Are You Doing All You Can To Market Your Practice?

Posted by Kyle E. Krull, Esq., President
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

It’s Monday. You and your staff are perusing the firm calendar for the next two weeks. One thing is painfully obvious to everyone – the pipeline is empty. In other words, your appointment calendar resembles a BINGO board, before the first letter-number combination is called. Not good.

Short of announcing layoffs of critical staff, what should you do? Seems like a perfect time to take a sober self-assessment of your marketing efforts. Since “the buck stops with you,” here’s the question: “Are you really doing ALL YOU CAN to market your practice?” Let’s examine six essential components of a comprehensive marketing system.

1. Website: Do you have a website that is optimized for search engines? Run a self-test on Google for “Estate Planning (or Elder Law) Attorney” for the city where your office is located. Okay, I’ll go first: Google “Estate Planning Attorney Overland Park Kansas.” Did I show up on page one? [While you are reviewing the Google search results, go ahead and click on the www.avvo.com and the www.lawyers.com links on the page. Note: With a strategically optimized website, you will have a strong presence across the internet when prospects are surfing in “search, compare and select” mode. Bottom line: You want to show up EVERYWHERE it matters.] Now, run the same search for your own office location. Did you show up on page one? If no, then that is a problem. Consciously (or subconsciously) prospective clients perceive that “page one attorneys” are better than “page two attorneys.” Right or wrong, their perception is their reality. It needs to be yours, too.
2. Newsletter: Are you sending your hardcopy newsletter to the homes of your top clients, centers of influence and referral sources? If no, then you are missing a golden opportunity. In this economy, you will no longer be competing with the volume of direct mail advertising as in the past. When you send a full-color newsletter every month without fail, you will establish and own top-of-mind awareness for these most critical relationships. The emphasis here is on “relationship.” You see, when the friends, family members and clients of these folks have an estate planning need, you will be the one to whom they will refer the work.
3. E-Newsletter: Are you consistently building your e-newsletter distribution list, ethically and consistently? Have you been automatically subscribing every new client? When you follow-up with their other professional advisors (i.e., accountant, financial advisor, insurance agent, physician, etc.) with client permission, are you offering them a complimentary subscription to stay informed? Don’t overlook everyone you meet at Chamber of Commerce gatherings, too. Everyone there is networking and marketing. Why not you?
4. Targeted Presentations: How many presentations have you given recently? Speaking of your local Chamber of Commerce, offer to provide an educational program on estate planning for business owners. Ours is titled “Business Owner Blues.” Visit your bank and have a cup of coffee with the coordinator for retiree activities. Offer to present an educational program focusing on the financial and legal concerns common to women. Ours is titled “Women, Money & The Law.” The opportunities are virtually unlimited, as every Rotary, Optimist, Sertoma, Lion’s and Kiwanis club is always looking for a guest speaker.
5. Blogging: Are you blogging? Are you blogging daily or, if not, at least consistently? Blogging can be the one thing you can do to distinguish yourself from other attorneys in your area. There is an old maxim: “Talkers are hawkers, but writers are experts.” Properly done (in close coordination with your website, Twitter feed and Facebook page), blogging can help you land – and stay – on the coveted page one of Google.
6. You: Without you, the five essential components of a comprehensive marketing system are for naught. You must be committed to working the system. Suppose you were a fisherman and not an attorney. Unless you take that fishing pole and bait (i.e., your comprehensive marketing system) out of the basement and out to the lake (i.e., the marketplace of prospective clients and referral sources), it will be very difficult for you to catch enough fish (i.e., clients) to stay in business. On the other hand, if you simply work the comprehensive marketing system, then you will keep your appointment calendar full and it will resemble a winning BINGO card. As has been attributed to Woody Allen, “80% of success is just showing up.” So, are you showing up? Are you really doing all you can to market your practice?

Teaching point: The ESSENTIAL Solution® is the comprehensive marketing system I use. In fact, I helped design, develop and test every component of The ESSENTIAL Solution® before offering it to my estate planning and elder law colleagues.