7 Marketing Steps for Lawyers to Get More Business

Are you someone who wants to market your practice and skills and try new approaches, but you don’t have the stroke in your organization to get any real attention or resources?  Are your ideas a little outside your firm's established marketing norms? 

We understand what that feels like but letting apathy set in is not a solution and is a career progression killer. Ask yourself who is the most important person in your corner and who you can rely on the most. If the answer is you, here are 7 steps you can take to help market and build a brand and get more business.

Even if you are not a born networker, you will find this approach to be extremely helpful. 

1.)   Blue Ocean Strategy Process:

The first thing on your list is the development of a strategy. To guide your strategy process, we recommend reading the book “Blue Ocean Shift” by W. Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne.

Visit the website blueoceanstrategy.com, which also offers an online course and planning tools and templates to help you develop your strategy. In completing the process, you will 

• • Clarify where you are now
  • Determine where to find success
  • Figure out how you get there
  • Plan and make your move

2.) Storybrand Messaging Process:

Next up is the development of a strong brand message to reach prospective clients and garner their interest. We recommend the Storybrand process as described in Donald Miller’s book “Building a Storybrand”. This proven 7-part process will help you develop a clear and compelling narrative about your business that you can apply across all forms of communication. 

We suggest storybrand.com to manage this process, along with the companion site BMSU.com (Business Made Simple University). Start by using their free tool to create your own Storybrand Brandscript at mystorybrand.com.  When you finish this part of the process, you will develop the following essential elements of building your brand and target market.  

• • Brandscript
  • One Liner
  • Buyer Persona(s)

3.) Activity Plan:

Before you actually implement your strategy and communicate the messages you have developed from the previous steps, we suggest putting together a Marketing Activity Plan. This plan may include both digital marketing and networking activities and should include a time and dollar budget.

Check out PerformLaw's handy activity plan template: ACTIVITY PLAN TEMPLATE.  

When you finish this part of the process, you will identify the steps to create and manage contacts, plan content pieces, and build and manage relationships. 

• • Contact Management
  • Content Development
  • Relationship Building

4.) Lead Form Creation:

In this step, you will determine what social networks and platforms are best for you to use and how you will use them to communicate your message and expertise.  

Here are the most popular platforms and all of these have self-help tools to get you started. 

• • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Personal Blog
  • Others

Once you select the platforms, you will determine how to reach prospects - whether through posts, messages, forms or ads.  Forms are created to make people aware of and distribute your content pieces. Forms can also be used to capture email addresses or other contact information. Check out HUBSPOT'S LINK for the basics on lead forms. 

Another Helpful Article:   Blogging & Social Media: Key Parts of a Law Firm's Marketing Mix

5.) Lead Generator Development:

You will need to create content to generate "leads" online. There are a variety of content types to share with your contacts. The idea behind content creation is to provide prospective clients with value (in the form of helpful content) that you give away for free.

For help with creating lead generators, Storybrand.com and the Storybrand books are of great help.  If you think you need some additional guidance, you can either hire a Storybrand Guide at Storybrand.com (PerformLaw has our own Storybrand Guide).

6.) CRM/ Marketing Automation Application Selection and Buildout:

To manage your contacts and day-to-day marketing activities, we suggest subscribing to a CRM (Client Relationship Management) application. There are dozens of these systems available. Some of them will also include marketing automation features, which can help you publish blog articles, post on social media, and send out email campaigns. We are a Hubspot partner and suggest that you start with the free version of Hubspot (Hubspot link)  

Here are the process steps:

• • Subscribe to CRM/ marketing automation app (Hubspot)
  • Import and organize your contact information
  • Create mailing lists
  • Create nurturing campaigns to build trust, increase brand awareness, and maintain a connection with prospects until they are ready to hire you as their lawyer.

7.) Team Development:

If you need support with your marketing activities, you can engage helpful resources for any marketing activity or your overall plan. The most common types of support used to fast track marketing efforts are:  

• • Marketing coaching

  • Graphics support

  • Social media support

TO NOTE: 

It is a pretty good bet that your law firm marketing department and IT folks will want their say in all of this, and we don’t want you to run afoul of your firm, but none of this requires any support from the firm to accomplish. You own your social media accounts, and contact management software is cloud-based and poses no security threat for your firm. Be sure to consult your law firm’s policies regarding posts with work related information on your social media accounts. 

Other articles of interest:

• Blogging & Social Media: Key Parts of a Law Firm's Marketing Mix

• More Channels to Consider for a Law Firm's Marketing Mix

• How Relationship Building Activities Fit Into a Law Firm's Marketing Mix

WANT MORE HELP DEVELOPING A MARKETING PLAN TO CREATE THE PRACTICE YOU DREAM ABOUT?