In the game of chess there are strategies and there are tactics. Strategies are the plans–how you will gain space or material that leads to a winning advantage. Tactics are the battles–the maneuvering of your pieces and exchanges of material that allow you to execute your plan.
Marketing legal services is very similar. You create a plan and you execute that plan. Your plan might be to get more referrals from your professional contacts by strengthening your relationships with them. Your tactics might include sending them referrals, taking them to lunch, and inviting them to join you at your next networking meeting.
In chess, the best strategies aren’t created randomly, they emerge by observing the board. You look at your strengths, where you have an advantage, and build your strategy around these advantages. If there aren’t any advantages, you look for differences in your positions and use those differences to create your strategy.
The same goes for marketing legal services. You may not have any significant advantages over other attorneys, but you do have differences:
- Your background, outside interests
- Your knowledge and experience
- Your style and personality
- Your professional contacts
- The size of your client list
- Your web site
- Your lists (email, mail, directory)
- Your awards
- Your publishing credits
- Your content (articles, reports, books, audios, etc.)
- Your niche market
- Your experience
- Your social media network
- Languages spoken
- And so on
You can use these differences to create a marketing strategy.
If you are an “Ambassador” at your local Chamber of Commerce, know how to make and publish youtube videos, or you are personal friends with a prominent blogger, these can all become a part of your marketing strategy.
Where are you different? What do you know how to do? Who do you know? Don’t take those differences for granted. They may not seem significant to you but they can be enough to create a winning strategy for marketing your services.
The Attorney Marketing Formula shows you key strategies for marketing your practice. Click here for more information.
