Attorney Marketing Blog

The whole world has gone digital. The “marketing vultures,” as we call them, will ring your phone off the hook trying to sell you the next shiny internet idea. Many of these internet products are useful, of course, but they distract from older, more tangible forms of marketing that still make money.

In fact, as our lives become more embedded on the internet, these older properties become MORE valuable in our economy. Showing up in someone’s mailbox with a physical, visual marketing piece is now more unique and more disruptive than it was before the internet began its march of domination.

One of the best, longest lasting, and biggest call generators at our firm is our Printed, Mailed, Monthly Newsletter. So few attorneys are willing to put in the money and the effort to creating an effective newsletter that tells your story and gets people to call. If you’re the kind of attorney that likes to get it all done – and get it done the RIGHT way, here are some tips for making your print newsletter effective:

1. Think about who’s reading it

For a printed, mailed newsletter, you want to write for the person sorting the male at home. This is often a female, but not always, and people are usually sorting into two groups: keep or trash. Others will sort into three groups: read now, read later, or trash. Your goal is to be exciting enough and interesting enough to make it into those save piles. This is why the recipe takes such prominence in our newsletter.

2. Keep it local

Folks want to feel like this newsletter is special and that they are experiencing something that is not available to the national public. Cover local news stories, local businesses, and your firm’s impact on the community. The power of feeling like a local, one of a kind periodical cannot be underestimated.

3. Tell stories

What people DON’T want to hear is the usual, bland approach: I went to x school, I have x years of experience, etc. That’s the kind of boring bragging that turns people off. Unfortunately, many lawyers take this concept and expand it into “people don’t want to hear about me at all.” This is fundamentally not true and if you do not open up about your family, your hobbies, your pets, and your personality, you are missing out on a boatload of revenue.

Folks want to get to know you as a person because that’s why they’re going to refer you. Especially in practice areas where the legal problem may not crop up for years, your only chance at getting them to remember you is to tell them your story. The more personality you can get into your newsletter, the better your response will be.

With these strategies in hand, you’re ready to tackle the problem the right way. Get that print newsletter out the door and start seeing real results. It’s a long-term play, but one of the most important systems you can build and one of the most reliable ways to get the phone to ring month after month.

Ben Glass

Ben is a nationally recognized expert in attorney marketing and the owner of Great Legal Marketing.

Most attorneys start their firms assuming that being a really, really good attorney should, in and of itself, be a marketing advantage. Those attorneys believe that joining a whole bunch of committees and putting their name in lawyer directories is “marketing,” and they never bother to ask if there is a better way.

Attorneys are catching on, however, and those who succeed learn to leverage their current resources to create effective (and ethical) marketing. What they discover isn’t a magic pill or silver bullet but a different approach to marketing that your competitors haven’t considered.

If you want a peek at what successful attorneys use to market their practice, the HERO Starter Kit is your logical next step.

We’ve put together a FREE (and potentially life-changing) kit for solo and small firm attorneys that will show you a better way to reach potential clients and get them excited to call your firm. Request your HERO Starter Kit from Great Legal Marketing!

Request Your HERO Starter Kit Today!