Are You Maximizing Your Legal Marketing Efforts?
Are You Maximizing Your Legal Marketing Efforts
?
Adam Attorney's main marketing tool is giving seminars. He does a good job of filling the seats for his seminars with qualified prospects. The seminars provide valuable information. The locations are convenient for his prospects. He gives the seminars several times each year. He provides an incentive to seminar attendees to schedule appointments with him for a consultation. He's an excellent lawyer, knows his field, and provides his clients with great service.
Business should be booming, but it isn't. Why not? It sounds as if Adam Attorney is doing everything right with his seminars. But after asking him a few simple questions, it wasn't hard to find out why. He isn't maximizing his marketing opportunities.
Maximize your marketing efforts
Many lawyers get discouraged with their marketing efforts because they don't know how to maximize what they're doing. Fortunately, there are some simple strategies that can and will increase the return from any marketing activity or tool you use in your practice.
How to determine the return on your marketing activities
Remember that the return for your marketing efforts isn't only measured by the number of clients that respond immediately to your efforts.
In order for any marketing tool or activity to be effective, it has to strike a chord with your target audience at a time when they need your services. Of course, if your marketing is memorable enough, it is possible that the prospect would immediately think of you when the need for your services arises, but this is a much more difficult way to increase your business - and it takes even more time. It is easier to begin a campaign of 'keep in touch' marketing in which you are periodically in front of your target audience, including not only potential clients, but referral sources and strategic alliances as well, providing them with good information about their problems and how you can solve them.
Return on your marketing efforts can be measured in four important ways:
1. Learning more about your clients or potential clients (which will increase your effectiveness in the future, both in marketing to new clients and in providing great service to and meeting the needs of your existing clients);
2. Obtaining a bigger share of a client's business;
3. Moving a client through the pipeline and getting them closer to retaining your services (which includes actually getting a new client); and
4. Building your own credibility or skills.
Create a continuous stream of contacts with prospects and referral sources
Many lawyers think they don't have the time or resources to launch a successful or effective 'keep in touch' marketing campaign. They think it takes too much time and effort. But the truth is that without such a continuous stream of contacts with prospects, it is much less likely that any of your marketing will be effective.
Studies have shown that in many cases, prospective clients only make the decision to work with you once you've had between seven and nine contacts with them. These contacts can include seeing you in person, talking to you on the telephone, visiting your website or blog, hearing your name mentioned by others, reading an article you've written, seeing an advertisement, etc.
The bottom line is that, as a lawyer, you're in the relationship and trust business. It takes time to develop relationships with clients and with those who may refer business to you. Staying in touch and consistently educating clients, prospects and referral sources helps build relationships faster.
Build relationships by repurposing
Smart marketing means using everything you do in more than one way. This is a simple strategy that you can employ immediately to increase the return on your marketing investment and maximize what you are already doing to develop your business.
If you're already engaged in one marketing activity or using one tool, often, you can 'repurpose' the content to be used in another arena or with another tool, thus maximizing your exposure.
For example, when you give a speech or presentation, record it and use the audio on your website or make it into a CD to give or sell. Make notes from your speech outline and publish them as an article, both in print and on the web. Send the same article to a number of different places, both on and off-line, for publication. Create one seminar or presentation and give it in many different venues, for different audiences.
Repurposing extends your reach
Another very good reason for repurposing your marketing materials is that different people learn differently, and some of your prospects will notice one marketing effort more than another. Some people learn visually. Graphics, visuals or videos on your website or in your marketing materials may grab their attention. Others learn by listening - they prefer audio to text. A CD, podcast, or audio clip of you discussing an issue may be just what they're looking for. Still others would rather read a brochure or print an article and read off of a piece of paper.
By making your content available in different forms, you will be reaching a wider cross-section of your target audience.
Client work can be repurposed and included in your marketing
Your regular legal work can also be used for marketing purposes. Written or argued a brief, memorandum or motion lately? How about re-using the content to write an article in a publication read by your target audience or creating a seminar or presentation to inform potential clients or referral sources about a change in the law?
Have any good success stories about your work with clients? You can create case studies or testimonials out of your experiences working with clients (be sure to get clients' consent when using testimonials). Case studies (without identifying information) are great ways to educate clients about what you do and how you can solve their problems. Put case studies on your website, write articles about them, use them as examples in seminars, etc. When you explain the 'pitfalls' or 'mistakes' commonly made by your clients, prospects and referral sources will contact you to solve the problems or help them avoid the mistakes.
Are there particular issues or procedures that you routinely explain to every client that comes through the door? Are you constantly answering the same questions over and over? Incorporate the answers to those questions into articles, tip sheets or checklists that you can give to potential clients or referral sources. Consider posting them on your website or including an information page or 'frequently asked questions' page on your website so potential clients and referral sources become comfortable with you. Demonstrate that you can help them with their problems, rather than just telling them.
How Adam Attorney can repurpose his seminars
The lawyer in the beginning of this article could be getting a lot more mileage from his seminars. One way is by re-purposing the content, or portions of the content from the seminars. Here are just a few ways to re-purpose the content:
Record the seminar and put audio clips of some of the issues on his website;
Record the seminar and create an audio CD or series of CDs (or audio downloads) that he can put on his website, either as a passive source of income or as a 'preview' of his seminar materials and/or services to send to prospects and strategic alliances;
Transcribe the seminar materials to turn into an article, series of articles, or 'special reports' to offer as a 'teaser' for clients, or as an incentive to sign up for his e-zine or newsletter;
Create a video recording of the seminar to be used on his website, as incentive for trade associations or strategic alliances to have him speak to their organizations, or as a product to create a passive stream of income;
Send any of the above to strategic alliances or referral sources and give permission for them to disseminate the information/content (along with your contact information and links to his website, of course) to their list of contacts.
These are just a few simple ideas, using content that this lawyer has already created. Can you think of any more ways that he could use what he's already done to reach even more prospects or strengthen his relationship with existing clients? (c) 2007 Allison C. Shields and Legal Ease Consulting, Inc. This article may be reprinted, but must include the copyright and resource box below.
Allison C. Shields, President of Legal Ease Consulting, Inc., has been a practicing lawyer for over 13 years. The former administrative partner for a mid-sized law firm, Alli
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