Market a Law Firm

To grow your law firm, doing great work is no longer enough. Nowadays, you need to market yourself—and never stop! Begin by creating a website and social media accounts, which makes it easy for potential clients to find you. Then develop a solid referral network with other lawyers. Marketing is a lot of work, but once you find out what works, you’ll have clients knocking down your door.

Steps

Establishing Your Online Presence

1. Build a professional website. More than ever before, people shop for legal services online. Unless you know how to build a website, you should hire someone. It’ll cost several hundred dollars, but you want to avoid the kind of amateurish website that too many lawyers have.
   • Find a talented web design freelancer on Upwork or Craigslist.
   • Post a thoughtful attorney bio to your website that highlights your relevant experience and awards.
2. Write useful blog posts. Now that you have a website, you need regular content which will improve your standing in search algorithms. However, your content should include information people can use. For example, if you work mostly with businesses, you can include a useful “how to” article on protecting your intellectual property from theft.
   • You might hesitate to give away knowledge for free. By writing these posts, however, you showcase your expertise.
   • If you’re too busy to write your own blog posts, hire a law student or a recent graduate.
   • Remember to Copyright-Material-(US) on your blog posts every year.
3. Use Google Analytics. You need to know how people found your website, and Google Analytics will tell you which search terms led people to your site. As a result, you might tweak your website so that you include more of the content that people find useful.
   • Google Analytics will also tell you which search terms are popular. You can then include content containing those terms on your website.
   • Google Analytics is free. However, you can also pay for Google Analytics 360, which has more advanced data reporting and modeling. Google Analytics 360 is appropriate for very large law firms, but smaller firms can get by with the free version.
4. Meet people on social media. Get on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Also consider creating a fan page for your law firm on Facebook. Follow people who live in your area and engage them, e.g., like their posts or tweets or share relevant news stories with them.
   • Tweet at the right time. Tweets sent between 1:00 pm and 3:00 pm receive the highest click rates. However, don’t tweet if a client expects you to be working during that time.
   • You’re unlikely to get a client through social media alone. However, it’s a nice ice breaker whenever you meet someone in person. You can say, “Hey, I follow you on Twitter” and move on from there.

Using Traditional Marketing Methods

1. Create a Make a Business Logo. A logo will visually set your firm apart from the competition. Hire a skilled graphic designer for a few hundred dollars to create a memorable logo, and put it on your website and your business card.
   • A bankruptcy firm might use the image of a gavel coming down on a pile of credit cards as a logo.
2. Buy business cards. You need something to hand out when you meet other lawyers and potential clients, so load up on business cards. You can get them cheaply in bulk from companies such as Vistaprint.
   • Find stylish business card designs on the American Bar Association’s Pinterest account.
   • Your card should have your name, firm name, address, phone number, email address, and website URL.
3. Make-a-Lawyer's-Brochure. Brochures are handy in case someone wants to know a little bit more about your firm. You can send them home with a brochure to read later. Look at other firms’ brochures to get an idea of the content and layout. Generally, law firms use a tri-fold format and include basic information about their law practice.
   • Avoid including information that is likely to change in the future. For example, don’t add lawyer profiles unless you are a solo practitioner. Also leave out information on your fees, which are likely to change over the years.
4. Advertise in the phone book. Don’t just list your firm’s name—actually buy an advertisement in the Yellow Pages. People still use the phone book, especially when they need to hire a lawyer. Include your logo in the advertisement.
5. Publish newspaper articles. Ask a local newspaper if you can contribute a monthly or semi-monthly column on legal issues. If the newspaper has an online edition, you’ll increase the number of readers. Call up your local paper and have a sample article ready to share.
   • Write on topics that will be of interest to general readers. For example, if you are an estate planning attorney, you can write about the importance of a living will and durable power of attorney. You probably shouldn’t write about how estates worth $5 million can save on their estate taxes.
6. Buy a newspaper ad. A newspaper ad in a local circulation newspaper can raise your profile with the public. Make sure that your advertisement contains your picture, since potential clients want to see you. Contact a newspaper to ask about their advertising rates, which will depend on the size of the ad and when it runs.
   • Hold off on newspaper advertising if you work in a big city. Advertising in high-circulation papers is very expensive and can quickly drain your wallet.
7. Place ads on the radio. Depending on your target market, radio ads might pay big dividends. For example, estate planning attorneys have found many clients this way. Hire a copywriter to help you write a compelling ad, and contact the radio station directly to inquire about rates.
   • Radio stations offer more than the standard 60-second slot. They also offer 30-, 15-, and 10-second ads. Ask about the rates for all of these and don’t be afraid to negotiate. Radio stations expect advertisers to negotiate.
   • As with newspaper ads, don’t throw all your marketing budget at radio ads in the hopes of scooping up clients. Instead, run one or two ads as a test. See if any clients contact you.
8. Send newsletters to your clients. Ask clients first whether they want to receive a monthly newsletter. If they do, you can add them to a mailing list. You can also include a sign-up link on your website. Send the newsletter at least once a month so that you are constantly reminding clients of the services you provide.
   • Your newsletter doesn’t need to be extensive. One or two pages is fine.
   • In the newsletter, highlight recent developments in the law that your clients might find useful. For example, a DUI lawyer can tell clients about changes in expungement law, or a tax attorney can highlight new tax bills that have passed.

Building a Referral Network

1. Stay in touch with law school classmates. Other lawyers are great sources of referrals because most specialize. An estate planning attorney might get a call from a client who needs a DUI lawyer. This estate planning attorney needs to refer the client to someone—maybe you?
   • A good way to stay in touch is to schedule a monthly group dinner. This works best if most of you practice in the same geographical area.
   • If you live away from your classmates, create a Facebook page for your graduating class and remember to post on the page frequently. Engage with people by asking about their life and practice.
2. Attend bar association events. The dreaded bar association! This is ground zero for networking. Unfortunately, there’s no better place to meet other lawyers, so join your local bar if you aren’t yet a member. Gather up your business cards and put on a suit. Shake hands, introduce yourself, show you’re a friendly professional.
   • Focus mostly on lawyers your own age. More experienced lawyers probably already have well-developed referral networks.
   • Also focus on lawyers who practice a different area of law than you do. A disability lawyer is unlikely to refer a case to another disability lawyer.
3. Tell other lawyers when you have referred a client to them. Referrals are a two-way street. A lawyer is more likely to send clients your way if you provide them with clients first. Send an email along the lines of, “Hey, Carl, I got a call about a DUI defense, so I gave the person, Jim Smith, your phone number. You should hear from him shortly.”
4. Stop referring to lawyers who don’t refer back. Is there one lawyer in your referral network who gladly accepts your referrals without ever sending someone your way? You need to cut this person loose. Use bar association events to meet a different lawyer and ask them if they want to trade referrals with you.
5. Teach classes as an adjunct. Your students will be future lawyers who might one day be referral sources you can lean on. Contact a local law school and see if they need an instructor for a course in your specialty. If you’re worried about the time commitment, ask if you can team teach with another lawyer.
   • If you specialize in business law, try to teach a course to business students. They might become potential clients in the future.

Raising Your Profile with Potential Clients

1. Find events potential clients attend. You can’t wait for potential clients to come to you. Instead, you need to get out of the office and go meet them. For example, if you work in educational law, you might want to attend a Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) meeting at a local school. This is a better networking event than attending a business reception at the Chamber of Commerce.
   • However, if you handle business litigation, then it makes more sense to attend Rotary and Chamber of Commerce events than to give talks at a community center.
2. Identify who you want to meet at an event. You can show up to a business event with the intent of meeting everyone. At the end of the evening, you’ll be out of business cards and probably have made no real connection. Instead of winging it, ask the event organizer for a list of attendees and identify a handful of people you want to meet the most. Do research on their business and come prepared to talk about how your law practice can help them.
3. Contact three to five potential clients a week. You can send them an email or call. Ideally, you met them at a business event and can remind them of who you are. Ask them out to lunch or to get coffee. Ask intelligent questions about their business and try to identify legal problems that might arise.
   • Contact potential clients every week, even when you are busy. A potential client might not immediately have work for you now, but they will a month or two down the road when you’re slow.
4. Do pro bono work. Pro bono work shows that you are public-spirited, which business and community leaders will view favorably. Volunteer to help non-profits, because many business leaders sit on non-profit boards.
   • Remember to treat pro bono clients just as you would paying clients. Do the work to the best of your ability and spend the necessary hours so the work is done right.
5. Make presentations to your target market. Focus on topics you enjoy and events that you are sure will be well-attended. The purpose of the presentation is to showcase your expertise to people who one day might need your legal services. For example, a business lawyer doesn’t gain much by giving a presentation to a group of elderly at the community center.
   • Think carefully before giving a Continuing Legal Education class. It’s not a great way to find lawyers willing to join your referral network.
6. Identify yourself by what you do. You want people to see you as a problem solver, so identify the problems you solve. When someone at an event asks, “What do you do?”, don’t say, “I’m an intellectual property lawyer.” Instead say, “I help clients protect their trade secrets and other IP.”
7. Send holiday cards on off-beat holidays. Almost every client receives holiday cards at Christmas. Your own will get lost in the pile. Instead, send a card on a different holiday, such as Saint Patrick’s Day or President’s Day, which will help you stand out.
8. Pay attention to what marketing isn’t working. There’s no magic bullet to marketing. What worked one year might not work the next, so you need to evolve. Whenever a client calls or stops by your firm, ask how they heard about you and keep track of that information.
   • You might find that your newspaper ads draw a lot of attention but your radio ads aren’t hitting with your target market. In that situation, you can scale back on radio ads.

Tips

• Brush up on the ethical rules that limit how you can advertise. For example, you might not be able to refer to yourself as a “specialist,” depending on your jurisdiction.

References

See also

• Be a Good Defense Attorney
• Become a Mediator in New York
• Become a Divorce Mediator
• Become a Great Litigation Support Director
• Become a Patent Examiner
• Become a Legal Secretary
• Prepare for Private Detective Training
• Find the Best Training Institutes That Offer HR Courses in Abu Dhabi
• Become an Arizona Process Server
• Become a Partner in a Law Firm

Read more ...