David M. Ward, Author at The Attorney Marketing Center

Risk reduction is risky

April 1, 2025 by David M. Ward

When it comes to aversion to risk, nobody holds a candle to lawyers. We’re trained to anticipate risks, protect against them, and quickly act to minimize damages when something goes wrong.

We do this for our clients and for ourself. It’s kinda our thing.

Risk management in any business or profession just makes sense. What doesn’t make sense are efforts to eliminate all risk, or helping clients do the same.

Why?

For one thing, it is an impossible task. As long as we’re in business (and alive), we can’t eliminate risk. It’s always there. It’s the nature of business. It’s a fact of life.

But even if we could completely eliminate risk, we shouldn’t. Because without risk, there can be no reward. Without risk, you “risk” becoming stale and boring and losing clients to competitors who aren’t.

If we eliminate all risk, we simultaneously eliminate new ideas and opportunities, which are, by definition, risky. If we’re unwilling to experiment with a new practice area, niche market, or marketing method, we’ll never enjoy the fruits of those efforts.

Without taking risks, our services look like every other risk-adverse lawyers’. Our advertising messages are stale, our articles say the same things said by every other lawyer, and nobody notices us. To protect yourself from mistakes and losses and criticism, you lose your competitive edge.

A business grows in proportion to the risks it takes and successfully manages.

Successful lawyers take chances, innovate, and refuse to (completely) play it safe.

Instead of trying to eliminate all risks, we should reduce our exposure to unreasonable risks, prefer risks with a sizable potential payoff, and be ever-vigilant. And advise our clients to do the same.

Intelligently manage risk. Don’t eliminate it.

Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services

Why your subscribers and followers aren’t hiring you (and how to fix it)

March 27, 2025 by David M. Ward

Okay, there are lots of reasons someone might not hire you, starting with “they don’t need your services yet/anymore,” all the way to “they haven’t heard from you in a while and forgot about you.”

It could be your “open rate” (or lack thereof). You haven’t told them what to do, or told them often enough. Perhaps they don’t have a sense of urgency about their situation and “someday” is still a long way off.

Maybe they stopped reading your posts or emails (for a lot of reasons). Maybe you said something that turned them off. Maybe they hired another attorney who showed up at the right time or said the right things.

Maybe they’ve gotten used to getting free information from you and don’t see why they should pay now for your advice.

NB: Don’t stop the free information; do show them the benefits of hiring you or taking the next step.

Of course, there could be other reasons. Maybe they want to get to know you better—your style, your consistency, how you work with your clients—and the list goes on.

You need to pay attention to these things, but don’t obsess over them. There’s something else you can do that can take care of a lot of these issues.

Grow your list. Get more subscribers or followers.

New blood is the lifeblood of any business. New newsletter, blog, or podcast subscribers, friends or followers are more likely to hire you simply because they are new.

They’re new (recent) because they had a problem or an interest, went looking for a solution, and “found” you. They want to improve their situation and pay attention to what you say, unlike many on your existing list who may not.

New contacts are “hotter” than old ones.

More content and better messaging to your existing list can bring you new business. Growing your list might bring you a lot more.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Communication, Increase your income, List building, Marketing legal services

Do your clients love you?

March 25, 2025 by David M. Ward

Our yard needs updating and my wife and I got bids from several landscaping contractors. Many had reviews that talked about the contractor’s good work, beautiful designs, and reasonable prices. The one we hired had reviews like this and something else.

The winning contractor’s customers said things like, “He took care of everything,” “We didn’t have to worry about anything,” “We knew we made the right decision.”

Clearly, they weren’t just satisfied customers; they were fans. They didn’t just love his work; they loved him.

That’s what you want from your clients.

When your clients adore you and trust you, when they love you, you get a high percentage of repeat business, referrals, positive word-of-mouth, testimonials, and clients who are easier to work with.

Your practice thrives, and you don’t have to do a lot of marketing or advertising.

How do you make clients fall in love with you? Not just by working hard and delivering great results. Clients pay you well for that, and expect it.

Clients don’t fall in love with you because of what you do for them. They fall in love with you because of how you make them feel.

You make them feel appreciated and safe. They are in good hands and don’t have anything to worry about.

How do you accomplish this?

By how you speak to them, how you reply to their questions, what you send them, and what you do for them beyond your core work.

It’s staying in touch with them, smiling when they come into the room, and remembering the names of their kids.

It’s treating them like a cherished friend or a member of your family and making sure your staff does the same.

It may not be easy, but it’s not complicated. Show your clients you love them and they’ll show you the same.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations

Clients prefer hiring these attorneys

March 20, 2025 by David M. Ward

It’s a well-known maxim that bears repeating: “People prefer to hire and work with people they know, like, and trust.” That’s true even when those people are attorneys.

Actually, it’s even more true of attorneys because we sell personal services and work closely with our clients. Hard to please clients if they don’t like or trust you.

Now, besides being nice to our clients and delivering excellent outcomes at a reasonable fee, is there anything else we can do to enhance our client relationships?

Yes, and you probably already do it.

You stay in touch with your clients, right? Send them holiday and birthday cards, a newsletter, and let them know when you have a new article or video that can help them?

NB: If you don’t do these things with your clients and contacts, you’re missing out on one of the simplest and most effective ways to grow your practice. Just saying.

What else can you do to make your clients feel appreciated and help them remember that you’re still around?

You can send them a personal note. Not an email, a handwritten note sent in ye olde mail.

Say hello, thank them for their business and referrals, ask about their business or job, mention their spouse or kids, share something you recall about them or their case, and otherwise treat them as someone you care about.

You do care about them, don’t you?

“A personal note, for all my current and former clients? I don’t have time to do that,” you say?

Yes, you do. You can do what attorney Mike Alder does for his clients. I heard that every morning he writes 3 personal notes to clients and pops them in the mail. You can do that.

“It’s not worth the effort,” you say. Tell that to Mike. He’s built an injury and employment firm that has recovered over $3 billion for their clients. Let’s see, one third of a billion is how much?

Yeah, personal notes. And phone calls, too. And being a mensch and treating your clients like you care about them as people, not just clients.

That’s how clients get to know, like, and trust you.

Filed Under: Client loyalty, Client relations, Marketing legal services

What are you doing today?

March 18, 2025 by David M. Ward

When your day begins, do you dive right in and get to work—going through files, making calls, talking to your staff, dictating letters—whatever’s on your desk, in your email, or demanding your attention?

Or do you work from a plan?

I suggest the latter.

I suggest your plan your day before it begins because a plan gives you clarity about what you need to do and, just as importantly, what not to do.

A plan gives you confidence that you are doing your most important tasks and have enough time to do them well.

A plan allows you to go from task to task without stopping to figure out what’s next, or getting distracted by whatever shows up.

Without a plan, you might become overwhelmed with too much to do and not enough time to do it. Without a plan, you might waste time working on things that don’t need to be done today, or at all, and make mistakes rushing to do things you suddenly remember.

A daily plan allows you to be more productive.

And it takes only 5 minutes.

Review your calendar. Prepare for appointments and meetings and calls. Go through your task list and decide what you will do today and what can wait until tomorrow—or next week.

When should you create your plan? Some like to do it at at night so they can start the next day without delay. Others like to prepare their plan in the morning (with a cup of coffee).

I usually make my plan the night before and review and update it the morning of.

More important than when you do it is that you do it.

And make it a habit.

One more thing. You also need a weekly plan. Take ten minutes on the weekend or Monday morning to review the past week and plan the week ahead.

And yes, make this a habit, too.

Filed Under: Productivity, success

Email marketing (isn’t) dead

March 13, 2025 by David M. Ward

In fact, it’s better than ever. And better than just about any other type of marketing an attorney can do.

It’s better because it lets you communicate directly with past clients, prospective clients, and people who can refer, endorse and recommend you.

You can’t beat the price, the ease of use, or the speed with which email can produce results. A simple click and in a few minutes or a few hours, a new client could sit across from you, filling out paperwork and writing a check.

Why do some people say email marketing doesn’t work? Because they haven’t done it right, or done it at all.

Email doesn’t work when the emails are poorly written, uninteresting, or fail to tell readers what to do next.

Email doesn’t work when sent to people who haven’t heard from the sender in a long time and don’t remember them or never knew them, e.g., spam, and people who don’t need or want legal services or know people who might.

Email doesn’t work if the emails don’t get opened because they lack a compelling subject line.

Email doesn’t work when they don’t give readers a reason to respond or don’t carry a sense of urgency.

Email doesn’t work when emails are sent too frequently, or, more likely, not frequently enough.

And, for a lawyer, email doesn’t work when it lacks professionalism and trustworthiness, e.g., they make the lawyer look silly or desperate.

On the other hand, when done right, email marketing is one of the best kinds of marketing a lawyer can use.

Done right means building an opt-in list, staying in touch with the list, and providing value to your readers.

That’s good news because you can do that without breaking a sweat (or your bank account).

Your email may be brief. You don’t need to write every day. You just need to say enough, and often enough, to stay in the minds and mailboxes of people who can hire or refer you, and give them reasons to do that.

Here’s how to get started:

How to make your phone ring

Filed Under: Email, Marketing legal services, Newsletters

What’s your story?

March 11, 2025 by David M. Ward

To build your practice, you can tell prospective clients all about your capabilities and experience, and you should, but if you want to stand out from other lawyers and firms, if you want to get hired, you should also tell them your story.

I don’t mean your client success stories, although you should tell these, too. I’m talking about your story.

Who are you? Why did you go to law school? What do you love about what you do?

Tell them what drives you to get up early or stay late. Tell them what makes you happy, and what doesn’t. Tell them what you’ve done in the past and what you want to do in the future.

And why. Especially why.

You know, your story. That’s what clients buy.

Facts tell but stories sell.

Stories invoke emotions and emotions drive decisions.

The facts show people the benefits available to them when they hire you and speak to your ability to deliver those benefits. These are clearly important components of marketing. But you can’t depend on facts alone to get someone to hire you.

You have to make them feel something.

You may think you don’t have a compelling story to tell. But you have one. It’s in you and you need to find it.

It will take some work. But you can do it.

And it will be worth the effort.

Filed Under: Communication, Copywriting, Marketing legal services

Maybe it’s time to put your marketing on a diet

March 6, 2025 by David M. Ward

Have you ever found marketing overwhelming? You don’t know what to do, what to change, and what else you add to improve your results?

Of course you have.

One way to sort things out is to put your marketing on a diet. Specifically, an “elimination diet”.

In the dietary world, an elimination diet is “a short-term eating plan that removes certain foods that may cause allergies or digestive reactions, then introduces them one at a time to determine which foods are well-tolerated and which are not.”

With your practice, you stop some or all (elimination) of your marketing, add things back one at a time, and measure your results.

What’s working? How much time does each strategy take? What are your expenses and your return on investment?

And which strategies feel right and come naturally to you, compared with others that you have to force yourself to do?

You may find that some things you’ve been doing are too expensive (e.g., certain ads) or time consuming (e.g., networking). You may find that some things work better than you thought and you should expand them, or realize that adding more follow-ups or changing the order of the follow-up messages might improve results.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking you don’t want to stop doing things that are working, and that’s fine. Keep them and eliminate the things that aren’t.

Or, the things you don’t like or aren’t good at.

If you eliminate something and have second thoughts, or find you have more time to implement them, you can always re-start them.

This process gets you thinking about what you’re doing instead of working on autopilot and allows you to make better decisions.

Which leads to better results.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

How to get more testimonials (and why you should)

March 4, 2025 by David M. Ward

Testimonials for your services help you sell more of them. Prospective clients read your web page, email, or ad, learn all about your services and offer, and are interested.

But they’re not sure. There are many other lawyers and firms who do what you do. How do they decide who to choose?

They look at what your other clients have said about you.

Other than a direct referral, nothing makes a stronger case for choosing you than testimonials.

Problem is, testimonials rarely show up on their own accord. You have to ask for them because people are busy and don’t think about testimonials, or don’t think you want or need them.

But many will provide them if you ask.

When a client thanks you for getting them a good outcome on their case, or says something nice about you or your staff, that’s a good time to ask.

Be direct: “That’s so good to hear. Would you mind if I mention that on my website?”

If they hesitate, tell them you won’t use their name, just their initials or first name and last initial. It’s not nearly as good as their full name (and photo, city, company) but better than no testimonial.

Much better.

If a client praises you or thanks you via email, or posts it on social media, ask if you can use a screen shot (and blot out their name and email address).

One of the simplest and most effective ways to prompt your clients to supply testimonials is to survey them. You can give survey forms to clients at the end of their case, mail them, or post them online and link to them in your newsletter.

If you do seminars, pass out surveys or evaluations at the end. Attendees aren’t recommending your services, but that’s okay. They’re recommending the quality of the information you provided, and describing your thoroughness and personality.

Prospective clients would like to hear that.

If you’ve published a book related to your practice, look at the (good) reviews. These are public and you can screen shot them and use them, (but it’s best to ask for permission).

Another way to prompt for testimonials is to ask clients if they will recommend your firm to friends or business contacts. Thank them, give them some business cards to pass out and ask what they will say about you. Write that down and ask if you can mention that in your marketing.

When you have several testimonials in hand, package them up and send them to clients, subscribers, and prospects, and mention how much you appreciate hearing these great comments.

Your satisfied clients, your subscribers and social media followers, appreciate your work and are willing to provide testimonials.

All you have to do is ask.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services Tagged With: testimonials

If you want more clients, read this NOW!

February 27, 2025 by David M. Ward

Effective marketing of legal services, or anything else, does 3 things:

It gets the prospect’s attention and stimulates DESIRE for something they want, a benefit, and sets the stage for taking the next step.
It tells them what to do—the ACTION you want them to take. You want your prospects to call, fill out a form, email, subscribe, watch a video, read something, or take some other action.
It tells them WHEN to do it. Ideally, you want them to do it NOW. “Immediately, if not sooner,” as my grandfather used to say. Tell your reader or listener to take immediate action, or as soon as possible, because people are busy and think they’ll do it later, but of course, “later” never comes.

The title of this post told you to read it now and gave you a good reason, i.e. to get more clients. Since you’re reading these words, it did its job.

It got attention, stimulated desire, and prompted you to take action. Three keys to effective marketing.

Write these down (now, so you don’t forget) and use them in all aspects of your marketing.

Unless you’re not interested in getting more clients.

Filed Under: Copywriting, Marketing legal services