Legal Marketing | Attorney Marketing | Marketing For Lawyers

If you have any desire to sell your law firm and make a profit you must have a strategy in place that will facilitate building equity in the firm.

This goes beyond law firm marketing. This is about planning for the future and aligning your short term goals with long term goals.

Here are the four things to focus on when looking to build equity in your law firm:

1). Build ongoing, predictable revenue in the future. This will show that someone who is purchasing your law firm will have revenue that last beyond your involvement.

2). Develop long term relationships with people who would benefit from purchasing your law firm. People who understand the value of your law firm and people who have seen that value first hand are more likely to pay a premium for it. Identify these people early on in your career and develop and maintain a relationship with them.

3). Build a group of people who can do the work and manage the work flow without your involvement. If all the work is completed by you, and you exit the business, there is limited value in what you leave behind. You must create a law firm that runs without you.

4). Develop systems to automate your marketing. You must have several different ways to source new clients. These legal marketing initiatives must function whether you are involved in them or not. Systems are the key to legal marketing success.

These four elements must all be in place and operating for years before you plan to sell your law firm. When you make the decision to exit, you can market your law firm as a business that generates revenue without your involvement. If that is true, you will be able to command a fee premium when you sell.

There is a formula for creating great legal marketing copy and you do not have to be a world class copywriter to implement it.

The formula is simple: Spend 60 percent of your time (and words) making an emotional connection with your target audience. Spend 40 percent of your time providing valuable educational information.

This video explains the 60/40 split for legal marketing copy creation.

It doesn't matter if you are writing content for a video or creating great blog posts or developing a speech. This is the formula for success.

Make an emotional connection and then educate.

Where do your best new clients come from?

If you are like most of the lawyers I know, your best clients come from referrals. Any time someone says nice things about you and takes the time to make a personal introduction to a prospective client, the relationship is going to be off to a good start.

Do you receive as many referrals as you should?

Most lawyers would say "No."

But most lawyers would insist that doing a good job and just "being a good lawyer" is enough to get you more referrals.

Isn't it?

Absolutely not.

In fact, even the greatest lawyer in the world will not get his fair share of referrals if he does not make an effort to attract them.

Below are seven ways to get more referrals. How many of them are you currently using?

1). Give Clients Permission to Promote You: Many clients do not blatantly promote your services because they do not know that you want them to. Make sure you let your clients know that you welcome and appreciate their referrals. Explain to them how valuable a referral is to your business and help them learn to identify your ideal client.

2). Develop the Buddy System: Find another professional service provider (accountant, real estate broker, doctor, financial advisor) who shares a similar client base. Offer to connect your clients with those folks when they need their services.

The buddy system also works well among attorneys. You simply explain to your clients that they should call you for ANY legal need and you will help them find the right lawyer. This gives you the opportunity to refer clients to other lawyers in many different practice areas.

3). Target a Center of Influence: There are certain people in the community who have significant influence over others. Members of the clergy and business leaders in particular can influence many decisions. Wise attorneys reach out to these folks several times each year and make sure they stay "top of mind" with them.

4). Be a Leader: People gravitate toward leaders. In fact, people want to be given direction and they want to please a leader. Always take an active role in the leadership of any organization you join. This will not only raise your profile, it will also make you more attractive to referral sources.

5). Be an Expert. Offer educational information in any speech you give or article you write. Use any opportunity for public exposure to educate your community. This will help you attain expert status and it will make you more attractive to potential clients and referral sources.

6). Give to Others and Be Seen Giving: If you give your time, money and/or energy to others you will receive more referrals. People want to work with people they know, like and trust and it is hard not to like a charitable person. Be a giver and be seen giving.

7). Show Appreciation: The best way to get more referrals is to show your appreciation to others when they pass a referral to you. This can be done as simply as sending a handwritten note or it can be done by sending the person an actual gift or gift card. (Check with your state's lawyer regulation agency before implementing a gifting program). Showing your appreciation will not only reinforce the referral behavior it will also deepen your relationship with the referral source.

These are just seven of the dozens of ways you can increase the amount of referrals you receive. If you have not yet implemented some of these ideas I highly recommend you give them a try.

You went to law school to learn how to become a lawyer. You didn't go to law school to learn how to run a business. Yet when they go out on their own, most lawyers try to "figure it out".

You do not have to do this.

There is a great deal of support available to a lawyer who needs assistance with legal marketing, practice management and productivity improvement.

This video provides more detail.

Your local bar association or local state attorney regulatory agency probably has some resources you can tap into for help. If those resources are inadequate you can always look for a competent legal marketing consultant.

There are three roles lawyers play in a law firm. Each of these roles has separate and distinct responsibilities. Unfortunately, in a small law firm the attorney generally plays all three roles.

They are:

The Professional

This is the role you went to law school to learn how to play. This is where you get to be a lawyer. This is where you get to help people. This is where you get to do what you do best.

The Administrator

This is the role that pays the bills. It keeps the copier and fax machine fill of paper and toner. IT negotiates the office lease. It balances the checkbook and collect from the past due accounts.

The Business Owner

This is the strategist. This is the role that helps acquire the new clients. This is the role that makes certain everyone knows who you are and what you do.

Dividing your time among these three roles is one of the greatest challenges you will face as a law firm owner. Most of attorneys spend 75% of their time as the professional, 30% of their time as an administrator and 5% of their time as a business owner.

This is bad for a few reasons:

They feel compelled to take every case that comes along because they are doing little to no marketing.

Their firm has no direction because they are too busy working on the day-to-day needs of the clients to set the strategy.

Their livelihood is completely dependent upon them. If something happens and they cannot work, there is no money.

If your goal for your law firm is to grow a business and have an appreciable asset that you can sell, you must find a way to change this mix.

Rule number two of law firm marketing is: All law Firm marketing efforts should be focused on a specific niche.

This confuses some people and outright dumbfounds others. So let me clear things up right from the start.

Niche marketing means that you focus each of your marketing efforts on a particular area of practice within your law firm. This does not mean that you set up your law practice to handle only one type of matter.

There are multiple benefits for niche marketing. They are covered in this video.

Picking a niche market gives your clients the perception that you are an authority in a specific area of the law. This allows you to command a fee premium and it makes it easier for you to receive referrals.
Focusing on niche marketing is a key component of any law firm marketing plan.

Targeting a specific niche is one of the most valuable marketing strategies a law firm can employ. Contrary to popular belief this is not about restricting your law firm to practicing only in one area of the law. This is however about targeting your marketing to one specific group at a time.

In other words, you are going to be tailoring your marketing message to the specific groups of people who are the intended recipients. But this should go well beyond a simple message to market match. This is about tailoring everything you do to meet the needs and desires of that market. All of your marketing must speak to their pain.

There are a few different ways to select a niche market for your law firm.

The first way is to select a niche by industry. This means you focus on helping people in a specific industry with specific challenges. There are attorneys who focus on the advertising industry or on the telecommunications industry for example. My all-time favorite is the guy here in Florida who is an expert in helping people who have insurance claims stemming from termite infestation.

Another way to select a niche market is by specific matter. I have a client who markets himself as an expert in Manager Service Agreements. I have another client who focuses exclusively on DUI cases; I work with a third person who only handles cases with goods seized by United States Customs officials.

A third way to select a niche is by focusing on a hobby or subculture. The idea here is to find people with some form of commonality and leverage that in your marketing. For example: You could market your law firm directly to bikers or directly to people from a certain country.

Selecting a niche market is a great way to establish marketing dominance.

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

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.

One of the most valuable aspects of law firm marketing is the ability to create a perception of value in the mind of your client. While this value will often come in their belief in your ability to improve their situation, you should also want to create a perception of value around interacting with you and the relationship between you. This video explains.

In this video I outline five ways to influence the client's perception of value.

1). Talent: This is a unique, innate ability. For example: If you are naturally strategic and can diagnose a problem and develop a solution intuitively.

2). Experience: If you have handled a certain type of matter repeatedly throughout your career and you have become adept at handling those kinds of matters, your clients will have a higher perception of value.

3). Demand: If more people want to work with you than you can possibly handle at any given time, you will be perceived as more valuable.

4). Specialized Knowledge: If you know something nobody else knows you will be perceived as more valuable.

5). How You Make the Client Feel: This is the experience of working with you. If working with you is a positive memorable experience you will be perceived as being more valuable.

Look at each of the five ways to create value I have listed. Is it possible for you to work one of them into your law firm marketing?

What would your legal marketing be like if you had a group of ten powerful people exclusively promoting your services? Tell the truth. This would put your legal marketing on the fast track. Everything you did would include the added bonus of the business that came from these power players. In this video we discuss how to start-up a group like this. Hold on to your seat because this is no ordinary networking group.

Any form of networking is good for your law firm. Creating a power team is probably one of the best ways to shave years off of the time it would take to penetrate the high end of the market in your community. Take a few minutes and get on the phone now and round up a few people to get this process started.

Strategic alliances are used often in the business world. They are highly effective for controlled growth and business development. In law firm marketing, strategic alliances are not regularly discussed or implemented. This brief video highlights some of the ways a strategic alliance could be set up in a law firm.

Even a small law firm can benefit from setting up a strategic alliance. If you have not given this any thought, take a few minutes now and make a list of other professional service providers you could work with to develop this kind of relationship.

A good way to approach a new client about doing legal work is to offer to audit their legal documents for them. Most companies have not had their legal documents reviewed by an independent third party. A good call to action in any legal marketing campaign can and should include offering to conduct a legal document review for your prospective client. This video describes how to set this up.

Add a legal document audit to your legal marketing plan today. It is a great way to begin a relationship and it will definitely be helpful to the client.

What is your law firm marketing secret weapon? Here is a hint: It rhymes with cruseletter...

Seriously, if you want to increase your referrals and grow your law firm, marketing with a newsletter is a great option. Create great content and distribute it every month. In six months something amazing will happen. Your referrals will start to gradually increase.

All law firm marketing plans must include a print newsletter. It is one of the fundamental components of your success system. Find the time to implement this as soon as possible.

One great idea can make all the difference in law firm marketing. Most attorneys do not have a great deal of time to dedicate to idea incubation so they resort to the same old law firm marketing tactics. Networking, having lunch with colleagues, attending chamber of commerce events and occasionally speaking to a local group. These law firm marketing tactics are important but so is coming up with something new and exciting. This video will help you create your own group of creative professionals to stimulate your thinking.

If you have ever been stuck and needed a jumpstart in your thinking you could have used a mastermind group. These are easy to form and they have a huge impact on your law firm growth. If you don't have the time to set one up yourself, we can help. Give us a call today. 888.692.5531