Our cat is getting his teeth cleaned this morning. Fun times.

As I grabbed him up and settled him in his cage, I thought about a consultation I did the other day with the marketing support person at a mid-size law firm. We talked (a lot) about her challenges in getting the lawyers to do anything marketing related.

She’s a lawyer wrangler. So am I.

It’s frustrating to talk to lawyers, give them million dollar advice, and know they probably won’t follow any of it. Lawyers don’t like change. They don’t like getting out of their comfort zone.

We talked about several ways she might get buy-in about the marketing agenda. I suggested she start by trying to get at least one lawyer on board and doing something, e.g., write an article for the website. I told her to make a big fuss about the article in the firm’s internal newsletter (which I suggested she start). As the other lawyers see one of their own being feted, their competitive nature might kick in and a few others might get with the plan.

You might want to do that yourself. Talk to some attorneys you know who are doing a decent job with marketing and ask them about what they’re doing. Find out how much business they’re bringing in. Get jealous, and then do something.

Start small. Outline an article, perhaps. Call a client you like and say hello.

The hardest part of marketing is getting started. The best way to do that is to schedule time for it. Schedule a 15 minute “marketing” appointment with yourself each week day. Put it on your calendar and tell your staff not to book anything during that time.

Go ahead, block out the rest of the month.

Will you do this? Today? What do you mean, you’re not sure?

Come on, you can do this. Stop looking like Grumpy Cat and block out a few minutes a day for marketing. If you do, I’ll let you sleep for the next 16 hours.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula

If the Internet didn’t exist, how would you go about marketing your services? Think about this for minute or two. Write down some ideas.

Go ahead. I’ll wait.

If you were around before the Internet, you can probably remember what you did. Write that down.

Finished? Good. What did you say?

Let me guess.

You would build relationships with prospective clients and with people who can refer them. You would build your reputation in your community or target market by speaking and writing and networking with centers of influence. You would create content (brochures, articles, white papers, reports, books, audios) that demonstrate your knowledge and experience. And you would work you tush off for your clients and generate repeat business and referrals.

There might be a few other things you would do if the Internet didn’t exist. I did a lot of advertising in days past. Maybe you did, too.

Now, look at your list. With a few possible exceptions, you might notice that the things you would do if there was no Internet (and what you did before the Internet) are pretty much the same things you do today.

Marketing doesn’t change. Fundamentals don’t change.

Jim Rohn said, “There are no new fundamentals. You’ve got to be a little suspicious of someone who says, “I’ve got a new fundamental.” That’s like someone inviting you to tour a factory where they are manufacturing antiques.”

Technology makes things easier and less expensive and gives you more options. But you’re still doing the same things.

Marketing is easier when you have a plan

Thank you for your suggestions for topics you would like me to write about. I’ve noted many ideas for future blog posts. Keep ’em coming. I’m always open to ideas, although I can’t promise I will use any of them.

I want to address a matter that came up with a couple of subscribers with whom I exchanged emails.

The first is from an immigration attorney who is setting up joint ventures with other lawyers and wants to know how to determine “who does what” in the arrangement, and what to do when one party turns out to do more than the other.

My answer to him was probably less than satisfying. In essence, I said that each deal is different and that all you can do is talk to your would-be JV partner and write down what each party is expected to do. If there are any issues about one side doing more than the other, you discuss it. If you can’t work it out, you move on to someone else.

There is no cookie cutter. You negotiate it. Talk it out and write it down. If things go sideways, don’t worry about it. One deal with a great outcome can more than make up for 20 deals that fizzle out.

A second subscriber, an engineer, says he struggles with marketing and wants me to point him to the “optimal marketing system”.

It seems that both subscribers want some kind of push-button system they can use in their practice. But there is no perfect system. Not even close.

We’re in the people business, and there is no one size fits all. People are flawed and emotional and mercurial. They don’t always know what they want.

Marketing legal services is messy. It’s more art than science. In fact, I told the engineer to stop thinking like an engineer and start thinking like an artist.

An engineer or a lawyer tends to look at what’s in front of him and what he can do with it. An artist, on the other hand, sees what’s not there and figures out a way to create it.

This is why I say that a marketing plan is only a place to start. It gives you direction, not a blueprint. Things change constantly and we have to be flexible enough to change with them.

I suggested to the engineer that rather than wrestle with all of the options available, he should choose something (anything) and do it. Then, he should see where he is and choose something else.

He told me about a great outcome he had in a case recently and about the nice things the client said about his work. I suggested he write down what was said and ask the client for permission to use it as a testimonial.

A place to start.

You need to know where you want to go with your practice, and then take action to move in that direction. Along the way, the variables may confound and confuse you, but as long as you know where you want to go and you keep moving in that direction, you will get to the next stop.

Of course once you do, you will check your heading and set sail once again.

The Formula helps you create a simple marketing plan. Get it here

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