17 Fatal Marketing Mistakes Lawyers Make
By Trey Ryder, Fri Dec 9th
Lawyers who rely on traditional marketing methods are fastdiscovering that many "time-proven methods" no longer work.Lawyers could dramatically improve their marketing results byavoiding the following mistakes and heeding this up-datedadvice. Lawyers who rely on traditional marketing methods arefast discovering that many time-proven methods no longer work.
MISTAKE #1: Relying on referrals. When you depend on referralsas your sole source of new business, you allow middlemen tocontrol your flow of new clients. You may discover that whetheryou receive referrals has nothing to do with your knowledge,skill or experience. Instead, it may be based on your ability toreturn the referrals. ADVICE: In addition to referrals, makesure your marketing program attracts inquiries directly fromprospects. This allows you to manage your marketing program,rather than relying on third parties over which you have littleor no control.
MISTAKE #2: Depending on media exposure. Without question,articles in the print media and interviews on radio andtelevision can help you attract new clients. But many lawyersrely on publicity as their entire marketing program. True,exposure can increase your credibility. But often exposure byitself isn't enough. Lawyers routinely report, "We were veryhappy with the number of articles about our firm, but we didn'tget a single new client!" In addition to exposure, you needsomething that causes you to interact with prospects.
ADVICE: Make sure your marketing program brings aboutinteractions between you and your prospects, such as over thetelephone or in person. Interaction is a critical step in themarketing process -- and the step most attorney marketingprograms overlook.
MISTAKE #3: Relying on networking groups as a primary source ofnew business. Networking is a time-consuming exercise in meetingprospects and cultivating referrals. And while networking maybear fruit, lawyers often underestimate the time required.
ADVICE: Pursue opportunities to meet and talk with genuineprospects, but don't put networking above other marketingstrategies.
MISTAKE #4: Competing on low price. When you lower your fee toattract new clients, (1) you undermine your credibility becauseclients conclude your services were not worth what theypreviously paid, (2) you attract clients who will leave you whencompeting lawyers offer fees lower than yours, (Note: Clientswho are loyal to the dollar are never loyal to you.) and (3)you'll probably lose money because the cost of attracting avolume of new clients is often greater than the profit you canearn from those clients.
ADVICE: Instead of competing on price, compete on value. You'rebetter off being the most expensive lawyer in town and havingprospects appreciate your knowledge than being the cheapestlawyer and having prospects question your skill.
MISTAKE #5: Delivering an incomplete marketing message. Manylawyers believe common marketing methods don't work becausethose lawyers didn't get the results they wanted. But usuallythe problem isn't the marketing method, it's the message. Ifyour message lacks even one essential element, your efforts willfail.
An estate planning lawyer delivered a seminar to 84 prospectiveclients, yet almost no one came into his office for a freeconsultation. After I reviewed his presentation, we added lessthan five minutes of information to his program. At his nextseminar, 10 of the 11 couples in attendance requestedappointments.
ADVICE: Before you implement your marketing program, make sureyou create a competent marketing message. Without a powerfulmessage, your marketing program is doomed.
MISTAKE #6: Not effectively reaching your target audience. A taxattorney who represents doctors before the IRS advertised hisservices in a weekly "shopper" newspaper distributed free tohomes. Not surprisingly, he was disappointed with the response.Before running the ad, the lawyer could have saved his $2000investment had he asked himself, "Will doctors look for a taxattorney in a free weekly newspaper?" I don't know aboutdoctors, but that's certainly not the first place I would look.
ADVICE: Choose different methods that you believe will reachyour prospects. Then test each method on a small scale beforeyou invest serious dollars. This way you'll know which method ismost effective at reaching your target audience and how well itattracts the clients you want.
MISTAKE #7: Making decisions by committee. The quality of amarketing decision is based on how long it takes to make thedecision and how much the decision has been watered down bycompromise. One person working alone has the potential to makegood decisions. When two people work together things begin tobog down. And if you're waiting for three people to agree --well, don't hold your breath. Marketing is like football. Canyou imagine how long it would take if the entire team offeredtheir ideas and everyone had to agree before they could make thenext play?
ADVICE: Choose one quarterback to direct your program. If youdon't get the results you want, change strategies or changequarterbacks. But don't compound your quarterback's problems bybringing in more people to help make decisions.
MISTAKE #8: Not taking the leadership position in your market.When prospects perceive you as the leader in your field, youhave a substantial advantage over other lawyers. Yet, manymarketing programs aren't designed to attain this powerful,profitable position.
ADVICE: Look at your position in the marketplace. From yourprospects' point of view, is any lawyer clearly the leader inthat category? If not, design your marketing program so you takecontrol of your niche. If that niche is already dominated byother lawyers, create a new category for yourself. Then promotethe category so prospects see you as first in that new area. Oneof my clients created a new category and successfully dominatedhis niche for five and one-half years. You gain an extraordinaryadvantage when prospects perceive you as the leader.
MISTAKE #9: Not delivering your marketing message untilprospects come into your office. Attorneys usually have noproblem persuading a prospect to hire their services once theprospect is in their office. But getting prospects through thedoor is another matter.
ADVICE: Develop materials you can send to prospective clients.Then create
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a marketing program that uses the print andbroadcast media to attract inquiries from prospects who ask toreceive your information. When prospects call your office, yourespond by mailing your packet and adding their names to yourmailing list. This allows you to put your marketing message intotheir hands regardless of their location, rather than waitingfor them to come to your office. If your materials are powerfuland persuasive, you'll find that prospects call you and requestappointments.
One of my lawyer clients received 426 calls from prospects afteroffering his materials on a radio talk show, over 500 callsafter a television news interview, and another 400 calls afteran article in a local newspaper.
MISTAKE #10: Not marketing to your practice mailing list. Yourmailing list is your own personal area of influence. It shouldcontain the names of all your past clients, current clients,prospective clients and referral sources.
ADVICE: Make sure you mail your newsletter at least quarterly.And don't think that you must make your newsletter an 8- or16-page treatise. A simple educational letter of even one or twopages works just fine. Your newsletter's size is not nearly asimportant as how often you mail it and the value of theinformation you present.
MISTAKE #11: Taking marketing shortcuts. Lawyers who achievesuccess often trim back their marketing programs hoping to savemoney by eliminating the bells and whistles. What they oftendon't realize is that many of the so-called "bells and whistles"are not bells and whistles at all. They are the essentialcomponents that make their programs work.
An attorney hired me to refresh his seminars. When we kicked offhis program, he attracted 247 prospects to five seminars, anaverage of 49 people at each program. His calendar filled upalmost overnight. After six months, he took his marketing inhouse and began cutting corners. Within 90 days, his resultswere as dismal as they had been before he called me.
ADVICE: When you shortcut your marketing on the front end, youshortcut the number of new clients on the back end. If you wantto streamline your marketing and determine if any steps mightnot be needed, start slowly and track your results. Be carefulnot to cut away the steps that are responsible for your success.
MISTAKE #12: Not making marketing a priority. For most lawyers,practicing law is their highest priority. When they get busy,they often reduce their marketing efforts because they need thattime to work on their clients' behalf. They operate under thefalse hope that their momentum will attract new business longinto the future. But when they cut their marketing efforts, theyactually shift their marketing into neutral. As a result,inertia takes over and things slowly coast to a standstill.
ADVICE: Make marketing a priority for you or someone in youroffice. Or hire an outside consultant so you make sure the workgets done. Don't turn your marketing on and off like a lightswitch. Keep your program in gear so you always attract anongoing flow of new clients.
MISTAKE #13: Writing an intricate marketing plan that becomesimpossible to carry out. Many marketing plans look like jigsawpuzzles with dozens -- even hundreds -- of pieces. And while theplans might work, most lawyers and their staffs don't have thehours needed to administer the plans.
ADVICE: Make sure your marketing plan is built on simple stepsthat have proved to be effective and efficient. In my 30 yearsin marketing, the most profitable, efficient and effectivemethod I've found is education-based marketing.
MISTAKE #14: Never completing -- and therefore neverimplementing -- your marketing plan. Many lawyers get so caughtup in gathering facts that they never stop designing their plan.They collect data, add more steps, collect more data, revisetheir plan, collect more data....
ADVICE: Implement your plan at the earliest possible moment. Apoor marketing plan that is up and running is infinitely moreprofitable than the "perfect plan" that never gets off your harddrive.
MISTAKE #15: Delaying your marketing program until your cashflow improves. More often than not, lawyers who use this reasonnever start marketing because they aren't aware that their logicis backwards: Their cash flow won't improve until they starttheir marketing program.
ADVICE: Maintaining an effective marketing program is the mostimportant investment you can make. Why pay for an office andstaff if you don't have enough business to justify the overhead?Start your marketing program now so you have an ongoing flow ofnew clients.
MISTAKE #16: Carrying out a marketing program that does notachieve the four essential steps for success. Your marketingprogram must (1) establish your credibility, (2) generateinteractions between you and your prospects, (3) gain yourprospect's commitment, and (4) maintain your client's loyalty.Programs that don't achieve all four steps will fail.
ADVICE: Any time you evaluate a marketing opportunity, considerhow well that method will accomplish these steps.
MISTAKE #17: Promoting your services. When you promote yourservices, you take on the role of a salesperson hawking hiswares. This method, called selling-based marketing, underminesyour credibility and causes prospects to question whether theycan trust you.
ADVICE: Instead of promoting your services, promote yourknowledge by educating prospects. Education-based marketinggives prospects what they want, information and advice, andremoves what they don't want, a sales pitch. It attractsprospects who come to you because of your knowledge, skill,judgment and experience.
To win at marketing, you don't have to be the biggest player orhave the biggest budget. All you need is a simple, provenmarketing method that gives prospective clients what they want,information and advice -- and removes what they don't want, asales pitch. That's precisely what my method of Education-BasedMarketing does because I designed it that way. That's why theAmerican Marketing Association featured my method on the frontpage of its national publication, MARKETING NEWS.
About the author:TREY RYDER LLC Education-Based Marketing for Lawyers. LawyerMarketing Advisor http://www.TreyRyder.com Trey Ryder is theLawyer Marketing Department Sponsor For Jersey Justice.http://www.JerseyJustice.com
