People get weird around election season, especially when it comes to how they spend money on their business development. Marketing (and new marketing investments) come to a screeching halt. People have their eyes on the economy and a “wait and see” approach to what happens with the election.

But why? There’s an odd misconception that the presidential election negatively impacts consumer spending. It doesn’t.

So why do so many law firms stop spending on marketing around this time every four years? Logically speaking, regardless of the outcome, the election isn’t going to negatively impact your business. For those who practice hot-button areas like tax or immigration, you could pounce on the uncertainty of it all and push your marketing into overdrive.

The truth is that your firm can’t afford for you to take your foot off the gas pedal when it comes to your marketing and generating new business. Even if you have a full caseload right now, you’ll get through that work eventually and have to replace it with…less? Nothing at all?

Lawyers classically get themselves into these peaks and valleys where they alternate between the stress of having more business than they can handle to the panic of not having enough to make payroll. It starts here, by reducing (or eliminating) your marketing spend, only to fire it back up full throat after the election, only to drown in work, only to stop marketing until you can breathe, only to panic when you have to pick your marketing back up again because you don’t have any work.

While other industries may have valid reasons to worry during an election cycle, lawyers do not. Your services will ALWAYS be in need. Invest in your marketing TODAY. The world will keep spinning on November 6th, regardless of who won the election.

In February 2021, a high-profile law firm with brand-name clients was hit by an especially aggressive piece of ransomware. In a statement on its website, the firm said that hackers had gotten into a system containing sensitive personal information, although it did not specify how much of the actual data was accessed or taken. While this happened 3 years ago, it continues to happen every couple of months or so.

This is every firm’s worst nightmare. A data breach can damage your reputation, erode client trust, and create a PR nightmare that can take months or even years to recover from. Fortunately, there are steps you can take to protect confidential client data and reduce the likelihood of a cyber disaster.

1. Monitor all Devices on Your Network

In recent years, BYOD (bring your own device) has become the norm for employees. Staff members bring their own laptops, tablets, and smartphones to the office and connect to the company network. Unless monitored and controlled, this can leave your network extremely vulnerable to cyber-attacks.

According to this study, nearly 90% of organizations rely on staff to use personal devices, but not all of them have a strong BYOD policy in place. Several apps allow your law firm to monitor devices on your network and provide additional benefits such as remotely wiping data in case a device is lost or stolen. 

2. Look into Managed Security Providers

There are many benefits to working with a reliable security services provider, namely:

  • A cost-effective solution for your data security needs
  • Access to a team of experts
  • No need to worry about adopting the latest security technology

Your firm’s security budget is not going to compare to that of a fully protected and monitored facility with layers of physical and digital security, encryption, and redundancy. While data centers offer a premium level of security, they remain affordable because you only pay for what you use.

3. Be Aware of the Latest Threats

Knowing the threats that are out there can help you protect the confidential information at your law firm from cyber attacks. Even if your cybersecurity system is secure right now, it may no longer be the case a week, a month, or a year from now. Hackers are becoming increasingly adept at bypassing security systems, which is all the more reason to regularly reevaluate security and awareness strategies.

The resources below can help you stay current on new and evolving threats.

4. Create an Informed Workforce

Although you are aware of the importance of security, your colleagues may not be as informed. Data protection for an entire firm isn’t a one-person job: good cybersecurity and privacy policies result from the collective efforts of all employees at a company.

Many security and privacy breaches are unintentional and the result of employee error. Creating a security culture in the workplace is an excellent way to reduce the likelihood of breaches. By adopting solid cybersecurity practices, you’ll be ready when someone tries their luck and, in all likelihood, thwart their efforts, keeping the integrity of your data intact.

You must know what you want to achieve with social media before you start marketing yourself on a platform. Most lawyers say they want the typical results such as likes, engagement, and followers. However, this leads us to the first two mistakes people make with social media: they have the wrong expectations and measure their success based on the vanity metrics we just mentioned.

Building a social media following requires a significant amount of effort. Larger businesses employ one or more people whose sole purpose is to handle their social media. However, you don’t need to devote this much time or money to social media to see its results. There are three ways in which social media can work for you:

  1. People who have never heard of you find you on social media and choose you to become their attorney. 
  2. Your previous clients follow you. 
  3. People get referred to you and then look you up on social media. 

Dollar-for-dollar, focus on points #2 and #3. Why? Because they are not reliant on followers, engagement, or likes. When your previous clients follow you, you stay at the top of your mind and increase your chances of referrals.

And even if you have zero followers, people will still research your firm before calling you. A social media presence built around informative and educational content makes them more inclined to book a consultation, not the number of followers you have. Having a social media presence is akin to having a website; you don’t want a potential client to see that you don’t have either. 

The third mistake people make is underestimating the time it takes to have a social media presence. You need to post something each business day. That sounds like a much taller task than it is because there are very efficient ways to do this. Regardless, it does take a modicum of energy, focus, and commitment to do this every day for years. People get busy, focus on their clients or firms, and lose steam. Consistency is an integral part of an effective social media strategy.

Lastly, they also post the wrong kind of content. If you’re hunting for likes, you may post funny videos or anything else that aligns with common social media trends. Whereas they may get you likes, they aren’t getting you clients.

As mentioned above, your posts should be educational and informative because they’ll give you credibility. People go to attorneys for solutions, and this is also what kind of content they are looking for. Don’t try to post things to build an audience because your past clients are your audience. They are also your best salespeople. 

Keep in touch with your network on social media, get referrals, and allow prospective clients to view your content before hiring you. This is how social media works and is the least expensive in terms of time and money.

Arguably the biggest hesitation lawyers have about doing more video content is that they don’t like how they look on camera. And that’s understandable since many of us are self-conscious about our appearance or the way our voice sounds. However, if your videos are part of your branding, you’re showing off exactly what people will see and hear when they meet you in person. Think of it as a consultation before the consultation.

Video can be a powerful branding tool that not only allows you to show off your knowledge and expertise, but it breaks down that intimidating barrier that many lawyers have stereotyped for themselves in television commercials. Even more, video speaks to the growing digital age where more people want to listen to quick snippets of information. However, if you’re still on the fence, here are a few ways video can highlight your expertise.

1) Be Yourself

It can be tempting to fall into a lawyeristic character. Perhaps you think sounding firm and aggressive will make viewers believe “you mean business.” Maybe you want to take a more compassionate, heartfelt tone.

If that isn’t how you speak to prospective clients during a consultation, you don’t need to do it in your videos. You don’t need to put on a show or pretend to be something you’re not. Simply speak with the same cadence you would as if that viewer were standing face to face with you at that moment.

In fact, the more natural you sound, the more of an expert you appear to be because you aren’t forcing things or searching for the right words. You already know what you’re talking about so you don’t have to project a false air of sincerity. People can sniff out an acting job quickly, so your natural cadence (no matter how awkward you think you sound) makes your videos genuine and an excellent display of your expertise. 

Viewers aren’t looking to be entertained; they’re looking for answers. The more comfortable you are in your own skin, the more people will be drawn to you and believe what you have to say.

2) Give an Authentic Experience

Think about how the videos will look. If at all possible, shoot them somewhere in your office. If your office is too cluttered (or, alternatively, practically empty), a well-decorated and furnished lobby or conference room will work too. 

Think about the lighting as well. Find a place with softer lights instead of the standard office fluorescent bulbs. A videographer may be able to bring studio lights, but keeping things as similar as they would when someone comes to see you in person is ideal. 

Finally, think about your outfit. If you don’t typically wear a suit at the office, don’t wear one during your video shoot. It’s all about giving the viewer the same experience and feeling of being in your office. 

3) Use the Right Equipment

There’s a fine line between giving an authentic experience and being professional with your videos. But if you don’t have the budget to hire a professional videographer, your new iPhone’s camera has the ability to shoot incredible video. Just get a lapel microphone and you’ll be good to go.

By doing this little extra step, you add layers of credibility. You’re showing the viewer that you didn’t just throw some videos together to check off a box on your branding strategy. Instead, you’re showing them that you care about the presentation.

In the end, it’s all about credibility. If you throw together a cheap video shoot with your cell phone in a cluttered office and an obviously scripted answer, it tells the viewer that you’re flying by the seat of your pants and not truly in control of what you’re doing. On the other hand, a video shoot that incorporates the tips we’ve outlined in this article will go a long way to building your brand as the go-to authority figure in your community.

If you’ve looked into any kind of marketing for your law firm, you’ve likely been told time and time again that you should focus on SEO if you want your firm to grow. For years, firms have been laser-focused on SEO and getting higher rankings on Google. Marketing companies continue to push this idea and place it at the core of their marketing strategy.

But what if your SEO is already good enough?

Focusing on SEO is certainly one way to go about growing a firm, but if it’s what every firm is doing, you’re facing an uphill battle for very limited real estate. Not only do you have to constantly put more and more money into SEO just to keep your position, but you may not even be moving up the rankings relative to every other firm doing the exact same thing.

In this sense, SEO marketing becomes an endless loop of investing just to stay afloat—if you stop, you drop, and if you don’t, you’ll be paying for a marketing strategy that might not even be effective at bringing in more leads. After all, if you’re not already in the first 10 results of a Google search, your task is that much harder.

First-page listings (i.e., the first 10 or so results) take up almost 95% of click-through rates, with the second and third page fighting over the remaining 5%. Marketing teams focused solely on SEO will tell you that your listing will still get clicks regardless of position or that they can get you to the first page of Google. They’re lying (probably). Even if they could actually do that, you’ll be paying THOUSANDS each month to retain that position once you get there, and there’s no guarantee that you’ll be able to stay.

That’s because if Google decides to change its algorithms at a moment’s notice (like they do often), you could lose everything you’ve invested.

Regardless of how good your firm’s SEO is, there’s also the issue of whether or not your SEO is actually drawing in customers. Even if you are on the first page, you’re not the only one there. Potential clients will quickly browse your site and often make a decision based on their first impression of your firm. They do the same for a couple of other results they reviewed and can make a decision within seconds.

More often than not, this decision is made almost entirely off cost, so the only way for you to compete with other firms is by being the cheapest in town. But instead of slashing your prices, you can give up the SEO rat race as a whole and bring in clients a better way.

The truth is that as long as people can find you when they need you, your SEO is good enough. If you can type your name or your firm’s name into Google and the appropriate links show up, you’ve done all you need to do.

Instead of trying to pull cold clients from search results, you should focus on reaching out to clients and building recognition, trust, and a relationship. This is something SEO can’t get you—no matter how good it is, it will never pop into a potential client’s inbox reminding them of your firm and how you help. SEO won’t appear on a social media feed with an informative blog addressing the questions that are keeping your audience up at night.

By creating content that helps your potential clients understand exactly what you can do for them and making them familiar with your brand, they’ll feel much more comfortable working with your firm, even if your price isn’t the lowest. Ditching SEO and focusing on content caters much more to the clients themselves, not the robots who decide your search ranking.

If you’re finally ready to break away from the endless cycle of SEO, Spotlight Branding can help. They’ll get you out of the SEO rut and into creating content that will actually drive clients to your firm.

When you’re a sole practitioner, you’re responsible for running every aspect of your firm by yourself. That includes everything from client acquisition to case management and even marketing. 

Let’s talk about marketing in particular. As a solo practice, you can’t afford to overlook it, especially when you’re competing with larger law firms to represent clients in the same types of matters: personal injury lawsuits, criminal defense cases, family law issues, and more. To secure these clients, you need a marketing strategy that goes beyond word of mouth alone.

Being a team of one adds a new definition to the term “multitasking,” but there are ways you can incorporate marketing into your daily workload without compromising the work you do for clients. These four tips take little time to implement but can have a significant impact on your marketing results.

Tip #1 – Identify Your Ideal Client

Who do you want to target? Divorced dads seeking custody of their children? Creative professionals wanting to protect their intellectual property? Business owners in search of a detailed estate plan?

Once you’ve defined your ideal client, create content that speaks to them. This includes blogs, social media posts, and FAQ videos. You can even do guest posts on sites aimed at your target audience, such as Divorced Moms. The more targeted your content, the more likely it is to inspire the reader to trust you and reach out.

Tip #2 – Target the Right Social Media Platforms

There are several social media platforms, but which one is popular with your target audience? Facebook is a general platform that’s great for most practice areas, LinkedIn caters to more professional users, and Instagram is great for highly visual disciplines like entertainment law. If you want to make short informational videos, you can’t go wrong with YouTube or TikTok. Pick a couple that make the most sense for your practice type and post regularly to build your audience. 

Tip #3 – Get a Website That Truly Represents Your Brand

Your website makes your firm’s first impression. Even if you meet someone in person and give them a business card, the first thing they’ll do is look you up online and check out your website. A clunky, confusing, and poorly designed website will turn people away and make your job a lot harder.

Tip #4 – Automate

An active social media presence is important, but it can be difficult keeping on top of everything. Fortunately for the busy solo, there are apps and services like HootSuite which let you schedule your posts weeks and even months in advance. You can set everything up at once and let the service automatically post your content according to a schedule you create.

Get Your Marketing on Track Today

Sole practitioners are often pressed for time, but with these actionable tips, you can create and manage a successful marketing plan. A few minutes here and there may be all it takes to create momentum that leads to growth.

Lobbying is a term we normally associate with politics. According to dictionary.com, lobbying is an activity where you seek to influence someone on an issue. However, I believe there is a better way to go about lobbying for business than what we see in the political arena. 

As a business owner and marketer, you should always be lobbying others to do business with you. This should be one of the KPIs you keep a close eye on as you review your Business Growth Dashboard.

As an author, you have one of the most powerful lobbying tools known to man; your book. One referral strategy we teach our clients is to use their book to lobby for referrals. The process is very simple. 

Identify a few centers of influence: other professionals who are in positions to recommend that their clients use your firm. Most of these professionals have lobbies where their clients wait to meet with them. You should arrange to have your book prominently displayed in their lobby so their client can read your book while they are waiting to meet with them. I’m sure what you write will be more interesting than what they’ll read in the magazines that are normally beckoning their attention. 

And to make sure that your book remains present in that lobby, you should have extra copies behind the front desk. That way, when someone asks if they can have a copy of your book, the answer is “Absolutely!” Then your book is replaced in the lobby by the receptionist and we’re back to lobbying. 

Additionally, your center of influence friend should have multiple copies in their office. This way, when they come to the point in the conversation to recommend you and your service, they don’t simply hand a business card to their client. They actually get up, walk to their bookshelf, pull off a copy of your book, and physically hand it to their client.  This is a much more powerful way to gain referrals from your centers of influence than simply giving them a stack of your business cards.

Lobbying for referrals is a fantastic way to grow your business for pennies on the dollar. And since your book is in the lobby and should be taken home occasionally from those prospects, this gives you a reason to stop by and visit with your center of influence on a regular basis. 

Always remember that the relationship you have with your center of influence is the primary driver of referrals. Don’t be lazy and simply drop off your book. Be proactive and cultivate the relationship so that you can benefit from multiple referrals over time as you implement this strategy to lobby for referrals. 

There are dozens of ways to use your book to gain more clients and increase the number of referrals you receive every month. Lobbying for referrals is simply one of the strategies we teach our clients. You should track the number of lobbies your book is in as part of your KPI Dashboard. You’ll be amazed at the correlations you see between Leading and Lagging Indicators when you track this metric properly. 

If you are looking for a way to make a greater impact in your community, expand the number of referrals you receive every month, and create a marketing asset that will last the rest of your career, let’s have a conversation about how we can help you create your book without writing a word so that you can use your book to gain more clients.

If there’s one thing that a lot of law firms (and small businesses in general) lack on social media, it’s engagement. This is particularly frustrating since all of the biggest marketing gurus claim that more engagement = more success on social media. So how do you make it happen for your firm’s page?

Because social media is so prevalent and so many people are posting, you basically have to convince these platforms that your content is worth pushing out to a larger audience. In order to do that, you need to start by having your team engage with the content.

Business growth and team engagement go hand in hand. When your employees enjoy their jobs and are aligned with the firm’s mission, they’re your biggest cheerleaders. That motivation can also help your social media strategy succeed.

At first glance, engaging your employees appears to be easier said than done. According to a Gallup survey of roughly 67,000 workers in 2022, only 32% are engaged at work. However, getting everyone on board and backing your social media strategy is not only relatively easy to do, but the time and effort can have an enormous payoff. 

How Can Your Team Help Your Firm’s Social Media Strategy?

Here are a few ways you can inspire your employees to support your social media strategy.

  • Social Media Training: Provide social media training so that everyone understands the firm’s social media strategy and can effectively support it. This can also help to ensure that your employees are aware of any guidelines or policies related to social media use.
  • Content Creation: Encourage your team to create and share their own content related to the firm or its areas of practice. This can help to increase the diversity of content on your social media channels and can also help to showcase the expertise of your employees.
  • Engaging with Followers: Encourage your employees to engage with followers on social media by responding to comments or direct messages. This can help to build relationships with your audience and can also demonstrate the company’s commitment to client service.
  • Employee Spotlight: Highlight your employees on social media by featuring them in posts or stories. This can help to build a sense of community and connection among the team as well as showcase the culture of your company.

Conclusion

In conclusion, employee advocacy can bring numerous benefits to your social media strategy. As such, it’s essential to encourage and support employee advocacy by providing training, guidelines, and incentives, as well as by creating a company culture that values and recognizes the contributions of its employees.

A robust referral network is a lawyer’s best friend. Instead of spending a lot of time and money on generating new leads, clients are coming to YOU instead.

It’s an absolute dream of an arrangement, but it doesn’t happen without laying the right groundwork. While participating in local networking events and keeping your information current in industry journals are all good starting points, we live in a digital world which means you need to think about your online efforts. In this article, we show you how to build your referral network in ways that pay off.

Ask Clients for Reviews

In today’s digital age, online reviews have become an important part of the decision-making process for consumers, including those seeking legal services. Reviews can provide valuable social proof to potential clients, giving them confidence that they are making the right choice when selecting you.

Reviews can also help you with your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts without paying hundreds or thousands of dollars in dedicated SEO work. Positive reviews can improve your online visibility, making it more likely that you will appear when potential clients search for legal services in their area.

Be Active on Social Media

Social media isn’t meant to be a passive endeavor. If you use LinkedIn, Facebook, or any other platform, do what it was designed for: interact with others.

Use social media to showcase your expertise, personality, and values to a wider audience. By sharing insights, opinions, and updates on industry issues, you can establish yourself as a thought leader in your field and differentiate yourself from competitors. This may inspire other business owners in your area to refer work to you.

Social media also allows you to connect with potential clients and build relationships with them in a more casual and approachable manner. By engaging with followers, responding to comments and questions, and sharing valuable content, you can create a sense of trust and familiarity that translates into new opportunities.

Keep Your Website Current

First impressions matter. Your firm’s website is often the first point of contact a potential client has with you. Therefore, it’s essential that your site is professional, easy to navigate, and up-to-date. 

Over time, your services and offerings may change. It’s important that your website reflects these changes accurately. An outdated website that does not accurately reflect what you do can lead to confusion and missed opportunities.

Consistently Put Out Content

Consistently publishing content can establish you as an expert in your field. When you share your knowledge and insights on the issues that your audience is concerned about, you can build a reputation as a thought leader and go-to resource for your area of practice. Not only does this help build credibility and trust with potential clients, but it can also lead to networking opportunities and collaborations with other business owners who may refer work to you. 

Conclusion

When you want to build and grow your practice, referral networks are essential. Whether through personal connections, networking events, or online platforms, you should prioritize building and maintaining referral networks as a key aspect of your business strategy. By doing so, you can continue to thrive in an increasingly competitive industry.

Go ahead, we dare you to unsubscribe from our RSS email every Sunday morning.

(If you haven’t subscribed yet at all and want all the latest info, enter your email on the right side of this page and get on the list!)

Unsubscribes from your email list can sometimes feel like a blow to your ego, especially when you’ve put time and effort into crafting valuable content. However, it’s essential to rethink how you perceive unsubscribes and recognize them as a natural part of email marketing rather than failures. In fact, receiving more unsubscribes can actually indicate improved email marketing performance, particularly for lawyers who are just starting to send emails regularly.

When you first begin sending newsletters, it’s common to see a higher number of unsubscribes. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Instead, it signals that your emails are getting your audience’s attention and they are in turn effectively filtering out those who may not be a good fit for your content or services. Think of unsubscribes as a way of refining your audience and attracting those who are genuinely interested in what you have to offer.

As you continue to send newsletters and establish your presence in your audience’s inbox, you’ll likely notice that the rate of unsubscribes tapers off over time. This is because your audience becomes more familiar with your content, and those who aren’t interested have already opted out. While you may still receive some unsubscribes with each email, especially if you are constantly adding new leads to your list AND if the content isn’t relevant to certain recipients, the overall trend should be a gradual decrease in unsubscribe rates.

It’s important to remember that unsubscribes aren’t personal. People’s interests and priorities change over time, and they may unsubscribe from your list for various reasons unrelated to the quality of your content or services. Additionally, some individuals may simply prefer to receive information through different channels or have limited space in their inbox.

Instead of viewing unsubscribes as failures, consider them as opportunities to refine your email marketing strategy and better understand your audience’s preferences. Pay attention to the type of content that generates the most engagement and adjust your email campaigns accordingly. By analyzing unsubscribe data and feedback, you can tailor your content to better meet the needs and interests of your audience, ultimately improving the overall effectiveness of your email marketing efforts.

From there, you can tinker with send frequency or even the day of the week and time of day you send them. Always be testing something!

It’s time to rethink how you feel about people unsubscribing from your email list. Rather than viewing unsubscribes as failures, recognize them as a natural part of email marketing that can indicate improved performance and audience refinement. Embrace unsubscribes as opportunities to optimize your content and better connect with your audience, ultimately leading to more meaningful and valuable email communications.