Concrete ways to help you market your law firm: that’s what I propose in this article. The summer vacations are approaching, and you are certainly starting to think about the new school year and the good resolutions that could be made to make it dynamic.
Now you are convinced that your firm cannot do without a marketing and communication strategy. And because that you need to start one day, here are 5 tips that you can easily appropriate and share with your associates and your support functions in marketing, communication and business development.
Tip 1: Write and share your action plan.
You have regular partner meetings during which you discuss the firm’s future. Very often, the strategic axes remain wishful thinking and are not translated in an operational way.
To avoid stopping in the middle of the ford, establish a follow-up to share the action plan. Various means are at your disposal: a Powerpoint presentation that will be updated at each partners’ meeting, a simple Excel file with columns to be filled in as the actions are carried out, or the Trello application to manage your projects internally.
Whichever way you choose, make sure you write down and follow the different steps of the implementation. The icing on the cake is to set up indicators to evaluate the different steps of the action plan and take corrective actions if necessary.
Tip 2: Focus on customer satisfaction.
For your customers to want to keep calling on you again and again, you must be or become the professional they dream of. Satisfied clients don’t change lawyers because they trust you, and that’s priceless. What do your clients expect? Beyond your technical skills, which must be indisputable, professionals want lawyers who are accessible, good listeners and able to understand their issues. Within your firm, you will be able to score points if all the teams are committed to client satisfaction. Add to this a dose of innovative solutions, reasonable rates with adapted fee formulas and powerful communication: you will quickly find that your clients are loyal and motivated to recommend you to their relations.
Tip 3: Develop your network.
Lawyers have a network market, so you have to develop it. And to do this, you need to combine real and online actions. Participate in meetings, round tables, trade shows, breakfasts and other conferences. Stay focused on subjects that interest you and for which you can provide a professional response to your relationships. This can be live or offline; indeed, you can help others succeed and they will give it back to you!
Refine your presence on social networks and media, based on what suits you. Every lawyer should use LinkedIn to stay in touch with colleagues, clients, prescribers, and other business contacts. Remember to invite your new contacts, if possible before your first live meeting. You can extend your connections to personal relationships with whom you share on professional topics. Familiarize yourself with best practices on other social networks such as Twitter, Facebook or Instagram and use these tools professionally if you have the time or if you are helped by a dedicated team.
Tip 4: Set up routines.
Your files are busy, they are a priority because you are professionally responsible for them. As a result, you don’t have time to devote to development. And yet, you know that you have to sow to reap, and that in new business, it sometimes takes a lot of time to win a new client.
So what, are you doomed to play the “cat that bites its own tail”? Not if you agree to set up routines that will fit naturally into your work day. Here are a few examples of what you could put in place to ensure regular arrivals of new files and new clients.
Daily Routine :
- Call a client to maintain contact or to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity.
- Watch your messages and notifications on LinkedIn to react without undue delay.
Weekly Routine :
- Have lunch with a relationship you don’t know what you need.
- Participate in an off-site event.
Monthly and Quarterly Routine :
- Write an article for your firm’s website or a column for a professional publication.
- Speak at a reference event on one of your favourite topics.
Tip #5: Invest in your communication.
Professionalizing your communication will allow you to distinguish yourself from other firms that have not taken the same approach. Whatever the budget you devote to it, whether the resources are internal or external, consider it an investment that will enable you to achieve your short, medium and long-term objectives.
Here are some ideas for actions you can take to make your communication a tool for your development.
- Ask your customers to evaluate you: carry out a marketing study of customer satisfaction to find out how to make your service offer evolve.
- Update your website: website obsolescence is fast, prepare a V2 to stay up to date. Add new service offers, communicate on everything that can be said.
- Optimize the natural referencing of your website: check it regularly and make it lively so that it is Google friendly.
- Have a real content strategy: choose the topics on which you want to be referenced and be an inexhaustible source for your community.
- Make press relations: PR is not reserved for the “big guys”, any law firm can get in touch with the media of the profession and interest journalists with relevant information.
It’s Time to Put These Tips into Action!
If you follow these 5 tips in whole or in part, you will find that your marketing efforts are much more likely to come together. Don’t wait to make your back-to-school resolutions now!
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