Tips for Lawyers from Legal Marketing Experts: Part 1 Biz Dev

Last week, I had the pleasure to present on public relations and marketing ethics at the 2010 Legal Marketing Association (#LMA10) Annual Conference in Denver. (Note:  #LMA10 is the Twitter hash tag we used to generate conversation, share tips and create a transcript of the event.) New for 2010 was the program, Just JDs: Business Development Strategies for Lawyers, exclusively for marketing-oriented lawyers and administrators at firms of all sizes. As the CEO of Furia Rubel Public Relations and Marketing, I had the pleasure to present with my peers:

• Ross Fishman, CEO of Fishman Marketing (organizer of the Just JDs program)

• James A. Durham, Chief Marketing & Business Development Officer, McGuireWoods LLP (and author of The Essential Little Book of Great Lawyering)

• Deborah Knupp, Partner, Akina Corporation

• Alvidas A. Jasin, Director of Business Development, Thompson Hine LLP

• John Hellerman, Partner and Co-Founder, Hellerman Baretz Communications and

• Richard P. Klau, Business Product Manager, Blogger, Google

So up first to kick off our program was James A. Durham on the topic, Establishing a Goal-Oriented Client-Development Business Plan. I have compiled my Twitter stream of 140 character (or less) tips from Jim’s fantastic program. When reading the tweet tips, please note that the language and text are informal and stay within Twitter’s 140-character rule. The first tweet sets the stage for those that follow during the program.

March 10, 2010 / 9:15 a.m.

• Tweeting today from the #LMA10 Legal Marketing Association National Conference — Just JDs: Business Development for Lawyers

• Jim Durham from McGuireWoods’s program was all about the "relationships that drive results" and how you communicate — keep it short and concise.

• If your law firm works in corp. business and attorneys don't read WSJ EVERY DAY — it's malpractice.

• If your law firm is a commodity business then the client decides to hire on price.

• Lawyers tend to commit the "sin of literalness" —don't just answer questions, engage in conversation.

• If work is important to the client, price and expertise are a factor but not the driving point when hiring a lawyer / law firm.

• When planning, need to ASK what client WANTS. What is important to them? Can lawyer / law firm / practice group deliver?

• When pitching new business, don't say, "We think we can do X" - KNOW you can and demonstrate how.

• Show clients and prospects that you care and are willing to help achieve their goals, add VALUE, know their business.

• Perceived VALUE = what client got minus how much they paid. Value = 0 if you only deliver what you say you're going to deliver.

• Lawyers need to help clients make money, save money, look good, sleep better & then adding value to client.

• Attorneys need to be able to answer: “What are we selling? To whom are we selling?” before committing random acts of marketing.

• So important to stick to the script on smart biz dev & marketing investments. Push back and keep best interests of firm in mind.

• Seek publicity in areas of expertise and land good PR articles then re-purpose reprints for biz dev.

• When pitching new client, tell how you add value. How you will help them make money, save  money, look good, sleep better – WIIFM  (What’s in it for me).

• Please don't bring a brochure to a baseball game with a new client.

• Attorneys who give referrals outside legal indy get biz. 80% of lawyers give approx. 12 and get 12 back. Give more & get more.

• Don't keep score when sending referrals - do it b/c you want to & b/c you believe in the other's abilities — be a resource.

If you’re interested in legal marketing and social media, I also encourage you to check out experts across the country including:

Heather Morse Milligan (The Legal Watercooler blogger) who shares a great perspective from the LMA conference; Adrian Lurssen (better known as JDTwitt) and  Aviva Cuyler from JD Supra (which if you are an attorney and not on JD Supra, check out my previous blog Social Media for Lawyers Part 7: JD Supra); and Jayne Navarre, Rebecca Wissler, Lindsay Griffiths, Laura Gutierrez, Nancy Myrland, Lance Godard, Gail Lamarche, Lydia Bednerik, and Tim Corcoran. To learn how the use of Twitter shaped my conference experience, you can also read The PR Lawyer blog: Confessions from a Social Networker: How Twitter Shaped My #LMA10 Experience.

I will be adding several blogs on tips from many experts over the next few weeks so stay tuned to hear more tips on business development, marketing, public relations, and measuring ROI.

Gina F. Rubel, Esq., is the owner of Furia Rubel Communications, Inc., a public relations and marketing agency with a niche in legal communications. A former Philadelphia trial attorney and public relations expert, Gina is the author of Everyday Public Relations for Lawyers. Gina and her PR and marketing firm have won numerous awards for legal communications, public relations, media relations, strategic planning, corporate philanthropy and leadership. She maintains a blog at www.ThePRLawyer.com, is a regular contributor to The Legal Intelligencer Blog and blogs for The Huffington Post. You can find her on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/ginafuriarubel or follow her on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ginarubel.  For more information, go to www.FuriaRubel.com.