Secrets of Online Law Firm Marketing: Why Attorneys Hate Marketing and What They Can Do About It

Edward S. Brown, M.S.

Solo practitioners and small law firms are constantly being bombarded with marketers professing to be able to deliver more clients through lead generation. And like most customers, attorneys are skeptical and turned off with “sales” talk. Not to mention, the negative connotation that marketing has come to represent in many attorneys’ mind. Essentially, there are three (3) areas that attorneys should consider when marketing their services: 1.) The inherent problems of today’s marketing, 2.) The buyer’s journey and how clients choose products and services, and 3). How social media sites, like LinkedIn, can serve as an aggregate for attracting prospects. Cunningham (2012) noted compelling reasons why attorneys have a negative perspective about marketing. In a qualitative survey, Cunningham observed the following evaluations of marketing by attorneys:

   ? “It is unprofessional to sell.”

   ? “Marketing makes me feel like this is a business.”

   ? “If I made 3 calls a week, I would be out of people to call in 3 weeks.”

Weber (2018) suggested that attorneys don’t have a natural aversion for marketing, but that they have had too many bad experiences. “This isn’t because lawyers don’t understand or believe in marketing. Rather, it’s because many of them have spent thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours on both online and offline marketing, and instead of reaping a significant ROI, they end up sending out an SOS” (Weber, 2018, para.2).

Still Kane (2012) blamed law schools for not teaching graduates the rudiments and importance of marketing, particularly for attorneys seeking to become solo practitioners. Kane pointed to a situation where a recent law school graduate contacted him for some advice after striking out on her own. Kane said, “When I spoke with her, I was astonished to hear that she really thought that she could hire someone to do the marketing for her. And she was thinking that a website, for instance, would bring her all the clients she would need. She seemed deflated when I explained that personal services marketing requires personal involvement. Obviously, an example of someone who doesn’t get it. Not only does she dislike the idea of marketing, but hasn’t a clue as to how vital it is to any law firm’s survival.” (Kane, 2012, para. 2).

The natural skepticism of attorneys due to the many years of legal training bodes well with a mistrust of marketing. After all, rarely have marketers developed a product or service that they had to bring to market and persuade others of its problem-solving remedies. It seems that these marketers promise to do more for clients than they have been able to do for themselves. Also, marketers don’t understand the ethical mandates and constraints that attorneys face compared to less regulated professions. Consequently, this insensitivity offends the sensibilities of attorneys who might be open to marketing services, but become turned off with the fanfare surrounding a standard marketing pitch.

Despite the skepticism surrounding marketing, a few attorneys have adopted the traditional, as well as new media ways of marketing their legal services.

Attorney Katherine Rose-Brownell says, “A marketing tip that works well for me is when I am preparing estate-planning or other documents that require a witness, I ask clients if they have friends, co-workers and other neutral witnesses who can sign their documents. I often get additional business from these witnesses. Also, I speak to churches, neighborhoods, parents, and other groups about estate planning and probate.”

Attorney Ronda Shamansky says, “Word of mouth is your best marketing tool. Do high-quality work, get it done promptly, and charge a reasonable fee for it. That alone will grow a business.”

Additionally, freelance attorney Sonrisa Lewis of Lewis Legal says, “As a non-traditional attorney, I need to be especially creative in my marketing and messaging. Not only do I need to effectively reach my target market, but I sometimes need to also introduce the concept of freelance lawyering. One way that I share my message is through the use of video content. I create short videos with the intention of providing information to other lawyers regarding how they can run their law firms effectively and efficiently. I share my videos on many different platforms, including LinkedIn. My videos are casual and not pushy advertisements for my services. By sharing valuable, useful, and actionable content via video, I am able to 1) create a personal brand 2) establish myself as an authority, and 3) give my target market a chance to become acquainted with me without having actually met me. This strategy of valuable content distribution via video can be useful to all kinds of lawyers across practice areas."

Liz Wendling, who helps attorneys become more secure and courageous in the client acquisition process, says, “I regularly encounter lawyers who believe that providing excellent service by representing their clients is enough to create a thriving practice. They dig in their heels in and refuse to believe they have to sell their expertise and the value of their practice. Their mindset and beliefs about what selling means to them are holding them back. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being in sales; there’s only something wrong with your perception of it.” (Wendling, 2016, para. 2). Wendling advocates that attorneys change their minds about sales and marketing for self-preservation. No firm can exist and persist without some outreach of the value of attorney services. But, why should this be a challenging notion for attorneys? After all, despite their analytical mindsets, they are not immune to the buying and selling process. Many attorneys have bought into what affectations they should possess as an attorney. What attorney doesn’t believe that one of the prerequisites for being an attorney is to drive a BMW, Mercedes, or Jaguar? Who marketed this notion to them? And why have many attorneys bought into it? Is this an example of the saying, “People like to buy, but don’t like to be sold?” Maybe that’s a start. Perhaps attorneys can empathize by understanding a buyer’s journey and how to use it for their law firm marketing. In today’s buying considerations, everything starts on the internet.

In a fast-paced world, information at one’s fingertip is more effective than information that is labor intensive. Direct marketing is still effective for introducing legal services, but consumers often desire quick solutions to daunting problems. Whether online or offline, consumers still go through a mental process of awareness, consideration, and decision often referred to as the “Buyer’s Journey.” Hintz (2018) defines the Buyer’s Journey as “The process buyers go through to become aware of, consider and evaluate, and decide to purchase a new product or service.” Each stage of the Buyer’s Journey provides the information and confidence necessary for a decision to purchase a product or service.

The journey consists of this three-step process (Hintz, 2018):

Awareness Stage: The buyer realizes they have a problem.

Consideration Stage: The buyer defines their problem and researches options to solve it.

Decision Stage: The buyer chooses a solution.

Unfortunately, most marketers are inclined to skip this process opting to go from awareness to call-to-action. In other words, “Here’s my product, buy it now!” Contrarily, each process requires tactics to guide a consumer into making an informed decision. The necessary tactics for each stage include:

Awareness Stage (Education)

• Thought leadership articles
• White papers
• SlideShare presentations
• Infographics

Consideration Stage (Evaluation)

• Quizzes
• Survey results
• Comparison/Contrast charts
• Questionnaires

Decision Stage (Purchase)

• Checkout page
• Catalog
• Sales
• Call-to-Action

It is important to have information that covers each stage, because you never know what stage a potential client might be in at any given time. If she is merely gathering information, she is reading articles and any text that may provide an aerial view of what she’s looking for. She may have a sense of what’s she’s looking for, but wants to see what options are available. And once she sees her options, she is ready to select. So, in today’s market, you have to create a web where the consumer is magnetically brought into the process. Traditional marketers refer to such processes as a funnel. However, a web is more apt, because a web creates a wider swath. A funnel is narrower and assumes that the road to decision-making is a straight path. In reality, decision-making is as emotional as it is analytical and thus may transcend established boundaries. It is an aggregate consisting of a mass of little parts leading to a final conclusion. The term “Buyer’s Journey” is appropriate, because a consumer takes a self-directed excursion to find a solution to a problem that brings her peace and serenity. In this vein, attorneys are in the business of creating peace and serenity as they use case law to bring this security to fruition. 

The Marketing Mistakes Attorneys Make

Although the buyer’s journey is a web, it must be a focused system of similar moving parts. Watch any legal advertisement on TV and they all seem the same. Most law firms promise to “fight” for you in winning your case. It appears that all victims are motivated by money, and money appears to be the jugular vein for most attorneys. This may be true, but what if legal marketers used more innovative strategies? If the buyer likes a journey in her purchasing behavior, you have to consistently refer to the stages of the buyer’s journey. TV commercials only deal with only one stage of a buyer’s journey-awareness. Based on these commercials, attorneys must assume that awareness is the only key to selling legal services. However, if attorneys were to reflect on their own buying habits, how many times have they purchased a product or service based purely on awareness? We have been aware of a lot of retailers who are no longer in existence—K-Mart, Sears, A&P, etc. Short-lived pay-offs are not the road to long-term gain. An attorney may use TV commercials as part of his web. But if all research starts on the internet, the World Wide Web is where you should be creating your personal web. In short, creating a system inside of a system.

Why LinkedIn Should Be Your Web Builder 

LinkedIn is considered the premier social media site for attorneys desiring to engage in business development. Harrington (2018) noted that, “According to the 2016 ABA Legal Technology Survey report, more than 93% of lawyers surveyed now use LinkedIn, with large firm attorneys using it the most. There’s a good reason for this—LinkedIn has almost 600 million members and is easily the most “target rich” social media platform for a lawyer with a business-oriented practice. LinkedIn is a professional network, which means that people are spending time there for the purpose of doing business. There is no doubt that LinkedIn is the best place online for lawyers looking to grow their networks and their practices.” (Harrington, 2018, para. 1).

Unfortunately, attorneys underutilize LinkedIn as a means of connecting with potential clients. In fact, some attorneys haven’t even bothered to place a picture of themselves on their LinkedIn profile. Done correctly, LinkedIn could be a “one-stop” shop for attorneys to establish themselves as trusted thought leaders. Many marketers frown on using social media sites, considered “Rented Space,” as a platform for building a long-term brand. These pundits suggest that sites like LinkedIn have total control over your content and could choose to close your account down at their will—erasing all of your business development efforts. While this is absolutely true, the benefits outweigh any liabilities. Since your target audience uses LinkedIn already, it is much easier to connect with them on LinkedIn than to your personal website. It’s tantamount to networking at a palatial business function and immediately inviting new contacts to your home. It is prudent to share your professional information as you all nurture mutual interests, but not in a way that screams “Buy me now!” You should have your own professional website besides your LinkedIn profile to ensure that your efforts are not undermined if LinkedIn or any other social media site decides to shut you down or merely go out of business. Any smart investor hedges or protects her investment, and LinkedIn should be viewed as a professional investment in your business development efforts.

It is important to streamline your LinkedIn efforts into one harmonious overarching message to a specific niche or audience. Quite often, there is a disconnection between a LinkedIn background graphic, headline, and biography. Once this connection takes place, it bleeds over into the types of content that are shared and created. For example, a personal injury attorney merely says “Personal Injury Attorney” in his headline with a picture of himself with a basic resume of his services does not create compelling imagery. This is not part of a brand; this is a billboard. And while billboards are helpful in creating a brand, it should not be a “one off.” Every stated and nuanced message has to express and exemplify what specifically you firm does, and it’s not merely win judgement awards.

The Magnetic Attraction on LinkedIn System

The biggest reason to congeal all your LinkedIn marketing is to create one resonate message. Everything should point to the key problem that you solve and to whom you solve it for. If LinkedIn has nearly 600 million users, you can’t afford to have your voice or brand lost in a cacophony of competing interests. Once you establish your overarching message, your intellectual property should follow suit in establishing your thought leadership presence.

The Magnetic Attraction on LinkedIn System looks like this:

For solo practitioners and business development directors, the aim of your LinkedIn Profile is to educate and introduce potential clients to your products and services with the goal of them doing business with you. Using another insect analogy, you want to be a gnat. However, you don’t want to be bothersome, but ever present. Amazon, the online retailer, has rarely, if ever, contacted you. You don’t receive Amazon mailers or flyers introducing sales or discounted prices. And Amazon commercials could easily be mistaken as UPS or U.S. Postal Service commercials, which focus on delivery methods. Through smart and non-invasive measures, Amazon has positioned itself as a company always there when you need it. Similar thinking is important when constructing your LinkedIn Profile. You are consistently curating and creating relevant content that ties your LinkedIn Connections and Groups to your offerings.

LinkedIn Profiles

Many content marketing pundits disavow the idea of “Reaping and Sowing.” These experts suggest that content marketing as a concept should not have an expectancy of revenue. They suggest that your efforts should not engender a profit motive. Such thinking is adversarial to capitalism and the free market system and should be reconsidered. The internet has created a “Buyer’s Market,” where a true global market thrives. As a result, focused and concentrated efforts to inform is the current means by which potential clients know, like, and trust your offerings. And because of the vagaries and competition within a free marketplace, consistency and relevancy are your best friends.

The Magnetic Attraction on LinkedIn System starts with your actual LinkedIn Profile page. Your LinkedIn Profile page should have a compelling headline that articulates: Who are you targeting? What are you doing for them? And What are the results? An example would be, “Helping Solo Practitioners Become Known, Liked & Trusted Through Publishing Thought Leadership Articles on LinkedIn.” Merely providing the name of your current position will not fully capture your proposition. People have and will always judge a book by its cover.

Next, your LinkedIn background graphic should relate to the audience that you are attempting to attract. Remember, a picture is a thousand words. So, the graphic should align with your headline.

Finally, your LinkedIn biography should speak directly to your targeted audience, answering the following questions: What is the problem you’ve identified for that particular audience? What impact does the problem have on the audience’s ability to save or make money? What is the solution? And what actions should the audience take to solve the problem? Most LinkedIn biographies are a recitation of a standard resume. To be most effective, follow this outline, and you will have a better chance of people understanding what you do and the value you provide.

Intellectual Property

Intellectual property is any documented creation that can be legally protected through copyrights, patents, trade secrets or trademarks. Articles, books, podcasts, and videos are all examples of intellectual property. In a survey, Bersano (2015) outlined the myriad of ways prospects desire to connect and hire legal services. Bersano reported:

The good:

96% of LinkedIn prospects wanted an attorney to share legal opinions.

94% wanted an attorney to post helpful tips and articles.

78% wanted to see an attorney directly interact with their online following.

The bad:

55% would dislike seeing an attorney’s opinions on non-legal matters.

58% of prospects were against an attorney sharing humorous content.

66% of prospects were averse to updates on the attorney’s personal life.

These statistics are a guide to how attorneys should be marketing their legal services. Thought leadership articles are authoritative articles where attorneys consistently write about the scope of their legal specialty to a specific audience. Thought leadership articles can be a simple questions and answers format, as well as, an article that takes a deeper dive into an issue greatly affecting that audience. To establish yourself as a thought leader in becoming known, liked, and trusted requires a long-term commitment to developing a body of work surrounding a specific topic or subject matter. For consistency and attraction, infographics and SlideShare presentations help spread information in a more engaging and “Bite-sized” fashion. From a well-researched article, you can extract the findings and create infographics and SlideShare presentations that highlight major points, as well as, spread your influence.

LinkedIn Connections & Groups

Often, attorneys are either underutilizing their LinkedIn connections and groups or not communicating with them at all. Your LinkedIn connections and groups are where you build your influence. This network should consist of members of the profession or industry that you service, not other attorneys. For example, if you are a real estate attorney, your individual connections should be realtors, agents, and bankers. By providing updated and relevant information about the real estate industry and your analysis, you are developing a direct link to your professional community. Why would your LinkedIn web consist of anyone else?

Conclusion

For attorneys, the secret to online law firm marketing is that there is no secret. By merely developing and consistently following a viable process, you can build your law practice in an ethical and profitable way by establishing yourself as a trusted adviser. And the best thing about such a commitment is that it does not cost anything, but time. You wouldn’t be inundated with competition, because your colleagues and competitors still rely on TV commercials. In the race of life, the marathon runner will always beat the sprinter. Which will you be?

RELATED: Living With Logic: The 15 Laws of Influence for Analytical & Introverted Personalities

References

Bersano, E. (2015, Sept. 30). 94% of LinkedIn users look for attorneys on LinkedIn [New Study]. LinkedIn Publisher. Retrieved from: https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/94-linkedin-users-look-attorneys-new-study-eric-bersano.

Cunningham, J.O. (2012, July). Why attorneys hate marketing and what you can do about it. Legal Marketing Reader. Retrieved from: https://legalmarketingreader.com/attorney-marketing.html.

Harrington, J. (2018, Feb. 13). LinkedIn for lawyers: 10 steps to business development success. Harrington. Retrieved from: https://www.hcommunications.biz/blog/2018/2/13/linkedin-for-lawyers.

Hintz, L. (2018, Oct. 29). What is the buyer’s journey? HubSpot. Retrieved from: https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/what-is-the-buyers-journey.

Kane, T. (2012, August 10). Do you still hate marketing? Legal Marketing Blog. Retrieved from: https://www.legalmarketingblog.com/marketing-tips/do-you-still-hate-marketing.

Weber, C. (2018, March 29). Three marketing best practices for lawyers who hate marketing. Attorney At Work. Retrieved from: https://www.attorneyatwork.com/three-marketing-best-practices-lawyers-who-hate-marketing.

Wendling, L. (2016). I hate selling for attorneys. Rainmaking for Attorneys. Retrieved from: https://www.therainmakingcoach.com/i-hate-selling-for-attorneys.