By James M. Brown, Esq.
What makes you YOU?
When you are marketing, you are selling. But what are you selling? Most attorney advertisements across all states are similar to each other and it’s difficult for potential clients to distinguish between them. They usually provide a laundry list of results the firm has obtained for others, a list of legal services offered, location, and boastful declarations about having the most outstanding staff. When I consult with clients, I work with them to determine what is unique and special about their firm. It’s important to understand how you stand out from the crowd, and how you can use Your Own Uniqueness to your benefit. Once you understand and can articulate this, you are ready to create and advertising campaign that really captures Your Own Uniqueness-YOU!
When you are marketing, you are selling yourself. Cut to the chase. That is what you are doing. You are selling yourself. Prospective clients are going to buy YOU. Even if they have never met you, when they retain your firm, they have bought you. Your marketing therefore, is about you.
If you want to market like every other firm, you will be, for all intent and purposes, like every other firm. Go to You Tube, see what some other firm has posted and copy it. Slap your name on another firm’s ads and there you have it. Open the Yellow Pages, substitute your name for another firm’s, negotiate your rate and you’re in the book. Find a website you like, put your name and photo on it and you’re on the Internet. But you’ll be getting other firm’s leftovers. With some forethought and attention to detail, you can create your own brand, your own image that is far better than a mere replica of every other law firm out there.
Successful marketing is marketing you and your firm. It is making your firm stand apart from the competitors. Marketing your unique qualities will get results that are astonishing. Don’t settle for what other firms are doing. Most law firms just “settle” when they market. You are reading this article to do more than that. Figure out who you are and make that the epitome of how you let prospective clients know why they should retain your firm. When you do this, every prospect will not choose you, but a vast majority of them will decide you are the attorney that can represent them better than anyone else. The creativity you portray in your marketing will carry over into your representation.
HOW TO GET TO YOU
How do we get to YOU? Follow me. What makes you unique, as an individual, as an attorney and if you are a partnership, as a firm? I will now walk you through the discovery of Your Own Uniqueness. This is a method that I have developed to help firms get to know who they are and where they want to go in the future. Your marketing campaign is more than buying some ads and taking some pictures. It is about developing your sense of self as a firm, as a partnership, an employer, and as a member of your community.
If you are a partnership, each partner should do this exercise. Start thinking about it now. This will be one of the toughest, yet most important activities you engage in to market successfully.
One client told me he was unique because he treated each client as an individual; fought hard for everyone; returned all his telephone calls; respected every client; helped them maintain their dignity; and was personally responsible for every case. We broke down each element carefully and he saw that what he thought made him unique just made him the same as thousands of other attorneys.
Delving deeper however, we found that his father had been in a horrible auto accident and had to change careers; he had an autistic sister; his mother was a special education teacher and growing up he volunteered at a home for people who had physical disabilities.
We created a marketing plan around the theme of him understanding what his clients were feeling. That’s why he became an attorney. He was no longer someone sitting behind a desk taking their money. He was someone who felt what they were feeling. I also had him build an interview room that was like a small family room. He no longer had a desk to sit behind when he spoke with clients. The entire change in image was incredible but it was truly him. He was comfortable because he was marketing who he really was.
TAKE ACTION
For the next seven days spend at least 15 minutes per day writing about why you are unique. This is the beginning of YOU. Write, ramble, be verbose, and think of everything you can say about yourself. Don’t hold back. Put it all out there. If you have less than 15 handwritten pages you haven’t done enough. Nine word-processed pages are OK too.
After the seven-day period, start reading what you have written. Be ready to scratch out or delete what is on those pages. No one has that many pages of uniqueness. Not even YOU! Be critical when you are reading it. How many of the words and thoughts have you written apply to thousands of other people? If they do, get rid of them. I want no more than 20 words to describe you. No pabulum. Don’t say: I care, I fight, I’m diligent. I’m aggressive, I’m blah blah blah. Be YOU.
Go over what you have narrowed it down to with your partners, key employees, spouse, marketing professionals or important people in your life. Do this to make sure you have really nailed who you are in a way that is truly going to identify you to the market you want to reach. You want to portray your human qualities. Politicians try to do this regularly. You may remember people saying they would be happy to have George W. Bush over for a barbecue. Take that for what it’s worth. He created an image that made him president. You want to create the image that will get people to hire you.
Once we can identify who you are and who your firm is then YOU OBTAIN YOU. You can use it in speeches you make, in articles and in promotional materials you can use more than 20 words. But you need a short bite to get the attention of your audience. Don’t make that sound bite meaningless words. MAKE IT YOU!
James Mitchell Brown is the nation’s leading consultant for contingency fee law firm. He consults on marketing plans; crisis management; business plans; office efficiency; buying and selling practices; retirement planning and most of other issues regarding a practice.
Jim gave up bring a sports writer to go to law school and has practiced law since 1973. He represented clients on auto accidents, worker’s compensation and social security case until he sold his practice in 2003 due to health reasons. In his practice he was bringing in about 220 new clients every month. He started Attorney Consultant Inc. in 2004.
Jim has received several distinguished speakers awards from the Ohio Academy Of Trail Lawyers, the National Volunteer Of The Year from the National Arthritis Foundation for his lobbying effort in having congress create a National Arthritis Institute and numerous other awards from Bar Associations and Civic Organizations.
You can purchase his book, “Marketing for the Contingency Fee Law Firm”, by going towww.attorneyconsultant.com
