Marketing your law practice is one of the most frustrating aspects of running a small law firm. No one ever taught you how to market in law school and the typical lawyer marketing article in your state bar journal tells you all the things you can’t do.

Here are eleven major mistakes that personal injury lawyers make with their advertising.

1. Failing to make a decision as to what the perfect business and perfect customer look like. You can’t develop a marketing plan (or purchase advertising media such as Yellow Page ads, TV commercials or websites) without understanding where you are going. What does your perfect client look like? What do you want your law practice to look like? The correct answer to the question “why do you want to spend any money on marketing?” should not necessarily be, “more cases.” Not knowing what your idea of a perfect practice is is like getting on an airplane and saying “I’ll go anywhere.”

2. Failing to accept that marketing and practice building is the most important thing you can do in your law firm – look around. Is it only the best lawyers, real estate agents, doctors in your town who get the best business? Just being good at what you do doesn’t cut it anymore. Isn’t it frustrating to see a lawyer whose has never tried a case get better clients than you do and then brag about it later? By understanding how to market effectively you put yourself into a position to see more cases from which you can choose the ones that match your “perfect customer” profile.

3. Thinking That Copying What Other Lawyers Are Doing With Their Marketing Will Get You A Better Result. Earl Nightingale, an expert on “what successful people do” was talking directly to personal injury lawyers who want to build better practices. He said, (and yes, I am paraphrasing) that if you wanted to learn a new skill in business, and you had no mentor or guide you could trust, that the best thing you could do was figure out what everyone else was doing and then do the opposite. The majority is, at best, average. So it is with marketing.

4. Ignoring the Gold In Your Files Right Now. It costs at least ten times a much to obtain new customers as to keep in contact with old clients and indeed, everyone who contacts you. Your files are filled with names of folks who know you. Those folks generally have at least 50 other friends in their “circle of influence.” (Read How to Close Every Sale, by Joe Girard.) Personal injury lawyers are happy to spend thousands on Yellow Page and TV marketing while ignoring completely those who they already have some relationship with.

5. Failing to capture the name of every new person who indicates that he/she is interested in what you have to say. Lawyers spend thousands on generating new leads (potential client inquiries) yet never market back to the cases they don’t accept. In most offices that’s MOST of the new inquiries. Yet this is a goldmine of people that you can directly market to in the future. You can’t rely on the fact that if they or someone they know needs your services or products that they will remember you tomorrow because they called you once in the past.

6. Failing to get ahead of the marketing curve. How many lawyers spend any time trying to start a relationship with a potential client BEFORE that person has a problem? Most personal injury lawyers view marketing as reactionary. That is, the relationship starts once a person is injured and they start trying to find a lawyer. How about if you offered a good reason for people to call you BEFORE they get hurt (good quality information on how to buy car insurance comes to immediate mind), BEFORE they need you. Once they raise their hand they are inviting a relationship and giving you permission to directly market to them as frequently as you can afford to. If you can develop a “herd” of people that listen to you before they have need you, they won’t be looking in the Yellow Pages after they have an accident or need your product.

7. Being an advertising “victim”-most business owners think about their advertising and marketing plan the 30 minutes or so before the Yellow Page rep comes walking through the door. They don’t do any independent research or study. They follow the crowd because “it must be working or else everyone else wouldn’t be doing it.” If it doesn’t work they then take the Yellow Page rep’s advice to “buy more, and use color.” A real sign that you are an “advertising victim” is that you allow the Yellow Page rep to design your ad. This is usually a huge mistake. Think about it–the goal of the Yellow Page rep is not to make your ad beat all the other ads in the book.

8. Failure to accurately measure resultsdo this test. Ask anyone who spends a lot money on advertising exactly how much revenue is returned (ROI-return on investment) they get from a particular TV spot. Better yet, ask the folks running double truck (huge, 2 page) ads inside the Yellow Pages how much revenue those pages generate vs. the outside back cover they are also buying. They won’t be able to answer that question. Would you buy mutual fund without demanding a specific accounting of actual results? 9. Failure to develop a terrific referral system–we all know that the best clients with the best cases come from referrals and are pre-sold on you. Strange as it may seem, clients don’t always know how to refer. The lawyers who really understand marketing have figured out ways to have current friends and customers refer new consumers to them BEFORE they need an attorney. Developing good consumer information products and backing it up with an interesting firm newsletter that it consistently mailed is a terrific way to greatly expand your referral base without using high priced TV marketing.

10. Failure to Diversify Your Marketing-”one” is a very dangerous number. Don’t ignore what good entrepreneurs in other industries are doing. There are lots of media out there, for example, media not traditionally used by lawyers. While most lawyers think in terms of Yellow Pages, TV and websites, sophisticated lawyer marketers understand and also use low cost coupon media, postcards and free standing inserts. The key is to choose media that is relatively easy to test and then to measure results.

11. Trying to Win the Advertising Game by “Shouting Louder”Most injury lawyers try to differentiate themselves in print and TV media by simply spending more money to “shout louder.” This is accomplished by buying more color, more space, or more TV as spots. The two fold problem of this approach is that (1) it’s an expensive way to run a business and (2) there will always be someone who can spend more than you can.

Personal injury lawyers need to learn to “make a different kind of noise” with their marketing.

By: Benjamin Glass

The increasing number of road accidents has led the authorities to further augment their campaign against DUI offenses. The government can’t be blamed for imposing such laws because its desire is to protect its inhabitants and make each city a safe place to live in. However, injustices may also afflict some drivers from time to time just because of suspicions that they are driving under the influence of alcohol even if not. In this case, you simply a need a DUI lawyer who can defend your rights and prove that you are not guilty.

However, whether you drunk driving or not, it is the duty of a DWI lawyer whom you hire to defend you against the prosecutor. If you contend that you are truly above suspicion, then you have no problem defending your right. The real problem, however, is when there are people who got hurt not because you are reckless but because you are intoxicated with alcohol. In this situation, a DWI lawyer will therefore do his best to reduce penalties.

Perhaps, for first offense, you may not need a DUI lawyer. But this will still depend on the weight of the committed DUI offense. For the second offense, you must oblige yourself to get a DUI lawyer to avoid further problems. Otherwise, you may lose your driving license or worse, you may imprison for several months. This will certainly affect your whole life just because you are caught driving under the influence of alcohol. This is definitely a disgrace!

If you think that hiring a DWI lawyer is just a waste of time and money, you are committing a bigger mistake. By not hiring a lawyer who can fight for your side is the same thing as accepting that you are guilty of the charge. The worse scenario of this decision is that you can lose your job especially if you are put in jail. Of course, your family will suffer as well. This is the scene that you want to prevent for sure by hiring a DUI lawyer.

Use the internet to find the best DUI lawyer serving in your region. There are many capable DUI lawyers today whom you can trust your DUI case. Try to visit several law firm websites and compare their services. After all, many law firms now that offers free consultation. So your major concern is how to get out from the mess you’ve currently facing with the help of a DWI lawyer.

By: Jasons Hendrix

When you are injured in a work place accident, you will probably be eligible for Virginia workers’ compensation. At some point the insurance company will approach you and ask you if you are interested in a settlement. How much should you settle for? Based on my 30 years of practice as a workers’ compensation lawyer, I have compiled what I think are some of the most important factors you need to consider.

FIRST, you need to understand the insurance company will put a value on your case based on what it projects it may need to pay you.

SECOND, if you have a Virginia Workers’ Compensation award, you know you have a life time medical award and thus the insurance company may be looking at paying your medical expenses for the rest of your life.

THIRD, if you have an ongoing award of compensation, the insurance company may be looking at paying you 500 weeks of compensation under Virginia Law.

FOURTH, if your injury is to your eye, arm, finger, toe, hand, arm, foot, or leg, you can usually expect to be paid for any permanent damage to that part of your body.

FIFTH, if your injury is very serious and leaves you totally disabled, then you may have a claim of compensation that could go longer than 500 weeks potentially for the rest of your life.

SIXTH, on the other hand if you have returned to work and you are not incurring any medical expenses and your injury has not given you any permanent work restrictions, then your claim may have little or no value for settlement purposes.

SEVENTH, if you face an expensive operation in the future such as a knee replacement, you would need to consider this in negotiating any settlement.

EIGHTH, many insurance companies in Virginia will not settle a workers’ compensation case and allow you to keep lifetime medical coverage. If you do not have an alternative way to pay medical expenses, this can prevent a settlement.

NINTH, if you are on Social Security Disability or are applying for it, then you need to know the impact a workers’ compensation settlement will have on your Social Security benefits.

TENTH, if you have a third party case arising out of the same accident as your workers’ compensation accident the workers’ compensation carrier may have a lien on your workers’ compensation case.

IN SUMMARY, there are many factors involved in settling a workers’ compensation case; therefore, the best advice is to contact an experienced workers’ compensation attorney to evaluate any settlement before it is signed. Please review my article: How to Choose the Best Virginia Workers Compensation Attorney or Lawyer. Virginia Workers’ Compensation Law is a specialty field. You would not choose a general practitioner for brain surgery so why would you choose a general practitioner for your workers compensation claim? You just cannot assume every attorney knows the ins and outs of Workers’ Compensation Law.

This may be considered AN ADVERTISEMENT or Advertising Material under the Rules of Professional Conduct governing lawyers in Virginia. This note is designed for general information only. The information presented in this note should not be construed to be formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship.

By: Jerry Lutkenhaus