Monday - Friday | 9am - 5pm Central

9 Signs You Need A Website Overhaul

Spring is just around the corner (thank God!) and now is the perfect time to do a quick audit of your website.

The design and functionality of your website is critically important. A website that motivates clients to call the office must be clear, easy to navigate and built to rank well in the search engines.

This is your first impression—and you must make it a good one if you expect phone calls from the internet.

Here are a few areas to “audit” as we head into spring:

1. Is your contact information displayed prominently on the site? You would be surprised at how many websites we audit that force us to HUNT for this information!

2. Do you have a page for each of your practice areas? A bulleted list of what you do is simply not enough. If you want to rank better in the search engines and clearly explain your expertise to prospective clients, you must have a dedicated page for each area in which you practice.

3. Is your site visually appealing or does it look like a DIY job? If you’re seeking high-end clients and cases, the “face” of your company should have a high-end look too.

4. Is the website designed to “build your list?” Are there free reports, audios or kits that people can download? Is it easy to join your mailing list? Do you even have a mailing list?

5. Does the website tell your “firm story?” Of course you need a professional bio, but what about the story of why you do what you do? What makes you different and unique? This type of copy helps clients feel like they know you and helps you stand out from the crowd.

6. Are you displaying badges and logos of your affiliations, media appearances and awards? These help to give 3rd party credibility and validation that you are who you say you are and can do what you say you do.

7. Do you have testimonials from happy clients on the site? Testimonials from happy clients SELL legal services!

8. Do you have correct title tags on each page that are properly optimized for SEO?

9. Is your website a WordPress site? WordPress is one of the best sites for SEO, functionality and usability (translation: it makes it SUPER easy for you to edit your own site without help from tech geeks!).

These are just a few things to look for when reviewing your site this spring. If you determine your website is not up to par and you would like information on a redesign, please feel free to reach out to us for help. Whether it’s a few copy edits or an entire website overhaul, we can help you get it done in a timely and cost-effective manner.

Happy Auditing!

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

Get First Page Google Rankings In 5 Days Or Less (…Yes, Really)

Imagine for a moment if your best prospect found you sitting on the first page of Google, anytime they came looking for your services…

They type in their relevant keyword or question, and boom, there you are representing yourself and your law firm.  Best part…they click on your link and land on your website.

Pretty cool right?

I’m sure you’ve heard it all before.  Get on page 1 of Google, and your lead generation / traffic problems will be solved.

But it’s usually never that straight-forward.  There are plenty of companies out there promising to get you on page 1, and they’ll do it for a small fortune.

But do you get results?

Sometimes…  Maybe!

But what if you could get on the first page of Google, and stay there?

What if you could have two spots on the first page of Google?

What if your work, your website, and your videos took up all of page 1 of Google?

Would you like that?

Of course you would!

Oh, and did I mention that it won’t cost you a small fortune?  It can be done in as little as 35 minutes and all you need to do is smile and look good on camera.

Take a look at one of our clients…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here she is, being featured as an expert on Page 1 of Google.  It took our team less than 5 days to snag this premium organic spot.

Pretty cool right?

Mixed in with all of the other law firms, here is our client with the only video (aka, picture of her) smack in the middle of the results.

What do you think a busy, desperate prospect is going to click on, especially someone looking for an attorney right away?

Which result stands out?

Yes, the video!

The video is different.  It’s unique.  Your eyes are drawn to it.

The best part yet, is that when someone clicks on that link and watches your video, they have the chance to connect with you before even picking up the phone.

So let’s cut right to chase. You probably want to know how we did it. How in the world did we get a page one ranking in just 5 days using a video?

If you weren’t already aware, Google purchased YouTube not to long ago, and videos are now featured prominently in search results.  All you need to do is optimize your videos correctly with the right keywords and you can rank on page one for your search terms SUPER FAST.

(If you’re new to video marketing, our friend Gerry Oginksi wrote a great book on the subject that we’d encourage you to read. You can purchase it on Amazon here.)

Video marketing really is that simple as long as you have the right technique.

Luckily for you, the video script and the step-by-step process is just one of the main benefits you can expect when you join our Done For You Monthly program.

That’s right!

You are just moments away from ranking on the first page of Google search results – organically.

No paid ads.

No costly SEO (that can be affected by the next big update).

YouTube is part of Google, and Google loves video.

That’s a win-win situation if I’ve heard of one.

Now let’s talk about your next win-win situation!

Let’s get YOU and YOUR FIRM featured on the first page of Google, complete with your very own expert video.

It’s all part of our monthly, done-for-you legal services.  We provide you with all the tools, resources, content, and materials your firm needs to stand out.

All you have to do is put it into action, and let the clients come to you.

You can have your first campaign up and running by the end of today.  Act fast and schedule your 1:1 personalized strategy session with me and together we’ll increase the visibility of your firm in 2014!

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

 

Still holding out for the client fairy? A story of consistency and OUR most skeptical client.

Around the time I wrote this post declaring that legal marketing is not magic (…and to stop expecting it to be!), we recently started working with a very skeptical new client who was hoping for such magical results.

He’d been around the marketing block quite a few times, having worked with all of the gurus who made beautiful brochures, fun websites….and he even tried public seminars a time or two, to no avail.

Every time a campaign seemed to flop, he’d put the brakes on hard and look for better solutions to bring in more clients to his practice.   A totally natural response.

He was no doubt frustrated with marketing and made a comment to us that he was hoping to see more results after just a month or two of work.  I assured him that they would come, not because I’m a rockstar, but because it takes a solid formula of consistency, sweat equity and time to make a big impact on referral sources and prospective clients in the community.  He had to give it more time.

Fast forward to last week.  After spending much of the summer traveling, he reported on our monthly strategy call that September was pretty well booked with lunch meetings with key referral sources and prospective clients for new business.   Old (and very high-net worth) clients were coming back in for more work in droves—partly fueled by the fact that he was now staying in front of them regularly with electronic and print communications and creating top of mind awareness.

And, after making it through the typical doldrums of summer that practically all firms experience, he was able to hire someone else part-time to take more marketing off of his plate and work with us to ensure he was communicating with clients, prospects and referral sources even more regularly.

I hung up feeling very proud… not of myself or my team, but of HIM.  He is a brilliant attorney and a very neat person that more people SHOULD know about. It was HIS diligence and HIS commitment to CONSISTENT marketing that brought results.  He literally had to put blinders on to all the bright, shiny objects that came his way, got a routine going and watched the snowball effect take place.

I had a similar conversation with another client out in California.  Through consistent marketing, we were able to infiltrate all of the nursing homes in her area.  Not only did we land on their speaker rounds, but managed to build meaningful relationships with the staff.  Beyond our automated communications, SHE worked hard to connect with them in very personal ways that no other attorneys were doing (remember, this type of marketing makes the shift from “What’s in it for me” to “How can I be of service/value to you?”). Although initially very introverted and hesitant to do it, she has such a wonderful and caring personality that made this type of networking and relationship building a great fit for her.

So while in the beginning, and even now, the seminars in the nursing homes are not very profitable (they are mostly for the residents and not too many family members show up), she now gets a tremendous amount of referrals from the staff…which is what really counts.  She is favored over other attorneys in the area and keeping them out of her “territory” that she worked hard to claim.  The seminars are just the FIRST step.   A great legal marketing plan always has a bigger picture, massive follow up and multiple long-term steps to achieve practice goals.

I just wanted to share these two quick stories again to reaffirm that legal marketing is not magic.  It doesn’t have to be slimey.  It doesn’t have to be a “hard sell”.  You don’t even really need all the bells and whistles. It simply needs to be educational, reach your target audience on an emotional level and designed in such a way to elicit a response (whether that be for coffee, speaking opportunities or direct offers for appointments, etc.—depending on your ethics rules).

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

 

Making a Case for Hiring Out Your Legal Marketing Efforts

We’ve talked before about how a lawyer running a practice has to be a little of everything to everyone. In addition to actually using the skills that you went to law school to learn, you’re likely also overseeing nearly every tiny detail of running your business. When you’re busy juggling employees’ schedules, paying the utility bill for your office space, attending meetings—oh, and actually working with clients—it’s easy to put marketing on the back burner.

But, that’s a dangerous place for it. Your ability to do all of those other things relies on the fact that you have clients in the first place. You need to keep in touch with former clients, give great service to current clients, and reach out to potential clients. And you need to do it all simultaneously. That’s marketing.

Since good marketing builds a solid foundation for your law business, you either need to devote a lot of time to it or hire a marketing company with experience in law. That way, many of the activities that would otherwise fall to you can be taken off your plate. And, let’s be realistic, a lot of the marketing stuff that you “should” be doing, just isn’t getting done anyway. Am I right?

Let’s suppose that you make the argument that you do have the time to do your own marketing. I know a lot of lawyers that really enjoy marketing because they like talking and writing about their services. I love marketing too so I totally understand this! But, you need to be realistic; do you really understand the mechanics of marketing? Can you create your own professional-looking client newsletter using sophisticated design software? Can you use the right meta tags, URLs, and keywords to dominate Google? Do you have time to create brochures, fliers, e-books, white papers and other collateral that is critical to effective lead generation? If your answer is “yes” you probably do not have enough clients!

And, there’s the conundrum – not enough clients because you aren’t doing marketing well and not getting the professional marketing you need because you don’t have enough clients.

This is exactly why we created the Done-For-You program. We provide lawyers all over the country with professional marketing material that gets results at an absolutely rock-bottom price. All of the material is ready to customize, which they can do with minimal time invested. Then, they simply shoot it out of the door. Easy, peasy. 😉

So, how are you managing? Are you trying to juggle the many balls of running your law practice and letting the marketing ball fall helplessly to the ground? There’s really no reason for that. If you haven’t already, check out our Done-For-You program. I promise you that you will feel like a 50-pound weight has come off your shoulders!

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

Busting your butt and still not getting referrals? Here’s the answer…

Are you frustrated by the number of referrals you are (or are NOT) receiving?

You’ve undoubtedly read lots of articles from business leaders about the importance of getting referrals and you understand that the key to getting them is to provide absolutely top-notch legal services and exceptional customer service.

I’m sure that you’ve heeded all of that advice and every client leaves your office feeling satisfied and happy with your service, but for reasons you can’t quite figure out – they are not referring their family members and friends to you.

In my years of working with lawyers I’ve found the solution to this dilemma hiding behind a very simple question…

Are you asking for referrals?

Simply having the old staple phrase, “The highest compliment we can receive is a referral” on your business card and/or email signature is NOT enough.

In my experience, too many lawyers just assume that their satisfied clients, friends, family members and colleagues will refer clients to them. You know what happens when you assume…

The key to getting referrals is to have a system in place and effective methods for asking for referrals. This system can take many forms. Here are a few ideas specifically for lawyers in the estate planning field:

  • Send a card or gift to clients 30 days after the completion of an estate plan or probate work. In the note, thank the client for their business and mention that you would appreciate referrals to their family and friends.
  • When hosting an event, send the details to your referral partners in advance, along with pre-written copy that they can paste into an email and pass along to their contacts. Ask them to share and make it easy for them to do so.
  • Encourage clients to have “critical conversations” with their family and friends to discover their wishes and find out what planning they may have in place. Offer discounts or complimentary planning sessions if they discover their loved one is unprepared for a crisis.

It’s upon this third example that we built this month’s Done-for-You marketing campaign for lawyers struggling to mine high-quality prospects already connected to their database!

In the campaign we provide you with effective resources to help educate your existing clients on starting these difficult conversations with their friends and family. Not only will you be doing your clients a huge favor by helping them bring up a touchy, but very important, topic, but you will also be asking them for referrals. It’s a win-win for both sides!

The moral to this story is that you need to complete the circle when it comes to getting referrals. You’ve done the front-end work by providing great service. Now all you need to do is ask for them!

P.S. Our referral-boosting campaign that comes with this month’s Done-for-You (DFY) package can be used for all of your past clients and all of your future clients. If you would like to get your hands on it, you’ll need to join our program. You’ll find the details about the DFY program here.

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

What’s the SWOT?

When you’re running your own practice, you are so much more than “just” a lawyer. You also have to be a manager, a planner, and a marketer. All of these roles take a different set of skills, and to be successful, you need to have at least a basic knowledge of each. In some cases, though, there is a single thing you can do that works for all these different categories. One of the activities you can, and should, do in order to be a better manager, planner, and marketer is to identify your business’ S.W.O.T.

The S.W.O.T. is a part of strategic planning that helps to identify where your business is now and help steer it in the right direction for the future. It takes some work on your part, but by the time you’re done, you’ll likely have identified several areas that you can use to bolster your marketing plan. Sharing what you’ve learned with your employees also works to make sure that everyone is on the same page and working toward the same goals.

So, what is the S.W.O.T?

S = Strengths: When you look at your business as objectively as possible, what do you feel your strengths are? Perhaps you have specialization that sets you apart from other attorneys in the area. Maybe you are great at “hand-holding” new clients who are intimidated by the legal process. Spend some time and come up with at least five strengths and put some thought into how you can leverage them in your marketing to really shine.

W = Weaknesses: It’s not necessarily fun to look at your own flaws, but when you do it from an objective perspective, it can be a really powerful exercise. Weaknesses are those things that you want to target for elimination. For example, maybe you are having trouble keeping up with the workload and some things are falling through the cracks. By writing this down, you can give yourself permission to find a solution, such as realizing that it’s time to hire some help.

O = Opportunities: Uncovering opportunities for your business is one of the most enjoyable parts of the S.W.O.T. process. Opportunities are things that you want to capitalize on, either now or in the future. Are there services that are lacking in your area that you could add to your practice? Do you have ideas for a referral system that could pay off? It might be helpful to lay out all of your opportunities with some deadlines and milestones for making them into reality.

T = Threats: Threats are those things that could negatively impact your business but that you don’t have any direct control over. For example, are there some changes in the law coming up that may cost you clients? Is a rough economy a problem when it comes to building your client list? The point of listing your threats is to give yourself the chance to monitor them and find ways to mitigate their impact.

Realistically, it doesn’t have to take a ton of time to do a cursory S.W.O.T. analysis. The important part is that you take that time to identify what is working for and against you so that you can take steps to capitalize on that knowledge.

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

Blogging to Grow Your Law Practice

There’s no doubt that the Internet has changed the way that most businesses work, especially when it comes to garnering new clients.  There are plenty of reasons for that, but web sites and search engines certainly play a huge role.  One of the most powerful tools on your web site is the blog feature.  (You do have a blog feature, don’t you?)

Blogs are an excellent marketing resource for several reasons, and if you’re not blogging yet, then it’s time to get started.  Just a few of the reasons you NEED to start blogging include:

  • Authority
  • Relationship
  • SEO

Authority
Just by virtue of being an attorney, you already have a significant amount of authority when it comes to matters of law.  It’s understood that you have extensive education and understanding in areas that most lay people do not.  But, what sets you apart from all of the other lawyers in your field?

Blogging about your topic gives readers the reassurance that you know what you’re talking about.  When they see your words on the screen, offering them information they truly need, they recognize you as being an expert.  When it comes time to hire an attorney, they’re going to remember you over the lawyer whose static web site does little more than offer some pretty pictures and a contact form.

Relationship
Blogging is a form of social media, and “social” means building relationships.  When people read your blog, they begin to feel like they have a relationship with you.  In addition, many blogs allow for readers to leave comments, questions, and feedback.  When you respond to a comment left on your blog, you are doing more than simply answering a question.  You are showing the reader you are responsive and  you care about their needs.  Simply put, you are building a relationship which creates a great starting point for further engagement with your readers.

SEO
SEO, or “search engine optimization” refers to using proper methods to help search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing to notice your site and to rank it as relevant to search terms input by users.  Blogging is great for SEO!  For one thing, the search engines notice that your content is updated often, which is a good sign to them that you’re engaged and active.  Additionally, you can use “keywords” in your content.  By dropping in terms that you feel others might be using when looking for your type of information, you can show the search engines exactly why you are relevant to certain topics.

There are other good reasons to consider blogging, but these three alone are enough to get you more business.  If you don’t have time to blog on your own, it’s possible to hire “ghost bloggers” to cover topics which fit your practice and give you all of these benefits.  We are happy to give you recommendations to companies we love, or if you are an estate planning lawyer, check out our Done-For-You program where we take care of this for you.  Either way, commit to blogging in 2013. As much as it can feel like a chore, the benefits are well worth the effort!

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

5 great resources for a profitable 2013

We all make resolutions to be more profitable and bring in more business
in the New Year, but the real question is…

What specifically are you doing to ensure your goals become a reality
in 2013?

  • How will you command the attention of better quality prospects
    each month?
  • How will you increase your referrals from local professionals?
  • How will you pull together live seminars that fill your pipeline to
    capacity     for 2-3 months at a time?
  • How will you land FREE publicity in your local papers and on TV?

-and-

  • When will you find the time to focus on your marketing and create
    the materials necessary to make 2013 your best year in practice yet?

If you keep doing the same things you’ve always done, you’re likely to get
the exact same results. Einstein called that insanity, right? I happen to
agree.

Instead, why not start off 2013 with some NEW tools in your arsenal?
I’m talking about tools designed to get the job done right, with a proven
track record of RESULTS (i.e. new quality clients, 1st page SEO rankings,
publicity in your local paper or TV stations, etc.).

To kick off the New Year, I’m releasing 5 of our favorite campaigns and
marketing resources that continue to bring in excellent results for our private
clients, and I KNOW they’ll do the same for you!

But I don’t want you to just take my word it. Here’s solid proof that they WORK:

  • Using our Estate Planning Seminar Mega Pack for spring seminars, our
    private clients in various parts of the country averaged 20-25 attendees
    EACH NIGHT during a 4 night seminar spree. Average amount of
    appointments madeat the seminars consistently ranged between 35-45.
    What would you do with an extra 30 appointments this month?
  • Our clients were regularly featured in their local media using our press
    releases and publicity campaigns. Here are a few links from 2012 for you
    to check out

Steven Spewak featured on STLtoday.com, “Estate Plan Strategies, LLC Offering
Free Health Care Directives For Local Heroes November 26-30th http://interact.
stltoday.com/pr/local-news/PR110112011010912

Darlynn Morgan featured in the Orange County Daily Pilot, “When Teens Become
Adults” http://articles.dailypilot.com/2012-05-24/opinion/tn-dpt-0525-mailbag-20120524 _1_water-taxi-service-harbor-commission-harbor-character/4

Albert Hehr featured in the Plain Dealer, “When Your Graduating Teen Becomes a Legal
Adult, Take Steps To Protect Your Right to Parent In a Crisis” http://blog.cleveland.com/
letters/2012/06/when_your_graduating_teen_beco.html

Need some more page one rankings? Here are a few screen shots showing how our
supercharged blog content packs great SEO results:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


And the BEST part with all of our products and campaigns? There’s no guess work.

We walk you step by step through EVERYTHING you need to know to implement the campaign fast and get the best results. We’re also easily accessible by phone and email if you need guidance purchasing mailing lists, fulfillment, etc.

So, if you’re ready to hit the ground running in 2013, you can now scoop up one… or ALL of our favorite resources for the next 48 hours ONLY at 25% off the regular price. This is a firm deadline…the page will come down and purchases will NOT be possible after January 10th.

Use the code SUCCESS2013 at checkout to apply the 25% discount to your order.

The only catch is that the materials are area exclusive, so they will be issued
on a first-come-first serve basis. If your area is no longer available because
someone purchased it first, or we have a client already in your territory, we will
contact you immediately and issue a full refund. We believe in marketing integrity
and do not work with competing firms.

With that said, I encourage you to check these resources out if you desire to build
stronger, more profitable relationships in your community this year. This New Year’s
blowout because is based on our commitment to YOU and YOUR success, so don’t
wait to take advantage of the materials at this pricing. As always, if you have questions
or would like more information about a particular campaign or product before you buy,
just email us and we’ll help you out.

If you are training someone to handle marketing and community relations at
your firm, purchasing these materials to use as a guide or template of a solid direct
response marketing campaign is an excellent idea. Check it out here!

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

 

Being held hostage by a contractor or service provider?

It never fails that when we start working with a new client, we discover some area where an old contractor or outside firm is holding their intellectual property hostage.

It may be a social media account or website hosting.  It could be access to a CRM or your email marketing platform.

The point is that you can NEVER be too careful when it comes to ensuring that you have long-term access and control of your various accounts.

Not long ago, we started working with a client who asked us to take over the management of his Facebook Fan page. It hadn’t been used in a while and they were ready to start posting more updates on behalf of the firm.

When we asked this attorney to make us an authorized “admin” of the page, it turned out he couldn’t. Lo and behold, a former employee had set up the page under THEIR personal name. That meant the attorney could no longer access the page and we were forced to start from scratch setting up new accounts and building up their fan base.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg.

I can’t TELL you how many times we started working with clients only to discover that they did not own the hard coding or hosting of their website! Rather, the contractor or web company who set it up retained this control and if the attorney wanted to make any changes or use a different provider, they would lose their entire site!

In fact, this recently happened to a very good friend of ours (and a very brilliant attorney) who had to redesign her site from scratch after paying $10,000 for a beautiful site that she did not own and no longer had access to once she terminated her relationship with the designing company.

I shared the following tips with her in order to avoid this nightmare in the future, and I encourage you to use them as well to protect your intellectual property or online real estate.

1. Any accounts set up in YOUR name and on your behalf must be done using a central email address that YOU OWN. When we start working with clients, we set up a basic gmail account that the attorney has access to at any time. We use this gmail address when we make purchases, submit press releases, submit event listings, open new accounts, etc.  That way, the client has access to everything in one central location should we decide to part ways in the future.

2. Do not sign a contract for a website or hosting services unless you retain total control! I don’t care how pretty it looks or how fancy it seems; unless you own that html code, do NOT sign on the dotted line! Same goes for sites you “rent” too. It’s not the brightest idea to pay $2500-$5000 a month for a website that you CERTAINLY won’t have access too if you want to break up with the service provider down the road. For what you pay in one month’s “rent”, you could OWN a site with all the bells and whistles they are offering you.

3. Ensure social media accounts are set up using either your PERSONAL login or a central account like I mentioned in step 1.  This goes for Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, YouTube and even a hootsuite account—which is used to manage these profiles all in one place.

4. Retain ownership of your phone number! This may sound like a “duh” tip, but we recently had a client who learned this the hard way. When she decided to stop renting her office space, she learned that her phone number (which goes to the main switchboard of the building) would not be coming with her, nor would the receptionist be forwarding the calls.  I’m sure you could imagine what a nightmare this turned out to be.

A few proactive steps like these can save you from a TON of headaches and hassles when working with outside companies and independent contractors.

If you’ve ever found yourself held hostage, I’d love to hear your experience and what you did about it. Please feel free to leave a comment below.

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

Does the Rule of 7 Apply to Law Firm Marketing?

ConsistencyIf you’re not consistent, you’re non-existent

If the marketing for your law firm is not producing the ROI or results you want, you may have a problem with being consistent.

Consistent marketing isn’t just slick sales lingo from a marketer or advertising rep. trying to get more business from you.  In order for people to know, like and trust you, they have to hear from you regularly.

If you’ve never heard of the “Rule of 7”, it’s an old marketing adage that says a prospect needs to see or hear your marketing at least 7 times before they’ll take action and buy something.

If you think about this in light of your own buying habits, you’ll probably find it to be true.  How often do pick up the phone and call a high-end service provider based on a one-off advertisement coming from someone you don’t know?

But when you start to hear from someone regularly…and then maybe a friend or a independent 3rd party (like the local news media) drops this service provider’s name too, your relationship with the company can quickly move from ice-cold to warm and receptive.

Now consistent marketing doesn’t mean you have to buy expensive ads in local magazines or the yellow pages every single month, either.  That may work for your particular business, but here’s a few other places where you can increase your marketing results by committing to consistency:

•    Email newsletter- Pick a frequency that you are comfortable with and start sending your email newsletter regularly.  If you decide to send it bi-weekly on a Friday, make sure it goes out bi-weekly on a Friday!  Be a consistent presence in your prospect’s inbox.

•    Social Media- Building a presence on social media requires consistency! With so much happening on sites like Twitter and Facebook, you can’t expect to post an update once a month and get noticed!  At the very least, commit to posting and interacting on your channels at least once or twice a day.

•    Blogging- Great SEO results depends on posting regular content.  You don’t have to post daily–but shoot post on your blog at least once or twice a week.

•    Follow-up- There MUST be consistency in your follow-up!  Every client and every prospect needs to be hearing from you the exact same way, every single time.  If you’re not sure how to put a consistent follow-up strategy in place, or you’d like do train your staff how to  follow-up more effectively with the prospective clients of your firm, grab our free audio training on follow-up in the law firm here.

These are just a handful of places where implementing consistent marketing can maximize your efforts. Take the next 60 days, try our advice and track your results. We guarantee you’ll see a much greater return for your marketing dollars!

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

Take a break from your legal marketing this Spring …(yes, really)

If you’d like to simplify your life and stop worrying about marketing this spring without having to jeopardize new clients coming in the door….

…then take a peek at the special we have right now on our Done-For-You monthly marketing packages for estate planning attorneys.

DFY SamplesWe know that you are so busy taking care of your business, servicing your clients and building referral relationships that your marketing sometimes takes a backseat to everything else going on.  That is why we created this program specifically for you.

These are high-quality, professionally done marketing materials with a proven track record of helping estate planning attorneys gain more clients, more page 1 search rankings, better conversions, newspaper and TV coverage, increased referrals, new speaking opportunities and more!

Each month, our DFY program includes:
•    A direct-response marketing campaign and step-by-step instructions on how to implement it (i.e. free reports, landing pages, postcards, brochures, follow-up scripts);
•    A press release and media pitch letter for maximum local publicity and SEO;
•   A weekly blog post professionally written and optimized to dominate the search engines (…for many DFY clients, our blog posts show up on page one in Google before any other page of their website!),
•    A done-for-you print newsletter to stay in-touch with clients by mail;
•    4 video scripts for video marketing; and
•    Area exclusivity!  We will not work with your competition.

It’s all of your marketing, professionally done for you each and every month, without theDFY Brochures aggravation or expense of hiring in-house staff.  All of the materials are delivered to you in editable format so that you can customize and edit as you see fit.

To head off March, we’re offering these marketing materials at just $797 per month–a $200 monthly savings off the regular price of $997.   There’s no time commitment either; try it out at the discounted price and cancel if it’s not for you. No worries, no hassles.

This is like hiring a part time legal marketing professional for your firm for only about $12 per hour, that is a huge savings while still giving you expert results.

This offer is only good until March 5th, so to learn more about the program and request exclusivity in your area, visit https://legalmarketingmaven.com/dfy

 

P.S.-  Please feel free to browse through our Portfolio photo gallery on Facebook to see real results that our clients are getting and samples of materials that you will receive in the program.

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

 

Emergencies & Legal Marketing It All Boils Down To Systems

Emergency imageSpring time has arrived here in the Panhandle of Florida – it doesn’t last long, we move into summer-like weather rather quickly!  I’ve been enjoying the warmer weather with cool breezes by doing a little gardening, taking afternoon swims and working as much as possible out on my deck enjoying the fresh air.

As I’m sure you have heard this week, the south was hit hard with horrible tornadoes. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the South after the horrible storms that moved through leaving devastation in their path. I know from experiencing tragic losses during Hurricane Andrew how devastating Mother Nature’s fury can be.  I hope you and your loved ones were spared and my company will be donating 10% of our revenues next month to the relief efforts.

It makes me think about emergency plans, and my post that I did a while back on that subject, if you missed it you can read it here.  If you do not have an emergency plan in place for your business, I encourage you to do it, you never know when an emergency could strike, and as scary as it is we are seeing natural disasters becoming more and more frequent. ??Please feel free to leave a comment on that post or shoot me an email with any tips or resources you have for emergency plans, I’d be happy to compile them and share them with the readers.  I’m sure by putting all of our heads together we could come up with a plan that fills in most gaps!  Again this is all about creating a system that you would follow should the unthinkable occur .

Last week, I also interviewed Nate Hagerty and we discussed the importance of Social Media marketing and how to convert the time spent on those platforms into clients in the door.  If you missed the call, we have set up a replay page at http://www.lawyersocialmedia.com.  Nate gave his formula for successful implementation of social media marketing (it has proven results for his CPA firms) so be sure to go listen to the call if you have not already done so. I think you’ll also be very surprised by what Nate shared is the most important component of social media marketing – and I’m sure it isn’t what you think!

We also discussed what I feel is one of THE most important pieces of your marketing plan, and that is consistency!  Simply put, having a system in place so that you know it is getting done.

Nate and I did a little digging into some of the sites of the lawyers that registered for our call, both by signing up for their newsletters (for those that had them) and also by checking out their social media profiles (again for those that had them or we could find).

The results were that for most, when we signed up for a newsletter, we received a simple thank you note – sometimes – and that was it.  There were some social media profiles that were really doing a good job, but others that hadn’t been updated in a very long time, almost looking abandoned.

Is that what happens with your marketing?  You get gun-ho coming up with campaigns, putting yourself out there on social media, doing speaking engagements, etc…and then business picks up and you get busy doing the client work.  Leaving no time for the marketing, I call this the marketing merry-go-round.  I see it quite a bit, and it doesn’t have to be that way.

In order for your marketing to be effective it must be consistent.  You must be in front of your prospects all of the time, because you never know when they are going to decide that now is the time that they need your service.  And when they need that service you want them to call YOU not the new lawyer down the road that has suddenly gotten on their radar.  ??It’s all about relationships, and relationships have to have consistency.

They want to know, like and trust you and the like and trust factors sometimes can take a while to build.

Here are my suggestions (bare minimum) for keeping a consistent marketing plan going:

  • Weekly Email to your list
  • Daily Post on Social Media (not always about you but to drive conversation)
  • Monthly Print Newsletter (you need to be getting in the MAILBOX of your prospects)
  • Regular Videos – Multi-media marketing is important as it allows your prospects to “see” you and it is great for SEO
  • Monthly press releases – you probably won’t get picked up every month but keeping in regular contact with your local media with timely advice and articles establishes yourself as the expert, and when you are picked up and your prospects see you in the news it is certainly a credibility boost that money can not buy.
  • Blogging regularly – you must be updating a blog regularly if YOU want google to take notice of you, and let’s face it people are going to Google to find professionals to work with.

This can all be systemized so that it is happening on a regular basis without much effort from you at all.  I know this hard for a lot of lawyers to believe, but you have got to let go of the concept that YOU must do everything. Delegate these items to key team members.  If they need training we are happy to help or you can contact us to learn more about how we help law firms implement consistent, educational-based marketing into their firms.

If you are an Estate Planning or Elder Law attorney you may want to check out our DFY package that will give you all of the content you need on a monthly basis to begin getting a marketing system in place in your firm right away.

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

What Is the Point of Social Media Anyway?

Time Flies ImageI’ve heard this question over and over from lawyers who are wondering why they would want to invest their valuable time into what they consider to be some frivolous conversations that take place on social media outlets.

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.

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

 

 

Turn Your Law Firm Team Members Into Raving Fans!

Through my years of working with attorneys I have heard more than one complaint about how their team members aren’t very good at discussing the services their law firm provides to prospective clients. The disappointment is usually because their staff members are unable to describe services to the satisfaction of the prospective client to where they make an appointment to meet with the attorney. And this is a very valid concern.

But there are a lot of people who aren’t good at sales.

So, what’s an attorney to do?

Fire all the staff and start over?

No, please don’t do that! Instead, turn them into raving fans of the firm and the services you provide.

Yes, make sure they can describe the services that your firm provides like they would if you asked them to describe their children, their favorite pet, or a hobby they are passionate about.

Get them EXCITED about what you are doing at the firm.

In my experience, the inability to describe services the law firm provides with enthusiasm is a result of not really understanding the value and benefits. Here are a few things you can try before you give your team the boot.

1. Explain why you chose the practice areas that you did.

Most attorneys choose their practice areas because they were passionate about them. Do you have a personal experience that made you choose that particular area? I once knew an attorney who had lost her husband at a very young age. Even though she was an attorney she had failed to plan properly for her own death or the death of her husband. After all, rarely to 20-somethings get motivated to do so. The story she had to tell was extremely touching and it is her passion to make sure that families don’t struggle needlessly at a time when they are grieving for the loss of a loved one. So, there was at least one person on her staff that understood that she was an estate planning attorney and could explain the services that were provided, but didn’t really have that passion that is needed to motivate people to do their own planning. That is, until she finally heard the attorney’s story.

2. Give them real-life stories of the services you provide.

If your law firm is like most, your staff is extremely busy with day-to-day tasks. Their heads are down and they are working on bits and pieces of the matters that flow through your office. But, have they ever really seen the whole picture? Share with your staff some of the stories of the problems you have solved for people. People go to attorneys to solve their problems. Just share with your staff some of the inspirational stories that you surely have and help them see, in real-life terms, how you help people.

3. Make sure they are describing the benefits instead of just the services you provide.

Your staff may be very clear and quite articulate about describing the services that your law firm provides and still not be able to effectively sell your services. The reason is that people need to understand the services you provide in terms on how it will benefit them. For example, they may understand that you litigate personal injury cases, but what they should be describing is how you put the pieces of people’s lives back together after an unexpected event like an injury due to automobile accident takes them tragically off-course. Teach them to describe your services in a way where people can understand, in terms of their particular situation, how their lives would be better if you worked with them. Ticking off a list of services you provide means very little to the general population, but taking those services and explaining how they will benefit that person will generate more clients in your door.

These are just a few examples of situations that I have observed where there may be a disconnect between having your staff members being able to bring clients into the firm. If you have a particular situation with a team member that you would like to solve, please feel free to listen to this workshop that I did with my partner Paula Woolley on effective follow-up.

Do you have more questions, or would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

Officially Re-launching LM2- Coaching, Implementation and Marketing Support for Lawyers

jumping offWow—it’s been long time coming in writing this post!

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@tremendous-arm.flywheelsites.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

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.

Weekly Staff Meetings – What NOT to Do

office meetingLast week we discussed the importance of having a weekly meeting with your team, and some suggestions to make these meetings productive and help streamline the work flow in your law business.

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!

 

Would you like to talk about how we can help you save time on your marketing and help you turn ideas into action? Simply schedule a time on my calendar for a no-strings virtual cup of coffee.