Whether you're just starting your practice or are well established, marketing should be an important part of your week. It's recommended that small law firms spend a minimum of 1-4 hours per week on marketing their practice. In this session will cover how to make the most of those hours. Branding, building your message, establishing referral relationships, and promoting your practice can be accomplished without the help on an expensive marketing or website firm. Come ready to listen, learn and ask questions in this specialized course for Estate Planning & Probate Law Firms.
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LOCAL VS ONLINE ADVERTISING
• Local
• Fixed Cost
• Traceable
• Supports the
Community
• Can be competitive
• Costly
• Must be managed
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ATTORNEY PROFILES & RATINGS TOOLS
• Profiles are websites you don’t have to pay for
• Reviews boost credibility
• Be visible in every place possible
• Question & Answer sites showcase expertise at the
local level
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GROUP NETWORKS & CONSUMER SITES
• Owned, operated and built by lawyers
• Consumers pay a membership fee
• Attorneys can create profiles
• Attorneys answer questions for members for free
• When forms are not available members are referred to network attorneys
• Some networks require a membership fee from the attorney
• Complex legal matters are referred to network attorneys
• Customer care & response to referred clients is monitored
• Consumers can rate their attorney experience
• Quality control is a top priority
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PRE PAID LEGAL PLANS
• Insurance-like model for legal issues
• Consumers pay a membership fee
• Employers offer as an employee perk or benefit
• Attorneys service ‘claims’ at a flat or reduced rate
• Great way to receive work when first going solo
• Helps new attorneys build a client base and generate referrals
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THE DIFFERENCE IS NOT IN THEIR
WALLET IT’S IN THEIR MESSAGE!
• Niche Practice Areas
• Know who their ideal client is, and are laser focused on their needs
• Clearly articulate the problem they solve
• Offer eBooks or Free Forms helpful to target clients
• Use Video to showcase and market expertise
• Productize or Package services together
• Solution selling, aimed at a specific situation
• Clearly defined or easy to understand pricing
• Employ automated marketing to stay in front of their potential clients
with little effort
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CONTENT IDEAS
• Practice area news
• Consumer protection tips
• Jokes
• Videos
• Employee bios / news
• A frequently asked
questions
• Deadlines
• Promote a blog post
• Client testimonials
• Charity / community work
• Statistics
• New social media pages
• Inspirational quotes
• Resources
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SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
• Showcase your personality
• Use images to connect with their ideal client
• Establish commonality
• Video rules the web
• Avoid shameless self promotion
• Use relevant news to create a steady stream of content
• Leverage celebrity news or trending topics
• Automate, Automate, Automate
• Not every post has to be about the law!
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EVERLASTING CLIENT COMMUNICATION
Long term email campaigns & newsletters
• Show you care
• Garner reviews
• Generate referrals
• Create repeat clients
• Attract potential partners
• Attract potential employees
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GREAT NEWSLETTERS ARE/HAVE:
• Short
• Reads like a story
• Help your reader
• Call to action
• Clean design
• Video / Pictures
• A personal touch
• Strong subject line
• Client stories
• Social Media links
• Contact information
• Press callouts
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ALLOCATE TIME TO YOUR GOALS
1 HOUR PER WEEK
• What can you do in 1
hour?
– Call 4 Potential Referral
Partners
– Send an email newsletter
– Call 20 people who didn’t
retain you.
– Write 1 Blog Post
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Chelsey Lambert
Vice President, Clients and Communication
Co-Chair, ABA GP Solo, Technology Green Team
312-667-1768 office
847-702-2774 cell
Chelsey.Lambert@Smokeball.com
@ChelseyLambert
“You don’t have to be great to start, you
have to start to be great!” – Zig Ziglar