It is very important to attract the attention of your potential clients, in the language of PR specialists, the target audience

If politicians and businessmen have long been friends with PR technologies and understand that a lot can be achieved with their help, lawyers were somehow wary of these technologies. Many people still believe that they can do without them. However, it should be noted that successful lawyers known to everyone became such without even realizing that they were their own good PR people. In times of crisis, when the number of potential clients decreases, law firms understand that it is still necessary to use ways to build a business reputation. After all, if a law firm has competent specialists, then why hide it?

In this article, we offer you an overview of fairly simple and low-cost (and sometimes even inexpensive) PR methods that law firms can use to promote themselves and attract new clients. Moreover, it can be used very successfully and efficiently. It's no secret that even expensive direct advertising does not always give the same return as PR.

Who do you need and how to reach these people?

The first thing you need to do is determine what kind of people you need to attract to the law firm or its employees. In professional terms, who is your target audience? The answer is obvious: those who can afford the help of professional lawyers in court. These are wealthy citizens and top officials of companies, successful individual entrepreneurs.

Now you need to figure out how to get their attention. There is no need to reinvent the wheel: you need to appear in those media (newspapers, magazines, radio and television channels) that the people you need read or watch. Again, in the language of PR professionals, become visible to your target audience and maintain a level of “Market Visibility” regardless of the level of income of your law firm and how long it has been on the market.

Choosing the media you need is not difficult. Look at what's on sale at newsstands, look through subscription catalogs at the post office, which list the names of all media outlets. Pay attention first of all to business publications (they are read by the top officials of enterprises), as well as to specialized publications, for example, magazines about real estate, taxation, cars (they are attractive to wealthy men) or to glossy specialized and simply glamorous publications (their audience is wealthy women). Write down their names, put them in your plan and think about how to get in touch with them, what to offer them to interest them, and how to organize the work. All this sounds impressive, but there is no need to get scared ahead of time. In reality everything is simpler.

How to interest the editors, quickly establish contact and start working

There is no need to be afraid to call the editor and offer your own services in exchange for PR. Understand that, in a sense, newspapers and magazines, television channels and radio stations are themselves interested in connections with legal and advocacy firms. After all, the media is always in need of professional legal commentary on current events or legal issues. Offer your services to the editors: say that your company’s specialists will give short oral or extensive written comments on the materials prepared by journalists, and, if necessary, simply explain complex legal issues over the phone. Let your specialists sometimes do something for the editors “just like that,” free of charge. But then the journalists will also meet you halfway.

As a rule, editors are reluctant to accept and publish ready-made articles that were once written by lawyers or attorneys. This is explained by the fact that each publication or TV channel has its own ideas about the relevance of materials, its own thematic plans developed by editors. It is not surprising that the articles prepared by your lawyers do not correspond to these ideas and plans. Your specialists simply did not know about them and were not oriented. But this does not mean that articles by your company’s employees cannot appear on the pages of the publications you need. Just structure your conversation with editors differently. Ask if they have drawn up a thematic plan for the near future. If yes, ask if there are articles on legal topics, offer to write them by the deadline set by the editors. And then the material, the author of which will be a specialist from your company, will be published in the newspaper you need or in a magazine that is interesting to you.

Three golden rules in working with the media

Rule 1:

It is not necessary to require a fee for articles or comments from specialists in the media. Moreover, in the context of the financial crisis, editorial offices and television and radio studios have reduced their royalty funds. Ask for “advertising services” rather than money for your work. Of course, we are not talking about placing advertising modules for your company - this is very expensive, and fees for comments do not correspond to such a price. Let the editors indicate not only the last and first name of the author, but also the name of your company (if the editors pay a fee, they usually do not name the company), and, if possible, telephone numbers, website or email address. Sometimes it is possible to agree on the placement of line advertising or even a small advertising module that contains the name of the company, a brief description of its activities and contacts.

Rule 2:

Maintain good relationships with journalists. If for some reason the specialist from your firm who undertook to prepare the material cannot do this, recommend another lawyer from among your colleagues. Otherwise, if you let the editor down, next time they may not offer your company to prepare material or a story. And he will even refuse you (as an unreliable colleague) if you yourself apply there with such a proposal.

Rule 3:

Take part in exhibitions, conferences, seminars that are organized by the media or, if not organized, then participate. It is advisable not to pay for this, but to agree on mutually beneficial participation. Let's say, work at a media stand, under his auspices, promoting both him and your services. To do this, try to present your company from the best side, make offers that would interest those who invite you. If you wish and have the funds, you can, of course, organize the conference yourself...

Personal PR: promote company lawyers who win high-profile cases

If your company’s specialists (lawyers, barristers) successfully participate in trials of stars, famous public figures or high-ranking officials, or win complex cases that essentially create legal precedents, do not hide it. Try to inform the media about this. Prepare and send press releases to publications needed for your PR. If it makes sense, notify journalists in advance about upcoming court hearings with the participation of a specific specialist from your company. If for some reason you did not do this, inform the media after the meeting. In short, create the image of a successful professional for one or several specific specialists in your company. Promote them personally, using their last name and ensuring that they are recognized by their last name. The company name will automatically appear after this. Remember: the louder and more significant the case that your lawyer or lawyer is handling, the more attention he will receive.

The career of the famous lawyer Pavel Astakhov is one of the classic examples of “screwing” a person into a “heated up” information field. The media showed great interest in him after he volunteered to defend the constitutional rights of the head of the Media Most holding, V.A. Gusinsky. This was followed by a number of high-profile trials and, as a result, fame.

A similar path was followed by lawyer Shota Gorgadze, who actively collaborates with the Nightingale Trills program on Silver Rain radio and journalist Vladimir Solovyov.

Participate in online forums, write blogs

On the World Wide Web, as you know, there are many sites where legal forums operate: online site visitors leave questions, and lawyers answer them. Often among those who leave questions there are also lawyers, and sometimes visiting lawyers answer questions. In short, these are so-called online consultations, as well as the exchange of experience between lawyers. But what is important to us from a PR point of view? By communicating on the forum, lawyers often find clients and generally promote themselves and the firm they work for. Sometimes visitors themselves offer to work with the lawyers who answered them - to help in court. The most suitable social networks for legal advice today are “Professionals”, “My Circle” or “Zubry.ru”.

Personal blogs created by lawyers help them open up, show their professionalism, and talk about the cases they won in court. You can understand how all this might look by looking at the blogs of some lawyers, for example Shota Gorgadze - http://blogs.mail.ru/mail/grant-pravo/, Dmitry Zhdanukhin - http://pr-law.livejournal.com/, Olga Semencha - http://blawg.ru/, Nikolai Blokhin - http://blog.yurist-online.com /, Svetlana Klepach - http://lawmi.ru/.

Lawyers should not ignore such Internet resources as Odnoklassniki and VKontakte. Today these are very visited sites. Even long-time acquaintances or classmates of your firm’s lawyer, having found him in the resource, may offer to work for them, representing interests in court.

This is very good support for both the lawyer himself and the company for which he works. After all, books usually indicate not only the name of the author, but also a short biography and a description of his activities. So the name of the company will also appear in the book. In any case, you can discuss this with the publisher in advance. Imagine what a great addition to a lawyer’s business card would be a book written by him on a specialized topic (arbitration, taxes, criminal law, collections...).

Please note: we are not talking about your company publishing a book at its own expense. Printing is quite an expensive proposition. In addition, before going to press, the book must be laid out, a high-quality design and a good title must be come up with. This can only be done by specialists whom you will have to hire. But that's not all. The most important thing is to distribute the book, that is, to make sure that it gets on the shelves of stores, kiosks, and other retail outlets, and people can buy it. Believe me, it's not as easy as it might seem. In the publishing business, distribution of printed materials is a serious separate area, which is handled by specially trained people. Moreover, this direction is very expensive if you master it “from scratch”. Therefore, it is most advisable to publish a book in some publishing house that specializes, among others, in the publication of literature on legal topics. In this case, you get rid of all the costs listed above. The publishing house will do everything. All you need from your lawyer is a text. But he will also receive a fee for it.

Examples of successful cooperation with publishing houses are demonstrated by such companies as Vegas Lex (books were published by the Mann, Ivanov, Ferber publishing house), Gamolin Quinn Vyzhlov LLP (cooperating with the publishing group Et Cetera Publishing, which released the famous Mafia Manager series) and others.

It is necessary to prepare texts for books and submit them to the publishing house promptly, since professional literature quickly becomes outdated due to constant changes in legislation. That is why the book is in demand by specialists only for a certain period of time. Of course, most often legal literature is intended for a narrow circle of readers. It's not scary. The narrower the readership, the higher the likelihood that the book will “hit the target.”

You can only count on reaching the widest possible readership if a lawyer or advocate for your firm suddenly writes a book not on a professional topic, but on fiction. His name on the cover of a book written in a popular genre, published in thousands of copies and distributed thanks to the well-established trade networks of publishing houses throughout Russia, is remembered and catches the ear.

Books by famous lawyers Mikhail Barshchevsky ("The Ice Has Broken", "I Will Command the Parade", "The Same Author", etc.), Pavel Astakhov ("Producer", "Spy", "Mayor", etc.) can be found in any bookstore. They are bought and discussed even by people who have never been involved in jurisprudence.

Don't rely only on word of mouth

This term - “word of mouth” - refers to a very simple method of disseminating information about your company. Through those who are already your clients and are satisfied with working with you. They simply tell their friends about you, recommend your company to them, and this is how you get new clients. But this can only work for a certain time. And best of all, in a financially favorable period. During a crisis, you should not rely only on word of mouth as the only way to attract new customers. It is necessary to apply other PR technologies. In particular, those that we described above.

A large percentage of your potential customers spend a lot of time on social media. Why not take advantage of this? There are many options for “promotion” on social networks - from operational consulting in specialized groups to developing your own community. If you don’t have time to create quality content, then at first you can publish links to your blog articles on your personal page.

How to properly design a lawyer’s personal page on social networks:

1. Post a professional photo
   Post a professional business portrait. Try not to post poor quality personal photos.
2. Fill in contacts
   Be sure to fill out your contact details so that the person can contact you promptly. Make sure that this information is visible to any user of the social network in the privacy settings.
3. Specify type of activity
   Take advantage of the opportunities that social networks give you. For example, on the social network Vkontakte you can place information about your type of activity (criminal lawyer in Moscow) so that the visitor to your page immediately understands where they are.
4. Separate personal and work
   Try not to post personal photos or repost from entertainment communities. Your personal page should look like a professional page, so exclude unnecessary information from it.

By following these simple rules, you will make your personal page a tool for attracting clients.

More than 100 thousand law firms are registered in Russia, reports. For comparison, there are only about 12 thousand travel agencies in our country (Rosstat). Either the population goes to court eight times more often than they go on vacation, or... experts in the law are unemployed. Where can a lawyer find clients in such fierce competition, and most importantly, how can he retain them?

How to attract clients to a lawyer on the Internet?

Every year, the Russian online advertising market is growing by 12.3%: more and more companies are starting to promote themselves via the Internet. Largely because online advertising is more flexibly customizable. For example, you can set up advertising only for a specific audience: city, gender, age, etc. And if you urgently need to change the price, you won’t have to pay for a new edition of leaflets - you just need to enter new data in your advertising account.

Online advertising covers dozens of tools, but not all of them are relevant for legal companies. And if you don't know how to attract clients to an attorney or lawyer, here are some online channels to help you.

Both methods help you get to the TOP of search engine results. attract clients aspiring lawyer and advocate. For example, when you type in Google "lawyer Moscow", then you see several advertisements above - these companies paid for so-called contextual advertising. Next come those companies that did not pay for advertising, but got to the first page of the search due to high-quality website optimization. They added special keywords to the text and created a meta description for each page to “like” search engines.

Or you can do something more original. The Social Lift company gives an example of promoting legal services using the viral test “My Film Lawyer”. With its help, people could find out which famous movie character would be their lawyer. The test was distributed on social networks, and about 1,700 users took it. Even if only 1% of these people ended up seeking services from a law firm, the company gained 17 new clients.

Advertising legal services can be quite creative.
Source: https://vk.com/moj.yurist

Websites with leads for lawyers

There is also a more original approach to how a lawyer can find clients on the Internet. Services like Leadia, Domlead, Zakonpartner allow you to “buy” potential clients from third-party sites. You've probably seen pop-up windows inviting you to ask a lawyer a free question. Website owners post them using such intermediary services. People interested in legal advice leave their questions, and lawyers buy their contacts to offer their services.

Source: https://zakondoma.ru

Free consultations on forums

This method is similar to the previous one, but with one difference - you don’t have to pay. At least not with money: you are only wasting time. Register on legal forums, for example, yurist-forum.ru or forumyuristov.ru, and then follow the questions asked by potential clients. If a question appears about your profile, then you answer, and if your answer seemed like an expert to the user, then he can continue to work with you in a paid format.

Why are you losing clients?

So, we figured out how a lawyer can find clients. But keeping them is even more difficult. This means that all advertising expenses may go to waste.

You don't always pick up the phone

There are many situations where a lawyer may not be able to answer the phone, such as if he is in a trial. A disappointed client, without getting through, believes that he is being ignored. And if he contacted you for the first time, then it is very likely that in 5 minutes he will already be calling your competitor.

The problem is solved simply: a legal agency installs IP telephony and integrates it with. If the lawyer is busy, the call will be forwarded to a free specialist. CRM will show the client’s card, and the lawyer, even if he sees this data for the first time, will be able to quickly get up to speed and answer all questions. The conversation is recorded so that the primary lawyer working with the client can review the content of the conversation.

You are talking to the client incorrectly

A good lawyer is not necessarily a good psychologist. It's a pity.

Sarah E. Freeman, head of the law firm The Law Office of Sarah E. Freeman in the Law Practice Today article:
- When a potential client asks questions, we must remember that this may be the first time he has encountered a situation that is routine for us. We must explain what factors influence the situation and choose our words carefully. If we use terms that a potential client doesn't know, we may turn them off.

So that your specialists always know what needs to be said to the client and in what order, it is better for them to create scripts. This could be a Word document, or it could be a special service.

On the Internet you can find many stories of the creation of successful law firms: some business owners willingly share their achievements. However, it is unlikely that you will be able to hear from them the secrets of productive search for clients for a law firm. This material is devoted to how to open a law office and attract the maximum number of potential clients.

Types of work in a law firm

The income of a law firm is generated as a result of providing legal assistance and services to the public, private entrepreneurs or organizations. The range of services provided by the office can be universal or narrowly focused. Young companies that have only recently entered the market prefer a limited list of work performed. For example, registration of inheritance or divorces, purchase and sale of real estate or criminal cases, labor law or resolution of financial disputes of corporate clients.

Secondly, you need to determine in advance the format of the law office’s activities: broad or narrow specialization. This step will allow you to identify the target audience that should be targeted during the implementation of marketing activities.

A law firm that is planning to open in the near future can consider the following options for finding clients.

Very often at a seminar, lawyers interrupt me and say: “How can I tell the client? They will then go and do it themselves. Why do they need me?
Tell me, if the same dentist tells you in detail and shows you how to put fillings, will you go and put a filling, even if you have the equipment for your family? The answer is obvious. It’s the same in your practice. And the client who goes to resolve legal issues himself, as a rule, is not your client. You won't get anything other than brainwashing from such self-taught people.
It is important to understand! The appeal of free stuff is deeply embedded in our brains. It is beyond any rational explanation.
If you want to be successful in attracting clients, you will need to implement a free strategy:

2.11. Strategy 11. Decoy services

I have already said many times that the consumer is constantly haunted by fear: “Did I choose the right lawyer? Will they help me? These fears prevent the client from easily contacting you and paying you money.
Stepping a little aside, I will say that these fears are quite natural and are present in any human relationship. Take, for example, the relationship between a man and a woman. How does a man meet and establish a relationship with a woman? Does he immediately invite her to spend the night with him? (No, there is, of course, the method of Lieutenant Rzhevsky, but, as you know, you can get it in the face). A man begins with insignificant advances: invitations to a restaurant, a movie, or a walk. This way the man shows: I’m not scary, you can trust me, everything will be fine.
Remember! The main strategy in marketing legal services is not to sell the client on the first touch.
How to put this into practice?
There is a concept in marketing front-end(bait) - a service or product with which we catch our client.
How to build such a “hook” in the legal business? The general rule is: offer the consumer a low-cost or free service that allows them to interact with your business.
Hook service options for legal business
Free consultations.
Free document preparation.
Books.
Seminars.
Free information products (articles, videos).
Which of these options should you choose? The easiest way is to create a series of information products that help the customer solve their problem. This could be a series of articles, video consultations, recordings of your seminars.
Remember! Having spent once on recording an information product, you can attract customers for years.
For example, let's say you are involved in divorce proceedings. Make a series of articles on the topic “How to get a divorce, saving nerves and money”, release a video “The 10 most important mistakes when filing a divorce.”
How does this affect the client?
Remember how a man cares for a woman. The same thing will happen to your client: they will come to the office, receive free material, understand that you are a professional in your field, and will pay you money for a legal divorce settlement.
Important note! Such information materials should contain only useful information! No water!
What if the reception doesn’t work?
Let me show you how global brands successfully apply this technique in practice:
Printers: cheap devices - then come expensive cartridges.
Gillette razors: cheap machines - expensive blades.
IT services (telephony, hosting): the ability to use the service for two weeks for free.
Cars: test drives.
For bait services to work effectively, use them as an element of two-step advertising:

2.12. Strategy 12. Customer training

The legal sales paradigm has changed. Every year it becomes more and more difficult for lawyers to break through the barriers of secretaries, executive assistants, and ordinary employees in sales. What is the reason? The reason is that in business schools and books we were taught: the goal of any business is to satisfy the customer's needs. So hundreds of law firms are striving to satisfy this need. All modern sales negotiation techniques are aimed at asking what the client needs and then offering him a solution.
Lawyers are greatly mistaken in thinking that clients clearly understand what they want, what need they want to satisfy. Practice shows that the majority of clients do not have their needs formed. They most likely notice their legal problems, but do not attach any importance to it. Formulating a new paradigm for selling legal services, we can say: first you need to create a need among the consumer, and only then move on to satisfying it.
How to start forming needs? There is only one answer: through training clients and increasing general legal literacy.
What do clients want to learn from lawyers?
Clients are more likely to buy your services if you can teach them the following things:
How to run a business more efficiently and profitably using legal knowledge and skills.
How to avoid mistakes when resolving legal issues in business.
What to do if an error occurs. How to act wisely.
Simply put, clients want you to teach them how to do business more efficiently, how to get more value, how to reduce costs by applying your legal knowledge.
The old legal sales paradigm said that clients themselves knew what they needed. The new paradigm allows you to beat your competitors by shaping your customers' needs through education.
To some extent, sales are transformed into the approach that we have in medicine: the doctor will first educate you, give you a consultation, and then write a prescription.
What benefits will customer training give you?
More attracted clients. First, training is a great enticement service. For example, by inviting a client to your seminar, you will remove the initial fear and be able to move on to more substantive negotiations. Secondly, by training the client, you make him more professional, he begins to understand legal issues more easily and makes purchases easier.

A simple everyday example.
The most striking method of teaching smokers not to smoke is to show them the lungs of a smoker. If you want clients to order, for example, the implementation of a bankruptcy procedure, show them what will happen if the bankruptcy procedure is not launched on time.

More sales to existing customers. When we start training clients, we shape their needs. In practice, we get excellent results and repeat sales increase.
Increased profits. Training may be an independent service for which you will charge money. One of our clients, a criminal lawyer, conducts training at enterprises. He trains employees on what to do in the event of a search. He charges very good money for such instruction.
Conducting seminars, consulting, and training can be a good additional source of income.
Customer retention. It is important to understand that customer education is not only about additional sales. It's also about building relationships with clients, which helps retain them.
Expert status. The person who teaches becomes a priori an expert in the eyes of people.
Important! The introduction of a client training system is a powerful factor in building a legal marketing system.
You are professionals. You understand legal issues better than the client. You will have to teach the client. Customer education is a very effective tool in the competition.

2.13. Strategy 13. Internet marketing

No one will argue with the fact that the Internet is becoming the main means of obtaining information in our time. An important feature of the Internet is its interactivity. People on the Internet not only receive information, but also actively disseminate it. New mechanisms of word of mouth, which are so beloved by lawyers, are emerging. We can say without a doubt: which of the lawyers will better use the mechanisms of the Internet in the 21st century will be more in demand by clients.
If you want to be successful in attracting customers, you will have to learn and implement internet marketing techniques. I’ll say right away, as a professional: you will be bored and uninterested in understanding marketing tools on the Internet. What happens if you don't master them? It's simple: unscrupulous performers will be able to screw you over by getting money from you.
We remember! The Internet is a strategic resource for attracting clients to the legal business!

2.14. Strategy 14. We sell services at high prices

Do you want to sell your legal services at a high price? I have not met a single professional who would answer this question: “No.”
To the second question: “Why don’t you sell then?” – I receive the following answers: “Clients will not buy”, “Competitors are cheaper”, “In our city no one sells services at an expensive price.”
Let's figure it out: if high prices are so attractive, how to sell expensive legal services in practice?
Several axioms of pricing.
Prices for legal services are an abstraction. How much does it cost, for example, to conduct a criminal case in court? The lawyers I worked with quoted a range from 30,000 to 1,500,000 rubles for starting work in the first instance. Will a lawyer for 1.5 million rubles defend you 50 times better than a lawyer for 30,000 rubles? You understand very well that this is unlikely.
Price does not guarantee the quality or quantity of the service provided. Prices depend on many subjective factors.
We don't know how much money the client has. We must admit this. We can guess, but we don’t know the exact amount the client is willing to spend.
The price of a service is a measure of quality. This is how it goes: if we cannot determine the quality of a service, we choose based on price. We settle on the maximum possible amount that we are able to give.
Remember! The worst option in the legal business is to act according to the “Fast, high-quality, inexpensive” strategy. After all, there will always be colleagues who will offer the service even cheaper. They will fall in quality and professionalism, but they will make it cheaper.
The only reasonable option is to strive to sell legal services at a high price!
Why is one lawyer able to charge high fees, while another is content with significantly less? For me, as a legal marketer, high pricing is one marketing technique that anyone can use.
Why is it worth learning how to sell legal services at a high price?
Knowing how to sell services at a high price, you save your time. Fewer cases with higher fees gives you the opportunity to focus on each case, which helps you improve the quality of your work.
You will increase your expert status. If you learn to charge high fees and can justify them to clients, then you will give a great advantage to your practice as a whole - clients will perceive you as a better specialist.

2.15. Strategy 15. Built sales system

You will be surprised, but just attracting customers is not enough. They also need to professionally sell the service. But professional sales suffer greatly in legal practice.
Why does your legal business need professional sales?
To beat the competition. The client has long wanted a professional approach in everything. Not only when the service is directly provided to him, but also when he is sold. When you sell professionally, you can feel it. You clearly explain to the client what he is buying, saving him time and effort. Clients appreciate this.
To be able to sell your services at a high price. Are you chosen based on price? You may be to blame for starting a price war. A professional approach to sales, when you know how a client buys and how to sell your service to him, allows you to sell your services at a higher price.
To have financial stability. More clients - more profit - more stability. You clearly formulate your budget, which will allow you to achieve the most important things.
To gain confidence in the future. Chronic search for money, chaotic sales of legal services to clients - all this does not have the best effect on the quality of legal services provided. You simply cannot take care of a client's problems when you have no money to pay your employees.
What is professional selling?
Systematic approach to sales.
Understanding the psychology of sales.
Active interaction with the client.
Professional negotiations with clients during the sales process.

Chapter Summary

The key to being able to work successfully with clients is the comprehensive implementation of the following actions:

Homework.
1. Fill out the table (for the services you provide):

2. Come up with bait services for your clients.
3. Make a brochure for businessmen “7 mistakes of an entrepreneur that end in court.” Promote your brochure.
4. Prepare a guide (5-7 pages) for your clients that addresses the problem they most often come to you with. Tell us in it how to prepare for its decision.

Chapter 3. Formation of strategy in marketing

In the previous chapter, we looked at basic marketing strategies. Now let's figure out how to formulate an overall strategy.

3.1. Strategic Marketing. Your practice in five years

3.2. How to formulate your competitive advantages?

3.3. Choosing a Specialization

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