Attorney Marketing Blog

Now that you’ve built an optimized and informative website for your law firm, you’re ready to leap into legal marketing with social networks. After all, it’s going to be just like advertising with the Yellow Pages: update your status with a quick “call us if you’ve been in a car accident,” and go on with your day, right?

Wrong. Many attorneys will make the mistake of failing to adapt to new media—not because they don’t use it, but because they assume it works just the same as advertising outlets they’ve used in the past. Whenever a new marketing platform emerges, there is an adjustment period as people learn how that platform is used best. Consider how different Facebook is from the time it was created. A good business always changes and adapts to suit the needs of its customers. You should also be adjusting and adapting to fulfill your customer’s needs on social media.

The key to using social media to promote your business is understanding how—and why—it works. People don’t have to wait to leave messages on answering machines anymore; they can send instant messages on Facebook. They can communicate far more easily, and with anyone they want, in seconds—and the communication is key in choosing whom they interact with. Let’s compare prior methods of communicating with your clients:

• One-way. In the beginning, attorneys relied on business cards, brochures, and print ads to promote themselves to the public. These forms of advertising are still available, but they are highly limited—the equivalent of shouting your name from a rooftop and never answering.
• One-to-many. Websites improve upon the old model: they are still reaching a large number of people from a pulpit, but they offer some ways (including email and blog comments) to interact with the person at the top.
• One-on-one. Imagine you are reading a gossip column and want to know if a movie star actually did what the article said. Years ago, you would have had to contact her agent; today, you can ask her directly on Twitter. Social media breaks down the barrier between people, allowing us to interact with anyone at any time on a one-to-one level.

There are three main rules to responding to one-on-one customer messages. First, always have a quick response ready. Even if this is an automated message, your client or potential client needs to know their message has been received. Second, address their specific issue. Scripted messages are perfectly fine, but your potential client wants to know you are reading their message. Last, prioritize you’re follow up. The internet is full of people, and most of those people aren’t your ideal client. Make sure you are dedicating your social media time to your most productive leads.

What can social media do for your firm? It can show your prospective clients that are a person: a flesh and blood human with values, opinions, and your own expertise. Your personality is your biggest asset on social media sites, as people will hire or recommend you entirely based on how you interact with them.

The 10-Step Program for Marketing SuccessStarting over can be scary, but it can also be exciting, revitalizing, and motivating. That’s why many people daydream about what they would do if they could “start over.”

In fact, that’s one of the (few) things I enjoyed about golf! You start from zero at each hole and have a fresh opportunity to excel.

This was my mindset when I wrote the report, 10-Step Program for Marketing Success. I set out to answer the question, “what are the steps I would take if I were rebuilding my practice from the ground up.

Inside this report, you will discover everyth犀利士
ing I’ve learned since opening the doors to my law firm and all the big-picture tactics I teach the attorney members at Great Legal Marketing.

YOU can get this special report FREE just by clicking the button below and requesting your copy. This is the “gateway” report to Great Legal Marketing, where you will learn our marketing philosophy. You will probably find the information in this report refreshing compared to all the junk information about marketing supplied by marketing vultures who want to sell you a new social media campaign.

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!