Legal Marketing Strategies: 10 Different Ways to Create a Unique Competitive Advantage (UCA)
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A Unique Competitive Advantage (UCA) answers the questions: Why should we hire you versus your competition? What’s unique about your firm and your services?
Here are 10 ways you can begin answering those questions:
- Benefits. What are the benefits of working with your firm as compared to working with others? What do you do that other firms refuse to do to better serve their clients?
- Value. Compare your costs versus how much money you save clients. How have you helped other clients take better advantage of opportunities or avoid legal liability? What are some specific ways you are constantly looking out for their best interests? What are the core values of your firm and how do you demonstrate these values?
- Results. What are some specific results you have obtained for clients in the past? What is your win/loss record? What do you do to achieve better results than your competitors?
- Solutions. Give an example of a creative solution you found to a client’s problem. How did you come up with it? What happened because of your creative solution?
- Individual Partners. Remember, people don’t buy legal services from law firms; they buy legal services from attorneys. People don’t say, “Go talk to my law firm,” they say, “Go talk to my attorney.” What is different about your partners than in other firms?
- Service. How do your clients describe the way you treat them? What’s an example of how you went out of your way to better serve a client? How do you demonstrate exceptional client service on a regular basis?
- Industry-specific Specialty. Position your partners as leading experts in a specific industry, not as generalists. To be a generalist for most attorneys is the “kiss of death.” Go deeper, not broader. Have industry specific marketing materials.
- Clients’ Feedback. What do your best clients say about you? What would they tell someone else about your services and how you’ve helped them? Do you have a long list of very satisfied clients that prospects can speak with? Do your clients refer other clients to you on a regular basis?
- Credibility. What is your firm known for in the industry? Talk about how your partners are profiled in the media or are industry experts. What are 3 reasons why your prospects should perceive you as a credible expert?
- Visibility. How visible are your partners within an industry? Do they regularly speak at top industry events? Are they a nationally-recognized expert? A published author? What happens when prospects type their names into Google?
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Where can you read articles like: “9 Proven Keys to Recession-proof your Law Practice”;
“4 Secret Strategies of Law Firm Marketing” or “Supercharging Your Law Firm’s Referrals?”
In The Rainmaker Advisor Journal. To get your free trial copy, go to www.therainmakeradvisor.com
Law Firm Marketing: Is Your Marketing "on Target?"
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One of the biggest mistakes I see most attorneys make in the legal marketing is defining their target market way too broadly. For example, a PI attorney might say: “My target market are those people who have been injured in Texas.”
Although this statement is certainly true, that’s a lot of people and it certainly doesn’t help the marketing efforts of such an attorney.
A better way to describe that PI’s target market might be something like: “My target market are those married couples who make more than $50,000 a year, own their own homes and either the husband or wife has been injured in a construction accident in Dallas, Ft. Worth, Houston or Austin, Texas.”
There, isn’t that more specific? Now, although for purpose of illustration here I’m making up these qualifiers, in the real world of finding your prospective clients, you should not. Your qualifiers should be based on factors such as: who is more likely to hire you, who is more likely to listen to you when they hire you and who is more likely to pay you, for example. By strategically qualifying your target market, your marketing efforts are made much, much easier and have a greater likelihood of producing results.
Here are more examples of what I’m talking about, broken down into practice categories for
your convenience:
Business Attorney for Small, Privately-held Businesses
- CEOs, Presidents, VPs, General Managers.
- $2M to $100M in annual revenue.
- Privately-held companies with 20 to 1,000 employees.
- In the high-tech, telecommunications or software development industries.
- Headquartered within 20 miles of my office.
- Are challenged with protecting their IP, wanting to grow nationally or internationally, and looking to joint venture with or license their IP to larger companies.
Commercial Real Estate Purchase & Development
- Owner, General Manager, President or CEO.
- Involved in a minimum of 3 projects per year.
- Average deal is worth at least $5M up to $500M.
- Projects are either retail, office space, malls, land use and require special zoning, such as industrial or multi-family.
- Have many legal needs including initial and extended contracts, negotiation with larger companies, tenant leasing, employment contracts, zoning laws, lending laws, dispute negotiation, etc.
Business/Corporate Litigation
- CEOs, Presidents, Owners, General Managers.
- At least $2M to $100M in annual revenue.
- Privately-held companies with usually 20 to 1,000 employees.
- Often my client’s businesses are growing 10 to 20% faster than average.
- Open to any business, but most clients are in manufacturing, technology or the transportation field.
- Most clients run a business that has an international component to it, is based largely on their IP, is very employee-intensive, or contracts with much larger companies.
- Can be located anywhere within the state, but usually within 20 miles of a major city. (Manufacturing and technology companies) or along a major interstate (transportation companies.)
- Have litigation matters where the ”problem” is worth at least $100,000.
Family Law/Divorce Attorney
- Have an estate worth at least $500,000 to $1MM in assets.
- White collar professional or service professional (doctor, chiropractor, accountant, etc.)
- Not interested in a “scorch and burn” attorney; willing to work with the other party.
- Located within 20 to 30 miles of my office or a direct referral.
- Able and willing to pay a $7,500 to $10,000 retainer.
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Where can get practical, proven and results-producing law firm marketing help in one place? In the The Rainmaker Advisor Journal. To get your free trial copy, go to: www.therainmakeradvisor.com
State Bar of California Rainmaker Retreat Legal Marketing Boot camp: Round Up and Recap!
I just flew back from San Francisco. This last Friday & Saturday we had a fantastic group of attorneys for the first ever Rainmaker Retreat sponsored by the State Bar of California.
The staff at the Bar was fantastic. I was very impressed with their level of attentiveness and kindness. We look forward to working with them on many future projects and events.
Later this week on this blog I will let you in on a little secret the CA Stat Bar just shared with me on Friday morning. It blew me away! I'm very excited about this.
The group of attorneys who attended the law firm marketing workshop were incredible. While most were from California, we had lawyers who flew in from the states of Washington, Florida, Nevada, Utah, and Texas to join us.
The level of sharing, learning, and eye-opening discoveries was non-stop. I also must say that this was probably the most fun I've ever had at a Rainmaker Retreat.
I especially want to thank:
- Conrad Saam of Avvo.com was there to show attendees how to claim their free attorney profile and how to leverage it to drive great traffic to their website and attract more clients—all for free! What you may not know about Avvo.com is that it is the fastest growing online legal directory in the country. It already has 3 times more traffic than Martindale and will soon surpass lawyers.com to become the #1 largest legal directory. And did I mention it's FREE...
- Ron Kramer, a personal injury attorney in Utah and a member our Rainmaker Mastermind Group who flew in at the last moment to attend. Thanks for joining us Ron!
- Adrian Lurssen and Aviva Cuyler from JDSupra.com who gave a great presentation on how to rapidly increase your internet platform by posting articles on their site. Attorneys are using JDSupra to rapidly boost traffic to their websites. This is a very powerful tool we will be using more frequently in the days to come. You can check out my articles and JDSupra profile at: http://www.jdsupra.com/profile/stephenfairley/
- The Team at Sagaria Law. Scott Sagaria is owner of one of the fastest growing bankruptcy law firms in California. In addition to being a very sharp business owner, he has a great vision for his law firm. He brought several of his team along including: Eddy Hsu (a true work horse!), Tina Phan (Are you still there?), Dominique Sopko (the shy one--not), Heather Cassidy (Hey, is that Stephen Fairley?), Erin Coyle (aka Bubbles), Brittany Klein (Where’s my Starbucks?), and Business Operations Director Extraordinaire Carrie Ramirez (Are you still working? It's 10pm). My thanks go out to Scott and his team for a great dinner on Thursday and for attending the Rainmaker Retreat. Looking forward to seeing you all again in 2 weeks for a 2 day in house law firm marketing audit.
Here are just a few of the comments attendees wrote down at the end of the conference:
“This was a great seminar that went through the very basics to more advanced techniques to bring in high quality cases. The sheer amount of information has left my head spinning! I'm looking forward to the flight home so I can put together a plan to implement the ideas I learned.” Ron Kramer, Esq. (Personal Injury, Draper, UT)
“The Rainmaker Retreat is the most insightful strategic planning I have every experienced! The ideas were simple yet genius and cost-effective. They could be implemented by firms of any size.” Heather Cassidy, Esq. (Bankruptcy & Family Law, Sacramento, CA)
“I am the world’s biggest cynic when it comes to direct marketing...but I decided to come despite my cynicism. I AM NOW A VIP MEMBER—that’s how great and practical this is!” Delphine Adams, Esq. (Real Estate, Santa Rose, CA)
“This legal marketing seminar provides a ‘nuts and bolts,’ systematized approach to traditional Rainmaking, then provides strategies for 21st century marketing. I thought the promotional materials over-promised before I came. As I left, it was clear that Stephen over-delivered, by a wide margin!” Michael Atter, Esq. (Personal Injury, Jacksonville, FL)
“The Rainmaker Retreat has been simply amazing. Stephen Fairley is an outstanding speaker who I find very motivating and inspiring. The content, ideas and advice of this retreat has exceeded my expectations 110%!” Carrie Ramirez (San Jose, CA)
“The Rainmaker Retreat will not sell you useless books, CDs and tapes. It WILL teach you real, practical, useful methods for you to sell yourself, over and over again. If you are a small firm or a new Rainmaker, you NEED to attend the Rainmaker Retreat!” Jeff Nunes, Esq. (Estate Planning & Employment Law, Morgan Hill, CA)
“This seminar was an amazing experience! The advice is insightful and practical. We were provided with strategies and procedures that will deliver significant benefits almost immediately.” Dominique Sopko, Esq. (Family law & Bankruptcy, San Jose, CA)
“Stephen Fairley has a fast paced program that motivates, explains and organizes your marketing efforts. I highly recommend this to all attorneys.” Robert Rolnik, Esq. (Patent Law, Kingwood, TX)
“This was very thought provoking. I have not had such a clear plan for marketing presented like this before. I really appreciated the many different marketing options and internet possibilities that were presented.” Clark Vellis, Esq. (Commercial Litigation, Reno, NV)
If you couldn’t make, you really missed a great event! But you can catch a replay in Las Vegas in about 3 weeks at the Mirage.
Here's the link for more information: www.RainmakerRetreat.com
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Anouncing Never Before at the Las Vegas Rainmaker Retreat!
We will have a special, brand new break out session on how attorneys can leverage social media to drive more traffic and land more clients. Think Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and more—on steroids!
Legal Marketing Strategies: The Legal Specialization Model
When it comes to legal marketing strategies, there are five main components emanating from an “action” core that I discuss in my Rainmaker Retreats, like you see below. In today’s post, I will discuss these five and their core in a bit more detail.
Expert Positioning: Media and Market Specialization. To differentiate yourself from your competitors, you should develop an expertise and begin positioning yourself as that recognized expert, by using the media and by targeting a specific practice niche.
Create Your Success Team. Every successful attorney recognizes the importance of having a quality team that supports their success. You should consider who you need on your team; how to find them; and how to train them to help you grow and prosper.
Automate Your Marketing System. To free up your time and your staff’s time and to ensure that your marketing is on-going, it’s important to automate all that you can, by using technology and the Internet.
Building Your Platform. Your “platform” is the number of people you communicate with on a regular basis (prospects, clients, and referrals sources). The size of your platform is directly proportional to the size of your bank account. There are several proven methods for increasing the size of both.
Referral Relationships and Networking. There are several different strategies to find referral sources and a process for actively cultivating those resources.
Action Orientation. Knowledge without action is just . . . well, knowledge. Nice to have, but ineffective in helping you achieve that lifestyle law practice you desire. So you need to put this knowledge into action and the sooner, the better.
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Are you trapped into working more and more, while enjoying your life less and less? There is a way out. It’s called the Rainmaker Retreat. In this two-day marketing boot camp for small and solo law firms, you’ll learn valuable information and practical steps to take so you can better market your small or solo law practice. For more information or to sign-up for the next one, go to: www.RainmakerRetreat.com or call 1-888-588-5891.
Legal Marketing: The Big 3 Reasons Why Attorneys Fail to Grow Their Practices
Law firm marketing is a complex and competitive business. And there are many reasons why certain law firms fail to grow or even fail to survive.
However, in my working with more than 6,000 attorneys over the years, I’ve come to find out that there are essentially 3 main reasons why attorneys fail to grow their practices:
- Lack of Time
This is the single biggest complaint we hear. You’re stressed for time. You barely have time to serve your clients, much less market your practice. Not to mention spend time with your family.
- Lack of Systems
There are several simple systems attorneys can use to create a “lifestyle practice”—a practice that supports the lifestyle you want to lead, rather than one that dominates your life.
- Lack of Strategy
From a marketing perspective, a comprehensive strategy to grow your law firm is essential to your long-term success. Otherwise you and your team lack direction.
These “lacks” can be overcome so that you can create that lifestyle law practice you desire.
Many of our clients are proof of that. When you use a proven legal marketing strategy that consistently produces results, you can then set up legal marketing systems that, in turn, both free-up your time while increasing your client roster, increasing your revenue.
Although this sounds simple (and, at the 100,000-foot level, it is), there are numerous options that are equally good and effective, forcing numerous choices to be made with resources.
When law firms engage a law firm marketing expert or attend law firm marketing seminars, bootcamps and conferences, law firm marketing becomes so much clearer and so much easier.
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If you think . . . you can’t make more money and have the time to enjoy your life . . . you’ve never been to a Rainmaker Retreat. If you’re a partner in a small law firm or are on your own and want to grow your practice while enjoying the lifestyle you deserve, you owe it to yourself to attend a Rainmaker Retreat. In this two-day marketing boot camp for small and solo law firms, you’ll learn valuable information and practical steps to take to better market your practice. For more information or to sign-up for the next one, go to: www.RainmakerRetreat.com or call 1-888-588-5891.
Legal Marketing Strategies: 3 Strategies to Staying Positive in a Negative Climate
Fear and negativity are pervasive and everywhere you look these days. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting really tired of it.
I’m on a personal crusade to promote a positive culture based on positive relationships and positive solutions. No, I’m not sticking my head in the sand, but I do believe that if you only focus on negativity and fear that’s exactly what you will see and experience.
Here are 3 ways you can replace fear and negativity with positive action and attitude:
- Focus on Being a Positive Person
Positive people attract other positive people. When your attention is on being positive, you will draw clients and referrals sources to you who are also positive. Stop hanging around people who’s only concern in life is to bring everyone else down to their level. Find people who are doing great things and moving in the right direction and get to know them.
- Focus on Positive Solutions for Clients
People are looking for solutions that actually work in the real world. As their attorney, you have a responsibility to provide them with positive solutions. The more effective your solutions, the more attractive you will become to prospects, clients and referrals sources.
- Focus on Keeping Your Staff Positive
Everyone can use a little more encouragement and positive reinforcement these days. Even though your firm may be going through a tough time economically, you can still emphasize what your staff did right and say think you.
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Tough times call for tough action. This is especially true today in small law firm marketing, when the competition is fierce, the client dollars tight and your bottom line precious. Get battle-ready now with a two-day marketing boot camp called the Rainmaker Retreat. For more information or to sign-up for the next one, go to: www.RainmakerRetreat.com or call 1-888-588-5891.
Law Firm Marketing: A Step-by-Step Referral System that Gets Results
In this blog post, I’m letting you peek behind the curtain. I will give you the steps involved in this law firm marketing system that has helped many a client increase business.
- Identify several professions or industries that already have trusted relationships with your target market.
- Build or buy a database of potential referral sources (www.infoUSA.com and www.superpages.com are two great list-building resources.).
- Focus on refining your Unique Competitive Advantage by answering this question: “Why should, someone hire me versus any of my competitors?”
- Create a form letter that includes who you work with, how you are different and a personal invitation to get together to determine if/how you could work together.
- Send out 10 to 20 letters per week.
- Have your assistant call the people you sent letters to and determine their level of interest in connecting with you.
- Have your assistant set-up appointments for you over lunch or coffee.
- When you meet with prospective SRP’s (Strategic Referral Partners), find out more about their businesses and how you can help their clients.
- Ask compelling questions to let them know you are interested in building a mutually-beneficial referral relationship, and remember to ask the best question: “How would I know if the person I’m talking to would be a great referral for you?”
- Ask them if they would be willing to send you referrals.
- When possible, try to send them a referral in the next 30 days.
- Follow-up every 4 to 6 weeks to stay connected with them (Send them a letter, article of interest or one of your press releases.)
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Do you want to double your law practice, increase client referrals and make more money in these challenging economics times? Then subscribe to The Rainmaker Advisor Journal. To get your free trial copy, go to: www.therainmakeradvisor.com
Law Firm Marketiing: Protecting Your Most Valuable Assets
It used to be said “time is money,” but that’s not true anymore.
In our society, time is more valuable than money because you can always make more money, but you can never make more time.
In these perilous times, you must be sure to protect your most valuable assets. Here are the 7 vital and practical areas you must protect:
Protect Your Time by developing a practical marketing plan.
Protect Your Employees, who will make or break your business.
Protect Your Clients by providing exceptional value and focusing on benefits and results.
Protect Your Practice with consistent and persistent marketing efforts.
Protect Your Revenues with creative alternatives to the billable hour.
Protect Your Reputation online through social media and blogging.
Protect Your Referral Sources by staying connected with them each and every month.
Protect your assets, and they will protect you, both now and in the years to come.
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Learn the new rules of law firm marketing by attending an Avvo seminar. Three times bigger than Martinale.com, lawyer directory Avvo is holding three free seminars – today, Wednesday, June 17th in San Diego and Thursday, June 18th in Irvine in the morning and Los Angeles at night. Hear law firm marketing expert Stephen Fairley and others tell you what you need to know to market your law firm in the New Normal.
Click here to register for San Diego, Irvine or to register for Los Angeles
Law Firm Marketing: Where's Your Focus?
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I’ve been talking to quite a few attorneys over the past several months who are increasingly concerned about how the tough economy is affecting their practice and their ability to focus on marketing their law firm.
Let’s have a little perspective on this. As a business owner, you can either focus on the fear and scarcity mentality that is being promoted by the media today or you can focus on taking action and abundance. Which choice you make has immediate and long-term implications. If you allow yourself to be controlled by fear or make your decisions based on scarcity, you will miss the opportunities that come your way. Your challenge is to stay focused on taking action, look for opportunity in the midst of crisis and find a way to leverage it!
Here are 5 Tips to Keep You Focused:
Focus on the positive. I recommend making a list of all the good things that happen to you each day and keep it posted near your computer as a constant reminder that not everything is bad.
Focus on what you can control, instead of what you cannot control. You cannot control the global markets, the investment banks, or the economy. You can only control your actions so create an action plan of what steps you are going to take to keep moving forward. Have a heart to heart talk with every attorney in your firm and require them to submit 3 specific steps they will take in the next 90 days to generate more business for your firm.
Focus on improving client satisfaction and retention. Send out a client satisfaction survey, call up your top 10 clients and take them to lunch, stay connected with your current and former clients—ask them what challenges they are facing and how you can assist them. Perhaps you can introduce them to a banking colleague for a much-needed business line of credit or a real estate broker who can help them sublease some office space.
Focus on implementing your marketing plan. When this economic crisis is over, you will
find some firms have just barely managed to survive, while others have grown significantly. The difference is when everyone else was pulling back, some firms see this as the perfect opportunity to expand their marketing and increase their efforts. Which path will you follow?
Focus on connecting with referral sources. Go through your rolodex and reconnect with every single person who sent you a referral in the last 24 months and start meeting with them in person.
As you go through your week, working hard on growing your practice, remember these tips. And stay focused.
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Don’t get caught playing the law firm marketing game under the old rules. Get a new playbook by attending an Avvo seminar. Three times bigger than Martinale.com, lawyer directory Avvo is holding three free seminars on Wednesday, June 17th in San Diego and Thursday, June 18th in Irvine in the morning and Los Angeles at night. Hear law firm marketing expert Stephen Fairley and others tell you what you need to know to market your law firm in the New Normal.
Click here to register for San Diego, Irvine or to register for Los Angeles
Legal Marketing Strategies: What Business Are You Really In?
When someone asks you, “What business are you in?” What do you answer? I suspect, if you’re like most attorneys, you’d answer: law, real estate law, probate law, family law . . . or anything related to the word “law.”
Logical, right? It may be logical but it’s wrong. You may have a legal practice, but that’s not the business you’re in. You’re really in the business of running your business.
And there are three specific ways you do this: marketing your legal skills; creating extraordinary experiences for your clients and building deep and lasting relationships with those clients. In my blog this week, I’ll be discussing each in greater depth.
You are in the business of marketing your legal skills. As a solo practitioner, a partner in a small law firm, an associate or of counsel, your primary focus, after gaining competency as an attorney, is to understand the key principles of business development and marketing and to apply them every single day. Not every attorney will be a top rainmaker, but everyone can do something to grow and market their practice.
You are in the business of creating extraordinary experiences for your clients. John Bisnar, founder of Bisnar Chase and a multi-million dollar rainmaker, has often spoken about the need to “micromanage the client experience”—controlling every aspect of how the client experiences your law firm. From how the phone is answered, to greeting them by name as they walk in the door, to minimizing the amount of paperwork you ask them to complete to reserving your conference room with their name on the door, to returning client phone calls and emails consistently and promptly, everything should be focused on creating a positive experience for your clients. If your client has asked to name the top 10 businesses that provide the best customer service would your name even be on their list? What are three things you can change this week to greatly improve your client’s experience? When is the last time you asked them how you can better serve them with a client satisfaction survey?
You are in the business of building deep and lasting relationships with your client? Far too many attorneys only have a transactional relationship with their clients. They create an estate plan for them, they file a lawsuit on their behalf, or they set up a corporation for them. To be successful over the long term you must think long term.
You must develop long-term, meaningful and influential relationships with your clients because the most expensive thing you can have is a one-time client. The first step is to say connected with them. Regular, non-billable communication with clients is more important than ever in these difficult times. Send out a monthly newsletter, a client communique’ or a copy of an interesting article you read 9or wrote). Here’s the rule of thumb: communicate at least 10 times a year with every current and former client. Sit down with your staff or partner and lay out a game plan for how you can build long term, meaningful and influential relationships with your clients.
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The rules of law firm marketing are changing. So where do you go for the latest and best information? You go to the game-changers, of course. You go to an Avvo seminar. Three times bigger than Martinale.com, lawyer directory Avvo is holding three free seminars on Wednesday, June 17th in San Diego and Thursday, June 18th in Irvine in the morning and Los Angeles at night. Hear law firm marketing expert Stephen Fairley and others tell you what you need to know to market your law firm in the New Normal. Click here to register for San Diego, Irvine or to register for Los Angeles
