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

If Goldilocks handled your law firm marketing

January 11, 2016 by David M. Ward

Is your porridge too hot? Do you give prospective clients too much information on your website or in your other marketing materials?

Probably not. If you’re like most lawyers, your porridge is too cold. Your give them too little. Prospective clients can see what you do and where you are located, but not much more.

If Goldilocks handled your law firmÂ marketing, she would tell you that you have to get your porridge just right.

How much information is “just right”? More than you think. When someone goes online to find an attorney it’s because they have a problem and they want information about their problem and the available solutions before they will consider you for the job.

Don’t just list your practice areas and services. That’s not enough. That’s too cold.

Teach people about the law and procedure. Discuss the risks and the options. Tell them about other people who have had these problems and, with your help, overcame them. Tell them about peopleÂ who waited too long or made the wrong decisions and made things worse.

But don’t expect them to wade through too much information and understand how it all fits together. That’s too hot.

You need to give people enough information so they can see how you can help them, and make it compelling enough to motivateÂ them to take the next step.

You have to capture their attention with provocative and benefit-rich headlines. You have to keep them reading with a narrative thread that speaks to their emotions and shows them that you understand their pain. You have to tell them that you can help them, like you have helped others. And you haveÂ to tell them what to do next.

But don’t explain everything. You want to make them curious enough to contact you. Don’t get too specific about fees on your website, for example. Give them guidelines, perhaps, but make them call to find out more.

So that’s the challenge. That’s the art of marketing. And porridge making. Not too hot, not too cold. . . just right.

Learn how to make your online law firm marketing just right: click here

Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Writing

The most important (and neglected) element in legal marketing

January 7, 2016 by David M. Ward

Alrighty then. You’ve got a blog and a newsletter. You crank out reports, ebooks, articles and presentations. You do email. Maybe even social media.

You’ve got this content marketing thing down.

Or do you?

If you’re like many lawyers, there’s something missing from your content. Something important. Something your clients and prospects want to see.

You. There’s not enough “you” in your marketing.

You’ve got the law down. Procedure, too. You obviously know your stuff. Anyone who accesses your content can see that you are qualified to help them. But then so are all of the other lawyers out there who do the same thing.

The thing that differentiates you from your competition, more than anything else, is you.

Because clients buy you before they buy your services.

Clients want to know what it would be like to work with you.

The law? Not that interesting to most people. Clients want to know that you understand it and can work your magic with it and get them some great results (or die trying), but in the end, they are far more interested in hearing about the man or woman behind the curtain.

That’s you.

They want to hear your voice. If not literally (via audio and video and live presentations), through your writing. They want to know your personality, your opinions, and your habits. They want to know about what’s important to you.

They want to know something about your personal life. What do you do when you’re not working?

They want to know about your other clients. How do they feel about you and what you did for them?

They want to know about your staff, your partners, and others with whom you associate, because our associations are a big part of who we are.

They want to know your opinion about things–cases and clients you’ve handled, trends in the law or in their industry or community. Maybe your predictions, too.

They want to know what it would be like to sit in your office, sharing their secrets with you, and looking to you for help.

So put more “you” into your marketing. Not too much, of course. You don’t want to sound like a politician who can’t stop saying “I”. Just enough about yourself so that people can see who you are, not just what you do.

Because people buy you before they buy your services.

Legal marketing is easier when you know The FormulaÂ

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Communication, Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing, Writing

Sorry, I can’t finish your case, I have lawyer’s block

December 29, 2015 by David M. Ward

You think you have writer’s block. You don’t. It’s an excuse for something else:

You don’t know what to write about. You don’t think you’re good enough. You don’t know enough about the subject.

The solution? Write anyway. Anything. Badly. Just get something on paper for now and fix it later.

Write quickly, without stopping to think. Get it all out of your head, no matter how cringe-worthy it might sound.

You can re-write it, as many times as you want. You can do more research. You can take a terrible page and make it better.

But you can’t editÂ a blank page.

There have many times in my career when I have had issues completing a writing project. I’ve had issues with starting, too. The solution has always been to do it anyway, promising myself that I didn’t have to show it anyone until I was happy with it.

When I gave myself permission to write badly and get a first draft done, I almost always found that I had more to say than I thought I did and I had actually done a pretty good job of saying it.

Writer’s block is no more a thing than lawyer’s block. You may not like your client or their case. You may not know the best tactics. You may think you’re in over your head. But you move forward anyway and you figure it out.

Get help if you need it. Confer with another attorney or hire an editor. But move forward, because you must, and because there’s no such thing as writer’s block.

Filed Under: Personal development, Productivity, Writing Tagged With: writers block

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