Peter Boyd is an attorney and the Founder of PaperStreet. He has successfully helped 1,500 law firms with their websites and marketing.
As a lawyer, you probably prefer to spend your time assisting clients, but you also know that if you fail to invest enough time and resources in marketing, you may not have any clients to assist. Fortunately, it is possible to achieve results without breaking the bank or completely erasing productivity.
There are some easy priorities you can set to improve your law firm marketing efforts — and overall bottom line. Do yourself a favor and pick five tasks from this list to improve your standing in the busy marketplace this year.
1. Claim free listings. It does not take long to claim a business profile on Google, Facebook and Yelp. These listings provide another way for clients to find your firm and can increase your placement in client searches.
2. Show authority in a subject. Choose one topic you are always getting asked about by clients. What’s the number one question they ask you? Then, answer it via a medium you are comfortable with like video, social media post or blog post. Don’t Google anything; use your own experience to answer the question. When you demonstrate that you have considerable knowledge of the subject, you can gain a reputation as an authority that is hard to top.
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3. Ask for Avvo testimonials. Send off five emails to attorneys you have worked with and ask them to leave you a testimonial on your Avvo profile.
4. Attend one event in your community. While your online presence is important, it is equally important to build relationships with other professionals on a more personal basis. Old-fashioned networking opportunities such as serving on the board of a local chamber of commerce still provide some of the best networking results.
5. Refer a client to a colleague you trust. One of the benefits of networking is the ability to gain referrals. Attorneys who develop relationships with other professionals — including attorneys who practice in other areas — are more likely to benefit from referrals, particularly if they make referrals to others.
6. Thank someone for something they did to help you recently. Thank a referring attorney, thank your assistant, thank the host of the networking event you attended. Send them a handwritten note, or offer to buy them lunch. These small gestures make an impression that people don’t forget.
7. Send a mass email asking for Google reviews/testimonials. You don’t need fancy software. Send an email to your last 10 clients and BCC all recipients. Ask them to help you grow your business by leaving a review. Be sure to include the link to where they can leave their reviews.
8. Support a community group or charitable cause. Sponsor a children’s sports team or a fundraising event like a 5K race. Offer to donate school supplies, or set up before a charity function. When you become more connected with the community’s welfare, you build goodwill that can make your firm stand out from others.
9. Join a social media community. Find a group of other lawyers, or perhaps small-business owners, and become an active member. Answer questions, post questions and engage in conversation with other professionals facing the same challenges and wins as you.
10. Start a relationship with a legal marketing firm. Legal marketing firms can assist with one or two aspects of firm marketing or take over the whole game. Introduce yourself and see whether they have any services to offer for your specific needs.
Successful Marketing Is A Series Of Small Steps
You won’t win at marketing overnight. It’s a long game, and you get ahead by taking many tiny steps in the right direction. You won’t see gains if you don’t put in the effort. The actions above are easy tasks to check off your to-do list, and you’ll see the benefits in your firm’s reputation and your reach as a legal professional.
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Author: Peter Boyd, Forbes Councils Member