If you’ve never written a comprehensive plan for how to obtain more business, this is the time. Set realistic goals and evaluate different ways to build credibility and brand awareness. If you’re entering the next year without a clear business development strategy, you’re setting yourself up for failure. Lawyers can accelerate their business development through face-to-face digital interactions. Set up Zoom coffee meetings, host online seminars or webinars, and more.
Global competition and disruption from alternative legal service providers and digital platforms have further blurred traditional market boundaries. Boutique firms, Alternative Legal Service Providers (ALSPs), and international players are creating pricing and delivery pressures. Precision targeting and personalization are now expected in client communication and engagement.
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Legal marketing is selling your law firm’s services to prospective clients through various means. It is necessary because great firms will not survive unless someone can discover or believe in them. Lawyers are highly competitive, and smart marketing allows you to be the exception rather than the rule. In fact, more than one in three individuals now begin seeking an attorney online, so you cannot afford to exclude your online presence. This manual includes fifteen of the top legal marketing tactics – including sites and SEO, networking, and automation – to increase your firm.
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If you consistently put things off, you’re likely missing out on countless business-building moments. In addition to a traditional content plan for blogs and articles, develop a strategy for modern digital education. Fortunately, technology has never been more accessible, making it simple for lawyers and legal marketers to lean into podcasts and webinars. With no geographical barriers, both are great ways to educate and engage a wide audience. One of the best ways to build a business is to offer something of value. The bulk of the content you create as a lawyer should be centered around education.
#14 Know what your in-house marketing team can offer
- These events let them have real talks, swap cards, and show off their skills.
- For this reason, it’s worth ‘boosting’ your best posts for additional engagement.
- This can be achieved through attending workshops, enrolling in continuing legal education (CLE) courses, or obtaining certifications in specialized areas of law.
Instead of feeling like it’s a insurmountable task, here are ten easy-to-implement tips to enhance your business development efforts. A well-thought-out business plan helps attorneys focus their efforts on growth and ensures they are making the best use of their resources. In this article, we’ll explore the key business development skills that attorneys can cultivate and how they can use these skills to achieve long-term success. Building trust and loyalty require effective communication, which comes naturally for some, but not for all.
Most consumers indicated a big preference for live human chat over talking to a bot, so whenever possible have a real person (or a live answering service) behind the chat to maximize effectiveness. Attorneys can boost client retention by maintaining strong communication, ensuring they meet deadlines, and consistently delivering high-quality work. Additionally, offering personalized services and staying attuned to a client’s evolving needs will demonstrate commitment and build loyalty over time. While bringing in new clients is a key component of business development, retaining existing clients is just as important, if not more so. It’s far easier to maintain relationships with satisfied clients than to acquire new ones, and long-term clients often lead to ongoing work and referrals. Whether through one-on-one meetings, email outreach, or marketing materials, having clear, concise messaging about the value you provide is key to winning new business.
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What type of law do you practice and what kind of work do you do? 10 business development tips for attorneys What do you want to do more of, and what do you want to do less of? The more specific you can be in identifying strengths and interests, the easier it will be to identify where and how to focus business development efforts.
Use that time to follow up with contacts, send a note of congratulations or interest, or share a short update on LinkedIn. When business development becomes a habit, it stops feeling like an extra task, and starts becoming a source of momentum. Maureen Farr is the Senior Business Development Manager at Stinson.
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- She suggests finding and nurturing referral sources and tracking how well your efforts work.
- Many professionals don’t take advantage of a CRM system, which costs them time and deals in the long run.
- Here’s your checklist — 10 business development activities you can complete in one weekend.
- Share your best reviews on your website using tools like Birdeye, and encourage satisfied clients to leave reviews.
Pull a Word document of your bio (your business development team or website content manager should be able to get you a clean Word copy) and start making your edits in track changes. Once you are ready, send the track-changed document to your marketing and business development team for additional review, and have your website content manager implement the changes to the website. The same concept can be applied to business development and attorney-prospect relationships.
Attorneys should focus on being approachable and available to clients, while also being persuasive and confident in presenting their skills and services. However you do it, you need to network (as much as I hate that word) and get yourself out there to the greatest extent possible. Your prospective clients and prospective referral sources need to know who you are, what you do, and that you are very good at what you do. So when the time comes that they are looking to hire someone – or are being asked for a referral – they will think about you. You always want to be top of mind with a top-notch reputation.
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While face-to-face networking still matters, your online presence needs to work just as hard at converting prospects into clients. Implementing these fifteen strategies can dramatically improve your law firm’s visibility and client acquisition. Start by picking a few tactics that make sense for your practice and do them consistently. Remember, successful legal marketing is not about quick fixes – it is about building a formidable reputation and presence over time.
Check out HubSpot Academy for hundreds of courses on blogging, digital strategy, and more. Building an effective online presence requires consistent effort over time. Like nurturing client relationships, it’s an ongoing process of creating valuable content, optimizing for better visibility, and engaging with your audience.