The Rainmaker Blog : Law Firm Marketing and Business Development : The Rainmaker Institute : Stephen Fairley : Professional Legal Marketing

Are any of you watching The Firm? It’s a new series on NBC based on the John Grisham best-seller, and continues the story of personal injury lawyer Mitch McDeere after he “escapes” from the big, bad law firm in the original movie and opens his own practice. 

It’s a pretty good show, as legal thrillers go. Of course, there are some of the usual legal clichés – like another big, bad law firm burying Mitch’s tiny firm in paperwork to “hide” the smoking gun that will net his client millions. 

But the damning memo is eventually discovered, and David bests Goliath once again. Thanks heavens that lawyers love to dig. Nothing like finding that nugget that will enable you to prevail in a suit. 

It may surprise you to learn that this same tenacity needs to be applied when it comes to your social media marketing efforts. Ubervu created an interesting infographic outlining the Social Media Lifecycle, broken out into four areas that all need your attention if you are to prevail in your social network law firm marketing efforts. I have blogged about each of these four areas recently:

Monitor: Understand How Consumers Use Social Media to Improve Your Law Firm Marketing Efforts

Analyze: How Google Analytics Can Help Improve Your Law Firm Marketing Website and Blog

Collaborate: Social Media Marketing for Attorneys: How to Create a Winning! Social Media Strategy

Integrate: The Importance of KPI in Marketing & Managing Your Law Practice

Here’s the infographic; start digging!

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Stop Wasting Precious Time and Money

Feel like you don’t have time for marketing?  Let us show you how to make a plan that runs on “autopilot” – one that attracts new and lucrative clients while you focus on your practice.

Learn how easy it can be to create an effective law firm marketing plan that performs by getting our Free Guide: 5 Easy Steps to Create Your Law Firm Marketing Plan. 

After working with many ultra-successful lawyers we found five common threads in their marketing plans. This guide outlines these shared elements to provide insight into strategies that work and how to make them work for you.

There are two versions: one for Attorneys in Solo Practice and one for Attorneys in a Small Firm.  Click here to download, and start using these proven strategies today!

 

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Do you know someone who loves the law, but not the prospect of law school?  If so, I am happy to share with you this interesting infographic from Schools.com on how to become a paralegal: 

Courtesy of: Schools.com

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Last June, I was privileged to keynote the California Solo and Small Firm Summit and present four breakout sessions:

Law Firm Marketing Strategies in a Social Media World: How to Use Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to Connect with Clients, Prospects and Referral Sources

How to Use YouTube, Avvo, and Your Blog to Connect with Clients, Prospects and Referral Sources

Proven Strategies for Using Websites and Internet Marketing to Generate More Leads

From Lead Generation to Client Retention: Secrets of Highly Successful Rainmakers

Patricia Van Haren, a Torrance, California family law attorney, attended this June event and just finished participating in our two-day law firm marketing boot camp, the Rainmaker Retreat, in Las Vegas last weekend. Here’s her story:

Using just what she learned in those four sessions in June, she was able to generate 43 new cases for her family law practice in only six months – impressive, to say the least! She has now formed a new partnership and attended our Rainmaker Retreat to further refine her education on law firm marketing to grow that new partnership quickly. 

I was interested to hear that one of her key takeaways was about micromanaging the client experience. Too often, micromanagement is seen as a bad thing – but that is not the case when it comes to ensuring your clients have the best possible experience with your firm.   You not only want them to return and refer, you want the word on your good reputation to be spread via social media – this can only be accomplished by paying very close and careful attention to managing the experience your clients have with your firm.

If you are interested in learning the law firm marketing strategies Patricia is using to grow her firm, here are our scheduled Rainmaker Retreat sessions:

February 10-11, 2012 – Orlando, FL

March 30-31, 2012 – San Diego, CA

April 27-28, 2012 – Chicago, IL

Click here to visit our Rainmaker Retreat website, where you can also access online registration for our upcoming events. 

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Here’s a Risk-Free Way to Preview the Rainmaker Retreat

In this complimentary 60-minute legal marketing call you will discover a proven Legal Marketing System that has helped 8,000 attorneys convert more prospects into paying clients

Join us and learn:

• How to avoid the most deadly legal marketing mistakes attorneys make
• 3 powerful strategies you must put into action in your law practice immediately
• How to set yourself apart from your major competitors
• Secrets top attorneys are using to generate more referrals right now
• How attorneys are winning even in this economy by implementing this proven 8-step system

This teleseminar will be personally presented by Stephen Fairley, CEO of the Rainmaker Institute, LLC and a nationally recognized law firm marketing expert.

The call will also give you a preview of the 65 different marketing techniques and strategies taught at our 2-day legal marketing boot camp.

Join us and in 60 minutes learn why hundreds of attorneys across the country attend and rave about the Rainmaker Retreat. Here are the dates for an upcoming complimentary teleseminar:

Thursday, February 2

12pm PT | 1pm MT | 2pm CT | 3pm ET

Wednesday, February 8

11am PT | 12pm MT | 1pm CT | 2pm ET

Thursday, February 16

11am PT | 12pm MT | 1pm CT | 2pm ET

If there’s one thing you cannot afford to miss out on this year, it’s the Rainmaker Retreat.

Click here to register and discover for yourself what you have been missing.

 

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A new study by Hubspot of more than 5,000 B2B and B2C companies shows that LinkedIn far outpaces Facebook and Twitter as a lead generation engine, serving up almost three times as many leads as the other two networks:

Since LinkedIn is the leading business social media network, it stands to reason that B2B marketers would find more gold for their social media marketing efforts. But the Hubspot researchers also say that B2C firms benefit because there is less “personal” clutter on LinkedIn and people who visit are more likely to be in a business frame of mind.

So how do you leverage LinkedIn to generate leads for your law practice?

1.  Build out your profile.  Take your purpose and craft your profile to reflect that purpose.  The key is to compel the people you know and the people who are looking for someone like you to reach out and connect.

2.  Connect with the people you know.  Use LinkedIn’s built-in tool to import your connections.

3.  Get testimonials.  Take advantage of LinkedIn’s built-in Recommendations feature to give and receive testimonials.  Third party endorsements carry much more weight than your marketing message alone.

4.  Include CTAs within your content.  Strategically place some calls-to-action (CTAs) in your updates but don’t go overboard – you don’t want to look like you are just there to sell something. Relevant CTAs could include a free whitepaper or report you’ve just uploaded to your website, or a relevant post you’ve just made on your blog.

5.  Build your network out strategically.  Each connection you make with someone you know grows your overall reach exponentially. Start or join Groups inside LinkedIn where you can connect with thought leaders, experts, prospective clients and prospective referral sources.

6. Leverage your networks.  LinkedIn is a social network and a search engine.  Connected individuals can see and search for the people in each other’s networks.  You can use those connections for business development and for finding your ideal social target market.

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Free CD: Insider Small Law Firm Marketing Practices

Get your free CD on Insider Small Law Firm Marketing Practices by #1 Best-Selling Author And Nationally Recognized Law Firm Marketing Expert Stephen Fairley, and listen as he reveals A Proven System To Generate More and Better Referrals, Find New Clients Fast, and Fill Your Law Practice! Discover:

• How 1 piece of simple technology in your practice will drastically increase your communication with prospects, clients and referral sources – resulting in a major revenue boost
• 5 ways to market and position yourself as a recognized expert
• How 2 Attorneys promoted their law firms to over 100,000 people for less than $100 in 2 hours
• The 1 item you must absolutely have to create a Million Dollar Law Practice (hint: Not having this will almost guarantee your failure!)
• 6 BIGGEST secrets to generating more and better referrals
• How to create a proven network of 30 new Strategic Referral Partners in the next 90 days

To obtain your free CD, click here now.

 

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Second day here in Las Vegas at our January Rainmaker Retreat and I grow heartened at each successive session at how the interest in social media marketing for attorneys is growing. 

One of the biggest stumbling blocks that busy lawyers have is learning about the individual social media networks and what each has to offer then in terms of generating leads for their practices. 

The clever folks at Flowtown released a Small Business Social Media Cheat Sheet this past week, and although it doesn’t include LinkedIn (hopefully it will be updated to include it; this, to me, is a BIG exclusion), it does provide social media newbies with some great guidelines and attributes of the most prevalent social media networks:

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FREE REPORT: How to Use Blogs as a Secret Weapon in Your Online Arsenal

One of the secret tools of Internet marketing for attorneys is the power of having a targeted blog. In a new report on the influence of blogs, eMarketer.com found that in 2010, 51% of Internet users in the U.S. (that’s over 91 million people) read blogs, and they project that usage will go to 60% (150 million) in the next four years!

Still think blogs are a fad?

Here’s what you’ll discover when you read this report:

• Why you must have a blog in order to stay relevant
• 3 keys to successful blogging
• 7 Guidelines for achieving ROI
• Your 3 choices for managing your blog and social media efforts
• And much more!

Click here to order your free report now!

 

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What gets measured, gets done.

This quote is usually attributed to Peter Drucker, and remind us of the importance of measuring the efficacy of our law firm marketing efforts in order to keep focused on building on what works and not to waste time on what doesn’t work.

One of the most compelling tools for measuring the effectiveness of what you’re doing online is a tool called Google Analytics. You embed a snippet of code into your law firm website or blog and it provides you with a mountain of great data – for free! Google gives you all the guidance you need to get started using this tool here.

To get the most out of Google Analytics for your law firm marketing efforts, you need to pay close attention to three important areas:

Visits – by examining visits to your sites, you can see how many people are coming to your site, where they are coming from and if they are new or returning visitors. This is a basic metric to tell you if your efforts to drive people to your site are working. It can also tell you if a good number of your visits are coming from tablets or mobile devices, so you can be sure your sites are optimized for those devices.

Activity – here you want to examine Pages per Visit, which tells you how many pages visitors access when they come to your site; Average Time on Site, which tells you how long your visitors stay; and Bounce Rate, which tells you who looked at just one page and left. These metrics will let you know how engaging your site is and if you are holding your visitors’ attention. If you have a low Average Time on Site and a high Bounce Rate, you need to rethink your online strategies because you are attracting low quality web traffic.

Goals – Google Analytics allows you to input your goals for your site for tracking, so if your goal is to get visitors to download a free report, watch a video or sign up for an e-newsletter, you can track exactly how many people did what you wanted them to do. 

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Practice Made Perfect for Lawyers CD Set

The Practice Made Perfect CD set and manual applies Stephen Fairley’s unique High Impact Marketing System to the practice-building challenges faced by solo practitioners and partners at small law firms.  

It includes dozens of specific marketing and sales recommendations that can be easily and quickly applied to your firm, including:

• The only 7 sure-fire ways to get clients in your door NOW
• Why advertising doesn’t work for most small law firms
• The 7 reasons why people don’t buy from you           
• How to market and sell with USP’s (Unique Selling Proposition)           
• Using audio logos to attract immediate attention for your business
• Using low-cost, high impact marketing strategies           
• Strategies for achieving maximum results from all of your marketing efforts           
• How to discover your Ideal Target Market
• 3 critical factors to remember when looking for new clients
• The NEW sales cycle for professional services
• How to retain your best clients

Click here to order your Practice Made Perfect for Lawyers CD set and manual now.

 

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Social media is increasingly being integrated into search engine results, and even though Google and Twitter are not playing nice right now, user preference will eventually win out and Twitter should be back in the Google game before long.

That said, tweets are included in the first page of Bing and other search engine results, and need to be part of your law firm marketing SEO strategy. Here are some tips on how to boost your law firm marketing SEO with Twitter:

Select SEO-friendly names. When you set up your Twitter account, you choose two names – a real name, which is yours or the name of your firm, plus your user name. Think of what your prospects would use to search for you, and use the most relevant term(s).

Keep it professional. When you’re using any social network to further your business goals, be sure you keep it professional and relevant. Tweet about things that are top-of-mind to your prospects, using relevant keywords and #hashtags.

Link. Put links to your websites and blogs in your Twitter profile. Include links to topical blog posts and promote on Twitter – even though Twitter adds a “nofollow” attribute to links in tweets (which basically tells a search engine to ignore it), if you drive more traffic to your website and/or blog, that will help your SEO.

Promote. Add the Twitter button to your websites and blogs and ask people to follow you. Be sure to link your Twitter account from all your other social network profiles.

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FREE REPORT: 8 Reasons Small Firms & Solos Should Publish an E-newsletter + 3 Steps to Get Started

In less than a few hours a month, you can produce an effective electronic newsletter, also known as an “E-newsletter.”

An E-newsletter is a customized electronic newsletter that is commonly used in business, but rarely in the field of law. If you are truly interested in the long-term success and sustainability of your practice, you need to learn how to leverage technology and the Internet to build it.

Here’s what you’ll discover when you read this report:

• The cost benefits of an e-newsletter
• How to incorporate your e-newsletter with your social networking
• How an e-newsletter supports your marketing efforts
• How to get started right away with your e-newsletter
• And much, much more!

To get your free report now, click here.

 

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The NFC and AFC Championships are on today, and millions of fans across the country will be gathered in front of their flat screens rooting on four teams, hoping to see their team advance to the Super Bowl in Indianapolis. 

Last fall, Forbes published an article on the NFL’s most valuable teams. The #1 team – the Dallas Cowboys – didn’t even make it to the playoffs this year, and has not made a trip to an NFC Championship game for 15 years. So what makes the Cowboys America’s (most valuable) team? Fans. Not only the average Joe football fan, but sponsors who pay big bucks – a highly profitable fan base that Jerry Jones leverages to build his brand.

Attorneys need fans too, to build their brand and develop referrals, and social media plays an increasingly important role in achieving that goal as demonstrated by this infographic:

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Stop Wasting Precious Time and Money

Feel like you don’t have time for marketing?  Let us show you how to make a plan that runs on “autopilot” – one that attracts new and lucrative clients while you focus on your practice.

Learn how easy it can be to create an effective law firm marketing plan that performs by getting our Free Guide: 5 Easy Steps to Create Your Law Firm Marketing Plan. 

After working with many ultra-successful lawyers we found five common threads in their marketing plans. This guide outlines these shared elements to provide insight into strategies that work and how to make them work for you.

There are two versions: one for Attorneys in Solo Practice and one for Attorneys in a Small Firm.  Click here to download, and start using these proven strategies today!

 

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Successful law firm marketing includes not only determining which people and businesses are truly interested in your services, but those that are not. Wasting time chasing bad prospects is a business-killer, one you can ill afford in these recessionary times.

These 5 simple steps will help you turn more prospects into clients. Incorporate these into your law firm marketing strategy and watch your conversion rate grow:

1. Identify those with genuine interest. This requires some work on your part, to separate the real prospects from those who are merely responding to you out of politeness or shopping around. To make the separation, create a list of qualifying questions to determine those who need, want and can afford your services. If they meet those three criteria, they are good prospects for converting into paying clients.

2. Interview good prospects in person. Be sure you are speaking to the real decision-maker, who can pull the trigger and hire you, not just a gatekeeper.

3. Make your best case. Are you a persuasive presenter? If not, take a presentation skills seminar. Focus on benefits and results, not services and features. Identify your prospect’s problems and let them know how you can help. Develop good listening habits, and become more fluent in speaking your prospect’s language.

4. Ask for the sale. A common mistake too many attorneys make is not asking for the sale. Make sure to ask your prospect for their business, and ask in a way that makes it clear to them you want it.

5. Follow up. You should be following up with prospects within 24 hours of an interview, thanking them for their time and reiterating your interest in their business. 

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Free Report: 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys From Building A Referral-Based Practice

Referrals are the lifeblood of many law practices, and building a good referral program takes a proven process.  Stephen Fairly unveils the 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys from Building a Referral-Based Practice in his new free report.  Read and discover:

• How to determine the best source for your referrals
• How to explain your ideal target market to a referral source
• How to get referrals from other attorneys
• Whether online directories are a good referral source
• How to network effectively
• And much, much more!

Click here to get your free report today.

 

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Yes, YouTube is so ubiquitous its name is now a verb. And important enough that a senior YouTube executive was the keynote speaker this month at the 2012 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, where he predicted that video would soon account for 90 percent of all the traffic on the Internet.

According to Nielsen, in November 2011 there were 167 million unique U.S. video viewers who spent more than five hours during the month watching online video. YouTube had the lion’s share of this audience, with 131 million unique viewers. 

But YouTube is so much more than just a video channel. It is now the second largest search engine on the Internet, just behind Google. Another big reason why attorneys who are nowhere to be found on YouTube are missing great opportunities for branding as well as for SEO.

Here are some tips on how to get started marketing yourself and your law firm on YouTube:

Create a branded channel. Name your channel in a way that explains what you do, not with the name of your firm – for example, if you are a family law attorney in Phoenix, you may want to call it something like Phoenix Divorce Legal Network. 

Tag your video content with keywords. Tagging and titling your video with the keywords your target market uses to search for the information you are providing is key. YouTube has a keyword system called Tags that is a useful tool for helping you do this.

Use annotations. YouTube offers several different ways for you to annotate your videos: Speech Bubbles are graphic pop-ups you can use to highlight what someone is saying during the video, Notes are boxes that you can locate anywhere on your video where you can embed a link to your website or blog, and Spotlights are transparent boxes with text used to highlight specific areas of a video that appear when a user rolls their mouse over them.

Use Promoted Videos – this is a paid search option similar to Google Adwords, allowing you to create ads for your videos to promote them across the network.

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Get All the Law Firm Marketing Strategies You Need to Create A 7-figure Law Practice with Rainmaker In A Box: Volume 2!

Newly released! Rainmaker in a Box: Volume 2 includes:

8 Proven Steps for More & Better Referrals


Discover the proven step-by-step system used to double your referrals from current and former clients and how to build a network of strategic referral partners. Top attorneys have used this exact system to double their referrals in 6 months or less!

7 Strategies to Recession Proof Your Law Firm


Watch and learn as I walk you through the specific strategies top lawyers are using to increase their revenues in this tough economy-and it doesn’t include reducing their fees!

6 Keys to Unlocking the Secrets of Social Media


Social media has emerged as the fastest way to build a massive platform of prospects! I pull back the curtain and let you in on little known secrets of how attorneys are generating dozens of leads every month from social media.

5 Core Components for Highly Successful Websites & Blogs 


My interview with nationally recognized personal injury attorney John Bisnar on how his law firm uses search engine optimization and internet marketing to drive tens of thousands of unique visitors every month to his 30 websites and 10 blogs. Discover proven techniques for converting website visitors into paying clients.

Data DVD: 
Includes all 4 PowerPoint slides for all 4 presentations. We recommend you print all these off and take notes on them as you experience these information-packed DVDs!

Click here now to order!

 

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Do you ever wonder how certain attorneys in your community seem to be the quoted experts in local news and media stories? How did that happen? And why aren’t you being contacted?

The truth is that like most businesses, media has had to become lean and mean in these trying economic times, with fewer journalists covering more ground. So it’s not surprising that journalists are turning to online services that provide them with immediate access to relevant sources for their stories.

The good news is that you can sign up for these services and add yourself to the list of sources for your market area and area of legal expertise. Here are two popular services journalists are using every day to get quotable sources:

HelpaReporter.com – known as HARO (Help a Reporter Out), this service sends you email queries every day that you can sort through to see if you are a relevant source. HARO has evolved into a social media network with more than 100,000 members – including 30,000 journalists. Journalists write their own queries, and when you respond, you are responding directly to the journalist. HARO has several membership levels – from free (you receive all queries, which can be a little cumbersome to sort through) to three levels of paid membership that allows you to filter alerts by keyword, build a profile on the HARO site that journalists can review, access to the online searchable database of queries, text alerts to your phone so you can meet tight deadlines, and more. 

ProfNet Connect – a service of PRNewswire, ProfNet Connect also sends out daily media queries via email to members and you respond directly to the reporter if there is a fit. Members are allowed to create detailed profiles (with keywords) and upload videos, photos and documents that are made available to media as well as indexed by all major search engines.  ProfNet Connect is offered only to PRNewswire members; annual membership fee is $249. 

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FREE "Top 10 Mistakes Attorneys Make and How to Avoid Them" E-book

In a newly revised e-book, legal marketing expert Stephen Fairley outlines 10 of the most common marketing mistakes attorneys make that can lead to the failure of their business, and provides specific strategies and proven principles for avoiding these deadly errors. 

Get your complimentary copy online here.

Regardless of your specific situation, this free e-book will help you examine how you are currently finding new clients and recommend specific steps you can immediately start using to grow your practice. 

We have helped thousands of attorneys achieve their goals of creating a financially successful and personally satisfying legal practice. In this e-book you will discover specific principles and tools you can use to grow your practice, too.  

 

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I recently blogged here about why content marketing should be a key component of your law firm marketing plan in 2012. The primary reason that content matters so much is not just to keep your readers engaged, but for SEO purposes.

Here is an interesting infographic that details why content matters for SEO:

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FREE Rainmaker Retreat Preview DVD – Learn Before You Go!

If you want to learn more about the Rainmaker Retreat and why it is a proven legal marketing system that has helped over 8,000 attorneys find more and better clients, then click here to receive a free DVD of your colleagues (and even your competitors) describing their experiences at our 2-day law firm marketing boot camp, the Rainmaker Retreat.

Yes, we know you are skeptical.   So instead of us telling you how these 2 days will transform your business, you can listen to your peers describe their experiences in their own words.
 
Click here to order your complimentary DVD right now.

 

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The Phoenix Legal Networking Group is a group of solo and small firm attorneys looking to effectively market their law firm and grow their businesses.

We meet each month for a couple of hours to enjoy networking with other attorneys at small law firms and participate in a 45-minute practice building workshop.

Our next meeting is Wednesday, January 18, where I will be making a presentation on how to Develop a Law Firm Marketing Plan to Make 2012 Your Best Year Ever. I will lead you through the 5 critical steps of developing a 90 day game plan for marketing your law firm and give you viable options to help you implement your Marketing Action Plan (MAP).

For a nominal fee, you will receive a networking session that begins at 5:30 p.m. and the marketing seminar that begins at 6:45 p.m.  The event will be held at the offices of Target Market Media Publications/Attorney at Law Magazines, 4647 N. 32^nd St., Suite B-280 in Phoenix.

Cost is $25 for those who register by Monday, Jan, 16, and $30 after that.

Recessions are an excellent time to ramp up your marketing efforts because it is counterintuitive.  Most firms are pulling back, and your efforts will stand out because many of your competitors have reduced their presence.

You won’t find this kind of information and opportunity at this price anywhere.   Make an investment in your firm’s future and join your fellow legal marketers for this invaluable presentation. The information shared and the networking opportunity can open doors that will allow you take your firm to the next level.

Click here toregister for this seminar, co-hosted by Attorney at Law Magazine, Coash & Coash Court Reporting and The Rainmaker Institute.

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Stop Wasting Precious Time and Money

Feel like you don’t have time for marketing?  Let us show you how to make a plan that runs on “autopilot” – one that attracts new and lucrative clients while you focus on your practice.

Learn how easy it can be to create an effective law firm marketing plan that performs by getting our Free Guide: 5 Easy Steps to Create Your Law Firm Marketing Plan. 

After working with many ultra-successful lawyers we found five common threads in their marketing plans. This guide outlines these shared elements to provide insight into strategies that work and how to make them work for you.

There are two versions: one for Attorneys in Solo Practice and one for Attorneys in a Small Firm.  Click here to download, and start using these proven strategies today!

 

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“Winning!” This was one of the most popular catchphrases of 2011, uttered by actor Charlie Sheen during his media meltdown maelstrom last year. If only our own infinitely more reasonable utterances could catch such fire in the social media universe....

Since we would never recommend becoming that detached from reality in order to create a ripple in the social media ocean, here are some tips on how to create a Winning! social media strategy:

Mission. Whether you want to generate more leads or merely enhance your brand in the social media world, you must first set your goals. Be specific.

Market. Define your target market then research their habits, needs and social media activities. 

Message. Craft the message that will best appeal to the needs of your target market and find the keywords that reinforce that message.

Media. Decide which social networks are best for attracting followers and readers who are in your target market.

Medium. Decide what kind of content will help you reach your target – blogs, videos, e-newsletters, etc.

Mix. Mix in your social media marketing with your current marketing efforts, adding links to your website, blog, e-newsletters, etc.

Management. Decide who will be responsible for posting , how often you will post, who will manage replies and other management tasks so your social media marketing campaign doesn’t flounder.

Measurement. Measure your stats to see if your audience is growing and what messages and strategies are paying off for you. Then do more to build on that success.

Money. Budget for your social media marketing effort and measure your ROI. If you need to hire outside help, that costs money. 

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Want to Learn More Social Media Marketing Techniques for Attorneys? Attend a Rainmaker Retreat!

If you are interested in building a lifestyle law practice through effective law firm marketing, then come to one of our upcoming Rainmaker Retreats:

January 27-28, 2012 – Las Vegas, NV

February 10-11, 2012 – Orlando, FL

March 30-31, 2012 – San Diego, CA

April 27-28, 2012 – Chicago, IL

If you want to learn more about the Rainmaker Retreat and why it is a proven legal marketing system that has helped over 8,000 attorneys find more and better clients, then register now for one of our one-hour complimentary teleseminars:

Wednesday, January 11

12pm PT | 1pm MT | 2pm CT | 3pm ET  

Thursday, January 26

1pm PT | 2pm MT | 3pm CT | 4pm ET  

Join us and learn why the Rainmaker Retreat is the one law firm marketing boot camp you cannot afford to miss!

 

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The recent eMarketer U.S. Digital Media Usage: Snapshot of 2012 report provided some eye-popping estimates about what the digital marketing landscape will look like this year, according to a Hubspot.com blog post a few days ago.

If Internet marketing is not a key component of your law firm marketing plan, you have a lot to catch up on – because you must also begin mastering the art of marketing on multiple platforms, including mobile and tablet.

Here are the prognostications:

The Internet in 2012

1) In 2012, the audience of Internet users in the U.S. will expand by 3.1% to 239 million, representing 75.6% of the total population.

In other words...

2) More than 3/4 of the total population will be online in 2012.

Mobile in 2012

3) Mobile Internet users will reach 113.9 million in 2012, up 17.1% from 97.3 million in 2011.

4) Smartphone users will reach 106.7 million in 2012, up 18.4% from 2011.

5) In 2012, 94% of smartphones users will be mobile Internet users.

6) All mobile phone users will reach 242.6 million in 2012, up 2.3% from 2011.

7) Mobile shoppers will reach 72.8 million in 2012.

8) Mobile buyers will reach 37.5 million in 2012.

9) Smartphone shoppers will reach 68.6 million in 2012.

10) Smartphone buyers will reach 36.4 million in 2012.

11) Tablet users will reach 54.8 million in 2012, up 62.8% from 33.7 million in 2011.

12) iPad users will reach 41.9 million in 2012.

13) In 2012, 76.4% of tablet users will be iPad users.

14) Adult-aged eReader users will reach 45.6 million in 2012, up from 33.3 million in 2011.

Social Media in 2012

15) Facebook will reach 143.4 million US users in 2012, up 8.2% from 132.5 million in 2011.

16) About 2/3 of web users will use social networks in 2012.

17) More than 90% of social network users will be on Facebook in 2012.

Online Video in 2012

18) Online video viewers will reach 169.3 million in 2012.

19) 53.5% of the population and 70.8% of Internet users (up 7.1% from 2011) will watch online video in 2012.

20) Mobile video viewers will reach 54.6 million in 2012.

21) Smartphone video viewers will reach 51.2 million in 2012.

Ecommerce in 2012

22) 88.1% of US Internet users ages 14+ will browse or research products online in 2012.

23) 83.9% of Internet researchers will make at least one purchase via the web during 2012.

24) Online shoppers will reach 184.3 million in 2012, up 3.3% from 2011.

25) Online buyers will reach 154.6 million in 2012, up 4.4% from 2011.

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Free CD: Insider Small Law Firm Marketing Practices

Get your free CD on Insider Small Law Firm Marketing Practices by #1 Best-Selling Author And Nationally Recognized Law Firm Marketing Expert Stephen Fairley, and listen as he reveals A Proven System To Generate More and Better Referrals, Find New Clients Fast, and Fill Your Law Practice! Discover:

• How 1 piece of simple technology in your practice will drastically increase your communication with prospects, clients and referral sources – resulting in a major revenue boost
• 5 ways to market and position yourself as a recognized expert
• How 2 Attorneys promoted their law firms to over 100,000 people for less than $100 in 2 hours
• The 1 item you must absolutely have to create a Million Dollar Law Practice (hint: Not having this will almost guarantee your failure!)
• 6 BIGGEST secrets to generating more and better referrals
• How to create a proven network of 30 new Strategic Referral Partners in the next 90 days

To obtain your free CD, click here now.

 

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A couple of days ago I blogged here about the importance of making content marketing a key legal marketing tactic in 2012. 

As luck would have it, on the same day one of my favorite staying-on-top-of-trends websites, Mashable.com, published an article listing six turnkey tools for content distribution that can help lawyers quickly become publishers across the web and social media networks. These tools include:

Outbrain – Have you ever read a story on a major media site and see a list of headline links under the story that said “Sponsored” or “Related”? Outbrain takes an RSS feed of your content or links and matches them with stories sites like CNN, Fox News, Hearst, MSNBC, etc. for a few cents per click. 

SimpleReach – Have you ever read a story and then seen a box “slide” in from the side of your browser that says “Recommended for You”? That’s SimpleReach at work. You load the Slide tool on your website or blog and it finds the content that is most shared – and most likely to be shared – and encourages readers to share it. Free.

ARC – A new PRNewswire product, ARC distributes your video or other multimedia content across social networks, blogs, 6,000 media outlets and the top 100 video sites. A paid service.

Zemanta – Use this plug-in on your blog to get tips and advice, suggestions for related content and images and promotes your content to other bloggers and sites to link to. Mashable calls it “a link distribution engine cleverly disguised as a text editor plug-in.” Free.

TubeMogul OneLoad – allows you to upload your video once, then this service distributes it across a wide network of social and video networks. It has analytics so you can track your views. Free.

StumbleUpon – inexpensive pay-per-click content distribution tool that serves users content according to their specified requests. 

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FREE "Top 10 Mistakes Attorneys Make and How to Avoid Them" E-book

In a newly revised e-book, legal marketing expert Stephen Fairley outlines 10 of the most common marketing mistakes attorneys make that can lead to the failure of their business, and provides specific strategies and proven principles for avoiding these deadly errors. 

Get your complimentary copy online here.

Regardless of your specific situation, this free e-book will help you examine how you are currently finding new clients and recommend specific steps you can immediately start using to grow your practice. 

We have helped thousands of attorneys achieve their goals of creating a financially successful and personally satisfying legal practice. In this e-book you will discover specific principles and tools you can use to grow your practice, too.  

 

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If there’s one area where attorneys can excel, it’s creating content. Your knowledge and experience are useful not only in the court room, but can also be turned into a highly successful legal marketing tactic that can reap big rewards in terms of new client prospects.

So how do you do content marketing right? Here are some tips:

1. Plan ahead. Brainstorm a list of topics that would appeal to your target audience. Review your website analytics to see what pages of your site are getting the most visits, which can help stimulate ideas. Dig up speeches and presentations you’ve made over the last few years and repurpose those for articles, press releases and blog posts. Subscribe to blogs and news feeds that cover your practice area for ideas.

2. Make it interesting. Nielsen research shows that most people spend about a minute on any given web page, so strive to make your content easily digestible in that timeframe. Use short paragraphs and subheads to keep readers’ attention. Punch it up with references to current events or pop culture to make your content timely. Include client success stories (not using real names, of course).

3. Optimize your content. Be sure to optimize your content for search by including your keywords and keyword phrases in your title, subheads and image file names. 

4. Create backlinks. Sprinkle your content with links back to your website, blog, social media profiles or previous posts to create backlinks, which help boost your search engine ranking. Comment on other articles, blogs or forums with links back to a relevant post you’ve written, but be sure your comment adds value or it may be viewed as spam. 

5. Go social.  Promote your videos, posts, articles, press releases and other content on all your social network channels – not only on your own Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter page, but also through submissions to the discussion pages of groups you’ve joined.  

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FREE REPORT: How to Use Blogs as a Secret Weapon in Your Online Arsenal

One of the secret tools of Internet marketing for attorneys is the power of having a targeted blog. In a new report on the influence of blogs, eMarketer.com found that in 2010, 51% of Internet users in the U.S. (that’s over 91 million people) read blogs, and they project that usage will go to 60% (150 million) in the next four years!

Still think blogs are a fad?

Here’s what you’ll discover when you read this report:

• Why you must have a blog in order to stay relevant
• 3 keys to successful blogging
• 7 Guidelines for achieving ROI
• Your 3 choices for managing your blog and social media efforts
• And much more!

Click here to order your free report now!

 

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A Unique Competitive Advantage (UCA) answers the question, “Why should I hire you?”  With so many competitors and choices today, your law firm marketing strategy must clearly set you and your law firm apart from the competition.

How should you position yourself and your services?  Answer these questions to get a good start on developing your UCA:

• In light of what I know about my competitors and my target market(s), what are the top five to ten reasons why someone should buy from me versus any other company?
• How can I take advantage of my competitor’s weaknesses? 
• Why am I the best attorney for this person/company?
• What skills, abilities, and experiences do I offer clients that they can't receive elsewhere?
• How can I emphasize the value I bring to the table?
• What are my competitors known for? 
• How can I find, retain, and motivate the best people possible that can help me succeed?

There are many ways to create a Unique Competitive Advantage for your law firm marketing plan; here are 10 of them:

Focus on the Benefits: What are the benefits of working with this firm as compared to others? What do you do that other firms refuse to do to better serve your clients?

Focus on Value: Compare your costs versus how much money you save clients. How have you helped other clients take better advantage of opportunities or avoid liability?

Focus on Results: What are some specific results you have obtained for clients in the past? What is your win/loss record? What do you do to achieve better results than your competitors?

Focus on Solutions: Give an example of a creative solution you found to a client’s problem. How did you come up with it? What happened because of your creative solution?

Focus on the Individual Partners: Remember, people don’t buy legal services from law firms; they buy legal services from attorneys. People don’t say, “Go talk to my law firm,” they say, “Go talk to my attorney.” What is different about your partners than in other firms?

Focus on Service: (not the list of services your firm provides, but how you serve your clients). How do your clients describe the way you treat them?

Focus on a Niche: Position your partners as leading experts in a specific industry, not as generalists. To be a generalist for most attorneys is the “kiss of death.” Go deeper, not broader.

Focus on Client’s Feedback: What do your best clients say about you? What would they tell someone else about your services and how it has helped them? Do your clients refer other clients to you on a regular basis?

Focus on Credibility: What is your firm known for in the industry? Talk about how your partners are profiled in the media or are industry experts. What are 3 reasons why your prospects should perceive you as a credible expert?

Focus on Visibility: How visible are your partners within an industry? Do they regularly speak at top industry events? Are they a nationally recognized expert? A published author? What happens when prospects type their name into Google?

By developing a strong UCA, your legal marketing plan will be well ahead of your peers and it will give you the tools you need to implement a strong law firm marketing strategy that tells a prospect why they should hire you.

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Jan. 18 Webinar: Developing Your Law Firm Marketing Roadmap

There’s no better way to start 2012 off right than to create a Marketing Action Plan (MAP).

On Wednesday, Jan. 18, Stephen Fairley will lead you through the 5 critical steps of developing a 90-day game plan for marketing your law firm and give you viable options to help you implement the MAP.

The webinar begins at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT and goes for one hour.

You will learn:

• The 5 critical components of a Marketing Action Plan (MAP)
• How to select the right marketing tools that will work for your practice and personality
• View examples of Marketing Action Plans for various practice areas
• How to create a roadmap to make 2012 your Best Year Ever!

All attendees will also receive a FREE 40 page marketing plan workbook at the end of the webinar.

If you would like to view this webinar at your convenience, then go ahead and register to receive a recording of this impactful one-hour session that will help you plan your work, and then work your plan!

Click here to register now.

 

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Last month, I blogged here and here about a study by Hinge Research Institute that found that professional services firms that engage in online marketing for lead generation grow four times faster and are twice as profitable as firms that do not.

The online marketplace has changed the way referrals are made as well as the speed in which they are made, and if you’re still relying on getting referrals “the old fashioned way,” you are missing a very great opportunity for growth and profitability.

Here’s the Hinge infographic that tells the story:

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Free Report: 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys From Building A Referral-Based Practice

Referrals are the lifeblood of many law practices, and building a good referral program takes a proven process.  Stephen Fairly unveils the 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys from Building a Referral-Based Practice in his new free report.  Read and discover:

• How to determine the best source for your referrals
• How to explain your ideal target market to a referral source
• How to get referrals from other attorneys
• Whether online directories are a good referral source
• How to network effectively
• And much, much more!

Click here to get your free report today.

 

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If you've been ignoring your profile on Avvo, here's something to consider: Avvo is very good at search engine optimization.  Which means they could be one of your sources for lead generation if you know how to use the site right. 

Here are the steps you should take for taking full advantage of the Avvo website:

Claim your profile. This process is free and allows you to update your contact information and add information about you and your law firm.

Put your full resume into Avvo. This can go a long way to improving your rating.

Add all the seminars you have given, awards you have received, and articles you have written. These items can also improve your rating.

Add your photo. I have heard reports that profiles with a photo are clicked on up to 10 times more than profiles without photos.

Add videos. If you have videos put them into your Avvo profile. While they won't improve your rating, it will give potential clients who are checking you out online an opportunity to see who you are, how you articulate your answers, and will position you as more of an “expert.” The production quality of your videos does not matter nearly as much as the information you include in them. It's all about education-based marketing—educating your prospects.

Answer user’s questions. Over 5,000 consumers every week ask legally related questions on Avvo. Please be sure to put a standard disclaimer on each response, i.e., that your reply does not constitute legal advice or the establishment of an attorney-client relationship, etc.

Create Avvo “Legal Guides” for your top 10 questions. If you're like most attorneys, you constantly get asked a common set of questions. Write down these FAQs and write a short (1-3 pages) response to each one. Make each question a legal guide. Keep the questions and answers highly focused on a specific topic. Be sure to add a disclaimer on each guide.

Ask other lawyers to endorse you. This can make a big difference in your rating. Just like a referral from another attorney in the real world makes a big impression on a prospect, so having a reference from another attorney or a judge on your Avvo profile can improve your rating.

Ask clients to write a testimonial for you. Client testimonials do NOT have a positive or negative impact on your rating. However, I assure you, potential clients read them!

Put your Avvo badge on your website or blog. Avvo allows you to create a “badge” with your profile score on it that links directly to your Avvo profile.

Consider signing up for Avvo Pro. There is a small monthly fee for this, but it provides you with all sorts of statistics like, how many people clicked on your profile, etc.  You may also want to consider advertising on Avvo.  I've heard anecdotally from attorneys who are finding some success with an Avvo ad campaign in their local areas. If you have the budget, I think it's worth testing it.

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Register for a 2012 Rainmaker Retreat by Jan. 1 and Get a $397 Gift FREE

Is growing your law practice to greater and more profitable levels on your list of New Year’s resolutions this year?

If so, then your first step is to register for our Rainmaker Retreat two-day law firm marketing boot camp.  We have two sessions coming up:

January 27-28, 2012 – Las Vegas, NV

February 10-11, 2012 – Orlando, FL

And if you register before January 1, 2012, you’ll get the Rainmaker in a Box Volume 1 DVD set for FREE, as our holiday gift to you!

For years, the Rainmaker in a Box set has been a consistent best seller at the Rainmaker Institute. It includes four separate presentations on four DVDs as well as a Data DVD including PowerPoint slides from all four presentations that cover the law firm strategies you can employ to create a seven-figure law practice.

Here's just a sample of what you will discover:

The 5 Immutable Secrets to Building a 7 Figure Law Practice:

How to create an automated marketing system to transform your law firm from a practice into a business. I share with you the 5 unchanging secrets top-earning attorneys use to build a multi-million dollar law firm.

Secrets of Building a Referral-based Law Practice for Busy Practitioners:

Every lawyer wants more referrals, yet for many the steps to get there remain an elusive secret. Listen in and watch as I lay out the 8-step proven system to triple your referral sources in 90 days or less!

The Top 6 Most Powerful Online Marketing Strategies for Attorneys:

Internet marketing is one of today's fastest growing and most powerful marketing tools for lawyers. Yet much of how to generate more business and attract more clients online is still a mystery. Watch as I pull back the veil and walk you through the core concepts and key principles every attorney must understand in order to dominate their competition online and build a powerful Internet presence on a shoestring budget.

Action, Accountability and Next Steps:

Knowledge is power. The most difficult part for most attorneys is putting that knowledge into action. In this DVD you will discover an 8-step system for creating your law firm marketing plan and how to take action immediately.

We sell a bunch of these every year for $397.  Click here to register for a 2012 Rainmaker Retreat and claim your FREE Rainmaker In a Box DVD set now!

 

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Stephen doesn’t know I’m making a “guest” post on
our Rainmaker blog today, but I just had to
share this with you...

I'm the Director of Marketing at The Rainmaker Institute and I just wanted to tell everyone that last Friday I attended the BEST office holiday party EVER and I really wanted to share what our CEO, Stephen, did to make this office tradition so exciting and special for all of us this year.
 
We had about half of our Team members meet up in Phoenix for our annual Christmas party. Not everyone could make it as we are a hybrid company—half of us are in Phoenix, but the other half live all around the country. However, some of our Team came from as far away as Chicago and Philadelphia to attend!

After a great meal, we all participated in our usual white elephant gift exchange that included some good-natured “stealing” and side deals. Stephen’s Executive Assistant, Maria, thought we could spice up the luncheon with a little holiday karaoke so Kenny, one of our Rainmaker Advisors, brought his impressive music equipment and had the ensemble all set up at the front of the room ready to go.

After we concluded the white elephant frivolity, Stephen gave a touching and heartfelt thank you to The Rainmaker Institute Team for their collective efforts in the record-breaking success the company has achieved this year (in case you didn’t hear, we doubled our revenues in the last 6 months)!

THEN, he announced we would begin the second half of the party...but we would NOT be singing karaoke! I'm pretty sure I heard several audible sighs of relief. 

We adjourned to another room that had 3 six-foot tables filled with wrapped gifts!

By the way—NOBODY knew about this...not even Maria! How Stephen arranged all of this without her help is beyond belief! Sometimes it seems he can hardly walk out the door without asking Maria where he's going first (just kidding Stephen, not really).

Stephen announced that we were doing ANOTHER gift exchange, except he was providing all of the gifts!  He shared that there were over $4,000 in items up for grabs and that nothing was valued less than $100. You could feel the excitement building in the room!

As people were called up one by one, they had the opportunity to either steal someone’s gift or select a new one from the table.

I was the first one to go and opened up a gift card that included $100 in Wal-Mart gift cards—which drew a lot of laughs as I am NOT ALLOWED to shop at Wal-Mart as my husband has worked for one of their fierce competitors for 30 years!

Some items were quickly out of circulation as they were “stolen” the maximum number of times. First to go were 2 Southwest airline tickets that included two free round-trip tickets to anywhere Southwest flies! They were hidden inside a piece of luggage with a cryptic message to ‘pack your bags.” Nice!

Next to go was a brand new Visio 42 inch HDTV (internet ready and built in wi-fi)! Followed quickly by the brand new Amazon Kindle Fire!

Other popular gifts included: multiple paid days off; $100 Amazon gift cards; multiple massages at Massage Envy; a day on Canyon Lake in Stephen’s Sea Ray boat with 4 guests of your choice; multiple pairs of shoes from your favorite shoe store; a top of the line digital camera, and several “all expenses paid nights on the town” in some of the best restaurants in the Phoenix-Scottsdale area!

We had such a great time! It felt like we were all lucky contestants on a game show, except everyone walked away a winner! The creativity and thought behind each of the gifts was amazing and Stephen did it ALL himself.

I was grateful that someone eventually “stole” my Wal-Mart gift cards and so I “stole” an all-expenses paid 2 night stay at a luxury resort & spa in Sedona from one my co-workers PLUS ½ day paid time off to get an early start on the weekend get-away!

Rikki, one of our 6 Social Media Assistants, successfully “stole” one of the other top gifts—a “37 minute shopping spree at your favorite store!” But knowing Stephen, there were “terms and conditions”:
1.    She must set the date for the shopping spree at least 1 week in advance so anyone at The Rainmaker Institute can go watch.
2.    She can't have any outside help.
3.    Everything must fit into 2 shopping carts that she has to push.
4.    The time starts the moment she steps into the store and she must be at the checkout counter before the timer runs out and here's the BEST part—
5.    It ALL has to be videotaped so everyone can watch the experience!
You can be sure I’ll be there firsthand! Maybe we can even get Stephen to post the video on our blog. Let me know if you want to see it in the comment section below.

When the gift exchange was over, Stephen thanked US again. After his unbelievable generosity, he was thanking us! Can you believe it?

Thank YOU to all of our faithful readers for letting me share our TRI holiday fun!  
Here's to wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a safe, happy New Years!

(Stephen, when you read this…THANK YOU from all the TRI team for the opportunity to work for such an amazing company)!

 

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There’s no better way to start the year off right than to create a Marketing Action Plan (MAP).

On Wednesday, Jan. 18, I will lead you through the 5 critical steps of developing a 90-day game plan for marketing your law firm and give you viable options to help you implement the MAP.

The webinar begins at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT and goes for one hour.

You will learn:

• The 5 critical components of a Marketing Action Plan (MAP)
• How to select the right marketing tools that will work for your practice and personality
• View examples of Marketing Action Plans for various practice areas
• How to create a roadmap to make 2012 your Best Year Ever!

All attendees will also receive a FREE 40 page marketing plan workbook at the end of the webinar.

If you would like to view this webinar at your convenience, then go ahead and register to receive a recording of this impactful one-hour session that will help you plan your work, and then work your plan!

Click here to register now.

 

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When it comes to the different kind of leads that attorneys can generate for new business, referrals are the gold standard.  They come to you pre-qualified and ready to “buy” from a source they trust – and with a trust transference to you that is built-in.

If you do nothing else with your law firm marketing this year, make a resolution to cultivate more referrals.  Cultivating referrals is low-cost and high-reward, and should be at the top of your list when it comes to new business development for your law firm.

Consider the following as you build your base of referrals this year:

Categorize – there are two categories of referrals for attorneys: current clients and strategic partners.  Comb through your client list and identify those clients who already refer, those most likely to refer (happy with your services) and those that will need some special attention to become a good referral source.  To develop a list of potential strategic partners, examine that client list again and see if you can find some commonality among other professional service providers that your clients also utilize – other attorneys, accountants, CPAs, business coaches, etc. 

Educate – your referral sources will likely need to be educated about the kind of referrals you are seeking.  Teach them about who your ideal client is so they won’t waste their time and yours referring potential clients that are not a good fit for you.

Motivate – look for ways to incentivize and reward your referral sources for sending you potential clients.  Maybe it’s a free consultation or a gift card to a favored store.  Be creative about it.

Follow Through – one of the worst things you can do is not follow through with potential clients who are referred to you.  This will dry up your referral pipeline faster than anything.  Let your referral sources know how you plan to follow up with the people they are referring, then do it.  Keep your sources up to date periodically on the new relationship and be sure to thank them again.

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Free Report: 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys From Building A Referral-Based Practice

Referrals are the lifeblood of many law practices, and building a good referral program takes a proven process.  Stephen Fairly unveils the 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys from Building a Referral-Based Practice in his new free report.  Read and discover:

How to determine the best source for your referrals

How to explain your ideal target market to a referral source

How to get referrals from other attorneys

Whether online directories are a good referral source

How to network effectively

And much, much more!

Click here to get your free report today.

 

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A recent poll of 4,500 adult consumers by a marketing firm called Mr. Youth, a FastCompany Top 10 Most Innovative company, showed that social media has been a significant influence on holiday shopping purchases this year. 

The survey showed that 66 percent of the respondents said that they had made a purchase based on recommendations made by friends or family on a social media site. Which shows the growing influence of social media sites as forums for referrals – and, as we all know, referrals are the lifeblood of many a law practice!

Here’s an infographic on the survey results:

Note that businesses using social media correctly enjoy higher levels of trust among consumers, and are able to command a higher price because of it.

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Looking for more proven tactics from The Rainmaker Institute?

Then subscribe to our FREE monthly e-newsletter. One click of your mouse will take you to our site where you can see the current issue and subscribe to our complimentary monthly e-newsletter that will be delivered to your inbox.  Each issue is chock-full of legal marketing information you can put to use right away. I think you will find the information in every newsletter something you will want to share with your staff to maximize the effectiveness of your legal marketing plan.

 

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One of the biggest complaints I hear from attorneys is the difficulties they encounter coming up with ideas for their articles, blogs and other content-based marketing. 

If you’re doing content marketing like it should be done – creating fresh content and posting it 5-7 times a week – it is hard to come up with a fresh idea almost every day. Which is why it is so important to have tools to help you aggregate ideas from as many different sources as you can find.

A post a couple of days ago at Mashable.com provides a list of 7 online tools that can help you gather lots of fodder for your content files – from news sources, your industry, or even your personal networks:

Twitter – for staying on top of breaking news. Check out @AP, @Reuters and @BBCBreaking.

Tweeted Times – for aggregating all the news in your Twitter stream and ranking items by popularity.

Google Reader – for aggregating multiple news sources, including other blogs and industry newsletters, via RSS feed.

Flipboard – this is an app for your iPad or iPhone that displays the news from any RSS source as well as your social networks.

Instapaper and Read It Later – for bookmarking articles to save for later reading on your laptop, desktop, iPhone, iPad or Android.

Link Aggregators – sites like Google News that collect and rank news on any given topic. 

LinkedIn Today – for aggregating news by industry.

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Stop Wasting Precious Time and Money

Feel like you don’t have time for marketing?  Let us show you how to make a plan that runs on “autopilot” – one that attracts new and lucrative clients while you focus on your practice.

Learn how easy it can be to create an effective law firm marketing plan that performs by getting our Free Guide: 5 Easy Steps to Create Your Law Firm Marketing Plan. 

After working with many ultra-successful lawyers we found five common threads in their marketing plans. This guide outlines these shared elements to provide insight into strategies that work and how to make them work for you.

There are two versions: one for Attorneys in Solo Practice and one for Attorneys in a Small Firm.  Click here to download, and start using these proven strategies today!

 

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Is growing your law practice to greater and more profitable levels on your list of New Year’s resolutions this year?

If so, then your first step is to register for our Rainmaker Retreat two-day law firm marketing boot camp.  We have two sessions coming up:

January 27-28, 2012 – Las Vegas, NV

February 10-11, 2012 – Orlando, FL

And if you register before January 1, 2012, you’ll get the Rainmaker in a Box Volume 1 DVD set for FREE, as our holiday gift to you!

For years, the Rainmaker in a Box set has been a consistent best seller at the Rainmaker Institute. It includes four separate presentations on four DVDs as well as a Data DVD including PowerPoint slides from all four presentations that cover the law firm strategies you can employ to create a seven-figure law practice.

Here's just a sample of what you will discover:

The 5 Immutable Secrets to Building a 7 Figure Law Practice:

How to create an automated marketing system to transform your law firm from a practice into a business. I share with you the 5 unchanging secrets top-earning attorneys use to build a multi-million dollar law firm.

Secrets of Building a Referral-based Law Practice for Busy Practitioners:

Every lawyer wants more referrals, yet for many the steps to get there remain an elusive secret. Listen in and watch as I lay out the 8-step proven system to triple your referral sources in 90 days or less!

The Top 6 Most Powerful Online Marketing Strategies for Attorneys:

Internet marketing is one of today's fastest growing and most powerful marketing tools for lawyers. Yet much of how to generate more business and attract more clients online is still a mystery. Watch as I pull back the veil and walk you through the core concepts and key principles every attorney must understand in order to dominate their competition online and build a powerful Internet presence on a shoestring budget.

Action, Accountability and Next Steps:

Knowledge is power. The most difficult part for most attorneys is putting that knowledge into action. In this DVD you will discover an 8-step system for creating your law firm marketing plan and how to take action immediately.

We sell a bunch of these every year for $397.  Click here to register for a 2012 Rainmaker Retreat and claim your FREE Rainmaker In a Box DVD set now!

 

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We all know that “cash is king” when it comes to successfully managing your own business, but when it comes to B2B marketing, content is king.  

A new study by MarketingProfs and the Content Marketing Institute, which surveyed almost 1,100 B2B marketers in August 2011, has found that 90 percent of B2B marketers use content marketing to grow their businesses – and 80 percent of those use at least eight content marketing tactics to achieve their marketing goals. 

The top 10 B2B content marketing tactics include:

The study found that the three content marketing tactics that have grown the most since last year are blogs (65% in 2011 vs. 51% in 2010), videos (52% in 2011 vs. 41% in 2010) and white papers (51% in 2011 vs. 43% in 2010).

Social media networks grew substantially over the past year as vehicles for distributing content:

The biggest challenge facing B2B content marketers today is, not surprisingly, producing the kind of content that engages prospective customers. To produce this content, more marketers are turning to outsourcing – 62% of those surveyed said they use a combination of in-house and outsourced content, up from 55% one year ago.

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Looking for more proven tactics from The Rainmaker Institute?

Then subscribe to our FREE monthly e-newsletter. One click of your mouse will take you to our site where you can see the current issue and subscribe to our complimentary monthly e-newsletter that will be delivered to your inbox. 

Each issue is chock-full of legal marketing information you can put to use right away. I think you will find the information in every newsletter something you will want to share with your staff to maximize the effectiveness of your legal marketing plan.

 

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Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the numbers that make your law firm run.  Here are some common numbers you should know:

How much money do you need each and every month to make payroll and keep your doors open?

How many new clients do you need to bring in every month to break even?

What is your average profit margin per client?

Which types of cases produce the highest profit margin?

What percentage of people who visit your website end up calling your office?

What percentage of prospects that call your office come in for a free consultation?

What percentage of prospects that come in for a free consultation become clients?

What is your average new client worth?

If you don’t know these and other important numbers, how on-target are the decisions you are making about marketing and running your law firm on a daily basis likely to be?

Learn all about it by joining me next Thursday, Dec. 15 for a one-hour webinar on Key Performance Indicators: Knowing The Numbers That Run Your Law Firm at 3 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT. 

In this fast paced webinar, sponsored by the Legal Marketing Association, I will give you the specifics that will allow you to view KPIs from the Partner’s perspective, how to determine which analytics you need to measure, and how to communicate the relevant data to Partners so you are viewed as a valued member of the decision-making leadership team.

Discounts are available for LMA members. For more information and to register online, click here.

 

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The holidays provide an excellent opportunity for attorneys to rededicate themselves to cultivating referrals for the upcoming year. 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 thank-you note the very same day.  

3.       Reward: Within the next two days, send your referral source a small gift of appreciation like a gift card to Starbucks.

4.       Recognition: Once you’ve successfully scheduled a meeting with the 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 something your referral source will really value. However, be aware of dollar-amount gift limits your referrals are able to accept.  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. The holidays provide you with the perfect opportunity to get back in touch.

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.

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Want to Learn More Marketing Techniques for Attorneys? Attend a Rainmaker Retreat in 2012!

If you are interested in building a lifestyle law practice through effective law firm marketing, then come to one of our upcoming Rainmaker Retreats:

January 27-28, 2012 – Las Vegas, NV

February 10-11, 2012 – Orlando, FL

If you want to learn more about the Rainmaker Retreat and why it is a proven legal marketing system that has helped over 8,000 attorneys find more and better clients, then register now for one of our one-hour complimentary teleseminars:

Thursday, December 8

12pm PT | 1pm MT | 2pm CT | 3pm ET 

Thursday, December 15

11am PT | 12pm MT | 1pm CT | 2pm ET  

Tuesday, December 20

1pm PT | 2pm MT | 3pm CT | 4pm ET  

Join us and learn why the Rainmaker Retreat is the one law firm marketing boot camp you cannot afford to miss!

 

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Distrust of traditional media sources is growing, and so is the influence of blogs on consumers’ purchase decisions, according to the 2011 State of the Blogosphere Report recently released by blog directory website Technorati.

The report shows that more than one-third of the consumers surveyed believe they will be getting their news and entertainment from blogs rather than traditional media over the next five years, and more than half said they trust traditional media less than they did five years ago:

More than half also said they visit blogs to get news or information:

And almost one-third said that a blog is likely to influence a purchase decision:

There is no denying the value of blogging when it comes to law firm marketing.

When used properly, it becomes a clear, consistent voice for your practice. It entices prospects, referral sources, colleagues, clients and thought leaders to engage you in dialogue.

It keeps you top of mind. It builds visibility among your target clients. Ultimately, it earns you more of the kind of client you most desire.

Blogging is your forum to connect with the community at large and to make it clear that you are an expert in your field.  But to make it the highly effective medium you need it to be, your law firm marketing and promotion strategy should include:

• A topic list designed to engage your target audience;
• A list of social media (such as Facebook and Twitter) to promote it;
• A list and schedule for article marketing services to add visibility and to feed it to reporters and thought leaders;
• An up-to-date blog that you write articles for at least 2 to 4 times per week;
• A search engine optimization formula to increase your page rank.

When you have all these things in place, you will be well on your way to creating a blog that will enhance your overall law firm marketing efforts.

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Practice Made Perfect for Lawyers CD Set

The Practice Made Perfect CD set and manual applies Stephen Fairley’s unique High Impact Marketing System to the practice-building challenges faced by solo practitioners and partners at small law firms.  

It includes dozens of specific marketing and sales recommendations that can be easily and quickly applied to your firm, including:

• The only 7 sure-fire ways to get clients in your door NOW
• Why advertising doesn’t work for most small law firms
• The 7 reasons why people don’t buy from you           
• How to market and sell with USP’s (Unique Selling Proposition)           
• Using audio logos to attract immediate attention for your business
• Using low-cost, high impact marketing strategies           
• Strategies for achieving maximum results from all of your marketing efforts           
• How to discover your Ideal Target Market
• 3 critical factors to remember when looking for new clients
• The NEW sales cycle for professional services
• How to retain your best clients

Click here to order your Practice Made Perfect for Lawyers CD set and manual now.

 

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A New York Times article last week noted a growing trend among attorneys in their mid-20s to early 40s: opening up their own shops in lieu of pursuing the partner track in larger law firms.

According to the article, a growing number of young attorneys want more control over their time and many are choosing to go it alone or with a like-minded colleague rather than be at the mercy of large law firm layoffs or what has become a slower slog to partnership.

The article profiled five new law firm start-ups and revealed some of the lessons learned from hanging out one’s own shingle:

• To reach profitability more quickly, run a lean operation
• Network at every possible opportunity
• The best clients are the people you would want to socialize with, not just anyone who walks through the door
• Challenge the status quo when it comes to billing practices – one firm charges a flat rate and bills upfront for third party services
• Create a realistic budget
• Effective time management is critical
• Learn to handle uncertainty – your monthly income is likely to be cyclical until you are well established

Want to learn more about building a successful law practice? See our free CD offer below.

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Free CD: Insider Small Law Firm Marketing Practices

Get your free CD on Insider Small Law Firm Marketing Practices by #1 Best-Selling Author And Nationally Recognized Law Firm Marketing Expert Stephen Fairley, and listen as he reveals A Proven System To Generate More and Better Referrals, Find New Clients Fast, and Fill Your Law Practice! Discover:

• How 1 piece of simple technology in your practice will drastically increase your communication with prospects, clients and referral sources – resulting in a major revenue boost
• 5 ways to market and position yourself as a recognized expert
• How 2 Attorneys promoted their law firms to over 100,000 people for less than $100 in 2 hours
• The 1 item you must absolutely have to create a Million Dollar Law Practice (hint: Not having this will almost guarantee your failure!)
• 6 BIGGEST secrets to generating more and better referrals
• How to create a proven network of 30 new Strategic Referral Partners in the next 90 days

To obtain your free CD, click here now.

 

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Everyone is cash-conscious these days.  If you’re like most attorneys in small and solo law firms, you’re working harder than ever before just to get the same amount of business.  Here are some specific strategies to help you bootstrap your way to marketing success:

Done is Better Than Perfect.  When it comes to marketing your law firm, almost is almost always good enough!  Get your website or blog to the point where it’s good enough and then launch it!  You can always tinker with the photos at a later time.

I have encountered far too many attorneys who micromanage the marketing process to the point where nothing is done.  Which means, of course, nothing is accomplished.

Niche Your Practice to Get on the Fast Path to Riches
.  I know you have heard me say this before, and I know you continue to resist it.  However, the more you can target a specific niche, the easier you can dominate your target and the faster you can gain recognition as an expert.

Here's an example of a poorly defined niche: small business owners in Phoenix who need an estate plan.  Here’s how to locate a better target: physicians in Phoenix who own a medical practice, gross at least $500,000 annually, and need asset protection strategies to grow and preserve their wealth.

Including highly specific categories in your niche will keep you on track, plus it’s easier to identify who these people or businesses are, so be sure you specify a profession or industry, geographical location, annual revenues, and core challenges.

Look at What the Crowd is Doing and Do the Opposite
.  Many of my best marketing strategies are based on contrarian thinking.  I often tell my clients to look at what their competitors are doing and do the opposite.

Right now, I have heard some attorneys say they are doubling their advertising spend, believing that since they can negotiate a good deal they should buy more of it.  That’s good news for you.  Not only is advertising generally ineffective in growing a law firm, but they are wasting their precious cash flow while you are investing it wisely on strategies that actually work.

Emphasize Price at Your Own Peril. 
This is not the time to reduce your rates just to pull a few more clients in the door.  It’s often the price shoppers who are the most demanding, take up more of your time, complain more frequently, and are slow payers.

By emphasizing your price and targeting the lower end of the marketplace, you kill your profit margins and destroy your chances at long-term wealth.  Emphasize price at your own peril.

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Stop Wasting Precious Time and Money

Feel like you don’t have time for marketing?  Let us show you how to make a plan that runs on “autopilot” – one that attracts new and lucrative clients while you focus on your practice.

Learn how easy it can be to create an effective law firm marketing plan that performs by getting our Free Guide: 5 Easy Steps to Create Your Law Firm Marketing Plan. 

After working with many ultra-successful lawyers we found five common threads in their marketing plans. This guide outlines these shared elements to provide insight into strategies that work and how to make them work for you.

There are two versions: one for Attorneys in Solo Practice and one for Attorneys in a Small Firm.  Click here to download, and start using these proven strategies today!

 

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Yesterday I blogged about a recent study of 500 professional services firms from Hinge Research Institute on how the use – or nonuse – of online marketing impacts the growth and profitability of professional services firms.

Today’s post is about what Hinge found that high growth firms do differently that make them high growth. They looked at high growth firms that generate 40 percent or more of their leads online and found that these organizations:

• Update their websites more frequently
• Use online contact forms much more frequently
• Were twice as likely to have redesigned their website over the past year
• Are generating five times more online leads and twice as many new hires
• Are twice as profitable than average growth firms

So what do high growth firms do differently than average growth firms? Take a look:

Examining the effectiveness of these online techniques, high growth firms showed an advantage in every category:

Did you know that you can learn about all of these online strategies used by high growth professional services firms -- and how to implement them immediately at your law firm -- at a Rainmaker Retreat? For more information and to register for an upcoming session, visit www.rainmakerretreat.com.

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FREE "Top 10 Mistakes Attorneys Make and How to Avoid Them" E-book

In a newly revised e-book, legal marketing expert Stephen Fairley outlines 10 of the most common marketing mistakes attorneys make that can lead to the failure of their business, and provides specific strategies and proven principles for avoiding these deadly errors. 

Get your complimentary copy online here.

Regardless of your specific situation, this free e-book will help you examine how you are currently finding new clients and recommend specific steps you can immediately start using to grow your practice. 

We have helped thousands of attorneys achieve their goals of creating a financially successful and personally satisfying legal practice. In this e-book you will discover specific principles and tools you can use to grow your practice, too.  

 

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A post last week at SocialMediaExaminer.com provided a list of 26 social media stats that demonstrate why social media is changing how small businesses market themselves. 

If social media is not integrated into your law firm marketing program yet, there should be no doubt left as to why it shouldn’t be after you read these stats:

1. Facebook now has over 800 million active users.
2. More than 8 of 10 Americans use a social network.
3. Americans spend more time on Facebook than any other website.
4. 4 in 10 Americans access their social media accounts through mobile devices.
5. Of all time spent online, 23 percent is spent on social networking sites.
6. Facebook is the #1 social network with Americans spending 10 times more time on Facebook than Twitter or LinkedIn.
7. Adult social media users are more active offline and have greater influence than their peers.
8. More than 400 million Facebook users log in every day.
9. The average Facebook user has 130 friends and is connected to 80 pages, events and groups.
10. Facebook has 900 million pages, groups and events that people interact with on the site.
11. Facebook hosts over 7 million apps – 20+ million are downloaded daily.
12. Three-fourths of Facebook users are outside North America and Facebook supports 70 different languages.
13. Business brands that post on Facebook every day reach 22 percent of their fan base every week.
14. 91 percent of online Americans access a social media site every month.
15. 98 percent of 18-24 year-olds access a social account every month.
16. College towns log into Facebook the most.
17. The average Facebook user spends 20 minutes on their account every visit.
18. Most Facebook users log in 3-4 times weekly.
19. 1 of 5 social network users visits another social site after leaving one.
20. 81 percent of small businesses use social media to connect with customers and generate leads.
21. 44 percent of small business decision-makers use social media.
22. Of those small business decision-makers who use social media, 86 percent use Facebook, 41 percent used LinkedIn and 33 percent use Twitter.
23. 50 percent of small business owners report getting new customers via social media, primarily Facebook and LinkedIn.
24. Facebook and Twitter users who follow brands are more likely to buy from those companies.
25. Small businesses don’t have to spend a lot to get results – 60 percent spend less than $100.
26. It only takes 20 people to bring an online community to a significant level of activity.

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Free Report: 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys From Building A Referral-Based Practice

Referrals are the lifeblood of many law practices, and building a good referral program takes a proven process.  Stephen Fairly unveils the 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys from Building a Referral-Based Practice in his new free report.  Read and discover:

• How to determine the best source for your referrals
• How to explain your ideal target market to a referral source
• How to get referrals from other attorneys
• Whether online directories are a good referral source
• How to network effectively
• And much, much more!

Click here to get your free report today.

 

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If your law firm marketing program is working well, it should be producing a large number of lead opportunities for you.  What you do with those opportunities is nearly as important has generating the opportunities.

First, you should develop strategies for increasing the number of leads and tracking them.  Legal marketing can do some of the heavy lifting for you on identifying lead prospects.  But going from a possible lead to a genuine lead and prospect requires a well-designed system that includes follow through.

Second, you should develop a system for tracking all incoming leads and where the leads are in the sales pipeline.  Once a lead comes in, someone has to be tasked with keeping track of the lead status so leads do not fall through the cracks.  Lost leads are lost opportunities, and are akin to leaving money on the table.  They also hurt your reputation with your referral sources if they supplied the referral and you didn’t follow through on the lead.

A good lead system should:

• Sort and prioritize leads
• Assign leads to members of the firm for follow up 
• Maintain the follow-up system and hold the firm members accountable

Converting possibilities and referrals into leads is one of the key conversion tasks of your firm.  Generating referrals from your legal marketing strategy is the first step in building your business.

Converting those leads into clients, and ultimately referral sources, is how you grow your firm into what you envisioned when you began.  Without a good lead flow system, the likelihood of you maximizing the possibilities of your marketing program is slim.

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Learn How to Convert Leads Into Paying Client at Nov. 17 Webinar

After paying your employees, the most costly part of your law firm is Lead Generation.

This year your law firm will spend almost 10 times as much generating new leads as it does servicing existing clients!

Generating leads for your law firm is very expensive, yet a common complaint of many attorneys is that they “need more leads.”

Lead Conversion is the most overlooked area at most law firms and it has the potential to save you tens of thousands of dollars this year!

How? By helping you convert more of those costly leads into more paying clients!

Come join us for a one-hour webinar on Thursday, Nov. 17 at noon PT/3 p.m. ET and learn:

• 3 major areas to examine when analyzing your law firm
• 5 numbers every law firm must track to increase their conversion rates
• A simple diagnostic tool you can use to track your leads and fix your follow up
• A proven system for converting more leads into paying clients

If you can’t sit in on the live version of this webinar, you can watch it at your convenience by registering now. All registrants receive a recording of the webinar to watch at their convenience.

Click here to sign up now.

 

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Lawyers should love LinkedIn for its ability to help them expand their network of potential referrals and showcase their expertise.  Use these apps to help you generate more leads and showcase your expertise:

JDSupra’s Legal Updates app allows you to upload your blog posts, articles, newsletters and other writings and makes them searchable on LinkedIn – a great way to raise your profile among potential clients.  Its Custom Distribution feature also allows you to deliver your insight to those beyond your own network.

Martindale-Hubbard’s Lawyer Ratings app displays your Martindale-Hubbard rating on your profile and lets your clients provide testimonials with one click.

You can display your blog posts on your LinkedIn page with this WordPress app to drive more people to your website and promote your profile.

Do you have some videos?  The SlideShare.net app allows you to add a video that plays automatically each time someone visits your LinkedIn page.

If you have written a book, you can use The Reading List by Amazon app to help promote your tome and raise your visibility.

Sync your Twitter account with LinkedIn, which helps you stay top-of-mind on LinkedIn even if you’re not there very often.

Use the LinkedIn Events app to feature and promote any events you are hosting or where you will be speaking.

LinkedIn is one of the most dynamic online tools to expand your referral network.  However, just like getting referrals the old-fashioned way, you need to connect and engage.  These apps help you do a better job at both.

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FREE REPORT: How to Use Blogs as a Secret Weapon in Your Online Arsenal

One of the secret tools of Internet marketing for attorneys is the power of having a targeted blog. In a report on the influence of blogs, eMarketer.com found that in 2010, 51% of Internet users in the U.S. (that’s over 91 million people) read blogs, and they project that usage will go to 60% (150 million) in the next four years!

Still think blogs are a fad?

Here’s what you’ll discover when you read this report:

• Why you must have a blog in order to stay relevant
• 3 keys to successful blogging
• 7 Guidelines for achieving ROI
• Your 3 choices for managing your blog and social media efforts
• And much more!

Click here to order your free report now!

 

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After paying your employees, the most costly part of your law firm is Lead Generation.

This year your law firm will spend almost 10 times as much generating new leads as it does servicing existing clients!

Generating leads for your law firm is very expensive, yet a common complaint of many attorneys is that they “need more leads.”

Lead Conversion is the most overlooked area at most law firms and it has the potential to save you tens of thousands of dollars this year!

How? By helping you convert more of those costly leads into more paying clients!

Come join us for a one-hour webinar on Thursday, Nov. 17 at noon PT/3 p.m. ET and learn:

• 3 major areas to examine when analyzing your law firm
• 5 numbers every law firm must track to increase their conversion rates
• A simple diagnostic tool you can use to track your leads and fix your follow up
• A proven system for converting more leads into paying clients

If you can’t sit in on the live version of this webinar, you can watch it whenever you want by registering now. All registrants receive a recording of the webinar to watch at their convenience.

Click here to sign up now.

 

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The world recently celebrated (depending on how you look at it) the arrival of the 7 billionth person on the planet. With Facebook now at 800 million users worldwide and growing, it won’t be long before one-seventh of the world’s population is on this robust social media platform.

Here’s a deeper look at the numbers:

Want to Learn About Social Media Marketing for Attorneys? Attend a Rainmaker Retreat!

If you are interested in building a lifestyle law practice through effective law firm marketing, then come to one of our upcoming Rainmaker Retreats:

• November 11-12, 2011 – Chicago, IL  ***4.25 Hours of General MCLE credits***
• December 2-3, 2011 – Los Angeles, CA
• February 10-11, 2012 – Orlando, FL

If you want to learn more about the Rainmaker Retreat and why it is a proven legal marketing system that has helped over 8,000 attorneys find more and better clients, then click here to receive a free DVD of your colleagues (and even your competitors) describing their experiences at our 2-day law firm marketing boot camp, the Rainmaker Retreat.

Yes, we know you are skeptical.   So instead of us telling you how these 2 days will transform your business, you can listen to your peers describe their experiences in their own words.
 
Click here to order your complimentary DVD right now.

 

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I just came across a great eBook written by Ardath Albee, a B2B marketing strategist and founder of Marketing Interactions, Inc., entitled Content is Currency. 

In it she identifies the three types of content most effective in generating leads: education, expertise and evidence.  Here’s a brief explanation of each:

Education: Before they buy, prospects research so educational content is essential to grab them in the early stages of the buying process. This kind of content is designed to help prospects answer the questions they have about the problems they are facing.

Expertise: Like it or not, prospects view most legal services as commodities and to get them to buy from you, you must demonstrate your difference and how you add value. 

Evidence: Prospects look for endorsement from many sources about the services you offer – they won’t just take your word for it. Telling stories about how your legal services have helped real people and including testimonials will help you provide evidence that you can do what you say you can do.

To get her free eBook on how to create a successful online content strategy, click here.

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FREE "Top 10 Mistakes Attorneys Make and How to Avoid Them" eBook

In a newly revised eBook, legal marketing expert Stephen Fairley outlines 10 of the most common marketing mistakes attorneys make that can lead to the failure of their business, and provides specific strategies and proven principles for avoiding these deadly errors. 

Get your complimentary copy online here.

Regardless of your specific situation, this free eBook will help you examine how you are currently finding new clients and recommend specific steps you can immediately start using to grow your practice. 

We have helped thousands of attorneys achieve their goals of creating a financially successful and personally satisfying legal practice. In this e-book you will discover specific principles and tools you can use to grow your practice, too.  

 

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The new John Grisham novel The Litigators is out and the reviews are good. The author is turning up on all the morning talk shows to promote his new tome, which is about a small law firm of...well, there’s really no other way to say it...ambulance chasers.

CNN interviewed Grisham, who said the spark for his new book was “what seems to be a deluge of lawyers advertising on television. The airwaves are just flooded these days with what I find to be unseemly appeals for cases...I’ve been intrigued with that aspect of the practice of law and advertising in general, and one thing led to another.”

Most people find the kind of attorney advertising Grisham talks about to be distasteful, and are distrustful of lawyers who sell legal services in this fashion. Which is why we have always been an advocate of education-based marketing rather than mass media advertising.

Education-based marketing is one of the most powerful tools at the disposal of lawyers. There is a great amount of basic information you know that prospects want. And there are a number of tools available for you to disseminate this information to them, including:

Blogs – Blogs are a great, inexpensive way to disseminate your knowledge quickly – plus, search engines love blogs because they provide fresh content and are usually very search engine friendly.

Online Article Marketing -- Did you know there are hundreds of websites that will publish your articles for free? All you have to do is submit them and within a matter of weeks you will begin to see your online presence grow. These short, education-based articles are written specifically for your niche. If you can write 500 words on a topic, you can use this simple strategy.

Free Reports -- Think about some of the questions your clients have and put together a short report (three to six pages long), a PowerPoint presentation, or even an audio CD, and offer a free copy to website visitors who give you their contact information. (Remember, if you cannot get visitors to call you directly, the second-best alternative is to persuade them to give you their contact information with permission to contact them.)

This kind of free educational information is a great tool you can use to start building relationships with many people who need your help but aren’t ready to walk in your door. It is not enough simply to offer people a free consultation. Almost every lawyer does that. Take it one step further and give them some great information that will help them think through the issues and challenges they are facing.

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Get All the Law Firm Marketing Strategies You Need to Create A 7-figure Law Practice with Rainmaker In A Box: Volumes 1 and 2!

Want to discover Proven Marketing Strategies that Top Law Firms are using right now to generate more leads and referrals and convert them into paying clients?

Rainmaker In A Box: Volume 1 and Rainmaker In A Box: Volume 2 contains highly valuable legal marketing information you absolutely need to know!

Rainmaker in a Box: Volume 1 includes:

• The 5 Immutable Secrets to Building a 7 Figure Law Practice
• Secrets of Building a Referral-based Law Practice for Busy Practitioners:
• The Top 6 Most Powerful Online Marketing Strategies for Attorneys:
• Action, Accountability and Next Steps
• Data DVD: Includes all 4 PowerPoint slides for all 4 presentations. We recommend you print all these off and take notes on them as you watch the 4 intense DVDs.

Rainmaker in a Box: Volume 2 includes:

• 8 Proven Steps for More & Better Referrals


• 7 Strategies to Recession Proof Your Law Firm


• 6 Keys to Unlocking the Secrets of Social Media


• 5 Core Components for Highly Successful Websites & Blogs

• Data DVD: 
Includes all 4 PowerPoint slides for all 4 presentations. We recommend you print all these off and take notes on them as you experience these information-packed DVDs!

Purchase both sets on our website and get 25% OFF!

Click here now to order!

 

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Do you have an answer to the #1 question prospects are thinking but few ask: Why should I hire you?

If not, you’ll want to attend the November 2 meeting of the Phoenix Legal Networking Group on Wednesday, Nov. 2 from 5:30-7:30 p.m.

When faced with this question, most attorneys fall back on talking about the quality of their services, their experience and the size of their law firm. Prepare to have your eyes opened to the truth:

• The #1 reason why prospects “shop you on price”
• How most attorneys completely miss the point when talking about their experience
• The 4 biggest reasons to emphasize when talking with prospects
• Overcoming common objections attorneys encounter

The networking event and marketing seminar will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 2 at Target Market Media Publications (Attorney at Law Magazines), 4647 N. 32nd St., Suite B-280 in Phoenix.

Cost is $20 if you register by Oct. 31, $30 if you register by Nov. 1 and $35 on the day of the event.  This covers drinks, hors d’oeurves, the networking event and the workshop.

What's different about this networking group from others?


First and foremost, it's for attorneys. While attorneys from all size law firms are welcome, it is specifically designed to help lawyers in small and solo practices to connect with one another and share referrals.

Second, there is an educational component at each event. Not MCLE or about substantive matters of law, but about how to build your business, make more money, generate more referrals, and run your practice like a business. We invite all local Arizona attorneys to join us each month. Upcoming topics will include:

• Practical ways to run your law firm like a business
• Generate more and better referrals
• Lessons from 7 figure attorneys
• Automating your online marketing efforts
• Increase your revenues and improve your receivables
• Take consistent action to build your business
• How to fix your follow up with every prospect, client and referral source
• Tools to increase referrals from CPAs, CFPs and other attorneys
• Learn cutting edge internet marketing strategies
• Apply practical tips and techniques to create a lifestyle law firm

To register for our Nov. 2 networking and legal marketing event, co-hosted by Attorney at Law Magazine, Coash & Coash Court Reporting and The Rainmaker Institute, visit www.therainmakerretreat.com/network or call 888-816-8935.

If you would like to be notified of specifics for future meetings, please go to www.therainmakerretreat.com/network and sign up by clicking the box “Can't Make It, Send Me Future Dates.”

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Can’t Make Our Nov. 2 Phoenix Legal Networking Group Meeting? You Can Still Get the Answers to “Why Should I Hire You?”

If you can’t make it to the November 2 meeting of the Phoenix Legal Networking Group but still want access to the information being given at the workshop, then get our one-hour How to Answer the Question, “Why Should I Hire You?”: Creating a Unique Competitive Advantage webinar online to watch at your convenience. Learn:

• Why quality does NOT matter! (Yes, you read that correctly, quality does not matter when it comes to closing a prospect)
• The #1 reason why prospects “shop you on price”
• How most attorneys completely miss the point when talking about their experience
• The 4 biggest reasons to emphasize when talking with prospects
• Overcoming common objections attorneys encounter
• Winning over skeptics by focusing on the numbers of your practice
• Case studies of how top attorneys respond when asked the ultimate question
• How to overcome price objections even before you meet with a prospect
• How to respond if someone says, “Your price is too high” or “That’s too much money!”
• How to get potential clients to stop making price an objection once and for all
• And 8 more effective ways to answer the question, “Why should I hire you?”

To access the webinar online, click here. 

 

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If your law firm is not growing (or worse yet, shrinking) and your revenue stream is down to a trickle, it's time to start being proactive with your marketing.

One of the most important aspects of successful law firm marketing is the ability to clearly define and demonstrate the services that you offer.

After years of helping more than 7,000 attorneys implement effective law firm marketing strategies, I have seen a common problem. Many attorneys communicate with prospective clients in a way clients do not understand.

One of the biggest mistakes a lawyer can make is to use "legal jargon" when speaking with prospects. No one wants to feel stupid and would rather save face than risk embarrassment by asking you to define what you believe is a "common legal term".

Effective marketing for attorneys rests on your ability to be understood; without a clear understanding of what you can do for them, most clients will head for the nearest exit.

As a lawyer, you must uncover the words and phrases your clients use to describe their goals, challenges and problems. You must cross their "language barrier" before you can begin to entice them to learn more about how you can help them.

For example, unless they have experienced it, most people don't know the difference between Chapter 7, 11, and 13 bankruptcies. Nor do they know the difference between a will, a living will, and an estate plan.

Here is a simple exercise that will help you accurately demonstrate your product and services:

1. Write down the terms and language you use to describe what you do to another professional in your field.

2. Now, write down the key words and phrases your clients use to describe your services to you. (If you can't complete this step, start asking your clients and listen to them as they describe their problems.) Your ability to succeed in law firm Marketing will rely, in part, on your willingness to write down the key words and phrases your clients are using and committing them to memory.

These two lists should be very different. If they overlap by 50% or more, you are probably not listening closely enough to prospects and clients. It is recommended that you go back to square one and ask more questions, listening more intently, if you expect your legal marketing efforts to be effective.

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Free Report: 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys From Building A Referral-Based Practice

Referrals are the lifeblood of many law practices, and building a good referral program takes a proven process.  Stephen Fairly unveils the 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys from Building a Referral-Based Practice in his new free report.  Read and discover:

• How to determine the best source for your referrals
• How to explain your ideal target market to a referral source
• How to get referrals from other attorneys
• Whether online directories are a good referral source
• How to network effectively
• And much, much more!

Click here to get your free report today.

 

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Small businesses are rapidly learning how social media can enhance the bottom line when it comes to retaining and attracting new customers. It is currently estimated that 75 percent of small businesses now participate in social media – primarily for lead generation and client retention.

One of the most revealing statistics is that a majority of consumers who follow a brand on social media are more likely to buy the brands they follow – 64 percent of Twitter users and 51 percent of Facebook users. Here’s an interesting infographic that shows how small business is using social media:

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Stop Wasting Precious Time and Money

Feel like you don’t have time for marketing?  Let us show you how to make a plan that runs on “autopilot” – one that attracts new and lucrative clients while you focus on your practice.

Learn how easy it can be to create an effective law firm marketing plan that performs by getting our Free Guide: 5 Easy Steps to Create Your Law Firm Marketing Plan. 

After working with many ultra-successful lawyers we found five common threads in their marketing plans. This guide outlines these shared elements to provide insight into strategies that work and how to make them work for you.

There are two versions: one for Attorneys in Solo Practice and one for Attorneys in a Small Firm. 

Click here to download, and start using these proven strategies today!

 

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While you may get an occasional referral from a former client or someone you know, if you want to take your legal marketing to the next level, you need a referral system.  How do you build a referral system that will bring you the results you need?

You start by developing relationships with potential referral sources and generate consistent referrals from them.  These sources may include accountants, investment advisors, business leaders, or anyone who has influence with your target market.  Depending on your practice area, your referral sources will vary.

Developing a relationship is a two-way process.  It can’t just be you asking them for referrals when you see them.  It requires regular contact and you showing as much concern for their business as you are asking them to show for your practice.  Ask them how you can assist them in achieving their goals.

Another key component of your law firm referral development plan is to create a system for connecting with prospects, clients and referral sources on a regular, consistent basis. This should include:

Monthly newsletters – keep them apprised of what your firm is doing, new employees, and content that is beneficial to them.

Annual Client Satisfaction Survey – find out what your clients think about the service they have received from your firm.

Keep In Touch letters – on a regular basis, every 2-3 months, send a letter to referrals, prospects and clients just to touch base.  This top of mind awareness is crucial for generating referrals.

Referral Education System – your referral sources need to know what kind of prospects you are looking for.  It does no good for them to refer prospects to you who are not looking for what your firm offers. 

Keep your referral sources updated on your practice areas and any changes in your firm if you want to receive high-quality referrals.

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FREE "Top 10 Mistakes Attorneys Make and How to Avoid Them" E-book

In a newly revised e-book, legal marketing expert Stephen Fairley outlines 10 of the most common marketing mistakes attorneys make that can lead to the failure of their business, and provides specific strategies and proven principles for avoiding these deadly errors.

Get your complimentary copy online here.

Regardless of your specific situation, this free e-book will help you examine how you are currently finding new clients and recommend specific steps you can immediately start using to grow your practice.

We have helped thousands of attorneys achieve their goals of creating a financially successful and personally satisfying legal practice. In this e-book you will discover specific principles and tools you can use to grow your practice, too.  
 

 

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If you dig down a little deeper into the most recent Social Media Report released by Nielsen & Co., you will discover some interesting information about the role social media plays for consumers as a source for product and service information.

According to Nielsen, more than 60 percent of social media consumers use these sites to gather information on a product or service, with ratings and reviews from others ranking as the two top sources they trust:

Nielsen research shows that three out of five active social media users create ratings and reviews of products and services, with women being more likely than men to do so (81 percent of females vs. 72 percent of males).

Consumers are increasingly using social media platforms to express their satisfaction – or dissatisfaction – with a product or service. A majority – 61 percent – said they do this to provide companies they like with recognition for a job well done; 58 percent of users post negative reviews to protect others if the user has had a bad experience with the particular product or service.

As I have noted previously, social networks are being used more and more as personal search engines mainly because Google has become too generic and consumers often don't trust what they find there.  

This trend is especially true in the under-30 age group. In fact, many social media experts are starting to point to Facebook as the new Google! Tens of thousands of searches are conducted every day on Facebook for resources and reviews of products, services, and service providers.  

This long-time phenomenon of asking your friends and colleagues for a referral has simply gone viral and online. Social networks are quickly multiplying the number of connections a person can ask when seeking a referral to a trusted advisor.  

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FREE REPORT: How to Use Blogs as a Secret Weapon in Your Online Arsenal

One of the secret tools of Internet marketing for attorneys is the power of having a targeted blog. In a new report on the influence of blogs, eMarketer.com found that in 2010, 51% of Internet users in the U.S. (that’s over 91 million people) read blogs, and they project that usage will go to 60% (150 million) in the next four years!

Still think blogs are a fad?

Here’s what you’ll discover when you read this report:

• Why you must have a blog in order to stay relevant
• 3 keys to successful blogging
• 7 Guidelines for achieving ROI
• Your 3 choices for managing your blog and social media efforts
• And much more!

Click here to order your free report now!

 

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At our Rainmaker Retreat last weekend, one attorney asked, “How can I stay up with SEO since it changes so fast?”

The answer is, unless you’re ready to change careers, you probably can’t.

There is an entire industry devoted to the practice of SEO and keeping on top of the changes in search engine algorithms that directly impact how websites are served up to searchers. To become adept at practicing SEO, you would probably need to abandon the practice of law. 

SEO takes time, and small firms and solos usually don’t have much of that to devote to something other than client work and running the business.  If all your time is taken up with focusing on what you can’t outsource, you should consider outsourcing your SEO to someone who can be just as effective at it – or more – than you are.

Before you do, however, be sure you have measurable goals if and when you outsource so you can see if you’re getting the bang you want for your buck.

Many solos and small firms have already decided that outsourcing is the best option for them. If you're in that group, then whomever you choose to outsource your SEO program to, just make sure they have experience working with attorneys. 

When you interview a legal marketing company, be sure they meet these criteria:

• They can point to other attorneys they work with;
• They have a written blueprint for how they intend to generate leads for your law firm;
• They clearly integrate blogs and social media and see one as an extension of the other;
• They charge a flat fee that’s reasonable based on results;
• They have clearly identified strategies to track and measure actual results from your blog and social media. Having a written guarantee of results is even better.

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Free Report: 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys From Building A Referral-Based Practice

Referrals are the lifeblood of many law practices, and building a good referral program takes a proven process.  Stephen Fairly unveils the 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys from Building a Referral-Based Practice in his new free report.  Read and discover:

• How to determine the best source for your referrals
• How to explain your ideal target market to a referral source
• How to get referrals from other attorneys
• Whether online directories are a good referral source
• How to network effectively
• And much, much more!

Click here to get your free report today.

 

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At our Rainmaker Retreat in San Francisco this past weekend, I fielded several questions from attorneys about keywords – how to find the right ones and how often to use them. 

Here are 3 steps to finding the right keywords for your law practice:

Step 1:  Make a list of 5-6 words and/or phrases that best describe your practice.

Put yourself in your prospect’s shoes and think about what words they would use to find you.  Hint:  it is not the name of your firm.  Choose words or phrases that describe exactly what you do, in laymen’s terms:  i.e., Phoenix divorce lawyer, car accident attorney, etc.

Step 2:  Choose your keywords or key phrases based on relevance and difficulty.

As you saw in my Tuesday blog, competition for the word “lawyer” is about as fierce as it gets, which means it would be very difficult for your site to rank high in search results for that word alone.  The smaller you are, the more specific you want to get, choosing keywords that have less competition.  Use Google’s Keyword Tool to see what the search volume is for your keywords and key phrases. Look for similar words that have less competition, but are still relevant to your business.  Then strike a good balance between relevance and difficulty. 

Step 3:  Use your keywords and key phrases throughout your website.

Choose the best 3-5 individual keywords and your top 10 key phrases and use them in the content of your website as well as in the page titles and metadata.  If you can secure a URL for these keywords, use that as well.  Be sure not to “stuff” your content with too many keywords – your site should still be written for a human being, not a search engine. 

If you would like to learn more about online marketing for law firms, sign up to attend one of our upcoming Rainmaker Retreats – we’ve got one coming up in two weeks in Livingston, New Jersey (Oct. 21-22), one next month in Chicago (Nov. 11-12) and one in December in Los Angeles (Dec. 2-3). 

For more information, visit www.rainmakerretreat.com or call 888-588-5891.

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Looking for more proven tactics from The Rainmaker Institute?

Then subscribe to our FREE monthly e-newsletter. One click of your mouse will take you to our site where you can see the current issue and subscribe to our complimentary monthly e-newsletter that will be delivered to your inbox.  Each issue is chock-full of legal marketing information you can put to use right away. I think you will find the information in every newsletter something you will want to share with your staff to maximize the effectiveness of your legal marketing plan.

 

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It’s no secret that we Americans have been addicted to television for years, and it seems as if that addiction has transferred right over to watching online video. Here is an interesting infographic from Wistia, an online video management firm, that clearly demonstrates why online video should be part of your law firm marketing program:

Infographic by: Wistia

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Stop Wasting Precious Time and Money

Feel like you don’t have time for marketing?  Let us show you how to make a plan that runs on “autopilot” – one that attracts new and lucrative clients while you focus on your practice.

Learn how easy it can be to create an effective law firm marketing plan that performs by getting our Free Guide: 5 Easy Steps to Create Your Law Firm Marketing Plan. 

After working with many ultra-successful lawyers we found five common threads in their marketing plans. This guide outlines these shared elements to provide insight into strategies that work and how to make them work for you.

There are two versions: one for Attorneys in Solo Practice and one for Attorneys in a Small Firm.  Click here to download, and start using these proven strategies today!

 

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Lawyers looking to increase their number of referrals and size of their revenues should consider attending an upcoming Rainmaker Retreat this month. We have two in October – this weekend, Oct. 7-8 in San Francisco and Oct. 21-22 in Livingston, NJ.

These extremely popular 2-day law firm marketing boot camps are tailored for small and solo law firms and teach techniques for building your business and taking it to the level you desired when you started your practice. The Rainmaker Retreat teaches you our proven Rainmaker System that has helped more than 7,000 attorneys from hundreds of law firms across the country discover how to generate more referrals and find new clients fast.

The Rainmaker Retreat is a working retreat that will help you:

• Create a written 90-day Marketing Action Plan (MAP) for your law firm
• Discover your firm’s Unique Competitive Advantage (UCA)
• Identify a profile of your Ideal Target Market (ITM)
• Have written strategies for improving your Internet presence and search engine optimization
• Develop your own plan for leveraging the power of blogging and social media following the Rainmaker Social Media Blueprint
• Create a letter of introduction to potential Strategic Referral Partners (SRPs)

Some of the topics covered in each Rainmaker Retreat include:

• Achieving Expert Status as an Attorney
• Building a Strategic Referral Network
• Creating Credibility in Your Practice Area
• Secrets of Highly Successful Attorneys
• Social Media for Small Law Firms
• Leveraging Technology: Beating the Big Firms on the Internet
• Generating More Clients Using the Power of Speaking
• Advanced Technology Tactics for Small Law Firms and Solo Practitioners

If you are unsure about attending a Rainmaker Retreat, I encourage you to join our FREE Preview Call on:

Thursday, October 13 -- 12pm PT | 1pm MT | 2pm CT | 3pm ET 

Wednesday, October 19 -- 11am PT | 12pm MT | 1pm CT | 2pm ET  

These free, one-hour calls will give you a taste of what you will learn during a Rainmaker Retreat. Click here to register for a Preview Call.

You can also request a free Rainmaker Retreat Preview DVD, which will give you a look into the Rainmaker Retreats and an opportunity to hear from the participants. Click here to order your free Preview DVD now.

Each Rainmaker Retreat runs from 8:30 a.m.- 5:30 p.m. on Friday and 8:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. on Saturday.  Early-bird registration for the Rainmaker Retreat is still available for a limited time. A special VIP registration is also available for attorneys looking for more personalized attention.

Additional Rainmaker Retreats are scheduled for:

November 11-12, 2011 – Chicago, IL

December 2-3, 2011 – Los Angeles, CA

Registration information is available by visiting the Rainmaker Retreat website, www.RainmakerRetreat.com or by calling 888-588-5891.

 

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Social media has become a fundamental shift in the way we communicate and find information -- or rather, the way information finds us.  

When you consider the overwhelming number of people who are now using social media, the question you should be asking is not, are my prospects, clients, and referral sources using social media? The question you should be asking is, which network are they using most often?

A recent survey by the American Bar Association's Legal Technology Resource Center found that 56% of attorneys are already using a social network! This means for you skeptics out there, if you are not maintaining a presence on at least one social network you are already behind the curve. Of those networks, LinkedIn is the most popular at 83%, Facebook is second with 68% and Plaxo is third with 18%.   

However, for attorneys who are looking to connect with consumers (versus business owners), like criminal defense, personal injury, bankruptcy, estate planning, and family law just to name a few, Facebook should be your primary focus because of the sheer number of people that can be found there (over 750 million registered users and growing).  

Depending on the demographic of your clientele, you may have more success with one social media platform compared to another -- but it is important that you have a presence on them all.  For example: Business oriented attorneys, like business litigation, securities, and intellectual property, should focus more of their efforts on LinkedIn. However, LinkedIn also has the highest number of attorneys who use the network so it's a little more difficult to stand out as compared to Facebook or Twitter.

What many people fail to understand is how people are starting to use social media.  Social networks are more and more being used as personal search engines mainly because Google has become too generic and they often don't trust what they find there.  

This trend is especially true in the under-30 age group. In fact, many social media experts are starting to point to Facebook as the new Google! Tens of thousands of searches are conducted every day on Facebook for resources and reviews of products, services, and service providers.  

As Bob Burg points out in his excellent book, Endless Referrals, all things being equal, people buy from people they know, like and trust. By extension, people trust their personal networks to point them in the right direction more than a generic Google search.  

When you think about it, this is common sense. When you are looking for a recommendation, who would you trust more-a Google search or one of your friends who personally vouches for a specific service provider?   

This long-time phenomenon of asking your friends and colleagues for a referral has simply gone viral and online. Social networks are quickly multiplying the number of connections a person can ask when seeking a referral to a trusted advisor.  

Smart law firms are starting to see the importance of "fishing where the fish are" instead of trying to drag them to their office or by using interruption-based marketing like television ads or billboards.

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FREE REPORT: How to Use Blogs as a Secret Weapon in Your Online Arsenal

One of the secret tools of Internet marketing for attorneys is the power of having a targeted blog. In a new report on the influence of blogs, eMarketer.com found that in 2010, 51% of Internet users in the U.S. (that’s over 91 million people) read blogs, and they project that usage will go to 60% (150 million) in the next four years!

Still think blogs are a fad?

Here’s what you’ll discover when you read this report:

• Why you must have a blog in order to stay relevant
• 3 keys to successful blogging
• 7 Guidelines for achieving ROI
• Your 3 choices for managing your blog and social media efforts
• And much more!

Click here to order your free report now!

 

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Millions of people purchase products every day because they were enticed to do so through a strong call to action – a Buy It Now, a Limited Time Offer, a Click Here, a Sign-Up Now – whatever the incentive, it moved them to a purchase decision.

Calls to action work for several reasons, chief among them is that it’s human nature to follow instruction. A great call to action is one that creates a sense of urgency in a prospect’s mind, offers a solution to a problem or stimulates a desire. 

A great call to action works when it:

• Triggers an emotional reaction;
• Show exactly how to make a purchase;
• Creates a sense of urgency to make the purchase;
• Provides incentives or an offer that is too good to ignore.

There are many ways to integrate a great call to action into your law firm marketing efforts, including:

On your website. Even when you’re selling a service, you should create calls to action on every page of your website. Have a sign-up for a free report, a webinar or e-newsletter on every page.

In your newsletter. If you have a monthly newsletter, you should be featuring a new incentive every month to entice prospects to get in touch with you.

On your blog. Use your blog to connect on an emotional level with prospects. Tell a story about how your legal service has solved a problem. Include calls to action in your sidebars where they are easily visible.

On your social networking sites. Facebook and Twitter are great vehicles for reaching prospects in real-time and testing a variety of calls to action to see what works best for your legal service. These venues are an inexpensive and effective way to test what works best for your target market.

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Want to Learn More Effective Marketing Techniques for Attorneys? Attend a Rainmaker Retreat!

If you are interested in building a lifestyle law practice through effective law firm marketing, then come to one of our upcoming Rainmaker Retreats:

October 7-8, 2011: San Francisco, CA

October 21-22, 2011: Livingston, NJ

November 11-12, 2011: Chicago, IL

December 2-3, 2011: Los Angeles, CA

If you want to learn more about the Rainmaker Retreat and why it is a proven legal marketing system that has helped over 7,000 attorneys find more and better clients, then register now for one of our one-hour complimentary teleseminars:

Thursday, September 29:

11am PT | 12pm MT | 1pm CT | 2pm ET  

Wednesday, October 5:

1pm PT | 2pm MT | 3pm CT | 4pm ET  

Thursday, October 13:

12pm PT | 1pm MT | 2pm CT | 3pm ET  

Join us and learn why the Rainmaker Retreat is the one law firm marketing boot camp you cannot afford to miss!

 

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There couldn’t be a hotter topic to discuss than what I’ll be presenting on October 20 in New Jersey:  The 5 Rules of Internet Marketing for Attorneys: How to Ethically Use Your Website and Blog to Generate High Quality Leads for Your Law Firm.

This fast-paced seminar will focus on how top attorneys are using the Internet, their websites and blogs to find more and better clients for their law firms. We’ve found that the Internet is one of the most cost-effective lead sources for today's attorneys.

I will be sharing:

• The 5 rules for Internet marketing for attorneys
• Do's and Don'ts: the intersection of ethics and online marketing
• The 3 keys to getting your website on the front page of Google
• How to set up your website right the first time
• Avoiding common ethical pitfalls with your Internet marketing
• Lead conversion pages: how law firms are converting 10-30% of website visitors into qualified leads
• 3 most important goals of your website & blog
• The "secret weapon" of Internet marketing for lawyers

Attendees will receive 2.4 New Jersey General CLE credits. Here are the details on the two upcoming sessions:

NJSBA:

Date: Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011 from 8:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Location: ACUA, 6700 Delilah Rd., Egg Harbor Township, NJ

Cost: $77 for NJSBA members; $97 for non-members

Camden County Bar Association:

Date: Thursday, Oct. 20, 2011 from 4 p.m.-6 p.m.

Location: Camden County Bar Association, 1040 Kings Highway N., #201, Cherry Hill, NJ

Cost: $77 for NJSBA or Camden County Bar Assn. members; $97 for non-members

To register online for either of these seminars, click here. 

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Free Report: 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys From Building A Referral-Based Practice

Referrals are the lifeblood of many law practices, and building a good referral program takes a proven process.  Stephen Fairly unveils the 4 Myths That Keep Attorneys from Building a Referral-Based Practice in his new free report.  Read and discover:

• How to determine the best source for your referrals
• How to explain your ideal target market to a referral source
• How to get referrals from other attorneys
• Whether online directories are a good referral source
• How to network effectively
• And much, much more!

Click here to get your free report today.

 

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When I talk to attorneys about the Rainmaker Retreat, our two-day law firm marketing boot camp, I always find a few who are not really sure what we teach will apply directly to their practice.

The objections I hear range from “my area is really specialized” to “I’m not sure that the marketing techniques you teach would work in (fill in name of city).”

Let me tell you that, based on my experience of teaching more than 8,000 U.S. attorneys the law firm marketing strategies and tactics that really work in today’s legal services marketplace, what you will learn at a Rainmaker Retreat will translate directly into more business for your practice.

And if you don’t believe me, perhaps you can take it from two of our past attendees who practice on different sides of the country:

Bob Lesuer, Partner, Personal Injury litigation practice, Erie, PA:

Erin Tenner, Business Law attorney, Los Angeles, CA:

I invite you to attend a Rainmaker Retreat, where you will leave with a comprehensive marketing plan for your practice that will deliver new prospects and clients to your door wherever you may practice. Here are the upcoming dates:

October 7-8, 2011: San Francisco, CA

October 21-22, 2011: Livingston, NJ

November 11-12, 2011: Chicago, IL

December 2-3, 2011: Los Angeles, CA

Registration information is available by visiting the Rainmaker Retreat website, www.RainmakerRetreat.com or by calling 888-588-5891.

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FREE Rainmaker Retreat Preview DVD – Learn Before You Go!

If you want to learn more about the Rainmaker Retreat and why it is a proven legal marketing system that has helped over 7,000 attorneys find more and better clients, then click here to receive a free DVD of your colleagues (and even your competitors) describing their experiences at our 2-day law firm marketing boot camp, the Rainmaker Retreat.

Yes, we know you are skeptical.   So instead of us telling you how these 2 days will transform your business, you can listen to your peers describe their experiences in their own words.
 
Click here to order your complimentary DVD right now.

 

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Source: The Growth of Social Media: An Infographic

 

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Free CD: Insider Small Law Firm Marketing Practices

Get your free CD on Insider Small Law Firm Marketing Practices by #1 Best-Selling Author And Nationally Recognized Law Firm Marketing Expert Stephen Fairley, and listen as he reveals A Proven System To Generate More and Better Referrals, Find New Clients Fast, and Fill Your Law Practice! Discover:

• How 1 piece of simple technology in your practice will drastically increase your communication with prospects, clients and referral sources – resulting in a major revenue boost
• 5 ways to market and position yourself as a recognized expert
• How 2 Attorneys promoted their law firms to over 100,000 people for less than $100 in 2 hours
• The 1 item you must absolutely have to create a Million Dollar Law Practice (hint: Not having this will almost guarantee your failure!)
• 6 BIGGEST secrets to generating more and better referrals
• How to create a proven network of 30 new Strategic Referral Partners in the next 90 days

To obtain your free CD, click here now.

 

 

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