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Automated Intake for Law Firms

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Marketing, Messaging

The Gift That Keeps On Giving: Remarketing to Former Clients

It being the holiday season, everyone is running around trying to get last-minute gifts for everybody else.

But, as a lawyer, you can get yourself the gift of more revenue in 2022, by making a small and straightforward change to your marketing practices that’ll seem so simple, you may end up kicking yourself afterwards, for not having done it sooner.

Yes, there’s additional revenue just waiting there for you, with a nice bow sitting on top: and, it’s new work or referrals from former clients.

Generally speaking, lawyers are bad at communication.  They’re like so many tiny Sphinxes.

We’ve talked before, in this space, about the importance of remarketing to lost leads, who can potentially be recaptured at a later time.  But, it’s even easier to get new work and referrals from existing or former clients, because you’ve already established a (hopefully) positive relationship with them.

The challenge is that your former (and even your existing) clients have short memories, just like everyone else – and, you’re not always (more like hardly ever) ‘top of mind’ for them.  So, you need to consistently remind your former clients (as well as your existing clients, with notes and outreach unrelated to case requirements) that you’re still out there, still doing work, still open to doing more of it, and also open to referrals.  It’s the most effective way to prime the pump on the brand you’ve spent so much time building.

And, that kind of remarketing outreach doesn’t have to be anything crazy, or time-intensive.

If you’ve already got some kind of content marketing program in place, you can simply aggregate it, and produce email or text messages on a regular basis, like newsletters, client alerts or updates.

Do that on a schedule in 2022, and you’ll generate more business.  Guaranteed.

Happy New Year.

Marketing, Messaging

Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animal: How to Avoid the Law Firm Holiday Card Trap

When it comes time to send out Christmas or holiday cards at the end of the year, most law firm owners manage that process about as effectively as Clark Griswold lays down Christmas lights.

It’s usually a scramble to construct a full client list, and then actually sending out physical cards is a time-consuming and repetitive process, like no other – it’s enough to give you carpal tunnel syndrome, all by itself.

This can, and should, be much easier.

First, law firms should be able to easily and quickly call up a complete client list.  And, that list could be housed in any number of places: the contacts feature in a productivity software, the client or matters tabs in a case management software, the contacts list in an email marketing program or customer relationship management software – and, all of those lists should be downloadable as an Excel or CSV file, which would allow the list to be transferred to another software.

Second, there’s probably no need to send paper cards anymore, unless you’re of the mind that that substantially differentiates you from others in a largely online world.  If paper cards are your thing, send your list to a vendor, and farm out that work.  If you’re cool with electronic cards, send them out via your email marketing program or CRM, which should always have your full list of clients and referral sources readily accessible.

It makes little to no sense to sink your own and your staff’s productivity for the sake of sending out season’s greetings, when you could be spending that time finishing out the year on a strong note, by completing some work for client, or planning for the next year, by generating revenue projections, selecting new marketing campaigns and flattening bottlenecks blocking efficiency.

And, if you really want to stand out, try sending out holiday cards for lesser holidays, like Flag Day or local holidays.  You’ll have far less competition, and you’ll be more likely to get noticed.