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Attorneys: Make These Marketing Tweaks to Skyrocket Your Referrals

The first mistake attorneys make with their marketing is assuming referrals happen by accident.

Guess what? Referral marketing is marketing. Marketing is under your control.

If you think referrals happen by accident or a stroke of luck, you’ll never realize the benefit of what I’m about to go over today – how to skyrocket your referrals.

Specialists Get More Referrals Than Generalists

Don’t translate that statement to mean you should strive to be the only lawyer for, let's say, owners of pigmy pot belly pigs.

It means that if you try to appeal to too broad of an audience, you’ll never be viewed as an expert who’s worthy of the best referrals.

There’s an Indian restaurant near my house that sells pizza. Do you really think they’re good at both cuisines? Or either one?

That’s why specificity matters. Do you really think a client will believe you’re absolutely awesome at representing them for their small business? And their DUI charge? And their divorce?

They might call you because you’re the only attorney they know, but the odds of them referring you are far lower.

Related: The Smart Lawyer's Guide to Referral Marketing

Pick a specialty and position yourself as an expert in that specific area.

Now if you feel like you absolutely must have a diversified practice so you can represent both pigmy pot belly pig owners and Star Wars fans, it can be done. You just have to segment your marketing and make sure your referral pitch focuses on one area of expertise at a time.

You Need a More Persistent Presence Than You Think

Attorneys somehow got it in their heads that they’re going to get referrals even though their referral partners haven’t heard from them, or heard mention of them, for a year or two.

In reality, they probably don’t even remember your name.

You need a persistent presence, and more than you realize.

Let’s face it. You can’t drink enough coffee to meet all your referral partners in person every month. And they probably don’t want to see you every month anyway.

The only way to get steady referrals is by staying in front of them in a way that only a steady monthly marketing campaign can. Use the magic of technology to maintain a consistent presence in a subtle, thorough leadership kind of way.

What You Think Is Good Marketing Probably Ain’t

Hate to break it to you, but you’re an expert.

That means you might be afraid of explaining your field in straightforward terms. Terms that a non-expert could understand.

You probably assume people will think you’re dumb if you use plain English, because it seems too simple to you. You feel like you're "dumbing it down" instead of showing your expertise through complexity.

Wrong. You’re not your target audience.

You’ll notice that I never delve into any of the technical plumbing and marketing expertise that it takes to actually achieve the objectives I’m talking about.

Related: Ignoring New School Marketing? Here's What’ll Happen.

That’s because you don’t care, whether you’re a member or not. You shouldn't care. And if I went on about "multi-channel attribution for retargeting platforms," (yes, that's a thing) you'd glaze over. It would all be Greek to you.

You only want the results.

Likewise, clients want the results of working with you. They want to be educated about the results you can deliver, but not necessarily how you deliver them.

The only way for you to recognize that this approach will work is to lose your lawyer hat. You’re not marketing to yourself.

If you can’t make that distinction and look at your marketing from your target audience’s perspective, you need to listen to experts who can tell you the right level of legal sophistication to include in your marketing.

Now Do Something About It

I just told you three things that can take your referral marketing into orbit. But they’ll only matter if you actually do something.

Just reading an article that says you should be a specialist, have a consistent presence, and bring the right level of legal sophistication to your marketing isn’t enough. That's being a spectator.

The only thing that matters is whether your referral marketing is working in real life. Nodding your head doesn’t change anything.

It doesn’t matter if you understand and agree.

You have to take action, so talk to us now and let us help you get started.

 

Download "Complete Marketing Guide to Building a Marketing Strategy for Your Law Firm"

Raj Jha