By Peter Boyd, a Florida attorney who founded PaperStreet. He has helped over 1,500 law firms with their websites, content and marketing.
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You’ve probably heard that your law firm “should” start sending out a regular email newsletter. But you’ve also heard that you should do a lot of things, so you want to see some concrete reasons before you invest the time, effort and money into a newsletter.
Marketing agencies that work with law firms tend to be big proponents of email newsletters as part of a solid marketing strategy. As the president of a company that produces email newsletters for law firms, here are three of the reasons why I recommend newsletters so highly.
Newsletters Build Credibility For Your Firm
People hire attorneys when they need help with a big problem. They may be in the middle of a crisis or trying to prevent one in the future, but either way, they are frightened of some serious negative consequences. They need a lawyer they can trust.
They want to work with someone who:
• Understands all the legal issues.
• Knows the best solutions for their situation.
• Will explain what’s going on and guide them through the ordeal.
• Genuinely wants to help them succeed.
A newsletter can demonstrate all of these features. If you publish a newsletter with tips for boating safety, for instance, it shows that you care about preventing accidents and keeping people safe even though that means they might never become your clients. You put their interests ahead of your own. That demonstrates integrity.
If you put out a newsletter that explains how a revocable trust can help them avoid probate, you show your willingness to understand solutions and solve problems. You establish your authority in your field while at the same time demonstrating that you are approachable.
Newsletters Get Your Name In Front Of Clients
Regular newsletters keep you top-of-mind with current clients and help you reach new clients. When your current clients see your message in their inbox each month, they are reminded of you in a hopefully positive way. This keeps you in their minds when they encounter a friend or colleague with a legal problem.
A newsletter also gives your clients information in a format they can easily pass along to others.
Newsletters Can Give You High ROI With Minimal Investment
A newsletter is a low-risk, high-reward marketing tool. You can start a newsletter with minimal investment of resources. You can produce content in-house or engage the services of a freelance legal content writer. There is a variety of email marketing software available for formatting and sending out newsletters, and the programs are available for minimal or even no cost.
You can experiment with content, delivery options and other aspects of your newsletter with no or few additional costs. The email platform you use to create and deliver the newsletters should be able to provide metrics showing how many recipients opened the newsletter and how many clicked links to read more or visit your website so you can gauge the effectiveness of your strategies.
You can also use your newsletter to promote special events such as a conference or seminar. If your firm sponsors a charitable event or staff members engage in community service, you can highlight these efforts in your newsletter to show your firm’s commitment to community support. You can recycle informative content as a blog post on your website and tease it on social media to gain greater exposure to your firm with minimal additional effort.
Find Success By Avoiding These Common Pitfalls
Newsletters are the perfect medium for testing what works and what doesn’t, and what works for one law firm doesn’t necessarily work for another because every email list is different. However, there are some basic no-nos you want to avoid.
Don’t Forget To Link Your Social Media Accounts
It is a best practice to include a link to your website and all your active social media accounts at the bottom of your newsletter. Some firms even link to specific attorney LinkedIn profiles using a custom icon made from their headshot and LinkedIn logo. While that’s above and beyond, you definitely need to make it easy for readers to find all the places you post content regularly.
Don’t Forget To Show Your Human Side
It is easy to get wrapped up in showcasing numbers and case summaries. Take the time in each newsletter to showcase something that humanizes your firm. After all, potential clients are hiring you as a person. Write a short letter to include at the top or bottom. Include a biography preview or “meet the team” feature. Add an image of a firm event like a birthday celebration or firm retreat. We always recommend adding some smiling faces to your newsletter: anything to humanize the work you do.
Don’t Forget To Curate Your Mailing List Regularly
It is so easy to get wrapped up in growing your list by a certain number of subscribers, but if you’re only focused on the number, you forget to analyze the relationship of all those email addresses to your law firm. Is your list 90% referral sources? Or perhaps it is mostly past clients who have already worked with your firm. The type of content you should create depends on the audience your mailing list defines. Referral sources (like other attorneys) don’t need to know tips for staying safe at the fair. Look beyond the number and regularly review to see how your audience groups are changing and growing.
You Have Much To Gain And Little To Lose By Starting A Newsletter
It is easy to describe reasons why your law firm should be producing a regular newsletter. In fact, it would actually be much more difficult to come up with as many reasons why you should not start a newsletter.
In many cases, busy attorneys cringe at the thought of adding one more thing to their lengthy to-do list. But you can always try the strategy and discontinue it if you don’t obtain results that justify the resources.
