It’s Time to Update Your Profile

The About Us or Profile page is the second most visited page on your website. Consumers find the Home page and then, to learn about you, they click on your profile. Often these readers are under the stress of a legal problem so they want and need to connect with someone who can help. Therefore, your profile page, as the place where they can learn about you and your practice, is a significant part of their decision-making process.

Because your profile page is so important, it is vital that you review and update it every three to four months. The following are items to consider:

Your name, title and contact info should be right up front and easy to see. Prospective clients don’t want to work hard to find that information. They will navigate away from your profile or website before spending time searching.

Your photo: Readers want to see the person they will be working with. Make sure the photo is current and professionally done. A selfie won’t do the job.

writing your profile-old school

What you do for your clients: Writing in plain English and avoiding legalese and jargon, tell the reader what type of law you practice. Write in first person (I) if possible—some large law firms use third person (Lance Lawyer) and use pronouns. Tell the readers what it’s like to meet with you and how you will work to help them with their problem. If you have added a new service this is the place to let the readers know about it.

Write a compelling lead: If your lead starts like so: I. M. Lawyer is a shareholder in the firm…it needs to be re-written. Better to write: ‘As an elder law attorney, I help older persons with issues about their future care as well as their estate planning needs.’ This tells prospective clients seeking this type of help that they are in the right place.

Interesting Facts about you: Think about what makes you excel at lawyering. Maybe you’re really good at explaining law to clients or helping them reach a solution to their problem. Tell the readers what you like most about your area of practice, describe your hobbies and include your latest community relations activities.

Once your profile page on your website is up to date, check your LinkedIn Profile and any others that are out there that need review. Keeping your profile current is one of the most effective marketing efforts you can do to bring in more business.

Find Clients Using Niche Marketing

 Niche Market: a focused, targetable portion of a market. It is a narrowly defined group of potential customers that have specific needs. 

      A law firm that focuses on a niche is addressing a need for a service that is not being addressed by mainstream providers.
      Lawyers, like other professionals, can no longer be generalists. Because the law is too complex for you to be all things to all comers, it is necessary to select a specialized area of practice that suits you and your firm. Once that decision is made, your marketing should be selective—aimed at your niche market.
      A niche market is a defined, target market that can be classified by demographics such as age, location, gender, by socioeconomic factors or by industry or hobby. It can be as narrow or as broad as you want as long as it is well-described part of the population with the same wants, needs or behaviors.

How do I select a niche? 

      You begin by visualizing your ideal client. If you’ve been in practice for a while, think about the clients you liked working with, the ones that made you smile. Who would benefit from your legal services? What area of law are you passionate about? If you’re new to the practice of law, think of the legal specialties you liked in law school, the people you met in internships and create a description of the type of client you want to attract.
      You can narrow your field of law down to a particular type of individual, socioeconomic group or even industry. For example, if your area of practice is criminal law, you could specialize in DUI or the new marijuana laws or homicide. Or, if you like working with businesses, you narrow the field by the type of business, Internet or brick and mortar or by size such as start-ups or businesses with more than 50 employees.
      Once you narrow the niche down, search the Internet to determine the size of your market. You also need to look at the competition. How many lawyers are competing for the same clients in the same location? Don’t be discouraged, simply be aware so you can offer something the others don’t.  

Why should I Niche Market? 

      Using a narrow approach can help you focus your marketing efforts to a specific group or industry so that you become known and recognized in that group. Niche marketing is cost-effective. Rather than mass marketing to a large audience, you are concentrating your time and money on one area of the market thus saving both precious commodities—time and money. You can become an expert in that group; the go-to lawyer for their legal needs. With the use of social media, your website, blog and networking, you can become known as the industry expert whether you’re a solo or a partner in large firm.