Legal Marketing for Lawyers Daily TV Show
As many of my regular readers know, the demand for information an effective, ethical, legal marketing strategy is significant. A while ago we did some experimentation with legal marketing video tips and we posted them here. Our first foray into this area was with a video on planning a law firm marketing campaign. Next we discussed the difference between sales and marketing for law firms. We also covered the numbers you need to know in law firm marketing.
The reaction from our readers was beyond positive. It was enthusiastic. Lawyers wanted more video on legal marketing.
I am proud to announce that we have answered the call to action. In mid-February 2010 we launched The Legal Marketing for Lawyers Daily video show.
It took us a while to figure out how to do this correctly without taking up the time and expense of a full blown television production. Each day we record a short video on legal marketing. Each of these videos is less than four minutes in length and they feature me speaking directly to you about legal marketing.
Our friends at Justia have been kind enough to provide us with a terrific website where you can see each of the videos from the past week (as well as the achieves of past video shows). The plan is to post one new video each day. So I need you to visit often.
You can find this new video resource at: http://www.LegalMarketingForLawyers.com
I welcome your feedback on this new legal marketing resource. I am enjoying recording the shows (although it is difficult to fit a topic into less than four minutes). We may at some point “take the show on the road” so if you have ideas for a location or for a topic please send them our way.
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EmailWhy Blogging is Great for Law Firm Marketing
Sitting with a client yesterday I found myself falling into a familiar conversation. The client is a busy attorney with an intellectual property practice. Most of his work comes from local companies. His law firm marketing plan involves speaking at industry trade events, sending a weekly educational email to his clients, publishing a monthly newsletter and membership in several networking and trade organizations.
This lawyer’s practice does a fair amount of business. He is well known within the local community as a good intellectual property attorney. There are three main reasons he (and you) should add a blog to your law firm marketing plan. They are:
Deepen the Relationship with Clients and Prospective Clients
A blog is like a daily conversation. Readers feel like they sit down with you on a regular basis and share ideas. It is similar to the feeling you have when you read a good book that you can’t put down. Clients are engaged. They feel as though they are part of the story.
Establish Yourself as a Thought Leader
Everyone can benefit from greater visibility. This is even true for attorneys who have a thriving local law firm. Blogging provides you with additional credibility. You are viewed as an authority on your subject matter. Since the Internet has no boundaries, people from all over the world will be able to read your writing.
Clients doing research on a legal issue within your area of expertise will read your blog articles. They will consume the information. More importantly, they will begin to trust you.
Leverage Your Knowledge as a Competitive Advantage
Most attorneys (over 90%) do not provide educational information on their website. Your blog can be a significant competitive advantage for your law firm. As one of the few people providing educational information, you will be different from and better than your competition. This is one of the primary objectives of law firm marketing.
Adding a blog to your law firm marketing plan involves additional work on your part but the return on investment of your time will be substantial.
Random Legal Marketing Thoughts I Wrote on My Hand
Not that long ago a media-savvy politician taught us that notes on your hand were better than a speech on a teleprompter. As I travel around the world sharing my hopey, changy legal marketing stuff I use my hand as a notepad.
Here are some things I wrote down that I thought I would share with ya:
Referrals are still the best way to get clients as a lawyer. You still need a legal marketing plan but it should have a segment dedicated to keeping your name in front of your potential referral sources. Frequency of communication builds trust. Trust is important both from clients and from people who are sources of referrals. Legal marketing must include a referral strategy.
Clients still hate hourly billing. This one is not going away just like everyone’s favorite former beauty queen turned TV anchor turned politician turned pundit. If you bill hourly, you will lose clients. If you don’t figure out alternative billing strategies in the next few years, you will lose lots of clients.
The law is still a profession and a business. I know, I know, the “Just be a Good Lawyer” crowd hates when I say this. If you are not living the lifestyle you thought you would when you graduated from law school, you probably forgot about the business aspect of owning a law firm. Put together a legal marketing plan and start attracting clients. Be a good lawyer but find good clients too.
The Internet has changed everything...well, okay…I guess it has replaced the Yellow Pages. You need to have a web strategy as part of your legal marketing plan. You can’t go rogue and not be on the Internet. Get a website and a blog and start posting something each week. This will help us realize how smart you are.
My final random thought is that just because I can see Cuba from my house that doesn’t mean I’m a communist. So keep in mind that just because I help people with legal marketing, that doesn’t mean I like bus stop benches and 800 numbers that spell PAIN or HURT. I may go rogue once in a while but my legal marketing advice is still pretty sound – even though I wrote it down on my hand.
Hey, can I call ya Joe?
If Marketing for Lawyers was Easy Everyone Would Do It
There is a dirty little secret that most people who work on marketing for lawyers keep from their clients. They keep this secret because once they reveal it, 95% of the attorney population won’t hire them.
Before I tell you WHAT the secret is, let me tell you why it is important to me that you know it:
I only want to work with the best lawyers. I only want to work with people who take their law firms from GOOD to GREAT. I only want to work with ethical people who improve the client’s condition. I am hoping that if I share this secret with you, the best lawyers will act on it and the complacent masses will continue to toil away, content with living a shallow life of unfulfilled potential.
The Secret
Marketing for lawyers requires a great deal of effort. There is no easy way to find and engage hundreds of clients. There is no magic formula for success. You can’t go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning with a waiting room full of clients.
Well, let me rephrase that: There is a formula. It goes like this:
Go to sleep. Wake up. Work your ass off. Go to sleep. Repeat for several months. Wake up with a lobby full of clients.
I know this is not what others are telling you. I know there are people out there who promise you the magic beans that will help you grow your law firm while you sleep. Unfortunately, it is just not true.
The Reason this is Good News
This is good news for 5% of the attorney population. It is good news for the people who get it. It is good news for the people who want to put in the work. Here’s why:
If you consistently work on marketing over a sustained period of time you will get results. Clients will be drawn to you. You will achieve a significant return on the investment of your time.
If you consistently work on marketing over a sustained period of time you will create a significant barrier to entry for your competition. Catching up will be difficult for them. They will not want to put in the time and effort you put in. Or they may focus on the wrong things. Or they may be a step behind. All you need to do is innovate faster than they can copy you.
If you consistently work smart on marketing you will have your choice of clients. Attorney marketing systems deliver qualified clients to your doorstep. You simply need to select the right clients for your law practice.
If you consistently work on marketing you may be able to change your lifestyle. Once you realize that developing marketing systems is the key to law firm success, a whole new world will be open to you.
But first you have to do the work.
At this point, I have either completely lost you, in which case you are only still reading because you are cynical, or you are intrigued (or at least a little interested in marketing for lawyers) and want to learn more. If you want to learn more, visit the website below.
Marketing for lawyers can be your key to making a great living and living a great life!
This is the website to visit: http://milliondollarlawyersecrets.com/
Attorney Marketing Creed: Do No Harm
Your goal in marketing as an attorney should be to attract better quality clients as well as a greater number of clients. Your focus is on both quality and quantity.
If attracting the ideal client means you have to become some kind of circus sideshow, you should probably rethink your career choice.
The lawyers we see on bus stop benches or billboard with cute phone numbers (you know what I’m talking about, they spell CASH or PAIN) are a joke. They harm the legal profession and they harm those of us who make our living trying to help LEGITIMATE attorneys build a law firm.
Your law firm is a business but it is also a profession. Attorney marketing should be designed to build relationships with clients. The sleazy, cheesy, pursuit of fast cash from people who are often in a difficult situation is deplorable.
In the medical community, the creed of DO NO HARM governs at all times. As a combative measure to the onslaught of bad attorney marketing that exists, I tell friends who need a lawyer to follow the same practice as if they were selecting a medical specialist.
First: They should ask their family physician for a referral. In the case of a lawyer, they should ask a lawyer they trust for a referral. The lawyer who handled their real estate closing knows a criminal attorney. The attorney they use for their business transactions knows a divorce lawyer. The lawyer who prepared their will knows someone who can help with a tax matter…and so on…
Next: The client should check licensing body for disciplinary action. Every state has a governing body that regulates the conduct of lawyers. In Florida we have The Florida Bar. The Bar’s website has a member search area which allows clients to check the disciplinary history of any lawyer in the state. It also allows the attorney to complete a profile. As an attorney, you should fill in complete profile information and encourage prospective clients to check your credentials at the site.
Third: Interview them. I tell friends to ask the tough questions of their prospective attorney (not about the matter at hand but about the attorney’s experience and background). Would you let a surgeon cut into you without meeting them first? Only in an emergency. The same should hold true for a lawyer.
Finally: The attorney should provide references and contact information from past clients. All attorneys should have at least three references they can provide to prospective clients. Even attorneys in highly secretive and confidential practices should be able to point to three people, somewhere on the planet, who will vouch for them.
Smart clients will not hire an attorney base upon a billboard or a bus stop bench. An attorney who is good at marketing would never allow his firm to place that kind of advertising. DO NO HARM also holds true to when it refers to your profession.
A New York Attitude Helps Attorneys Marketing
The only person who likes a pushy New Yorker is the client of the pushy New Yorker. When it comes to attorneys marketing their services, everybody needs a little New York in them. Since you may not be from New York (or South Florida which is the sixth borough) let me tell you about the qualities of a true son or daughter of New York – and how they apply to attorneys and marketing.
Urgency
Things happen fast in the big city. People who have lived in New York and who have run a business in New York know if you don’t get things done in a hurry you will get crushed.
Attorneys marketing with a New York perspective will hustle to get their message out. They will implement law firm marketing tactics quickly and effectively. Twenty four hours is a lifetime and a week is an eternity in New York and that’s the attitude of someone who knows how to build a successful law firm.
Persistence
If you have ever tried to get a cab on New Year’s Eve in New York City, in the rain, you know about persistence. New Yorkers never give up. Ever. They just keep coming at you over and over and over again.
Attorneys marketing like New Yorkers will have that same kind of persistence. They will demand a Return on Investment from every marketing initiative. They will relentlessly pursue progress in their marketing efforts. And if something doesn’t work they will adjust it and try it again.
Passion
People from New York talk fast and can sometimes be loud and animated. This comes from their passion. The Yankee fans scream at the Met fans. The Giant fans gesture at the Jet fans. The passion is everywhere.
Attorneys marketing with a New York attitude will be passionate about the value they provide for their clients. They will make sure everyone knows how they help people. They know that nobody is going to hand them anything and they need to aggressively and passionately make the case for their law firm.
Thick Skin
New Yorkers don’t care what anyone says or thinks about them. They get the job done in spite of all the crap people will sling their way. If you have ever had to fight for a seat on the subway you know that what people say about you is not important at all.
Attorneys marketing on the cutting edge will always be criticized for their effort. Most often this will be envy talking. As long as they are ethical, the attorneys marketing like New Yorkers should give everyone a Bronx cheer as they sign up client after client.
If you want to take your law firm to the next level you need to reach deep down within yourself. You need to find you inner New Yorker and channel. Attorneys marketing with a New York attitude will always lead the pack.
Law Firm Marketing Required Reading Part 1
Many people have asked me what blogs I read regularly or what websites I visit to keep up with the ever-changing world of law firm marketing. Since there are dozens of blogs that are great resources for lawyers interested in finding clients, I decided to highlight a few each week and bring them to your attention.
Tom Kane’s Legal Marketing Blog is a terrific resource for law firm marketing information. Tom has been blogging for over 6 years and the information he provides is timely and accurate.
Amy Campbell has been blogging since 2003 and her blog is a must read. Start with her article on the benefits of blogging.
Larry Bodine’s blog is a great place to get the latest information on law firm marketing. He is not only on top of the trends but his commentary is spot on.
Kevin O’Keefe offers the best insight into the world on on-line marketing for lawyers. He is a pioneer in blogging for attorneys and you would be smart to read everything he writes about law firm marketing and blogging.
Carolyn Elefant is The Dean of Solo and Small Law Firm Management. You’re crazy if you don’t read her blog each week. Start with this article titled “When You’re the Boss, You Don’t Beg For Work Life Balance. You Make It So.”
I’ll point you to more blogs I love to read in the days and weeks to come. Rest assured there are dozens of them out there that focus on law firm marketing. The majority of them have something of value to offer.
