Are you spending more time trying to attract new clients on the Internet than in your own neighborhood?

If so, you might be missing out on opportunities right under your nose.

And when was the last time you wrote an article for a legal publication – or even your firm’s newsletter? If your answer is “months ago” or “never,” grab a pen or open your laptop and start writing. A published piece will help position you as a thought leader in your area of expertise.

Those tips come from this post on the Clio blog, in which practicing lawyers share their marketing strategies.

“So you need to get more clients for your law firm,” writes Teresa Matich, author of the Clio blogpost. “You’ve heard online marketing works, but you’re not sure where to start. Between Google, Facebook, PPC, SEO, and online reviews, there’s a lot to consider—and there are plenty of consultants who will claim that their solution is best. How do you know what law firm marketing tactics will work for you? How do you know what to invest in and what to ignore?”

For answers, Matich asked lawyers in the trenches what works for them. Some of their tips appear below.

Read “16 Lawyers Share Their Law Firm Marketing Tips” on the Clio blog.

Download this free marketing guide from Clio.

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Practical Tips for Growing Your Practice

Following are excerpts from the Clio blogpost (all quotes are from the post):

• Build strong relationships. “We are located in a very small, conservative resort town. Business is still based on relationships—who you know and how you are perceived as contributing to the community. A website is essential for credibility and general info, but networking and relationships are key.” (Karen Klukiewicz, Patrick Neale & Associates)

• Create useful content. “For our law firm, we have found that we gain the most traction through writing timely educational articles about estate planning-related issues. While we post these articles to our firm’s website and social media sites, we have found the most immediate results from posting to LinkedIn.” (Matthew J. Tuller, Law Office of Matthew J. Tuller)
• Focus on referrals. “[C]ategorize the best groups your referrals come from and home in on them. Develop relationships with your referral sources. Reach out, thank them, recognize their contributions. The referrals will not only keep coming, but will multiply.” (Sean Robichaud, Robichaud’s)
• Maintain a great reputation. “The best marketing is word-of-mouth. I still get about half of my clients from word-of-mouth. Past clients are the best source of getting new clients!” (Jonathan G. Stein, Law Offices of Jonathan G. Stein)
• Cultivate positive online reviews. “Our paid and free profiles on Avvo actually seem to be the best return on investment, combined with the intense level of effort that we have put into building our website and newsletters into a real library of resources for people who are trying to learn more about estate planning. SEO of our website and making sure the many, many, many directories that are out there have accurate listings for us seem to be the next most useful steps.” (Loraine DiSalvo, Morgan & DiSalvo, PC)
• Build a quality website. “I’ve found that the best leads come straight from my website. People Google ‘Kingston criminal defense lawyer’ and I come up in the top three results. I think I have a good website compared to the other people who also come up on the first page and it draws people in to contact me. By this time they’ve already checked me out and, I think, like what they’ve seen. I’ve found these clients are easy to land, even on the first phone call, with no follow up. I’ve found that referrals from lead generating sites are less committed. They’re often shopping around or are just looking for free legal advice, it seems.” (Simon Borys)

What do you say? What marketing strategies work best for you?

Source: 16 Lawyers Share Their Best Law Firm Marketing Tips | Clio

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