You don’t play it safe when you advocate for your clients. So why do you play it safe when you advocate for yourself?
In marketing, you must stand out. To stand out, you can’t play it safe, you have to be different.
Have you ever noticed how most attorney’s web sites look the same? Change the name and the photo and another attorney in the same practice area could take over the site without missing a beat.
How do you expect clients to notice you when you look like everyone else? Why should anyone choose you when you don’t show them how you are different?
Being different starts with including some personal information in your marketing. Share some of the things that define you as a person–your family, your hobbies, your crusades. Give the world a glimpse into the human being behind the professional.
Being different also means saying things most attorneys don’t say. Examples? Revealing how most law schools don’t prepare lawyers for the courtroom. Or how lawyers pad their bills. Or lawyer discipline. Or what to ask a lawyer to see if they are competent.
If you’ve never spoken about these things, you should. Your colleagues may not like it, but your clients will.
You can also be different by sharing your opinion on something controversial. Most attorneys straddle the middle of the road. If there’s something you believe strongly in, you should take sides and open your mouth.
Look at Donald Trump. He’s never afraid to say what he thinks. Did he earn a fortune because of this or in spite of it? I don’t know. But I do know that whenever he opens his mouth, he makes money.
The same goes for Ted Turner. And Rush Limbaugh. The more you hate them or laugh at them, the more they earn.
I’m not saying you need to go to these extremes. But you do need to take some chances.
Here’s the challenge: On your web site, or in your newsletter, say something you know will not sit well with someone. Nothing radical. Don’t start a fight. Just say something a little different or a little out of character.
Make a few eyebrows rise. Show people a side of you they’ve never seen.
It might not be what you say but how you say it. A coarse reference, perhaps. Or gansta slang, yo.
Click the send button. If your heart beats a little faster and you wonder if you’ve made a mistake, you know you’re doing it right.
You’ll find it liberating. Maybe even exhilarating. Possibly terrifying.
You might hear from someone who likes what you said. That’s good. You might hear from someone who doesn’t like it. That’s good too.
Communication isn’t solely about delivering information. It’s about touching people on an emotional level. Making them listen. And think. And feel. And respond.
If you get no response, the odds are nobody noticed. Try again. Push harder. Keep stirring.
Eventually, you may lose some people who don’t like what you say. That’s the risk. The reward is that there will many more who take their place, who love you and want to work with you and tell all their friends about you, in great part because you aren’t like everyone else.
If you want mediocre results, keep doing what everyone else is doing. If you want superlative results, you’ve got to take some chances.
Want more ways to be different? They’re in The Formula.
