A Little Piece Of Free Marketing Lawyers Want To Try.

Having a conversation about new technology on the Law Gazette blog,

(you'll find it here) I thought about what new
products could help solicitors market themselves better.

One of those things is www.jingproject.com -
it's a tool that you can use to record screencasts.

That's a way of recording a video of what you
show on your screen and adding audio, i.e.
commentary to it, via a microphone.

Basically you highlight the area on the screen,
talk in a microphone, send the finished file by
clicking once and you have a passable presentation
that is so much more useful than an email.

Great for selling to companies.

Here's the sort of quick 5 minute screencast
I do instead of writing long emails

I haven't even up graded to the $15 version -
so there's no excuse.

Try it - you might like it. Let me know how you get on.

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Do You Innovate Enough?

Would you have thought that a handheld fan that dispenses mosquito repellent would be a hit product?

Innovation is important. When you get a headstart on a product that people want you attack a "blue ocean". Rather than swimming with sharks, cutting up an existing "red ocean" and trying to win marketshare, you get a clear run.

Is there a blue ocean for you? What can you tap into among your prospective customers that they are crying out for? Is there another industry that does something you can adapt? Gift vouchers, subscriptions, Will-While-U-Wait, buy one get one free, late night opening, can any of these be applied?

Skype video calls, twitter, text messaging, voice broadcasting - can these help you?

Think about how you can swipe and deploy things so you can get better at marketing your law firm.

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Can You Spot Opportunities Everywhere?

An independent school in Oxfordshire had to stop staff using the swimming pool
this summer because a health and safety consultant said
they were not legally covered in case of accident.

How many schools are there that are not covered
in this way in the private sector?

Would a disclaimer help? I am not a solicitor :-]
but I do fill in a disclaimer to use an open water
lake to go swimming - so maybe rather than
taking away a perk a disclaimer would do?

Nice idea for an article for private schools?
Or a video? How's that private school email
list coming along....Problems are everywhere and so
are your opportunities to solve them...

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If You Make It Difficult They Won't Come

Take a look at this law firm that spends money on advertising and then puts barriers in the way of prospects...

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From Nowhere To Google Champion in 4 Months

I congratulated one of the people I work with today.

Because they have taken their law firm from nowhere on Google to be a champion Google player in just 4 months.

So I sent him this "you are good but how good a law firm website are you" note.

Why am I telling you this?

Because all you have to do is;

put more relevant and regular content on your site,
get a few quality inbound links and
shoot some quick and informative legal marketing videos like this
or law firm videos like this.

That will really help you get more business from internet searchers.

And you can write the 9 bullet point script for your 2 minute video
in 10 minutes. Email me for the most effective way to structure your legal marketing video.

Then you shoot it in 10 minutes.

PS. You'll never know unless you try.

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A Quick Thought For The Day

“If it isn't your job to do it, perhaps it is your opportunity.” Napoleon Hill.

When you talk to Lawyers you sometimes hear fee-earners say that "it's not worth me making the effort because even if things did improve it's not me that will earn out of it."

Let me ask you. What do you earn by being able to walk? What do you earn by being able to read? What do you earn by learning a new skill?

I've got a t-shirt that is a reminder not to fall into the "it's not my job" trap.

It goes..."the more you read, the more you learn, the further you go, the more you'll earn." And I don't just mean big bucks when it comes to earning.

Earning means respect. It means that you get knowledge you can help others with.
It means you can quench (temporarily) a raging thirst for new ideas.

Everyone you meet is a teacher. Drink in their knowledge. And pass it on.

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Write To All Your Clients Who Have Wills

I saw that Certainty, the central wills registration service, is helping with some legal marketing ideas to existing clients. They do this by providing suggested letters to send out to the list of clients you have. I don't know too much about the service but what I do like is this;

Take the first 50 clients in your Wills list.
Write to them saying you want to register their Will with Certainty.
Ask them if there is any update they want.
And crucially, ask them if they want a LPA or anything else from you.

AND

CAN THEY REFER YOU TO A FAMILY MEMBER WITH THE SPECIAL OFFER?

And when you have done the first 50, try the next 50 making changes to the letter according to results from the first. It's affordable, it's doable, and it's profitable. An easy way for any solicitor to make a lot more money. And you don't need a legal marketing consultant to show you how to post a letter - do you?

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Republic Day In France.

14th Of July 1789 - The storming of the Bastille and the subsequent Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was the third event of this opening stage of the revolution.

I always try some revolting on 14th of July.

What revolution are you going to start today?

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What's Going On In Your Prospects' Minds?

If a few thousand teachers around the country get this newsletter from their union then you can bet a few hundred schools might be open to a call from their lawyers.

Ideas are all around you. Just close your eyes and picture yourself as a headteacher of a school. The Head of Upper School comes in and asks you if there is any asbestos in the school because some of the teachers have been asking about the risk.

As the headteacher you were expecting this. You have a statement and policy ready. You mention you are going to be making it part of the staff briefing tomorrow morning.

Your document has been prepared by your lawyer. As has the letter for the parents of pupils.
Everyone is reassured. Everyone praises you for quick action. You've solved a problem.

News of problems is everywhere. Open your eyes, (or close them if it helps you to think) and see how you can use this news to get you what you want.

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A One Liner That Can Change Your Actions

"It's more important to be resourceful than it is to have resources."

Yes, it's in red print for a reason.
Red is a powerful colour.
It is a colour of action.

And action is the key message.

Do not procrastinate because you don't have the money for marketing.

Find a way to do it without paying upfront.

Do not worry about being perfect. No one will know you are perfect.
Because you'll never get anything done for people to see.

Don't use the words "if only". Substitute them with "I wonder how".

If you make a mistake. It's not you that didn't get it right. Say "it" wasn't quite right.

Every time you do something well, buy yourself something.
(I buy books or sea bass). You'll feel pretty good.

When it doesn't go right, buy something anyway.

Pretty soon you'll be feeling good all the time...and when your attitude is positive you are 99% certain to succeed in whatever you do.

See what that one-liner has done to me already!

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Do You Do Personal Injury Work?

I was browsing the Yellow Pages, (all 13 pages of lawyers not the whole book)
and I saw this advert for a solicitors which made me think. (It's low resolution to load fast).

Why doesn't every personal injury lawyer put what compensation might be worth in their advert, website and brochures? Unless you know it's worth claiming you might not do it... so make it easy for someone to choose from the menu.

And also I really like the testimonials and trackable phone number they use. Two things you should be using all the time. Want to have your Yellow Pages lawyer advert looked at by an expert? You know where to send it.

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Children Of School Age? - Use The School Run To Market!

Joe Reevy, owner of Words4Business, told me a great idea today for legal marketing. So I'm pinching it to give to you ;-)

He said one of his clients has put a sign on his car that publicises his family law team. When the car is used on the school run it gets in front of 500 parents. Many of whom want a family law firm! And on Saturday's the family car is parked at Sainsbury's for a couple of hours during peak shopping periods. Easy hey?

Just use a trackable phone number on the magnetic panel you put on the car and you've got free leads coming in to your law firm. Why not supply all your staff with magnetic posters for their cars? You can have a team bonus for leads brought in each month. You can even get free magnetic panels from Vistaprint. Email me for a promotion that should give you them free!

And check out Joe's website because he makes doing newsletters really easy so that you can keep your herd intact and get more business at a fraction of the cost of other marketing. He's usually got a special deal for my visitors/newsletter friends you just have to ask. (The secret codeword is "free").

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No Cost Personal Injury Referrals

You know what might be a good idea.

Go to all your local accident repair centres.

Speak to the manager.

Explain you are a local lawyer that represents people involved in
car accidents.

Tell him you'd love to offer his customers a free appraisal.

Get him to hand over your audio CD about personal injury and
motor accidents to every customer that comes in.

Thank him profusely when he sends you clients by sponsoring
his kids football team strip with his company name on it.

10 accident repair centres
50 customers a week
500 prospects a week for you
2000 prospects a month
24,000 prospects a year

500 new cases for you

Want to do it? And do more things like this?

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Can Michael Jackson Help Your Marketing?

The media circus over Michael Jackson's estate, final wishes, guardianship of his children has made will international news. If Jackson has died intestate it's a disaster for his children.

It reminds us that everyone should have a will, especially married couples.

How can you help avoid this disaster for married couples?

Get a story into your local media and set yourself up as the expert on wills.

Use the "news" i.e. the conversation going on in people's heads, to get your law firm in to their head as the solution.

Even if you just write to all your existing clients with the Jackson story you are going to get codicils and other wills by referral. And what's it going to cost? A few pounds on letters sent out. And 20 minutes to write a press release or be on the phone for the local radio.

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What Can Car Manufacturing Teach Us About Law Firms?

Taiichi Ohno, the architect of the Toyota Production System, used the five Why's technique to solve problems. In a manufacturing environment, the Five Whys might work like this:

Manufacturing Example Problem: The Production Line Stopped Again

Why did the production line stop? Answer: We blew a fuse.

Why did we blow a fuse? Answer: Because the bearings overheated.

Why did the bearings overheat? Answer: Because there is insufficient lubrication on them.

Why is there insufficient lubrication on the bearings? Answer: Because nobody oiled them.

Why did nobody oil them? Answer: Because we don’t have a preventative maintenance schedule.

Followed by Silence............ideally somebody should then pipe up with "we need a preventative maintenance schedule - I'll get it sorted for tomorrow."

In legal services marketing, you need to ask lots of Whys.

Mike Schultz, a US marketing consultant gives a law firm example.

Legal marketing problem: We Don’t Have Enough Leads Coming In.

Why don’t we have enough leads? Answer: Because the partners aren’t getting enough referrals to build their practices.

Why aren’t the partners getting enough referrals? Answer: Because the partners and the marketing group aren’t taking the actions needed on a regular basis to generate referrals and new business leads.

Why aren’t they doing what they’re supposed to do to generate leads and referrals? Answer: Because work expectations focus on keeping them billable, and lead generation isn’t a top priority in the marketing department.

Why are the partner jobs aligned so narrowly to billing, and why doesn’t marketing focus on lead generation? Answer: Because the managing partner hasn’t historically perceived revenue generation as an issue, and so across the board—from marketing to billable staff—there isn't much concerted lead generation effort, and, in marketing, there’s no budget.

Why? Answer: Now that it’s an important business problem to solve, why hasn’t he addressed this?

Why? Answer: Silence.

Without leadership support it doesn’t matter if you come up with the right answer because nothing will happen anyway. So Partners - it's up to you.

What I like about this technique is that it is common sense, easy to do, and gets actionable solutions. It’s also a way of “becoming your own consultant “and seeing things through fresh eyes. Very important if you want to improve what you offer.

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You Become What You Think So Work At What You Think.

One of my friends runs a website called Philosopher's notes. It's worth checking out. Every day he sends out a summary paragraph about one of his favourite thinkers/books. I'd thought today's was very appropriate so I decided to post it here. I'll probably use Brian's stuff from time to time - it's that good! Thx Brian;-)

“Experience has proved to me, time after time, the enormous value of arriving at a decision. It is the failure to arrive at a fixed purpose, the inability to stop going around and round in maddening circles, that drives men to nervous breakdowns and living hells. I find that fifty per cent of my worries vanishes once I arrive at a clear, definite decision; and another forty per cent usually vanishes once I start to carry out that decision.

So, I banish about 90 per cent of my worries by taking these four steps:

1. Writing down precisely what I am worried about.
2. Writing down what I can do about it.
3. Deciding what to do.
4. Starting immediately to carry out that decision.”

From, Dale Carnegie from How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.

I've got a list of books you might want to read, It's short, my list is 100 + in the last year alone. So if you have read any good books let me know and I'll reciprocate. Deal?

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