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FEB. 2020 (800)-406-7229 SpotlightBranding.com
DOES PRACTICING ‘DOOR LAW’ MAKE YOU LOOK DIVERSE OR DESPERATE? 5 Ways Quitting ‘Door Law’ Will Boost Your Revenue
Are you familiar with the concept of “door law”? If not, it’s the oldest trap in the lawyer book and amyth that’s runmany freshly minted attorneys into the ground before they even got started. Practicing “door law” means leaving your door open to any client who wants to walk through it. Door law lawyers practice family law one day, personal injury the next, and real estate law the day after that. Instead of specializing, they take every call, attempting to be everything to everyone in a desperate bid for steady cash flow. I know that descriptionmakes door law sound awful —and that’s because I truly believe it is. However, I also know it’s a strategy many lawyers have used at some point in their careers in order to get by. I completely understand why people choose door law. If you’re a solo practitioner or just starting your firm, the simple truth is you needmoney, and someone has probably told you that door law is the key to earning it. It’s a common belief that the best way tomaximize profits is to cast the net of potential clients as wide as possible. But inmy experience, the opposite is true: The best way tomaximize your profitability is to choose a niche. Discarding themajority of your practice areas might seem counterintuitive, but inmy years of working with lawyers, I’ve seen proof it’s themost effective strategy for growth. When you niche down, these five things will happen to boost your revenue: YOUR CREDIBILITY WILL GO UP. People want to work with specialists, and if you specialize, your experience will heighten your reputation and credibility in your field. Think of it
this way: Who would you rather have fix your roof? A dedicated roof repairman who spends 40 hours a week with shingles or an all-around handyman who would be just as happy unclogging your sink? Odds are you’d choose the roof repairman because you’d trust them to do the job right. YOU’LL HAVE A BASIS TO RAISE YOUR RATES. This goes hand in hand with point No. 1. If you’re a specialist, you’ll command higher rates because you’ll be seen as more experienced, unique, and trustworthy. Scrap the roof repair analogy and ask yourself, “If I needed brain surgery, howmuchmoremoney would I pay to have a brain surgeon do it instead of a general practitioner?” I’ll bet the answer was “a heck of a lot.” YOU’LL HAVE LESS COMPETITION. If you try to practice every area of law, you’ll be competing with every other lawyer in your city. However, if you niche down, you’ll cut that competition. Depending on where you practice and howwisely you choose your specialty, you could even eliminate competition altogether by becoming the only specialist in your field. YOUR MARKETING WILL GET EASIER. When you serve everyone, “everyone” becomes your target demographic. This makes advertising difficult as you can’t tailor your campaigns to the needs, fears, and desires of a particular group, or use the resources provided by other specialists to find them (as discussed in last month’s newsletter). Choose a niche, and your marketing becomes muchmore efficient. You’ll know exactly whom to target and won’t wastemoney catering to people who aren’t interested in your services.
“IT’S A COMMON BELIEF THAT THE BEST WAY TO MAXIMIZE PROFITS IS TO CAST THE NET OF POTENTIAL CLIENTS AS
YOU’LL EARN MORE REFERRALS. If youmet someone who loved cooking and talked your ear off about it, odds are you’d be more likely to think of themwhen the word “cooking” came up in conversation than you’d be to think about someone who only mentioned the hobby. The same thing works for law. Specialists aremorememorable andmore likely to pop into theminds of their past clients when their niche comes up. Because of that, if you specialize, odds are your referrals will increase. If you’re struggling to choose your niche or have just niched down and aren’t sure how to proceed, my teamand I can help—marketing for lawyers is our specialty. Head to SpotlightBranding.com/ NL today to schedule a free consultation. WIDE AS POSSIBLE. BUT IN MY EXPERIENCE, THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE: THE BEST WAY TO MAXIMIZE YOUR PROFITABILITY IS TO CHOOSE A NICHE.”
–Marc Cerniglia
SpotlightBranding.com
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FEELING BURNED OUT? TIRED? READY TO QUIT? TRY THESE 5 STRATEGIES TO FALL BACK IN LOVE WITH LAW
Every lawyer faces burnout at some point in their career. If that’s you right now — if you’re not getting enough sleep, feeling depressed, dreaming about case notes, and forgetting your family’s faces — this Valentine’s Day, try spending some time falling back in love with law. That’s more difficult than it sounds, but it’s not impossible. There are a host of things you can do to make your life easier as a solo practitioner or small law firm owner. To get started, try these five strategies to melt some of the stress away and remind yourself of why you do what you do: 1. FIND YOUR NICHE We covered this pretty thoroughly on Pg. 1 of this newsletter, but here’s a refresher: Niche down, and you’ll make more money, streamline your marketing, and get more referrals all in one fell swoop. 2. BUILD YOUR BRAND Is your website communicating what you do clearly? If not, do some work on brand-building, focusing on the types of clients you really want.
Clients who are educated about what you do are empowered; they will have realistic expectations and will be ready to work with you when they walk through the door, saving you the time and energy of closing them. 3. RAISE YOUR RATES When you raise your rates, you’ll free yourself up to take fewer cases without sacrificing profits.
There are few better ways to lower your blood pressure than lowering your caseload.
4. DELEGATE THE BUSY WORK If you’re still spending time doing your own books, answering your own phones, or even making your own posts on social media, you are underutilized and overpaid. You’re also courting a burnout which will cost you more than hiring a receptionist, bookkeeper, or marketing vendor. There’s no shame in delegating to keep your sanity! 5. AUTOMATE WHAT YOU CAN With so much cheap software on the market, there’s no reason not to shift part of your workload (i.e., following up with clients via text) to a competent, trustworthy robot. If you’re ready to take the plunge on steps four and five, head to SpotlightBranding.com/NL today. Our team has years of experience handling web design, social media marketing, video production, and more, and we’ll happily take those tasks off your plate.
CLIENT SUCCESS STORY MCKINNON LEGAL: FAMILY AND PERSONAL INJURY LAW
Attorney Chistina McKinnon is the founder of McKinnon Legal, a family and personal injury law firm in Miramar, Florida. Prior to working with Spotlight Branding, Christina’s referrals were sporadic and her monthly intake was inconsistent. She knew she needed to be more visible, reach a larger audience, and increase her brand awareness.
double and she has hired five staff members to help with the firm’s growth.
“I have so many people commend the firm on Spotlight’s work online, including our website, blogs and newsletters,” said Christina. “Spotlight branding is a necessity and is an integral part of McKinnon Legal’s success!”
Christina began her service with Spotlight Branding by simply doing a blog and an email newsletter. Six months later, she asked us to redesign her website and add our social media service.
WANT MORE REFERRALS AND BETTER CLIENTS? Visit SpotlightBranding.com/NL to schedule a call!
After working with Spotlight Branding for over two years, Christina has seen an increase in referrals, leads, and conversion rate on those new prospects. She has seen her revenue
More Referrals. Better Clients. Higher ROI.
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WRITE FOR PEOPLE, NOT ROBOTS! A LOOK AT THE BIGGEST CONTENT MISTAKE LAWYERS MAKE
Do you have a blog on your website? If not, you should finish this article, put down this newsletter, and start writing one. If you do, close your eyes and ask yourself, “What’s the goal of my blog?” If your answer is, “To improve my website’s Google rankings,” you’re blogging for all the wrong reasons. If you’ve read the very first edition of this newsletter, you’ll know Spotlight Branding’s position on SEO: After years in marketing, we’ve realized it’s overrated, ineffective, and often does more harm than good. A myth has sprung up in legal circles that the purpose of blogging is to increase your SEO, and you need to include keywords, make sure to backlink, and do a thousand other things to make it happen. We’re ready to bust that myth wide open. Which option makes more sense: blogging in order to impress a robot and hopefully convince it to send more leads to your virtual doorstep, or blogging to reassure, impress, and convert the leads already on your website? The latter, of course. That’s why instead of blogging for robots, our clients blog for people.
audience in mind, focusing on their questions and pain points. What is your ideal client worried about? What are they curious about? What could they use your help with? The answer to each of those questions contains many blog posts. Once you’ve chosen a topic, distill your information and write it clearly in language the average reader will understand. Unless you’re marketing to other lawyers, this isn’t the place for legalese. Simply answer your ideal clients’ questions, and give them enough information so they know why they should come to you and how you can help. This will elevate your expertise and prepare your clients for the process. These posts don’t need to be perfect; they just need to be effective. Last but not least, you need to produce and distribute this content regularly. Don’t just let it sit on your website. Post your blogs on social media, or include them in an email newsletter — put them where the people are. If you’re not sure how to do this effectively, give Spotlight Branding a call.
Blogging for people is simple. There are no tricks, secret keywords, or lines of code. You just need to write with your
FEATURED EPISODE THE VERY BEST EPISODES OF THE LAW FIRM MARKETING MINUTE PODCAST
RESOURCE OF THE MONTH
AN EASY WAY TO FOLLOW UP WITH ALL OF YOUR CONTACTS!
At Spotlight Branding, we believe staying top-of-mind with your contacts is one of the biggest missed opportunities for law firms. As a business owner, you know you need to follow up with all the people you meet on a regular basis, but as your contact list grows, it becomes impossible to make a phone call or go out to lunch with everyone. However, sending an email newsletter — packed with valuable information, by the way — is one of the best things you can do to keep in touch with your contacts. We recommend MailChimp, though there are other programs like Constant Contact and AWeber that accomplish the same goals. We like MailChimp because it allows you to create a custom email design that can match the look and feel of your website, creating brand consistency. MailChimp also offers several analytics and testing options to allow you to get the most out of your campaigns. As an added bonus, an email newsletter pairs very nicely with a print newsletter campaign from The Newsletter Pro!
If you’re looking for more great resources to drive your business forward, take a look at this episode from our industry-leading podcast – “The Law Firm Marketing Minute.”
“BEWARE OF CHEAP SEO SERVICES” – LFMM 278
Marketing companies will tell you that SEO is the best way to market your firm. Not true! In fact, cheaper SEO services are about as effective as throwing money in the trash. Listen to this episode to see what we mean. If you want more referrals, better clients, and higher ROI on all your marketing, call us today at (800)-406-7229 to schedule a consultation!
Listen to this episode and find even more at LawFirmMarketingMinute.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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(800)-406-7229 SpotlightBranding.com
THIS ISSUE INSIDE
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5 Ways Quitting ‘Door Law’ Will Boost Your Revenue
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5 Tips for Warding Off Burnout
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Client Success Story
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Write for People, Not Robots!
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Spotlight Branding’s Industry-Leading Podcast
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Get More Love Back From Your Customers (When You Love Them First)
GIVE LOVE, GET LOVE Turn Amazing Customer Service Into a Major Revenue Source
Boosting customer retention by any amount can have a huge impact on your revenue. A study conducted by Bain & Company and reported by the Harvard Business Review found that even a 5% increase in retention can boost revenue by 25%–95%. In short, your ability to retain the right customers can make or break your business. Businesses are constantly searching for ways to achieve customer loyalty. After all, it’s far more cost-effective to keep the same customers coming back to you than it is to constantly go after new ones. Marketing to new customers can cost up to 25 times more than simply catering to your existing customer base. Loyal customers who love your business are an incredibly powerful asset. They can do a lot of your marketing for you through social media
and other word-of-mouth channels, convincing others that your business exists and has value.
other beloved businesses in your community. Consider what you can incorporate into your own customer service experience or become a customer yourself and see just how far other businesses are willing to go for you. Another way you can win loyal customers is just by being present. One way to do that is by answering phone calls, emails, and online inquiries immediately . The more time you put between the initial customer contact and your response, the worse it looks for you. When people visit your business in person, be there to offer a hello, answer questions, and engage in casual conversation. When you’re there for your customers, your customers want to be there for you.
But how do you get to that point? How do you develop a strong bond with your customers that is hard to break and will keep them coming back time and time again? It really starts with stellar customer service. Poor customer service is the No. 1 cause of customer loss. Upward of 71% of people say they cut ties with businesses over poor customer service. Customer service includes your employee-customer interactions, your response to problems, your response time , and your approachability on social media.
Look to businesses that have figured out how to do customer service right, like Apple, LEGO, and
More Referrals. Better Clients. Higher ROI.
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