It has to be simple or you won’t do it. Ask me how I know. 

You’re busy, you don’t have a lot of help, or a lot of time. You can outsource some things, but, let’s face it, a lot of this thing we call marketing and practice development falls squarely on your over-burdened shoulders. 

That’s okay. You don’t have to do everything. You can get all the business you can handle doing mostly what you already do and maybe only a little bit more.

Here’s what I suggest:

1. Make referrals your cornerstone. It always has been and always will be the number one marketing method for professionals, and especially for sole practitioners. You already get referrals, right? With a little bit of attention, you can get more. Treat people right, tell them what to do to tell others about you (directly or on social), and thank them when they do.
2. A simple website. You need a place to send people to find out what you do and why someone should hire you. A few pages about you, your capabilities, and your services. You can do more but you probably don’t have to. Just make sure what you have doesn’t look dated, hype-y, or lacking something important.
3. Networking. If you like it and are good at it, have lunch or coffee once a week with a fellow professional, business contact, or prospective client. Find out what they need or want and help them get it. Introduce them to people, share ideas, build a relationship. If you don’t like doing this, or aren’t good at it, don’t do it. Life is too short; find something else you like and are good at and do that. 
4. Build an email list. People you know and want to stay in touch with, and people you want to know. Don’t rely on anyone remembering your name if they never hear from you. Email is easy, inexpensive, and ubiquitous. Create a lead magnet (report, seminar transcript, ebook, etc.) and offer it as an incentive to sign-up for your list and then stay in touch with that list. (See below). 
5. Content. Write something, record audio or video, or get yourself onto podcasts, and talk about your area of expertise, ideas, trends, news, and stories your market will appreciate. Use this content to keep your name in front of your target market and educate them about things they need to know and can share with with their contacts. You know your field. You know your clients and prospects. A 300 to 700 word article or blog post once a week is not overly demanding to produce and should provide you with sufficient leads and inquiries, visits to your website, and more sign-ups for your list. 

You can certainly do more but you probably won’t have to. You don’t have to spend hours every week attending formal events, posting several times a day on social media, promoting seminars, or laying out six-figures for advertising. In fact, as a sole practitioner, you probably shouldn’t advertise at all. You don’t need billboards or bus benches. Advertising gets expensive, fast, and in many fields and markets, there is too much competition. 

Not everyone only wants to hire a firm that has a billion dollars in settlements to their credit. 

Stick to your knitting. Do what you like and are good at and is working. And keep doing it. 

Unless you want to do more. 

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I’m guessing you charge around the same fees as other firms in your market that do what you do. You don’t charge less because you don’t want to look like a “discount” firm or reduce revenue and profit, and you don’t charge more because you don’t want to be undercut and lose business. 

Something like that? 

If that works for you, fine. But what if there was a way you could charge more than your competition without losing business? What if you could charge more and actually bring in more business, not less? 

That’s not crazy talk. It’s business. 

The secret to getting more cases and clients and higher fees than your competition is to offer more value than your competition. 

But how? You basically do the same things they do. Offer the same services, deliver the same outcomes, and if that’s not literally true, that’s what clients think. So, what’s the secret? How can you charge more?

By telling a different story. 

Their story is about the law, services they offer, problems they solve, their experience and capabilities. That’s obviously important and it should be a part of your story as well. 

But your story should differentiate yourself from these other firms by doing something they don’t do, or say they do.

Specialize. 

Focus your efforts on a niche or segment of the market, a type of client or case, problem or solution. 

Other firms might be “full service”; you might specialize in litigation. Other lawyers might repesent clients of all sizes and shapes; you might specialize in small businesses. Other firms might represent clients who need advice about raising capital; you might specialize in advising the principles of start-ups, real estate developers, or clients with business in other countries. 

The actual specialty isn’t the issue. Choose a niche, a market, an industry, or other segment of the market, and own it. Choose something you’re good at and enjoy, and make it a part of your story. 

And yes, you can have more than one specialty. I built a successful practice targeting a few different niche markets and it was enough to sustain me for many years.

But pick something. Specialize.

When you specialize, you cease being defined only by your practice area or services. You develop a reputation in your market. Marketing is easier, less time consuming, and delivers better results. 

You get more clients, more repeat business and referrals, and you don’t have to work as hard to get them. 

Because you are no longer a commodity, offering the same services offered by dozens of other lawyers. You specialize and are more valuable to your clients who prefer you and are willing to pay more for your services. 

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Prospective clients hire lawyers they trust. If they hired you in the past, or been referred to you by someone who knows and trusts you, they’re more likely to choose you to represent them because of that trust. 

What if they don’t know you? Or been referred to you? What can you do to gain their trust?

Yes, show them testimonials, describe your successes in the courtroom, list your publishing and speaking credits–the usual indicia of authority go a long way towards building trust. But what if you don’t have those tools in your toolbox, or what if they aren’t enough? 

The answer? Leadership. Show them you’re not like other lawyers, you are a leader. 

A simple way to do that is through your marketing messages (ads, articles, social posts, website, etc.). When they convey confidence, when you sound successful and have a positive outlook, people are more likely to trust you. 

Because you appear to be a leader and people are attracted to leaders.

Nobody wants to hire a lawyer who sounds unsure of their abilities or their future. They want to be represented (protected) by someone who is very good at what they do, and knows it, and is optimistic about the future, because they playing a role in creating it. 

Clients are attracted to lawyers who are confident, enthusiastic, and forward-looking. Lawyer who talk about ideas and opportunities, growth and positivity, a better world for himself and his clients. 

They aren’t attracted to lawyers who dwell on doom and gloom. That kind of drama may get some attention on social media, but long term, nobody wants to follow someone with that kind of message.

People want to work with a lawyer who knows where they are going and is excited about going there. 

Show people your optimism and belief in a better future.

In your posts, your messages, your articles and interviews, talk about the future you are building.

Talk about projects you’re working on, other leaders you are aligned with, great causes you support and are helping to gain traction. 

Show them your belief in a better future and they will want to join you.

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When clients and prospects read or hear your marketing message, what is it that persuades them to choose you instead of any other lawyer or firm? Your reputation? The way you talk about their legal issues and your solutions? Success stories of clients like them you’ve helped? 

Clearly, these are all factors. But when a prospective client finally decides to call for an appointment or fill out a form on your website, it often comes down to something much simpler. 

Your choice of words. 

Specifically, your use of “emotional trigger words” that evoke in them the desire to make the call or fill out the form. 

For example: 

• You / your: Lawyers often speak in the abstract, hedge, attempt to be all things to all people. By trying to appeal to everyone, they weaken the appeal of their message and often get lower response.  The better approach is to personalize your message by speaking directly to the person who is reading it. Instead of saying, “We help clients create an effective estate plan,” for example, say, “Our services can help you protect your business and your loved ones.” 
• Now / Immediately: You can create urgency, or enhance it, by telling people what to do and when to do it. “Call now to speak to an attorney about your case” is likely to get more calls than not telling them when to call. It also speaks to the fears or impatience many clients have about their situation, getting them to take action instead of waiting and considering other options.
• Because / Why: When you tell people why they should respond, e.g., to get something, learn something, be able to do something, you’re showing them the benefits of doing what you’re asking or telling them to do. More people will respond when they clearly know the reasons why they should.

Effective trigger words might be those used by clients and referral sources in your target market, specific to the issues and desires associated with their needs or wants, as well as generalized words such as, “quick, simple, easy, better, proven track record, experience, guaranteed…” (assuming these aren’t prohibited or hyperbolic). 

Review your existing marketing materials and look for opportunities to make them clearer and more persuasive, more likely to get people to listen and to take action. A different word or phrase can make a big difference, changing the effect of your message from one that isn’t converting into one that consistently makes your phone ring. 

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If you meet with a prospective client, or even an existing client, and tell them what you know about a given subject, offering information and advice about that subject, some lawyers and so-called marketing experts will tell you you’re being foolish. Your knowledge and opinions are your work product, they say, and you should never give that away; you should be paid for it. 

There are others, myself included, who tell you just the opposite. If you do it he right way.  

“Give away lots of information,” we tell you. “Share your knowledge and ideas liberally, because education-based marketing is extremely effective at showing people what you do and how you can help them, and if you do it right, it can be some of the most profitable marketing you do. 

But first, it depends on your practice area and services.

If you handle plaintiffs’ personal injury, for example, free consultations convert to new clients often enough to make it worthwhile, which is why most lawyers in that area offer them. With other practice areas, it can be a different story, because it takes time to speak with prospective clients and indeed, time is our most precious commodity. 

The thing is, many lawyers refuse to use content marketing because creating content also takes time. 

What they don’t realize is that that while speaking with invididual prospects can be a costly use of your time and might not provide a sufficient return on your time, spending the same amount of time creating content is usually differeent, because content scales. 

You might spend an hour or two writing a newsletter or creating a video or article, but unlike meeting with prospects individually, that piece of content might be seen or heard by hundreds or thousands of people, which might result in dozens of new cases or clients. Over time, and with sharing and referrals, those numbers could be even higher. 

But there’s more to consider. 

Many lawyers believe in the value of creating content, and do it, but don’t put a lot of effort into it. Their content tends to be generic and overly simple. Their content tends to attract less sophisticated clients or freebie-seekers, and not necessarily the best clients.

Better clients are attracted to better content. 

Which is why you should give away not just any ideas but your best ideas. 

Don’t hold back. It’s just information. If you give these away, you still have them and can use them again and again. 

If the information is good enough, it shows clients that you’re not like other lawyers, you’re different and better, and they can see why they should hire instead of those other lawyers.

If you want to attract the best clients, give away your best ideas. 

One marketing expert got it right when he said, “Be stingy with your time but generous with your ideas.”

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Building a successful practice isn’t easy. There are no shortcuts or hacks. Even if you have a lot of money and experience, even if you’re very good at what you do and have a great reputation, it takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears (and years) to build the career and lifestyle I’m sure you want. 

Stop looking for the secret sauce. Success is complicated. 

But it’s also simple. 

Yes, you have to get a lot of things right, but most of those things are small and obvious. You probably do most of them already.

Treating clients like you would like to be treated if you were in their shoes, for example. Being nice. Patiently explaining things. Going the extra mile. 

Simple things like that. 

But there’s a catch. You can’t be complacent. You have to keep doing the little things and you have to continuously improve them. 

Professional services, after all. 

So, here’s your plan: 

Take inventory of every element in your marketing, client relations, and practice management. Brainstorm, talk to your employees and partners, and write down everything you do to get and keep clients and perform your services. Everything you do to attract them, get them to hire you, get them to return, and tell others about you. 

It might be things you already do well but it could also be things that need fixing, or things you don’t do at all. 

It should be a long list. Because success is complicated. 

Next, the part that’s simple. 

Choose something on your list you believe can be improved. Even a little. Because in any business, but especially in professional services, small, incremental improvements can make a very big difference. Attorneys work closely and directly with clients and those who can refer them, and little improvements get noticed. 

All those little improvements compound and help you grow.

So, pick something and work on it. Make it better. Do it faster. Help clients and prospects feel a little better about you and your office. 

Pick something you can improve and improve it. Then, look for something else and do that. 

That’s the plan. And you can start on it immediately. 

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I remember my eighth grade history teacher, Mr. Fourgis, these many decades later, because he did something most history teachers don’t do or don’t do well.  Most teachers talk about the facts and recite the dates looking backward through time. They talk about history. Mr. Fourgis talked about the historical figures as though he knew them.

He told us what they did, how they felt about their decisions, and how they felt about what happened. We heard about their fears and struggles and their hard-fought victories. Sitting in Mr. Fourgis’ class was like sitting in a movie theater and watching history in real time. 

The difference, the reason I still remember him and am telling you about him today, is that he didn’t just tell us the facts about long-deceased figures with powdered wigs and long coats. He told us stories about people as though they were still alive.

Facts tell but stories sell. Which is why you should tell more stories in your marketing. 

Don’t just tell prospective clients about your services, tell them what those services have done for real clients. What problems did they have and how did they feel about those problems? Describe their pain and desires, what you did to help them, and how they felt about what you did.

Tell stories about cases and clients they might relate to or at least find interesting, stories that illustrate what you do and how your clients are better off when you do it.

The facts are important, but stories make prospective clients feel something. That emotional experience is what makes them pay attention to you and hire you. And maybe tell others about you, decades later. 

One more thing. Unlike a history class, you were there. You witnessed some of what happened and were instrumental in creating a better outcome. So, when you tell client stories, remember to talk about yourself.

Your story is an important part of their story.

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When was the last time you asked a client why they chose you instead of another lawyer or firm? When was the last time you tried a new marketing strategy, billing method, or productivity tool? 

How long has it been since you did something new or different in your practice? If it’s been a long time, maybe it’s time to do something about that. 

Contact an old client to say hello and ask how they’re doing. Write some content on a subject you usually don’t write about. Interview a new ad agency to see what they think about your existing campaigns. 

Any change could make a huge difference in the success of your practice. 

Anything. 

It might be small compared to what you currently do or have done in the past. It might be only slightly different from what other attorneys in your market do. It could be as seemingly small as adding a new success story or testimonial to the “About” page on your website, or sending hand-written thank you notes instead of doing everything digitally. 

It might be as small as updating your forms or editing your form letters. It also might be big as starting a new practice area or opening another office in another part of town. 

You might write your first article or blog post or record your first YouTube video. You might talk to other attorneys about a possible partnership or marketing alliance, or interview a new office manager or business coach. 

Maybe you’ll do something with ai. Or commit to writing short, daily posts instead of your current once-a-month schedule. 

The question isn’t how big or small it is, or even what it is. The question is when was the last time you did something different?

Change is uncomfortable for most people but especially for attorneys. What if it fails and I look bad? What if it costs too much and returns too little? What if it takes up too much time or distracts me from my billeable hours?

I know. I think those things too. 

Instead of thinking what if it doesn’t work, we should think about what if it does.

What if ian idea leads to bringing in twice as many new cases this year? What if it allows you to increase revenue by thirty or forty percent? What if it gives you more free time you can use to do something else?

What if it makes you happy?

By definition, most changes won’t work, or won’t work well enough to be worth the effort. But the fact that most ideas flop doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try new things, it means we should try more of them. 

Because one good idea could be worth a fortune to you. 

I know, you’re skeptical. Don’t have time to think about what you might do, let alone try it. Need to stop reading this and get back to work.

Okay, but I have one more question for you. 

When was the last time you thought like a business owner and not like a lawyer? 

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I know, that should read “positive mental attitude” but I’m having a little fun. And that’s the point. Life isn’t just about work and obligation, productivity and achievement. We’re not machines. We need rest and sustenance and fun. 

Put “have more fun” on your todo list. 

Last few days, I’ve been on a kick watching ai videos that recreate the music and themes from the 50’s and 60’s. There are tons of them and they are amazingly well done. They’re fun to watch because they harken back to a time when people seemed to enjoy life more than we do today. No doom and gloom. A better time (and better music, if I’m allowed to say so). 

However unrealistic these videos might be, they are fun to watch. And, let’s face it, optimism is good for the soul.

Speaking of that, I have a question for you. What are you optimistic about for your future? Specifically, the future of your law practice. 

Give it some thought. Here, I’ll give you some ideas.

Think about the fact that you are one decision away from a new level of success in your practice. One idea, one strategy, one change in what you currently do. That could be all it takes to take your practice to the next level.

It might be a new marketing campaign. Meeting a new business contact. Finally writing the book you’ve been talking about for years. Or freeing up two hours a week by letting go of a certain networking event that’s not working.

One decision could be all it takes to dramatically improve the direction of your career. What might it be?

You could be a single conversation away from converting a business contact into a big source of referrals. Turn that thought over to your subconscious mind to work on. Who might that be? What could you say to them? What kind of case or client could they refer? 

Fun to think about that, isn’t it? 

How about another?

Think about the notion that you are one email to “old” clients away from bringing in a lot of repeat business. 

What might you send or say to clients you haven’t worked with (or spoken to) in a long time to get them to hire you again? 

There is an answer.

More. 

You have a list of prospects. People who have never hired you but subscribe to your newsletter, read your blog, follow you on social, or otherwise know who you are. You could be one message away from attracting dozens of new subscribers, sign-ups for your seminar, or requests to talk to you about a legal issue. It could be a turning point that eventually doubles or triples your revenue.

What could you say or offer to make that happen? 

This isn’t fantasy. These are real possibilities. You should get excited about these thoughts and let them stimulate your creative juices. 

You don’t need to figure out everything immediately. The “how” will come. Right now, think about what you want, believe that you can have what you want, and have fun thinking about how good that makes you feel.

Now, if you will excuse me, I’m going to see if I can find some ai music recreations of the 70’s.

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Clients have options. Lots of them. So, why do they choose you?

You can learn how they found you by asking, “How did you find me?” You can also do intake and exit surveys, track your leads and advertising metrics, and you should.

Did they find you via search? What keywords do they use? Did they see your ad? Which publication, what day and at what time? Were they a referral? From which client or business professional, and what did they say about you?

The list goes on.

But while this is important information and you should continue doing what you do to get found by prospective clients, it doesn’t answer the bigger question: when they find you, why do they hire you instead of all the other attorneys they could choose?

Even the most unsophisticated client knows there are other attorneys who do what you do, and they know how to find them.

So, why you?

Sometimes, the answer is simply that you were the first one they looked at. They needed help and didn’t think they could wait. Or you looked like you could do what they needed or wanted done, and they didn’t want to spend time looking at other options.

But that’s not always the case. You should assume that a significant percentage of prospective clients do take the time to look at other options and that they compare them to you.

And so besides getting found, you need say and do things to stand out from other attorneys. You need to differentiate yourself so clients see choosing you as the best option.

The good news is that this isn’t as difficult as you might think. And, while other attorneys might be able to say the same things you could say, the fact is that many attorneys who could, don’t.

Many attorneys don’t say much of anything beyond name, rank, and serial number. Which makes your job much easier.

Okay. What could you say about your services or about yourself to make yourself stand out? That’s what you need to figure out. Here are some ideas to get your juices flowing:

You’re good. You have achieved millions or billions of dollars in verdicts or settlements for your clients, won awards, achieved records your competition haven’t.

** You’re trustworthy. You have many testimonials and endorsements, people who say good things about you, tell their stories and recommend you.

** You’re tough. You have a military or athletic background, or have taken on seemingly impossible cases or causes and beaten the odds.

** You’re smart. You have an academic background; you teach other lawyers (school, continuing education), you’ve been a judge, you do a lot of speaking, have written books, write a blog or newsletter, or served on committees.

** You’re well-known. You have been interviewed in prestigious publications, quoted by your peers, run for office, are the president of your local bar association,

** You’re focused. Clients prefer lawyers who specialize in their particular problem or type of case, or who focus in their niche or market.

** You’re like them. You grew up in their town; you had the same major in school; you read the same authors, or listen to the same kinds of music.

** You’re well-rounded. You have a good sense of humor, play guitar in a band, play sports, coach your kid’s soccer team, are active in charitable or humanitarian causes.

** You’re likable. You say things that make them smile, show them you truly care about your clients, tell stories that make them think.

** You explain things clearly. You thoroughly tell people about your work and how can help them. You spell out the steps, keep things simple, and don’t present too many options.

** You make it easy to hire you. You don’t bury them in details, fine print, disclaimers, and red flags. You spell out the next step and make it easy to take.

Figure out what makes you different and feature that in your marketing. It’s often the reason the people who find you hire you.

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