There are really just two areas you need to focus on as you market your law practice: having a well-balanced marketing plan built around marketing best practices for lawyers, and making the personal commitment to actively implement your plan. Simply stated, if you do these two things consistently over time, you will be successful.

The Need for a Marketing Strategy
Lawyers walk a fine line today between viewing their practice as a profession and acknowledging the reality that it is also a business. Most solo practitioners know that in order to pay the rent and utilities, meet payroll, hire experts, and run a profitable law practice, they must balance the need to serve clients with the need to generate a constant stream of new business.

Whether called practice development, business development, new business origination, or sales, lawyers in private practice need to attract new clients in order to sustain and grow their practices. Some lawyers market well, while others rely on their strong reputation with the hope it will provide a steady stream of new clients.

Most lawyers do their best to get out and develop new relationships. But, in reality, they often wish clients would simply hear of their expertise and call—and that their telephone and inbox would provide a steady stream of legal work from clients who pay on time, refer them to others, and on and on the cycle would continue. Many lawyers aren't sure what to do when someone says, "You need to get out there and do more marketing."

How much time should you spend marketing? The answer, while not as simple as most lawyers would like, is: as much time as it takes. Successful professionals must develop a "marketing mentality"--they are always marketing (providing exceptional service). They view marketing as part of their practice and look for subtle opportunities to secure additional work from existing clients or to attract new clients every day. Don't wait until you have time to market; it will likely be too late.

In order to create a balanced marketing strategy, make sure your marketing activities are equally allocated between the four "pillars" that represent general marketing best practices for lawyers:

1. Retaining and growing relationships with existing clients.

2. Attracting new clients and developing new business.

3. Increasing name recognition and awareness.

4. Utilizing targeted and effective communications.

Relationships with Existing Clients
At least 70 percent of next year's revenue will come from your base of existing clients and contacts. Growing relationships with your existing clients is at the core of your success or failure as a lawyer. To do this, clients must be delighted, not simply satisfied, with your work, your services, and your responsiveness. One of the single greatest things you can do to continue developing professionally is to commit to nothing less than providing exceptional service to your clients.

The core of client service is found in a client's satisfaction with you, your firm, and the services provided. If you wonder what your clients think about you, ask them. As a service professional, your clients are your greatest source of information on how you're doing in the area of providing superior client service as well as how you can improve. If you want to maximize your potential as a lawyer and are willing to take steps to transform the ways in which you deliver services, consider conducting a client survey--it can provide a detailed roadmap on how to better serve the needs of your existing clients.

Attracting New Clients
You should become familiar with the qualities your best clients and referral sources possess. What traits and characteristics do they have in common? Do they hail from a particular industry? Proactively seek to develop new relationships and business opportunities with those individuals and companies that meet your best-client criteria.

You never know where clients may turn up: seated next to you on an airplane, at your child's school function, at your church or synagogue. Always be prepared to have a response to the question, "So, what do you do?" Your answer should be clear, concise, and offer benefits to the client. Remember two of the best business development tips include listening and asking questions. Use active listening skills to uncover ways in which you can help the person. Also, asking questions shows you care about them and their business and gives you an opportunity to gather background information necessary to continue building the relationship.

One of the best strategies for building relationships with new clients is to become active in trade and professional associations in which prospective clients are involved. While doing continuing legal education presentations can be effective (if you generate business referrals from other lawyers), focus your new business development efforts by hanging out where your prospective clients do. In many cases, you will find trade associations not only provide a wealth of information on an industry you are interested in, but also attract the decision makers from the prospective client companies with whom you want to do business.

Increasing Name Recognition
In order to hire or refer you, people must know who you are. Focus on increasing your personal name recognition in the marketplace through public relations and community involvement. The creation of a personalized, strategic, proactive public relations campaign can lead to increased client work and pique the interest of prospective clients. Though often confused with advertising, public relations tactics are often more substantive and are certainly more cost-effective. Public relations techniques, if carefully designed, are meant to educate, inform, and influence key audiences through credibility-building, image-enhancing third-party media endorsements.

Community involvement should also be part of your overall plan because it allows you to make a valuable contribution to others and also helps you build individual and firm name recognition. When deciding to become more involved in your community, focus on organizations that align with your core values. Making decisions with a conscious nod toward core values creates a higher level of personal effectiveness and greater overall satisfaction as a lawyer actively involved in his or her community.

Utilizing Targeted Communications
You should understand what makes you unique as a lawyer, then capitalize on your skills and communicate timely, relevant information to your contacts and clients. Whether you are developing external communications directed at your clients and referral sources or internal communications for your colleagues and staff, it is critical that both the content and its presentation reflect your key messages and present you and your firm in a positive and professional light. While face-to-face relationships and trust building are often a lawyer's most powerful business-generating tools, of equal importance is how others perceive you through your written and electronic communications.

To create effective communications, it is important to become familiar with various marketing communication tools and understand when and how to apply them. In addition, create and integrate key messages about yourself and your practice into all that you do. Finally, differentiate yourself from your competition through communications that convey your professionalism and unique expertise.

Marketing Tips
Keep a copy of the following marketing best practices on top of your desk (and mind). Commit to implementing just one tactic each day. Use these handy reminders between phone calls, while on hold, or even while waiting for a long document to print.

1. Retaining and Growing Relationships with Existing Clients
a) Good relationships are the key to any successful practice, and the telephone is still one of the most personal ways to connect. Pick up the phone and call a client or referral source you have not talked to recently. Touch base and check in to simply see how the person is doing; consider inviting him or her to have coffee with you. Or call a client for whom you have recently completed a transaction or case just to see how well his or her expectations were met.

b) It's also important to be proactive and check in with clients on an ongoing basis. For example, schedule a meeting with a client to review how the relationship is going and address any concerns your client may have—and don't bill them for the time.

c) From time to time, you will inevitably have clients who choose to end their relationship with your firm. But don't write them off. Instead, contact them to determine what happened; communicate to those on your team to prevent future client defections.

d) Did you know that invoices can be effective marketing tools as well? Conduct a mini-audit of your billing practices to ensure the invoices your clients receive clearly communicate the value you bring to the client (not just "Fee for Services Rendered"). Remember, clients generally appreciate more detail rather than less.

e) Speaking of details, see what happens when you proactively provide a status update to one of your current clients regarding your work for them. At the very least, it will keep your client aware of the value you bring to their organization. And it could remind them of another legal project they've been meaning to talk to you about.

f) One way to stay at the top of your clients' minds is to watch for them in the news. If you see them referenced in an article, featured on television, or interviewed on the radio, send them a personal note of congratulations.

g) Networking is another good way to deepen your relationships with current clients. Start by contacting two clients whose businesses or interests may complement one another and introduce them. Better yet, identify five clients you would like to introduce to one of your colleagues with a goal of expanding the firm's overall business with each.

h) Are you missing opportunities to do more for the clients you already have? Create a grid with your top clients listed down the left side and the services you or your firm offer across the top. Look for gaps where the client needs services the firm offers and take action to introduce the client to additional services the firm can provide.

i) Last but not least, spend time cultivating your "internal" relationships on behalf of your clients. Tell your assistant how much you appreciate his or her role in helping you serve clients. Take an associate or a partner to lunch and find out more about the work he or she is doing, with a goal of introducing him or her to your clients. These people work with you every day; see yourself through their eyes and imagine how this comes across to your best clients.

2. Attracting New Clients and Developing New Business
a) As you begin to develop new ideas to grow your client base, take a moment to note what your best clients have in common (traits, characteristics, type of individual or company, from whom they were referred). Focus on attracting the highest-caliber clients with legal work that utilizes your best and highest levels of expertise.

b) Use this information to create a Top 10 list of prospective clients you know would be a great fit with your expertise, your firm, and its services. Then, make it a point to call someone on your Top 10 list to meet for lunch. Similarly, make a list of your top referral sources and call one of these people to schedule coffee or lunch, or just to reconnect.

c) It's also important to spend time assessing your networking and relationship-building practices. Develop a plan to become more involved in events attracting your clients, prospective clients, and referral sources. For example, identify a trade or professional association that attracts your ideal clients or referral sources and become a high-profile member of that organization. Offer to write articles or speak to members.

d) Finally, take a few moments to reflect upon what has led to your success to date. If you found yourself with no clients tomorrow, what would you do first? Revisit the marketing behaviors that have led to your success. While you're at it, don't forget to keep your sales pipeline up-to-date. Who are you trying to attract as a client right now?

3. Increasing Name Recognition and Awareness
a) As you begin the process of building awareness for you and your firm, you will soon realize that you aren't alone in your quest for more exposure. That's why it is so important to identify a substantive area of law in which you have a high level of expertise. Then, develop an outline for a presentation you could give on the topic. Make sure to identify the ideal target audience for your presentation and contact the appropriate organization with your idea.

b) Along the same lines, create an outline for an article you would like to have published and identify where you would like to see the article in print. If you're not sure where to start, review some of the industry trends for your biggest clients. This should generate some ideas so you can develop your own pitch for a story. Contact a few local business, legal, or community editors to persuade them your story idea has merit. They may ask you to write a bylined article or may even assign a reporter to "cover" the story.

c) Another strategy is to reflect upon where (and how) you are spending your time in the community. Seek to involve yourself in organizations you are committed to and passionate about. Consider serving on a nonprofit board of directors; identify which organizations mesh with your interests, and begin investigating the process of becoming a board member.

4. Utilizing Targeted and Effective Communications
a) Your professional biography is a dynamic marketing tool that helps clients discover who you are as a professional. Review and update this document regularly--enlist your assistant to automatically add speaking engagements, pub- lished articles, new professional affiliations, and other accomplishments to keep your biography fresh and relevant.

b) Similarly, develop as many substantive examples of representative experiences as you can and add them to your biography--for use on your Web site or in proposals, or to give to prospective clients and referral sources. Include topics such as: The Client's Industry, The Client's Situation (the problem), Your Approach (the solution), and The Result Achieved.

c) Keep in mind that client communications don't have to be long or contain flowery speech in order to be effective. Case in point: send a quick e-mail to a few of your clients to let them know of changes in their industry that may impact them. Keep it short and sweet, but let them know you are looking out for them.

d) While it's tempting to get sidetracked with a variety of marketing ideas, don't neglect the "housekeeping" tasks that help your firm stay nimble. For example, review your firm's Web site and make a suggestion on enhancing the site. Or review your contact list from the database and scan it for accuracy; make corrections and additions and have your assistant enter them for you. Finally, look at what you're working on; if an associate or paralegal can do the drafting or research for you, delegate it.

Building strong and enduring relationships with clients and contacts takes time and needs to be implemented consistently over time. Make sure you have a system in place to track your marketing efforts and to keep yourself accountable for generating results. Marketing is something you must weave into the fabric of your practice—so commit to doing something each day to market your law practice. Remember, if you wait until you finally have time to market, it will likely be too late. By doing something small each day, you will reap the rewards of having loyal clients who will go out of their way to refer others to you.