Writing Archives - Page 21 of 35 - The Attorney Marketing Center

Marketing online by profiling your clients

December 21, 2015 by David M. Ward

Dollar Shave Club has a unique approach to marketing. On their website, they feature the businesses of their customers and the stories behind them. They recently featured a coffee roaster, for example. According the folks at Small Business Trends:

“Each article comes complete with an interview that gives a glimpse into the personality of that person’s brand. Rather than sum it up, they go to the source, which gives a more truthful glimpse into the companies they are featuring. The people that run and care about the business are those who get to speak about it and that’s not so common anymore.”

Customers can fill out a form on the site describing themselves and their business. “If the submission catches the editor’s eyes, a rep may reach out with some more questions.”

If you represent businesses of any kind, you could do the same thing. Profiling and promoting your clients’ businesses will benefit you in several ways:

First, it makes you look good. Instead of saying nice thingsÂ about yourself, you’re saying nice thingsÂ about your clients.

Second, your client gets more exposure and more business, thanks to you. They might reciprocate and tell their customers all about you and your practice. Also, as their business grows, they will probably have more legal work for you. More referrals, too.

Third, no doubt your featured clients will tell everyone they know about their profile on your site. You’ll get more traffic, more subscribers and followers, and more clients.

Fourth, this is an easy way to create interesting content for your blog.

Finally, you might get other websites talking about your innovative approach to marketing. Like mine.

If you have a consumer practice, undoubtedly some of your clients own or run a business. Or they are connected to a charity or cause-oriented group. Find the ones who have an interesting story to tell and help them tell it.

You can also interview your professional contacts and feature their business or practice. You may not be able to send a lot of referrals to an accountant you know; promoting his practice this way might bring him lots of new clients.

Marketing online for attorneysÂ made simple

Filed Under: Blogging, Client relations, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Web traffic, Writing

How much time do you spend on income producing activities?

December 15, 2015 by David M. Ward

What percentage of your day is spent on income producing activities? Before you answer, I must point out that it’s not just work product or billable hours that produce income.

Income producing activities include time spent on personal development. Better skills, better habits, increased productivity, and the like, can do far more to increase your value to your clients than hard work or longer hours.

Take writing for example. Spending 30 minutes a day to improve your writing skills can make you a more effective advocate. ItÂ could bring you more victories, bigger settlements, and better deals.

Improved writing skills can also bring you more clients. Your articles, blog posts, newsletters, and other content can do a better job of demonstrating your knowledge, abilities, and experience. It can also give prospective clients and the people who refer them a better sense of who you are and what it would be like to work with you.

Becoming a better writer can also lead toÂ more effective seminars, videos, and presentations. More people will be persuaded by your message and more people will become your client.

You’ll also get faster at writing and be able to produce more content. More content means more traffic to your website and more readers for your articles, reports and books.

Obviously, marketing is also an income producing activity. Get better at networking, for example, and you can bring in more clients and better clients, andÂ open doors to other opportunities to build your practice.

Investing 30 minutes a day to improve your writing orÂ marketing skills may “cost” you $150 per day that you might earn from client work but, over time, your return on that investment could be huge.

Chaw on this for awhile before you answer, “How much time do you spend on income producing activities?”

And remember, the highest paid attorneys work hard for their clients but they also work hard on themselves.

Marketing is easier when you have a plan

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Personal development, success, Writing

Dragon NaturallySpeaking demo

November 30, 2015 by David M. Ward

I just posted a YouTube video demo of me using Dragon NaturallySpeaking software. It’s not a complete review but you’ll get to see how it works. You will also see errors, but those are my errors, not the software. The software is extremely accurate and that’s why I use it now in all my writing.

Direct link: https://youtu.be/oXeAWB190G0

Post any comments or questions below or on YouTube.

These videos are fun to do and I’m sure I’ll do more of them. (I’m sure I’ll get better at them, too!) Subscribe to the channel and you’ll be notified whenever I post a new video.

Filed Under: Productivity, Technology, Writing Tagged With: Dragon NaturallySpeaking, speech to text, voice to text

Why you should teach prospective clients to do it themselves

November 16, 2015 by David M. Ward

Suppose you are a personal injury attorney. And suppose you write a report showing people how to handle their own property damage (no injury) insurance claim. You tell themÂ what to do and how to do it.

You tell them not to admit fault, teach them how to measure and document their damages, give advice about what to do if it’s a total loss, and equip them to present and negotiate their claim.

You know, stuff you often do for clients and prospects without charge.

Show them how to do it themselves so they don’t ask you to do it for them. Of course you also tell them what to do if they do have injuries. You tell them what an attorney can do to help them maximize their claim and have peace of mind and how hiring an attorney usually pays for itself.

You distribute yourÂ report to your clients and prospects and to anyone else who wants a copy. You give it away on your website and hand it out when you’re networking. You contact other lawyers who don’t do personal injury and let them give the report to their clients and contacts.

What will happen? You’ll get a lot of people who are grateful to you for your sound advice. Some will be injured and call you. Some will hold onto your report and call you when they have an injury claim. And some will call you with questions about their property damage claim, even though you showed them what to do and assured them they could doÂ it themselves.

That’s okay. Take their call. Encourage their call. Give them a few minutes of your time. Write a letter or make a call for them, without charge. It’s an investment in their future business.

Think “clients” not “cases”.

If you don’t handle personal injury, you can do something similar in your practice area. Teach people how to file their own simple divorce, quit claim their property to their spouse, or file a fictitious business statement.

Help people do things for themselves and when they have something they can’t do themselves, they’ll call you.

Want more referrals? Quickly? How about 30 Days?

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Referrals, Relationship marketing, Writing

My first YouTube video in over 3 years

November 13, 2015 by David M. Ward

Oops, I did it again. After a hiatus of more than 3 years, I uploaded a new YouTube video. It’s a quick overview of mind-mapping using XmindÂ software.

The video is unscripted and done without notes. I was trying out my screen-casting skills using screencast-o-matic software and wasn’t planning on uploading it, but when it was done, I thought it wasn’t terrible and you might like to see it.

While you’re on YouTube, you might want to watch a funny video I did 5 years ago, call The Convention. It’s about an attorney going to his first ABA convention and may be good for a few chuckles.

No matter how disinclined you are to doing a podcast or any other content creation requiring a regular commitment of time, even the busiest attorney can occasionally create simple videos and post them online. Even me.

Anyway, let me know what you think of my new creation, or if you have any questions. And if you have any requests for additional videos, as Ross Perot used to say, “I’m all ears”.

Filed Under: Presentations, Productivity, Technology, Writing Tagged With: brainstorming, mind mapping, note taking, outlines, screen casts

Marketing legal services: let other people do it for you

November 12, 2015 by David M. Ward

You don’t want to blog or do a podcast but other people in your niche do. They need people to interview and people to write guest posts.

You, for example.

Find blogs and podcasts and video channels in your niche and introduce yourself to the head guy or gal. Compliment their work. Promote their content to your lists. Comment on their posts. Get on their Hangouts and contribute to the conversation.

Stay on their radarÂ and eventuallyÂ they will ask if they can interview you. In fact, once they know who you are, let them know that you are available and you’ll probably move to the front of their list.

By helping them, you help yourself. Your interviews and posts will get your name and contact information in front of people who need your services or who know someone who does. You’ll get more traffic to your website, more followers on social media, and more subscribers for your list. New clients will be next.

Remember, they need content and they can only create so much themselves. They need people like you to help them. As you help them, you help yourself.

The more you get your name out there, the more other bloggers and podcasters will seek you out. Marketing will get easier for you. Instead of doing one interview this monthÂ you’ll have three interviews this week.

Soon, your target market will see you “everywhere” and they will know that when they need a lawyer who does what you do, you are the oneÂ they want. Other professionals will see that you are in demand and choose you for their referrals.

Help others with their marketing and they will help you with yours.

Learn more about marketing legal services online, here

Filed Under: Blogging, List building, Marketing legal services, Networking, Online Marketing, Publicity, Social media marketing, Web traffic, Writing Tagged With: interviews

Speechnotes: A Free alternative to Dragon NaturallySpeaking?

October 29, 2015 by David M. Ward

If you’ve never tried voice dictation before, but you’re not ready to take the plunge and invest in the gold standard of voice dictation software Dragon NaturallySpeaking, you might want to try a free online alternative called Speechnotes. (Note, it’s .co, not .com). I’ve been playing around with it for a few days and I am impressed.

Speechnotes is a speech-enabled online notepad that lets you turn your voice into text inside your browser. There’s also an extension, for Chrome users only right now. Go to the website, click on the graphic microphone, and you’re ready to dictate.

Speechnotes uses Google’s technology and it’s fast and accurate. Not as accurate as Dragon NaturallySpeaking (or Dragon for Mac), with which I am able to achieve 99% accuracy, but it does remarkably well considering it doesn’t “know” my voice, speech patterns, or vocabulary. I dictated the first draft of this post with it and estimate it had better than 90% accuracy.

Speechnotes also lacks editing capabilities, but does allow for dictation of basic punctuation. You can use it dictateÂ notes or correspondenceÂ on the fly, and then download the text, upload it to Google Drive, or simply cut and paste your words into the application of your choosing.

One thing I really like is that the programÂ doesn’t time out, like Siri or other free dictation solutions. You can dictate for as long as you want, pause and come back for more. I haven’t been able to make it work on my iPhone, unfortunately.

Give it a try. There is no login, registration, installation, or download needed to use Speechnotes. If you like it, itÂ may be all you need. If you really like it, go look at all you can do with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

Filed Under: Productivity, Technology, Writing Tagged With: Dragon for Mac, Dragon NaturallySpeaking, Speechnotes, voice dictation, voice to text

How to write your first book (or your next book)

October 22, 2015 by David M. Ward

Admit it, you know you’d love to write a book.

You’re smart. You know that being an author willÂ look great on your bio. You know that a book can bring traffic to your website and prospects for your practice. You know that having a book can help you acquire new business contacts and referral sources and open doors to many other marketing opportunities.

But you haven’t written a book because you don’t know what to do and you don’t think you haveÂ the time.

So it’s on your “someday” list.

Forget that. Let’s get your book done in the next few days.

How? I gave you the answer yesterday, when I announced my latest book, “How to Build a Successful Appellate Practice.” If you read the book, you know that the quickest and easiest way to write a book is to not write one at all.

I “wrote” this book in a few hours by interviewing an expert. I asked questions, he answered, and 90% of the book was done. I added an introduction and summary, which were taken from the interview, and my bio withÂ links to my website.

Done and done. Bada bing, bada boom.

It’s a short book, but a good book. Solid information presented in an interesting way.

And you can do the same thing. You can use the interview method to write your first book, or your next book.

Then, promote the book and let the book promote you. Tell everyone you know about your book. Post it as a pdf on your website. Give it away to clients and prospects. Your book provides them with helpful information and shows them that you know important people, reinforcing the notion that you too are important.

And, in case you haven’t figured it out, the person you interview will also promote the book. Proudly. They’ll tell everyone about it, and thus, tell everyone about you.

In “The 30 Day Referral Blitz” I told you about the many ways you can use a report to grow your practice. If you haven’t read that, you owe it to yourself to do so immediately. But as good as a report is, a book is even better.

So here’s your homework.

Call an attorney you know in another practice area, one that complements yours. If you handle personal injury, for example, call someone who does workers compensation or Social Security disability.

Then, interview each other, and turn the interviews into books. You’ll thank me later.

Get “The 30 Day Referral Blitz”Â here

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Writing Tagged With: interviews, writing a book

How to build a successful appellate practice

October 21, 2015 by David M. Ward

When I was a brand-new, wet-behind-the-ears attorney, I had a case that went up on appeal. I wrote the brief and argued it before the state appellate court. I lost, but I thoroughly enjoy the experience and remember thinking it would cool to have an appellate-only practice.

I never achieved that, but I recently interviewed an attorney who did.

Steve Emmert is a Virginia attorney who built an appellate-only practice when other lawyers told him he couldn’t. He went on to become one of the most successful appellate attorneys in the Virginia.

This morning, I published a short Kindle ebook with the complete transcript of that interview. You can download it for just .99 cents, or free if you have Kindle Unlimited.

And you should download it, even if you don’t do appeals or have no interest in doing so.

In the interview, Mr. Emmert shares advice for building a successful law practice that applies toÂ any practice area. Go look at the sales page and you’ll see whatÂ I mean.

Please let me know that you downloaded the book,Â and please leave a review. And if you know any appellate lawyers or lawyers who would like to have an appellate practice, please tell them about the book.

But there’s another reason why you should grab this book. You will see how easy it is to turn an interview into an ebook, something every attorney should do.

A book like this can bring traffic to your website. It can bring you new clients and new referral sources. It can lead to new speaking and networking opportunities, and it can help you build your list.

In fact, I’m writing a book on how to that. (Stay tuned).

Get How to Build a Successful Appellate Practice

Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Writing Tagged With: appellate practice, writing a book

Stop trying to make everyone like you

October 15, 2015 by David M. Ward

Believe it or not, some people don’t like me. Okay, maybe it’s not me they don’t like, they don’t like my writing.

They think my ideas “aren’t for them”. My writing style makes them uncomfortable. They don’t think I understand them or can help them.

You know what? I don’t care.

For one thing, I never hear from them. They quietly leave my email list or stop visiting my blog. They’re gone, like a fart in the wind, and will probably never return.

The other reason I don’t care is that they aren’t my target market. I don’t write to them, or for them. If they don’t “grok” me, they probably don’t trust me and my ideas and thus they aren’t going to hire me or recommend me.

If I cared about what they thought and tried to appeal to them, I would have to water down my styleÂ or homogenize my ideas. If I did that, I would be doing a disservice to the ones who do like me: my prospects and clients.

So, I ignore them and continue to do my thang. And the more I do that, the more I attract people who like what I say because they know I’m talking to them.

One of the reasons I pound on the idea of targeting niche markets instead of marketing to “everyone” is that it allows you to connect with the people in that niche on a deeper level. By your examples and stories and yes, even your style of writing, they think, “he gets me”. That synergy leads to more clients, more referrals, and more positive word of mouth.

That doesn’t happen when you try to please everyone.

Seth Godin put it this way recently:

When we hold back and dumb down, we are hurting the people who need to hear from us, often in a vain attempt to satisfy a few people who might never choose to actually listen.

It’s quite okay to say, “it’s not for you.”

Write to the peopleÂ who get you. Ignore the ones who don’t.

Marketing is easier when you know The Formula

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Communication, Marketing legal services, Presentations, Public Speaking, Referrals, Writing