Free, Low-Cost and NEW Marketing Strategies to Increase Leads, Referrals and Publicity for Your Law Firm

I’ll say right off the bat that our team invests a TON of money each year staying on top of data and learning the most effective ways to market your firm online–and off.

There have been a number of BIG changes this year that can really impact the amount, and quality of traffic, coming to your law firm site.  These methods are simple, CHEAP (…and in some cases FREE), and right now are barely being used by your competition.

I invite you to join me on September 22nd and come hear what they are.   Here’s a quick sneak peak of some things I’ll cover:

•    Cheap and low cost marketing campaigns that are working NOW and how you can implement them in your firm.
•    The 3 R’s of relationship-based marketing and how doing these things on a regular, consistent basis will increase your leads, referrals and live speaking opportunities by up to 90%!
•    The new “online marketing secret weapon” that grabs immediate attention and converts like CRAZY, which hardly anyone (including your competition!) knows about.
•    Insider PR secrets to getting free publicity and regular news coverage for your law firm–without spending 6 (or even 5!) figures on a PR agency.
•    How to streamline and simplify your marketing efforts so you are “putting butts in seats” without having to take your focus away from legal work or the things that make you the most money.
•    Why it’s so important to be posting regular, optimized content on your website–and short-cuts to help you do this if you’re pressed for time.
•     ….and more!

I guarantee you will find this webinar to be content rich, educational and that you will pick up a handful of strategies that you can implement immediately in your firm– no matter what practice area you are in.

At the very end of the call, you will also have the opportunity to learn about Legal Marketing Maven’s Done-For-You monthly marketing package for estate and elder law attorneys.  This is a comprehensive solution for busy small and solo attorneys who want RESULTS without a huge time or financial investment. At the request of many, we will also SHOW you some of the past materials we have created.

There is no obligation to purchase this package and it’s not for everyone either–so please feel free to join us for the fr’ee training and stay on to hear more about the program if you’re interested.

If you’re not, simply hang up after the lesson.  No pressure, no hassles,
no never-ending sales pitches. That’s our promise to you.

So are you ready to join us?

Just go to this page and enter your name and email.  This will allow us
to send the private call-in number and webinar link directly to your inbox
upon successful registration.

See you then!

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

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!

Are you thinking about outsourcing certain tasks or workflow issues in your law firm?  If you are, you’re not alone.  Outsourcing is on the minds of many solo and small firm lawyers.  The promise of lower overhead, more freedom and the ability to concentrate on core business problems creates a siren song for attorneys.

Here, then, are the 5 tips I live by when outsourcing any process for my law firm:

Determine:  Think about your needs and goals.  What do you want to outsource, and why do you want to do so?  This may sound simplistic, but the “why” portion of the question gets many lawyers hamstrung.  Rather than having a reason do something, they frequently think in terms of what they do NOT want to do.  ”I don’t want to be bothered with drafting these motions,” rather than, “I recognize that drafting routine motions is best left to someone else, leaving me free to carefully review and revise drafts for a final review.”

Document:  When outsourcing, don’t presume that anyone else in the world has your brain or background.  You need to be able to provide any professional with a detailed set of instructions on exactly how you want tasks accomplished.  Without such documentation, you’re leaving results up to chance.  You’re also guaranteeing that an outsourced professional (who likely charges by the hour) will need to spend more time than is necessary merely to get up to speed.

Interview:  When it comes to outsourcing for your law firm, there’s nothing more important that ensuring that there is a match of skills and attitude.  Office-bound employees are subject to vetting, so why would you not do the same with an outsourcing professional?

Manage:  The service you provide is always your responsibility, so you need to manage the work your law firm outsources.  Some tools you may decide to work with are Basecamp, Google Wave, or even Google Docs.  Wikis and project management solutions abound, and it’s your responsibility to ensure that they are utilized to maximize the efficiency of your law firm.

Hone:  Your initial experience with outsourcing will be merely a trial run for the long-term.  Mistakes will be made, none of which will be anyone’s fault in particular.  Instructions will be misunderstood or poorly communicated, and the ball will be dropped.  You will be managing each task closely, but it may be frustrating to both you and the outsourced professional.  Take the time to listen to suggestions for improvement, and make some constructive ones of your own.  Refine the process regularly and you will minimize the problems later on.

As I explained last week, I am turning the page and no longer working with Alexis Martin Neely and the Family Wealth Planning Institute.

Instead, I’ve realized it’s time to re-open the doors of my own business, which was extremely successful before my  decision to commit to one client in 2007—and ultimately one that changed the lives of many attorneys and practices all over this country.

So I’m excited to announce that I’ll once again be providing private coaching and high-end implementation services for qualified attorneys and attorney membership organizations in the US and Canada.

But here’s the really exciting part.

My company, Legal Marketing Maven, is now partnering with my good friend and well-respected implementation Goddess, Paula Woolley of Progressive Office Solutions and other incredible team members to provide full-service, complete marketing support for lawyers who are really serious about exploding their business this year.

So what does a full-service, complete virtual marketing team look like?

Basically, you’ll have a private coach, marketing director, copywriters, graphic designers, IT gurus, client service directors and administrative support staff virtually at your fingertips… devoted entirely to the growth, prosperity and vitality of your small or solo law firm.

You’ll also get the benefit of working with me as your personal mentor, coach and business strategist.  I’ve helped multiple businesses surpass the million dollar mark and I’m happy to give you the tools and strategies to do the same.

You will  also benefit from my network of service providers, marketing professionals and business gurus as I’m out there continuing my own personal education and staying up to date cutting edge strategies both in the legal and non legal communities. which of course is needed for long-lasting growth.

However, as I said this is a major time commitment on our part and we can only take a limited number of these high level relationships.  They are also limited geographically to ensure fairness and a true competitive edge to the lawyers we serve.

If you’re interested in becoming one of the few lawyers we serve at this level (and FYI a number of spaces are already filled—and filling fast just via word-of-mouth) please email me directly at help@legalmarketingmaven.com

Yet for those of you simply looking for a la carte legal marketing , virtual administrative services or regular marketing support on a less-intensive level, we still have plenty of options to meet the growing needs of your small or solo firm.  You can see all of our services or request more information by visiting our services offered page.

Again, I am so excited to embark on this journey with you and look forward to completely transforming law firms across the country this year.

To your success & productivity!

Laura Lee

We’ve all had to attend meetings (sometimes regularly scheduled meetings) that we simply dreaded.  Since you do want your team meeting to happen every week, the last thing you want is for it to be something your staff does not look forward to.

Here are my tips for what NOT to do with your weekly team meeting time:

Do not assume everyone can stay in the meeting for an unlimited amount of time.  I recommend scheduling 60 minutes for the team meeting, and do your best to keep it within that time frame.

Do not spend the entire time, focused on one agenda item.  Everyone should come to the meeting with a printed agenda of items that everyone has contributed to.  If you see that the discussion of a certain item will take more than a few minutes and your agenda is full, suggest that the members of your team that are involved with that item, have a separate meeting to go more in depth on the topic.

Do not forget to take notes, always appoint someone to be in charge of taking notes (keeping the same person for this each week works well) and appoint someone in charge of reviewing the notes from the previous week and making sure that all open items carry over to the next agenda.

Do not ever use a team meeting to call someone out personally about a problem.  If you are having issues with a team members you or your manager should handle those problems privately.  On this same note if you are having a problem with a team member do not make that obvious during the staff meeting, by you comments, tone, or lack of responsiveness to that staff person.

And do not control the meeting.  You have selected your team because of the talent and gifts that they bring to the table.  When you bring all of those gifts to a meeting of the minds that is conducted in a “safe place” where there are no stupid questions or ideas, your business will benefit from this weekly activity in ways that you never dreamed possible.

Do you have tips that make your meetings more productive, or a staff meeting experience to share, please post a comment, we love to hear from you!

These team meetings can be done in person, via phone, or on a video platform like skype.  Yet no matter which platform you choose, the key is to ensure they happen each week without fail….schedule it at the same time every week as if it is your most important client.

That’s because your team needs at least an hour of your undivided attention to ask questions, go over open items, provide feedback and discuss future projects in a way that’s organized. And by setting aside a specific time each week for this to occur doesn’t interrupt your daily work flow on a regular basis.

You, in turn, need these meetings to check up on the progress of your team, give them the time to hear their feedback and answer questions, hold everyone accountable, brainstorm future projects and keep everyone informed of the happenings in the firm.

Having a weekly team meeting, is a great way to do this in a controlled and focused environment where everyone gets their needs met and your team is empowered to tackle their work load without struggle, confusion or lack of clarity each week.

If you’re not already holding weekly team calls for the employees or subcontractors of your firm, now is a great time to start.  Here are a few things you should ALWAYS do during a team meeting to ensure it is always a productive and efficient use of your time:

1. ALWAYS have an agenda- This keeps the meeting focused and on track.  Essentially, one person should be in charge of compiling the agenda and gathering talking points (from every person that attends the meeting) that they would like to cover in advance of the call.  You’ll then use this to guide the conversation and ensure all issues are discussed and resolved appropriately.
2. ALWAYS Share the Stage- It’s important that meetings are a collaborative and safe space and not just what you want, need or expect from your staff.  While that will ultimately be addressed on the call, it’s equally vital to make sure everyone has a chance to voice their needs, questions and/or concerns for feedback from the group.  In fact, I recommend starting each call by celebrating the successes of the week so it naturally pulls everyone into the conversation.  You can then proceed into the agenda from there.
3. ALWAYS look ahead two weeks in each meeting- This gives everyone the big picture as to what’s coming up so no one is scrambling at the last minute…or worse…misses an important deadline for your firm.   This two week run down should include everything significant on the company calendar—and if you don’t have a company calendar, now’s a great time to start one!
4. ALWAYS take notes- meeting notes are a great point of reference…and even a refresher as your team moves through their work load for the week.  It’s also a great point of reference for you or your manager to stay on top of what was assigned and to whom.

So there you have it….4 things you should ALWAYS do during a team to ensure they become an effective…and extremely beneficial use of your time.  Once you get started with these simple tips, you’ll be on your way to having more productive, efficient and happy team and hence a more productive business in no time.

Be sure to leave a comment below with any team meeting tips you find beneficial for you and your team.  Next week we’ll discuss the top things you should NEVER do on a team call, so stay tuned!

*****

Online Business Manager and law firm marketing expert, Laura Lee Sparks, is one of the most authoritative and well respected voices on attorney outsourcing, legal marketing and virtual assisting for lawyers on the web.  Her advice and legal marketing campaigns have helped lawyers reach and surpass the million-dollar mark in their businesses numerous times thanks to her straight-forward advice and ability to make legal marketing principles easy to understand and implement.  For further information on lawyer outsourcing programs or to contact Laura Lee directly, please email help@legalmarketingmaven.com