The Truth About Aggressive Marketing for Law Firms
There are many misconceptions about marketing for law firms. Not the least of which is the notion that it is unsavory and something that good lawyers don’t do. But rather than discuss what it is NOT, I thought it would be valuable to share with you what true, aggressive marketing for law firms is all about.
Below is a marketing plan recently implemented by one of my clients. It is not among the most aggressive I have seen but it is above average. I have left out some of the details to protect what I believe is the client’s competitive advantage.
The marketing tactics used by this three person law firm include:
Daily Blog Posts
This attorney updates his blog every day. The leads he gets through search engine optimization (which his blog directly influences) are some of his highest quality leads. He dedicates his time to this because the return on that investment is high.
Weekly Email Updates
Each week, this attorney picks one blog article and he sends it to his database via email. This is effective because many of his current clients don’t read the blog but they will read the email. This also gives him an opportunity to keep his name in front of the folks who refer him business.
Monthly Print Newsletters
Each month the attorney’s assistant compiles four blog articles and formats them into a newsletter. This newsletter is then sent to a printer and formatted and sent off via the US mail. It turns out that most of his mailing list has not seen any of this information before and they love his newsletter.
Media Campaign to Pitch the Attorney for Expert Commentary
My client has assembled a great package to pitch himself to the media. Each week his assistant targets about fifteen media outlets and sends out a media kit and follows up with phone calls. This usually results in 3 to 5 calls into the office for expert commentary each month.
Quarterly Educational Events
Every month my client’s law firm hosts an educational event for clients and prospective clients. These events focus on topics of interest to the attorney’s client base. The turnout is regularly between 25 and 50 people and this process has yielded over 60 clients for the attorney in the last few years.
Speaking at Industry Conventions
My client loves to speak in front of an audience. He speaks at least one per month at industry events. This enhances his standing as an expert in his legal niche and it also helps him develop leads. Since many of his referrals come from other attorneys, he will also speak at functions for local and national bar associations.
Membership in a Networking Group
The attorney is a member of an almost cult-like referral organization. Although many people complain about belong to these groups because they meet early in the morning, this particular group is worth over $70,000 in annual business for my client. He doesn’t mind getting up early at all.
Mealtime Marketing
Each week my client has lunch with one referral source and one prospective or current client. These lunches keep him focused on what these folks need in the way of legal services. While this certainly has resulted in direct business, the lunches serve as a way to deepen relationships and not as sales calls.
Weekly You Tube Video
Each week this attorney breaks out a little Flip Camera and shoots a 3 to 4 minute video. This video is on a topic in his area of expertise. He then posts this video to his You Tube page and sends a link to his clients. They love it. The video helps keep the educational material flowing to his clients and this provides them with extra value.
Involvement in a Local Charitable Organization
My client is also the president of a local charitable foundation. This is a time consuming role but he feels it is important to give back to the community. In giving, he will often receive much, much more in new business in return. He considers this a bonus benefit to the emotional reward he receives for his involvement.
These are ten tactics that this attorney employs as part of his overall marketing. He has set up systems to keep each of these initiatives moving forward while he focuses on his legal work. He averages about 21 new prospects per month and he converts over 60 percent of them.
This is moderately aggressive marketing. If your law firm is not doing at least half of these things (or any 5 things) to try to attract clients, you are not truly making an effort.
Aggressive marketing for law firms is not about television ads. It is not about billboards or even the Yellow Pages. Marketing for law firms is about doing things right consistently over time.
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EmailThe Bullfighter Wins Every Time He Steps in the Ring
What could bullfighting and marketing for attorneys possibly have in common? Actually quite a bit.
The bullfighter must be prepared before he steps in the ring. If he has not done his training, he could be killed.
In marketing for attorneys, lack of preparation leads to the death of a potential new client relationship.
Bullfighting requires courage.
Talking to a client frankly about their legal issue and doing so in a way that persuades them to hire you, requires courage too.
In bullfighting you are only as good as your last fight because if you lose there is a good chance you are dead.
In marketing for attorneys, if you do not win the potential client over there is a good chance he will be gone for good.
The bullfighter fights until the fight is over.
In marketing, you must persist until the client makes a decision.
The bullfighter respects the bull.
Marketing for attorneys always respects the intelligence of the client.
The bullfighter is sometimes surrounded by piles of bull crap that he must walk through.
Marketing for attorneys is also about cutting through bull crap and understanding the real problem.
Ultimately, the bullfighter was a winner the minute he stepped in the ring. The courage the preparation and the intellectual dexterity necessary in marketing for attorneys also make them winners every time they engage a new client.
Does Your Law Firm Really Need a Marketing Plan?
I was on the phone with a new client yesterday and he asked if we were going to do a formal law firm marketing plan as we begin our work together. You would think this kind of question would require a standard “yes” or “no” answer. Unfortunately, it does not.
When I first started working with lawyers on marketing, I had a rigid protocol. We did a plan and we checked off each element in the plan, one at a time. We didn’t move on to the next item until we completed the previous one.
This worked well for about half the folks who engaged me. The other half hated it. The half that hated it found the planning process cumbersome. They wanted to get going right away.
So the answer to the question: “Do I really need a law firm marketing plan?” Is maybe. Here are some guidelines that will help you determine if you need a law firm marketing plan:
Attorneys who like structure need a law firm marketing plan. If you like checklists and itemized lists of things to do, you should have a plan.
Lawyers who have no strategy at all need a law firm marketing plan. If you take every kind of case that walks in the door, you need a structured marketing plan. This kind of unfocused law practice will be almost impossible to market without a marketing plan in place.
Law firms in start-up mode need a marketing plan. If you are just starting out or if you have recently formed a partnership, you need a marketing plan. You need to decide who will do each task related to marketing and you need to agree on your strategy. A law firm marketing plan is a vitally important piece of this process.
Putting a law firm marketing plan on paper is essential if you are in a transitional stage. If you already have a target market, if you have a good message, and if you simply need to get more clients, you should focus on setting some goals and implementing good marketing tactics.
A law firm marketing plan is not always necessary but it can be helpful.
The Loneliest Number in Marketing for Lawyers
A couple of days ago I had lunch with a smart lawyer. He receives a few referrals each month from former clients and other lawyers and he is ready to take his practice to the next level. This was the purpose of our lunch. He called me to talk about how we could work together to improve his marketing.
Lunch started off great. We discussed the value he provides to his clients. We also discussed his competitive advantage (the thing that makes his law firm different and better than everyone else). He had both of these down cold. As far as marketing for lawyers goes, he was off to a good start.
Things started to get a little off track when we discussed specific marketing tactics. (A tactic is an action you take to achieve a desired result.) When we discussed newsletters he said: “I tried that and it didn’t work”. I asked: “How long did you send out newsletters?” “One month” he replied. “And I didn’t get any clients from it.” We moved on to the blog on his website. I asked him how many times he updated the content. His response was that he updated it for a month (a couple of times) and again, nothing. Finally we discussed networking. He said he joined a networking group. The group met each week and he attended for a month and guess what…yep…nothing.
“I just don’t know if marketing will work for my law practice” he concluded.
We discussed three tactics that he tried for one month each and he got no results.
This makes him a victim of loneliest number in marketing for lawyers…the number one.
Any time you implement a new marketing initiative you need to give it a fair shot. Doing anything once is never going to produce a fair return on investment. Some initiatives (like blogging, newsletters or networking groups) take several months (like six or more) in order to be effective.
The first step in building a marketing plan is to get your head on straight. You must give each tactic a fair opportunity to succeed.
Think of marketing like sex. If you only do it once there’s a chance it will work but you definitely won’t be satisfied.
Three Tools That Lead to Lawyer Marketing Success
Lawyer marketing doesn’t have to be complicated. Attorneys often tell me they only have time to do a few things related to marketing each week. That’s fine. You don’t have to implement 100 different marketing initiatives in order to increase the number of clients that find your law firm.
Here are the three lawyer marketing initiatives I recommend you implement if you have limited time to focus on business development:
A Blog
Lawyer marketing is about communication, education, differentiation and motivation. You must help your clients choose you. This starts with communication. A good blog is like a conversation. The more you speak with someone the more they will begin to know you, like you, and trust you.
If you can post a short article (between 250 and 500 words) to your blog a few times each week, you will dramatically increase the visibility of your website on the Internet. An increased frequency of posting will also improve your relationship with your readers (many of whom are potential clients).
Email Newsletter
A weekly update via email is one of the most effective lawyer marketing tactics ever invented. That is not an exaggeration. If you email your clients once a week and you provide them with a pithy anecdote (about life, about business, about sports, essentially about something you would discuss with your colleagues around the water cooler) you will grow your business dramatically.
Many attorneys believe this type of communication is too frequent. They believe they will be annoying their clients and prospective clients. They are wrong. As long as the information is interesting, weekly communication is an effective lawyer marketing tool.
Monthly Printed Newsletter
A printed newsletter mailed monthly is another highly effective tool for lawyer marketing. Once again, the information must be interesting. If it’s not, the newsletter will be thrown in the garbage. But if you engage your reader, he will welcome your monthly newsletter.
There are a number of reasons why you will not implement these three lawyer marketing tools into your law practice. Ultimately, they will provide you with a huge return on investment if you do. It’s up to you. Do you want to give in to excuses or do you want to be highly effective at lawyer marketing?
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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.
How to Get Clients As a Lawyer
Does it bother you that you spent all that money on law school, invested all that time and energy in your education and they never taught you how to get new clients as a lawyer? If it does, this may be the most important article you have ever read.
During the next few paragraphs I am going to reveal the secrets of how to get more clients than you can possibly handle. Sit back in your chair. Plant your feet firmly on the ground and relax. Lawyer marketing is going to seem different in a few minutes.
Five ways lawyers get new clients:
Don’t think about marketing. Think about relationships.
Too many lawyers want to learn the tips, tricks, tactics or techniques to getting more clients. Ultimately, marketing for lawyers is not about learning some kind of business development judo. It is about building relationships. Everyone you meet has the potential to refer someone to you. Everyone you meet is one or two connections away from bringing in the huge client that could change your life. The people who believe in you most will refer people to you over and over again. Start off by looking to establish relationships with people first and the business will come.
Don’t forget about anyone, ever.
One of my clients, a personal injury attorney in the Midwestern United States, got his best client ever from an electrician who worked on the wiring in his home. How did this happen? The electrician was replacing some outdated wiring in the attorney’s home. This was a project that took several days.
A couple of days during that time period, the attorney had coffee with the electrician. They didn’t talk about electrical repair and they didn’t talk about the law. They talked about their kids, sports and the local town politics.
When the job was finished, the attorney added the electrician to his newsletter list. Each month, the electrician read the newsletter and enjoyed the personal stories it contained. One afternoon at the electrical supply store, he heard that a guy he once worked with had gotten hurt at a job on a construction site.
Since he knew the guy and since he had been involved in some close calls himself, he went to visit his former coworker in the hospital. The injuries were serious and the construction company who supervised the site cut several corners on that job. The electrician immediately reached out to “his friend” the attorney and made an introduction.
Getting clients as a lawyer happens naturally. It is not scripted. Your next client can come from anyone, anywhere.
Communicate with people as often as possible.
Frequency of communication builds trust. If people see you and hear from you often they will rely on you.
Too many attorneys feel that they will be bothering people by sending out a weekly electronic newsletter or a monthly print newsletter. The opposite is true. If you do not communicate with people often enough, they will be hesitant to trust you.
Focus on the client.
Don’t talk about yourself. Don’t write about yourself. You should only give people information about your law firm if they ask for it.
Give people information they need to make better decisions. Help them solve problems. Demonstrate your expertise.
TELLING someone how smart you are is awful. SHOWING them how smart you are by sharing your knowledge is great.
Be a connector.
As a lawyer, if you want people to help you get clients, if you want them to send you referrals, you have to become known as someone who connects people. Making valuable introductions to others is one of the best ways to demonstrate the behavior you want from others.
Connecting your friends and acquaintances is an important and valuable way to deepen your relationships. Deep relationships produce referrals.
These five ways to get clients may not have been exactly what you were looking for. You were probably thinking you were going to hear about some advertising strategy or some new and exciting social media.
During the past 20 years I have worked with countless attorneys and legal professionals on marketing. These five ways of getting clients are timeless and foundational. Focus on these first and you can add everything else into the mix later.
