Marketing Plan

Most lawyers are primarily concerned with the bottom line - where’s the return on investment? To measure ROI, you need to have metrics in place that will accurately tell you where your prospects are coming from. Some ways of measuring results include: continue

Your marketing plan is more than just advertising your services. It should include the actions you will take to inform others about what you do and prove to them that you can do what you say you can. When you create your marketing plan, think of how you can reach these three types of people: continue

When people buy your services, they are hiring you as their trusted advisor - someone who is knowledgeable, trustworthy, and experienced. Yet hiring an attorney can be a very risky endeavor for someone who doesn’t have much legal experience.

How can they be sure they are making an informed decision about which attorney is right for them, can do what they say, and will provide the best value for their money? In other words, why they should they pick you to help them over all the other options available to them? continue

I’m often asked by lawyers looking to start their own practice, or those who have just gone out on their own, what it takes to establish a successful law firm. In law - just like any small business - there are three areas you must master if you want a successful law firm. These are:

Develop a Niche
Today’s general practice attorneys are barely scraping by. That is because today’s clients demand specialists. They don’t want a lawyer that has done a couple of cases in every practice area out there. They want someone who handles their specific problem. They want someone who has handled cases for clients just like them and have proven over and over that they can get the job done.
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The biggest challenge in marketing is to identify those people who you want to work with, who need your services, and who are willing to pay your prices. This involves picking a target market and perhaps even a niche to focus on. Many people are initially scared of narrowing down their prospects and ask “You mean I have to turn away clients?” For your marketing to be cost effective, the answer is yes. There will only be a small portion of the population who will even be interested in your services - why waste your money on marketing to those that don’t need them or are half way across the country and difficult to access? By targeting a small group of people who already have a need for your services, you drastically increase your marketing campaign’s likelihood of success. continue

In recent articles, I’ve talked about how to Define Your Goals, Know Your Clients, and Evaluate Your Competitors. The fourth pillar of a solid marketing foundation is to know the environment in which you do business. continue

The bulk of your competition probably comes from local firms that offer similar practice areas to yours. But how much do you actually know about how your competition does business? Do some competitive research to learn who their clients are, any new accounts they’ve just received, new hires, the outcomes of recent cases, and any press releases and articles they’ve recently published. continue

Your clients are a wealth of (usually untapped) information that can offer an outside perspective of your firm. Take them to lunch or send them a letter asking them to evaluate your performance and how satisfied they are with your service. After all, your clients know what your strengths and weaknesses are because they’ve worked with you and have seen your processes first hand. They can tell you areas where you excel and areas that need improvement. They can also give you insight on why they chose your firm initially. This is especially good to know when clients switch from other firms to yours. Happy clients don’t switch, so learning why they switched can give you real insight into your clients’ expectations. continue

The first step for any small business or sole practitioner is to define your goals. The direction of any small business is set by who you are and where you see your law firm in the future.

Why Set Goals?
To most people, goal setting is one of the fluffier aspects of marketing. They’d prefer to get to the hands on stuff like advertising, creating a website, or sending out newsletters. So why take the time to set goals? continue

In a previous article, I discussed your prospect’s buying process. Here, I’ll take a look at how you can align your marketing with those stages in the buying process.

Prospecting
The first stage of your prospect’s buying process is awareness. So, your first step in marketing to them is to help them realize that they do have a problem and it is important that they take action to get it solved quickly. continue