If 2009 is the opening bell in a longer term legal industry transformation, lawyers planning for business development success in 2010 need a new marketing playbook. Unprecedented attorney lay-offs, billable hour pressures, and a shift in purchasing power associated with the ACC Value Challenge all underscore the necessity of entering the New Year with a sharply defined law firm marketing plan featuring clearly defined goals and metrics.
Stake out your market, your ideal clients, and the substantive legal issues where you can offer a competitive advantage. Build your position as a thought leader through education-based campaigns to attract and retain qualified prospects, using the professional marketing techniques outlined below.
Legal Marketing Step #1. Position yourself as an expert through the conferences, magazines, social media communities, and websites that target your ideal client. Focus on 3 to 5 specific hot topics.
Legal Marketing Step #2. A referral network is important, but it is only one of many marketing channels. Successful rainmakers attract qualified prospects through speaking, publishing, and PR to supplement referral sources.
Legal Marketing Step #3. Build a strong lead generation system that maintains on-going prospect communications. Attorneys throw away marketing dollars when they lose track of leads after only one or two contacts.
Legal Marketing Step #4. Maximize your search engine marketing with social media, legal directories, online advertising, and an effective website. Internet marketing techniques that looked aggressive in the past are now widely accepted, putting late adopters at a disadvantage.
Legal Marketing Step #5. Current and past clients are your best source of new business, since they already know and trust you. Start the New Year with an informative letter to your entire client list.
For attorneys who want to take their law practice to the next level, a free sample attorney marketing plan is online at http://www.legalexpertconnections.com/attorneymarketingplan.pdf.
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1 comment:
Spot on Margaret! Practical and concrete advice on thinking strategically about marketing a practice. Especially useful in the current economy where some clients will only look for lower prices at the expense of expertise.
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