“How To Position Yourself As A Highly Respected Authority So You Attract Clients Nationwide And Get The Premier Cases You Want”

If your law practice is suited to going beyond your state boundaries, here are three reasons to consider expanding your horizons:

Reason #1: You have many more opportunities to attract the types of cases you want. When you draw clients from 50 states, you have a much greater selection than when you limit your field to your home state. If every state has three really good cases, you can compete for the three in your own state – or you can compete for your share of 150 from across the U.S.

Reason #2: You have many more opportunities for highly visible media publicity. Gaining publicity outside your state is often easier than getting attention in your own state. This is because nearly every business wants to be featured in your local newspapers. But when you pursue articles in regional and national publications, you often find yourself competing with fewer businesses and fewer lawyers.

Most lawyers get clients from within their state, so they don’t seek media attention beyond those borders. Plus, they often assume that gaining national publicity would be much harder than achieving local attention. But, in fact, when you go beyond your state’s boundaries, you have access to hundreds of additional publications at the state, regional and national levels, all of which could be suitable targets for your publicity effort.

Reason #3: The “mystery of distance” helps your being perceived as the authority in your field because you’re from out of town. You’ve probably heard of this principle, but you may not have used it as part of your marketing strategy. The mystery of distance says this: The farther you go to get a product or service, the better and more valuable it is.

There’s no logical reason to believe that something that comes from far away is better than something you get from down the street. Still, subconsciously, we think it is.

Now, read these 17 steps and discover…

“How To Position Yourself As A Highly Respected Authority So You Attract Clients Nationwide And Get The Premier Cases You Want”

 Step #1: Identify the niche you want to fill and the types of cases you want to attract. When clients hear your name, you want them to associate you with a specific type of high-level legal service. For example, Mark Warren practices in mergers and acquisitions. Amanda Thompson is a securities lawyer. Stephen White specializes in intellectual property.

Consider whether any lawyer in your niche springs to mind when you mention your area of law. If so, that lawyer owns a very strong position. If no lawyer comes to mind, then an effective marketing program will help you build the perception that you are the leading authority in that practice area. So if you want to target only certain types of cases, then invest the time to identify the niche you want to fill and the types of cases you want to attract.

Step #2: Identify the type of clients you want to serve. You must know where to aim if you expect to hit the bulls-eye. List the types of people or companies you want to attract that are ready, willing and able to hire your services. Identify your prospective clients by who they are and what they have. For individuals, consider things such as gender, age, marital and family status, education, occupation, income and home ownership. For companies, consider things such as industry, sales, number of employees, level of risk or whatever makes a business attractive to you.

Step #3: Identify how you and your services differ from those of your competitors. Positive differences are your competitive advantages. Negative differences are your competitive disadvantages. Identify both so you know when you are in the strongest position to win a new client.

Step #4: Identify ways you can add value to your services so prospects eagerly choose you over all other lawyers. What can you add to your services to make them even more attractive than they are now – and more attractive than services offered by competitors? How you could provide services more effectively, more completely, or faster – with your client getting better results with less risk. The ways you add value to your services now become more competitive advantages.

Step #5: Compile a database of clients and referral sources. Your most important business asset is your mailing list. It’s your own personal area of influence. It should include your current clients, past clients, prospective clients, referral sources, past referral sources, and prospective referral sources. Whether your list contains 100 names or 5,000 names, these people are the core around which you build a growing, prosperous law practice. As you attract an ongoing flow of new inquiries, keep all the names and addresses on your database. One critical factor in your marketing program is your ability to continue adding names of prospective clients and prospective referral sources to your contact list.

Step #6: Make sure important people can reach you easily. Prospects, clients and referrers often grow concerned about their ability to get in touch with you. To reassure them, explain the many ways you invite contact, such as on your direct line, smartphone, email, and other methods you offer.

Step #7: Compile your information and advice into your own unique educational message. Your educational message is your marketing message because education is the highest and purest form of marketing. That’s why smart marketers in all professions and industries are fast discovering that Education-Based Marketing – the discipline I created in 1980 – attracts more new business than any other form of marketing.

The most persuasive educational message is built on articles in the form of numbered lists. These lists are often made up of negative titles, such as mistakes and misconceptions; and positive titles, such as secrets and steps. Within these numbered points, you weave your education and advice, your competitive advantages, your personal experiences, and your recommendations.

In another part of your message, you educate prospects about your law practice and the services you provide with proof documents, which add credibility to everything you say. Proof documents include your biography, article reprints, services, billing, testimonials, and case histories, to name a few.

In this way, you create a powerful, persuasive message. The result is that your message is much more compelling and credible than messages used by other lawyers. Does any lawyer you know have a marketing message that comes anywhere near what I’ve described here?

Step #8: Offer your unique educational message in hard copy and by email. Once you create your educational message, put it into a form that you can send to anyone who contacts you. This can be in hard copy and in a .pdf version as well. Then, by offering to send copies without charge, you attract calls from prospective clients. When prospects call, you capture their names, mailing addresses, and email addresses, which you add to your mailing list.

Important Note: The longer your materials, the better. The longer you keep your prospect’s attention – and the more facts you provide – the more persuasive your materials will be. Many lawyers are surprised to learn that prospects will read long materials, provided the materials are well written and relevant to their prospects’ problem or area of interest.

Step #9: Define the geographical area from which you want to draw clients. Geographics identify individual prospects by where they live, work and spend much of their time. Geographics identify companies by where they are based, where they have facilities and where they do business.

Step #10: Compile a database of media outlets, including print and online publications, newspaper syndicates, and broadcast networks. You should choose national, regional and local media outlets in states where you hope to gain high visibility and attract clients.

Step #11: Launch an aggressive publicity campaign by sending news releases, query letters, memos of expertise, and other press materials to the media outlets on your list. If you send substantive materials several times each year, you could have an ongoing flow of articles appearing in various parts of the country.

Step #12: Contact high-profile publications and columnists on an exclusive basis to gain the highest level of publicity. Offer to write ongoing columns for publications, and appear as a guest on interview shows.

Step #13: Compile a list of trade associations that serve the prospects you want to reach. Keep these trade groups on your mailing list. Offer to present seminars that are sponsored by these trade associations at their regional conferences.

Step #14: Compile a list of prospective referral sources in the states or regions you serve and add them to your database. Send them your packet of information so they understand what you do. Invite their referrals and offer referral fees, if appropriate.

Step #15: Market your seminars and speaking engagements nationwide. Make sure everyone on your database knows you offer seminars. While they might not be the correct contact person, they can make your seminars known to the right people.

Step #16: Send an email alert or briefing at least every month. The more often you stay in touch with everyone on your email list, the more new clients you’ll attract and the more publicity you’ll generate. Twice each month is even better.

Step #17: Post to a blog on your website at least every month. Your blog can contain the same or similar content as your email alert. You must educate and keep educating your target audiences. Education reinforces your position as a respected authority and gives you a platform to share your knowledge, skill, and experience.

Now, if you offer high-level legal services and you’d like to attract clients nationwide, send me an email and let’s set a time to talk. I’d be delighted to hear from you. Thanks!

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All the best,

Trey

Trey Ryder

Trey Ryder Marketing LLC

928-468-1000

[email protected]

www.treyryder.com

? 2019 by Trey Ryder Marketing LLC. All rights reserved.