You may have heard the saying, “the money is in the follow-up,” and when it comes to legal marketing, I promise this is true. So with that said, here are four easy steps you can take after each live speaking event to ensure each prospect is still receiving regular “touches” from your firm:

1. After the event, compare the initial registration list to the names of those who were in attendance.

2. From there, break those names down into three categories:  those who took your offer at the event, those who were in attendance but didn’t take your offer and those who registered but didn’t attend–then create appropriate follow up sequences. The follow up sequence should include multiple touches in various ways (email, phone, snail mail) for the best results.

3. If the free gift you offered requires fulfillment, be sure to distribute your materials promptly while you are still fresh in the prospect’s mind, or outsource this to a company that will make sure that happens.

4. Add all new leads to your house list and maintain consistent, friendly communication with them via both email and direct mail.

As you can see, the hardest part of this maximization effort is automating the follow-up process so you can contact your prospects long after the event has taken place.

Infusion is my personal automation software of choice because it allows for segmented lists and very specific follow-up campaigns designed to motivate prospects and get them to say YES to your services.

But don’t let not having a good email marketing/ contact management system stop you from getting started with this!  Either bite the bullet and make the investment into one (which is money VERY well spent), or use an excel spreadsheet or some good ole’ fashion tickler systems.  Either way–just get started communicating with your leads from speaking engagements in the New Year.

Here is tip that will increase your Google relevance and will cost you absolutely nothing.  It starts with these 3 steps:

• Tweet
• Like (Facebook)
• Comment

To begin, you’ll develop a network of colleagues, peers, and friends who all agree to promote each other by Tweeting, Liking and Commenting on each other’s blogs and videos.  When you are planning to post a blog or video, let your group know to be expecting it so they can read and respond.

Let’s say your financial advisor Mary has 200 followers; John, one of your best clients has 4,000; CPA Sam has 500 and insurance broker Sue has 6,000 followers.  If each of them Tweets, Likes and Comments on your post; you have just been placed in front of almost 11,000 people with no extra work and for free!

As Google’s algorithms do their complicated and scientific thing, key factors in ranking include key words and reviews.  Those Tweets, Likes and Comments help you increase your relevancy and rankings and cost you absolutely nothing!

To recap, develop a network of people who will Tweet, Like and Comment on your blog content (and you will do the same for them) in order to increase rankings in Google searches.  Doing those small things will translate into higher rankings, more visibility and more business.
 
 
 
 

Saying these things will almost always land your press release in the trash and alienate you from the particular publication or TV station you are trying to target in the future.

Here they are:

1. The word “publicity”. We all know that the point of reaching out to local media is to score free publicity for your firm, but if you actually say that in your press release or pitch, your story will never see the light of day.  You would be amazed how many lawyers craft pitch letters saying, “dear so and so, I am reaching out to you with hopes to secure media coverage or publicity about our firm”. FAIL.

2. Anything that resembles a blatant advertisement for your firm -  The media’s job is to run unique, interesting and timely stories for their audience, not just cover small businesses in the area, just because.  You should be pitching with this in mind and offering real story ideas or useful tips (i.e. 5 Ways to Avoid Financial Strain When Caring for Aging Parents or Getting Your Legal House In Order Before The New Year), and not just asking them to run a glorified advertisement about your practice (ex. Please cover why we are so great or what kind of results we get for our clients….).

3. “I’m really busy so please schedule an appointment with my secretary so we can talk further…”- Yes, you are busy, but so are producers and journalists.  If getting a hold of you for an interview is like pulling teeth, they will almost always move on to the next credible source.  So if you are serious about adding free publicity as part of your overall legal marketing strategy, don’t drop hints that you might be hard to work with or get a hold of in the future.

Know of any other “kryptonite” words or phrases that have backfired on lawyers in their media pitch or press release in the past?  Be sure to share your experiences in the comment section below!

HELPFUL RESOURCES:  Have you tried to score free publicity for your firm in the past with little or no success?  Or are you a total newbie in the world of Public Relations and need some help creating timely PR pitches or campaigns that WORK?

If so, check out our Do-It-Yourself PR Kit that will give you in-depth strategies, tools and sample press releases/pitches that are guaranteed to land you coverage in the press in no time!

And if you are an estate planning attorney, be sure to check out our Done-For-You Monthly Marketing Campaigns here. Each campaign comes with a custom press release written by PR professionals that are designed to get RESULTS.  This can be purchased as part of the overall package here or a la carte each month, here.

Curious how well these materials really work? Here are just a few links to interviews or TV segments featuring attorneys who have used our done-for-you marketing materials or DIY PR training programs in the past few months:

Nancy Chillag, Interview with CBS

Darlynn Morgan, LA Parent

Heather Chubb, Sacramento Bee

Steve Worrall on NPR

Don’t wait to get your hands on these important training materials.  Slash your advertising budget in half and start getting the local newspapers and TV stations to promote your firm for you!  It’s easy when you know how, and these materials will show you exactly what to do to see results!

And yes, social media CAN be just that.  However, it is also much more importantly the new media way of marketing.  People are no longer turning
to the yellow pages or ads run in newspapers and magazines when they
are looking for a service provider.  Instead they are going to their network,
their “social network”.  And YOU need to be there!

The question then becomes about how you show up once you are there.

I see a lot of lawyers making what I consider to be three huge mistakes.

• Setting up an RSS feed ONLY and just feeding the content from their blog onto their social media profile.  While this can be good for SEO, it is not doing much to build you a following of local prospects and leads.  Nor does it usually generate any interaction.
• Building relationships with other lawyers but neglecting looking for prospects and potential referral sources in their own back yards to build relationships with that will turn into real ROI for the time they are investing in “new media” marketing.
• Not realizing that social media contacts (fans, followers, connections) are worth FAR less than email and direct mail contacts. And failing to set up systems by which they *leverage* social media to build these much more valuable lists.

Next week I am hosting a teleconference and will be interviewing Nate Hagerty, who is helping CPA’s do just that, systematically use social media to get local clients from social media into the doors of their practices.

If you want to learn more about how you can use this “new media” for marketing your business and not have it suck up tons of your precious time without any ROI.  Join us!

It’s a free call, and we will send a replay but only to those that register
http://www.lawyersocialmedia.com

To your success & productivity!

Laura Lee

Does Legal Marketing Maven also help with implementing the marketing materials? I don’t have enough time to do it myself.

Yes!  We are an implementation company!  The DFY packages were put together to help lawyers that have in house staff (or virtual teams that they are working with) so that they didn’t have start every month from scratch.  But we will happily put together an implementation package that meets your needs, just reply to this email and schedule a complimentary strategy session with me to explore those options.

Do all of your DFY materials focus on general estate planning (or focus on one particular niche)? I am an elder law lawyer, will it work for me?

Our DFY materials are eclectic and focus on estate planning for the young and old, we try to incorporate basic estate planning, elder law and administration into our materials each month because we believe your practice will benefit from serving clients in all stages of their life.

Do you have DFY materials for other practice areas? I am a bankruptcy lawyer and would love materials like this for my law firm.

Currently our DFY materials are only for Estate planning attorneys however, we are planning to launch 2 new practice areas this year.  If you are interested in these types of materials for your practice area please reply to this email and let me know what that is, it will help me determine which 2 areas we will roll out next.

If you need the services now, let’s schedule a time to chat about what your needs are and create a custom package that will meet your needs.

Does Legal Marketing Maven work with lawyers in other practice areas?

Yes!  We privately work with clients in a variety of practice areas – personal injury, medical malpractice, bankruptcy, business law and family law.  Our services span a wide range including but not limited to:

•    Development and execution of direct response marketing campaigns
•    Web writing, Copywriting and Blogging
•    Teleseminars and Webinars
•    Landing Pages/ Squeeze Pages
•    Email Marketing
•    Newsletters
•    Infusionsoft Management
•    Autoresponders
•    Search Engine Optimization
•    Social Media Marketing
•    Article Marketing
•    Reputation Management
•    Press Releases and Public Relations
•    Marketing of In-Person Events/ Conferences
•    Creation and Launch of Lead Generation Pieces
•    Book Writing
•    Ghost Writing
•    Product Launches

I’m happy to schedule a complimentary strategy session with you to discuss your marketing needs and let you know how we could be of service.

Have a question that wasn’t answered here, please let me know – simply email help@legalmarketingmaven.com and I’ll get back to you shortly.

Want to schedule a time to chat?  Simply email help@legalmarketingmaven.com and we’ll get something scheduled.

LL

As you’ll see on the site, these items can be purchased in a bundle or completely a la carte according to the marketing needs you have for the month. Here’s what you have to look forward to in May’s package:

Monthly Marketing Campaign:

• Postcard copy targeted to parents of graduating seniors explaining that their child is now an adult and how to work with your office to retain some control over their child’s financial and medical affairs (we asked a few attorneys to pass this around their office as a test case and every mom with high-school aged kids requested the ‘parent sanity kit’!).  It also offers mom or dad a free planning session when they come in to have documents created for their child.”
• Detailed instructions on how and where to purchase a mailing list targeted directly to parents of graduating seniors to send the postcard to.
• Copy for 2 Facebook Ads (just turn the postcard copy into a landing page on your blog or website to reach even more parents of graduating seniors!)

• A public service announcement to help spread your message to the local TV and radio stations.

4 Optimized Blog Posts and 4 Videos Scripts On The Following Topics:

• Determining long-term care insurance needs
• Planning considerations for an aging LBGT community
• What to do when divorced parents can’t agree on legal guardians
• Will your business survive after your death???

Press Release and Pitch Letter – Designed to land free publicity in local newspapers, TV outlets and other family media sources:

This timely press release explains the 3 documents every parent needs to legally intervene on their graduating senior’s behalf if the unthinkable happens.

Done-For-You Print Newsletter - Want to send a print newsletter this month to your list?

Our print newsletter is chock full of articles and content that you can simply customize with your firm information and send out to your clients and prospects.  We’ve even included a feature article that carries along our “graduating seniors” theme to get more parents into your office next month!

Again, you can get all the details and purchase the May campaign materials by clicking here.

Have questions?  Please don’t hesitate to contact me by emailing help@legalmarketingmaven.com

I’ve been doing a lot of hands-on outreach for our private clients lately to get them speaking gigs in front of referral sources orother relevant groups.

I literally spent hours on the phone this week following up with every organization we sent a pitch or speaker packet to, just to see what they thought and if they were interested in moving forward.

For every unfriendly voice on the other end of the line who couldn’t be bothered with my call (which would probably be discouraging if I didn’t have such thick skin!), there was another who was thrilled that I took the time to follow up.

Many had further questions (and real interest) about the materials we sent, but they just never found time to pick up phone and call us back (you know how that goes).

We eventually did land a few speaking engagements and invites to lunch as a result of our efforts–which shows how important follow up is during any marketing campaign.

If you can make one shift in your marketing plan this week, I would encourage you to assign SOMEONE on your team to follow up by phone, email or preferably both when you are reaching out for speaking gigs.

To make things even easier, send something tangible first (i.e a speaker packet, letter, postcard) and you’ll find the follow up call isn’t so “cold,” as you are already on the group or organization’s radar.

Now what are you waiting for–get to it!

Laura Lee

PS:  Frustrated that you aren’t reaching your marketing goals that you set for the New Year?  Curious about the services that we offer?  Let’s chat!  You can schedule a no obligation, 30 minute initial consultation with me by emailing Help@LegalMarketingMaven.com.  Let’s discuss your marketing goals and create concrete steps to get them into action!

“I’m sorry the cancer has metastasized into his liver, lungs and muscles and there are no treatment options”. It was almost a year ago, and the day my life changed forever; my husband of 20 years & father of my two children was embarking on a battle that didn’t have any odds of victory according to the doctors.

A lot of emotions happen anger, resentment, fear and grief to name a few.  Anyone who has walked down this path can attest to the fact that gratitude is hard to find.

However, during the past 11 months, we have learned to shift our perspective and focus on how much we have to be grateful for, every day that we get to share together, is a blessing.

We are never promised time, most of us just take for granted the minutes, days and years. We don’t cherish the small stuff and spend way too much time worrying about things that in the long run really don’t matter.

Time.  At first we worried about how much time do we have, and when will it run out. Perspective. We shifted it to gratitude for every second and cherish the gift.

I’m thankful to all my wonderful friends (even those whom I have never met in person) and my family, for all that they have done and all the prayers that have been prayed, I know that they have made a difference. Thank you for being a part of my life. And the hospice workers who visit us weekly and make sure his medical needs are taken care of, that he is as pain free as possible, and that he has as many “good” days as possible – thank you for the work that you do and being the special people in our lives that you are.

This Thanksgiving, take the time to reflect on what you really have to be grateful for, there is so much, even when things are going wrong, if we just take the time to look for it and do a little “shifting” of our perspective.

Also, never forget that miracles happen every day, all you have to do is look for them.

With deepest gratitude and blessings,

Laura Lee

T-Teach-As a leader you can’t assume that everyone already “knows” everything when they first step foot in your firm. Even though law is law, no two firms operate the same. Take the time to teach your staff the preferred way of doing things and make yourself available. Encourage them to ask questions and ask for their opinion. Assume that they want to advance in the firm and train them on what you are looking for in a leader.

E-Excite-Let them know coming in that they are important by having goals and rewards set in place to excite them. Don’t be afraid to take a different approach and try some of their ideas along the way.  Create a family environment where you do things together outside of work. Your team should be excited to walk in the office and see what adventure awaits them.

A-Appreciate-Every leader knows the importance of being appreciated. Just because it is the teams’ job to carry out certain task doesn’t mean that a thank you is not deserved.  Kindness and appreciation will take you a long way, because there will come a time when your team will volunteer to do things for you. As a part of the law firm industry I realize that time is not on your side so consider an annual team appreciation day. Whatever system you use just be sure and take time for your team.

M-Motivate-When a person is new to the team it’s clear that they are starting from the bottom. Create an environment that lets them know that hard work is appreciated will allow them to climb the ladder. This will motivate them to work hard and put their best foot forward at all times.

Now you know the secret to creating a profitable law firm. Who knew that the key to a success came in a four-letter word.

Authentic conversation on social media is great, transparency is awesome – but you have to remember that you are a professional.

Just like the big law firms telling law school students to watch what they are putting on social media sites because it will be reviewed as part of the hiring process, you also need to pay attention to what you are putting out there on the public platform. There are some attorneys (many that I know and like) that simply share TOO MUCH information online and run the risk of alienating clients.

I know I’m going to get some flack for this, but blogs and social media are the new yellow pages. And of course it’s also where clients are going to get to know professionals BEFORE they contact their office.

(Just like what you would do before YOU would hire someone to work for you).

So let me ask you, is the image that you portray online something that would make a good “first impression” to potential clients? If it is not, I really want to encourage you to re-evaluate your social media plan and create a guidelines and policies handbook for your law business. Yes, written guidelines for how your law office handles social media (even if it is JUST for you right now!)

Now don’t get me wrong– I’m not saying you can’t have personality and must make social media all about business without any viewpoints or friendships. What I am saying, however, is the same thing I tell my daughter who is in college – think before you hit submit or post.

I know you can set privacy levels for your Facebook profile, but who knows how long that will be good for, and twitter is not protected at all. Google your name + twitter and read through your tweet stream as if you were a potential client because trust me, more and more people will be doing just that before they call your office.
So bottom line—remember, YOU are a professional. Convey that each and every time you post.

PS- On a final note, if you are spending all day on twitter I highly encourage you to stop that too. I know “I” don’t want to see that my attorney spends most of their day chatting on social media sites (ok so I shared 2 things!) instead of working on client matters. If you have content you want to share, consider pre-scheduling it with another platform so you can focus solely on interacting with your friends/followers when you do have a chance to chat.