20 Tips for Marketing Your Law Firm in Tough Times (Tips 1-5)
When economic times get tough, law firm marketing is often the first line item to be lopped from the budget.
That’s extremely unfortunate, because this is precisely the time when you need to increase the number of clients you’re serving; find new clients in new markets to serve and/or increase the amount of revenue you get from current clients.
And it’s only through law firm marketing that you can do all three.
So to help you and your law firm through these tough economic times, I want to share with you 20 tips for marketing your law firm. (My thanks to the Marketing Psychology Group for their article “20 Marketing Tips for Hard Times” that provided the ideas for these tips.)
With this blog post, we’ll cover Tips 1-5.
1. Know your target audiences—This translates to know your clients. What kind of legal cases do you want to get? What kind of person would need your help? You need to know what appeals to them in words, images and even in the results a client desires by hiring you as his or her lawyer.
This may also open up a discussion on what kind of business you want. Is your law firm successful by a volume number of cases? Or is your law firm successful through the quality of its cases and clients? Both business models work; however, the target audience—or client---is different for each method.
2. Know what each client group REALLY wants to buy—People don’t really buy a product or service; they buy to satisfy a specific set of personal motivations.
So what kind of lawyer do your clients want? Do they want a legal shark that will tear up the competition? Do they want someone to understand them and perhaps just find a way to settle the case out of court quietly?
3. Remember to sell to all who influence the buying decision—From a legal marketing perspective, you need to consider who will be involved in the decision to hire you. If you’re working with elder law cases, you’ll need to consider the elder’s children who are approaching your firm with a case. The client is ultimately the elderly person, but you need to also impress the children who are seeking an attorney on their parent’s behalf.
4. Use positioning to gain market share—You must not only give your potential clients reasons for buying the legal services, but also give them reasons for buying these services from YOU. You have to help them determine if they have a valid case and why you would be the best person to represent them.
5. Make your message clear—Because many people struggle to understand what their rights are, you should explain their rights to them through your legal marketing and in your discussions with them. Let them know what they are entitled to, whether it’s in a divorce, in a work situation or in filing for bankruptcy. Simplify it for clients so they can walk away knowing exactly what you want to do for them.
Law Firm Development: Are You on Target for 2009?
For many law firms, business slows during the holidays. And that makes it a perfect time to review your law practice.
Start by Asking 3 Questions
- Am I on target with my goals?
- Are my numbers lining up? (Examine your overhead, major expenditures, profit margins, etc.)
- Am I creating a business that supports and enhances the lifestyle I want to lead?
Create an Action Plan
After you’ve collected the data and done a bit of reflection as these 3 questions require, you’re only half-done. You now need to create an action plan. To help you with this, here are a few questions to answer and suggestions to guide you:
On Your Goals
If I’m on target with my goals, is there something I can do differently to make those goals .jpg)
happen sooner? What are these things I can do? If I’m not on target with my goals, what’s preventing me?
On Your Numbers
Do the numbers look good? Could they look better? How? What actions should I take? (i.e, “improving law firm marketing,” “cutting costs,”)
On Lifestyle
If I am creating a business that supports the lifestyle I want to lead, is there something that could be improved even more? What are those items? If I am not creating a business that supports the lifestyle I want to lead, what are the obstacles?
Action Plan
Now take a look at each category. List what you came up with. For example, under “goals,” depending upon how you answered the question, you could have listed either 1) Things you could do to make the achievement of those goals happen sooner, or 2) Obstacles in the way of your achieving your goals.
After you’ve listed all the respective items in their categories, then rank them from “Urgently Need to Address;” “Need to Address Soon” “Nice to Address But Not Essential.” And congratulations! You just created your blueprint for a better law practice in the coming year.
A Better 2009 Is Now Yours
By taking a little time at the end of the year to review your law practice, you’ll position yourself for an even better start to the New Year. Plus, by taking this simple step now, you’re already ahead of the competition, since most won’t be using the holidays to review their own law practices.
So . . what are you waiting for? Now’s the time to review your law practice and get a step closer to all that you deserve.
Three Reasons to Operate Nationally, and Five Steps to Develop an Effective Law Firm Internet Marketing to Get You There
The reason why goes beyond the vast reach law firm Internet marketing provides. Certainly, by marketing your law firm nationally rather than locally, you reach a large pool of potential clients. But logic would say that, the competition for clients several states away would be tighter than the competition in your locale. However, if you execute this law firm Internet marketing strategy correctly, you may just find media opportunities are easier to get, competition is smaller than you thought, and new clients are easier to attract. The reason this is so is due to several factors. Greater opportunity for niche services: If you choose your area of specialization carefully, you can define a corner of the legal market that clients are searching for but cannot find locally. The Mystery of Distance: In essence this strategy leverages the perception in clients’ minds that the further they have to travel (even it is only via the Internet) to get the service they need, the more valuable it is. You can see this principle in mind when you order French wine instead of California wine, or a Swiss watch over an American-made watch. National, trade and Internet media have less law firm competition: Consider that there may hundreds of other law firms trying to get articles and ads listed in visible places in your local media. Interestingly, there are less law firms operating at the national level. So opportunities to get an article placed in national newspapers, client trade publications and Internet article directories as part of your law firm Internet marketing approach are much easier to do. Five Steps to Take to Develop National Presence and a Winning Law Firm Internet Marketing Approach To take advantage of those forces and opportunities, there are five steps you should take: Do these things, and you will be on your way to building a strong national resence and law firm Internet marketing brand. 
If there is one thing law firm Internet marketing can do for virtually any quality law firm, it is to give you access to more of the cases you prefer and more clients of the caliber you desire.
Is Innovation Overtaking the Law Profession and Law Firm Marketing?
This month, The American Lawyer published an article called The Change Agenda: A Long Time Coming. In it, Eric Press considers four factors he believes may push the legal profession into an era of change.
Those four factors are:
- The Legal Services Act passed in the UK that opens up law firms to outside investors, and promises to introduce new ideas and new business models as a result.
- Customers becoming more vocal and more organized in demanding more from law firms. Press used the value challenge issued by the Association of Corporate Counsel as one example of this phenomenon.
- New technology, including Web 2.0, that enables automation and outsourcing of some standard services, which may put price pressure on US firms.
- The mindset and savvy of the latest generation of lawyers, who are less willing to put in many years in hope of becoming partner someday.
Interestingly, much of what Press says isn’t far from the assertions made by Richard Susskind in his book The End of Lawyers (I wrote about Susskind’s ideas in last month’s blog ‘A New Era in Law Firm Marketing’).
What that means to law firm marketing and business models
With so many voices beginning to see and say the same things, it may be time to examine law firm models and law firm marketing strategies to take advantage of opportunities and innovation that are converging on the legal profession.
Consider the success of Axiom Legal, a "new-model law firm” that is more responsive to in-house, corporate legal departments. Press says, “Axiom is the sort of innovation that adds a concrete example to the talk at conferences, in articles, and occasionally at client meetings.”
So as you consider the future of your law firm, marketing, innovation and business models should be top of mind.
Law Firm Marketing: How to Increase Referrals and Fortify Your Practice
As an attorney today, you know your reputation and your skill as an attorney are highly important to the success of your practice.
However, to build a thriving practice impervious to ebbs in the economy, client referrals are of the utmost importance. They should play a key role in your law firm marketing approach.
Interestingly, many attorneys fall short when it comes to cultivating referral sources as part of their law firm marketing efforts.
Below are six proven steps you can take in your law firm marketing and referral strategy to build a large referral base and to catalyze multiple, repeat referrals from each contact.
All are designed to keep your name and your reputation top of mind with your contacts and to reward and recognize them appropriately to encourage referrals short-term and long-term as part of your overall law firm marketing strategy.
1. Get Contacts Thinking Referral: Don’t assume your contacts are thinking about referrals for you. Let them know your practice relies on referrals and how much you would appreciate them passing your name along.
2. Immediate Appreciation: When a contact does refer you, call or send a message thank you note the very same day you.
3. Reward: Within the next 48 hours, send your referral source a small gift of appreciation such as a business card holder, a gift card to a popular coffee shop or book store.
4. Recognition: Once you’ve successfully scheduled a meeting with the new, potential client, e-mail your referral source to let them know you have scheduled that meeting and that you will update them again.
5. Reward and Recognition 2: When the referral becomes a new client, send a “level 2 gift” to your referral source. A level 2 gift should be substantial and meaningful. Something your referral source will really value. However, be aware of dollar-amount gift limits your referrals are able to accept. Some excellent online resources that specialize in business gifts just right for law firm marketing referral gifts are MyBusinessGifts, Brookstone and eCorporate Gifts.
Also, be sure to include a personal note that tells your referral source the positive outcome of their recommendation.
6. Stay Top of Mind: Even when your referral sources haven’t referred, stay top of mind. Send a note to your contacts 1-2 times per year to your entire contact list thanking them for past and future referrals.
Implement these six simple steps, and you will see a sharp increase in referrals while adding to the positive reputation you strive for in your law firm marketing efforts.
The Value of "Opt In" to your Law Firm Marketing Strategy
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In my last post, I talked about the value of “Opt Out” in law firm marketing. Its value in law firm marketing is in narrowing your prospective client list to a tight, highly-motivated group of prospects.
Today, I want to tell you a bit about the value of “Opt In”.
As the name implies, it is in many ways the opposite of Opt In. However, the end goal from a law firm marketing perspective is much the same – to create a list of highly-motivated candidates for your legal services.
To illustrate, let’s first take another look at opt out. In essence, opt out gives the individuals on your list the ability to leave your list whenever they like.
The reason opt out is a “must” is in list building and law firm marketing is because your list is made up of people who have gotten there for reasons other than to receive ongoing communication from you.
- Some have given their contact information in exchange for a free report
- Others may have gotten their through a partner list or from a master list at an event where you were one of several speakers
- Still others got their by referral
The point is the contacts may or may not be on your law firm marketing list because they want more information from you. . . .Hence the value of Opt Out.
How Opt In Works
“Opt In” lists on the other hand, make it abundantly clear to the prospect that he will receive this information from you.
In fact, the premise is that your newsletter or ezine or weekly tips are so uniquely valuable that the prospect will seek out to join your list.
Your law firm marketing methods for attracting these prospects may be similar to that of an Opt Out law firm marketing approach. For example, you may gather prospect names from an event where you speak. In this case, though, you must tell up front precisely what they are signing up for.
Once they sign up, send an e-mail follow messaging to confirm they want to receive this information.
Once the prospective client says yes twice, you must deliver valuable, one-of-a-kind information and legal insights they can’t get anywhere else.
When you are able to deliver, you are very likely to have a list that (though smaller than an opt out list) is much more loyal and highly responsive.
How to Use "Opt Out" to Narrow Law Firm Marketing Prospects into Highly Motivated Clients
If you’ve visited this blog before, you are very likely to have seen several law firm marketing blogs about how to build credible, long-lasting, relationships with your clients.
While there are many, many law firm marketing tools you can use to build those relationships, what is at the core of it all is “The List”.
In essence, whether you in the beginning stages of building your law firm marketing prospect list or the mid-to-late stages in which you’re seeing clients from that list choose you again and again. . . . the key is to build, cultivate and vet the list on an ongoing basis.
This is why.
Recall that the overall law firm marketing goal, of your list is to cultivate relationships that move the prospect to become a client.
So with that rather drawn out introduction in mind, today I’d like to talk about the value of “Opt Out”. . . .
Opt out simply allowing prospects on your law firm marketing distribution list the to leave your list at any time and for any reason they like.
While on the face, that statement seems obvious, there are many law firm marketing planners who believe deep down that openly allowing prospects to leave their list only encourages more to leave.
And that may be true.
The question is – why would you want to keep sending free legal information to an individual who doesn’t want it, won’t use it and isn’t interested in your services?
On the other hand, if by allowing those individuals to leave your list, you are actually increasing the health of your list.
You are refining it into a tighter, healthier, more highly focused, highly motivate group of individuals who are interested in what you have to say and the services you have to offer.
In Sum
Don’t hide the “Opt out” box in fine print at the bottom of your newsletters or bury it in text in your e-mail tips or create a long, convoluted process for them to remove their name.
Display the opt out box prominently along with a succinct message that spells out what they will be missing – insightful answers to their most pressing legal questions at no cost.
Look for my next law firm marketing blog where I will discuss the value of “Opt In”.
What Free Reports Can Do for Your Law Firm Internet Marketing Structure
Have you considered writing a free report but never really taken the next step? If so, you’re not alone.
Many attorneys I’ve worked with have heard that free reports are an important piece to their law firm Internet marketing structure.
But they aren’t sure how or why they are important.
The real value of a free report in law firm Internet marketing is in its role as an “ethical bribe”. In essence, you ask potential clients to give you some information about themselves in exchange for some truly valuable legal information.
That information you are asking for is their contact information. And that is a key first step in beginning a trust-building relationship with them.
Once you have the prospective clients contact information (and some added credibility), the next phase of your law firm Internet marketing plan can begin (more about this later).
But first, you need to make sure your report is worth the valuable information the prospective client has just given you.
Here are four proven elements to a well-crafted free report in your law firm Internet marketing structure:
- Addresses issues that the individual really cares about – Remember, your clients may not care about legal precedents, but they are very likely to care about to save money during divorce proceedings.
- Uses regular laymen’s language – If they are being completely honest, most people would tell you they prefer to read USA Today over the New York Times. While the NYT is a serious paper for serious people, USA today is interesting at the individual level, and it’s written in an easy-to-read format.
- Builds credibility for your law firm – Don’t miss this opportunity to share client quotes or real life results you’ve gained for your clients.
- Perhaps the most important, element to your law firm Internet marketing plan is to include a worthy call to action – By the end of the report, the prospective client should be interested enough to take a next step toward you. Whether that is going to your web site for more information, or signing up for your newsletter.
In sum, the free report can be an indispensible law firm Internet marketing tool. Its real value to your law firm Internet marketing structure is as the first step in connecting with new clients. If used correctly, it earns you both contact information and credibility.
And don’t forget to include that all-valuable call to action. If your prospective client doesn’t take that next step, your report hasn’t completely done its job in your law firm Internet marketing scheme.
