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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.