MyShingle : Solo and Small Law Firm Management and Marketing

I'm in a closing at the time of the seminar. I look forward to reading your posts.

Al Nye

These are the notes I took from Nader Anise’s Tele-seminar Notes on 12-14-04

Marketing Strategies for Solos and Small Firms

First, develop a unique selling point to differentiate your firm. For example, a lawyer in California, apparently where Nader practiced, markets himself as a karate law specialist. Another lawyer specializes in family law for men.

A second strategy is to “find out what clients hate and fix it.” Nader gave an example of a lawyer who does not charge his client for phone calls between the client and the lawyer. This was popular with his clients because they hated paying for just phone calls.

Nader’s third strategy is to market a “performance promise.” For example, an immigration lawyer advertised that if he did not obtain a green card for his clients he would not charge them. Nader noted, of course, that this is risky unless you are sure you can deliver on enough cases to make such a promise worth your while.

Fourthly, Nader went to great depths about establishing a referral system. He emphasized that it is important to remind clients from the initial consultation through the closing letter about referrals. I thought some of the methods were too aggressive for my taste, but some may be comfortable with that kind of persistence. Nader gave several tips to get referrals including 1) acknowledging the referrals you do get (i.e. thanking the referrer), 2) making sure others know what you do or what your “specialty” is so they can refer helpful cases and 3) ask for referrals–send postcards to other lawyers/professionals announcing your firm and ask for any referrals.

Next, Nader mentioned free press and free publicity. He said that correct use of press releases can provide valuable advertising at no cost and little time.

Nader also recommended “Parasite Marketing.” This may occur when an attorney may approach a well established professional and use his name for a marketing drive. For example, solo probate attorney A approaches veteran personal injury lawyer B and proposes a letter to B’s clients for B’s signature that would state that B recommends A for any probate mattes such as drafting a will, etc. B would then get a small referral fee for each client that comes to A as a result of the letter. Nader suggested that A give the first hour free to clients from B as a selling point or even word the letter so that B states she has purchased the first hour of A’s time for his clients.

The seventh strategy is to use free education based marketing. This is a new, but popular idea where an attorney authors a free report to the public on a topic of interest (e.g. 12 Helpful Things To Know When Filing Your Insurance Claim for Hurricane Damage). The reports would be free but show that the author is knowledgeable and is exhibiting good will towards the public.

Nader emphasized that a lawyer must have many consistent and diverse lines of communication. He gave several reasons why a website is helpful to an attorney. He mentioned www.myshingle.com as an excellent resource and example of a blog.

Nader concluded that a successful marketer must be “obsessed with marketing.” I think there are two lines of thought. A famous trial attorney in Arkansas told me not to worry about money or getting clients but to “take care of the law, son, and the law will take care of you.” I think a balanced approach is the best.