Five Easy Low Cost Law Firm Marketing Tools Every Lawyer Should Use

• Author: David V. Lorenzo
• Pages: 56-57

§29. Client Attraction Secrets for Lawyers

56

§29.

FIVE EA SY LO W COS T LAW FIR M MAR KE TI NG

TOOLS EVE RY LAWYER SHOULD US E

If you have limited resources and limited time there are five things you can work on immediately

that will make a big difference in your law firm marketing. These five things are relatively inexpen-

sive and they have a significant impact. Think of them as a “Mini Marketing Plan.”

1. Newsletter. This is one of the most important marketing tools and yet it is the one that law-

yers give me the most resistance to implementing. A weekly email newsletter and/or a monthly

print newsletter are both great ways for you to enter the conversations taking place in the lives

and the minds of your prospective clients.

In many cases, prospective clients do not know when they will need a lawyer. If you are enter-

ing their lives frequently, you will be a resource for them and they will call you with many of their

issues. Some of them you will handle. Others you can refer out. In either case your relationship

with these people will grow and you will have an opportunity to help them learn how to bring you

a good case.

2. Educational Website. Most law firm websites are online brochures. This is the wrong

approach. Your website should be an education center that will help your clients learn how to deal

with the issues they are facing. This does not mean it becomes a do-it-yourself-guide. It means you

educate them on topics in your field of expertise and you help them understand their options. Once

they know what they are facing, they will know how to hire a good lawyer.

3. Appreciation Events. You simply cannot spend time with all of your clients and referral

sources during the course of a year. Yet personal interaction is critical to developing a bond with

them and keeping your law firm on the top of their mind. An annual client/referral source/com-

munity appreciation event accomplishes this goal and it allows you to take an opportunity and

announce a new initiative or create some buzz in the community.

Host your appreciation event during a time of the year when people are in town but not oth-

erwise preoccupied. November and December are the worst months for this as this tends to be a

time of year when people are preoccupied with holiday plans.

4. Structured Networking Group. Referrals are the lifeblood of any law firm. Eighty percent

of your referrals will come from twenty percent of your colleagues. It is in your interest to develop

a group of people you can trust consistently with your referral business. Once you begin sending

referral business to the same people over and over, you will be amazed at how quickly good mat-

ters come back to you.