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Not many lawyers own their niche

June 9, 2022 by David M. Ward

Wouldn’t it be nice to be the top dog in your niche? The lawyer clients listen to and want to hire above all others?

If you do, you should set your sights on doing something most lawyers never do.

Most lawyers are content with positioning themselves as an expert in their field. But every lawyer is an “expert,“ aren’t they?

The trouble is, people follow leaders, not experts. If you want to dominate your field, you need to lead your field.

How do you do that?

You do things leaders do. You speak and write and serve on boards and panels. You teach other lawyers (CLE) and are on a first name basis with influential people in your field and in your market.

And you build a reputation that attracts lots of referrals from lawyers and other professionals who know your name even if you don’t know theirs.

You should be working towards this, but it might take a minute. If you want to shortcut the process and be seen as a leader before the twilight of your career, there is something else you can do.

You can engage with your market and get them to know your name and what you can do to help them.

Email isn’t the only way to do that, but it is the simplest. It makes it easy to connect with prospective clients and professionals in your niche, and do it often.

When you are frequently “in the minds and mailboxes” of the people in your market, they get to know you and see you as a leader. Maybe ‘the’ leader.

Most lawyers are afraid to do this. They don’t email often because they don’t want to annoy their list or get spam complaints, or they’re afraid they’ll run out of things to say.

But those are just excuses.

You may say there are many lawyers at the top of their field who don’t communicate regularly with their market, and that’s true. But what did they do to get there? And how long did it take?

If you don’t have some of the advantages they had, or you don’t want to take as long as they did, start thinking about how you can get in front of your market as often as possible to establish your leadership immediately.

Email Marketing for Attorneys makes it easy

Filed Under: Communication, Email, Newsletters

New clients need TLC

May 17, 2022 by David M. Ward

They may be sharp. Sophisticated. Tough as nails. But new clients don’t yet know your wicked ways and could benefit from a little hand holding.

That goes double for clients who aren’t all of the above.

So, you give new clients lots of information, about you and how you work,and about their case and what to expect.

You tell them what’s going to happen, explain what happened, and spell out what will happen next.

And you encourage them to ask lots of questions. But you don’t wait for that, you contact them often and keep them informed.

You show them you’ve done this before and will take good care of them.

But while you want them to know everything they need to know, you don’t want to overwhelm them.

Don’t send them everything all at once.

No firehoses allowed.

One way to slow your roll is to space out your onboarding email sequence so they don’t get everything on day one.

You might send them an introductory email that thanks and welcomes them, gives them some basic information, and makes them feel good about their decision to hire you.

A follow-up email sent in a day or two can provide them with more information, a checklist or timeline, and links to articles on your website they might want to see.

Subsequent emails, over the ensuing days or weeks, can supply more details and resources, and lots of encouragement.

You might want to number the first few emails. If you plan to send them four emails in the first few days or the first week, for example, number them “1 of 4,” “2 of 4, “and so on, so they know what to expect.

Make sure the final email in your initial onboarding sequence explains when they will hear from you again about (a) their case, and (b) other information—about the law, other legal matters they need to know about, how to’s, recommended resources, and more.

You know, your newsletter.

How to use an email newsletter to build a more successful law practice

Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Email, Law office management, Newsletters Tagged With: New clients

When you don’t feel like writing anything, do this

February 9, 2022 by David M. Ward

What do you do when you don’t feel like writing anything on your blog or in your newsletter?

Most people will tell you to suck it up and write it anyway, because you made a commitment to your subscribers or followers and they’re expecting to hear from you, and because you don’t want to break the chain.

“Figure it out,“ they tell you. So you scramble to find an idea and force yourself to get it done.

And all is right with the world.

But sometimes, you just can’t. You’re fresh out of ideas, you’re ill or recovering from surgery, you’re slammed with work, or you’re having a sad and need a day off.

Take it. Take the day off.

It’s your blog. Your newsletter. Your channel. The world won’t end if you miss a day.

If you don’t feel like writing or have nothing to say, say nothing. That’s why God created sick days and snow days and bad hair days. If you need some personal time, take it.

Or. . . go to Plan B.

Plan B is to write a very short post. Instead of hundreds of words, you write a paragraph or two.

Yes, you can.

Seth Godin does it. So do many others. Why not you?

Something else. If you still can’t think of anything to say, go ahead and post something someone else said.

You can do that, too.

A passage from a book or article. A pithy quote. Or an intriguing question you saw that’s got you thinking.

Note to self: set up a file and start collecting this kind of stuff.

If you don’t feel well, you can post this “as is” and go back to bed.

But you might find, as I often do, that a short passage or quote you dig out of your notes gets your juices flowing and you find yourself writing a “regular-sized” post.

Many of my posts start that way. I grab something I found interesting and see what I have to say about it.

In fact, that’s how I wrote this post.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Email, Newsletters, Writing

A simple way to sell more legal services

December 17, 2021 by David M. Ward

Prospective clients need your help but may hesitate to take the next step. There are things you can do to nudge them in the right direction.

Start by prompting them to take action of any kind. Ask them to do something easy—like your post, share your link, or forward your email. Easy to do and when they do it, they’re more likely to do it again.

You might ask a question. What do they want you to write about in your next post? What did they like best about your last one? Which do they prefer, X or Y?

Maybe you ask them to subscribe to your podcast or watch your video and leave a comment. Sign up for your webinar and tell their friends, or reply and tell you if they have any questions.

You ask for little things and they do them. They get used to responding and interacting with you, which helps build familiarity and trust, and prepares them to take a bigger step.

When you ask them to call to ask questions or schedule a free consultation, or to fill out a questionnaire and tell you about their legal situation, they’ll be that more likely to do that.

But here’s the thing. When you ask, not everyone will respond.

People do what they do.

So, you need to ask again. And again. And again.

Never stop asking.

Be nice about it. Ask in different ways and at different times. But keep asking—until they buy or die.

If you keep asking, eventually they’ll take the next step.

And then you can ask them to do something else.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Email, Marketing legal services

Milk it

December 16, 2021 by David M. Ward

You like the idea of writing shorter emails and articles and using them to stay in touch with your subscribers and followers. You like being able to get your blog post or newsletter done in less than an hour.

You have time to do that. But what if you need to or want to write longer pieces?

Some content can take hours to write. Or days. You can’t do that every day or every week.

You don’t have to.

You can use all the research and writing you do to create a 5000 word article, report, podcast, or presentation to create additional content, the kind of content you can create in minutes because you’ve already done the heavy lifting.

The research is done. The writing is done. Go back to your original material and create new content:

A summary of the key issues or arguments
Profiles of the parties or stakeholders
Additional issues or cases related to your subject
A list of resources
Answers to FAQs
Additional comments by you or others
Additional cases or examples you didn’t use
Recommendations for readers in different niches
A PDF collection of your slides, notes, or case summaries
Transcripts of interviews from your research
And on and on

Each of these ancillary bits of content shouldn’t take you more than a few minutes to put together.

You might get a month or two of additional posts out your original post or presentation.

Each post gives you another opportunity to stay in touch with and provide value to your readers and followers. Each post gives you another opportunity to be found through search and social.

And, when you think you’ve milked your original content dry and there’s nothing left to write, write one more post summarizing and linking to all of your posts, for the people who came late to your party, and for those who will come next month and next year.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

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

Plagiarizing for fun and profit

December 15, 2021 by David M. Ward

Yesterday, I talked about finding blog posts and articles written by other lawyers and rewriting them, as an easy and effective way to create your content.

Today, I have an even easier method.

No, I’m not going to tell you to plagiarize their content—copy it and call it your own.

You can’t do that. But you can plagiarize your own content.

You can re-post or re-send something you’ve shared in the past.

Take one of your old posts and post it again. Without changing a word.

Can you really do that?

It’s your content. You can do whatever you want with it.

But should you?

Yes. Here’s why.

You’ve got new subscribers who didn’t see your article before. You’ve got readers who saw it months or years ago and won’t remember. You’ve got readers who read it before weren’t ready to do anything with the information. And readers who did something but need to be reminded to do it again.

Do you do everything I tell you to do? No, you don’t. Which is why you’ll hear me say it again.

Sometimes I re-write, update, shorten or lengthen my old posts. Sometimes, I write a new post on the same idea. But you don’t have to do any of that and if you don’t want to or you don’t have time, don’t bother.

Click and send that puppy and get on with your day.

Now for the best part.

You can take some of your better articles or posts, load them into your autoresponder, and schedule them to go out over the course of the next few weeks or months. When the cycle ends, you can reset it and let your best stuff get sent all over again.

Automate your self-plagiarism. For the win.

Email Marketing for Attorneys

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Email, Newsletters, Writing

How to remove the starch from your writing

November 24, 2021 by David M. Ward

A newsletter is not the place for formal writing. Even if your readers are academics or others steeped in formality, they’re people before they are lawyers or professors and unless you have a good reason not to, write to them the way you would speak to them—informally.

Are you picking up what I’m laying down?

“Oh, I could never write like that,” says many a lawyer. They don’t want to appear un-lawyerlike.

You don’t have to go as far as I go sometimes. You don’t have to write completely informally to write less formally. (But you have to admit, it might be fun. Guess what? It’s fun for your readers, too.)

What you have to do is make clarity and simplicity your top priority.

When you do, not only will your readers be able to quickly understand your message, they will appreciate you for lightening their cognitive load.

(Sorry, some old starch found its way onto my keyboard.)

The simplest way to keep things simple, as I mentioned in a recent post, is to write an email, not an article.

If you need a little help to do that, follow the advice of writer Laura Belgray, who uses what she calls the Email From a Bestie (EFAB) technique:

“I write each email as if I am writing to a good friend, one who happens to have the needs of my target audience.”

Try it. Write a salutation. Write to your bestie (and leave out the starch). Close.

Then, remove or modify the salutation and close to suit.

When you do this, your readers feel there is a real person behind your words, and you’re speaking just to them.

That’s when they connect to you. That’s when they feel you’re the one.

When you’re done with your first draft, you may feel a little naked and self-conscious and want to add back some of the starch.

A little starch is okay. Because lawyer. Just don’t overdo it.

Ya feel me?

If you want to know how to do it right, with lots of examples, templates, and sample language, get my Email Marketing for Attorneys course

Filed Under: Email, Networking, Writing

Do you make this mistake in your newsletter?

November 23, 2021 by David M. Ward

When you set up a new newsletter, one of the first things you’ll do is add one or more emails to the auto responder. These emails go out automatically as new subscribers sign up.

Typically, the first email will welcome them, tell them how often they can expect to receive your newsletter, provide a link to download the report or other incentive you promised, and a few other housekeeping matters.

But if that’s all it does, it’s missing the most important element.

Most people subscribe because they want the information you offer in your report. But they found your site or page because they were looking for an attorney to help them with a problem.

So, make sure your first email, and every email, tells them what to do to get your help.

Your contact information, sure, but more than that—tell them what to do and why.

Tell them to call or fill out a form. Tell them what happens when they do.

No, it’s not too soon to do that. No, you don’t need to send more information first, to warm them up and build value before you sell them on taking the next step.

They need help. They might be ready to talk to you and hire you today. So, tell them what to do.

If you don’t, their problem might get worse, or. . . they might call someone else.

You don’t have to hard sell. You don’t have to go into a lot of detail. But you should tell them what to do and why.

Show them the pathway to getting the help they need and want.

In every email.

Not everyone is ready to talk to you or hire immediately, of course, so deliver the information, too. Tell them about the law, their risks, their options.

But do that in addition to telling them to contact you, and why.

You might not need more than a sentence or two, with a phone number or a link. Sometimes, you’ll do more. But never do less.

How to build your practice with an email newsletter

Filed Under: Email, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing

Better than free

November 22, 2021 by David M. Ward

GetResponse, the company I use to manage my email marketing, recently announced a “forever free” plan.

Which is good news if you want to try email marketing or see if they’re better than what you currently use.

I’ve used them for many years and recommend them, and you can check them out here.

Yes, that’s an affiliate link.

Something else.

If you like what you see, you can continue to use the free plan “forever” and everything is included. But if you want to upgrade to a paid plan, which gives you more room to grow, they’re running a Black Friday promotion, which will save up up to 40% for life.

I signed up under one of their promotions years ago and still pay less than a lot of customers.

A limited quantity of discounted plans will be available, so if this sounds good, don’t dawdle.

Check it out, set up a free account, and take a look around. Let me know if you have any questions.

Here’s the link again

Filed Under: Email, Marketing legal services

Not many lawyers own their niche

New clients need TLC

When you don’t feel like writing anything, do this

A simple way to sell more legal services

Milk it

Plagiarizing for fun and profit

How to remove the starch from your writing

Do you make this mistake in your newsletter?

Better than free

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