Peter Boyd of PaperStreet with Marketing Tips for Attorneys
Peter Boyd is a Florida attorney who practiced in the area of intellectual property law and has worked on over 1,000 website projects since 1996. He founded PaperStreet, a web marketing company, during law school when he realized that many firms did not have a website or it was poorly designed.
Here, he offers his marketing advice for attorneys and discusses the benefits of answering services. Read on:
What are the benefits to attorneys of using a specialty firm like PaperStreet?
Our experience of producing over 1,000 websites to date helps clients navigate the time-consuming process of internet marketing. We make it easy to get results with a proven process. And we know the law as we have attorneys who write all our content. Our Content Director is a lawyer, as am I. The knowledge of law helps us speed up the time to create a message for the company and understand their market position.
Are there any special marketing needs or considerations that attorneys have and other clients don’t?
Attorneys must abide by their state bar rules, which sometimes can be limiting. Further, the search and paid advertising campaigns are HIGHLY competitive in almost every city. Since attorneys can practice state-wide, it is very competitive for high-value cases and clients.
Any requirements for the content that every well-thought-out law firm website should have?
Information. The goal should be to become an authority in the chosen practice area. If they are practicing in Intellectual Property, they need to have the MOST information online. The firm’s goal should be to become the expert in the area by providing free advice, articles, FAQs, videos, forms.
Unfortunately, most firms typically put up just a home page, bio, practice area, and contact page. Those are a good start, but the site needs more information to be competitive.
What are the most common marketing mistakes you see attorneys making?
There are a lot of mistakes we see:
- Not having a goal/purpose with the website.
- Overspending on paid ad campaigns and not tracking results.
- Not focusing on producing valuable information.
- Not staying up-to-date on social media.
- Not testing new ideas.
What are the significant challenges facing attorneys who manage their practices?
Time is the biggest challenge. For solo practitioners, they are often short on time to do everything. I was once a solo, and I had to budget between running the business, marketing, maintaining client relations, networking, and of course, actually doing the work. The key is to delegate to experts when it is cost-efficient. Attorneys can typically outsource marketing and get assistants to help run the business, but they need to focus on networking besides doing the actual work.
What are the most effective tools for tackling some of these challenges?
There are a lot of excellent internet marketing teams for lawyers. Of course, I will throw our team into the mix. Attorneys can also delegate office management, telecommunications, IT, billing, and other routine services.
How could lawyers benefit from using an answering service?
An answering service gives them access to clients 24 hours a day. Clients of the criminal defense lawyers must have a team ready any time of day. It is great to have an answering service available after hours in other areas of law as well.
What are the potential marketing benefits of using an answering service at a law firm?
Access to clients after hours is one of the key advantages. Potential clients will often not wait to talk to someone and will move down the list. With an answering service, you are assured of getting the message and a chance at the potential client.
What marketing advice do you find yourself repeating to clients over and over?
One of the essential items I repeat to clients is to track inquiries, including in-person, phone, and email. You should also know where all your leads come from so you can budget marketing each year.
Make sure your potential clients can reach you 24-7. Contact Answering 365 for more information and a free consultation at 888-988-5800
