How to Make Time for Online Marketing

        “I know we said we would do an online marketing activity every week,” Sally said to partners, Dick and Jane sitting across from her at the oblong walnut conference table of SDJ Law, LLC, “but, it seems impossible. We have to serve our clients, manage our administrative responsibilities, maintain our continuing education and meet the billable hour requirements we set for ourselves.”

Finding time for social media

“I know,” Dick said, “but if we don’t market there will be no clients to serve and no reason to worry about billable hours. I’ve come up some ideas.”

    SDJ Law is not starting from ground zero. Their website and each of their profiles are up to day and their new video “About our Firm” is ready.

        The major problem for SDJ Law is keeping up with their other Internet sites—the blog on their website and their Facebook and Twitter presence.

The Blog 

        Effective blogs that attract clients and potential clients offer quick and useful information are posted regularly. But, how often to post? 

        Establish a schedule you can keep. Once a month or once a week or once a day—the secret is consistency. Once you decide frequency, help yourself stick to your resolution by scheduling time to research and write on your calendar. Topics are not a problem in law. Every week, the SBM e-journal posts important case decisions and the SBM NewsLinks publishes legal news daily.

        Dick and Jane decide to share the writing duties each writing one blog post a month. They pull up their electronic calendars and set aside the time for writing and posting. Sally, who prefers the social network, will use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and an e-mail blast to announce the posting.

The Social Network

        The social network is a more frequent task. Set aside a time on

your calendar for daily or twice weekly postings, whichever fits your busy schedule. Since you could be posting on Twitter, a Facebook Page or LinkedIn, it could mean a daily task. Remember, it is consistency that counts.

Sally, Dick & Jane were always busy.

        Sally decides she will post to Twitter and the Facebook Page twice a week and weekly to LinkedIn. She adds the times to his calendar. SDJ Law will also want to know how effective the new marketing commitments are working, they agree to keep track of:

       1. The number of people reading their blog,

           2. The number of new followers and shared tweets on Twitter, 

           3. Whether people are contacting them mentioning something they published.

         Sally, Dick and Jane, like you, are busy lawyers. They realize,however, the importance of setting aside time to market their business. Putting it in their calendars like all their other important dates will help.

        Feedback will determine if their plan is working. They will change course as necessary or, perhaps, reaching more people is not as important as reaching people who are really interested in what they have to offer.