Content creation Archives - Page 3 of 14 - The Attorney Marketing Center

Why you need a story diary

February 19, 2024 by David M. Ward

You are a storyteller. You tell them to friends, colleagues, clients, and juries. You put them in blog posts, articles, and presentations. You use them to make a point or share a light moment.

Stories are how humans connect with each other. They help us win friends and influence people.

And you need a steady supply of them.

Where do you get them? By keeping your eyes and ears open and noting what other people talk about, write about, and do. You get them by observing your world.

The best stories are usually about things you did or that happen to you because you have an emotional connection with those stories (and the people in them).

You solved a problem, did something new and interesting, or met someone who made an impression. When you share these stories, you help people understand, appreciate, and remember your message.

And you.

When you talk about a troublesome case, for example, you help the reader or listener step into your shoes, see what you saw, and feel what you felt. It’s an effective way of illustrating something important or something you care about and think your audience will, too.

Now, since stories are so valuable, you should create (or expand) the habit of collecting them.

Set up a “story” file and add notes and articles and quotes you might use someday. In addition, take two-minutes at the end of each day and make a note of what you did (or saw or heard) that day.

Who did you speak with? What problems did you solve or work on? What did you see or hear?

Did you sign up a new client? Settle a case? Improve a skill or start learning a new one?

Record your day in a diary or journal. You don’t need to write out the entire story. Just jot down enough details to help you remember it when you want to use it.

Your journal will make you a more effective writer, speaker, and communicator. It will help you win more friends and influence more people.

Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Presentations, Writing

The simplest way to improve the results of your advertising

February 7, 2024 by David M. Ward

There are many things you can do to improve your advertising. You can use more effective sales copy, advertise in different publications or media, use different keywords, run different size ads, increase the frequency of your ads, and more. And you should regularly try (test) these to find the most effective and profitable combination.

It can bring in more leads, bigger cases or better clients, and reduce your costs.

But there’s something else you can do to immediately make your ads more effective and profitable. Make sure your ads contain a call-to-action.

Most lawyers run “branding” ads, designed to get their name or firm name in front of their target market. They might include a list of practice areas or services or tout their capabilities, but the primary purpose is to promote the firm’s name instead of getting the reader or listener to respond to that ad.

You want a response, don’t you?

You want the reader to call you, fill out a form, sign up for your list or event, or download your report. Don’t leave it up to them to figure out what you want them to do. Tell them. Every ad you run should have a “call to action”.

Tell them exactly what to do, make it easy to do, and tell them why they should.

Why should they call? To make an appointment? Ask questions? Is there a cost? What will they learn? How will they be better off?

Why should they sign up for your newsletter or seminar or report? What’s in it for them?

Provide a call-to-action and you will get more calls, sign-ups, downloads, and clients.

Simple as that.

Look at ads placed by your competition. If their ad doesn’t have a call to action (what to do and why), and yours does, which ad do you think will do better?

Ironically, your direct response ad will also brand you.

Okay, point taken. But what if your ads already contain a call to action—What can you do to improve response?

You can make the call to action more prominent. You can repeat it. You can add a deadline. You can improve the perceived value of the incentive you offer. You can provide testimonials or success stories from happy clients who called or signed up.

Also simple. And effective.

One more thing. You should also include a call-to-action in all of your content. In your articles, podcasts, on your blog, in your newsletter, and in your presentations.

Tell people what to do, and why, and make it easy to do, and more people will do it.

How to use a newsletter to get more clients and increase your income

Filed Under: Advertising, Content creation

Create content about what you do

January 22, 2024 by David M. Ward

Your clients, prospective clients, subscribers, friends and followers, and even your business and professional contacts, want to know about you and your work.

Even more than they want to know about the law.

In fact, unless someone currently has a specific legal issue or question, or has a client or friend who does, they probably don’t want to hear you talking about the law.

It’s boring.

It’s people who are interesting. And you are one of those people.

Tell them about your typical day, the kinds of clients and cases you handle, your staff, how you stay productive, and even the software you use.

Tell them how you do research, the forms and docs you depend on, and how you get new business. (Perfect opportunity to talk about all the referrals you get—and plant a few seeds for your readers).

They want to hear what you like about your work, and what you don’t. They want to know about your favorite case, and about your “client from hell”.

You may think what you do is dry and uninteresting, but you’re too close to it. What you find humdrum is fascinating to others.

However… don’t make your content all about you.

You also need to talk about the law. Because some people find you by searching for a legal topic, and when they do, they want to know everything you can tell them.

But more than you or the law, your content should be about your reader.

Their issues, their industry, their market, and the people in their industry or market.

Yep, talk about clients and prospects and the people in their world. Because there is nothing more interesting to your readers than reading about themselves.

Email marketing for attorneys

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Newsletters, Online Marketing

Be brief

December 21, 2023 by David M. Ward

At a time of diminished attention spans and lists of things to do as long as their arm, most people don’t have time to watch your lengthy presentation or read your lengthy article, blog post, or email. If you want more people reading more of your content (and you do), keep it brief.

As short as necessary and no longer.

In your core work as advocate, advisor, or draftsman, say as much as you need to say to do your job. For marketing and client relations, say less.

This doesn’t mean writing less often. Actually, if you’re trying to build and strengthen relationships with clients and prospects and professional contacts, you should write more often.

Once or twice a year or “once in a while” isn’t enough to keep your name in front of people.

Good news. Shorter content is quicker to write so you can write more often.

Yes, SEO favors longer articles and posts, and longer sales letters and pages tend to pull higher response, but for a busy lawyer, your top priority should be to get something out the door and into the hands of readers and followers.

As often as possible.

You can also write longer articles and reports, do longer videos and presentation, but make those extra.

Shorter content, published more often, should be your thing.

If you’re using email (and you should), here’s everything you need to know

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Email

Are you a better writer or speaker?

December 18, 2023 by David M. Ward

That’s one question you need to answer if you want to use content to market your practice, but just one. You also need to consider how long you take to produce a piece of content and how often you plan to publish.

Creating videos and podcasts usually requires more time than writing a newsletter article or blog post. They also require a different set of skills. But you might have those skills and experience and be able to push out a new episode or video quickly.

Or outsource those skills and functions (research, editing, formatting) so you can focus on what you do best.

Also consider your market. Short videos work well in some markets; long articles and reports work better in others.

How do you choose what to do? It’s different for all of us. Maybe “none of the above” is right for you.

But don’t reject anything (or choose anything) too quickly. Try different things and give them a bit of time. Something that doesn’t work for you today may be massively successful for you tomorrow.

But don’t decide solely based on results.

The best thing to do is to choose the method you like best. Because if there’s something you like, you’ll probably stick with it. If you stick with it and turn out a piece of content every week, you’ll bring in more business.

And that’s the point, isn’t it?

You don’t need to do everything or be great at everything you do. You just need to do something and keep doing it.

Filed Under: Content creation, Marketing legal services

Ideas? Where we’re going, we don’t need ideas

December 6, 2023 by David M. Ward

Many attorneys do no content marketing. No blog, no newsletter, no articles or videos or podcasts. The two primary reasons they give are (1) They don’t have enough time, and (2) They don’t have enough to write about.

As someone who initially resisted creating content for those same reasons, I do have something to say about this subject.

“No time” does not compute. If writing a blog or newsletter brought you twice as much new business as you get now, and it could, or brought you bigger cases or better clients, and it could, you’d find the time. Or hire someone. Or both.

Content marketing works—if you work at it.

Besides, if you follow my “system,” you can write something people want to read in under an hour.

One hour a week to double your client intake? Even if it “only” brought you one additional client or case a month, would that be worth it?

Now if you don’t want to do it, fine. But if you do want to, you do have enough time.

What about not having enough to write about?

That’s also a non-starter. As long as you’re practicing, you’ll never run out of things to write about.

Write about your practice. Your cases, your clients, the laws you work with every day, problems, solutions, questions and answers. Write about what you say when you give a presentation, what you tell people who ask about what you do and how you can help them.

You want ideas? Go through your email. Think about the last case you settled, the last brief you wrote, or something opposing counsel said or did that made you roll your eyes. It’s all fair game. It’s all something your clients and prospects, readers and followers, want to know.

Besides, there is a never-ending parade of new people finding and following you who haven’t seen anything you wrote before. That means you can write about something you wrote before.

You might have noticed that I do that, in spades.

I use different words and different examples, at least I think I do—I can’t remember what I wrote months or years ago, can you? New subscribers don’t know, old subscribers don’t remember (because if I can’t, they can’t), but even if they can, good ideas are worth repeating.

Good ideas are worth repeating. (See?)

So, re-read your old blog posts or articles and update them, re-write them, or say something different about the same subject.

Now, if by some miracle you really are fresh out of ideas, the Internet is your friend. Go see what other attorneys have written about in their blog or newsletter and steal their idea. (The idea, not the words).

Yes, but what I run out of attorneys? Are you serious? Okay, you can do the same thing with business blogs or consumer blogs and anyone else who said something that might interest your readers.

The world is awash with ideas you can write about. Too bad you don’t have enough time.

Ideas

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Newsletters

The best way to improve your content

November 29, 2023 by David M. Ward

Content means information, right? About the law, how to recognize a problem, what to do and not do, what an attorney can do to help them (and why it should be you).

All good, but not necessarily compelling.

You want readers to take action: click and visit your pages, read your articles, download your reports, view your presentation, and especially to contact you and hire you (or refer you).

There are several ways to use your content to accomplish that.

You can overtly disagree with what other lawyers say, to show the reader you’re different, i.e., better. Don’t just tell them what’s available, give them the pros and cons of various solutions, provide more nuanced comments about the risks, and follow with a well-reasoned recommendation.

Tell them what and why.

If you’re hesitant to do that without first speaking to the reader about their specific situation, use “if/then” writing to cover yourself and provide additional context.

Another way to stand out and get readers to see you as the better lawyer is to explain how things work in the “real world”. Take them “behind the curtain” and show them why things are done one way and not another.

Or, when other lawyers provide “just the facts” and are serious and boring, you might take a lighter approach (if appropriate) and make your content more interesting and maybe even fun.

The best thing you can do? Provide client success stories, to illustrate your points and show readers there are solutions to their problems—here’s proof.

Give them hope while you educate them.

But many attorneys tell client success stories. If you want to be more effective, don’t just tell the stories, make them personal. Tell the reader what the client told you, what you thought, how you felt, and what you did (and why).

Personal stories, for the win.

You want readers to see you in their mind’s eye, asking questions, feeling what the client felt, considering the facts, weighing the options, and then being an advocate for or advisor to your clients.

Why get personal? Because prospective clients not only want to know about their risks and options, they want to know what it would be like having you as their attorney.

If you want to demonstrate your knowledge and experience, write about the law. If you want to build a following and get people to choose you as their attorney, write about your personal experiences.

How to write a newsletter that brings in more clients

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Email, Writing

Content marketing for lawyers who target consumers

November 28, 2023 by David M. Ward

If you handle criminal defense, immigration, personal injury, estate planning, family law, or other practice areas in the consumer realm, you may have found (or believe) that prospective clients aren’t interested in your blog or newsletter or other content until they realize they need your services.

So why bother with a newsletter or blog or other content?

Because when they do need your services, they’ll read everything on your blog and consume all of your content, and you want to have content for them that isn’t just bullet points about your services but content that lets you connect with them that nothing short of actually speaking with you and getting to know you can do.

You want them to hear your stories and get a sense of what it would be like to know you and work with you, so they can get to know, like, and trust you.

Which they can do through your content.

“Okay, got it. But how do I get them to visit my website or blog, watch my videos, read my articles and sign up for my newsletter so I can build a relationship with them before they need my legal services?”

Good question, Grasshopper.

Since most people aren’t interested in your “legal” content until they need your services, and only then look for it and consume it, you need to give them something else they are interested in. Another subject you can write about or talk about.

Like the kinds of subjects consumers are interested in—taxes, insurance, credit, consumer protection, social security, and so on.

When your would-be clients find and read your articles about retirement planning, for example, they learn what you do in your day job, sign up for your newsletter, and you stay in touch with them. When they need legal services, they contact you (instead of looking for someone from scratch) because they already know you.

And guess what? You can accomplish the same thing without writing about insurance and credit if that’s not your thing. You can write about other subjects that interest you and are likely to interest a segment of the consumer population.

Some lawyers write about technology. Some write about productivity. Some write about writing and other creative pursuits. They talk about apps or books or websites they recommend, and build up a following that way.

They might do that on a separate blog or channel rather than the blog for their law practice, but they link to it and mention it.

You know what that means, don’t you? It means you can write about a lot of things that interest you, your hobbies and outside interests, and have fun creating content about those subjects.

You know what else that means? It means you can do the same thing if you handle business law instead of or in addition to consumer law, because your clients are consumers, too.

Write what you want to write to write about. People who share your interest will find you, follow you and eventually hire you. Or. . . tell someone they know about you.

How to build an effective newsletter for your practice

Filed Under: Content creation, Newsletters

“What should I write about?”

November 22, 2023 by David M. Ward

You want ideas for subjects to write about in your blog or newsletter. You want to show readers what you do, how you can help them, and why they should choose you as their lawyer.

And you want it to be interesting.

Okay, here you go:

FAQ’s: About the law, procedure, how long it takes to X, what should I expect when Y happens, what are my risks, what are my options, how much is my case worth?
News: Cases, legislation, trends, changes at your firm, news about your business clients’ industry
DIY: How to research, prepare (simple) documents, file, negotiate, go to small claims court, check my credit, refinance my loan, find a good deal on insurance
Announcements: Seminars, upcoming events, new hires, new office, special offers from your business clients or professionals you work with
Interviews You, your clients, other professionals or centers of influence in your market
Profiles and bios: Your employees, partners, vendors, business clients, and families
Client success stories
Downloadable content: Reports, forms, checklists, sample letters, glossaries, lists of recommended resources
Recommended: Books, videos, channels, podcasts, websites, blogs or individual posts
Why you? What do you (your firm) do differently or better than others? Features, benefits, notable testimonials, reviews, endorsements, awards.

Use this list to brainstorm ideas and keep them for a rainy day. Or, you can ask your favorite ai to come up with ideas for you.

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Newsletters

Better than other lawyers? Could you be more specific?

November 20, 2023 by David M. Ward

You want prospective clients and the people who can refer them to see you as the better choice. But saying you’re better, or your services are better, or your “service” is better, isn’t convincing. You need to tell them why.

How are you better? What do you do other lawyers don’t do and why is that a benefit to your clients?

You need some “better” adjectives.

Here are a few to consider and the meaning behind them:

Faster (You get the work done more quickly; your clients can enjoy the benefits and peace of mind sooner)
Efficient (Modern methods, tech, allow you to deliver high-quality work product at lower expense)
Reliable (You don’t cut corners and put your clients at risk; highest standards, ethics, proven methods)
Transparent (You explain everything and show your clients everything you’re doing, when and why, and invite them to ask you anything)
Reasonable (Fairness: fees, costs, procedures)
Comprehensive (Your documents and processes are thorough and cover everything your clients need and want)
Simpler (Your documents, processes, fees, billing, are easier for your clients to understand; fewer questions, confusion)
Newer (New services, methods, content, partners, employees, offices, computers, and how your clients benefit. Careful, though; “new” implies risk, so make sure you address this.)
Guaranteed (No fee unless recovery, no fee unless satisfied; yep, money-back guarantee. If that makes you nervous, put a limit on it, e.g., first 30 days or “up to X dollars”)

They all mean “better” but tell clients why you are better. Make sure you prove everything, however, by providing examples, specific numbers, and by answering FAQs and objections in advance.

Stress-free legal billing and collection policies

Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Marketing legal services