Legal Marketing | Attorney Marketing | Marketing For Lawyers

One of the least understood metrics in law firm marketing. Client lifetime value can be summed up as the amount of revenue a client has give to your firm during the time your firm has done business with them. It is explained in this law firm marketing video.

There is another factor to take into account when calculating client lifetime value in law firm marketing. This is the amount of referrals a client has given to you during your relationship with them. If you have a way of tracking the referrals, you can and should take into account the referral dollars you receive from clients.

Thinking about client lifetime value is natural for transactional attorneys. Their clients often come to them for many different issues over the life of their relationship. An alternative for the consumer practice areas is tracking the lifetime value of referral sources.

It is important to look at this metric as it helps you identify your most valuable clients and referral sources. This allows you to spend your time and your law firm marketing dollars attracting and retaining the best clients and referral sources.

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One of the questions I receive most often from people who are new to legal marketing is about learning what to do. People will say things like: "Joe is a great networker. I wish I could work a room like him."

The truth is, you can work a room, or write outstanding marketing copy, or do anything else just like the people who do it best. To do so, you use a technique (applied here to legal marketing) known as behavioral modeling. This video explains:

This is not about copying the actions of others. And I don't advocate that you model the behavior of unsuccessful people. This technique is about modeling the behavior of highly successful individuals - the people who are at the top of their profession.

In legal marketing, select the top two or three people in your practice area from around the country and study their marketing. Examine what they are doing. Look at the methods they use to execute their legal marketing strategy and adopt the aspects of their legal marketing that work for you.

Creating your own specific action items takes time and requires testing. If someone has already taken the time to implement and test something, learn from them. Implement the things they have successfully done and you will enjoy similar success.

Note: If you implement tactics that have failed when others tried them, you will experience the same failure unless you correct the mistakes the other person has made. DO NOT MODEL THE BEHAVIOR OF UNSUCCESSFUL PEOPLE.

Have you ever wondered why a client chose another lawyer to handle their matter? Maybe they picked someone whose background and qualifications were not as impressive as yours. Maybe they picked someone who you believed did not provide the same value as your law firm. Selecting a lawyer is an emotional decision for a client. Your law firm marketing plan must include an appeal to the client's emotions. The video below explains this in more detail.

Each of us has the freedom to select the food we eat. How come we don't always pick the food that is the most nutritious? We don't sit down and make a list of the positive and negative elements of a meal. We don't examine the vitamin and mineral content of our food. We don't consider the long term consequences of our dietary choices.

Why?

Because we want something this is going to fill us up and taste good. We are looking to satisfy a need. The same is true in selecting a lawyer. Clients make an emotional decision and they seek to support it with logical facts.

You can use this in your law firm marketing by appealing to the emotions of the client. Help the see that you understand their fear. Show them that you have the ability to connect with them. Help them feel as though their matter is the most important in the world to you, because it is to them.

If selecting something as important as nourishment is done with little or no logical effort, why would selecting a lawyer be different? Add emotion to your law firm marketing and it will become more effective.

One of the questions I am asked most frequently is: How often should an attorney marketing his firm communicate with his clients? This video answers that critical attorney marketing question and a few others.

Frequency of communication builds trust. You cannot over communicate AS LONG AS what you have to say is interesting to your audience (in this case clients or prospective clients). Most often, I am asked about frequency of communication in attorney marketing as it relates to: Blog posting, email messages and newsletters. Here are my thoughts on best practices for each attorney marketing method:

Blog Posts

If your blog posts are interesting and brief (500 words or less) the best practice is to post several times per week (everyday is great). Note that I said best practice. Once a week is fine if that is all you can fit into your schedule.

The thinking behind the daily posting is that it will help your search engine optimization. Search engines love frequently updated content. Better SEO means more visitors which should mean more potential clients.

Email

If you are doing an electronic newsletter, I recommend sending it out weekly. Remember, the content must be interesting to the reader. You must also offer an "opt out" in every email. This way people who don't want to hear from you can get off your email list. An electronic newsletter (or simple email) should be sent weekly as part of a good attorney marketing campaign.

Print Newsletter

Attorney marketing campaigns should always include a print newsletter. This should be sent out each month, like clockwork. People who you can't reach by email will appreciate the print version and it has great pass-along-value.

Please keep in mind that the frequency of your communication is never going to be a problem as long as your content is interesting and engaging. Boring information will be ignored regardless of how often it is sent. Step up the frequency of your communication and you will greatly improve your attorney marketing.

Every law firm has an ideal client. The marketing your law firm does should be specifically designed to attract and capture that person. This video contains the three essential qualities of a prospective client - regardless of the focus of your practice.

The three essential qualities of a client are:

Money

Your client should be able to pay your fee. Yes, you can do some pro bono work. But your practice is a business. You have to be able to feed your family. Your law firm marketing must attract people who can pay your fee.

The Authority and the Ability to Make a Decision

Your ideal client must be the person with the authority and the ability to say "yes" or "no" to working with you. You can have dozens of meetings with people who can influence the decision but ultimately you want to work with the decision maker.

A Problem You Can Solve

Your client must have a problem that you can solve. This means he must have an issue within your area of specialty.

If someone possesses those qualities and they walk into your office, they have met the minimum criteria for doing business with you. They may not be the ideal client, but they are a qualified prospect. Having a conversation with them is a worthy investment of your time.

There are three essential elements of a law firm marketing plan. All three of them must work together in help attract a client to your law firm. Watch this video for more detail.

The three elements of a law firm marketing plan are outlined below. They are:

Market

The market is the group of people you want to target with your law firm marketing message. Selection of market (the audience) is critical for the success of your law firm marketing plan. The best way to begin the process of market selection is to identify your best clients and target more clients just like them.

Message

The second critical component of your law firm marketing plan is your message. This is what you want to say to your market. Your message should educate your client on the problem he/she is experiencing. The message should differentiate you from everyone else who does what you do and it should motivate the client to take action.

Media

The final component of a law firm marketing plan is the media you select. Media can be anything from television and radio to a speaking engagement or even a face-to-face meeting.

These three elements: Message, Market and Media must be in alignment in order for your prospective client to respond to your law firm marketing.

It is ridiculous that hourly billing is so firmly implanted in the minds of lawyers that anytime billing is not done that way it is considered ALTERNATIVE. Legal marketing should help you create a relationship with your clients and it should help you stand out from the crowd. This video explains what I mean.

Hourly billing makes you a commodity. It also puts your services on par with folks who punch a time clock for a living. (There's nothing wrong with that kind of work but that's probably not what you had in mind when you went to law school.) It forces the client to find ways to minimize his interaction with you because he knows that every ten minutes the meter clicks and he has to pay more. In short, it promotes an environment of distrust.

In case you have not guessed by now, my approach to legal marketing is to get you to do things that are different and better than everyone else. Billing is a great way to differentiate your law firm. There are dozens of different ways to bill clients. Isn't it time you came up with a few?

Clients may write their checks to law firms but they hire lawyers. What they see when the meet you is your personal brand. In legal marketing your personal brand is your character. You can improve your standing in the eyes of your client if you admit when you are wrong. This is a hidden secret of legal marketing.

I know this is not something you include in your legal marketing plan. This is not something that you advertise. This is not something you are going to talk about at cocktail parties. But IT IS something your clients will talk about. It does speak volumes about your character. It definitely helps define who you are in the eyes of your client.

When you look in the mirror you need to like what you see. When you clients look at you, they see what you show them. If you show them you are mature enough to admit when you are wrong, they will be more willing to invest in a continuing relationship with you.

Remember, the client always gets the final vote and he votes with his wallet.

Being a lawyer is stressful enough. Add to that the time you spend on law firm marketing and it is enough to make your head spin. If you want to improve your law firm marketing and your legal work, you need to give yourself a break. Check out this video for more on how taking a day off can help.

Law firm marketing is probably not the most important thing on your list of priorities. It should be. But it probably isn't. Neither is taking a day off. In fact you may think taking a day off will hurt your ability to get things done.

In reality, taking a day off once every couple of weeks will actually improve your productivity. Here's why:

Taking time off gives your subconscious mind time to reset.

Your subconscious mind is constantly working. It needs time to focus and prioritize. If you are consciously bombarding it with thoughts and ideas you never give it a break. Taking a day without adding new information will help your subconscious mind catch up.

Leaving the mobile phone and email behind helps you de-stress.

Everyone complains about stress. The pressure to push work out the door is the number one reason law firm marketing is not a point of focus. If you turn off the cell phone and forget about the email, just for a day, your focus will improve and your stress level will go down.

Getting away from the office helps reinvigorate you.

You are so wrapped up in your own world that your priorities are distorted. Once you take a break you will be able to reset your priorities. You'll be dying to get back to work. You will feel better about your approach to the tasks you need to address and you'll focus more clearly.

Make it a point to take a day off sometime during the next couple of weeks and see if your productivity (particularly as it relates to law firm marketing) improves.

Most lawyer websites look similar. It seems as if each lawyer marketing his services went to the Same-Old-Same-Old School of web design. The content is all about the attorney. The pages are dull and drab. And there is no way to tell one from the other. This video gives you three ways to change that.

There are three easy ways to use the Internet to differentiate your law firm from your competitors. They are:

Use Video

Video is a great tool for building relationships. Think of yourself as the Oprah of your specific market niche. Oprah covers topics that interest people and she weaves them into compelling stories. You should do that with video on your website. A short compelling video each week will do wonders for your visitor numbers.

Provide Useful and Interesting Information

Your website should not be all about you or your law firm. It should provide educational content that helps people solve problems. It should be an informative resource. Prospective clients should want to come to your website because the content is outstanding.

Make Sure Your Website Matches Your Personality

The content should reflect who you are. It should have some personality. The cardinal sin of marketing is being boring. Make sure your website design, its content and the tone are all good representations of you and your approach to life and the law.

We are all creatures of habit. Legal marketing is nothing more than several habits grouped together into a system that leads to qualified prospective clients beating a path to your door. This video demonstrates a habit that can help you be informed about the events of the day - something that can come in handy when networking.

Making small talk is easy for some people. If you are like me and you hate engaging strangers in conversation, you will need to be up on the events of the day. I start my day off by reading a national and a local newspaper. This helps me think of topics to discuss when I need to "break the ice" with someone new. This also helps me identify potential clients and potential topics for articles and blog posts.

How can you adjust your daily routine to include legal marketing in your habits?

Do you have a memorable phone number? How about the physical address where your office is located... is it in a good spot? Is it easy to find?

Attorneys spend a great deal of time thinking about these things but marketing for lawyers often doesn't include picking a good domain name for your website. Watch this video for more:

SmithJonesBrownFrank.com is not a good domain name. However MiamiLegalResources.com is a good domain name.

Most of the catchy short domain names are long gone. This means you need to go with longer names that describe a benefit to working with you. I would also include a physical location to make sure you come up near the top of the list in a local search.

Think carefully about your domain name. It is a critical component in marketing for attorneys.

There is a way for you to come up at the top of the search engine results for your local area without paying a penny or hiring a law firm marketing company. That is to set up a listing in the Google Local Directory. This video demonstrates how to do that.

Google is the top search engine in the world. Seventy percent of the population of the United States will go to the Internet to find a product or service. There are people out there right now searching for your law firm.

Will they be able to find you?

Law Firm Marketing is about getting the right message to the right market using the correct form of media. Google Local Search is a great way targeted marketing tactic for your law firm.

Get your directory listing set up today!

As the saying goes, if you control your habits you control your life. That is definitely true in law firm marketing. This short video discusses one of the most valuable habits for attorneys looking to find new clients.

Keep in mind that making one change, even a small change like this one, can help you develop a winning law firm marketing plan.

Each day you pack up your belongings and you get ready to head home after a long day.

You're tired. You're hungry. You want to see your family.

The last thing on your mind is law firm marketing.

I'm going to ask you to do one more thing before you go home.

Just one thing.

If you do this one thing every day, you will steadily build an empire.

Law firm marketing is a collection of habits.

Start today.