Attorney Marketing 101

Relationships are at the heart of every business, but when it comes to developing clients for law firms and attorneys, there is nothing more important than building and maintaining relationships. On the one hand, you obviously want your clients to be happy with your relationship so that they'll continue using your firm for their legal needs. But perhaps more importantly, every firm and attorney needs to have a strong network from which they can derive new client referrals. Referrals are, after all, the strongest form of attorney marketing.

Almost all businesses get a great deal of new business from referrals and recommendations, but lawyers and law firms have long relied almost solely on this method of getting new clients. The technological advances of the past 50-60 years have changed this in some ways, but even so, a large majority of new clients still come to law firms because they were recommended by someone that the new client already knew.

If you are starting a new firm or if your firm or practice simply needs more new clients, then you would be remiss if your strategy did not include some focus on building and strengthening long-term relationships with people who can and will refer business to you. Relying on advertisements gets expensive, and search engines can be somewhat whimsical from time to time, but strong referral networks age well.

There is nothing easy about developing new relationships, although it can be quite enjoyable if approached in the right manner and mindset. By far, the most successful mindset for developing new relationship revolved around finding ways to help other people and to provide them with value.

I know that this is not the most popular way of thinking about client acquisition. Most attorneys and even business people would much rather focus on immediate ways to get clients rather than strengthening relationships that might eventually lead to client referrals. However, in the long term, figuring out how you can help others in your field will reward you 100-fold.

So how should you specifically go about developing new relationships that might lead to new legal clients? Here is a brief list of ideas:

1. Attend Industry Events. It doesn't matter what industry your law firm is focused on. Without fail, there are industry events that you can go out to and meet other people in your industry, including other attorneys, other professionals, and even potential clients. The key when you do this is to always follow up, regardless of whether or not you think someone might be useful to you. Always at least send them a nice email, but if you can, find some way to simultaneously do something valuable for them, even if it's just sending them an article or link that you were thinking they might find interesting. The little things count.
2. Volunteer for Industry Organizations. By doing so, you'll automatically meet a bunch of people in your industry, and you'll likely already be providing them with some sort of value, since the organization that you'll be volunteering for will likely be lobbying or else fighting on their behalf.
3. Website/Blog: Most law firms don't view their website or blog as something of value to others who might visit it, but that's exactly what it should be. You should be writing articles and posts that potential clients will find not only interesting but also helpful. If there is a common question your clients tend to have, answer it on your website. Many law firms think this will keep potential clients from needing their services, but it's the opposite that is true, since it's never just one question that people need help with (and if it were just one question, they really wouldn't need you anyway).

These are just a few ideas, but they are a start, and it's really the mindset that is important. I fully recognize that if you're just starting out, you need clients as soon as possible just to pay the bills. However, don't mortgage the future by letting great relationships and contacts slip though your fingers in the meantime.

One thing that has been a hot topic for law firms over the past few years is associate morale. The bad economy has taken a toll on morale at pretty much all businesses, and law firms are no exception. Surprisingly, good law firm marketing can help this dilemma.

Management studies from several sources, including Harvard Business School, show that employees tend to perform better and have better morale when they are more involved, more responsible, and feel like they're part of a team. Likewise, good marketing benefits from a good team effort involving everyone, which increases the reach of the law firm's network.

Law firms needing to revamp either their HR or their marketing should look to make marketing a firm-wide effort, perhaps with smaller teams of associates and partners developing unique plans for getting new clients and for getting more work from current clients. This will empower junior attorneys, especially if they are equal team players, and any clients that result from their efforts will cause them to identify more strongly with the firm.

It's that time of the year again: New Years; which means everyone's making resolutions. The past few years have been relatively slow for many businesses here in the United States, and, more than ever, many people are focusing their New Year's resolutions on finding new clients and customers for their businesses.

Law firms are not spared from the difficulties of finding new clients, and it just gets harder and harder to do exactly that. While some fortunate firms may be able to get new clients, others aren't as lucky. Fortunately, there are ways of getting ahead of your competition, both locally and in your field, if you know where to look.

Outbound marketing techniques have been quite a favourite tactic among lawyers since time immemorial. They go out there and let themselves be seen on television, read about in periodicals, or heard about on the radio. There is absolutely nothing wrong with any of these types of marketing, and they've worked quite well for a lot of law firms for a long time.

However, there's a better way. Thanks to the large inroads made by technology nowadays, inbound marketing is now the most effective mode of selling your services. Today, more than ever, consumers are using the resources at their fingertips to seek out the products and services that they need. Even if they personally walk into a store to buy something, the odds are that they've already looked up the product online to find out more information about it.The end result of this use of technology is that consumers are both more savvy and are also more active in their selection of goods and services.

Law firms are similar with respect to this concept.Attorney and law firm reviews online are heavily relied on by prospective clients looking for a law firm to represent them.Even those facing potential legal difficulties will tend to seek help about such difficulties online. But how does this help you?

If you have a good game plan in place, you can use all of this to your advantage. One suggestion is to make your law firm more visible online, so that clients seeking legal answers or legal services would instantly read about you. If more people get to see you and your law firm online, the possibility of turning them into your actual clients is also higher.

As with any business, the end goal for your law firm should be to help as many clients as possible. Everything else (whether it's money or just helping people) will follow. In addition, having more potential clients allows you to be selective in the types of clients that you take on, which only increases further your ability to control your own legal practice.