19 Steps To Building A Nationwide Law Practice Part 2

Step #8: Educate your audience with written information and advice. Write your marketing message in a form that you can send to anyone who calls your office. Then, by offering to send copies without charge, you attract calls from genuine prospects. When prospects call, they give you their names and addresses (or e-mail addresses). Then you add these prospective clients to your in-house mailing list.

Important Note: The longer your materials, the better. The longer you keep your prospect's attention -- and the more facts you provide -- the more likely your prospect is to hire your services. Fortunately, prospects will read long materials, provided they are well written and relevant to their problem. The fact kit I used for 15 years varied from 40 to 50 pages in length. And many lawyers (my prospective clients) told me they read every word. I have now included all this information on my web site and in the article packet I send by e-mail, so I no longer use a printed fact kit.

Step #9: Define the geographical area from which you want to draw clients. Geographics identify individual prospects by where they live, where they work, and where you can find the prospective clients you want. Geographics identify companies by where they are based, where they have facilities and where they do business.

Step #10: Compile a media list of newspapers, magazines, newsletters and other media you want to receive your news releases and query letters. Your articles will appear in national, regional and local publications in all the states where you hope to serve clients. You can usually find current media lists online and at the library reference desk.

Step #11: Launch an aggressive publicity campaign by sending news releases, feature articles and query letters to your entire media list. If you send articles 4 or 5 times each year, you could have an ongoing flow of articles appearing in various parts of the country.

Step #12: Contact high-profile publications and interview shows on an individual and exclusive basis to gain the highest level of nationwide publicity. Offer to write ongoing columns for publications, and appear as a periodic guest on interview shows. You might offer to host your own legal, news-talk or interview show.

Step #13: Compile a list of trade associations that serve the prospects you want to attract. Keep these trade groups on your mailing list. Offer to present seminars that are sponsored or co-sponsored by these trade associations, in hopes that they will mail seminar invitations to all of their members.

Step #14: Compile a list of referral sources in the states you serve. Send them your packet of information so they understand what you do. Invite their referrals and offer referral fees, if appropriate. Keep these referral sources on your mailing list.

Step #15: Compile a list of past clients. Send them a letter announcing your regional or national practice and a copy of your information packet. Most people have friends and colleagues in other states. Keep these past clients on your mailing list.

Step #16: In all of your marketing materials, make sure you tell prospects the geographical area from which you accept clients. You might say something like: "Serving clients in the United States and Canada". Or, "I welcome inquiries from clients in (name the states)." If you don't mention the area you serve, prospects could easily conclude that you limit your services to your city or county. So be sure to tell prospects where you practice and put this information throughout your marketing materials.

Step #17: Establish a web site. The easiest way to reach prospects in different states is to establish an Internet site. This puts your materials at everyone's fingertips 24 hours a day, whenever they want it. The more information you provide, the more likely you are to win a new client. So be generous with the information you post.

Step #18: Market your seminars and speaking engagements nationwide. Make sure everyone on your mailing list knows you offer seminars. While they might not be the contact person, they can make your seminar known to the right people, who may get in touch with you. This is the most common way I receive invitations to speak to lawyers. Also, thanks to technology, now you can offer seminars over the telephone, by video conferencing, and over the internet.

Step #19: If you can collect e-mail addresses from people on your mailing list, send an e-mail alert or briefing every week or two. The more often you stay in touch with everyone your mailing list (prospects, clients, past clients and referral sources), the more new clients you'll attract.

After your law firm marketing efforts take root, and your publicity starts to appear, you'll get inquiries from prospective clients. Trade and professional associations will invite you to speak. And, one by one, you'll start getting clients from throughout the geographical area you wish to serve. Soon, you'll have a profitable, prestigious nationwide law practice, thanks to the energy you've invested in attorney marketing.

TREY RYDER LLC Education-Based Marketing for Lawyers. Lawyer Marketing Advisor www.TreyRyder.com

Related Information of Interest:

Free Movies? Legal? You've Got To Be Kidding!
Have you heard of the saying "you get what you pay for"? Have you also heard about all of the ruckus that went on over the sites that allowed people to share files for free? Well if so, or even if not, I don't blame you for being incredulous when you hear me claim that I can tell you that there are sites that give you unlimited access to free movies, and completely legally. Well let me tell you how these sites work in the next several paragraphs.

Free movies is actually a creative marketing ploy, because there are actually fees involved. They can say that though because if you are a member of their site than you get access to all of their "free" movies. Basically what it boils down to is a site that operates very much like a cable company and charges a monthly fee to come be able to come to their site and download movies. They do get to keep them which is the super cool thing about these sites and makes them totally worth the cost.

So how do they make any money? Well they are on the internet so their market has huge potential. They are not limited by geography like a movie rental store would be or a cable company for that matter. So volume is a huge thing they bank on. So won't people just get on the site for one month or so and download all of the movies that they want and then get out? Wouldn't they lose money on people like this? Well the answer is yes and no. You see for one thing there is such a huge volume of films is would be hard to download all of the movies that you want in one month. Besides people don't want their hard drives full of free movies. The other major thing is that good movies aren't just going to all of a sudden stop coming out. People are going to want to stay members so that they can get the new releases that come out periodically.

Maybe now you are seeing the benefits that cause people to become members and then "give" them all the free movies that they could ever want. Maybe now you will go and check out one of these great sites. They are easy to find, trust me. All that you have to do is search for free movies and you will get more sites than you new existed for this new way to sell movies.

Trenton Martkes ultimate goal in life is to watch as many movies as he can. His knowledge of movies is unmatched in those his age (26) or younger. If you would like more valuable information about free movies please go to: www.allfreemovies.info

Got a Speeding TIcket? Need Some Advice?
If you are pulled over for speeding and issued a citation legally, you do not need a lawyer unless you are also cited for reckless driving. Speeding tickets are fairly straight forward, but for the most part, you have the right to pay the ticket through mail or else dispute the charge against you. After studying law, I learned that anyone who pleads guilty on speeding tickets subjects himself to unnecessary punishment from the law, since most speeding tickets can be dismissed.

Courts do not like to waste time and taxpayer dollars on petty crimes. To dispute a speeding ticket, you must within 10 days in most instances write a letter of dispute with the ticket number included in the letter, as well as your reasons for disputing the charges. In the written dispute, you must include ticket numbers, the date the ticket was received, the “act and section of the defense,” and your personal information. Thus, it depends on the state, but for the most part, states have a writing address where the dispute can be mailed. Check with your local county clerk to learn where to mail the dispute form.

After you have completed the dispute form, you will then wait to hear from the proper authorities, which will mail you a letter stating the date that your hearing will start. Make sure you attend the hearing and try to be at the courtroom at least 15 minutes prior to the start of the court hearing.
When the judge asks you how you plea, make sure you plead not guilty. At this point the judge will decide if your case is worthy of continuance and may possibly throw out the case; otherwise, you may be summoned to appear at another hearing at which your case will be decided.

Larry Westfall is the owner of legal-advice-101.com