When you first opened your practice, no doubt you notified everyone you knew. You told them what kinds of cases and clients you would be handling, gave them your contact information, invited them to visit your website, encouraged them to follow you on social media, and asked them to keep you in mind if they need your help or know someone who does.

And maybe you got some business that way. But for most new attorneys, merely telling people your “store” is open for business isn’t enough.

That’s because most of the people you know don’t need your services right now. It is statistically improbable. They are also unlikely to know anyone who might need your services.

Some day, that will change. Some of your contacts will need your help. Others will talk to people they could refer.

Will they favor you with their business or referrals?

Maybe. If they remember you and what you do, and understand why they should choose you instead of any other attorney.

That’s why you hear me haranguing about the importance of staying in touch, so that you can be “in their minds and their mailboxes” when that day arrives.

And why the best way to do that is to build an email list.

Social media is fine but it doesn’t hold a candle to email. Never has, never will.

(I should do a video, “Email is king; change my mind”.)

Anyway, when you announce your new practice, offer everyone an incentive to sign up for your newsletter.

Create a report, a checklist, a video, or other freebie that would be of value to your contacts and the people they know, and tell everyone it’s available.

When they sign up, they get your report, learn more about solutions to their problem or the path to their objective, and get to see the kinds of benefits you deliver.

You get to stay in touch with them, tell them more, and remind them that you’re still available to help.

The good news is that you can do this even if you’re not a new attorney or opening a new office.

If you want to know how to write a report that brings in business, this will help.

The National Law Forum article, 13 Signs It Is Time to Hire an Outside Marketing Professional, offers a variety of reasons why a lawyer or firm might consider getting outside help with their marketing.

Basically, when you recognize the need, but lack the time or expertise to do the job in-house, go outside for help.

There’s some good advice here, but I’d like to differ with one of the “reasons” offered:

Marketing Takes Up More Than 15 Minutes of Your Billable Time

As an attorney, you should spend most of your time doing what you do best. If you spend more than 15 minutes per day writing and scheduling tweets, checking marketing metrics, or optimizing your blog posts, you are wasting time that should be spent researching, meeting with clients, or preparing for court. Outsource these tasks to a professional.

Of course you should have someone else handle marketing-related tasks like editing, checking stats, and the like. But that’s admin, not marketing.

Marketing means building relationships with prospective clients and referral sources, something you can’t (shouldn’t) delegate.

Marketing means strengthening relationships with existing clients, to foster repeat business and referrals. You can have your staff help you with this but you need to be at the helm.

Marketing means investing time with personal development, to improve your communication, sales and interpersonal relationship skills.

And marketing means familiarizing yourself with the elements of technical strategies, e.g., Internet, PPC ads, etc., so that if you hire someone, in-house or outside, you’ll know what you want from them and you can make sure they’re giving you what you want.

And, all of this takes time.

So, although I suggest dedicating 15 minutes a day to marketing, please understand this is just a start.

Many lawyers won’t do more more than that. But some lawyers, the ones who are good at marketing and are getting lots of new business as a result, may find it more profitable to continue doing what they’re doing and delegate more legal work.

Which is what I did in my practice. It allowed me to multiply my income and reduce my work to three days per week.

Learn more here

If marketing is on your mind, you’re probably thinking about ways to quickly bring in a metric ton of new clients.

We all do that. We want to go big and go fast, because we’re busy and we like to maximize our time and money.

But that kind of thinking can lead to frustration and poor results.

Because it’s not easy to do what you want to do, and it forces you to compete against some tough hombres who will show you no mercy.

I propose a different approach.

Instead of searching for the Holy Grail of marketing ideas, get quiet and think about what you can do to get just one.

Because one new client is all you really need.

How so?

If you find a way to bring in one new client, you can use that tactic over and over again, in different ways and in different markets, and get a steady stream of new clients.

If you write a blog post that brings in a new client, for example, you can re-use that post to bring in more.

You can update it and publish it again. You can re-write it and optimize the keywords for different markets. You can re-purpose it by turning it into a ebook or other lead magnet.

If you find a new client via a networking event or social media group, your own or someone else’s, you can put more effort into that event or group and get more clients.

Fish where there are fish and you’ll get more fish.

Of course, the other reason one new client is all you need is that the new client can lead you to others.

The new client can refer others. They can introduce you to professionals they know who might work with you and send you business. They can promote your event, share your content, and help you build your list by sending traffic to your site.

One new client can lead you to 100 new clients.

To get big, think small. Try lots of ideas and pay attention. When you find something that works, do it again.

You can build a big practice this way.

I built my business with email. You can, too.