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“When the Going Gets Tuff, the Lawyers Get Marketing – How to Sell Your Practice in Hard Times”. Gayle O'Connor Tom O' Connor. Traditional Methods vs Online. Traditional Methods. Answer your phone Get a CRM (Outlook can work for this) Print Ads Yellow Pages Direct Mail Birthday cards
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“When the GoingGets Tuff, the Lawyers Get Marketing –How to Sell Your Practice in Hard Times” Gayle O'Connor Tom O' Connor
Traditional Methods • Answer your phone • Get a CRM (Outlook can work for this) • Print Ads • Yellow Pages • Direct Mail • Birthday cards • Holiday cards • Writing • Speaking • Social events/Networking • Get active in local and national organizations • Start to getactive in your alumni groups • Hire a part time person to handle these tasks for you
Answer your phone!!! And take notes!!!
Get a CRM • Free (ZOHO) • Outlook can work • Keep track of personal information • ACT on that personal knowledge
Print Ads & Yellow Pages • Expensive • Must be repeated at least 6 times • Proper coverage for your potential clients • What directories are available in your area • Need to hire a professional to design these
Direct mail • Send your clients a newsletter on issues facing your clients. Should be a couple pages long and timely!!! • Send postcards with personal notes.
Be a joiner at your local level and the national level. Don’t forget to join your alumni association!!!
Time to get some assistance? Hire a consultant to take care of some of these things Minimal expense with maximum results
What does our online presence say about you and your practice? • Website • Blog • Your email address • Email Signature Block • Profile Picture/s • Facebook • Twitter • LinkedIn • Legal specific
From the New York Times http://tinyurl.com/cdyd74
How do you harness the power? • Create a profile on relevant sites • Detail your interests, expertise, blogs, and websites • “Traditional” marketing and internet sites are push medium • Social network sites are pull medium • You want to to pull people to your sites • How? Regularly post enlightening content • Post original content or reuse someone else’s • It’s allowed if done right! • Participation
Established and profoundly professional • Very business-oriented • Heavy “networking” • Google gets into it • Step by step set up, easy entry • Personal and business profiles • Participate and showcase your expertise in the “Answers” section of the Law & Legal category
Blended social networking outlet • Does it have to be? • Can you have two faces? • Own your Facebook business Page • Google juice flows through
Microblogging • Limited by 140 characters per post • Limited info on your Twitter page about you • Can be time consuming • Need to be strategic about your posts
Legal Specific Networking Sites Social Networking for Lawyers by Bob Ambrogi http://tinyurl.com/dmhucs
Hosted by the ABA • Unique people map • Closed network • New and growing • Anyone can join
Networking • Public Profile • Recognition • Groups: Create a law group or join one, you are automatically a member of your law school group. • Documents: Upload documents, get yourself featured on home page. • Answers: Ask or Answer • Moderated Forums: Become a moderator of your own law forum • Classifieds
Collaboration system for: • in-house counsel • invited outside lawyers • third party service providers • International flair..lawyers participating from over 40 countries • Claims a rapidly growing collection of content and technology resources • Basic services are free • All members are expected to contribute to the community as a whole
Lawyer Ratings and Rankings • Legal Guides contributed by lawyers • “You be the judge. Write a lawyer review.” • Powerful Search Engine pusher • Controversial? • Access to lawyer info must be approved by each Bar http://tinyurl.com/clzhlt http://tinyurl.com/ctuumr
Takeaways • Tailor these ideas to your practice • A mix of both is important and necessary • Have a budget and track your results “How did yo9u hear about me” • Confer with an expert - it’s a wise spend