10 Ways for Lawyers to Share and Re-purpose Firm News on Social Media

June 11, 2014 by
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DW: I invite you to read and study this comprehensive guest post by my friend, Mitch Jackson. Mitch is a successful trial lawyer who has used social media extensively to build his practice.
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Social media is all about sharing good content and helping others. Results come from engaging, caring and providing value. My general rule is that only 20% of my posts on the various platforms are about me or my firm. The other 80% are focused on sharing tips and curating good third party content that helps others.

This article is about the 20%.

Overview

You’ve just settled an interesting case or obtained a favorable verdict. Maybe you’ve even made new case law. Here are 10 ways to share this news or update with your tribe (current and past clients, family, friends, and other followers on social media).

Before we get started, remember that in today’s digital world, we’re all media companies. Producing and sharing good content is now, in my humble opinion, mandatory. It’s also important to understand and appreciate the fact that while content is king, context is everything. Each platform is different (some more than others) so care must be taken to post to your tribe the right way on each platform.

Also make sure to start with a good profile on each social media platform. On the internet, you only have about the average attention span of a goldfish (9 seconds) to capture someone’s attention. Make sure to complete each profile with your picture (not a firm logo) and short interesting bio (not a boring lawyer bio).

Step #1: Website and Blog

Share your good news or update in a properly written blog post. Use effective headings and appropriate keywords. Use a story format and write in your own voice and in a non-legal way. Make the post interesting and easy to read. Increase interaction by always including a picture, graphic or video in your post.

If you’re writing your blog posts like all the other lawyers out there, then you’re probably doing things wrong. Be yourself and unique. Share your art.

If you don’t have a website or blog, this is your first high priority step. Everything is going mobile (smartphones and tablets) so make sure your site is mobile responsive (no exceptions). I’m a big fan of WordPress with Studio Press hosted on WPEngine.

Click here to see how we’ve setup our firm website and communication tips blog.

Step #2: Twitter

Share the catchy heading of your blog post, together with a short description sentence on Twitter. Include the link back to your post. Use a hashtag. Although Twitter allows for 140 characters, try and keep your post to about 120 characters to leave room for people to retweet with comments.

Because pictures attract more attention, add the picture you used in your post to your tweet. If you don’t have a picture, use one of the free or paid online services to grab an image that relates to your story (I like Fotolia). One of my favorite techniques is to download and use the free screenshot service called “Jing” by TechSmith to capture a picture of the top portion of my blog post to use later for posting on the other social platforms.

While you’re thinking of Twitter, take your blog post and break it down into 5-10 snapshots addressing key points and topics contained within your blog. Each snapshot or tweet is worded in its own unique and eye catching way. I use a Word or Google document and keep a list of these mini snapshot tweets for future use.

Sit down at night or early in the morning and use Hootsuite or Buffer to schedule these additional tweets once or twice a day, over the next 5-10 days. Each tweet links back to your original blog post.

Click here to see how I’m using Twitter.

Step #3: Linkedin

Take one or more of the tweets that you have listed in your Word document and share it on Linkedin, linking back to your blog post. Normally I do this in the above step by telling Hootsuite to send out the tweets I schedule to both Twitter and Linkedin.

Click here to see how I’m using Linkedin.

Step #4: Facebook

Again, I take one or more of the tweets I’ve listed in my Word or Google document and re-purpose the language for Facebook. Unlike Twitter, Facebook posts can be longer so I usually add a bit more information in Word before posting with the link back to my blog post.

Images are powerful attention grabbing magnets on Facebook and will result in more interaction, shares and comments. Because of this, make sure to include an image with your post. Rather than allowing the link to my blog post to automatically pull an image back into my Facebook feed, I prefer to upload my own image from the blog post. Doing this will display a larger image in your Facebook post.

I have a personal and business Facebook profile and depending on the nature of the content, I post to each once or twice a day.Click here to see how we’re using Facebook for the firm or here for my personal page.

Step #5: Pinterest

If you’re not using this platform then you’re missing out. Upload the picture or screen shot relating to your blog post and add it to one or more of your Pinterest Boards. Several boards you may want to set up include current news, verdicts and settlements, legal tips, testimonials, videos, photos, podcasts, newsletter, and community service, just to name a few.

After using the content in your Word document to complete the description in Pinterest, make sure to add 3-4 relevant hashtags at the end and also include your blog post link in the source link box. This way, when someone clicks on the picture they will be taken to your linked blog post.

I have both personal and law firm Pinterest sites. Feel free to click on the links to see how I’m using them.

Step #6: Youtube

Video is huge on social media. Within a year of posting our first video (it wasn’t very good but it was a start), we received hundreds of new client inquires and dozens of new cases. I was also featured in various high profile websites, blogs, and even the ABA Journal. Talk about good publicity!

If you haven’t already done so, setup your Youtube channel and start making and posting short 1-3 minute long videos. Also share other interesting videos about your activities and events on your channel. People will relate to you when they learn more about your interests, passions, and even your family.

You don’t need a fancy camera and the process is pretty simple. There are plenty of “how to” resources out there but I think you’ll figure things out once you complete and upload your first couple of videos. Using a lapel mic is key to getting good audio.

By far, the best videos we’ve shared are the ones that do not look like they are professionally shot. For example, one involved me stopping while riding my mountain bike and using my smartphone to shoot a selfie video about why staying healthy will help you be a better trial lawyer. It received a great deal of favorable traction and feedback once shared on all the platforms.

Putting the camera up on a tripod at the office and sharing my take on a breaking news event (called newsjacking) has also resulted in articles on Lawyers.com, national interviews, speaking engagements, and even being mentioned or profiled in more than one book. One bit of advice is to remember to pay attention to your background and how you look, and keep your video short and sweet.

Tip: Here’s a secret most people overlook. There are many services and programs that will allow you get the audio of your video transcribed so that you can use it for a future blog post. Others will allow you to rip the audio from the video which you can then use as a podcast more fully described below.

The key is to keep things interesting and snappy. Don’t be a boring lawyer. Don’t sit behind your desk and sound like bla, bla, bla. When I look back, I’m embarrassed to watch my first dozen videos. But guess what, it was a learning process and in the long run, it’s all good.

Here’s our Youtube channel if you’d like to see the bad and the good.

Step #7: SlideShare

This often overlooked platform is well respected and used successfully by marking pros around the globe. I’ve been neglecting this platform for far too long. This past weekend, I uploaded a new SlideShare about negotiation and within the first 24 hours it had more than 900 views and trended on Twitter and SlideShare. The response was so good that this presentation was then profiled on the SlideShare home page. Two days later, we’re over 2,000 views. The exposure for my firm was huge!

You can and should do the same thing. Think about this for a moment. Everything you do as a lawyer is based upon steps and checklists. Take the material you already have that can help consumers (“10 Things to Know and Do If You’re Arrested” or “6 Steps to a Successful Patent”), create compelling and easy to read PowerPoint slides and then upload them to SlideShare. Take the blog post we’ve been talking about and break it down to a 15-20 slide presentation. Link back to your original blog post.

Here’s how we’re using SlideShare.

Step #8: Podcasts

Podcasts are very popular because mobile technology now allows us to easily listen to podcasts anytime and anyplace. Take your blog post and turn the content into a short 10-20 minute podcast. Start with a snappy and attention grabbing intro and then share your information using your own voice. Use your post as an outline and just share your message from your heart. Close with a call to action referring back to your website or blog.

Interviews are also a great way to expand your sphere of influence. Once you’re up and running, reach out and interview other people who your listeners might find interesting. When you’re done, share the link with your interviewee and he or she will almost always share the interview with their audience. This is a great way to expand your sphere of influence and increase the number of eyeballs to your website, blog and podcasts platforms.

There are plenty of resources our there to help get you started but my one stop “how to” podcast site is Cliff Ravenscraft’s Podcast Answer Man.

Once we add and upload a podcast to our host (we use Libsysn), we share the podcast link back at our original post. We also upload and link to Stitcher, iTunes, and Soundcloud.

Note, once my podcasts are completed and uploaded, I share the unique links of these three platforms to most of the above-mentioned social platforms. The heading and short description is changed from the earlier descriptions and posts. Links are also shared on the original blog post or website page, just in case a visitor would rather listen to the material.

Step #9: Spreecast and Google Hangouts

These live video platforms allow you to have your own internet television station. For me, Spreecast has been an awesome platform that has connected me with interesting and well known people from all around the world. I even had the chance to chat with Katie Couric and later that day, we both made TMZ. How cool is that!

Some of the people I’ve interviewed are New York Times best selling authors and celebrities with 250,000 to 1,000,000 Twitter followers. What do you think happens when they tweet out that they’re going to be on my Spreecast?

You can use these platforms to interview guests about legal topics or approaches. I’d also recommend that you do what I do and, depending on your passion, reach out and interview people associated with your unique interest. Your show may not have anything to do with the law but it will highlight the real you to your audience. This allows people to connect with you and that’s a good thing!

Promote your show on all the platforms well before the event and also afterwards (they’re recorded). Share the event links and embed the video of your interview at your blog and platforms. Many of my Spreecasts will have 1,000 unique views within the first hour or so and several thousand in the first 24 hours. Lifelong friends have been made simply from using this single platform.

As I mentioned in the Youtube section, you may also want to have your interviews transcribed or audio ripped for future use on blogs and podcast. Rarely is there a need to duplicate your efforts!

Here’s my Spreecast page to give you an idea about what I’m talking about.

Step #10: Vine, Instagram and Snapchat

Whether you “get it” or not, young adults are using these platforms and they’re becoming more and more relevant in the business world. Several high profile marketing experts are very keen on the future of these platforms. This in and of itself is good reason to get involved on these channels. Setup accounts and start using these platforms to share legal tips in a fun way.

Take the screenshot image of the blog post and share it on Instagram with a link or reference back to your website or blog. Instagram will not allow you to hyperlink, so that’s why we setup a fun and easy to remember domain we direct viewers to. We tell viewers to visit MyLawyerRocks.com for more informaton 🙂

As an example, here is our Vine account  and you can view our Instagram here.  As of this post, Snapchat does not have a web based browser, so connect with me on the platform to see how we’re using it.

Final Thoughts

The above approach is working very well for me. A single blog post can be shared using the above method over several days or weeks. Whatever works for you is fine. Just take action and get started.

Keep in mind that what’s important on social is the 80% part of the equation. That is, engaging and helping others. However, when I do jump over to the 20% side of things, this is exactly how I do it.

Without a doubt, the best increase in influence and engagement I’ve experienced on the digital platforms have come from my efforts relating to other interests that complement the practice of law. When I blog about a legal theory or explain new statutes or case law, all I usually hear are digital crickets. But when I share a blog or social media post about my passions, family, youth sports, or family trips, the interaction and feedback explodes.

For example, I have a communication tips blog where I share a weekly communication tip. This blog is my passion and I enjoy providing useful ideas to help everyday people communicate more effectively. Over time, trust and rapport is established with people (my tribe) who share a common interest. When my tribe has a legal question or someone needs a lawyer, who do you think they call? Here’s my communication tips blog if you’d like to see what I’m talking about.

Along the same lines, I enjoy trying cases and sharing trial tips. My Google Plus Trial Lawyer Tips Community is one of the platforms I use to expand this interest. Over the past year, the community has grown to over 1,500 members (mostly lawyers) sharing hundreds of outstanding trial tips. Click here to visit or join this community.

Conclusion

Today, smart lawyers use social media to inspire, inform, educate and build new relationships. Hopefully you will use some or all of these ideas to do the same thing. I encourage you to use the different approaches in this article and start incorporating social media into your daily activity to expand your sphere of influence.

But remember one thing. Social is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Be patient and consistent in your efforts. Be transparent, share your unique art, and good things will happen.

I hope you found this article useful and I look forward to seeing you on the digital platforms!

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Mitch Jackson has been a trial lawyer for 28 years and is the 2013 California Litigation Lawyer of the Year (CLAY Award) and 2009 Orange County Trial Lawyer of the Year. When he’s not trying cases, Mitch uses social media to help good attorneys become great trial lawyers and to show everyone (not just lawyers) how to communicate more effectively. His law firm website is JacksonandWilson.com and his communication tips blog is MitchJackson.com

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Filed Under: Blogging, Communication, Guest Posts, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Presentations, Social media, Social media marketing, Web traffic Tagged With:

Get more referrals by making it easy to give referrals

June 5, 2014 by
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Yes, I’m a broken record.

Every few weeks, I say something about the importance of building a list, specifically, an email list. I tell you a list allows you to stay in touch with people who aren’t ready to hire you, and with people who did. I tell you that having a list will bring more traffic to your website, more referrals, and more subscribers to your list who might hire you, send traffic to your website, or send referrals.

Did you? Did you add a form to your website that allows visitors to sign up for your list?

Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Is this thing on? You do want to get more referrals, don’t you?

Okay, let’s say someone slipped some LSD into your water bottle and you imagined you actually do have a list. You have a few hundred people on that list, a mix of former clients, current clients, professional contacts, and a random assortment of website visitors.

You hallucinate emailing something to your list. Once a week, you write something that passes for readable and send it out. Sometimes you write about the law, sometimes you write about interesting cases and clients, sometimes you write general consumer or business information. When you get back from your vacation to Italy, you write about the food. When you read a great book, you share something you got out of it.

Okay, you get the picture. A few paragraphs once a week. The only requirement is that it’s not completely boring, and hey, this is a hallucination, so it should be brilliant.

Now what?

At the end of your weekly scribbling, you ask readers to forward the email to someone who might be interested in the content or something you have offered (e.g., a seminar, free consultation, free report, etc.) Add another sentence, “If this email was forwarded to you, you can subscribe by going to. . .”.

Some of your subscribers forward the email. People you don’t know get a taste of your wisdom, and the tacit endorsement of the person who forwarded it.

Word-of-mouth, digital style.

That’s how it’s done, at least in a hallucination. Of course, this will never work in the real world. Forget I mentioned it.

Marketing online for attorneys. Go here to see how it’s really done.

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Filed Under: Email, List building, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Referrals, Relationship marketing

20 hours a week marketing your law practice?

May 28, 2014 by
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Email provider Constant Contact conducted a survey of 1,300 small business owners. They found that, “A small business owner — along with another employee — will spend an average of 20 hours per week on marketing.”

Does this sound like a lot?

The business owners weren’t selected at random. They were part of the company’s “Small Biz Council,” which suggests they weren’t your average small business because (a) they use email marketing, and (b) they are part of a “Small Biz Council”.

Before you read further, how would you answer this question? How many hours per week do you spend marketing your law practice?

Your answer will depend on how you define marketing.

If you believe that “marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients,” as I do, you will realize that marketing is deeply baked into our daily activities. It’s not something we put on our calendars and “do” once a week, we do it all day long.

Take client relations, for example. If you spend ten hours a week speaking with, or writing to clients, all of the little things you say and do (and avoid saying and doing) count as marketing. How you greet them–your smile, your handshake, offering them something to drink, cleaning up your desk before escorting them into your private office–it all counts.

Now how about the time you spend writing blog posts, articles, and newsletters, and time spent speaking and networking (including on social media)? You can also count the time you spend reading things you can use in your writing or in conversation with clients and prospects and referral sources.

You’re reading this post right now, either in your email or on my blog.  In my book, time spent learning about marketing counts as marketing.

Are you adding this up?

Don’t forget the time you spend communicating with staff or outside vendors about your website, advertising, PR, or content creation.

Are you on any committees? Do you do any charitable work? The time you spend at meetings or playing in charity golf tournaments is at least partially marketing related since you are building relationships with people who can send you business or otherwise further your career.

So, you spend a lot more time on marketing than you thought. Now that you are aware of this, you can consciously improve your marketing.

The next time you meet with a client, think about how you can improve their experience. What else can you do or say? What can you give them?

Look at everything you do throughout your day and think about how you can do it better, faster, or more effectively. Because marketing is everything we do to get and keep good clients.

Want to get better at marketing your law practice? Here’s what you need.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan

How well do you know your clients and prospects?

May 27, 2014 by
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Peter Drucker said, “The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself.”

In other words, when there is a close match between what you offer and what your client wants and needs, you don’t need to persuade him to hire you, you need do little more than show up.

Do you know what your clients want? Do you know what keeps them up at night? Do you know what other options they have considered?

Do you know where they live and how much they earn? Do you know what they do for work and what they do on weekends?

You may not know these things if you are like most lawyers who define their target market merely in terms of legal problems. That is, anyone who has a certain legal issue is a potential client. That may be true in a literal sense, but if you stop there, you’ll never achieve the kind of synchronicity that draws clients to you and makes them immediately see you as the best solution.

You need to define your target market in terms of your ideal client. Who is an almost perfect match for you? You need to know your clients and prospects so you can focus your marketing efforts on attracting them.

If I tell you I know lots of clients I can refer to you but I need you to tell me what you are looking for, what would you say? When you can answer this question with specificity, marketing gets a lot easier.

I’ll be able to quickly identify clients who would be a good match for you and I will be able to tell them why they should contact you.

When your ideal client reads something on your website, they will know that they don’t need to look elsewhere, they’ve found the right lawyer.

When you are networking or on social media and someone asks you what you do, you’ll be able to tell them not only what you do but for whom you do it, making it more likely that they will self-identify.

Many lawyers are hesitant to define their ideal client, or publicize it, because they are afraid they won’t attract clients who don’t fit the profile. “If I say my ideal client is in the insurance industry, I won’t attract clients in the transportation field,” they say.

Yes, and that’s the point.

You don’t want to get the scraps in a variety of markets, you want the lion’s share in one market.

Big fish, small(er) pond?

Choose a target market. Define your ideal client. Get to know everything you can about them. And then offer them exactly what you know they want.

When you do, you won’t have to explain why anyone should choose you instead of any other lawyer. Everyone will know.

For help in defining your target market(s) and ideal client, get this.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Networking, Referrals Tagged With: , , ,

How much are you willing to invest in your law practice?

May 20, 2014 by
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I read about a recent law school graduate who has $200,000 in student loans and can’t get a legal job. Not surprisingly, he questions the efficacy of taking on large loans for a spec legal career. But what if he did get the job he thought he would? Me thinks he might be playing a different tune.

We invest money in law school because we think we’ll be able to pay it back and make a handsome return on our investment. We do the same thing when we open a law office.

We also invest our time. We spend years getting our education, and more years working long hours for inadequate pay, with the knowledge that some day, it will be worth it.

When things go right, nobody blinks. When they don’t, that’s all anyone talks about.

The past is past. You either made a good investment or you didn’t. Don’t look back. Look forward.

Wherever you are right now, ask yourself what you are willing to invest in your future.

How much money? How much time? Especially time.

How many hours per week are you willing to invest in marketing and building your practice? How many networking events are you willing to go to without seeing an immediate return? How many blog posts or articles are you willing to write this week, this month, this year?

When I opened my first office, I spent the little funds I had on furniture, rent, and a typewriter. I needed the rest for living expenses. I didn’t have money but I had lots of time. Later, when my practice grew, I had money and no time. To continue to grow, I had to find the time because I couldn’t compete with the big budget advertisers in my market.

I found the time by delegating as much of my work as possible. I gave up personal time. And I invested this time in building my practice.

I talk to a lot of lawyers who tell me they don’t have time for marketing. Borrow the time. You’d borrow the money if you needed it, why can’t you borrow the time?

How much time are willing to invest in your law practice? The Formula will help you create a marketing plan.

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Filed Under: Increase your income, Marketing legal services Tagged With: ,

Can old clients and contacts find you when they need you?

May 8, 2014 by
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I got an email the other day from someone I used to know who may have some business for me. I haven’t spoken to him in many years but he was on one of my email lists so he was hearing from me. He hit reply, told me he wanted to talk, and yesterday we spoke.

Suppose he wasn’t getting emails from me? He could have tracked me down, but only if he remembered my name and wanted to go to the bother. I don’t know if he would.

My emails did more than give him a way to contact me, however. They were an ongoing reminder that I was still in business. They reminded him about what I do and how I can help him and the people he knows.

He had been hearing from me for years. When he was ready, my email was in his inbox.

When I was practicing, I asked new clients about any previous claims they might have had, and for the names of the attorneys who handled them. They never remembered the names of their attorneys. That’s why they were sitting in my office instead of theirs.

Do you have lists of your old clients and business contacts? Do you stay in touch with them? If not, if they need you, will they remember your name?

I hired an attorney a couple of years ago. He did good work. I don’t remember his name. I haven’t heard from him since the matter ended. He should be contacting me–sending me a newsletter, an email, a regular letter, a Christmas card–something.

Nada.

If I had a referral for him, I have records and I could look up his name. Would I?

Would you?

Learn how to set up an email system. Go here.

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Filed Under: Communication, Email, List building, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Referrals

Marketing legal services like a bookkeeper

May 6, 2014 by
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Bookkeepers aren’t usually known for their prowess in marketing legal services, but if you put them in charge of marketing for your firm, they’d probably advise you to do something like the following:

STEP ONE

Make a list of your “best” clients over the last two years. These are the ones who pay you the biggest fees, give you the most business, and other factors (e.g., provide the most referrals, most enjoyable to work with).

STEP TWO

Write down a few details about each client. For business clients, record their industry, size (revenue, employees, units), etc.; for consumers, record their occupation, age group, and other demographic factors. Also note the client’s “presenting problem,” i.e., legal issue or objective they first approached you about.

STEP THREE

For each client, note how they found you (or you found them):

  • Referrals: From whom? Client? Professional? How did I meet that person? What prompted the referral?
  • Internet search: What keywords? What landing page? (Note, start tracking this going forward)
  • Internet other: What article, site, or page did they come to your site from? (Start tracking this, too)
  • Social media: Which platform? Which post/tweet, etc? Who re-posted/tweeted/recommended?
  • Networking: Which group? Who introduced you? What did you say, do, offer? What did they ask you?
  • Ad: Which publication? Which ad? Was it the first time they had seen it?
  • Other: Speaking, articles, etc.

If you don’t know the answers, ask the client, and update your systems to start tracking this data in the future.

STEP FOUR

Based on this information, think about what you can do to get more clients like your best clients. If most of them are coming from referrals from other professionals, think about how you can strengthen your relationship with those professionals and how you can reciprocate. If you’re getting a lot of referrals from certain clients, reach out to them to thank them and look for other ways you can help them outside of your legal services.

How much business are you getting from ads, speaking, or social media? If not much, cut down on or eliminate time and money in those areas. If you do get good clients from these efforts, do more of these.

Now that you’ve identified your “best” clients, speak to them and find out more about them. What groups do they belong to and network at? What publications do they regularly read? Where are they active in their industry or community? The more you know about them, the more you can focus on activities that may help you identify and attract clients who are similar to them.

Ask your best clients to identify other professionals they work with and ask them to introduce you. Contact those professionals, let them know you have a mutual client, invite them to coffee.

Your bookkeeper would tell you to identify things that have worked best for you in the past so you can do more of them. She would also tell you to reduce or eliminate those things that have not worked well for you in the past.

The numbers tell the story.

Please say hello to your bookkeeper for me, and ask her if she would like to write a guest post for my blog.

Do you know The Formula? Go here now

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

What do you like best about being an attorney?

April 28, 2014 by
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It’s time to write another article for your website, blog, or newsletter. If you’re ready, say, “I’m ready!” and let’s get started.

The title of your post is: “What I like best about being an _______attorney in ________”. The first blank is your practice area. The second blank is your city or town. This will give you a title with some keywords prospective clients are likely to search for.

So, what do you like best about being an attorney? Your answer will give clients and prospects some insights into why you do what you do. They want to know what drives you because they want to hire an attorney who is passionate about what they do.

You might start your article by describing several things you like, followed by the one thing you like the most. You might describe a typical day, showing what you do and how you feel about what you do. Or a crazy day that tested you but ultimately defined you. You might talk about why you went to law school.

Whatever you like about being an attorney, make sure you tell the reader why. Sure, you like being able to help people solve problems, but why? Share a story about what you did for a client in the past, how it changed their life, and how this made you feel.

What about money? I say, don’t hide from the subject. If you do well financially and that’s something you like about your practice, say so. Clients want to hire successful attorneys. I probably wouldn’t make it number one on the list, however, unless you can also show how you use the money to make the world a better place by supporting charitable causes and the like.

If it helps, you might want to pretend that you’re writing this to a young relative who is considering a career in law. What would you say to show them that it’s hard, but worth it?

Give your readers some insights into what you do and why you do it. Clients hire attorneys they know, like, and trust and your article will help them do just that.

Want more ideas about content for your website? Get this

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Filed Under: Blogging, Marketing legal services, Newsletters, Online Marketing, Web traffic, Writing

Most Clients Find Lawyers Through the Internet, but. . .

April 24, 2014 by
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Findlaw conducted a survey about how people go about finding a lawyer. To nobody’s surprise, the top two answers were the Internet (38%) and referrals (29%). This compares to results of a similar survey they did nine years earlier which found that only 7% used the Internet and 65% asked for referrals.

(If you’re curious, only 4% use the Yellow Pages, compared to 10% in the earlier survey).

So, yes, everything you’ve heard about having an Internet presence is true.

You know my position on this: even if they don’t find you through the Internet, you need a website to showcase your talents so that if they find you through any means, including referrals, they can “check you out” online. This includes YOU sending them to your site.

The survey says nothing about the type of case or engagement, fees, or other criteria. It just says most clients find lawyers through the Internet, but “most” doesn’t mean “best”.

I maintain that the best clients, the ones who pay the biggest fees, ask the fewest questions, and remain loyal over time, come from referrals, not the Internet. Clients who use the Internet to find attorneys tend to be price shoppers, harder to please, and fickle.

You need an Internet presence, and you will get clients that way. But Internet marketing will never replace referral marketing for building a law practice, no matter what the survey says.

Marketing online for attorneys. Click here.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Referrals Tagged With:

Lawyers: the world’s second oldest profession

April 23, 2014 by
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We’re mouthpieces. Clients pay us to advocate their position. We don’t have to believe in what our client wants, or like them personally, we do their bidding. Kinda like the world’s oldest profession.

Now, now, don’t get your panties in a festival. I’m being real here. We don’t care if our client is ugly or smells bad, we only care if the check clears. We do our jobs. If we don’t, we’re out of business. Besides, if we don’t do it, some other shyster will, so all our righteous indignation and standing on principle is for naught.

At least that’s what some people think.

The truth is, we can decide who we will and won’t represent. We don’t have to represent anyone who shakes a bag of money in our face. We can refuse to take cases and causes we don’t believe in or represent any client who needs our help. And we can make a fine living doing it.

But I don’t want to talk about policy or the image of the profession. I want to talk about marketing.

At some point, you should have written a description of your ideal client. (If you have not and you need help doing so, get The Attorney Marketing Formula.)

Once you have decided on your ideal client. . . Don’t keep it a secret.

Tell people what kinds of clients you want to work with. Publish this on your website. Let everyone know.

Practice areas are easy: here’s what I do, here’s what I don’t do. (But I know a lot of other lawyers, so if you have X problem, give me a holler and I’ll introduce you to a lawyer who can help.)

What’s more challenging is describing clients by industry or demographics.

You represent only men or only women, only landlords or only tenants. You represent clients in certain industries or of a certain size or market sector.

“Yeah, but if I declare to the world that I represent clients in the automotive industry, I won’t get hired by clients who manufacture appliances.”

What you have to realize is that this is a good thing.

You may not get appliance manufacturers, but you’ll get more from the auto industry. They will be attracted to you because they see you are dedicated to serving them. They’ll see that you understand their needs and speak their language. You have helped others like them, so it’s obvious that you can help them, too.

We may be the world’s second oldest profession, but this doesn’t mean we have to represent everyone who can pay.

Specialize in the clients you represent. And don’t be afraid to announce it.

Choose a target market. If you don’t know who to choose, choose anyone. Jim Rohn said, “It doesn’t matter which side of the fence you get off on sometimes. What matters most is getting off. You cannot make progress without making decisions.”

On the great road of life (or business), some choose the left side, some choose the right side, and both can do well. The ones who stay in the middle of the road are the ones who usually get run over.

This will help you choose your ideal client and target market. 

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Specializing Tagged With: ,
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