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

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. . .

Let’s pick up where we left off yesterday, specifically the “do” part of “learn, do, teach”.

I have a theory that says, “the more you research and plan, the less you do,” because there’s always more to learn and better plans to create.

I know. I am regularly plagued by research-itis and the only cure I’ve found is to put down the books, pick up the axe and start chopping.

Old Abe said he would spend four hours sharpening his axe and one hour chopping down the tree (or something like that) but what he didn’t say was, “When the axe is sharp enough, commence chopping.”

But that’s surely what he did and we should do the same.

When you’re “sharp” enough,“ start the project. Write and send the email, plunk down some cash and run a few ads, get in front of an audience and start presenting—and see what happens.

If you don’t like the results, or you want to improve them, do more research, revise your plan, and resume chopping.

Ah, but how do you know if you know enough to start?

Here’s a rule of thumb that might help you:

If you’ve been thinking about doing something for more than a few days, you probably know enough to commence chopping.

This will help

What would you do if you woke up tomorrow, looked at your client list, and realized it’s shrinking? You have fewer cases and clients than last year. You’re signing up fewer clients, billing less, collecting less, profiting less.

It’s not something you want to think about it but you must. Because anything is possible.

Your business clients might merge, go out of business, or put projects on hold. Your ads might stop producing like they used to. The economy might worsen, referral sources might die or retire, or a better-financed competitor might muscle in on your turf.

Whatever the cause, your reality might be radically different.

What will you do?

Grab a pen, ask yourself some tough questions, and write down some answers.

Yes, do it now, because you need to get out ahead of it.

Look at your numbers and compare them to a few years ago. Look at your goals and ask yourself if your current numbers and rate of growth will help you achieve those goals.

Examine your current sources of business, your marketing channels, your key relationships, and all of your marketing assets.

Examine your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

Then, make some decisions about what you’re doing.

What needs to go? What needs to be refreshed? What’s working and should be expanded, and what can you do to accomplish that?

Then, look at what you’re not doing.

Look at other markets, practice areas, niches, marketing methods, strategic alliances, and other opportunities that could provide significant upside.

While you’re at it, also look at the expense side of the equation. What could you do to reduce costs, increase profit, and build a war chest to prepare for what’s ahead?

Once you have a plan, start working on it. Never stop working on it. Because your future is what you make it.

The Attorney Marketing Formula will help you create your plan