August 2010 Archives

August 31, 2010

How to Establish Expert Status with Attorney Marketing

Does your law firm marketing make you look like an expert?

When your prospective client is choosing between you and the other lawyers who do what you do, how will he differentiate you from them?

What makes you different?

You should establish yourself as an expert in the eyes of your clients. Many lawyers think this is difficult to do. In reality it is not.

Here are five ways to create maximum credibility and establish yourself as an expert:

Your Website

Write as often as possible, providing educational content and using an authoritative tone. The written word is powerful. It conveys maximum credibility and it can definitely showcase your expertise. If you have a blog on your website you should update it as frequently as possible. As an alternative you can post articles that your clients can download as a .pdf document.

Video is another way to establish you as an expert. We recommend that our clients post a few videos each month on a YouTube Channel as well as on their Website. The screen, whether it is a television or a computer screen, enhances your status.

Community Leadership

If you are passionate about a cause or a group or organization, I highly recommend you get involved as a leader. This will help position you as a person with expertise and authority. This is critical for attracting referral partners as well as for attracting clients. Your willingness to step up and make a difference in the community separates you from others who do what you do.


Media

You do not have to be a media darling in order to be viewed as an expert. One of the best strategies for creating expert status is by offering educational information (background) to producers, editors, reporters and writers. This information helps them understand a story and it helps them present their viewers, listeners and readers with more accurate information. You can then accept credit as a consultant to their news organization. This will not only help enhance your standing in the community, it will make it easier for you to leverage those relationships when you want to be featured to promote your practice.

Speaking

Accepting local speaking engagements is a great way to build up your expert status. Speaking engagements will also generate leads but one of the things they do really well is provide excellent word of mouth (or buzz) about you. This buzz will help enhance your status as an expert.

Write a Book

This is not as difficult as it seems. Writing a book is one of the s=best ways to establish yourself as an expert. People automatically convey authority to a book author. If you have an interest in writing a book, start with an outline of ideas. Once you have that together, write a sample chapter. When you have both of those ready, use your marketing skills to submit your manuscript to as many agents as possible. If you do not get results (or you just want this to get done quickly) there are ways to self publish a book and enjoy the same type of credibility.

Overall, being an expert is one of the keys to successful differentiation of your law firm. Marketing should help make this possible. If you would like to get a jump start on your competition, there are several other ways to do that with law firm marketing. Our firm specializes in helping lawyers get new clients quickly.

If you would like more information visit: http://www.LegalMarketing FastStart.com

August 30, 2010

Law Firm Marketing Follow Up Basics

There are few things more important to law firm marketing than follow up. Most of the clients you will attract will come to you from your follow up systems. Today we are going to talk about the basic elements of any follow up system in your law firm marketing plan.
There are five critical elements to any type of follow up community. These elements must all be present in order to effectively convey your message. Below are each of these elements with a brief description.

Frequency of Communication

The more often you communicate with someone the more likely they will be to trust you. Your follow up messages should be frequent and consistent. You cannot communicate with someone too frequently. Let me stress this point: You cannot communicate with someone too often. If your message contains the other elements listed below, and it is interesting, it will be welcomed.

Establish an Authoritative Tone

People want to be lead. In your field of expertise you should offer no apologies for taking and direct, authoritative tone. Let people know you are confident in your ability to help them. Do not be shy about helping people with the information you share.

Provide Educational Information

You must help the client or prospective client understand their situation. That often means giving them information to provide context. This information should be educational in nature and it should not be boring. Do you best to keep things simple but make sure the basics of the situation are understood.

Highlight the Pain

Most people do not have a strong enough sense of urgency. To help them take action you need to highlight the pain they will face if they do not take action. This is critical. They must WANT to avoid this pain. They must WANT to get as far away from it as possible.

All too often I hear people talk about what the client NEEDS to do. But if the client doesn't WANT to do it, it will never happen.

Include a Strong Call to Action

You must also include actionable next steps in your communication to the client or prospective client. You must tell them what to do, when to do it and why they need to do it now. And then you should repeat it.

These elements can (and should) be included in your communication regardless of the vehicle used to convey the message. You will find these follow up elements in all forms of law firm marketing like: Direct mail, magazine or blog articles, speeches, workshops and seminars, media interviews, newsletters and many more.

Do not let a communication opportunity with an existing client or prospective client pass you buy. Make sure each of the follow up elements described in this law firm marketing video are included.

August 27, 2010

Three Ways to Get More Referrals

There are three types of people who will refer prospective clients to your law firm. All of them are important and all can be extremely valuable.

The first type of person is someone who is a center of influence. This means they are respected within a particular group or community, they offer advice to people in need and where they lead, others follow. These people are critically important to lawyers in consumer based practices. A person who is a center of influence has the potential to refer dozens of cases to you. These people have deep relationships.

The second type of person is a friend, family member or someone you met in a social situation. These people fit into what is called your natural network. This means they are generally not people who understand what you do for a living and many times they think they have knowledge of the law because they have seen it on television.

The third type of person is a client, former client or a friend or relative of a client. If you have been a good lawyer, and you treat these folks with respect, it is just a matter of staying 'top of mind' with them and helping them identify a potential need for your services.

Referrals generally come from relationships built on a strong foundation. If you are looking to develop relationships that help you grow your law firm, you must have a giver's mentality. This video describes the mentality of a giver and how it can help you get more referrals.

There are three ways to give to others to get more referrals.

Make an Introduction: This is a great way to build a relationship with your potential referral source. Introductions can often lead to business relationships. Open your rolodex to these potential referral sources and they will reward you with referrals.

Send them a Client: Keep your eyes open for possible opportunities to send clients to them. If they have a law firm, send them clients in their area of expertise. This is the quickest way to build a relationship with a potential referral source.

Stay Top of Mind: This is important for everyone. You must always stay top of mind with your referral sources. This can be by sending a newsletter or by some other means. Staying top of mind is critical to sourcing referrals.

Sourcing referrals requires good communication. If you communicate and develop relationships you will be a winner at getting more referrals.

August 26, 2010

In Law Firm Marketing Cash is King

The goal in law firm marketing is to get as much business in the door as the firm can handle. Sometimes in attempting to achieve this objective the real, underlying goal gets lost in the shuffle. That underlying goal is to collect cash from the client for the work you do. I prefer, as do most of my clients, to collect this cash in advance of performing the actual services.

There is constant pushback from lawyers when I press them to change their business model and focus on cash in advance. They tell me they cannot be competitive if they operate in this fashion. They tell me this is not an industry norm. They tell me the clients will call them every five minutes for status updates if the money is paid in advance. They tell me lots of things, all negative, related to getting paid in advance. The trouble with these arguments is that they just are not true.

Ultimately, clients will work with you in any way you want them to. You simply need to set the expectations upfront and spell out what will be done and when it will happen. Then you need to deliver. And you need to have a track record of delivering. If you have positioned yourself and your firm properly, getting payment from your clients at the outset of the engagement is never a problem.

Here are three ways to structure an engagement so you get paid in advance.


Offer a Discounted Price for Paying the Engagement Fee Upfront: This strategy is similar to the strategy retail businesses use when they have a sale. They call it a markdown. The upfront price you offer to the client is what you would typically charge to complete the work. The fee if they pay over time should be at a significant premium compared to the upfront price. Since you are basically financing the legal work for the client, you are entitled to charge a premium for doing so.

Contingency Pricing with Anticipated Costs Paid Upfront: I hate the word retainer. Change that word to investment in your vocabulary. The client should make an investment upfront that will cover your costs in a contingency case (non personal injury). You can anticipate the costs by looking at past history of similar cases. You are still taking a risk when it comes to these cases, as you will have some time invested in them, but you will not be invested beyond that. This works well in collection or litigation cases where a settlement is the ultimate goal.

Success Fee in Return for Reduced Rate: If you spend any time reading my articles, you know I despise hourly billing. One way to combat the amorphous nature of some cases is to receive a monthly investment from the client which covers all work to be done during the 30 days that follow. Each monthly installment is equal and the work is spelled out in a bullet point format. You then compare this fee model to a standard hourly model to demonstrate the savings. As a reward for providing this discount to the client, the lawyer receives a success fee when the objective or objectives are ultimately achieved.

These are just three ways for you to improve the cash flow of your law firm. There are dozens more. Explore creative billing options that will improve your cash flow and leave a favorable impression with the client. This is not just a good law firm marketing strategy, it is good business.

August 25, 2010

How To Get Clients as a Lawyer

The title of this article is a popular search term for people who find this website. Since you may have been searching for this exact topic I decided to give you a brief crash course on how to get clients as a lawyer. Keep in mind this is simplistic and brief (given the fact that this is an article on a blog and not a course in marketing). But my desire is to give you're a few actionable steps that will help you find your way in the world of law firm marketing.

One of the most important points I make when people ask me how to find clients as a lawyer is to help them face reality. By that I mean that nobody cares about your background or your experience or your fancy office until they know that you can solve their problem. That is a huge lesson for many attorneys.

Most lawyers will lead a business development conversation with their qualifications and their background and that is certain to turn any client or prospective client off. Instead, you should take a consultative approach and understand the needs and the desires of the client. This will not only help you build a relationship with him, it will also help you tailor your approach when it comes time to offer your services.

That is the initial advice I offer lawyers when they want to know how to get clients in a one-on-one setting. Getting clients to the point where they are in your office and ready to sign up means you must attract many prospective clients who need your services. That requires skill at law firm marketing.

In this video I share a few ideas on how you can attract those prospective clients.

Here is an outline of the three steps I share in the video.

Pick a Niche for Your Law Firm Marketing: Marketing to everyone is a disaster. You do not have the time and financial resources to launch a law firm marketing campaign to everyone who could possibly need your services. You must pick an area of focus even if it is just for law firm marketing purposes. This will help you tailor our message to a specific group.

Differentiate Your Law Firm from All the Others: Your law firm marketing must answer this question: Why should someone hire you instead of everyone else? The answer should be something that is difficult for other firms to replicate. And the answer should never, ever focus on your fees. Being a low fee lawyer is the quickest way to become a broke lawyer.

Educate Prospective Clients: There are two key points to educational marketing: First you want to educate your clients on why they need to solve their problem now and second you need to educate your prospective clients on how to choose the correct lawyer to solve their problem.

Notice I did not mention the need to give your background information anywhere. Notice I did not mention the need to boast about your impressive record. Notice that everything I shared with you is focused on the client and his needs.

August 24, 2010

In Marketing For Lawyers Free Advice is Worthless

Whenever the subject of marketing for lawyers arises, you cannot help but touch on the topic of the free consultation. Many lawyers offer a free consultation to their prospective clients with the though being that if they "just see how much I know, they will definitely retain me".

Have you ever felt that way? Do you offer a free consultation?

While you may have an extraordinary amount of experience and you may intimately know a specific area of the law, you probably just shot yourself in the foot with the pricing strategy of a free consultation.

There are four reasons why you should never do anything for free. (There are more reasons than this but these are the four most compelling reasons.)

People Value Things They Pay For: This is as true as the day is long. If you bill someone for your time people immediately respect it and they take it seriously. If they do not pay, they will not place a value on it. You have to set that value. If you do not, there is no way the client will value it as heavily.

Pay Equals Positioning: Are you a good lawyer or are you a great lawyer? If you are a great lawyer, you can charge $15,000 for something a good lawyer charges $5,000 to handle. Who gets to decide if you are good or great? The client. And you set the tone in his mind by positioning yourself with your upfront consultation.

Your Confidence Level Increases with Your Fees: Have you ever worked your tail off for a little bit of money? How did it feel? Well, imagine the opposite feeling. Imagine the confidence you feel when someone pays you a significant amount of money for your advice.

You Must Value Your Most Perishable Asset: You only have a limited amount of time. Once it is gone you can never get it back. If you do not "sell' it to someone it perishes. It is up to you to make the most of it.

This video provides additional detail on this concept.

I was first introduced to the concept early in my consulting career. I always wanted to give new clients special pricing so they could see how good we were. This worked in reverse. By discounting my pricing, I set myself up as someone who had not integrity in my pricing. Ever since that moment, I started doing introductory interviews to see if a client was a good fit. I gave no advice for free. I just interviewed the prospective client. If the client was a good fit, we moved on to a formal, paid consultation.

If you give advice, you must get paid. Do not do free consultations, ever. They are harmful on many levels and for many reasons.

August 23, 2010

Attorney Marketing Intensity

We have talked about incorporating attorney marketing into your daily routine and we have talked about doing one last thing at the end of the day to make sure you attract clients. But one issue we have not addressed is your marketing intensity.

Think about marketing as being similar to working out in a gym. If you went to the gym and lackadaisically lifted weights you would not really get great results. But if you went to the gym and really gave a 100% effort you would get fantastic results from your workout.

The same principle is true with marketing. If you give 100% effort all the time with your law firm marketing you will get great results. If you give a half-hearted effort you will get crappy results. If you would like to see three specific examples of attorney marketing with intensity, check out this video featuring Dave Lorenzo, The Law Firm Marketing Expert.

Three examples included in this video are:

Networking: This becomes intense when you set goals for your networking event and you meet them by meeting the right people.

Blogging: Your blog becomes intense when you write articles from the client's perspective and you help the client solve a problem. Educating the client in a blog article is a great way to dial up the intensity in your marketing.

Follow-Up: Most people never follow-up. You increase your marketing intensity when you follow up with people relentlessly. Keep in touch with everyone you meet because you never know when you will come into contact with a potential client of referral source.

Attorney marketing intensity separates good law firms from great law firms. If you do not have focus and intensity then you better be careful because your clients may be talking to your competitors.

August 20, 2010

Barriers To Effective Law Firm Marketing

If you have your sights set on making a great living and living a great life as a lawyer, it's likely there are market place barriers standing in your way. However, the mental barriers holding you back may be just as strong, if not stronger. Most attorneys underestimate the power these mental barriers can have over your ability to develop new business.

Here are the four most common mental barriers attorneys face when it comes to law firm marketing:

Developing a Marketing Mindset: Learning how to self promote and sell your services is difficult enough. When you add the stogy old school culture that decries "just be a good lawyer and the clients will come" you have the recipe for a mindset that will lead to business prevention instead of business development.

This is best combated by embracing the fact that your law firm is a business and it must be operated as such. New clients are the lifeblood of any business. If you can't source them and convince them to hire you, you will be out of business quickly.

Developing Confidence in your Ability: Confidence in your ability to perform is important. If you do not believe you are the best lawyer for the client then you should not be sitting in front of them.

If you do believe you are the best lawyer for the client, then you have an obligation to let them know it. And you also have an obligation to do everything possible to convince them to use your services. If they settle for someone else, they will not be getting the best representation.

Presenting the Value You Can Provide to the Client: If you can provide the client with extraordinary value for their investment, you need to tell them. The trouble is, many lawyers don't know how to create value much less demonstrate it.
Your obligation in this area is simple: First make a list of all the possible ways your services can benefit your client. Next assign a dollar amount to the savings. Total up the savings from each initiative and present it to the client. When this is compared to the cost of your services, the investment will seem negligible.

Lack of Ability to Emotionally Engage the Client: Most lawyers like to follow and present fact patterns. This is just the way they are. Clients find this dull and uninteresting.

As an attorney hoping to develop a relationship with a client, you need to be emotionally engaging. You need to help people understand that you feel their pain. They have to be able to make a connection with you before they will consider hiring you. Law firm marketing should be emotionally engaging.

This video provides more detail.


When it comes to law firm marketing, most lawyers are in their own way far more than the competition or clients are in their way.

Focus on removing these four internal barriers to success and you will notice a dramatic increase in the amount of clients you retain. Fighting through your mental barriers can be difficult but it is worth the effort because happiness lies on the other side.

August 19, 2010

Legal Marketing and Sequence Mailing

There is nothing sexier than having a good sequence mailing as part of your legal marketing plan. Yes. I am serious.

Very few lawyers are using direct mail these days. Some places in the United States, direct mail for lawyers is highly regulated. But even in the states where you can mail anything to anyone at any time, most lawyers are not using direct mail.

The reason for this is simple. They have not been able to make direct mail work for legal marketing. Notice the choice of language. I said THEY have not been able to make direct mail work. Our clients, one the other hand, know how to make direct mail work and work well.

There are many important aspects to using direct mail as a component of a legal marketing campaign but none is more important than the sequence you use when you send it out. Again, notice the language. I wrote sequence. This implies multiple letters. And that is exactly what we are going for. We want multiple letters to go to your intended target audience. We want them to be pursued by your direct mail campaign. We want the message to eventually get through.

This video describes how to incorporate a sequence mailing into your legal marketing.

Incorporating a direct mail sequence into legal marketing is not complicated. It just requires some effort and some know-how. Start with a small list and mail to them three times over the course of six weeks. Do not worry if you don't hear from anyone during the first wave of the mailing. In fact, I would not be surprised if you didn't hear from anyone in the first or second round of mailing. On average people need to see or hear your message seven times before they take action. Depending on the size of your list this may be true of your mailing.

If your direct mail campaign is effective (if you attract and retain clients as a result) you should continue to mail to your database until it stops being effective.

Like many other things in life, you get out of a direct mail campaign whatever you put into it. I highly encourage you to launch a direct mail campaign and measure the results. I think you will find it hard to top the return on investment from a sequence mailing.

August 18, 2010

Attorney Marketing and Long Term Thinking

When it comes to attorney marketing there are two types of thinking: Long Term Thinking and Short Term Thinking. Unfortunately, most attorneys think about the short term more than they think about the long term.

As a frame of reference, I am defining short term thinking as: The time frame between now, the present moment and the trailing twelve months. For the purposes of this discussion, Long Term thinking is thinking beyond the current twelve months.

Law firm marketing should always balance the need for new business today with the potential for developing business from existing clients (either through additional matters that develop with a client or through referrals sourced from within your client base). Attorneys must keep this in mind as they develop a marketing plan.

Most attorneys are concerned with now. They want to sign up a client today so that they can pay their light bill for this month. Even if they have substantial cash flow, they still are only concerned with bringing in the immediate transaction or bringing in the current issue.

There is value in thinking about the long term relationship with the client.

Look at it this way:

Attorney Marketing Short Term Thinking:

Never Turn Down Business: This is the mantra of a short term thinker. They never turn down anything. Everyone who walks in the door becomes a client, no matter what it takes. Reduce prices. Work with unrealistic deadlines. Burn out the associates. Get 'em in no matter what.

Bill By The Hour: Work on this matter as long as necessary or until the client runs out of money. Do some research and then do more research. Think about the client while you sleep and always, always keep track of your hours.

Focus on Marketing when Legal Work is Slow: When the case wraps attend a few networking meetings. Speak to your local Elks club when you don't have any client work to do. Call a few friends and see if they need a lawyer. But only do this when things are slow.

Attorney Marketing Long Term Thinking:

Take on Only Clients That Fit the Mission and Purpose of the Law Firm: If we can truly make a difference for the client, we will take the case. If we can add value to the clients business or to his life, we should take the case. If we believe in the client, we should take the case.

Focus on Client Lifetime Value: The best matters come from existing clients. They know us, like us and trust us. If we have to invest in that relationship up front, that is fine because we know that this client will be with us for a long, long time.

Make Law Firm Marketing a Daily Habit: We do something each day that brings us closer to landing another client. This may take 20 minutes or it may take 2 hours. No matter what happens, we do something each and every day to move our marketing initiatives forward.

This video demonstrates the value in thinking about the long term when developing your marketing strategy.

Ultimately, the choice is yours. You can choose the short term view or the long term view of attorney marketing. If you choose the short term, you will be forced to constantly play catch-up. That is not fun. It is not productive. And it is not in the best interests of you or your law firm.

Think long term. You will be glad you did.

August 17, 2010

Unsubscribe is Not A Dirty Word in Legal Marketing

Email marketing is a highly effective way to develop and maintain a relationship with your client base. As long as you know the client or prospective client and you have permission to email them, you can (and should) do so regularly.

One of the issues lawyers face when using email for legal marketing, is the request of a client or a prospect to unsubscribe from an email list. Many people think this is an indictment of their marketing strategy or of their ability to write compelling copy. That is just not true.

When someone unsubscribes from your email list it does not mean you are a spammer. Many people think that an email that contains a marketing message is spam. It is not. In truth this message may be helpful to many people. If someone opts out, they do so for their own reasons. If you have permission to email them, you do not need to worry about this message being misconstrued as spam.

If someone unsubscribes from your email list it means that email is simply not a good communication method for you to use to engage that client. They may respond favorably to other marketing methods and other people may ultimately find this message valuable.

This video provides you with a little more detail.

Using email for legal marketing is smart. If someone unsubscribes, don't take it personally. few people unsubscribing from your email marketing campaign doesn't mean your marketing campaign is a failure. It doesn't even mean that the email was necessarily bad. It certainly does not mean that your legal marketing plan is ill conceived.

Keep in mind that no matter how hard you try to please people, there will always be some folks who are too busy to read your email. Simply accept it and move on.

August 16, 2010

Brochures are a Bad Law Firm Marketing Tool

Brochures are bad for law firm marketing for three specific reasons:

1). Most often brochures are about you and your law firm. They are not about the client and his needs. Any time you talk about yourself or your firm with a client, you lose. The client's issue is always the most important thing on the clients mind. Every piece of your law firm marketing should be focused on the client's needs.

2). Brochures do not sell. A brochure looks good but like a dim model on the runway, it is all looks and no substance. Your law firm marketing material must work hard for you. If it doesn't it is worthless. Before you convince the client you are the right attorney for them you must first convince them they need to solve their problem. This means you need to create urgency. Usually, a brochure has no urgency associated with it. It is simply a good looking piece of four color paper folded over.

3). A brochure doesn't educate your clients or prospective clients. If you want your law firm marketing to be successful it must educate the client on the issues they are currently facing. It must also help the client understand the value of solving this problem and the value of solving it now.

So what law firm marketing tool should you use in place of the evil brochure? This video will help give you some perspective.

You should replace your standard brochure with a guide that will help the prospective client hire the right lawyer. This guide is a great way to introduce your law firm and your services in a nonthreatening way.

Your guide should educate and inform and it should be a reference document as opposed to being a promotional document. Attracting clients means helping them understand the need for your services and convincing them that the timing is right for them to take action. A guide to hiring a lawyer in your area of expertise goes a long way toward educating the client on these facts.

Law firm marketing is educational, creates urgency and is set in the world of the client. A brochure is the exact opposite of these things. This is why a brochure has no place in law firm marketing.

August 13, 2010

Relax and Be Better At Attorney Marketing

So what does relaxation have to with attorney marketing?

When you are relaxed and free from stress you are more focused and more creative. Focus and creativity are key components to successful attorney marketing. Anything you can do to increase your focus and creativity will definitely help you not be a better marketer, but it will help you be a better lawyer.

One of the best ways to regain you balance and focus is to take a vacation. In this video, Dave Lorenzo expert in attorney marketing, shares his five tips for getting the most out of your next vacation. Dave's five tips for maximum relaxation on vacation include:

1). No Cell Phone: There is absolutely no reason to take your cell phone with you on vacation. Your clients should be given the name and phone number of a lawyer who is covering for you. This lawyer should have the capability of handling any issues that arise. As king as you have this arrangement in place, there is no reason to take a cell phone.

2). No Email: The reasoning behind this is the same as the cell phone. You don't need to be in touch with anyone while you are away. As long as someone is covering for you, you should feel free to shut down the email.

3). Do Not Watch or Read The News: There is no reason to watch or read any news reports. If something really bad happens, believe me, you will find out. News reports by their nature are designed to be negative. You do not need this running your vacation.

4) Take a Long Walk Each Day: Walking is excellent for relaxation. It also gives you time to think. Spending some quality alone time will definitely enhance your vacation experience.

5). No Rules: Do not restrict yourself in any way. Your vacation is about having fun and recharging your batteries. Do not add stress to it by imposing unnecessary rules upon yourself.

A well timed vacation can be a major asset to your law firm and to attorney marketing. If you want to make sure you remain happy and healthy for the long run, you need to schedule time to recharge and relax.

Use your vacation time and use it wisely. You will be glad you did.

August 12, 2010

Beware The Lawyer Turned Law Firm Marketing Expert

There are a number of lawyers out there who supplement their income by working part time as law firm marketing experts (like Tupperware salespeople). There are also lawyers out there who couldn't cut it as lawyers and now profess to be experts at law firm marketing. Finally, there are retired lawyers who are teaching lawyers about marketing as a way to supplement their income.

No matter what they call themselves, you need to do careful due diligence on ANY law firm marketing expert before you hire him. You need to be particularly wary of anyone who gave up a career working in The Law and now professes to be an expert. How can they teach you to do what they were unable to accomplish.

This video provides you with five questions to ask before you engage a former/current/part time lawyer to help you with law firm marketing.

I would love to tell you that lawyers make the best law firm marketing experts but they don't. The best law firm marketing experts tend to be people who are experts in marketing and who immersed themselves in the law and embrace it as their focus.

August 11, 2010

How To Select an Internet Marketing Consultant For Your Law Firm

Using consultants to help with law firm marketing is a good thing. You know the law. Marketers know marketing. The Internet is a particularly complex marketing tool. Working with an Internet marketing consultant or web designer is a good idea. Here are the five questions you should ask before you hire an Internet marketing consultant.

While these questions may seem basic, hiring a law firm marketing consultant or an Internet marketing consultant or web designer to work with your law firm, is an important decision. I encourage you to choose carefully and ask the right questions before you sign a retainer agreement.

August 10, 2010

Three Things That Must Be Included in Any Law Firm Marketing Campaign

There are three things that must be included in any law firm marketing campaign. These three things are critical to success. This video outlines all three.

The three things that must be included in any law firm marketing campaign are:

The WIFM: This acronym stands for: What's In It For Me. If course this is from the perspective of the client. All marketing campaigns must be designed with the client's interest in mind. If you are not approaching marketing from the client's point of view you are making the mistake that dooms most marketing to failure.

The Call To Action: You must tell the prospective client what to do, when to do it and how to do it. Give them some specific action to take. If they are left to guess, they will do nothing.

The Follow-Up: How will you follow-up with the prospective client once he responds? What action will you (or your team take)? You must have specific answers to these questions and the action must be systematized.
These three things are critical to the success of any law firm marketing campaign. If they do not exist, your success will be limited.

August 9, 2010

How To Get Introduced To The Ideal Client

Have you ever identified someone you thought would be the perfect client? What happened after you identified them? Wouldn't it be great if there was a way for you to be introduced to that person? Would it be terrific if someone you knew promoted you to this prospective client? This video shares five tips for getting introduced to your ideal client.

The five points made in the video include:

1).How to get people in your natural network to introduce you to prospective clients.
2).How to leverage membership in alumni associations.
3).Why local civic groups may be your ticket to new business.
4).How charitable organizations can sometimes prove to be fertile ground for making connections
5).Why attending meetings from a prospective client's pet organization or group is good for business.

Introductions can happen all the time. You just have to set yourself up for success.

August 6, 2010

Productivity Power and a Little Secret

Many lawyers who want to focus on marketing claim they don't have time. What they are really saying is they do not have their habits under control. One of the big misconceptions most lawyers face is the notion that time management must involve some complex system. This video demonstrates one small tactic, which if employed, can save you dozens of hours each month.

If you want more time for legal marketing you must develop good habits that are consistently followed. Start by not taking phone calls and answering email while you are not in your office. You will be amazed at how much time this frees up and how much more in control you feel.

August 5, 2010

Crush Your Competition

Do you want to destroy your competitors or are you a person who believes that everyone should just peacefully coexist and enjoy the abundance the world has to offer? This video (and the title of this article) should help you figure out what camp I am in.

If your interests conflict with the interests of someone else, that person is not your friend. That person does not deserve your amity, your assistance or your support. That person needs to find something else to do and you need to help him achieve that objective.

If someone shows you, either through their words or their actions, that they want to take food from the mouths of your children, they must be defeated. Period. End of story.

August 4, 2010

Law Firm Marketing Strategy: Know When To Walk Away

Not all business is good business. Sometimes the best law firm marketing strategy is to walk away from a particular client opportunity and attract a better client. This video explains.

Here are three times when it makes sense to walk away from a business opportunity:

1). Walk away when you know the compensation you are receiving is not equal to the value you are delivering to the client. In other words: If the client is not willing to paying enough for the service to be performed correctly, you should walk away. Do not compromise and take shortcuts with your reputation.

2). Walk away when the client tries to negotiate the fee down before the work even starts.

3). Walk away when you are deep into the work and the client is taking advantage of you. If the scope of the engagement gets bigger, you must be compensated accordingly. If the client is unwilling, you need to find a way to remove yourself from the engagement.

Making a strategic decision NOT to take some kinds of business can be just as important as making a decision as WHICH business to take. All of these decisions should figure into your law firm marketing strategy.

August 3, 2010

Get Legal Marketing Off To a Fast Start

Many lawyers experience peaks and valleys in income during their career. During the times when they have business they do not do any marketing and when they have few clients they obsess over their legal marketing initiatives. In this video, legal marketing expert Dave Lorenzo discusses how to level off some of those peaks and valleys.

The key to consistently keeping your law firm fully stocked with good clients and great matters is to have several legal marketing systems. These systems work for you when you are busy focusing on the practice of law.

We just released a new FAST START System designed to help attorneys get you off and running quickly, even if you have never done any legal marketing. The system is affordable and best of all it is guaranteed. If you do not like it, you can return it ANYTIME. That's right. It comes with a lifetime guarantee.

Who wouldn't want more clients? Take a look today and tell us what you think. You can find more information at: http://www.LegalMarketingFastStart.com

August 2, 2010

Attorney Marketing Requires Courage

If you are an attorney marketing your law firm you must be courageous if you want to be effective. Effective marketing makes you look sound and feel different than every other law firm. Standing out from the crowd is tough as this video explains.

Differentiation is the name of the game when it comes to attorney marketing. But being different will often mean that you will get ridiculed by your peers. Perusing an unusual marketing strategy will help you land new clients but you must have the courage to take the first few steps.