If you are starting your law firm or have recently started your law firm you immediately realize the defining factor of your law practice - signing up clients. Your logo can be nice, your office can be amazing, but if you aren't signing up clients and working, the logo and office aren't going to be around for long.
So, how do you get to signing up clients? That, my friends is the question that everyone has been asking, and will continue to ask, for eternity. But, if you take a second to think about it, it boils down to two things:
(1) getting people to know you exist and can help them, also known as marketing; and
(2) signing people up once they call. Both are extremely versatile and challenging topics, in the end the only right answers are the ones that get you results.
For me, I guess you could say I've got a three pronged law firm marketing attack (for my criminal practice - my eminent domain practice is a little different and more complex because of who my ideal clients are); we'll call it the land, air, and sea campaign. It has evolved slowly over the last 6 weeks (at least it seems like it's moved slowly to me), but hopefully it will soon be in high gear and I will have to turn clients away because I've got so much business.
The air section of my marketing strategy is my law firm internet marketing campaign. Basically, my goals here are to get to the first page of Google for my primary keywords (Seattle DUI attorney and then to the first spot on Google.
Because my budget is limited, and right now my time is not, I am doing this mostly on my own. The process takes about two hours every day, and I am already showing signs of moving up (I was actually on the first page of Google for Seattle DUI attorney for a bit but slacked off and fell back off).
Just for your information, I currently sit at number 65 for Seattle DUI attorney and number 50 for Bellevue DUI attorney. I'll keep you posted on my numbers (I check them every Monday). This is made up of blog posts, article submissions, and link exchanges to build what I like to call "Google Juice." It takes a little time, but will pay off big when I finally reach the first page.
The land section of the marketing strategy is a get out in front of people mission. I'm putting together a couple of PowerPoints, one on how to beat a Seattle DUI, and one on how to beat a Seattle traffic ticket, that I'm going to be presenting to people who are interested in hearing about it. For the DUI stuff, I've got a buddy who manages a bar, and he is going to put me in front of his staff and see if any other bar managers are interested in hearing this information. The traffic presentation I haven't pinned down yet as far as audience, but I've got someone helping me on ideas for this.
Finally, the "sea" section, which isn't really related to the sea at all, is an out of the box idea presented to me by someone who I've found has a lot of great ideas on marketing a law practice. Essentially, this idea involves getting a booth at the local flea market (there are a lot around here that attract a large amount of people), putting up a sign that says "Lawyer" on it, and letting people come up to me and ask me questions. If the questions are in areas I don't practice, I've got a list of people who I can refer them to. And don't worry, there is no incentive for whom I refer (so if you are a Seattle attorney let me know what you do and we can talk). I just ask that they think of me if they get calls for criminal defense or eminent domain work (with no obligations either way, of course).
So far these ideas are in their infancy, although the more work I put into them the more return I should get. While I'm sitting around I am putting together my operating manual, drafting all the forms I need, and I'm on the criminal defense panel, which gets me a case here and there to work on.
Where I wanted to reach out to all of you was any other ideas for marketing you might have or have found effective, no matter how out of the box they are. Also, I'm wondering how you deal with issues regarding the newness of your firm and/or your youthful appearance. I have to deal with both, and have found it a little difficult to get people to buy into the fact that I can actually take care of them. I've got some ideas to deal with that, which I'll mention later once they are implemented, but for now it is really boiling down to addressing their concerns, letting them ask their questions, and convince them that I am the best person for the job.
Okay, enough for now. Off to work!
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