As I’ve stated in the past, if you want some really good advice on legal marketing go to the Nolo Legal Marketing Blawg written by Carolyn Elefant. In my humble opinion, she is as good as it gets on legal marketing in today’s blogoshpere world. I’m just going to add my two cents on what has worked for me and, also, what I plan to do in the future.
Below is my current legal marketing plan in a nutshell (caveat, it needs work, but I’ve had two cups of coffee and feel like writing):
(1) Foremost, we live in a digital age and I plan to use the internet as my number one marketing tool (at least from the start).
(2) Assuming I can establish a foothold here in Minneapolis, I then plan on scouting out attorneys in my practice area for the old get-to-know-you.
(3) Next is researching and joining organizations which enable me to network effectively.
That’s it.
For item number one, I plan to use the internet and its search engine capabilities to get a lot of buzz for my website – flanderslawfirm.com. I’m not very happy with the law firm website and I plan to redesign it with a law firm website “call to action”, but the website will due for now. Also, as I talked about in a prior post, I have taught myself how to design websites now and I think I can update my site as needed. I may change templates entirely.
Anyway, I’ve also talked about blogging for business and why I blog. To be honest, I don’t think I am very good at the whole blogging thing and I need to be more focused. This blog is essentially an outlet for my thoughts, so please pardon any rambling. Blogging for business allows you to build a link-back structure which eventually leads to your firm’s website. (Of course, your firm’s website is an entirely different animal and I won’t cover that so much here – basically, get your contact information in the correct spot).
This blog is newish and only has a finite number of posts. I am getting some good SEO recognition on Google and other search engines and that is not by accident. However, I don’t have much of a pagerank yet. Pagerank influences the ability of my blog to link to my website and move my website up in terms of search engine recognition. I am working on pagerank and it takes time and effort – essentially blogging a lot with good, well-written content.
Beyond pagerank, I do have law firm blog network of sorts that will all be pointing to my law firm website. This is user generated content (or USG in the industry). I am trying to make as much USG as possible while I wait to be licensed in Minnesota. I don’t have to pay anybody to do this and it really does work. It takes up my time and is rather tedious, but it does make me feel connected when I am otherwise isolated.
So, I continue to blog on this starting a law firm blog, and I also have one other estate planning blog at the moment. I plan on moving on to family law (my main practice area) but I haven’t gotten there yet. One problem I have been having is that I bought several domain names that are location specific (Minneapolis) but I am not licensed in Minnesota yet. I can make a generic blog with no location specifics but that is essentially pointless in terms of generating traffic to my website. However, as I have stated, getting content up is king in the blogosphere and I can always make changes to content later.
There is my initial interenet legal marketing plan in a nutshell: user generated search engine optimization. Or: USG = SEO. There are many books on the subject an I suggest you go buy them and read them.
(2) Networking with other lawyers. This one is straight forward and simple. However, in practice, it is harder than you might think. I am young (31) and a lot of more experienced attorneys have their networks firmly established. This means two things for me: (1) I can get the older attorneys cast off work and (2) I can network effectively with younger attorneys who generally have less referrals to give.
In terms of the older attorneys: I have found them to be a mixed bag. Some will help, others won’t. Some don’t care. Some care, but they don’t have much work to give. Essentially, networking at this level is all random, but it is useful. It gets my name out there and it does result in some referrals. If you get one and take the case – no matter how bad the case – you MUST do a good job on it. If it’s a dog and the client treats you badly, don’t network with that attorney anymore. If it’s a decent case, but not great, do a good job and make sure the referring attorney know it. Take that attorney out to lunch or something, thank them, and ask for more work. After that, repeat the cycle, make friends, etc.
In terms of younger attorneys: I love this bunch. They know what it is like to be starting out. However, they are also a mixed bag. Some are helpful in terms of someone to talk to, but have no business to refer. Some have business to refer, but are not going to refer it. Some have no clue. What I like to do with this group is simply make friends. Eventually these friendships will cause work to come in. Have fun with them. Go to lunch a lot. Go golfing together. Whatever. Just make yourself known in that group and try to be the hub or really helpful person. Organize the lunches. Organize the golf outing. Networking is about being the go-to-guy. It’s work, but it also brings in work. After that, repeat the cycle, make more friends, etc.
(3) Joining Organizations. This is a tough one for me. Which organizations are the good ones? Am I looking for referrals or am I simply trying to get my name out there in the community? Both are necessities, but certain organzations often don’t provide both. I’d like both.
In my prior practice, I was on the board of directors of a major community child services not-for-profit. It was great for name recognition, but not so much for referrals. However, I got a lot of satisfaction from doing it and really enjoyed the people. The work was fulfilling in a way that the practice of law was often not. This was good for several reasons and I aim to join a similar group in Minneapolis.
I was also in Kiwanis. I didn’t enjoy Kiwanis as much. It was good for community recognition but it lead to nearly zero referrals. This may be because I wasn’t very interested in the group and it probably showed. My excuse is that I was a little too busy, but I regret doing something when my heart wasn’t in it. My life is too short for that.
So, with my prior organization-joining-experience behind me, I now plan to join organizations that (1) I have a high level of interest in and (2) that I really want to get involved with on a detailed level. Again, joining these organizations does not necessarily bring in work right away. That is ok. It serves to get your name out there in the community, generate a possible referal base, and may give you something to do while your practice builds. Remember, it is going to be slow at the beginning and you need to have something to do. But, don’t get sucked in too deep. Remember that the purpose is to help your fledgling law practice. If you forget that, you may find yourself running charity auctions every other weekend instead of bringing in billable business.
Those are my initial thoughts on a legal marketing plan. Simple, I know. But, I have found that simplifying is often the best thing I can do. It creates focus and an objective. Starting a law firm is all about focus on practical level. You need to generate revenue right away and this means getting out in the community and hustling. Believe, you will be surprised out how well the hustle works.