Without question, the Internet provides an abundance of information. There are many great online tools designed for attorneys, such as Weslaw and LexisNexus. Lawyers can turn to the Internet to look up cases and other information. The point is that the Internet is useful. However, it can become a problem when the Internet starts stealing your time.
You may go online with the intention to look up cases. The next thing you know you are on The Wall Street Journal’s website, because you remembered a news topic you wanted to learn more about. Before you know it, you have been on numerous sites, have wasted a good 30 minutes and still haven’t looked up the cases you had originally planned.
There are many distractions that lawyers and business owners face and it takes a lot of self-discipline to ignore these diversions and focus on the task at hand. I have found that creating an Internet to-do list can keep me on track. For example, I have a small notebook I keep either in my pocket or next to my computer. This notebook is only used for the Internet. Whenever I remember an email I need to send or something important I want to look up later, I write it down.
After you have created your to-do list, you can set aside a specific time for it. By using an Internet to-do list, you are able to protect your time and still satisfy your curiosity.
For more attorney time saving tips, check out the program, Militant Time Management.
You can’t expect that you will place an ad in the Yellow Pages or throw together an attractive website and people will start hiring you on the spot. It just doesn’t work that way.
I have seen too many lawyers make the mistake of trying to get someone to hire them just from their ad. They cram as much information as possible into a small Yellow Pages ad in the hopes that they will be able to convince a potential client that they are the right lawyer for the case.
The purpose of your initial lawyer advertisement should be to build your list of prospects, also referred to as your herd.
Your herd is the group of people you have come into contact with, such as your past and current clients, friends, business colleagues, prospects and acquaintances. You have to spend time cultivating this group and letting them know that you have something interesting and valuable to offer. If you are able to accomplish this, they will become immune to other attorney advertisements. They will think of you first when they need legal help or know someone who does.
Your ads need to motivate people to raise their hands to request more information or make contact. You don’t have to get them to hire you then and there. You can encourage contacts by offering a free book, video, report or some other helpful information.
You have to understand that building your list doesn’t stop with your attorney ad. You have to set up a system to keep track of who responds and keep in contact on a regular basis. That is how you will reach the right people at the right time.
Many of us are taught that you “don’t want to be a quitter” and that you need to “finish what you started.” In reality, these lessons don’t apply to every situation and every project. Sometimes quitting is the only way to become more successful.
Hopefully, you have taken the time to write your goals and recognize which direction you want to head with your business and personal life. If you have done that already, great – but there’s more to it. You need to develop questions that will help you identify if certain activities and opportunities will help you achieve your goals or not.
If you do find that particular systems, activities or even people are keeping you from meeting your objectives, then you need to quit. When you decide to stop an activity, quit using a system or let an employee go, it can be difficult – at first. However, you have to keep the mindset that you are the sole person responsible for your financial security and your family’s.
Saying “no” and learning to quit the things that are keeping you from your goals is a crucial step to success. It is only by saying “no” that you are able to say “yes” to things that are worth your time and effort.
For more information on time management, check out the program, Militant Time Management for Lawyers.
Attorneys who are looking for marketing advice often contact me looking for a magic bullet to solve their marketing problems. They will visit me at my office and I will show them all of the things I do to get clients. I walk them through the steps of my marketing system and show them all of the books and materials that are sent out. These lawyers sometimes leave our meeting feeling disappointed, because they were looking for an easy marketing fix. They are also surprised that I don’t meet with every potential client who contacts my office.
There are no simple solutions to complex problems and this applies to lawyer marketing as well. As a lawyer, you need to start thinking about marketing in an entirely different way. You have to get rid of the mentality that you need to meet with everyone who calls you or walks through your door. It’s okay to use complex marketing to reject potential clients. My experience, which is the same as hundreds of lawyers across the country, is that you will still have new cases, even if you weed out some of the ones you don’t want.
Here’s how to use complex marketing to attract the types of cases and clients that you want to represent:
(1) Start with a different message. Don’t say the same thing as everyone else in your attorney ads.
(2) Become an author. A book is the greatest business card ever created.
(3) Create an audio CD and/or a DVD of information about your practice niche. Answer questions that you know are running through your prospects’ head.
(4) Teach the prospect how to shop for a lawyer. Provide them with the right questions to ask (that lead them right back to you).
(5) Prepare a brag book. Compile your verdicts and settlements, testimonials, newspaper articles about you or anything else you have that would be impressive.
(6) Write as many special reports or booklets as you can. It shouldn’t be difficult, because you already know the topics.
(7) Design a multi-step, multi-media response to anyone who initiates contact by requesting free information from your law firm.
Getting more cases is a complex problem and you can’t expect that you will be able to find ONE thing that will provide you with a solution. There isn’t a small tweak to your Yellow Pages ad that is going to make the phone start ringing.
You are competing with a lot of people in your industry. Your potential clients aren’t going to be able tell a good lawyer from a bad one. Plus, ethical rules often make all attorney marketing look the same, which forces your marketing message to compete with 3,000 to 5,000 other messages each day. Before you get too discouraged, you need to know that there is an answer and it comes in the form of a multi-step, multi-media marketing system.
Here is why this type of complex lawyer marketing system works:
(1) It makes you stand out from the other attorneys who use the old-fashioned two-step marketing approach, which is comprised of buying an ad and offering a free consultation.
(2) You are viewed as the wise man or woman at the top of the mountain.
(3) Those “C” and “D” clients will be discouraged from contacting you.
(4) It increases the transaction value of each client, so you can reduce your caseload and make more money.
Read my blog post, Think About Lawyer Marketing In An Entirely Different Way, for tips on how to create your multi-step, multi-media marketing system.
Yellow Pages sales reps often tell us that in order to stand out, we need buy a bigger ad and maybe even add color. After all, there are sometimes up to 70 pages of lawyer ads in the Yellow Pages and you have to stand out somehow.
Making your ad larger and adding a splash of color isn’t enough to get someone to call you. Your ad has to have a headline and content that is different than all of the other competing law firms. Flip open the Yellow Pages and you will find that the ads basically make the same statements, such as “Free Consultation!” or “ We will fight for you!” How is a potential client going to be able to tell the difference between lawyers, if they all say the same thing?
When you create ads that are like every other law firm in town, you are engaging in random chance marketing. It becomes mere chance if someone chooses you over someone else.
There is a better way that you can advertise in the Yellow Pages that will help you stand out from the crowd of lawyers. I have had success with the Yellow Pages by using ads that are centered on my consumer books. Our ads do not mention anything about our law firm; instead they contain interesting headlines and information about the books.
You have to remember that the goal of your advertising should be to offer something that looks different. Plus, you need to make it easy for your prospects to obtain the book or report.
For more information regarding lawyer marketing, read my article, A New View of Yellow Page Marketing.
Most attorneys have the mindset that they have to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They often feel like they have to take on every case that comes their way, out of fear that they won’t have enough to cover their overhead. I have to tell you, this is not how I run my law practice.
It seems that a lot of lawyers share these misconceptions. Here’s the thing, you don’t have to be available around the clock, as that is not an effective use of your time. Plus, in the long run it is not helping your clients. You could also be sending the wrong impression if you are always available. For example, would you hire a heart surgeon for a non-emergency procedure who cannot see you for six weeks or would you hire one that isn’t busy and can see you right away? I’m sure you see the point I am trying to make.
You don’t have to take every case either. These small cases can quickly steal your time and that of your staff’s. Here is one way to think about small cases – if you only had an hour, wouldn’t it be better to use it to increase the value of a case worth $100,000 by 10 percent than it would be to increase the value of a $10,000 case by 10 percent?
Things have changed in the world of lawyer marketing, which is probably not news to you. Your prospects are looking for legal services differently than before and the majority of them are gravitating toward the Internet.
Prospects aren’t the only ones looking for information online, as reporters often turn to blogs and other online sources to find what they need. That means there is opportunity to boost your public visibility.
If you don’t have an in-house publicist or spokesperson (and really what attorney does), you can gain publicity using your blog. According to an article in The Wall Street Journal titled, “Companies Increasingly Look to Blogs as Spokesmen,” major corporations are starting to use blogs to fill the role of spokespeople.
The Wall Street Journal reported that about one-third of Fortune 100 companies are utilizing blogs to share their views and comments regarding current events. As a lawyer, why not follow the example of these Fortune 100 companies and start blogging your thoughts and opinions? You just might be able to capture the attention of reporters.
What is great about blogging is that it doesn’t take a lot of time and is well worth the effort. Not only can you gain credibility, but you can also get in front of more of your potential clients.
People who are in need of legal assistance will look for an attorney in two places – the Internet and Yellow Pages. The exception is if they already know a lawyer or have been referred to someone by a friend or family member.
Think about how you search for products and services. If you are like the majority of the population, you probably conduct some research online. There have been a lot of studies regarding how many people look for local businesses on the Internet and while the numbers vary, the one thing that is the same is that more and more prospects are gravitating toward the Web.
Keep in mind that people tend to search for lawyers differently than other services and goods. They are not going to sit through hours of attorney commercials they have recorded on the DVR and they are not going to try to read every billboard along the freeway. Instead they are going to turn to the computer. In some areas, they will use the Yellow Pages as a guide.
When you create your website or Yellow Pages ad, you need to think about what will attract the attention of your prospects and get them to stop their search. Your ads and website need to be so compelling that someone will think that they would be a fool to do anything else before contacting you. Free offers, such as books, reports and CDs, are great ways to make your law firm stand out from the crowd.
Order a copy of my book, Attorney Web Marketing-Free Report Reveals the Biggest Errors, for more lawyer marketing tips.
How is making a statement in your advertising, such as “We Care For You” or “We Will Fight For You,” really going to help you stand out from all of the other law firms in your area? These types of statement don’t really say anything about who you are as an attorney. Your prospects aren’t going to be impressed, because they already assume that you care about their case and that you will fight for them. You need to come up with something better.
The goal of lawyer marketing should be to get the conversation started. You are not going to convince someone to hire you solely based on your ad. The most important thing is to just get them to contact you, which can be done with a free offer.
Now, when I am talking about a free offer, I am not referring to a free consultation. How unique is that? Instead, I mean something that is of value to your potential clients, such as a free book, CD or report. Your offer should be educational and lead your prospects right back to your law firm.
Focus your attorney advertising on building the relationship with your prospects, who will eventually turn into clients.
