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.
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