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.