Find the marketing strategy that’s right for you

By Susan Letterman White

Marketing and business development begins with an answer to the question: Who are you trying to attract as future clients? Your answer should infuse every choice you make about your marketing methods and content. Marketing methods include both active and passive means, using the array of technology options available or no technology at all, and traditional modes of advertising like on billboards, the back of a bus, television advertising or print materials. Once you know where, when and how to connect with your target market, you can decide what to do to let them know the solutions you offer, what it is like to work with you and how you deliver those solutions. Your goal? Remain top of mind, so that when they need what you have to offer, they will know the way to get in touch with you.

Here are three examples of different marketing strategies. Which one is closest to what might work best for you?

Marketing without technology

Alex (real person, name changed) doesn't have a website, Twitter account or LinkedIn page. She isn't active on social media and doesn't write blog posts or print articles. She doesn't plan and deliver programs on her substantive area of law to potential clients or referral sources. She doesn't send out Christmas cards or newsletters to her clients. Her clients do not have email access to her. By all accounts, she isn't doing anything that the experts in law firm business development and retention say are necessary to sustain successful revenue generation for today's solo and small firm lawyers. Yet, she has a steady stream of clients asking for her representation. What's her secret?

Alex's law practice is focused on criminal law. Her potential clients and their referral sources are often where she is demonstrating what she can do for them - in court. In fact, her clients, potential clients and referral sources do not select their lawyers from their digital footprint; instead they select them by evaluating their performance f irst-hand. The upside is that Alex has more free time to practice law with a life outside of law. She also manages the client relationships by phone or in-person only. If they want to communicate, they must pick up the phone. If it's a true emergency, they will get an immediate response. If it's important to them, but not an emergency, they will get a return call within 24 hours.

Marketing has been explained as communicating to many people simultaneously in-person or digitally. Alex doesn't intentionally market her law practice. The upside is that she saves time, money and possible anxiety associated with that endeavor. She is, however, delivering content about what she does and how she does it for clients, by being in court regularly. She has no digital intermediary between herself and her potential clients and referral sources. She's always on display when in court and passively marketing without any buffer. Every day she is in court she interacts with the people who have the decision-power to build or stall her practice. For some lawyers, that would be the downside.

Perhaps an explanation for Alex's success is in this response to a discussion about websites and getting noticed on JDUnderground, "I don't think people much care when your source of referrals is word of mouth. Word of mouth is 10 times better than any other kind."

Regardless of your practice area, Maggie Watkins, chief marketing officer of Sedgwick, LLP says, "Nothing replaces a face-to-face meeting when developing new business. It is a relationship business after all, and prospects want to know you understand them and their businesses and that can only be demonstrated by speaking to them and discussing their issues and needs. Articles, speeches and social media are all designed toget that meeting with the prospect, but the selling begins once you are in front of them and have the conversation."

Content marketing through technology

Not all practices offer the opportunity for passive marketing, as do some areas of criminal law. In contrast, the market (potential clients) in family law is composed of different niches according to family finances. The Legal Services Corporation reports, "86 percent of the civil legal problems reported by low-income Americans in the past year received inadequate or no legal help." This represents a significant business opportunity for anyone who figures out a solution. Damian Turco, a Massachusetts divorce lawyer with a personal injury component of his practice based in Boston, explains: "Prospective clients want to understand the general extent of their legal rights, considering the facts and circumstances of their cases. A natural starting point is the internet. Browsing is anonymous and you can provide them the answers they so need. While doing so, some prospective clients will decide they need representation and, because you've already established yourself as a credible solution, some will call you, schedule a consultation, and become paying clients."

Create a digital presence that answers the questions that are on the minds of your prospective clients and the people who are trying to help them. Then, to further attract the right people further into your marketing funnel, provide the answers to their questions about cost. Turco Legal has designed a specific program for them - Justice for All, - that involves resource-based billing for family law clients.

Content is king for Turco Legal because it is the right content at the right time; however, not all digital marketing content meets this bar. Your digital content may not be as valuable as you think it is. Jayne Navarre recently wrote about the problem with content that isn't engaging the right people. She writes, "The "organic" social media produced by law firms - the stuff that was supposed to create conversation and conversion - appeared to be mostly seen and applauded by a handful of their own employees, lawyers and a few real-life friends and relatives." Create content that will serve as a bread-crumb trail from your next best client's concerns and interests to a virtual handshake with you.

Combine low-cost technology with traditional marketing for a cost-effective combination

Even the best content can get lost among similar content online or on tangible venues, like billboards, public transportation and television. You may need to amp up your efforts by focusing on a narrow niche and repeating your message in different venues at different times. Enter the Truck Accident Lawyers in Pennsylvania. Munley Law is a personal injury law practice with niche marketing aimed at clients who have been injured in truck accidents. This enables clear, concise messaging online and on television.

Of course, this costs money and time and you may face stiff competition for tangible space and the right to get noticed by the right people at the right time. If you are going to use tangible venues in your marketing efforts. Bernie Munley, Chief Marketing Officer of personal injury law firm Munley Law in Pennsylvania, says, "Integrate them with your social media and digital marketing efforts. Social media allows marketers to build brand awareness, engage with their audience, and even target potential clients - typically at a lower cost than traditional media. It would be a mistake to overlook this opportunity.

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5 Tips for Adaptive Marketing: Reimagining Marketing and Business Development

The COVID pandemic has made this world and how to operate in it very different for everyone. Lawyers and their clients are no different. Some of the changes in how we connect with one another, build relationships, and work together will stay with us for years. The changes brought upon us by this pandemic are on top of the massive changes that followed the technological revolution of the early 21st Century.

Background

Marketing is connecting with prospective clients in meaningful ways. The decisions that prospective clients make whether to connect with a particular lawyer in the first place and whether to hire that particular lawyer are, like all decisions, influenced by emotions.  Without emotions we would not be able to make choices. We would have difficulty making any decisions.

The pandemic, the economic collapse associated with it, and the fight for racial justice have increased all sorts of feelings, from empathy to anger and from fear to stress. It makes sense to adjust marketing efforts to take account of these pervasive feelings and ask what it means for lawyer marketing. That is what follows here.

Connecting the right lawyer, service, and experience through the right message at the right time in the right platform/space with the right possible clients or referral sources is not easy. Marketing may still be about the people, the message, and the platform; however, clients want something different from their lawyers today.

Even before COVID, the role of client began to change. Clients, patients, and university students transformed into consumers, and, as consumers, they began to make known the value they expected in return from upholding their part of the transaction and paying high fees. Historically, in marketing, we evaluated what clients needed. Now, it makes more sense to take a deep dive into what they want.

Many times, clients want a relationship, rather than a pure transaction. As part of that relationship, they want a reduction in stress and certainly not more stress added on to their already stressful existence, part of which is the reason they reached out to a lawyer in the first place. What this means is that the marketing message and platform must change to reduce stress and also respond more acutely to the wants of the prospective client, especially when it comes to a prospective client making an initial selection of possible lawyers to work with.

Personal Brand

None of this changes the need to be clear about your brand – the image you want to project to the world – your strengths, values, and what makes you distinct from your competition.  Strengths are still measured by your specific skills or abilities like your technical legal expertise and your core competencies, which you use when you communicate and work with other people. However, in today’s world, you may want to highlight your approach to working with clients or your values that others may find attractive. There has been a transition in emphasis from client needs to client wants and also from goals to values. This is because values are the glue in a relationship. They represent commonalities that matter most and are the foundation for building trust.

Value Proposition

None of this changes the need for an attractive value proposition.  If anything, this has become even more important. The shift from goals to values is just the beginning. Also, we are moving away from highlighting legal solutions to highlighting how a lawyer can help a client move closer to the client’s vision of a successful outcome. Clients want to know how you will help them continuously move in the direction of a better situation through the experience of working with you.

A value proposition is what you are offering to provide in exchange for your fee, that is also what your prospective client wants.  Prospective clients want their lawyers to help them create new value, protect existing value, or restore value lost. Besides the product or service, you are selling, you are selling a particular experience.

Your value proposition only matters from the client’s perspective.  What value do they conclude they are receiving in exchange for what they give up financially and emotionally? To answer this question, think of your service, outcome, and experience of working with you as the value they are measuring.

What is Adaptive Marketing?

What has definitely changed and what needs to be reimagined is how to adjust effective messages, platform options, and what clients want.  When people are feeling anger, intolerance and marginalization, fear, and stress, these feelings affect what they want and the message they will be receptive to hearing. Lawyers need to adapt their messages and platform to the changing wants and emotions of people, all while maintaining an attitude of ”let’s try this and see what happens.” There are five areas ripe for reimagining: (1) digital connections; (2) relationships in place of transactions; (3) the need for authenticity as a lawyer; (4) mastering empathy; and (5) developing adaptability skills.

1.    Digital Connections

Since we cannot easily meet or connect in person without a lot of physical barriers, initial contact will be digital or traditional advertising. Use your digital options to connect and consider the brand and value proposition to emphasize.

At a minimum, consider that your website and LinkedIn are verifications, as is Google My Business. Make sure they show up when you google your name and your law firm’s name. If they do not, take the time to create or improve these digital assets.  Once you have a website, posting regularly helps improve your digital presence, especially if your blogs are naturally responsive to google prompts and questions of your ideal clients. This is how people will find you when they don’t know you but have a question you can answer or a problem you can solve. You have many options.

•  Website

• Linked In

• Traditional Advertising

• Google My Business

• Blog

• Instagram

• Tic Tok

• Email campaigns

• You Tube

• Videos

• Chatbots on Website

• Twitter

• Facebook

• Yelp

• Avvo

• Lunch Club

• Google Reviews

• SEO 

2.    Relationships before Transactions

The attorney-client relationship is more than a series of transactions. Connecting on a human level could ultimately result in stronger client loyalty and a client, who becomes a brand advocate after the working relationship ends. This is often the end result when clients feel recognized and appreciated for who they are.

Lawyers often focus on the legal problem and legal options.  Instead, shift your focus from task to relationship, during marketing throughout the working relationship, and even after the legal work has ended. The ache for human connection is greater today than it has been in quite some time. The fact that over the past year more people have flocked to online dating, online therapy, and classrooms that emphasize community as much as learning, should tell you something about how the world is changing.

Lawyers often miss easy opportunities to create that sense of connection and community with their clients. In a recent survey I conducted, several opportunities for easy wins stood out. (1) Client intake is an early connection with your brand.  Whether you take on the client or not, they will be a word-of-mouth marketer or detractor for your brand. In a recent survey 75% of lawyers surveyed did not use an intake form. (2) Non-engagement letters are easy to use as a matter of habit. How you respond to a person who does not end up as a client is part of the personal touch you offer or hold back. The same survey showed that 75% of attorneys did not use a non-engagement letter. (3) Client onboarding is a chance to talk to a new client about mutual expectations and preferences about communication and the internal processes you use. It’s an opportunity to introduce clients to your team and brand, and offer a personal touch. Only about 50% of lawyers said they do this. 

Communicating well during the relationship, is also the best way to avoid malpractice claims. “In a world that now offers us seemingly endless ways to communicate with one another, it is surprising that the majority of legal malpractice claims are related to administrative functions, and particularly, client communication.” This is from a 2019 Above the Law post. Less than 75% of lawyers say they check in with their clients at least every 6 weeks, and when it came to asking clients for feedback, which offers the dual function of conveying to the client that the relationship matters and capturing the client’s perspective on the working relationship, 25% of lawyer said they never ask for feedback, 25% said rarely, and 50% sometimes. No one surveyed said they often or always ask for feedback.

Don’t end communication when the working relationship ends. Keep in touch in between or after a working relationship ends.  It’s easier now.  Coffee or cocktails over zoom. An email to check in. Be creative.

3.    The Need for Authenticity

Communication is key and it works when you add in authenticity. When your actions are in alignment with your core values and beliefs, you are showing your true self and how you feel, rather than showing people only a particular side. Of course, this means you need a degree of self-awareness of your values, motives, emotions, preferences, and abilities. Where possible, bring yourself to the relationship.  Do you write and record songs or make pottery coffee cups? Share across common interests or interesting reads. Are you struggling with homeschooling or vaccine worries? Share a favorite recipe or place for a hike. If you are an avid networker, make connections that are mutually beneficial to your client and someone in your network. Where appropriate, share your passion. Whatever it is, share it.

4.    The Need for Empathy

Empathy is how we connect with one another’s emotions by catching somebody else’s feelings, attempting to understand what someone else is feeling and why, and offering compassion - the motivation to improve others’ well-being. Stanford University psychology professor Jamil Zaki explains that “the world is full of daily battles in which we’ve consciously or subconsciously sorted ourselves into “us” and “them” camps.” Superimpose your position as an empowered expert and your client as the person depending on your expertise and it creates even greater distance.

It’s easy for a client to feel that they are the “us” and you, as the lawyer are the “them.” Empathy helps with marketing by seeing a client’s problem from the perspective of the client and understanding the cost-benefit of the solution you are offering as they feel it. Also, empathy encourages a client to be open and honest and if you provide difficult feedback to your client with empathy, they are more likely to use it because they won’t feel attacked.

In business development, it’s easy to forget about the fundamentals of communication, such as we all have our default and preferences in styles.  Differences in styles can set off an unconscious “us” versus “them” thinking and role assumption.

These differences are apparent when you begin to notice. Some people are very expressive, while others are more analytical.  Some are more driving while others are more amenable. Some people show more emotions when they communication and others hold back. Some make more statements and others ask more questions. The best way to connect is to flex to the other person’s style when you want to reduce tension, which right now is running high for most of us.  So, first pay attention to how much emotion they show you and flex to that.

5.    Develop Adaptability Skills

When it comes to marketing and business development, like running your business in contrast from practicing law, you have to be open to new ideas, to experimentation, and learning from mistakes and failures.  You have to be nimble and be able to adapt to a quickly changing world.  So, you have to know a little something about changing, when change is hard.

When change is difficult it feels like a loss and when we try something new, we feel unskilled and like we don’t know what we are doing. That’s natural. If only it were as easy as an animal who can change its colors to blend in with its environment.  But, it’s not.

So be prepared.  Tell yourself it’s okay to feel uncomfortable but instead of pushing back, lean into the discomfort.  Be willing to try and experiment until you find what works best for you to display your authentic self or write blogs that jump to the top of a good search.

People have an innate tendency when faced with change.  What’s yours? Are you the catalyst, who comes up with ideas, the theorist, who looks for a path forward, a stabilizer, who looks for reasons to stop change, or an improviser, who is impulsive and wants to start without a plan? Knowing your default response helps. Is your tendency to find a path to risks and “no” to change? If so, step back for moment, take a pause, and play devils’ advocate.  Find a path to “yes.”

Change that enables the capacity to thrive is hard, but worth the effort. Be able to discern between what you need to preserve about your practice and what you can let go. If you need a new skill, get it. You can learn relationship-building skills, how to be authentic, empathy, and adaptability.  They foundation is a willingness to experiment and be okay with anything less than perfection, which for lawyers feels like an awful mistake, but it’s not. Be okay with feeling incompetent and know that the more you practice the more your feelings of competency will grow.

INCREASE YOUR CLIENTS AND REVENUE: MAKE IT RAIN!

Not everyone who needs a lawyer, accountant, consultant, or coach wants one. Not every prospective client, who wants professional services, can afford to pay your fees. The three steps to increasing your firm clients and revenue are: (1) define your target prospect; (2) tailor your marketing messages to what your target prospects want; and (3) master the sales-cycle conversation.

1.     Define your target prospects

Too many lawyers and other professional service providers fish in the wrong pond or use the wrong bait.  They do not know whether there are sufficient prospects who want the solutions they offer at the price they need to generate sufficient revenue for their business model. This may be a consequence of a practice area already supersaturated with other lawyers or productized services that are too similar or aiming at the wrong geographic or demographic target market. Alternatively, your price point may be too high, but could be reduced with the introduction of process efficiencies.

The first step is to research your target prospects to better understand what they want, what they are willing to pay, and where they are likely to notice you and what you are offering. Understand them demographically and psychologically.

2.     Tailor your marketing messages to what you target prospects want.

 Not all prospective clients, people who want the solutions you are selling, will develop an interest in your brand of solution.  Your value proposition is your solution combined with the experience of working with you. It is the client’s point of view on what they want and what they think will make them feel better, less anxious, happier.  It is how close you get to giving them what they want, not just what they need.

 There are three categories of value that lawyer’s offer clients. You can create new value, protect existing value, or restore value lost. If you what you offer leads to ways for your clients to do what they want to do, then you create value.  If it leads to ways to help your clients preserve what matters to them most, then you maintain value.  If it leads to ways to make your client whole after being physically, emotionally, or financially harmed, then you restore value.

 A good value proposition quickly tells clients why working with you will make their lives easier and better. That spikes curiosity and interest in your brand of solutions, rather than that of your competition.

 3.     Master the sales-cycle conversation

 When a prospective client is curious about you and your firm because they want what you are offering, the next step is to have a conversation. Instead of thinking of this conversation as an opportunity to tell the prospect what you will do and how you will help, think of it as an opportunity to develop a relationship and demonstrate that you understand what they want.

 The key to converting a prospect into a client is communicating in way that first engages the prospect. Different people are more receptive to different communication behaviors – the “how” of communication.   Once engaged, influencing a person to become a client is a matter of saying the right things at the right times. Our Rainmakers Incubator Workshop is where you’ll have an opportunity to learn and practice these techniques.

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