Start before you’re ready

August 24, 2023 by
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You want to create a new and improved marketing plan. You do some research, talk to some people, figure out the steps, allocate funds, set some goals, and schedule time to do what you need to do. 

Logical. Thorough. But often a waste of time. 

Why? Because you don’t know what you don’t know. You don’t know if the information you’ve collected and the decisions you’ve made will get you where you want to go. The only way to know that is to start.

Do something and see what happens. 

Once you see what happens, you adjust. You do more of what’s working, change or abandon what’s not. 

If it’s working, or you feel good about those first few steps and want to keep at it, you give it more time, add more elements, change your pace, change your words, and fine tune your approach. 

Research and planning are fine, but at some point, you have to do something. The sooner you do, the sooner you know if you’re going in the right direction.

Pick something and start. Before you’re ready.

Call some old clients, even if you don’t know what you’re going to say. Outline an article or presentation, ask a friend if you can join him at his next networking breakfast, get some quotes for a makeover of your website.  

Starting may be the toughest part, but it is the most important. 

When you take action, even a little, you learn things, meet people, get ideas, establish some momentum, and feel good about taking the first step. 

Or you don’t. 

You might mess up, hire the wrong people, waste time, spend too much money, hate everything you see or write or do, and want to give up.

That’s okay, too. 

Get some help. Try it a different way. Take a break and come back at it with fresh eyes. Or kill the idea and do something else. 

Try lots of things. You’ll learn what you like, what you hate, what you’re good at, and what you never want to do again. 

Progress. 

Eventually, you’ll find something that sticks. 

And that’s your plan. Messy, exciting, and ultimately your path to success. 

Helen Keller said, “Life is either a big adventure or nothing.” Clearly, she was talking about marketing legal services. 

This will help you create a simple plan

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Filed Under: Marketing Plan

A simple marketing plan

July 12, 2023 by
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It’s got to be simple or you won’t do it, right? At least not consistently. You can always do more if you want to, but if you’re pressed for time or don’t want to do anything else, this plan can deliver meaningful results. 

And I promise, you can do this. No matter how busy you are.

There are only 3 things you need to do:

ONE: CONTACT 2 PEOPLE A DAY

Again, you can do more but it’s better to contact 2 people a day, every day, than what you can, when you can, because when you do it daily, it becomes a habit, you get better at it, and your results compound. 

You can contact them by phone, text, mail, email, or a combination thereof. Or, if you roll that way, you can talk to them in person. 

Who do you contact? Your choice:

  • Existing clients
  • Former clients
  • Prospective clients
  • Business or professional contacts

In short, anyone who has or could hire you, provide referrals, or send traffic to your website. 

What do you say to them? That depends on who they are and how you know them (and how well). Some examples to ponder:

  • Welcome aboard (new clients, new subscribers, new seminar attendees)
  • Nice meeting you
  • How can I help you? (What do they need or want, besides legal services?)
  • Thank you (for hiring me, for your referral, for your review, etc.)
  • Just following up (with prospects, clients, and others you’ve talked to or communicated with, after a meeting, conversation, or consultation)
  • Here’s something I thought you might want to know (article, website, news story, a report, gossip)
  • Just checking in (see how they’re doing, say hello, find out about their family, client, business, etc.)

Okay, so that’s part one. Easy to do, but extremely effective. Try it for 30 days and you might be pleasantly surprised. 

TWO: A WEEKLY EMAIL

Send an email to everyone you know and keep them informed about the law, their market or industry, your new blog post or article, someone else’s blog post or article, or anything else you think will benefit or interest them. 

You don’t have to call it a newsletter. It doesn’t have to be long. It doesn’t have to be brilliant. You don’t have to sell anything or promote anything. But provide a link to a page where they can learn more about you and your services or event.

Tell them something, remind them to do something, warn them about something, share something, or tell them what you’re doing they might want to know. 

If weekly is too much, send it monthly. But send them something as often as you can.

Because no matter what you send, every time you show up in their inbox, you remind them that you’re still around and can help them and the people they know. 

THREE: 10 PAGES/30 MINUTES A DAY

You are your business, and your business is you. To become more successful, work on yourself as much or more than you work on your business. 

Read 10 pages of a good book. Listen to audiobooks or podcasts for 30 minutes. Watch videos, take classes, or talk to people who can teach you something you need to know. 

You can read about marketing, business, writing, speaking, negotiating, productivity, and the tools and resources for making what you do easier or better. You can also read about leadership, managing or working with people, history, creativity, and anything that inspires you.  

Professional development is important; personal development arguably more so.

Bonus tip: Take some of what you learn and put it in your weekly email. 

Okay, that’s it. A simple plan. Commit to doing these 3 things consistently. It may be (nearly) all the marketing you need to do.

For a more comprehensive marketing plan, get this

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

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
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