No matter how long you’ve been running your law firm, chances are that you already know how important marketing is to your success.
You’ve probably heard of and read dozens of marketing success stories from big names in the field—which is why promoting your firm is as much of a recurring thought as it is right now. But when it comes to actually putting in the work and carrying out a strategy, chances are that you’ll end up feeling confused and lost because, well, let’s face it:
There are way too many marketing strategies that law firms can use nowadays.
Now, if you’re feeling overwhelmed by the sheer number of approaches you can work with, there’s no need to worry because the fact of the matter is, you’re on the same boat with thousands of other law firm owners that are all trying to find their way to more clients, more returns, and more success.
Fortunately, you’re reading this right now—which means that you’re about to discover something that might help you get ahead of everyone else.
For law firm owners that want to stand out and see huge results in their strategies, Attorney Nakia Gray suggests using and focusing on one marketing tool that’s been a mainstay in her arsenal for years:
Virtual summits.
A few years ago, Nakia decided to put together an online summit as a way to grow her email list and revive her business. Since she wasn’t active with her email marketing for years, she felt that this was a great opportunity to get fresh people interested in her business…
And guess what happened?
The online summit was a success—and she was able to add over 3,000 new people to her email list because of it.
Here’s what Nakia had to say about what she learned from the whole experience:
“If I’ve got eight people who are promoting people to come and follow me or welcoming them into my online space, that’s a heck of a lot of people. In fact, that’s over 3,000 people, which is how many people I’ve added to my email list as a result of doing that online summit. That’s a whole fresh crop of people to promote your legal services to.”
This episode of The Law Entrepreneur with Attorney Nakia Gray is filled to the brim with valuable law firm marketing insight thanks to her wealth of experience in the fields of law and business strategy. Our conversation also touches on other topics like email marketing, the impact of niching down, and why it pays to approach the virtual summit planning process from a more generalized perspective.
Here are some of our other favorite takeaways from this episode:
1. If you’re a newly-minted law firm owner that wants to have clients coming in, you’ll need to pay closer attention to email marketing. This is especially true today because more clients are picking law firms based on the kind of experience value they provide before they shell out any money—which is exactly where newsletters come in handy.
Here’s what Nakia has to say about her experience with email marketing:
“One of the things that I’ve always known, but had not practiced as consistently as I should have, is growing my email list. It was crucial when I first started because I was 1) starting an online practice, and 2) starting a practice area that no one in the world knew that I even did because I had literally just started doing it. The only way I could have done it was to start an email list, and so the very first thing that I did was create an ebook.”
With a strong lead magnet and well-made newsletters, you’ll be able to cast out a bigger net that brings in more clients and helps get your law firm on the map!
2. While there are many different marketing strategies out there, virtual summits are one option that any law firm can benefit from the most. Regardless of how long you’ve been running your law firm, adding summits into the mix makes it easier to flesh out opportunities to bring in more business—and Nakia explains why it’s so effective at doing so:
“The reason why [virtual summits are] a great way to grow your email list is because each of your guests, or your conference speakers, they promote the conference to their audience. It’s an opportunity for you to leverage other people’s audiences, so that’s why it’s such a great way.”
Once you put a virtual summit together, you’ll have an easier time spreading word about your practice while leaving a lasting impression on attendees!
3. Too many lawyers are making the mistake of not niching down—and it’s robbing them of opportunities to become authorities in different specialities. Especially in this day and age where there are more lawyers than ever, it’s crucial to start defining target audiences in a more detailed fashion because it makes it easier to stand out well.
Here’s what Nakia has to say about the matter:
“The first thing I would say, and the most common mistake that most attorneys make is not defining who your audience is, so as a family law attorney, ‘Who’s your niche? Are you doing divorces? Are you doing divorces for women? Are you a father’s rights?’.“
By niching down, you’ll be able to easily set yourself apart from other law firms while tailoring your practice to become a perfect fit for the needs of even more clients!
4. When you start hosting virtual summits, don’t make the mistake of making your talks strictly legal. Considering that people in your niche market have an assortment of other things to handle when tackling their issues, it’s always a good idea to include other speakers that are experts in the different matters involved in an attendee’s situation—such as finances and the like.
This what Nakia had to tell us when it came to planning summit content:
“The only thing legal about the summit was my one presentation. The other speakers talked about other things that are important to my client. That’s the key, I think, every lawyer in every single practice area can put on one. You’re going to present on one topic, but there are so many things that your clients need that are in addition to whatever legal problem you solve for them.”
This mindset is especially crucial to have when planning virtual summits because it allows your firm to not only better educate attendees, but it also allows them to trust your practice more—leading to more recommendations to other potential clients!
5. Your newsletters are only going to generate new clients and more business for your firm if they’re valuable to whoever’s going to receive them. Unfortunately, more law firms are still unaware of this ever-present fact—which leads them to send out emails that generate little-to-no results because they unknowingly miss the mark on making the right impact on potential clients.
We asked Nakia about why this is the case—and here’s what she told us:
“If the entire [newsletter] is about you and what’s going on at your firm, “Okay, whoopty woo. What does that have to do with me and whatever is going on in my life? You’ve given me no reason to want to connect with you or feel that I need to, but if you’re providing me valuable information or just acting like you give a shit about what could be going on in my life, now you piqued my interest.“
So, it’s fairly simple: if you want your emails to work the way you want them to, you’ll need to fill them with content that matters to the people receiving them!
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If you loved our talk with Attorney Nakia Gray, you can catch the latest episodes of The Law Entrepreneur on our website. Follow us on Twitter for the latest updates.
