Legal Marketing Tips: Taking Advantage Of Offline Marketing Opportunities In The Digital Age

If you’re one of those attorneys that misses the days when marketing was more direct and personal, we got some good news for you. Not all marketing in 2019 has to be done from behind a computer. Even in the digital age, there are still several old school marketing methods that can bring your firm new clients, and do so at little cost. Over the past year, we’ve asked several experts for their best offline legal marketing tips. Here’s the best of what they had to say.

Reach Out To Your Community

Baltimore injury lawyer Steven H. Heisler has over 30 years of practicing experience. He was a lawyer well before the height of the digital age, and remains successful at bringing in new clients to his firm today. So what’s Heisler’s secret?

“As far as I’m concerned the most effective way to get consistent leads on a modest budget is relationship marketing,” Heisler said. “Some of the methods I use include developing relationships with community influencers, developing and cultivating relationships with medical professionals, and cultivating relationships with other attorneys.”

In our discussion with Heisler last summer, he went on to share how he builds relationships with chiropractors and orthopedic doctors in his area. By doing so, he’s establishing future referral sources for his injury based law practice. All attorneys out there should be thinking about how they can create similar relationships with business professionals in their community. For example, an elder care lawyer may want to start reaching out to the nursing home managers in their area. As Heisler reminds us, you can truly never have enough contacts in today’s highly competitive market.

“Develop as many relationships as you can,” Heisler said. “The attorney with the most relationships wins. Relationships equal many clients, which is why relationship marketing is the way to go.”

Go To Events

Need an excuse to get out of the office and hit the road for a few days? Why not check out a lawyer event? As Douglas Bradley of Everest Legal Marketing told us earlier this year, the conversations you have at attorney events will often turn out to be quite valuable.

“As great as digital marketing is, you’ll probably get business from an attorney referral faster than a new website,” Bradley said. “Go to Bar events & presentations, sponsor an event, ask other lawyers to lunch or happy hour. Get people comfortable with your name and face and they’ll be comfortable referring you.”

We couldn’t agree with Bradley more. While you should definitely attend attorney events for the learning opportunities, your biggest goal for such outings should be talking to as many people as possible. Talk to anyone you can, and tell them who you are and what you do. Be sure to hand out cards and exchange emails with the lawyers you meet, then follow-up with those people after the event is over. One good conversation, could lead to great new client opportunities being thrown in your firm’s direction.

Check Out: ABA’s event pageCheck Out: Legal Marketing Association’s event page

Embrace Old School Tactics

Even award-winning marketers, like Amy Juers of Edge Legal Marketing, will tell you it’s worthwhile to participate in offline marketing strategies. In our recent conversation with Juers, she laid out some of the marketing methods her company still engages in.

Juers’ list included:

• Sending hand-written notes or send seasonal greeting cards
• Public speaking at conferences
• Sponsoring and appearing at local events
• Taking part in community service events
• Holding workshops
• Inviting clients and prospects to lunch
• Advertising in public (billboard, newspaper, magazine, airport)

Juers presents a lot of quality options for lawyers to choose from. The simplest of the suggestions is of course just to follow up with former clients and friends of your firm through the mail. Who doesn’t enjoy getting a card? You’re likely to hear back from more than a few of the people you reach out to, and in some cases be presented with new client opportunities.

For those lawyers not afraid of speaking in front of crowds, public speaking appearances can be one of the best ways to get the word out about your firm. In our legal marketing eBook last fall, attorney John Fisher told us that there was no better form of marketing than public speaking in front of your ideal referral partners. Offline advertising, in places like billboards and newspapers, can also still be effective depending on where you live, what type of law you practice, and the consumers you are trying to reach.

Stay In Touch

We started this blog post by telling you to build relationships, and we’ll end it by reminding you about the importance of maintaining them. You always want to be at the top of your referral source’s minds, so make sure you check in with them frequently, and schedule some time to catch up.

“Good old fashion face to face networking is still the primary source of new business for me,” said family lawyer Joleena Louis in an interview this past June. “On a weekly basis, I have coffee, lunch, or drinks with referral sources.”

It’s amazing how tactics attorneys were using 30 years ago, are still being used effectively today. While we may rely on technology for a lot of things, it appears that human-interaction is still one of the biggest driving forces behind marketing success. Something as simple as scheduling a weekly cup of coffee with a fellow lawyer or a business professional in your community could end up being a game-changer for your law office.

To learn more about what it takes to be a successful legal marketer in 2019, check out our “Let’s Talk Legal Marketing” webpage.