Newsletters have once again become a popular method for lawyers to reach their referral audience.  This isn’t just idle marketing talk. Statistics back it up.

Recently, publishing platform Medium posted an article entitled “How on Earth Did Email Newsletters Become Popular Again?” The piece looked at some of the attitudes held about newsletters—a plague to inboxes everywhere in the internet’s early days. The article also took a look at the ways in which email marketing is evolving. It noted that:

“today’s best newsletters have rabid followings and actually deliver useful information that people look forward to….”

This article is for attorneys interested in getting more referrals. Keep reading to find out why newsletters have found their way back into favor with legal marketers, and why you might want to add a newsletter to your own marketing tool kit.

Our Increasingly Mobile World

Not surprisingly, it appears that advances in smart phones are driving the resurgence in newsletter marketing.

Medium sited Quart’z Global Executive Survey, which found 94 percent of top executives get their news from newsletters. Consumers are increasingly checking their email on the go. Seventy-five percent of those surveyed said they use their smartphones to check the news.

Newsletter design has changed as screens have gotten smaller. This means newsletters have become more “sleek and focused.” Furthermore, because smart phones come with a wealth of distractions, a newsletter has to be damn good to grab (and keep) someone’s attention. In other words, cell phones are forcing marketers to do better work.

Medium also noted that as the newsletter format has changed, so has its mission.

“A decade ago, newsletters were thought of more as marketing tools meant to bait people back to websites. Nowadays, the best ones are thought of more as tools to provide short and digestible information that is useful for readers to consume.”

Good Lawyer Newsletters Remind Colleagues, Former Clients, and Friends to Refer Work

A resurgence in newsletter popularity represents a great opportunity for attorneys to include this tool as part of their marketing strategy. Attorneys have unique potential to offer valuable bits of information to their contacts, and newsletters are the perfect tool with which to share this information.

A successful monthly newsletter might include a punchy 250-word write up about a change in family or bankruptcy law. This might include a link to a piece of content highlighting the change in a way that’s easy for readers to understand. Those who practice criminal, personal injury or worker’s comp have even more opportunities to offer something attention grabbing with each monthly newsletter.

By staying on the top of the contacts’ minds, the attorney is more likely to generate referrals and repeat business. This is relationship marketing 101.

Newsletters Get Higher Conversion Rates Over Other Methods

If newsletters didn’t offer a return on investment, they would have fizzled out years ago with the dial up modem. But according to a report by marketing firm Montetate, newsletters drive more conversions than any other marketing channel (i.e. social media, advertising, etc.).

According to 2018 statistics maintained by online advertiser WordStream, 80 percent of retail professionals indicated that email marketing is their greatest driver of customer retention. 77 percent of consumers prefer to get permission-based promotions by email as opposed to phone or social media.

With the number of email users in the US projected to grow to 254 million by 2020, there’s plenty of reason for businesses to invest in email marketing for the near future.

Newsletters Work – So, Why Aren’t You Doing One?

Maybe it’s a matter of not having enough time. Maybe it’s the fear of staring at a blank screen. Not convinced that newsletters can bring enough value? Whatever the reason, it’s important to consider the money you’re leaving on the table by omitting a monthly newsletter out of your marketing strategy.  You have little to lose by giving it a shot.

That said, you need to make sure your newsletter is done right if you want it to be effective. Here are BAR Digital Media, we know what works and what doesn’t. Generally, our newsletters are short, punchy, and entertaining. They stand far above the legal dribble written by most attorneys.

Our newsletters are engineered to offer value to your network which will keep your name on the top of your contacts’ minds. After all, your greatest source of clients is your referral network. If you’re not continuously reaching out to them, no wonder you’re not getting more cases….

Have Questions About Doing a Newsletter? Give Us a Call

If you’ve decided to start a newsletter for your legal practice, but don’t know where to begin, that’s ok. Don’t be afraid to start the process by doing some research. Our blog posts and videos will get you started.

Often, an attorney will delegate the task of drafting a monthly newsletter out to a junior associate or paralegal. This is fine too, but not ideal. It becomes expensive and frustrating trying to manage the process. The better option is to outsource it to a company like us.

So… yes, we’re biased – but we know what we’re talking about. A practicing lawyer created and runs BAR Digital Media. We’re not a bunch of marketing blow-hards. We are passionate about our work. Just give us a call and find out. If you have questions about using our service to produce your monthly newsletter, give us a call.

If you research marketing techniques, you’re bound to find recommendations on writing a digital newsletter. And if you’re an attorney, chances are good you’ve resisted the idea of implementing a newsletter into your marketing strategy.

Well, it’s time to stop resisting.

Newsletters are good for any business, and they’re particularly good for those who work in the legal profession. Lawyers have a unique skill set that pairs well with newsletter campaigns. Most lawyers also rely heavily on referrals in order to make money, and newsletters are perfect for developing referral networks.

This article was written to briefly discuss some of the reasons why attorneys should be thinking about adding a newsletter to their marketing repertoire. Keep reading to learn more. Call to find out how we can help you get started.

The Backbone of Most Law Firms are Referrals 

If you’ve spent any amount of time searching through our blog here at Bar Digital Media, you know that we spend a lot of time hammering away at the importance of an attorney’s referral network. We’re talking about those colleagues, family members, friends and former clients whose contact information you’ve stored over the years. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again: your referral network is the goose that lays golden eggs.

Strong data shows that referrals are a vital component in the practice of law. Both the American Bar Association and Clio’s Legal Trend Report have conducted surveys on the issue and found that most attorneys grab the largest chunk of their business from referrals.

The beauty of newsletters is that they are designed to target your referral network. A short, well-written monthly newsletter reminds your contacts of the work you do and the value that you bring to your clients’ lives. This allows you to remain at the top of your contacts minds so that when the day comes they need an attorney, you’re the first person they think of.

Legal Newsletters are an Easier Way to Network at Scale

Referred clients are the best kind of clients because they are pre-screened. Compare this with the people who sometimes call your office out of the blue, convinced they have a Supreme Court case. You’ve got to feel for folks answering the phones at those firms that advertise on billboards and bus benches.

There are a number of ways to get referrals: you can call your colleagues on the phone and negotiate agreements, you can go to networking events, you can sit on the board of a local bar association and make friends with strangers.  These methods are great. Some people really enjoy networking and making small talk with strangers. A lot of us don’t.

For those who don’t have time to continue intense person-to-person networking, the newsletter is a great way to repeatedly reach out to contacts and remind them that you exist. For those that do enjoy person to person, the newsletter is just one more tool you can use.  The beautiful thing, is that, if done properly, it helps you reach more people for much less effort. After all, scale is important in marketing.

You Have Something of Value to Share with Your Contacts

There are a lot of different businesses out there that make use of newsletters. But few of these businesses have the same potential as attorneys to offer their contacts something of value with each newsletter.

Attorneys are founts of complex legal knowledge. Ask yourself how many times you’ve been to a cocktail party or family dinner and someone starts asking you for legal advice. Maybe you offer what information you can, the person thanks you, and that’s the last you hear of the matter. You’ve done your good deed for the day.

With a newsletter, you have the opportunity to turn those little nuggets of legal information into monthly reminders that you are open for business. And you do this each month with a contact list that ranges from hundreds to thousands of people.

There will come a time when these contacts, or their friends, or relatives need a lawyer. When this time comes, you want them to remember who you are, and what you do.

Newsletter Marketing is Time Effective

Attorneys have lots of options when it comes to marketing their business: networking, website building, blogging, maintaining a multi-platform social media presence, etc.

Each of these things takes time.

It will be hard to find a more efficient marketing technique than a newsletter. Be sure to read our article comparing newsletters to blogging.

Effective newsletters are be drafted in as few as 250 words. While you should hire someone to do this, you can do it if you have time.

While drafting 250 words still takes time, it doesn’t compare to the work a 2,000-word blog post requires. It certainly doesn’t come close to the daily updates required by various social media platforms.

Add a Newsletter to Your Marketing Strategy

It just makes sense. If you’re a frustrated by a lack of growth, a newsletter could be the strategy you’ve been looking for. Without a good newsletter in your marketing kit, you could be missing out.

As with anything else in life, success starts with a decision. And once you decide a newsletter is for you, you’ll want to do your research. While there are many ways to execute a digital newsletter campaign, BAR Digital media offers a service that does most of the heavy lifting for you. We offer our service at a reasonable cost.  Associates can even afford it (they can probably expensed it to your employer).

You also have the option of either doing the newsletter yourself, or delegating to a junior associate or staffer. Just be sure you research best practices and put together the best newsletter possible.

If you have questions about how to begin call our office and find out how we can help.