speech, for fun, or not at all?

Will we be visited by the social media police? Will our Facebook privileges be revoked? We we be remonstrated by a 26 year old billionaire and told we’re not worthy of being online?

The truth is, engaging on social media is only one way to bring clients to your tent. It’s not the only way.

I just hired a new accountant and a new dentist. Neither one engaged with me before I hired them, on social media or otherwise. One was a referral, the other was found through search. In both cases, I looked at online reviews posted by other clients and patients. It don’t think the CPA or the dentist engaged with them, either.

Could they bring in even more clients by engaging on social media? I’m sure they could. I know a lot of professionals who bring in a lot of traffic and clients with social media marketing. They chat and share throughout the day, and they love it. They are successful, no doubt, because they love it.

If I were to guess, I would say there are many more professionals who use social media sparingly, like I do, or don’t use it at all. Are we missing out on something big? My friends who bring in a lot of business through social would say absolutely, and urge us to get on the bandwagon. So, should we force ourselves to do something we don’t want to do? If we don’t love it, like they do, should we do it anyway?

No.

Don’t let anyone tell you how you must use social media in your practice, or that you must use it at all.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing

Take your LinkedIn marketing webinar and shove it

March 6, 2014 by
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Enough already!

Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest. . . it never stops. Every day I am inundated with invitations and solicitations to webinars, courses, videos, books, reports, plug-ins, consulting offers. I don’t even have time to read the emails or web pages, let alone watch the videos or read the pdfs, let alone buy anything, let alone implement any of the stuff I bought.

And I’m in the marketing business. How on earth are you supposed to keep up with this stuff and still have time to practice law?

(Do I get an amen?)

Look, I love the Internet. I must love it. I spend all day in front of it. I can’t begin to enumerate the ways it has enhanced my life and I would never want to go back to the days before you could carry the world in your pocket. But there are times when you have to step away, take a breath, and put things in perspective.

You know you cannot ignore Internet marketing (even if it’s not your favorite thing), but you can’t keep up with everything everyone tells you is a “must do”. To maintain your sanity (is that an oxymoron–I’m talking to lawyers, right?) you have to be selective.

You need your own website. Not a page on your firm’s site or on M-H or a legal directory, your own hosted website that you control. Yourname.com

You can put it up yourself (it’s not difficult) or you can hire someone to set it up for you and show you how to update it yourself. I suggest a self-hosted wordpress site (not wordpress.com). You could set this up in about an hour, and that includes watching a couple of youtube videos that show you how.

You need some content that shows visitors what you do and why they should choose you. Add some articles you’ve written, a list of your practice areas, and an “about” page.

And that’s it. You can start with that. This is the most important part.

Now, you have something to show people who want to know about what you do.

Traffic? Don’t worry about it right now. There are lots of ways to get it. You can start by contacting your clients and everyone you know and tell them to “come see my new website!” Okay, you can leave out the exclamation point. They’ll come, they’ll read, they’ll share.

What about social media? What about it? It’ll drive you crazy, if you let it. Don’t let it. Set up accounts with the majors (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and G+), tell your clients and contacts, and when you post new content on your site, post a link to that content on your accounts.

That’s pretty much all I do, when I’m not deleting emails about the latest Facebook or LinkedIn marketing webinar.

Okay, that’s enough marketing for the day. Get back to work.

Make the Phone Ring is the Internet marketing bible for attorneys. Check it out here.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing

How clients evaluate lawyers before they hire them

March 3, 2014 by
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According to a recent study, prospective clients evaluate lawyers (and other professionals) before they hire them in a few common ways.

81% go to your website. (Do you have an effective website? Does it show what you do? Does it tell visitors why they should hire you instead of any other lawyer? Does it invite them to take the next step (i.e., call for an appointment or to ask questions? Does it capture their email address so that if they’re not ready to take the next step you can stay in touch with them?)

63% google you. (Is your website and/or blog optimized so that they can find you? Will they find favorable ratings and comments about you on sites like Yelp and Avvo? Will they find articles or guest posts by you on reputable blogs? Will they find interviews of you and articles about you? Will they see that you have received awards or been mentioned for your achievements?)

62% ask friends or colleagues if they’re heard of you. (If someone knows you or your reputation, will they say good things about you? Will they say you work hard and care about your clients? Will they say you provide added value beyond your core services? Will they say you are good at what you do? Will they say you are fair and honest? Are you asking your satisfied clients to rate you on these sites?)

60% use social media to research you, and 70% use LinkedIn. (Do you have a complete LinkedIn profile? Do you have a presence of any kind on other social media platforms? Do your social media accounts invite people to visit your website? Are you asking your clients to Like your page and share your content?)

So, you need an effective website and a decent LinkedIn profile. (Your profile will show up in search results, so don’t dismiss it’s importance if you have a consumer practice.) And, you need to do a good job for your clients so they will say nice things about you.

What do you think? Marketing isn’t really that difficult, is it?

How to build an effective website

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing Tagged With:

How to write a blog without writing a blog

February 26, 2014 by
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I get it. You don’t have a lot of time to write a blog. Even once a week seems daunting. But you know that having content online is a great way to highlight your capabilities and draw traffic, and you’d like to find a way to make it work.

One way to do this is to let others do the writing for you.

You could have your partners, associates, and staff do some or all of it. You could hire a ghost writer. (They’re not expensive.) Or, you could let other professionals write guest posts. Let’s talk about this one, shall we?

One way to do this is have five or ten other lawyers, consultants, experts, accountants, and so on, who each contribute a post every other month. They get exposure for their practice or business, you get content.

Some of those other professionals will undoubtedly notify their clients, subscribers, and readers about their new post on your site, and provide a link to it, which gives you exposure to their contacts. Of course you can offer to provide guest posts on their blogs, too, if and when you have the time.

If you don’t have enough other professionals who want in on this deal, no problem. You can easily find professionals online who would love to get exposure to your readers. Reaching out this way is a great way of networking with potential referral sources.

One thing you might want to do is add your comments before, during (by interlineation), or after the guest post. In other words, you introduce the guest blogger and his or her post and add your thoughts about how the post applies to your practice area or clients. This should take you very little time and will add value and context to a post that might otherwise seem a bit off topic.

First, make sure you flesh out your blog with ten or twenty substantive posts, written by you, about your practice area. Why? Because it’s your blog and you want to show visitors what you know and do. Also, you’ll be able to link to this content in your comments to guest posts. For example, if you handle employment law and have a guest post by a psychologist writing about how to handle a difficult employee, in your addendum to that post, you can link to your article about the legal implications of what employers might say or do.

Okay, one more idea. Ask one of your guest-post team if you can interview them. Have them give you five or ten questions to ask them, in advance. Record and transcribe the interview and post it on your blog. Easy content.

Of course it’s just as easy to have them interview you for their blog.

For more ideas on how to write a blog, get this.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Networking, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Web traffic, Writing

When prospective clients interview you for the job

February 24, 2014 by
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I once had a client interview me before hiring me. It only happened once in my career, probably because 99% of my clients came from referrals. (She didn’t hire me. I never found out why. It was thirty years ago. I’m over it, now.)

Today, many clients find lawyers through the Internet and other means, and because there are so many articles and blog posts educating them about what to ask a lawyer before they hire them, if you haven’t been interviewed for the job, there’s a good chance you will.

Will you be ready?

One way to get ready is to post content on your website that addresses the questions prospective clients typically ask. The process of writing that content will also prepare you to answer those questions in the event someone bypasses your website. It also helps you codify your philosophies, policies, and procedures, forcing you to examine what you do so you can make improvements.

I read an article recently, for employers interviewing job candidates, that presented “killer questions” to ask to eliminate the duds. I thought the first question was applicable to clients hiring lawyers:

‘Tell me about a work achievement you are most proud of?’

Clients may not ask this per se, but isn’t this something lawyers should be prepared to answer?

Take 30 minutes this week and write three paragraphs about something in your career that you are especially proud of. What was your most gratifying or challenging case? If you were writing your obituary or eulogy, what would you like to be said about your work.

Post this on your website. When prospective clients interview you for the job, or a reporter or blogger interviews you for an article, you’ll be ready.

Did you know, Make The Phone Ring shows you how to create great content for your website? Check it out on this page.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Client relations, Closing the sale, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Writing

Legal marketing for dummies

February 21, 2014 by
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Hope I didn’t just violate a copyright with that title. Hey, maybe the “For Dummies” publisher will ask me to write that book! Ahem, people of the NSA, I know you’re reading this. Could you do me a solid and pass this along for me?

My tax dollars at work.

Anyway, so this is a very simple idea for bringing in some new business. Possibly a lot of new business.

Here’s the lowdown.

You know some good lawyers in other practice areas, right? If not, you need to get out more. But you can use this idea even if you don’t. I’ll explain in a minute.

So, if you’re an estate planner, I want you to call up a divorce or small business or PI lawyer you know and invite them to coffee or lunch. If they insist on asking why you want to meet, tell them you want to talk about referrals. That always gets a lawyer’s juices flowing.

Bring a legal pad, if you still have one, and an open mind. Tell them to do the same.

The purpose of your meeting is to brainstorm some ways you can help each other.

Here are some ideas to get you started:

  • Send a letter or email to your respective lists, introducing each other
  • Interview each other for your blogs, newsletters podcasts, or youtube videos
  • Do guest posts for each other’s blogs or newsletters
  • Put together a talk, seminar, webinar, teleconference, hangout, or video you could do together
  • Compare notes about professionals you know who might make a good referral source for each other and introduce each other
  • Like and re-tweet and share each other’s social media posts
  • Invite each other to your networking meetings

Got it? Okay, now pick one idea, set a date for completion (if you don’t, we all know it’s not going to happen), and do it. Hold each other accountable for getting your respective parts done.

After that, pick something else on the list and do that.

After that, contact another lawyer you know and do the same thing.

Now, if you don’t know any lawyers in other practice areas, or when you run out of ones you do know, go find some lawyers you don’t know, call them up, introduce yourself, and tell them you want to meet for coffee. If they ask why, tell them you want to talk about referrals.

Of course this isn’t just about referrals. It’s about website traffic and exposure and list building and networking. There are lots of ways professionals can help each other besides referrals. You know this, but are you doing this?

Go get you some marketing partners and some new business.

For more legal marketing for dummies ideas, see The Attorney Marketing Formula

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Filed Under: List building, Marketing legal services, Networking, Referral sources, Referrals, Relationship marketing Tagged With:

Attorney marketing plan: time vs. money

February 20, 2014 by
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I talked to an attorney yesterday who wanted to drive more traffic to his website. A plan to get more traffic to your website, like any attorney marketing plan, comes down to a choice between time and money.

Here is a list of the more common (and acceptable) marketing options for attorneys who want to get more traffic:

MONEY

  • Advertising (PPC, display, offline, direct mail, radio, etc.)
  • Hire a PR firm to get you coverage, interviews
  • Self-hosted seminars
  • Hire people to ghost write content or assist you in writing content

TIME

  • Writing a blog
  • Guest posts and comments on other people’s blogs
  • Writing articles for article directories, offline publications
  • Webinars/teleconferences
  • Public speaking, seminars
  • Write reports, ebooks, articles, audios, courses
  • Build an email list
  • Staying in touch with former clients
  • Social media networking
  • Youtube videos
  • Networking
  • Marketing joint ventures
  • Podcasts/webcasts/hangouts/interviewing experts
  • Interviews, panel discussions

Most attorneys can’t or don’t want to advertise. Or, they don’t have a big enough budget to compete with some of the bigger advertisers.

The problem is, most attorneys have even less time than money. At least that’s what they tell themselves. They could invest more time in marketing. They often don’t because (a) they don’t know how and/or (b) they don’t think they’ll see a return on their investment.

What if I could prove that one hour invested in marketing (the right way) would bring a three-fold return? In other words, if you’re time is worth $300 an hour, and I proved to you that investing one hour in writing a blog post would bring you $900 in revenue, would you invest that hour?

Of course you would. Yo mama didn’t raise no fool.

But here’s the thing. That blog post might bring you a three-fold return this month, and then again next month. And every month. There will always be new people searching for your content and your solutions.

No guarantees, of course. Your results may vary.

My point is that many time-oriented marketing activities have a long tail, whereas advertising generally doesn’t.

Your website content can bring you traffic and new clients for months or years to come. Networking and building relationships with new referral sources and joint venture partners can do the same. Building lists and staying in touch with people can provide you with a long term source of new business.

When you look at it this way, instead of worrying about how much time marketing is “costing” you, you’ll realize that every hour you AREN’T marketing is costing you.

As Wayne Dyer puts it, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”

If you want more traffic to your website, get my Internet marketing course for attorneys

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Filed Under: Advertising, Blogging, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Online Marketing, Time Management, Web traffic, Writing Tagged With:

Marketing legal services: And now, for something completely different

February 19, 2014 by
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Differentiating yourself from other lawyers in your niche market or community is an ongoing challenge. How are you different or better? Why should anyone hire you instead?

I provided many ways to address this in The Attorney Marketing Formula, but today, I want to give you an idea that very few attorneys have ever used. As used to be said on Monty Python’s Flying Circus, “And now, for something completely different. . .”:

Gift certificates.

And why not? They work in retail. I’m sitting here looking at an Amazon gift card I got for Christmas that’s I’m itching to use. Why not utilize the same concept for marketing legal services?

You’re an estate planner. You create a gift certificate or card for the preparation of A/B Living Trusts, or a gift card for a $2500 estate planning package, or a $500 gift card that can be used towards any of your services.

You’re an immigration attorney. You create a gift card so family members can help their loved ones get here, or get legal.

You’re a family law attorney. You create a pre-paid divorce card fathers can give to their daughters as a wedding gift. (Don’t laugh. You’d sell a boatload of these in Hollywood.)

Anyway, you get the idea.

If you’re the only lawyer (or the first lawyer) to offer gift certificates or gift cards, people will notice. And write about you. And pay you money.

But it almost doesn’t matter if anyone buys one. You’ll get some great publicity and have something to promote in your newsletter, blog, speaking, or advertising.

Yes, I know there are some thorny ethical issues to contend with. But you’re a lawyer. You’ll figure it out.

Put on your thinking cap transactional attorneys. Small business attorneys, IP attorneys, this is a natural for you.

If you aren’t able to do something like this, there is something you can do instead. Find an attorney who can do this and promote his or her gift cards to your clients and contacts. What do you get out of it? No, not a piece of the action, although that’s not necessarily out of the question. You get a very happy fellow lawyer who will undoubtedly be inclined to reciprocate by recommending your services to their clients. Even though you don’t offer gift certificates.

For more traditional ways to differentiate yourself, get “The Formula”

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

This is not your father’s law practice

February 17, 2014 by
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Every few weeks, a real estate agent in my area sends me oversized postcards describing her listings. The other day, she mailed me a calendar for the fridge. I’d had enough. I wrote to her and told her, “Take me off your list! UNSUBSCRIBE!”

The nerve of some people.

Okay, that never happened. I told my wife I was going to do it, thinking I would at least get a charity laugh, but she’s endured my warped sense of humor for 34 years and this was probably too much to ask.

But it did make me think about how the world has changed since I first opened my law practice, or my father did before me.

Before email, if you wanted to communicate with prospective clients (real estate or law), you could put something in the mail. It worked before and it still works today. In fact, it works better today because so few do it anymore (and because nobody accuses you of spam when you do.)

You may have never done any direct mail, but if you want to bring in new business, this is a viable choice for many attorneys.

Advertising works.

If you don’t want to do direct mail, there are alternatives. Display ads, ezine ads, pay-per-click ads, classified ads, and more, can drive traffic to your website and clients to your office.

If you don’t want to advertise your services, you could advertise a book or report or audio. You could advertise a charity or cause you believe in and include your firm’s name (and web link) as sponsor.

Writing articles, blogging, social media, speaking, networking–they’re all forms of advertising. You may not write a check when you do them, but you’re doing something to get your name in front of people who can hire you or refer others. When you write to former clients, you’re reminding them that you’re still available to help them and the people they know. Yep, advertising.

A PI attorney in Georgia, Jamie Casino, ran a local two-minute TV spot during the Super Bowl. Perhaps you saw it. It’s received over five million views on Youtube. We can debate whether the ad is ethical or in bad taste, or whether he did it as a stunt or truly believes in his message, but one thing is certain: the ad and the buzz it has created will put more than a few shekels in Mr. Casino’s pockets.

I’m not saying that if you advertise, you should look to this as a model. I’m saying, it’s a tough market for attorneys today and if you’ve never thought about advertising before, perhaps you should. Even if all you do is mail out some calendars.

Don’t want to do paid advertising? Here are the best alternatives.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Legal industry, Marketing legal services, Publicity Tagged With:

Social media marketing for lawyers: the truth shall set you free

February 13, 2014 by
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Uh oh, Facebook changed security settings again. Twitter has a new design. LinkedIn has a group you haven’t joined.

Does all the fuss and bother about social media drive you nuts? Me too.

You’ve got to update your page (again), you’ve got to hire a team, you’ve got to buy this tool and that course and have a master plan.

No, you don’t. You don’t have to do anything on social media if you don’t want to. So relax. Don’t buy all the hype. Or any software, courses, or services.

Let’s think this through.

There are three things you can do with social media: Network with prospective (existing, former) clients, Network with prospective (existing, former) referral sources, and advertising.

ADVERTISING

Let’s start with the easiest one: advertising. Either you do it or you don’t. If you don’t do it, move on. Nothing to see here. If you do advertise, or want to, hire a firm to design ads, make media buys, and manage your campaigns. Educate yourself, as time permits, so you know how to work with the pros. Nuff said.

NETWORKING WITH CLIENTS

If you have a consumer oriented practice, the odds are you’re not inclined to network with prospective clients. And let’s face it, most clients don’t want to network with you. Attorneys are, in their minds, a necessary evil, not bff’s. When and if they need us, they will either go to a search engine or ask their contacts for recommendations or referrals.

If you have a business oriented practice, networking with prospective clients is more likely to bear fruit. In this case, you would add prospective clients in your target market, promote their business interests, and share your content with them. This may or may not be worth the effort on your part. Your call.

If it’s all too much for you, if you’re worried about the implications of networking with your best client’s competition, or you simply don’t want to spend your valuable time online, don’t. The marketing gods absolve you. There are lots of other ways to bring in business.

NETWORKING WITH REFERRAL SOURCES

If you’re going to do anything with social media, this is your best bet. You can use social media to find professionals and other centers of influence (e.g., bloggers, etc.), and approach them, the same way you would offline.

But you don’t need much on your end to do this. A simple profile, so they can check you out. Go find their profile and start a conversation.

No matter what you decide to do with social media, make sure you have accounts with the major platforms so you can push out links to your content and so visitors to your website can share that content with their connections. But that’s a one time thing. Set it and forget it.

Social media marketing for lawyers can either be a big pain in the briefcase or something you never think about. If it’s the latter, if it’s not part of your marketing in a major way, just think about all the time you’ll save skipping over the countless daily articles and blog posts reminding you about the latest and greatest “must do’s” you’re not doing.

Internet marketing for attorneys that won’t drive you nuts: click here.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing
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