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I continue to be amazed by two legal marketing phenomena:
One of the things I harp on continuously with my clients is consistent execution of client acquisition tactics. A great legal marketing plan includes several forms of media used in several different ways. The fundamentals of any legal marketing plan include:
These are the ten categories of media that are most effective in attracting clients to your law practice. You can’t afford to ignore any of them.
Why?
Because clients use different media to find lawyers. Some clients will search the Internet. Some clients will read trade publications. Some clients will call a friend or colleague. Some clients will only realize they need you after they hear you speak at an event. Some will only realize that you are an expert after they see a story about you in the paper.
Some clients will only choose to work with you after seeing your name and credentials four or five different times.
Research has proven that clients only respond to the first marketing communication about 1% of the time. Yet most legal marketing plans do not include multiple tactics delivered via many different forms of media to reach the target audience.
There are three reasons why attorneys don’t use multiple media in creating their legal marketing. All of them are ways of rationalizing their own inactivity. Let’s take a look at each of them and debunk their validity.
Cost
The complaint about cost is a matter of perception. If I told you that spending $10,000 on marketing would bring you in $100,000 in new client cases, would you do it? How about if that same $10,000 brought in $500,000 in new cases?
Great legal marketing delivers a return on investment. It is just like your retirement plan, your stock portfolio or the money you save for your kid’s college education. It will pay dividends if you invest it wisely. The key is learning how to invest those marketing dollars so they work hard for you.
Time
Many lawyers worry that legal marketing will take up a significant amount of time – time they could spend doing legal work. There are two ways to look at the time you spend on client acquisition tactics:
First: You should view your time spent on attracting clients as an investment. If you bill $250 dollars an hour and you spend 10 hours on legal marketing, you have invested $2,500. You should receive a return on that investment of over $25,000. Once again, you need to know what you are doing so that you invest your time wisely.
Second: Great legal marketing will save you time. If you have the right target audience and you hit it with the right message via the correct media, you will attract clients who pay higher fees and refer business to you. This allows you to work smarter and make more money with less effort.
Knowledge
Most attorneys don’t know much about marketing. They don’t teach it in law school. This lack of knowledge is something that will initially hold you back from making decisions about strategy and tactics. In reality, this should work to your advantage as you have no preconceived notions about your own legal marketing capability. So for you, the sky really is the limit.
There are many places you can obtain business development knowledge. You can read books or attend courses. You can learn through the experience of others. Or you can learn by trial and error. I prefer the first two methods to the third but ultimately, you need to educate yourself on the principles of great legal marketing.
If you wait to start you are putting off your own success.
I realize you have a law practice to run. I know there is legal work to be done. I understand that just being a lawyer, doing legal work, is a full time job.
But if you do not dedicate time, significant time, to legal marketing, you will never, ever, control your own destiny.
Where will your next client come from?
If you had a legal marketing plan and invested time in growing your law practice, you would know.
If you are ready to take your law firm to the next level or if you just want to attract better clients so you can spend more time with your family, give me a call. 888.692.5531.