Writing Archives - The Attorney Marketing Center

Marketing without the hype

October 9, 2025 by David M. Ward

Some attorneys resist using certain types of marketing, e.g., blogging, advertising, or email, because they don’t want clients or colleagues to see them as “needing” business and think less of them. Of course, some lawyers think this applies to most marketing and either don’t do it or do it reluctantly.

Whatever the cause of their resistance, one way to engage in marketing without the stigma attached to it, real or perceived, is to do it mindfully. In particular, this means paying attention to

Your content or message,
Your language and tone,
Your calls-to-action or offers, and
The frequency of your communication.

If you have testimonials or reviews you would like to use but don’t want to appear boastful, you could convert them into stories. Feature your best testimonials or reviews on your website, perhaps, but in your newsletter or article, speak about the case or matter that resulted in that testimonial to illustrate a point you’re making in your article.

For example, if you’re writing about tax strategies you recommend for high net worth individuals, after you describe the strategy, you might add that you recently used this strategy to reduce a client’s tax liability by 25%. You offer proof that your strategy works without sounding like an infomercial.

Which leads to something else you could and should do in your marketing—focus on strategies about solving problems, not selling your services.

“I’m a tax lawyer” might be an accurate statement but clients want to know what that means for them. If you say, “I help high net worth taxpayers minimize their tax exposure,” and reference your recent successful case to show what is possible, the focus is on the client more than on you.

Talk to clients and prospects about themselves, their business or industry, their wants and needs, more than about you and your services. But don’t take yourself completely out of the picture. After all, you are the one they will hire and rely on, and you should make the case for your ability to help them. Just don’t make it all about you.

To do that, use specific language and examples that show you understand them and have experience with clients like them. That means avoiding the generalities so common in lawyer marketing.

Don’t over-promise, but don’t hide your light under a bushel.

You want to be seen as a serious professional but friendly and relatable. The best way to do that is to talk “to” them, not “at” them, and to do it as plainly as possible.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Writing

The simplest way to improve your marketing

January 16, 2025 by David M. Ward

There’s a simple way to get more people to read what you write, listen to and engage with your message, and contact you to learn more.

But most lawyers don’t do it. Or do it enough.

Most lawyers do a good job of presenting facts and logic, and that’s certainly important, but you can’t rely on the left side of a reader’s brain when you want to persuade them to do something. For that, you want to stimulate the right side of their brain, i.e., their emotions.

The best way to do this is to tell stories.

Tell them about someone they can relate to and what happened to them. A client, a friend, someone you heard about, or even yourself. Tell them in your articles, blog posts, emails, and presentations. Tell them when you’re talking to them on the phone or in your office.

If you want bring in more clients and keep your clients coming back, if you want your clients talking about what you do to their friends or business contacts, include stories in everything you write or say.

Stories dramatize the facts and make readers feel the fear or other emotions of your “characters”.

Facts tell but stories sell.

Besides making the logical case for hiring you or following your advice, tell your reader or listener about people who did or didn’t follow that advice.

The best stories involve people who are “like” your audience, with a similar background or circumstances. You want clients and prospect to see that the people in your stories are “just like them”.

Stories don’t need to be lengthy. A brief anecdote or mention is often enough. Neither do stories need to be overly dramatic. You can use irony or satire or a bit of fun to make your case.

Clients and prospects often want to do what you’re telling them and are just looking for an excuse to do it. A simple story with a happy ending is often enough to give them that excuse.

Filed Under: Communication, Marketing legal services, Salesmanship, Writing

Separate the planning from the doing

December 10, 2024 by David M. Ward

I used to call it a “weekly review” but now I call it “weekly planning” because I don’t just want to look at what I’ve done, I want to figure out what I need to do next.

Whatever we call it, why do we do it once a week instead of more often? Because we need some quiet time to step back from our busy week to reflect on the big picture. During the week, we need to focus on getting the actual work done.

Planning requires a different state of mind from doing.

When we’re planning, we’re relaxed and thinking about the future. When we’re doing the work, we’re focused on making the calls, drafting the documents, and negotiating the cases.

It’s better to break up the planning and the doing into two separate tasks, and do them at different times. It’s more efficient that way and produces better results.

If you’re writing an article, for example, choose the topic a few days or a week before you do the actual writing. This allows your subconscious mind to “think” about the article ahead of time and find better arguments and examples that make your article easier to write and more effective.

Whether writing an article, planning your week, or starting a new project, give yourself some space between the planning and the doing.

Filed Under: Productivity, Writing

Writing non-fiction without an outline?

September 9, 2024 by David M. Ward

Whether you’re writing an article or blog post, a memo to your client or your file, a brief or a demand letter, outlining before you write is almost always recommended.

It helps you include all the key points, put them in an effective order, and save time with the actual writing because you’ve thought about what to say before you say it.

Outlining is your friend. Especially for longer or complicated pieces that contain a lot of information.

But sometimes, outlining slows down the process of getting words on paper, and leads to a less interesting, more formulaic piece of writing. That’s okay for most of the writing lawyers do. We don’t need to be creative; we need to relate what happened (or will happen), what we think and recommend, and convey our thoughts succinctly.

And that’s usually what we do.

But if you’ve ever struggled to construct an outline, found yourself repeatedly re-organizing and re-writing it instead of getting on with the writing, as have I, you might want to try something many fiction writers do.

It’s called “Pantsing” and means “writing by the seat of your pants,” that is, writing (a story) without deciding what to write in advance.

No outline. Or much of one.

Pantsers start with a general idea of what they want to happen in their story, and usually not much more. They know what their main characters are like, what they want and how they might get that, but often only a few paragraphs which serve as a place to start.

They write and see where the story takes them. They let the story surprise them as much as they hope it will surprise their readers.

Pantsers say their writing is fresher this way, because they “hear” the story as they write it. They say it’s more enjoyable to write this way, unconstrained by the rigidity of a detailed outline.

Authors who write this way say they love the freedom and spontaneity this gives them. Authors who are committed outliners say that writing without an outline, without a net as someone put it, scares the heck out of them and they couldn’t do it.

What about non-fiction? Could lawyers write with little more than a general idea and a few points to cover?

I do this all the time with short pieces. What you’re reading now is an example.

I didn’t plan to write about pantsing today and yet here we are. This is where the writing led me.

Writing by the seat of your pants is liberating. I have no plans to make pantsing my primary modus operandi, however. Outlining will continue to be my jam.

On the other hand, for my current work-in-progress, a full length non-fiction book, I’ve completed a lot of the outline, but I’m experimenting with pantsing some chapters and parts thereof. After all, a chapter is really a collection of short essays.

I don’t know how successful I’ll be, but I’m confident it will help me finish the first draft.

Filed Under: Content creation, Writing

Transparency is overrated

August 2, 2024 by David M. Ward

Prospective clients, people who read your articles or listen to your presentations, want to know what you do and how you can help them.

Tell them what, not how.

It’s okay to speak about your process in general terms. A few words about how you’re different and better. But keep the details to yourself.

It’s your intellectual property and you don’t need to share it.

What about paying clients? Aren’t they entitled to know?

Not really. They’re paying for your efforts and results, not your methods. So don’t tell them “how” unless you want to.

In your next article, blog post, or presentation, give folks the big picture, get them excited about the results you can get for them, but just as the magician doesn’t share their secrets, you shouldn’t share yours.

As author William Zinsser put it, “Readers should always feel that you know more about your subject than you’ve put in writing.”

Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Presentations, Writing

Use more legalese, not less

June 17, 2024 by David M. Ward

Many experts tell you to “speak like your prospective clients speak,” mirroring and matching their language, word choices, and style, so they will more easily understand and relate to you.

They say that most people don’t have a legal background and might be confused and/or intimated by your use of legal terminology and references.

Basically, they’re saying “don’t talk like a lawyer”.

I disagree.

Prospects are looking for a lawyer or looking to learn something that might lead to hiring a lawyer. They expect you to act and speak like a lawyer, and if you don’t, they may think you don’t have the requisite experience and gravitas they’re seeking.

In addition, using appropriate legal terms will help people searching for those terms to find you.

So don’t eschew Latin and legal terms-of-art. But make sure to explain what those terms mean and use examples and stories to give them context that might be important to your reader.

You want your reader to understand you but you also want them to know you understand them. So, also make sure you speak like them.

Localize your message by using your target market’s terminology and references. Mention the names of well-known people in their industry or market, for example, as well as problems and solutions that are familiar to them.

Do both and not only will your readers and listeners better understand your message and how it applies to them, they will be more likely to see you as a better choice for them than other lawyers who don’t speak their language.

Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Writing

My 3 favorite sources of ideas for blog posts and articles

June 6, 2024 by David M. Ward

My goal is to write something people need to or want to read, aka “quality and value,” and do it quickly so I can get on with the day.

If that works for you, consider using one of these 3 sources of ideas:

(1) Respond to questions (from readers, subscribers, clients, etc.)

Don’t underestimate the value of simply answering questions about your area of expertise. You have plenty of information and relevant examples from your practice to write about, and if one person is asking about a subject, you know others want to know the same thing.

Check your email, questions and comments posted on social, and you might have enough ideas to last for months.

(2) Write what other lawyers (bloggers, experts, etc.) are writing about.

I get a lot of ideas this way. It’s easy to adapt a business consultant’s article about marketing or customer relations or productivity, for example, to something appropriate for my market (that means you).

When you’re fresh out of ideas, these articles are a good place to refill your tank.

I might use some of their ideas and add my own, or none of their ideas except the basic concept that caught my attention. I’ll change the headline, add my own irreverent style, and have an article or post that is completely different from the original.

(3) Write about something you saw, or that happened in your work or personal life.

Yes, you should write about your latest case or one you heard about from a colleague. But don’t ignore your personal experiences, which can be a fertile source of material.

For example, you might take your kid to a doctor’s appointment and be asked to supply information you know they don’t need and shouldn’t ask. You could write about HIPAA, or use that experience as the lead to an article about how you go out of the way in your practice to protect your clients’ privacy and rights.

Or, you might be out shopping and hear someone accuse someone of hate speech. In the US, you might use that to explain the meaning of free speech and the US Constitution.

Do you live in a city with potholes gone wild? You might write about what to do if your reader sustains property damage or bodily injury by driving over one.

Ideas are everywhere. If you pay attention, you will never run out.

The problem with lists

May 10, 2024 by David M. Ward

Everyone uses lists to record information and convey that information to others in a way that’s easy to follow. We use lists in our work, for research, opening and closing files, and every step in between.

We give our clients lists of things to do, and things to avoid, and lists of the steps we will take with their case, and they like knowing what to expect.

We also use lists in our marketing, so we can do things quickly and efficiently, in the right order, without having to think about what to do each time. And because our readers like posts that contain lists, we use lists in our content marketing.

When a business lawyer publishes a post that promises, “21 ways to use the law to increase your bottom line,” for example, this usually attracts prospective clients in their market. “There’s got to be at least one or two of those ways I can use,” they think, and they read (scan) the post to find out.

List posts work, and you should use them liberally in your content marketing.

Okay, so what’s the problem?

The problem is that because list-posts work and are easy to write, everyone writes them. Lawyers, consumer and business writers, bloggers, consultants, et al., know that list posts are popular (by looking at their statistics), and so they write lots of them.

Therefore, while you should use lists in your content, you shouldn’t rely on them exclusively.

Use your knowledge and experience and credibility as a lawyer to write more thoughtful, in-depth content, the kind only a lawyer of your experience and standing can provide.

Clients prefer to read and hire experts. A thoughtful piece by an attorney who practices in the area they need help with is more valuable to them than a simple list by a blogger.

So, you need both.

Write simple list-posts to get traffic and opens, and authoritative posts to “sell” readers on following and hiring you.

Filed Under: Content creation, Online Marketing, Writing

Too long; didn’t read

April 16, 2024 by David M. Ward

Lawyers tend to write articles and documents and memos and cover letters and emails… that are too long. They seek completeness and accuracy and to persuade someone of something, but often wind up doing anything but. Their writing is often long-winded, repetitive, boring, and ultimately persuades no one.

Search engines favor longer articles. But to be effective, they have to be well written. If they are, in terms of sales, long copy usually pulls better than short copy.

What can you do? Learn how to write long copy effectively or hire someone to do it for you. One takes time and practice, the other takes money and the good sense to invest it.

But that’s not the end of the story.

Yes, write long when you’re selling something (your services) or want to make love to Miss Google. But it’s okay to write short copy in your blog or newsletter, on social, in email, and for other purposes. In fact, it is often the best thing you can do.

Writing shorter pieces allows you to write more often. Your audience hears from you more frequently and is more likely to read what you wrote. That gives you more opportunities to “speak” to them and remind them about what you do and how you can help them.

You’re able to be in their minds and mailboxes more often, leading to more new clients and legal work for you.

This is a short message. If you got this far, it means you read it. We connected. That’s good.

Something else. Not only does writing longer articles mean you connect with your audience less frequently, your readers often save those longer articles to “read later” and we all know that later often never comes.

Yes, they do see that you emailed them again or published another post and that has value even if they don’t read your message. But it’s better if they do.

Ultimately, the best thing to do is to write both long and short articles, posts, and emails, and let each do their job.

How to start and write an effective email newsletter

Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Writing

My favorite outline

March 6, 2024 by David M. Ward

Yesterday, I talked about the value of outlines and why you don’t always need them, especially when writing a short article. What I didn’t say is that having a supply of go-to outlines available can make help you write faster and better articles, whether long or short.

In your writing toolkit, you should have a list of the basic outlines at your disposal, such as these classics:

The listicle: a simple, unordered list of various points, tips, techniques, problems, resources, questions, etc. Examples: 7 books everyone should read this year, Questions most people ask an Estate Planning Lawyer, 10 tips for organizing your legal documents.
How-to/process: show the reader a step-by-step process for doing something, the benefits of doing it, and what might happen if they don’t. Examples: How to find a good bankruptcy lawyer, What to do if you’re in an accident, How to file a quitclaim deed.
Story: what you (or someone else) did, what happened, what you learned, and how the reader can use this in their own life or business. Examples: How minimalism helped me become a better lawyer, My most difficult case and how I won it, What I learned about leading a successful life from a 70-year old history book.
A better way: challenge something everyone does or believes is true and show them why this is wrong or there is a better or easy approach. This type of outline includes the following parts: (1) Most people think/believe, do; (2) This is a mistake/ineffective/wrong; (3) It doesn’t solve the problem or accomplish the goal and can make it worse; (4) A better approach/way to think is

“A better way” outline is good for lawyers because by challenging conventional wisdom, it can position you as a thought leader, differentiate you from your competition, and stimulate word-of-mouth from those who like your better way and those who don’t.

Which is why this is my favorite type of outline, and why I’m using it in a book I’m writing.

How to use a newsletter to build your law practice

Filed Under: Writing