November 2017 • Issue 542
By The Santa Barbara Lawyer
Marketing Tips for Attorneys
Lawyers, like virtually all business professionals, must market their services to the public at large and to their peers. Keeping your name and work out there are vital to maintaining relevance and procuring new clients. Here are six things attorneys can do to promote themselves:
Jennifer Goddard Combs
1. Write and issue press releases regularly. Press releases can announce awards you receive; new hires joining the firm; promotions; seminars at which you’re speaking or presenting; big court wins and interesting cases; and appointments of lawyers to boards or event chairs, to name just a few things. There’s always something to promote.
2. Speak publicly. Take the time to speak on interesting topics to service clubs such as Rotary and Kiwanis and on local news radio programs. Speaking engagement topics can cover any subject that is interesting or that the attorney is passionate about, such as a current event, a fascinating topic from history, or a personal hobby.
3. Attend your local county Bar Association and other industry-related events. Lawyers tend to refer cases to people they know and trust. Be seen and be social among your peers. If they don’t see you or hear from you, they won’t think of you when it comes time to referring business.
4. Establish yourself to the media as an expert on legal topics. This way, when a newsworthy U.S. Supreme Court ruling comes down and the local paper is seeking an “expert” attorney in the community for analysis, for instance, you are the go-to source. Do this by contacting news editors in advance and forming relationships with them. Similarly, opinion pieces can be written for the Los Angeles Daily Journal or other media; once published, they can be reprinted as a marketing tool and linked on your social media sites to further expand your reach.
5. Blog. Write a regular blog for your firm’s website that also can be used on social media. This helps keep your website fresh and interesting, and helps keep you relatable. And, if you don’t have a website, create one, and add a blog section as soon as possible. Then keep material on this link current. For blog material, look to your own expertise and to news and legal trade magazines for topics you can write about that are timely.
6. Create and send an email newsletter or quarterly e-blast. Keep your name and your firm’s news top of mind, with a regular digital newsletter. No need to reinvent the wheel for this; use material from your recent press releases and blog if still timely. If you’re keeping up on those, there should be plenty of content to repurpose into an email newsletter. Create a newsletter emailing list that may include current clients, past clients, peers, Bar Association leaders, local elected officials, city managers, local media and others in the legal community whom you wish to reach. And keep expanding the list over time.
Finally, if you’re stumped on how to do any of these things and lack media know-how, hire a local professional to help you. Save your expertise for the courtroom. Publicity is the gift that keeps on giving as long as you keep on sharing it!