Law office management Archives - The Attorney Marketing Center

Do you need a brochure to market your legal services?

October 3, 2024 by David M. Ward

A brochure looks nice. Just like having a nice office, nice furniture, and a nice suit.

At a glance, a prospective client or fellow professional can see you are no slouch. You’re successful.

You need a brochure, right?

It can’t hurt. But a brochure isn’t necessary. Your website can accomplish the same thing, but do it better.

Your website can tell people all about what you do, your background and story, your successful cases and big-name clients, share your victories, tell people how you work, and tell people what others say about you.

Your website doesn’t need to be fancy. Or expensive. A simple “off-the-shelf” template will do.

You can add as much information as you want whenever you want. If there’s something you need to change or fix, you can do it in minutes.

You can include information that helps people understand their problem and what to do about it. You can add a blog or articles, forms and checklists, and other goodies to help visitors understand their situation and why they should choose you to help them.

A brochure tells people what you do. A website proves you can do it.

Yes, there may be times when you want to have something you can hand out at a meeting or put in the mail. Something brochure-like, like the big kids have.

You can do that. Full-color brochures are impressive. Get some if you want to.

Or put your website address on your business card and call it a day.

Filed Under: Image, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing

Pre-marketing

September 12, 2024 by David M. Ward

Everything we do that qualifies as marketing—networking, content creation, staying in touch with clients and prospects, running ads—is easier and more effective when we “prepare” before we “do”.

Let’s call it “pre-marketing”.

Before you attend a live event, for example, you don’t just show up. You make a list of people you want to connect with, what you want to ask, offer, or tell them, notes about the speaker and his or her topic, and so on.

If you have a blog or newsletter or regularly post on social media, your pre-marketing activities would include collecting content ideas, creating a backlog of new content, verifying links, and updating your calls-to-action.

Yes, it’s all marketing. But pre-marketing activities can be done ahead of time, when you have an easier schedule.

Do these things so that when it’s go time, you’re ready to go.

Things like

Learning more about your target market and ideal client
Looking for articles to send to your key clients and referral sources
Signing greeting cards and thank-you notes so they are ready to mail
Reviewing your competition’s content
Taking seminars about SEO and AI and tools you can use to improve your marketing
Creating new forms and updating old ones
Finding and working with a “workout partner”
Reading blogs about marketing and productivity

Keep a list of these activities close at hand and schedule time to do them.

Boring? Maybe so. But you can delegate a lot of this.

Do enough pre-marketing and you might be able to hire a full time pre-marketing assistant.

Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services

Get more clients by making it easier for clients to contact you

August 26, 2024 by David M. Ward

You can get more new clients (and repeat clients) by making it easier for clients (and referral sources) to contact you.

Especially via email since this makes it easier for them (and for you).

The key? The contract form on your website. Encourage visitors to fill this out any time they have something to ask you or tell you. Tell them when you will reply, e.g., within 24 hours or 48 hours if it is a weekend, and what to do in an emergency.

Making it easier for people also means not requiring too much information on your contact form. Ask for the minimum, just enough for them to hold up their hand, which usually means just their email and question or reason for contacting you.

Don’t make them fill out a lengthy questionnaire (as I’ve seen some lawyers do). Don’t pre-qualify them before you speak with them. Don’t tell them what you will or won’t do or what you do or don’t need from them.

For now, you just want to know their name and an email address. You can get the rest later.

Yes, you will get a lot of inquiries that go nowhere. But you will also get a lot of inquires from prospective clients who fill out your form because you made it easy to do that, and your competition didn’t.

If you get inundated with inquires and you can’t handle the volume, well, that’s a nice problem to have. There are things you can do to mitigate this but it is likely to be more profitable not to.

Keep your form as simple as possible. If you need to talk to them, you can invite them to call or ask for their phone number so you can call them. You can also direct them to your FAQ page or an index of your articles.

Show people it is convenient to connect with you and more people will.

Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing

The cost of marketing your legal services

August 16, 2024 by David M. Ward

Lawyers choose which marketing strategies to use based on a variety of factors, not the least of which is cost (money, time, other resources). But cost is a misleading factor.

It’s not how much we spend. It’s how much we earn in return.

We might think a certain ad campaign (or any marketing strategy) is “expensive” but if the ROI is high enough, it might actually be “cheap”.

If you spend $1,000 per month on an ad, for example, and it brings in $5,000 per month in net revenue, that ad is profitable. If you can continue to get that kind of ROI, you would want to invest as much as you can in as many ads as you can.

The same goes for seminars, mailings, video production, other content, or other marketing endeavors.

It’s also pertinent to hiring additional staff (or better staff), a bigger office, or even a better wardrobe.

Nothing is expensive if it pays for itself and helps you increase your profits.

You might be reluctant (or unable) to spend $50,000 per month on advertising, but if you’re getting a 5-1 return (and you can handle all the new business), you’d be foolish not to beg, borrow, and steal to get more money to invest in that slot machine.

There is a risk that you won’t continue to get a sufficient ROI, however, so you have to watch your numbers.

But many lawyers don’t. They allocate a monthly or quarterly budget for “advertising” or “marketing” and hope it pays off.

But that’s not how a profitable business (or practice) should be run.

Filed Under: Advertising, Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing legal services

The quickest way to generate additional income for your practice

May 6, 2024 by David M. Ward

The quickest way to increase your revenue is to sell new services to your existing clients. It’s easier and faster and more profitable than finding new clients for your existing services.

Your existing clients know and trust you. They hired you once and will hire you again. And you can communicate with (sell to) them at no cost.

Start getting excited.

Hold on. What if you don’t have another service to offer?

Could you re-configure your existing services to create a “premium” version? Something worth more that can justify a higher fee?

(Start working on that.)

How about optional add-ons or extra services to add to your current services? Perhaps an annual consultation package advising clients about taxes or investments, for example. You might team up with other professionals who specialize in those areas.

Could you develop a smaller version of your standard services, without all the trimmings, to appeal to clients who don’t need (or can’t afford) your standard package? How about branching out to different niche markets with specialized services for those markets, or by appealing to different languages and cultural features?

Could you develop a consumer “division” of your business firm? Could you start a small business division for consumer clients who are interested in starting or buying a business?

And, if you don’t want to develop a new service, or change any of your existing offers, there are always referrals—to and from other lawyers and businesses who may be able to reciprocate.

Your clients have lives and interests beyond the services they hire you to perform. Find out what else they need or want and figure out a way to help them get it.

Filed Under: Increase your income, Law office management, Marketing legal services

Who, not how

March 26, 2024 by David M. Ward

When you have a task to do, before you start, ask yourself ‘Who can do this for me?” Delegating or outsourcing work saves you time, leverages other peoples’ skills, and lets you focus on what you do best.

This philosophy and practice has been game changing for me.

In fact, in my practice, my motto was to “Only do what ONLY I can do (and delegate everything else).”

You might want to follow suit.

It’s not always easy to do. We resist delegating things because we believe we do them better, but that’s not always true. I’ve had employees who did things I could never do as quickly, efficiently, or as well.

We also resist because it’s risky to entrust certain tasks to other people. If they make a mistake, we pay the price or we have to spend more of our time fixing their mistake. But while that is generally true, crunch the numbers and you’ll see, in the long run, you come out ahead.

“It’s quicker and easier for me to do it myself.”

Also not true. Yes, we have to invest time training and supervising others; the question is, is that investment worth it? For me, it is almost always more than worth it.

So, that leaves our egos. We don’t like the idea of turning over our work, our important clients, to other people. But you get used to that. Especially when you see how much more profitable and satisfying your work is. And, did I mention how much more profitable it is?

Will it be as profitable for you?

Make a list of the things you do that ONLY you can do and imagine what it would be like if you could spend almost all your time doing just those things.

Yeah. . . it’s worth it.

Filed Under: Law office management, Productivity Tagged With: delegation, outsourcing

Your website is down

March 22, 2024 by David M. Ward

I needed a haircut. The place I go to instituted a “cash only” policy during the lockdowns, but I use plastic for just about everything and don’t carry much cash. I went to the shop’s website to make sure I would have enough with me (and hoping they’d finally gone back to accepting credit cards).

Their website was down.

I told the owner this when I got to the shop and she said she never checks the site and would tell her niece who takes care of these things for her.

Turns out, the site was down. The hosting company had emailed her niece that the company had been sold and she needed to (do something) but their emails went to an email address she no longer uses.

Her website is back up, but it looks like it was down for about two months. An eternity for a retail store that depends on new business.

How much business did she lose?

How much business would a law firm lose if their site was down that long?

Which prompted me to tell you this story and remind you to regularly make sure the hosting and domain names for your website are paid, the site is up and displaying properly, the subscription forms are working, the downloads are still downloadable, the links are linking, and everything is as it should be.

And to check your spam folder (and old email addresses) to make sure you’re not missing anything.

It doesn’t take a lot of time, and can spare you a bunch of trouble.

Filed Under: Law office management

A simple way to get more reviews

March 18, 2024 by David M. Ward

Good reviews (and testimonials) from happy clients are one of the most valuable tools you could have in your marketing toolkit. But don’t expect clients to supply them on their own—you have to prompt them.

The easiest way to do that is with surveys.

Give every client a survey or link to one online and ask them to fill this out at the end of the case. “How did we do?” is a simple way to get more clients telling you how you did, which can then be converted to a review or testimonial.

Ask what they liked, and what they thought you could improve.

If you get a negative comment, talk to the client, fix whatever needs fixing, and improve your systems for the future.

If you get a positive comment, ask the client if you can use their comment in your marketing or ask them to post it as a review (and give them the link to a review site).

Surveys should provide multiple choice responses, to get the client thinking about how you did and begin filling it out, and open-end questions with blank spaces, to prompt them to say what’s on their mind.

The survey should ask about the results you delivered, how they were treated, if they were kept informed, were they seen on time at appointments—all the usual areas clients typically appreciate and/or complain about.

Send surveys after the case or matter is done and also perhaps once or twice a year. Some attorneys include a blank survey form with each billing statement. Get clients in the habit of seeing blank survey forms and they’ll be more likely to fill them out (eventually).

You can even send a survey after their first appointment, before you’ve done any work. Ask what they heard about you, why they chose you, and how they’ve been treated so far.

But wait. There’s more.

Keep your eyes (email) and ears (conversations) open. Whenever a client compliments you or thanks you for (anything), thank them (or tell them they’re welcome) and ask if you could use their comment in your marketing (or ask them to post a review).

Send the client a note quoting what you heard them say, so that when they agree that you can use that, they know what they’re agreeing to. Before you do this, “edit” their words (if you need to) for clarity and effect, to make a great testimonial or review even greater.

Finally, if you want clients to write better reviews or testimonials, show them copies of great reviews or testimonials from other clients so they know what a good review looks like, and because when they see what other clients have said about you, it makes it more likely that they will also leave a good review.

Filed Under: Law office management Tagged With: reviews

Plan 9 From Mars

December 27, 2023 by David M. Ward

For some reason, when I thought about the idea of planning (for next year), I thought of the title of what many consider the worst science fiction movie of all time.

I only watched a few minutes, many years ago, but I think it was about Martians invading Earth.

I’m pretty sure their plan failed, but I commend those Martians for thinking big, which is the point I want to make today.

If you’re going to plan (something), for next year, or any year, make it big.

Don’t spend a lot of time planning how to redecorate your office when you can plan a new marketing strategy that might allow you to buy a new office building. Or three.

Big plans force us to be creative and do things we’ve never done before. They force us to focus.

Even if your big plans don’t materialize, thinking big helps you sort out what’s important and make that your priority, instead of getting bogged down with a multitude of small ideas which, even if successful, won’t amount to a hill of beans (I’ve got movies on the brain).

Big plans give you a chance to win big.

The Pareto Principle says 80% of our results come from 20% of our efforts (plans, ideas, activities, projects…). Figure out a handful of big ideas that can deliver big results, and then narrow down your list to just one or two.

One or two big ideas that could transform your business or life.

In the book, The One Thing, author Gary Keller puts it this way:

“What is the one thing you can do such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary”.

Your big plan might fail (and you’ll have to return to Mars) but if you’re going to work on anything next year, work on something big, so big it could take care of almost everything else.

No pressure. But I need your answer on my desk first thing tomorrow. My ship leaves at 9.

Filed Under: Law office management, Marketing Plan Tagged With: 80-20-pareto, Leverage

Adapt or die

November 16, 2023 by David M. Ward

In marketing, nothing works forever. At least you shouldn’t count on it.

Laws change, rules change, trends and interests change, and you need to be prepared to respond when they do.

If your advertising used to work like gangbusters but it’s a different story today, your ad copy, keywords, or offers might be the culprit and need an update. If you do seminars and response is down (attendees, percentage of client conversions), it might be because of an increase in competition, or the economy has thrown a monkey wrench into your marketing machine.

Or it might be something else

No matter what the reason, you need to adapt. That might mean:

Reducing your overall ad budget or eliminating marginal campaigns
Increasing your ad budget but changing your copy or offers
Starting a new practice area or eliminating one that’s draining your resources
Changing the markets and clients you target
Reducing overhead and riding out the storm
Spending more time on X and less time on Y
Hiring different staff or advisors
Changing your fee structure and billing practices
Adopting marketing strategies you’ve never used before or resurrecting strategies you no longer use
Focusing more on evergreen strategies, e.g., referrals, and less on the flavor of the day
Improving marketing and sales training for you and your staff

But you need to do something.

But don’t wait for response to drop or your profits to languish. Be nimble and get ahead of things at the first sign of things going in the wrong direction.

Because you’re in a business and what worked yesterday might not work tomorrow.