3 a day

May 22, 2023 by
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Marketing your law practice doesn’t require you to do big, difficult, or time-consuming things. At least not all the time. As I regularly note, you can accomplish a lot in just 15 minutes a day.

The key is to do it consistently. 

Schedule 15 minutes in your calendar every workday for marketing. It is arguably the most important appointment of your day. 

During those 15 minutes, you can do anything related to growing or improving your practice. If this is a new habit, however, I suggest you decide in advance what you will do. 

One way to do that is to pick a number. I suggest the number 3. 3 calls, 3 emails, 3 pages. That’s easy, isn’t it?

Here are some examples of what you could do:

  • Comment on 3 social media posts by people you know or would like to know
  • Call 3 old clients and say hello
  • Email 3 professionals in your target market—invite them to (something), ask them a question, share something you have in common
  • Collect 3 business cards
  • Like, comment, or share 3 videos of people in your target market (as a precursor to connecting with them)
  • Contact 3 people in your existing referral network and ask how/what they’re doing
  • Follow-up with 3 prospective clients you’ve spoken with
  • Send 3 thank-you notes, birthday cards, or holiday cards

3 calls or comments or emails today, another 3 tomorrow. Or mix and match, one comment, one call, one email.

Over time, you’ll connect or re-connect with a lot of people. Some will want more information, some will want to speak to you about their situation, some will see how you can help one of their clients or friends.

You could also use your 15 minutes to

  • Brainstorm 3 ideas for an article, blog post, or presentation
  • Write 3 pages (or paragraphs) for your new lead magnet, report, or book
  • Find 3 keywords to add to one of your ad campaigns
  • Find 3 groups that need guest speakers at their event
  • Find 3 blogs in your target market that accept guest posts
  • Find 3 podcasts or channels that interview lawyers

It’s just 3. It’s just 15 minutes. But it might be all the marketing you need to do. 

Marketing is easy when you know The Formula

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

Legal marketing made eas(ier)

May 11, 2023 by
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Would it be okay if I showed you how to make marketing your practice easier? How to get the same (or better) results with less effort? So you don’t overwork yourself or hate what you’re doing and stop doing it?

I’ll take that as a yes.

Okay, grab a pen. Here are 3 things to do to make your life easier and your practice more profitable.  

(1) Don’t do everything.

There are a lot of marketing strategies you could use but you’ll drive yourself crazy (and get poor results) if you try to do them all.

Choose no more than two or three primary strategies and focus on those. Learn all you can about them, get good at them, and make the most of them. They may be all you (ever) need.

Me? I chose referrals. Later, I added advertising. Later still, I started a blog and a newsletter. 

Fewer strategies are easier and usually lead to better results. The same goes for the tools you use to implement those strategies. 

(2) Don’t do everything yourself

Delegation is your friend. Let your staff do as much as possible and/or outsource. 

Me? I only did things that only I could do. I saved time and got better results because I didn’t do things I wasn’t good at or didn’t enjoy. 

(3) Look for additional opportunities that are low-effort/high-impact

There are other things you can do in addition to your primary strategies that have the potential to bring in new clients, new business contacts, and opportunities you might not otherwise discover.

For example, speaking and networking might not be something you regularly do, but if you are invited by a client or business contact to speak at or attend an event in your target market, or as a guest on a podcast in that market, go for it. Go flap your gums and shake a few hands.

Something else that is relatively low-effort but high-impact is writing a book. (Low effort because you can get help). Publishing a book is a great way to build your reputation, generate leads, and make your other marketing strategies more effective. 

The key word is ‘leverage’. Things you can do that are easy, don’t take a lot of time, and have the potential to deliver excellent results. 

The other keyword is ‘focus’. Do a few things and do them well. (But, never say never to other ideas.)

The Attorney Marketing Formula

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan

Have fun with this

March 17, 2023 by
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If marketing was fun, would you do it more? Get better at it? Get better results?

No doubt. 

So, how can you make it fun? 

First, by believing that it can be fun. Not drudgery, something you enjoy and are good at. Because if you don’t believe that this is possible, you’re always going to have a rough time. 

And then, you draw a line in the sand and do only those things you like doing and delegate or outsource or ignore everything else. 

You don’t have to do paid advertising or social media. Not one bit. You don’t have to go to formal networking events and talk to strangers. You don’t have to get on stage or in front of a camera and do presentations. 

Unless you want to. 

Do what you enjoy or find a way to make what you do enjoyable. 

Yeah, but what if I don’t like any of it? Not. One. Stickin. Bit?

Really? You don’t enjoy doing good work for your clients and treating them with kindness?

That’s marketing. The best kind there is. 

You don’t like staying in touch with the people who put food on your table? That’s marketing, too.

You don’t like providing information about your practice area and your services with people who tell you they want to know? 

C’mon now. 

Anyway, do yourself a favor and make having fun a priority. “If it’s not fun, I won’t do it” would be a good mantra. 

If you don’t want to write a 500-word newsletter every week, write 150 words whenever you feel like it. 

No rules. Do what you have time to do and want to do, and don’t worry about anything else. 

If it’s not fun, don’t do it. 

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

Start with what, not how

February 23, 2023 by
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I’m guilty of this myself. Trying to figure out how to do something or improve something when that’s the wrong question to start with.

The right question is, “What do I want?“

Because when you know what you want (to be, do, or have), you can almost always figure out how.

Asking “how“ before you know “what“, often leads to wasting time on less important projects or goals.

Finding solutions without a problem.

Example? You’re trying to figure out how to set up a new website. All your energy is dedicated to looking for ways to do that, or finding people who can do it for you.

If you had first asked, “What do I want?” you might have realized that you want more opt-ins to your email list, and while a new and improved website might help, there are other things you can do to get what you want that don’t require a new website.

“What” is more important than “how”.

If you’re not sure of what you want, or even if you are, a good follow-up question to ask yourself is “why?” Why do I want that? Why is it important to me?

The answer to that question will confirm that what you said you want is indeed important and valuable to you, (or it isn’t), and provide you with the motivation to move forward.

Why do you want more opt-ins? Because this is a simple way to get what I want: more clients from the visitors to my website.

First, figure out WHAT you want (and why). Then, figure out HOW to get it.

Email marketing for attorneys

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Filed Under: Email, Law office management, Marketing Plan, Online Marketing, Productivity

Run

January 18, 2023 by
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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

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

Don’t start with why

December 20, 2022 by
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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

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Filed Under: Communication, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

The perfect marketing plan

November 11, 2022 by
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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

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan

DMO or WMO?

November 7, 2022 by
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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?

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan

Sorry, you don’t qualify to hire me

October 21, 2022 by
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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

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

The chicken AND the egg

October 17, 2022 by
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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

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan Tagged With:
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