Marketing For Lawyers - Mistakes Attorneys Make--and How to Avoid Them, Mistake #6
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MARKETING MISTAKE 6:
Focusing On Services and Features Instead Of Benefits and Results in Law firm marketing
Marketing Mistake #6 is focusing on services and features rather than benefits and results. I came across law firm websites the other day that listed on their home page more than 20 different “packages, programs, and services” along with all the different pricing structures they offer to businesses.
This is ridiculous! People don’t care about the different programs and packages you offer. If the truth was told, they don’t really care that you're licensed, certified, registered, or accredited.
They expect everyone they work with to be competent, just like they expect every product they buy to be a quality one. When it comes to doing business with you, your clients only care about three things:
The Benefits they receive.
The Value they perceive.
The Results they achieve.
Highly-successful attorneys don’t sell their services as part of their law firm marketing plan. Instead, they focus on selling the benefits they offer, the value they provide, and the results they achieve.
Your service is simply the tool or the process you use to solve problems and to achieve the results. Don’t focus on the process of small law firm marketing—focus on the results, the benefits, and the value you bring to the situation.
Let's say you're an attorney who in your marketing your law firm targets high net worth females. Instead of saying you “help people prepare for their retirement,” focus on the value you provide and benefits you offer by stating:
“I work with high net worth females to help them create a comprehensive financial plan, allowing them to feel safe and secure about their retirement years while providing for their children so that they can continue to lead healthy, productive, and confident lives.”
As an attorney who specializes in small business employment law, don’t focus on creating a comprehensive list of all your services. Clearly identify your ideal target market, small business
owners with revenues of $5MM to $50MM, recognize their points of pain, and tell them how you help them resolve their pain.
“Our law firm concentrates in helping small business owners avoid 20 common mistakes when hiring and firing employees and limit their risk of facing costly litigation or negative press.”
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Marketing for Lawyers - Mistakes Attorneys Make--and How to Avoid Them Mistake #2
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Law Firm Marketing MISTAKE 2:
TARGETING THE WRONG MARKET
This is one of the biggest mistakes I see among attorneys especially in small law firm marketing—targeting the wrong market. Identifying and targeting the right market for your services is the most important thing you can do marketing your law firm to ensure the success of your practice. If you don’t target the right market, nothing else you do will matter.
Let me give you an example.
As a law firm marketing consultant I was talking with a lawyer in Chicago and asking her about her target market. She said that her target market was small business owners who were too small to need in-house counsel or who couldn’t afford the high priced downtown lawyers. They needed someone who understood the legal issues small businesses face and who offered them a flexible payment plan.
I asked her, “Do you know how many small business owners there are here in Chicago?”
“No,” she replied.
I stated, “Recently, Crain’s Chicago business magazine reported there were over 300,000 small business owners here in Chicago.
“Now, I've never been very good at math, but for the sake of illustration, let's say that only 50 percent of those business owners needed or wanted your services, that’s a pretty large task trying to reach 150,000 prospects even once.”
Marketing research has shown that it takes seven “touches” before a prospective client becomes a client. The Law of 7 Touches is based on research that found it takes an average of 7 to 10 meaningful touches EVERY YEAR to move someone through the cycle from not knowing anything about you to being ready to buy from you.
This is just the average, not a guarantee, because in hypercompetitive markets, like legal services, it often takes many more touches than that. In addition, it also takes consistency.
There are also ways you can speed up this process and create multiple touches all at once by being highly-targeted in your marketing materials; using technology like law firm internet marketing, law firm websites and using mail delivered by the post office.
In general, only 3 percent to 5 percent of your target market is ready to buy at any given time. Therefore, it’s how you reach the other 95 percent to 97 percent that will make or break your business. You must consistently be in front of your prospects to be at the top of their minds when they are ready to buy.
Now that you know The Law of 7 Touches, you can better understand why it’s so vital to narrow your target market in your law firm marketing plan. Remember the story I told about the Chicago attorney who targeted small business? Well, according to The Law of 7 Touches, you multiply this lawyer’s 150,000 prospects by a factor of 7, maybe 10. That means she would need to produce 1 to 1.5 million meaningful touches every year. Considering both her time and money, there is no possible way a typical solo practitioner could do that and smart business owners who are also smart marketers won't even try.
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Do you want to know what will move you to the front page of Google faster than anything else? Join us on August 5th for a 60 minute webinar led by Kevin O’Keefe, President and Founder of LexBlog and learn how blogging will really make a difference in your practice. Click here to learn How to attend this Session and Receive Your Digital Audio Clip...
The 5 Benefits of Mastermind Groups in Law Firm Marketing
On Wednesday we discussed Mastermind Groups and what they are. This week John Bisnar shares with us the 5 major benefits that Mastermind Groups have in relation to Marketing for Lawyers.
1. Specialized Knowledge: No one person knows it all, which is one of the most common reasons people fall short of their goal or choose not to take chances. People believe they don't have the knowledge or required education to get where they want to be. The fact is, no successful individual has become successful because he knew everything. The most successful people are not the ones who know how to do everything, but the ones who know how to get people to assist them with what they don't know. While it is our duty to be experts in our particular area of law, it is not possible for us to know everything there is to know about all aspects of the law or building a law practice. For instance you may know little about law firm marketing, law firm websites, Law firm marketing plans and the like. But By being part of a mastermind group we can leverage the knowledge and strengths of everyone around us to move forward more quickly toward our goals.
2. Definiteness of Purpose: Definiteness of purpose is a key to your success. If you do not know with absolute certainty what you want, you are not likely to reach the level of success that is possible. Mastermind groups offer knowledge, information, and direction.
Members will help you stay on track, call you out when you are not doing what you say you are going to do, and generally serve as the more rational voice inside you to keep your eye on the prize. However, you have to be clear on your own purpose if you expect to get the most out of the experience. The clearer you are about your purpose, the more success you will find. This power should not be under-estimated.
3. Infinite Experience: An individual who is trying to develop a strategy to grow his or her law practice for the first time has a higher probability of failure because he or she has finite experience. You have only what you currently know to guide you. However, the mastermind group has infinite experience. It has years of combined experience, knowledge and insight from which you can draw to accelerate your learning curve. As Napoleon Hill said, "When a group of individual brains are coordinated and function in harmony, the increased energy created through that alliance becomes available to every individual brain in the group." I have experienced no greater shortcut to success than having access to infinite experience.
4.Group Energy: Many attorneys at small and solo law firms struggle without consistent interaction with their peers on a daily basis. They may work with clients and attend events a few times a month, but working in isolation can limit your growth. Having a mastermind group keeps you connected, helps you to see that your struggles are not unique, and that you can have outrageous success even if you stumble once in a while.
5.Higher Levels of Accountability: When you have a group of likeminded people committed to you and your goals, it is much more difficult to let things go than when you are working alone. Having others who are expecting you to achieve the goals you have set for yourself can often add that little extra bit of motivation you need to follow through. In addition, when you know that others feel accountable to you, there is a sense of responsibility you have to do what you say you are going to do. Accountability works both ways and it is one of the primary reasons why mastermind groups are so effective.
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Action Step to Consider: If a Mastermind Group sounds like something you would be interested in please contact us by emailing Diane@theRainmakerInstitute.com or call 888-588-5891
7 Powerful Law Firm Marketing Strategies For Following Up with Your Contacts
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If you are like many lawyers, you have tried many things to market your law firm. Marketing for lawyers often include giving seminars and presentations, going to networking events, writing articles, talking to old law school buddies, meeting with potential referral sources, building law firm websites, and sending out holiday cards to remind clients of who you are.
When marketing your law firm, there are four different groups of people you come into contact with and which group they fall into will usually tell you how you should follow up with them. It is important to understand the differences between each group.
Leads are people or companies who are unqualified and may or may not need your services or even be able to afford your services. Leads come from a presentation you make to a local trade group, by visiting your law firm website, or perhaps sending you a question in an email.
Prospects are people who have some level of qualification. They have either expressed a need for your services or they fall into a category that you believe has a high likelihood of needing your services. The major differences between leads and prospects are two-fold: you know who they are and you have a good reason to believe they need your services.
Clients are the third group you need to follow up with. A client is someone who has paid you money. Do not confuse prospects with clients. If someone hasn’t signed an agreement and paid you money yet, they are not your client.
Referrals are the last group you need to follow up with as part of your law firm marketing plan. They may be current referral sources, former referral sources (they haven't sent you any new leads or prospects in the last 12 months), or prospective referral sources.
I have coached and trained over 6,000 lawyers in virtually every practice area.The difference between financially successful attorneys and struggling attorneys is often found in their follow up.
Top attorneys clearly understand “the fortune is in the follow up”. They plan ahead and lay out a clear game plan for following up with every person they connect with.
Friday’s blog post will include 7 powerful tips to remember when planning your law firms follow up strategies.
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"It’s absolutely incredible. My personal opinion is that in a few years, everybody is going to be taking this course as one of the foundations of marketing. And, anybody that hasn’t taken the course isn’t serious about marketing. There are plenty of courses I’ve gone to just in general and I’m sure all the attorneys feel this way that it’s usually very boring and you don’t really learn much that is applicable right away. That was totally different today I’m taking things I’m going to immediately commence as soon as this weekend is over." Paul Cheng, Esq. Solo Practitioner.
To get results like Paul’s and thousands of others call to schedule your attendance at our next Rainmaker Retreat. In this two-day marketing boot camp for small and solo law firms, you’ll learn valuable information and practical steps to better market your practice. For more information or to sign-up for the next one, go to: www.RainmakerRetreat.com or call 1-888-588-5891.
Law Firm Marketing Success Tip: 5 Components of a Successful Blog
Having your own blog is vital to effective law firm Internet marketing. To have a successful 
blog, there are 5 components you must keep in mind:
- Highly-targeted, well-branded.
- Provides quality content that solves your prospects’ challenges.
- Publish your blog constantly and consistently: 2 to 4 times per week.
- Write in relation to the most popular current events.
- Register your blog in directories and promote actively. (A top blog directory: www.masternewesmedia.org/rss/top55)
To start creating your own blog, here are some resources: www.blogger.com; www.typepad.com; and www.wordpress.com
For a professionally-designed blog, we highly recommend the firm: www.LawFirmMediaGroup.com. They specialize in working with law firms to create, design and optimize websites and blogs that will not only get highly-ranked but also attract qualified clients.
Here’s to your law firm marketing success!
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Would you like to know more about getting increasing your referrals? Then come to Los Angeles April 24 & 25th to attend The Rainmaker Referral Intensive. For more information and to register, please call 888-588-5891.
