Marketing legal services Archives - Page 33 of 129

3 ways to position yourself as an expert

July 29, 2020 by David M. Ward

If you want to stand out in your field and attract more and better clients, being an attorney isn’t enough.

There are too many of us and we all look alike.

The good news is that it isn’t especially difficult to help the world see you as an expert in your field or niche.

Here are 3 ways to do that:

Specialize.

Prospective clients and the people who refer them prefer lawyers who specialize. They see specialists as having more knowledge and experience, greater capabilities. They see less risk in hiring you or referring clients to you versus other attorneys. And, specialists can charge more than attorneys who don’t specialize.

You can specialize in your practice area and in the types of clients or cases you represent.

Educate the market.

Make sure your website provides lots of information about your field–issues, problems, risks, time lines, and available solutions, especially the ones you provide.

Write about your target market’s world–news about their industry or local market, prominent people in that market, and other matters that would interest the people in your niche.

Tell people why you’re different or better than other attorneys in your field.

Continue to educate the market via articles you publish on authority sites, in your presentations, in interviews, and in your newsletter.

Social proof.

Your bio should confirm your authority status. It should cite articles by or about you, note your speaking engagements, describe awards you’ve received, and detail other distinctions–e.g., Judge Pro Tem, Arbitrator, clerkships, CLE classes, former industry jobs, etc.

Other forms of social proof include testimonials, client reviews, and endorsements by influential people.

It also helps to network with other authorities.

Finally, if you wrote a book, mention this–everywhere. Authors are, by definition, authorities. And if you haven’t written a book, start. Not only can it build your authority, it can also attract a lot of prospective clients to your door.

For more ways to assert your authority and build your reputation, see The Attorney Marketing Formula.

Filed Under: Image, Marketing legal services Tagged With: building authority, position yourself as an expert

If you want more clients, don’t use your thesaurus

July 24, 2020 by David M. Ward

Yeah, we’re smart folks. We can research the hell out of a subject, wrangle all the facts, present cogent arguments, and persuade other smart people to change their minds.

When you visit many lawyer’s blogs, read their articles, or hear them speak, you have to be impressed by their acumen. And their vocabulary.

The problem is, when a lawyer does this in their marketing, they usually shoot themselves in the foot.

If you want to get more clients and increase your income, keep things simple and short. Focus on the basics, not the minutia.

On the web, people tend to search for general information about their legal situation. If you try to impress them, they often wind up leaving. If you give them what they’re looking for, you get more traffic, more leads, more subscribers, and more clients.

In addition, when you write simply, you don’t have to do much research or spend a lot of time crafting fine prose. You already know this stuff and you can spit it out in a few minutes.

When you stick with the basics, more people will read and understand you. You’re helping them get to know, like, and trust you.

Finally, your goal in marketing is to make people curious, not satisfy their curiosity. So don’t tell them everything. Stick to the basics and if they want more, they have to hire you.

Which is kind of the point.

If you want to make your phone ring, here’s what to put on your website

Filed Under: Communication, Content creation, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Writing

Hate your law practice? Here are 7 ways to fix that

July 22, 2020 by David M. Ward

Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to love what you do to be successful. You just can’t hate it.

If you hate what you do, every day is a burden. Not only does your work suffer, so does every other aspect of your life because our work is a big part of who we are.

If you’ve got the law practice blues, you don’t have to sit and suffer. You do have options:

(1) Increase your income

Yesterday’s post was about this very subject. No, money isn’t everything, but when you have enough of it, things tend to look a lot brighter.

When I started practicing, every month was a struggle to pay rent. I was in survival mode and really didn’t like what I was doing.

Everything changed when I finally started earning a good income and could focus on growth instead of survival.

(2) Reduce your work hours

Once I had money coming in regularly, I started looking for ways to work smarter, not harder. Eventually, I went from working 6 days a week to 3 days a week (about 5 hours per day).

I had a lot more time and energy to focus on marketing and growing my practice, and time for family and fun.

One thing I did was to document every aspect of my work process and create forms and checklists for everything. This allowed me to work more quickly and efficiently.

I also hired more help and delegated as much of the work as possible.

Other options: taking a partner, outsourcing, or associating with a firm.

(3) Change your practice areas

I started with a general practice but couldn’t keep up with everything. The day I decided to specialize and eliminate everything that wasn’t in my wheelhouse, was the day I was liberated.

I enjoyed the work I was doing and referred out everything else. Specializing attracted more clients and allowed me to get “good” in my field.

(4) Change your clients

You may like the work itself but if you don’t like your clients, “fire” them and replace them.

Choose a different target market. Re-define your ideal client. And get some people you enjoy working with. It can make a world of difference.

(5) Change your business model

Practicing law and running a law practice can be overwhelming. If you can’t keep up with everything, consider remodeling your practice.

Join a firm or merge with another firm. Hire more people or hire fewer. Go out on your own or go in-house.

There are other ways to use that sheepskin.

(6) Do something on the side

Start a side business. Invest. Write, paint, play music.

Do something you love and let your practice finance it.

When you find fulfillment after hours, you might see your practice in a more favorable light.

(7) Get out

If you’re still not happy, change your career. Start a business. Get a sales job. Write, consult, teach.

I know, you invested years building your legal career. Being a lawyer is part of your identity.

It may be hard to give that up, but if hate practicing, do yourself a favor and move on.

If you’d like to talk to someone who has done most of the above, hit me up and let’s talk.

Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Law office management, Marketing legal services, success

5 ways to increase your income

July 21, 2020 by David M. Ward

You probably know (most of) this, but you may not be doing most of it. Sometimes, it helps to have a list in front of you, so here you go:

1. Increase your fees

Many lawyers don’t charge what the market will bear. Increasing your fees is one of the simplest ways to increase your income.Â

You may lose some clients along the way. If you don’t, you may not be increasing your fees enough.

The point isn’t how many clients you retain, however, it is how much you earn from the ones who stay and the new ones who come along who don’t know what you used to charge.

2. Increase your average “sale”

Raising your fees does this, of course. You can also do it by increasing the percentage of clients who hire you again, how frequently they do that, and by increasing the number of services the average client “buys”.Â

You can also do this by bringing in bigger cases.

3. Bring in more new clients

Improving your marketing, increasing your ad spend, doing more marketing in more channels, will all help you bring more new clients to your door.Â

If you also improve your website, follow-up processes, offers, sales skills, and the frequency with which you stay in touch with prospective clients, you will sign up more of them.Â

4. Bring in better clients

You want clients who hire you more often, have lots of contacts they can refer or introduce you to, pay their bills on time, and let you do your work without micromanaging.Â

How do you attract them? By targeting better target markets and/or ideal clients. Then, once you have them on board, getting them to refer people they know, who are likely to be a lot like themselves.

5. Decrease your overhead/marketing expenses

Building a referral-based practice will do this. So will lowering your cost per lead. You can also do it by improving your productivity, so you get more work done in less time and at lower cost.Â

Which of these do you like best? Which ones will you work on first?

This can help you sort everything out

Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services

How to get free publicity–even if you don’t play the flute

July 20, 2020 by David M. Ward

Legendary rock group, Jethro Tull, is lending it’s name to a new hand sanitizer. We’re told it’s reasonably priced, at a time when there’s a lot of price gouging, and all proceeds go to charity.

Nice.

I’m not sure if Ian Anderson stands on one leg to promote this but the radio spots I’ve heard do feature a lick or two of him wailing on flute.

Anyway, can you do something like this? Promote a product, service, or cause with a charitable tie in? Even if you’re not legendary?

Why not?

It’s good to do good, and you’ll look good while you’re doing it.

When your clients and prospects hear what you’re doing, they’ll likely see you in a favorable light, and tell others about what you’re doing. The cause (and you) get more exposure, more traffic to your website, and more good will.

As you get publicity, your name will get mentioned, meaning you get publicity, too.

The charity may mention you in their newsletter and on their website. They may thank you publicly, too.
You can issue press releases and otherwise contact media outlets, which may mention your cause and book you for interviews.
You can use contact influential people in your target market, tell them what you’re doing, and ask them to join you by promoting the cause or offer to their list. In addition to helping the cause, this could lead you to marketing alliances, referrals, and introductions to others in the niche.
You (may be able to–check with the Bar) advertise the cause or promotion and get your name mentioned as a sponsor, without directly advertising your services

Sound like a plan?

Find a charity or cause you’d like to promote. If there is something about it that’s in the news, like the need for hand sanitizer, even better.

Talk to the company that makes the product or performs the service, and ask them what you can do to help them get the word out. See if they’ll provide you with a special offer to sweeten the deal.

And then promote it.

Let me know what you’re doing. I might mention it in a future post. If I really like it, I might bend over backwards to do it. Just don’t expect me to stand on one leg.

If you’re ready to take a quantum leap in your marketing, here you go

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking, Publicity

Should you market your firm or your services?

July 17, 2020 by David M. Ward

Should you market your law firm or your individual services?

Both.

When someone searches for information about estate planning, filing a tort claim, or getting out of their lease, that’s what people want to know. You should provide them with information about those problems, and the solutions you offer via your services.

People also want to know about your firm–your experience with matters like theirs, the kinds of clients you represent, and why they should choose you instead of any other lawyer or firm.

They want to know why they should trust you, how much you charge, how long the work will take, and how to get started.

So, market both your firm’s capabilities and your services. But there’s something else you should market that’s even more important. In fact, it is the essence of all professional services marketing.

I’m talking about you.

Market yourself. Let people see you, hear you, get to know you. Let them see what it’s like to work with you, to have you advising them, advocating for them, and helping them solve their problems and achieve their goals.

Law firms are faceless, cold and impersonal. Legal services are technical, abstract, and boring.

And then there’s you. A complex, competent, and caring human being.

People want to talk to you, hear your words of wisdom, and cry on your shoulder. When they’re in trouble, they want you by their side.

Market your services and your firm, but more than anything else, market yourself. Because people buy you before they buy your services.

The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: Marketing legal services

How to get more clients without advertising

July 14, 2020 by David M. Ward

One of the simplest ways to get more clients is to work with professionals, business owners, bloggers, and other influential people in your niche.–people with clients, customers, or subscribers who might need your services or know someone who does.

Typically, you meet and network with them and eventually get some referrals.

That works, but there’s a faster way.

Step One: Find people in your niche who don’t compete with you and who have a following–a blog, a newsletter, a channel, a podcast, an active social media platform, or other list of people who know, like and trust them.

Step Two: Talk to them about “working together” for your mutual benefit.

That means using your respective lists to promote each other’s practice, newsletter, offer or event.

If you handle estate planning, for example, you might work with divorce attorneys and propose one or more of the following:

I’ll write about your practice, you write about mine
We do guest posts for each other
We interview each other
We mention each other’s offer in the P.S. of our newsletters
We promote each other’s upcoming events, book launch, or giveaway
And so on

You might close your newsletter with something like this:

“My friend Joe Lawyer has a successful family law practice and is offering a free report, ‘How to Lose Your Spouse Without Losing Your Shirt’. If you know anyone who might like a copy, give them this link: xxxx”

It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

Step Three: Rinse and repeat. Run more promotions with them and find others with whom you can do the same.

I show you everything you need to know in my Lawyer-to-Lawyer Referrals course. You can read all about it here.

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Referrals

The most important page on your website or blog

July 9, 2020 by David M. Ward

When someone visits your website for the first time, statistics tell us they’ll probably click on and read your “About” page. What they see, or don’t see, often determines whether they stay on your site, or leave and never return.

That’s why your About (“About me,” “About us”) page is the most important page on your site.

Visitors are looking for information about you and your firm. They want to know what do you and for whom you do it. They want to know how you can help them and get a sense for what it would be like to work with you.

They also want to know something about you, the person.

Your About page is the portal visitors take into your world, and the first step towards getting to know, like, and trust you.

Your About page doesn’t need to be brilliant. It just has to present the important information visitors want to know, in a clear and compelling way.

If you want to see what a good About page looks like, check out this blog post: 29 Best About Us & About Me Pages (+ Why Theyâ€™re So Good)

Use these examples for ideas and inspiration and then create or re-create your About page.

Learn more about the elements of an effective website here

Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing Tagged With: About page

You only need a few

July 8, 2020 by David M. Ward

You can’t serve thousands of clients. That’s okay because you only need a few. A few good clients will lead you to more good clients; soon, you’ll have all you can handle.

If you don’t have a few good clients right now, or you want to speed up the process, you need more new people coming into your world.

You need new leads, new subscribers, new referral sources, new prospective clients, to help fill your pipeline.

But, once again, you don’t need massive numbers. You only need a few.

In marketing your professional services, seek quality, not quantity.

How do you do that?

First, define your ideal client.

What’s their background? What type of business or industry?
What’s their legal situation?
How much work might they have for you?
What’s their timetable?
Do they need anyone’s approval?
How much do they already know about their legal situation?
What do they need or expect from a lawyer like you?
What’s important to them
Etc.

See The Attorney Marketing Formula for help defining your ideal client.

Second, what’s the source of the lead or prospect or subscriber?

Search leads are better than leads from a directory or rented list because they are actively looking for the solutions you offer.

Leads that come via your book or report or by hearing you speak are better than search leads because they know more about what you do and how you can help them.

Referred leads are better still because someone they trust is recommending your content or endorsing your services.

Third, what’s your message?

Tailor your content to appeal to the types of leads you want to attract. Use buzzwords they use in their industry. Talk about benefits that are important to them. Use examples and stories of people like them.

Talk about what they’re talking about. Show them you understand them and can help them, as you have done for other clients like them.

That’s how.

50 of the right people, brought to you with the right message, from the right sources, are worth more to you than 5,000 people who are wrong for you.

That’s why you only need a few.

The Attorney Marketing Formula

Filed Under: List building, Marketing legal services

The 5 pillars of digital marketing

July 6, 2020 by David M. Ward

Once or twice a year, it’s a good idea to review and update your digital marketing plan. This will help you get more leads (and convert them), stay in touch with clients and contacts, stimulate repeat business and referrals, and build your “brand”.

Here’s a brief checklist of things to consider:

Your website(s)
- Home page layout, first impressions, navigation
- “About” you page
- Images
- Contact information/forms
- Content about legal problems and solutions
- Content about your services/offers
- Keywords/focus
- FAQs
- Landing pages
- Mobile friendly
Social media presence
- Which platforms?
- Your bio/links
- Promote your website and other content
- Promote your clients’ businesses/causes
- Promote other professional, bloggers content, events
- Engagement (if that’s your thing)
- Posting schedule
Content marketing strategy
- Blog posts, articles, videos, podcasts, interviews, reports, ebooks, brochures and handouts
- Valuable and/or interesting information
- Tailored to prospective clients and referral sources in your target market
- Demonstrate your knowledge and expertise
- Educate about legal problems and solutions
- Help people get to know, like, and trust you
- Testimonials, endorsements, success stories
- Easy to read and understand
Traffic
- Guest posts on other blogs, sites
- Social sharing
- Advertising
- Social media posts
- Speaking/presentations/networking
- Marketing alliances with other professionals
Newsletter/email
- Stay in touch with clients, prospects; stimulate repeat business, referrals, social sharing, reviews
- Sign-up forms on website/landing pages
- Lead magnets/incentives (to build your list)
- Schedule (weekly, daily, other)
- Content ideas
- Building engagement/fans
- Stimulate feedback, questions

You don’t have to go “all in” on all of these strategies. I don’t. But you shouldn’t ignore any of them.

Get to together with your team to review your current digital footprint and consider what you need to add or update.

This will help you sort out your website

Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing