Authentic Law Marketing Blog : Lawyer & Law Firm Consulting : Elizabeth Ferris : Ferris Consulting : Collaborative Lawyer Marketing, Family Law Marketing

 Blogging among lawyers is on an increase. Lawyers who want to attract desirable clients to their practice are becoming increasingly aware of the benefits of blogging, including:

• Boost search engine rankings
• Establish credibility with prospective clients
• Stay top of mind with influencers and referral sources
• Build relationships with thought leaders in your area of expertise
• Become more aware of what is going on in your field
• Attract desirable clients
• Build an on-line reputation
• Reinforce your law firm’s brand

Without a doubt, blogging is an excellent opportunity for you to build your practice by increasing your visibility and credibility with prospective clients and referral sources.

Why then does blogging seem like such a chore and the thought of writing a blog post compare to a visit to the dentist for some lawyers?

Blogging is a new tool for communication and requires some basic understanding before it can be enjoyed. Think about your blackberry or iphone. The first time you used the device, it seemed cumbersome and for a few of us, slightly frustrating, especially when we would repeatedly hit the wrong key in typing a message. But after using it for a while, the mobile device became an essential business and communication tool.

What changed a previously frustrating experience into an essential communication resource?

Two things changed, including familiarity with the device and knowledge on how to use the mobile phone properly.

You can become an effective blogger and leverage this on-line marketing tool to attract desirable clients by learning blogging basics and becoming more familiar with the process. Your familiarity will increase by following Nike’s advice …“Just do it.”

Effective blogging requires awareness, engagement and conversation.  The basics of blogging include:

1.    Reading

2.    Commenting

3.    Writing

A word of warning, if you do enter the world of blogging, maintain your blog. Lee Rosen, a family law blogging super guru, wrote an excellent post titled, A Dead Family Law Blog is Bad For Your Family Law Practice - don't let your family law blog go dormant. In the post Rosen highlights what prospective clients and referral sources may think when they see an outdated blog or website
My next post will include strategies on how to save time reading what is going on in the blogosphere to help you become a more effective blogger.

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 You provide a high standard of service to your clients and produce positive results. Clients and referral sources benefit from your experience and expertise and often times tell you how much value and peace of mind you have provided them during a difficult or challenging time. You want to educate the public on your legal services and attract more clients who want what you do best. Unfortunately, in your community not enough people know about you and your law practice and the value it can provide.

A key strategy for increasing awareness about your law practice is media relations. Clients listen to and are influenced by what they read in the newspapers and Internet, see on the television or hear on the radio. A notable story about you or your legal service in a reputable publication can significantly increase the visibility and credibility of your law practice in your community.

How do you attract the media to notice your law practice?

You have two opportunities to attract the press. One is through initiating the story though a press release that you create or pitching a specific story concept to a reporter. The second is responding to a call from a reporter for a comment.  

The following tips will assist you in talking to the media for both opportunities.

1.    Speak to the interests of your audience. Focus on what your audience wants to hear verses what you want to say. Avoid talking about the features of your law practice.  You will increase your opportunity for success if your story is on the benefits (verses the features) of your law practice, is newsworthy and has a hook. Example

 2.    Provide a real life example of how your expertise has benefited clients. Reporters want to know, “how has it helped people?” What is working? Example

 3.    Know the media source- Research the reporter’s web site, publication or radio station. Who is the audience for the publication? What is important to this audience? Pay attention to the tone and view point of the media source. Is the view point consistent with your message?Example

 4.    Research the reporter- What is the reporter’s style of writing? A simple Google search will provide relevant information on the type of stories they have written before. Be careful when talking to a “gotcha” reporter. This type of reporter may be looking for a story that conveys a completely different message than you intended. 

 5.    Ask about the reporter’s deadline and agenda.  Clarify the reporter’s deadline and the focus for the interview. Call the reporter back before the deadline and take a few moments to organize your thoughts and write down talking points. Try to avoid “spur of the moment” interviews without advanced preparation. Remember everything you say can be quoted.

 6.     Avoid legal jargon. Try to stay away from too many academic terms and industry jargon. Journalists like to hear human interest stories that tell a story verses an institutionalized description about process. Example

 7.    Control the interview. Make a list of the points you want to make.  Try not to have more than three key talking points. Find every opportunity to deliver your key messages. Think in headlines and respond in quotes. Don’t just answer the reporter’s questions

Almost every one of my clients has a story to tell that is worth listening too and provides valuable information. Take the first step by telling your story through on-line press releases, calling your local media or writing articles for local and national publications.

By being media savvy you can maximize the opportunity to increase awareness of your law practice and position yourself as a leader in the industry.

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This weekend I spoke at the17th Annual Northwest Dispute Resolution Conference in Seattle on how to create an ADR marketing plan.

I observed highly passionate professionals who wanted to build their practice and attract more clients so they can use their skills and expertise to help clients.  I also observed frustrations about marketing and building an ADR practice, including:

    • Not enough time
    • Lack of clarity on what to do first
    • Not sure how to identify their best clients or how to attract them.

Do these sound familiar?

The following are six tips for getting started on an effective marketing plan for your ADR practice:

1. Ask yourself, “What is my vision for my practice; what kind of work do I want to do? Why is this important to me? Write down the answer and then commit yourself to doing something every day to meet your vision. Commit yourself to excellence in your ADR practice, involvement in your community and confidence in how you communicate your brand.

2. Be selective about the work you accept. If you are constantly busy with work that is not consistent with your vision for your practice, it will be difficult to find the time or energy to grow the kind of work that will allow you to achieve your goals. Decide who your ideal client is and proactively attract this type of client to your practice.

3. Nurture and grow business from your top referral sources. Referrals come from people who know, like and trust you. The best way to gain trust is to develop a relationship with those who already know about you. This will require scheduling the time to get to know your referral sources and learning about their businesses and interests.

4. Provide remarkable service to your clients. Word-of-mouth marketing is by far the best marketing strategy for any service. The only way to get people talking about your service is to make the experience for clients remarkable -- then they will want to tell other people.

5. Have a web site that educates people about your law or ADR practice. Offer information that is of value to your prospective clients. Your message should connect at an emotional level with your target markets’ desired outcomes.

6. Share your success- help others learn and grow. The more you share your success and knowledge with other ADR professionals, the more they will learn and spread the ADR message.

I am interested in your success stories and challenges. I will blog about them and help you spread the word about your practice.

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I have just returned from Spring Break with my family. On my holiday, I had a chance to reflect and pay attention to what brings me joy. We discovered our greatest joy came from a sunrise walk on the beach, a swim in the sea at dusk or eating an amazing plate of nachos under a palapa.  It was the simple, unplanned moments we spent together that resulted in our greatest happiness.

Kerry Patterson, coauthor of Influencer and Crucial Conversations, describes happiness as:

Those precious moments of joy we all seek are often so minor in magnitude (or so counter to what the world tells us will make us happy) that we don’t seek them out. We might even miss these moments should they pay us a visit.

As we all know, holidays end and my goal was to bring this awareness of “precious moments” into my practice. I discovered there were precious moments that happened every day if I paid attention. Last week these precious moments included, a law firm retreat where the partners came together as a unified group with a common purpose, a workshop attendee who told me how the workshop gave her confidence to achieve her practice goals and a warm hug from someone who I had not seen in years. 

These were precious moments because of the meaning behind each encounter. My work was making a difference, I was making a contribution and connecting with others in a meaningful way. Since my holiday, I  recognize I want more of these moments in my work. I will pay attention when they happen and seek them out. 

What are the precious moments of joy for you in your everyday practice? Are you aware of them when they happen? How can you seek them out?

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You can attract desirable clients to your practice by communicating a message that is relevant to the clients you want to attract.

This means communicating what your clients/referral sources are interested in hearing verses what you are interested in saying.  

Creating a relevant message requires preparation and having a solid understanding of your target markets most important problems and goals.

This article explores what does and does not work for effectively communicating the value of collaborative law practice.

What does not work?     Too much emphasis on the practitioner:

Example: We assist divorcing individuals with a cooperative process that gives families resources and options unavailable in traditional divorce models. XXX is a group of independently practicing family law attorneys, mediators, business valuators, mental health professionals and financial advisors specializing in divorce issues. Each practitioner, while in business independently in their field, has XXX to provide cohesive, multi-disciplinary services to divorcing clients.

What works?

1.    A message that starts with a point of relevance to the audience:

Example: Divorce does not have to be slash and burn.

2.    A message that relates to a problem the audience has and provides a solution:

Example: “A significant advantage of collaborative law is that all personal and financial matters are kept private rather than open public records of a case tried in court,” adds Carlton R. Marcyan, “For clients going through divorce, especially business owners and clients with high assets, keeping personal and financial matters private is an important value.” (full article) 

3.     A Message that conveys a story the audience can relate to:

Example: "One of the more unique holiday plans Galvin has seen is a couple in collaboration were caught up in a power struggle over who got to spend Christmas morning and day with the children. With the help of the collaborative team the parents were able to focus on the importance of honoring the children's tradition rather than fight over who would be with the children on Christmas morning. Traditionally, the family opened presents in their home and then went to the wife’s parents’ home for a meal and to play with all their cousins. In collaboration, the couple agreed it was in the children’s best interests to maintain that tradition and the ex-husband would be included in the festivities for the next few years while the children were still young rather than alternating holidays and depriving their children of something that they looked forward to." 

This type of arrangement is in contrast to what can happen if parents do not communicate. For example, if parents cannot agree on how to divide time with their children over holidays, it is common for a Judge to try to give everyone a little something and order alternating holidays year to year which often results in tradition and the holidays being less enjoyable for the children in order to satisfy the parents’ demands.

With more than half of the marriages in the United States ending in divorce, there is no doubt Collaborative Law is something that could help parents minimize the damage of divorce on children. January is the month when most parents begin divorce proceedings. “The greatest gift you can give your child in 2010 and beyond is to love your children more than you hate your spouse and work cooperatively with the other parent to co-parent your children,” advises Jim Galvin. (full article)

In summary, the following are four steps to increase the effectiveness of your message so you can attract desirable clients to your practice:

1.    Believe in your message. Your personal belief in your message will come across. Authenticity is essential for effective communication.

2.    Develop talking points. Define the primary benefits of your service and stay focused in your communication. Avoid getting too detailed about the process before you have communicated the value of what you do.

3.    Know your audience. Understand what is most important to your audience, including their problems and the solutions you provide. Tailor your talking points to address the concerns and goals of those you are communicating to.

4.    Use multiple communication channels. Communicate your message consistently and frequently. Opportunities for getting your message out include, face to face meetings, on-line directories, firm/organization bios, articles, on line press releases, and web site, LinkedIn and facebook profiles.  

Send me examples of how your communication has worked and what  challenges you are facing to consistently communicate your "message".

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Last week I gave a workshop on social media to over 30 collaborative practice  lawyers, mental health professionals and financial advisers.

A few of the participants were skeptical about social media and were not sure it was worth their time.

Others saw it as an opportunity for accelerating the growth of their practice.

Who is right? How do you know social media will work?

I believe the answer is not about whether social media works, rather it is about taking action to attract clients and referral sources to your collaborative practice. 

Taking action is the key to growing your practice.

The more action you take every day to convey what you do, who you do it for and the value you provide, the more clients and referral sources you will attract.

The following are emails describing the "action" taken from people attending my workshop in New York and from a law firm retreat I conducted in London.

"Since the workshop, I have added lots of people to my Linked In account and rewrote my bio.
 I am using Constant Contact to keep track of my clients, lawyers I work with and a coach list. I have just sent my first Constant Contact email announcing a workshop I'm doing on creating a Vision Board for clients.
 I was able to figure out how to put a link to the announcement on my website. It's another way to get people to sign onto my mailing list.
 I've written an involved article on the pros and cons of the one and two coach models (or Neutral and Co-Coach) and I'm developing my email lists.
 

Thought you'd like to know that there's a lot going on around here with a lot of people."

Micki McWade, Divorce coach New York.

" I am just discovering the joys of LinkedIn and Twitter though it is a bit unnerving when complete strangers start "following" you.

What I have found though from my first steps along the social media highway is that the more you do/say the more people notice you. A simple example is that the number of people who have looked at my LinkedIn profile has increased markedly since I started tweeting. I haven't yet directly related that to an increase in referrals but I guess that will take a bit more time.

The other thing I have found is that you have to make time to do it - and that's the real challenge."

Gillian Bishop, Family Law in Partnership,London

Stay tuned for more "action" focused tips for growing your practice in upcoming blog posts. Let me know what is working for you.
 
I will share your tips with other professionals in the Family law and Collaborative Practice community.

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In my Google reader this week, I saw a number of blogs refer to an impressive article titled 20+ mind-blowing social media statistics revisited. The article is getting a lot of attention from on-line enthusiasts. In less than 3 days, over 66 people have re-tweeted the article, 13 posted a comment and many more have written about the article in their blog, including me.  

Why so much excitement? Depending who you are and what you do, these numbers can represent a lot of things. For the social marketing consultant, they give solid evidence that social media is an essential component to the marketing mix.

But what do these “mind-blowing statistics” mean to the already too busy lawyer or professional?

The article states that more than 80,000 websites have implemented Facebook Connect since December 2008 and more than 700,000 local businesses have active Pages on Facebook.

No longer can anyone serious about growing their business or law practice ignore the revolution we are in as it relates to the new rules of marketing.

These statistics provide a reminder that our world is changing and the way we communicate, share, learn and connect with others is also changing.

Now is the time to step back and pay attention to the opportunities that social media provide.

Today make a commitment to do one thing that will engage you in the social media environment.

The following are three steps to get you started:

1.       The first step is to listen to what is being said, read what your colleagues, customers and referral sources are saying on their blogs, LinkedIn groups and tweets.

2.       The next step is to connect. Join or initiate groups in LinkedIn and facebook. Subscribe and follow your favorite blogs, invite new people to your facebook and linked in accounts.

3.       The final step is to make a contribution. Comment on blogs that you like or don’t like, respond to comments in your LinkedIn or facebook groups, re-tweet a favorite link. Post engaging and interesting blogs that tell the world how you think, what you stand for and how you solve problems for your clients.

In summary, social media is like any good social interaction, it starts with listening, followed by observing and connecting and finally making a contribution when you have something to say that others are interested in hearing.

I will be presenting a seminar in New York on Thursday, February 4^th on the topic of Using Social Media to grow your Collaborative Law Practice. Please contact me if you are interested in bringing this workshop to your organization or firm.

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The current economic climate has every law firm and practice group focusing on how to maximize resources, reduce costs and optimize partner performance. A recent article in the Wisconsin Law Journal titled, Firm retreats: Business over Pleasure highlights the changes law firms are making in traditional law firm retreats to focus on efficiency and cut costs.

The following are five strategies every law firm, practice group or Collaborative Law practice group can implement to increase the effectiveness and ROI for annual retreats.

1.       Start with a clear understanding on what the purpose of the retreat is, what do you want to achieve as a result of the retreat? What will be different? Why is this a good time to hold the retreat? And most important what do you want to make sure is accomplished by the end of the retreat?
 

2.       Spend time upfront understanding the critical issues and key success factors. Interview the partners or retreat participants in advance to learn what they believe are the most important critical issues and key success factors for the firm or practice group. Interview clients and referral sources to bring their perspective into the retreat.  Summarize your findings into a report to provide a foundation for dialogue in the retreat.
 

3.       Provide each participant with an agenda, summary of critical issues and required preparation for the retreat. The retreat is the time to engage each member to understand the perspectives of others. Proper preparation allows for more meaningful dialogue and results in stronger buy in from all participants.
 

4.       Create a safe environment for unfiltered dialogue in the retreat. Communication and understanding leads to shared purpose and vision among participants. Firms and groups can achieve exponential growth by having a shared purpose and vision.
 

5.       Follow up on the goals and initiatives defined in the retreat. Communicate the results to the entire firm and hold participants accountable for agreed upon action items.

One of the most effective strategies you can implement for optimizing your firm or practice groups performance is to take a step back from day to day client work and bring your team together for a focused retreat that results in moving your firm or group towards your most important goals. This can be achieved through clarity of goals, proper planning, effective communication, accountability and follow up.

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Why are some practitioners successfully building their law practice while other practitioners struggle to attract desirable clients and are frequently concerned about, “where the next case will come from?”

I have been consulting with law firms, family lawyers, mediators and collaborative law practitioners across North America and Europe for the past 9 years and have observed the characteristics of highly successful practitioners.

The five characteristics that I have found consistent with every successful lawyer, mediator or collaborative law practitioner include, commitment, competence, community, communication and exceptional client value.

Successful lawyers and practitioners:

1. Know what they want, believe in their vision and are committed to achieving their vision. Commitment is defined as “The state of being bound emotionally or intellectually to a course of action.” The first step in building a strong practice is having a clear idea of what you want, internalizing the value for achieving this goal and committing to the “action” to realize your goal.

2.Have a relentless pursuit for competence. Excelling at handling client matters is what will separate you from the pack. This requires a consistent effort to master the underlying skills necessary for being recognized as the "best"in your field. What skills do you have or want to acquire that will position you as "number one" in your field?

3. Contribute to building their community. People will do business with those they know, like and trust. One of the critical requirements for consistent referrals is establishing a foundation of trust among professionals. The number one way to build trust is to spend time making a contribution to your community and showing an interest in others.

4. Effectively communicate what they do, who they do it for and the value of their service. In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell describes a “sticky message” as one of the rules for creating a tipping point. Stickiness is a message that makes an impact, is easily understood and is repeatable. Successful practitioners consistently communicate a clear message about their practice so everyone knows what they do, the value they provide and who can benefit from their service.

5. Provide exceptional client value.Satisfied clients are the best source of referrals. Higher client satisfaction requires a focus on providing superior service. This means knowing the needs, interests and goals of your clients and meeting and exceeding expectations. The fastest way to grow a practice is through word-of-mouth marketing. This will happen if clients have a positive experience with your service.

Review the above characteristics and conduct a self-assessment of your strengths and weakness.

In what areas are you strong and which areas can you improve?

Create a plan today for making these characteristics an integral part of your practice. By mastering these characteristics, you will be taking essential steps toward growing your law practice and creating the practice you want, a practice that attracts desirable and profitable clients, produces exceptional value to your clients and brings fulfillment to your work.

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