Marketing Plan Archives - The Attorney Marketing Center

Run

January 18, 2023 by David M. Ward

Building a business or law practice, especially from scratch, is best done quickly.

If you want to build yours, run, don’t walk. Sprint, don’t jog.

Here’s why:

Building fast gives you less time to think and more time to do. Once you have some sound marketing strategies in place, spend most of your time executing those strategies, not refining your plans or making new ones.
Building quickly means you’ll talk to more people, create more content, get more subscribers, do more presentations, and so on. You’ll have more opportunities to find things that work and get better at doing them.
Building quickly allows you to compress time, that is, to do in minutes what might otherwise take hours, by finding ways to do things faster and by productively using the spaces between activities that are often wasted.
Moving quickly forces you to adopt routines and simple daily activities, which are the building blocks for success.
Whether you are new or seasoned, the faster you move, the sooner you find bigger cases and/or better clients and referral sources (and employees), which lead to compound growth as first time clients become repeat clients and referrals lead to more referrals.
Moving quickly allows you to create personal momentum. You get faster (and better) at what you do, delivering more outcomes to more clients and bringing in more revenue and more success stories, which leads to more of the same.
Moving quickly allows you to discover flaws and eliminate them, make mistakes and fix them, and get better at what you do.
Fast is exciting, and excitement is contagious. You’ll be perceived in the marketplace as someone who is going places and doing things and attract people who recognize your pace and energy and want to work with you.

Don’t confuse “fast” with “busy”. They aren’t the same thing. Being busy doesn’t necessarily mean being productive.

You can build quickly even if you aren’t particularly busy. But only if when you work, you run.

How to build your practice bigger, faster

Filed Under: Leverage, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Productivity

Don’t start with why

December 20, 2022 by David M. Ward

In his book, Start With Why, Simon Sinek says that most companies today focus their marketing on their product and how it works when instead they should share why they do what they do.

You may recall hearing this idea if you saw Sinek’s popular TED Talk that first explained it.

The rationale is that if your market knows the intention behind your business, and they relate to it, you’ll be better able to connect with prospects and win them over.

I don’t have a problem with that. Telling your market (consumers, prospective clients, influencers, referral sources) your “why” is a great way to differentiate yourself in a crowded market. Where I have an issue is with the idea of starting with it.

You and I and our partners need to know why we do what we do. Our why gets us out of bed in the morning and drives us to work hard to achieve our goals. Our clients might like to know why we do what we do but it’s not the best way to get their attention.

The way to do that is to start with benefits.

Prospective clients want to know how you can help them. How you can solve their problem or help them achieve a desired objective. Until you tell them this, they’re unlikely to be interested in your story.

Start by telling people what’s in it for them when they hire you. The benefits. Once you have their attention and they’re interested, you can tell them why you do what you do.

It’s true that some companies successful reverse this. They begin with a branding message that identifies their mission, how they intend to change the world in an important way. But this requires a lot of capital and expertise and they have to get a lot of things right to make it work.

It’s much easier for you and I to start with benefits.

Your story might ultimately get prospective clients to choose you instead of other lawyers who don’t have one. But first you have to get them to pay attention.

The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Communication, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

The perfect marketing plan

November 11, 2022 by David M. Ward

Okay, you got me. There’s no such thing as a perfect plan. So stop looking for it. Or waiting to implement a strategy or idea until you’ve done more research and worked out all the bugs.

Or until you feel motivated to do it.

Psychologists tell us that motivation follows action, not the other way around. So do something. And then you’ll be motivated to continue.

It doesn’t matter what it is. Doing something will lead to doing something else. Before you know it, you’ve actually done a lot and you’re starting to see results.

But you have to take that first step.

Don’t believe me? Try it and see for yourself.

Outline an article or blog post.
Call a client and say hello.
Email a professional contact and say hello.
Join an online group.
Update your LinkedIn profile.
Brainstorm ideas for YouTube videos.
Draft a letter you can send to your clients for the holidays.
Check out another attorney’s blog for ideas you can use on yours.
Ask a web-savvy friend for suggestions for improving your website.

If you need more ideas, park your carcass and read through some of my blog posts or unread emails sitting in your inbox.

Before the day is over, take one of those ideas and start. Tomorrow, do it again or do something else.

Every day, do something marketing-related and in a week or a month, and sometimes in a few hours, you’ll get some results.

When that happens, you might think about how you read this post and took that first step, and realize that it was the perfect marketing plan.

How to improve your website or blog

Filed Under: Marketing Plan

DMO or WMO?

November 7, 2022 by David M. Ward

If marketing (or anything) is important to your success, you need to do it regularly and the best way to do that is to create a “Daily Method of Operation (DMO)“ meaning a checklist of tasks or a routine you follow every day.

Even if it’s just a few minutes.

And if not a “DMO” at least a “Weekly Method of Operation (WMO)“. Or a combination thereof.

NB: start with a DMO. It’s easier to make it a habit when you do it every day.

It doesn’t have to be complicated. Just a handful of simple tasks you do, like a few calls or emails, writing a half-page of content for your blog or newsletter, or working on a new presentation.

Anything marketing related that you are comfortable doing.

If you would like to be interviewed by podcasters or bloggers, for example, your DMO might be researching candidates and sending an email to introduce yourself.

Simple as pie. But if you do this every day, you may soon find yourself being interviewed by other professionals or bloggers with an audience that’s perfect for your practice.

Whatever the tasks you do during your DMO, schedule the time to do them on your calendar. Today is Monday, it’s 3pm (for example) and your calendar says you have a 15-minute appointment with yourself to work on your marketing.

You would be surprised how much you can do in 15 minutes, or even 5 or 10 minutes a day.

Here’s the thing. You already have a marketing DMO or WMO. You always have. You always will.

The time comes and goes every day and every week and you either use that time doing something productive and aligned with your goals or you don’t.

It will be 3pm soon. How will you use your time?

Filed Under: Marketing Plan

Sorry, you don’t qualify to hire me

October 21, 2022 by David M. Ward

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to pick and choose who can (and can’t) hire you?

It would and you can start doing it immediately.

Decide who you want as a client in terms of demographics, industry or market, and other factors, and don’t accept anyone else. Or, accept them if you want to, but don’t target them.

Invest your time and resources attracting your “ideal” client.

This will necessarily be a small segment of the entire market of people who might need your services. Why limit yourself?

Because it will make your marketing much more effective and your practice more profitable and enjoyable.

You’ll bring in better clients, the kinds you have determined you want to work with, and eliminate ones you don’t.

Many prospective clients will seek you out because they’ve heard about you from people they know and trust. They’ll be pre-sold on you and your services and won’t need a lot of persuading to sign up.

These clients will be able to pay you and will have a lot of work for you (because you targeted clients who do). They’ll also have more referrals for you, people like themselves who are a good fit for you.

Professionals and businesses in your target market will more readily steer people your way, because they’ve also heard about you from people they trust, some of whom will be their existing clients.

Is this starting to sound too good to be true?

Maybe it is. Maybe your message won’t resonate, your reputation won’t precede you, or people won’t trust you or want you anywhere near their clients and contacts.

But maybe they will.

How about finding out?

Start by understanding that “not everyone is your customer” and that you get to choose.

Choose well, my friend. You might be pleasantly surprised and handsomely rewarded.

If not, you can always go back to marketing to everyone and taking what you get.

Here’s how to choose your niche market and ideal client

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan Tagged With: ideal client, Niche marketing

The chicken AND the egg

October 17, 2022 by David M. Ward

Most lawyers don’t think about it. They present what they do to the world and see who’s interested.

“Here’s some information about the law and about me and my services. If you have this problem or that desire, here’s what I can do to help you.“

When someone shows interest, they talk to them and show them more.

In time, these lawyers get to know more about their clients and their markets and are better able to serve them and more easily market to them.

This works.

But there’s another way.

The other way is to build your audience first and tailor what you do and how you present it to appeal to that audience.

You find a niche that has a need (and the ability to pay a lawyer). You study the niche and learn all about it. And you create marketing materials, websites, and approaches that speak to that audience.

With the first approach, the market is bigger, but there is more competition. It is harder to stand out, and marketing is less effective and more expensive.

The second approach has less competition, marketing is less expensive and more effective, but by definition, the chosen niche is smaller than the broader market.

Both approaches work; which approach is right for you?

Maybe both.

Offer your services broadly and see who finds you. Learn about them and their market and build relationships with them and the people they know.

At the same time, choose a niche market, study it and target it.

I used both approaches in my practice. I started broadly, learned how to practice law and how to pay my bills.

And then I settled in on a couple of niche markets, which allowed me to grow bigger, faster.

Sometimes, the easiest way to find a niche that’s right for you is to look for it among your existing clients.

How to find the right niche for your practice

Filed Under: Marketing Plan Tagged With: Niche marketing

Marketing. Me no likey.

October 11, 2022 by David M. Ward

“I hate marketing. I’m not good at it. I don’t know what I’m doing.“

Can you relate?

Lot of lawyers do.

How do I find prospects? Get them to visit my website? Get them to make an appointment?

How do I convince anyone to hire me when there are so many other lawyers who do what I do?

Everyone tells you to read books and blogs and take courses or watch videos and you’ll learn what to do.

Which is true. But it’s only part of the answer.

And if you do nothing but reading, you might make things worse because the more you read, the more you start thinking there’s too much to do and you don’t want to do any of it.

Instead of “learn, then do,“ I suggest you “do, then learn.“

You don’t learn and get motivated and then do it. You do it, and that gives you the motivation and teaches you what you need to know to get better at doing it.

And forget about trying to do “marketing”. Forget making a plan. Put your spreadsheets away. Just do something.

Write an article or an email. Or a list of bullet points for a presentation or for your bio.

It doesn’t have to be long. Or good. You don’t have to show it to anyone yet. Or ever.

This is what I did when I first embarked on this journey. I started small and gave myself permission to do a terrible job.

And found out it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. It was actually pretty good.

And then I did something else, and that wasn’t terrible, either.

One foot in front of the other. Before you know it, you get some results. Positive feedback. Clicks. Sign-ups. Clients. Repeat business. Referrals.

Forget marketing. Just bring in some clients.

A good place to start

Filed Under: Inspiration, Marketing Plan

Marketing shouldn’t hurt

July 25, 2022 by David M. Ward

Let me guess, marketing isn’t your favorite thing and if you were being honest, you would admit you’d prefer not to do it.

Ask me how I know.

It’s marketing’s fault, not yours. You can’t be blamed for wanting to “just do your work” and not be smothered by mountains of information and endless lists of things you have to do.

Marketing is vitally important, and it can be challenging, but it shouldn’t hurt.

You should be able to be easy about it, do what you want to do, and do it at a comfortable pace.

Marketing should be an extension of who you are and what you do. It should feel natural, easy almost, and never be something you dread.

And it can be if you focus on the basics.

The basics?

Internally, that means serving your clients well, making sure they know what else you do, and staying in touch with them. It means building relationships and getting to know the people they know.

Repeat business and referrals. Just like Dad used to do it.

What about externally? With people who don’t yet know, like, and trust you?

Also the basics.

Get your name in front of people. It doesn’t matter whether you do that via ads, blogs, networking, public relations, producing content, social media, or anything else—it’s all good.

But whatever you do to get your name in front of people, build a list so you can keep your name in front of them.

You don’t have to do everything. One or two “reaching out” strategies can be enough. Find something you’re good at and enjoy and do that.

And do yourself a favor. Don’t worry about everything the experts tell you is a “must do”. In a perfect world, they might be right, but in the real world, a lot of what they say will simply distract you from the basics.

Unless you want to do more, stick to the basics and keep it simple.

And do something every day.

Make a call, write an article, send an email, learn something, meet someone.

Do what feels right for you. Don’t force yourself to do anything that doesn’t.

And don’t worry about getting everything perfect.

You can be “sloppy” and build a big practice. As long as you get the basics right.

The basics

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

Your best market

July 15, 2022 by David M. Ward

Of all the possible markets you could target, one is better than the rest. It’s easier and less expensive to reach this market, and likely to produce the most new business and profits.

People in this market require little or no persuading about the need for your solutions or your ability to deliver them. They are easier to work with, more likely to hire you for other legal matters, and more likely to send you referrals.

What’s more, the names and contact information of everyone in this market are readily available to you.

In fact, you already have them.

Yes, we’re talking about your warm market. People who know you and trust you. They’ve hired you before or know you professionally or personally. If you email, call, or knock on their door, they’ll answer and greet you by name, because they know you.

We should also include the people on your newsletter list, subscribers to your blog, and your social media connections, because while you might not know their name, many of them know yours.

It’s called your warm market, in contrast to your cold market, which includes everyone who doesn’t know you.

It’s much more difficult and expensive to market to the cold market. Yes, the cold market is bigger than your warm market, but that is its only advantage.

Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean you should stop marketing to the cold market and only market to your warm market. Some attorneys can and should do that. Some shouldn’t.

Some should market to both.

The question is, if you do market to both the warm and cold markets, how much of your time and resources should you dedicate to each?

Talk to your partners, accountant, and marketing people. Take a good look at your numbers, market trends, and your goals.

And don’t be afraid of change. Don’t stick with something because you’ve always done it that way or because most of your competition does it that way.

And ask yourself some questions:

If I could get most of my business through repeat business and referrals, would I want to? Or would I always want to keep a hand in the cold market?

Is this the time for me to go all out and build this thing as big as I can as fast as I can? Or am I happy where I am and satisfied with my current rate of growth?

What’s my plan for the next two years? Ten years? What does my gut tell me is right for me now?

I don’t know your numbers or goals or anything else about you but I can offer one piece of advice that worked well for me and countless others.

Focus on your warm market first.

Give your practice a solid foundation of repeat business and referrals before you venture into or expand efforts in the cold market.

Then, no matter what happens in the cold market, you will always have that foundation.

Unless you’re brand new, in which case, all bets are off.

Here’s The Formula

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

Walk, don’t run

June 24, 2022 by David M. Ward

You want to get better at marketing (or anything) but you don’t want it to take over your life. You don’t want to spend days or weeks studying and doing what needs to be done.

You don’t have to.

In fact, you’ll learn more and be able to accomplish more if you don’t try to do everything in a short period of time but, instead, do a little every day.

10 or 15 minutes a day, but every day.

Put a daily appointment (with yourself) on your calendar, or a recurring task in your task app. Not once a week for an hour, because you might not do that, but you can do 10 minutes a day no matter how busy you are.

In 15 minutes, you can do a lot. You can read a chapter in that book you’ve been meaning to read. You can watch a video or two and take notes about what you learned and what you might do with it.

Not difficult, is it? But if you do it every day, you can make a lot of progress.

What else could you do during your 15-minute ‘appointment’? You could:

Write or re-write an email for your autoresponder
Outline your new presentation or book
Practice your presentation
Write a page for your new book
Brainstorm ideas for a new lead magnet
Edit your work-in-progress
Call a few former clients and ask how they’re doing
Visit some blogs to get ideas you can use in yours
Invite your best referral source to lunch
Invite someone you don’t know to coffee
Meditate and let your subconscious mind help you with something you’re working on
Take a tutorial on a new contact management app
Outline an article for your newsletter
Jump on social media and see what people are asking
Add more keywords to your PPC ad campaigns
Call a professional in your niche and introduce yourself
Email an author and ask to interview them
Draft a survey to send to prospective clients
Update a page on your website
Email your list and invite them to read your latest article
Email your list and invite them to submit questions for your upcoming article
Email your list and explain a recent ruling
Email your list and tell them a success story about one of your recent cases or clients

Yes?

You can also repeat these. Call a few today, call a few more tomorrow—and so on.

15 minutes. 10 if you’re in a hurry. But do something every day.

What do you think will happen if you do?

Why don’t you find out?

For more ideas for your newsletter. . .