United States: Quick Hits On Promoting The Small Law Firm

Okay, this is a challenge. I’m supposed to give some ideas on developing new business for the small law firm and keep it under 1,000 words. I’ve already wasted 26 of those words, not including the contraction—whoops, there go some more. Let’s get to it. Here are quick hits on how small firm attorneys are marketing and my thoughts:

Newsletter Hands down the best marketing your firm can do is to mine your existing client base. This brings no comfort to the younger law firm that doesn’t have a client base, but it is a lesson all attorneys learn at some point: don’t forget to take care of your existing clients. For every client that considers you their attorney, they are a potential source of referrals to every person they come in contact with. Keeping your name on the forefront of their minds can be as simple as sending out a quarterly newsletter. Today, this can be accomplished by e-mail, drastically saving time and costs.

Referral service Most local bar associations run a lawyer referral program. I had moderate success with this while building my practice. Often the referral service takes a percentage of your fee. Some do a better job than others at marketing themselves, which translates directly to how many calls you will get.

Web site Your firm must have a web site. People expect legitimate businesses to have an online presence. Your web site is your flagship web presence, so make it a good one. Some attorney web sites are so horrific they chase business away. Use the firm brochure test: if you could print your web site, would it make good print material that you would be proud to put on your waiting room coffee table? Also, make sure they can find you by promoting your web site well, particularly through search engines and online directories. See below.

Online directories There are literally hundreds of online directories out there. These are essentially online phone books with listings of attorneys. Determining which ones you should be in should begin with you searching for an attorney in your area of practice in your city in the top 15 or so search engines. What directories pop up? Do you see their banner ads? Which directories have the top positions? The directories you see in your search results are the same ones your potential clients will see. Make sure you try a few combinations of search terms. Get your firm listed in the directories that are doing a nice job of promoting their site.

Colleague network Some attorneys develop a network of colleagues with a loose affiliation for the purpose of sending business back and forth. When the attorneys’ practices don’t overlap, this can be a nice arrangement. States have varying ethical restrictions on referral fees, so read up on them.

Seminars Estate planning attorneys have done well sponsoring free seminars. They give free information to the public and bank on picking up some business from the attendees. Defense and business attorneys may also benefit from this type of promotion (i.e. ‘Protecting your business from the slip and fall’).

Yellow pages A marketing arms race. If you can’t be in the first several pages, don’t bother, no one will see your ad. If you do insist on spending the money, make sure your ad is different from the others. The most effective ad I have seen is an attorney in St. Louis who took out a full page ad and only used a small box in the middle that said ‘workers comp only’. Their ad rep told me they got fantastic results doing this.

Radio Another marketing arms race. Be prepared to spend loads of money branding your firm or don’t bother doing this. I’ve heard some attorney radio ads that run a few times and disappear. The name of this game is branding, which is best done by saturating the market through redundancy. If you’re going to do it, go big.

Print Attorneys love advertising in local television guides. I’m not sure why, but I guess some are getting the results they want. My experience with this type of advertising is you will get a lot of price shoppers who are mostly concerned with how little you will cost them, not a good foundation for an attorney/client relationship. That’s a whole topic in itself. Some do billboards, which can work if you have an easy way for the casual observer to remember your phone number, web site, etc. (i.e. 555-OUCH).

Pre-paid legal I haven’t had a positive experience with this yet. Pre-paid legal companies are quasi-insurance companies that charge a membership fee for access to their group of attorneys who provide legal services at a discount. Sounds good in theory, but I haven’t seen it work in practice.

Insurance defense Some firms build entire practices doing contract work for insurance companies. The pay is low but steady. Be careful accepting this type of work because you might conflict your way out of lucrative plaintiffs cases in the future.

Concept litigation Some plaintiffs lawyers are smiling right now. This is where you discover a cause of action on your own and find a plaintiff. Believe it or not, there are nationwide networks of attorneys devoted to sharing this type of information. Of course, strict ethical rules apply to contact with potential clients.

Direct mail Waste of time. There is a specific group of people at any given time needing your services and sending out vast amounts of direct mail looking for them is an inefficient wild goose chase. You’re better off positioning yourself to be where you think they will come in looking for you.

Forum moderator Some attorneys do well as the expert in a call in radio show or newspaper column. While those gigs may be hard to get, anyone can sponsor an online chat room or message board for little investment.