The COVID pandemic has made this world and how to operate in it very different for everyone. Lawyers and their clients are no different. Some of the changes in how we connect with one another, build relationships, and work together will stay with us for years. The changes brought upon us by this pandemic are on top of the massive changes that followed the technological revolution of the early 21st Century.
Background
Marketing is connecting with prospective clients in meaningful ways. The decisions that prospective clients make whether to connect with a particular lawyer in the first place and whether to hire that particular lawyer are, like all decisions, influenced by emotions. Without emotions we would not be able to make choices. We would have difficulty making any decisions.
The pandemic, the economic collapse associated with it, and the fight for racial justice have increased all sorts of feelings, from empathy to anger and from fear to stress. It makes sense to adjust marketing efforts to take account of these pervasive feelings and ask what it means for lawyer marketing. That is what follows here.
Connecting the right lawyer, service, and experience through the right message at the right time in the right platform/space with the right possible clients or referral sources is not easy. Marketing may still be about the people, the message, and the platform; however, clients want something different from their lawyers today.
Even before COVID, the role of client began to change. Clients, patients, and university students transformed into consumers, and, as consumers, they began to make known the value they expected in return from upholding their part of the transaction and paying high fees. Historically, in marketing, we evaluated what clients needed. Now, it makes more sense to take a deep dive into what they want.
Many times, clients want a relationship, rather than a pure transaction. As part of that relationship, they want a reduction in stress and certainly not more stress added on to their already stressful existence, part of which is the reason they reached out to a lawyer in the first place. What this means is that the marketing message and platform must change to reduce stress and also respond more acutely to the wants of the prospective client, especially when it comes to a prospective client making an initial selection of possible lawyers to work with.
Personal Brand
None of this changes the need to be clear about your brand – the image you want to project to the world – your strengths, values, and what makes you distinct from your competition. Strengths are still measured by your specific skills or abilities like your technical legal expertise and your core competencies, which you use when you communicate and work with other people. However, in today’s world, you may want to highlight your approach to working with clients or your values that others may find attractive. There has been a transition in emphasis from client needs to client wants and also from goals to values. This is because values are the glue in a relationship. They represent commonalities that matter most and are the foundation for building trust.
Value Proposition
None of this changes the need for an attractive value proposition. If anything, this has become even more important. The shift from goals to values is just the beginning. Also, we are moving away from highlighting legal solutions to highlighting how a lawyer can help a client move closer to the client’s vision of a successful outcome. Clients want to know how you will help them continuously move in the direction of a better situation through the experience of working with you.
A value proposition is what you are offering to provide in exchange for your fee, that is also what your prospective client wants. Prospective clients want their lawyers to help them create new value, protect existing value, or restore value lost. Besides the product or service, you are selling, you are selling a particular experience.
Your value proposition only matters from the client’s perspective. What value do they conclude they are receiving in exchange for what they give up financially and emotionally? To answer this question, think of your service, outcome, and experience of working with you as the value they are measuring.
What is Adaptive Marketing?
What has definitely changed and what needs to be reimagined is how to adjust effective messages, platform options, and what clients want. When people are feeling anger, intolerance and marginalization, fear, and stress, these feelings affect what they want and the message they will be receptive to hearing. Lawyers need to adapt their messages and platform to the changing wants and emotions of people, all while maintaining an attitude of ”let’s try this and see what happens.” There are five areas ripe for reimagining: (1) digital connections; (2) relationships in place of transactions; (3) the need for authenticity as a lawyer; (4) mastering empathy; and (5) developing adaptability skills.
1. Digital Connections
Since we cannot easily meet or connect in person without a lot of physical barriers, initial contact will be digital or traditional advertising. Use your digital options to connect and consider the brand and value proposition to emphasize.
At a minimum, consider that your website and LinkedIn are verifications, as is Google My Business. Make sure they show up when you google your name and your law firm’s name. If they do not, take the time to create or improve these digital assets. Once you have a website, posting regularly helps improve your digital presence, especially if your blogs are naturally responsive to google prompts and questions of your ideal clients. This is how people will find you when they don’t know you but have a question you can answer or a problem you can solve. You have many options.
Website
Linked In
Traditional Advertising
Google My Business
Blog
Instagram
Tic Tok
Email campaigns
You Tube
Videos
Chatbots on Website
Twitter
Facebook
Yelp
Avvo
Lunch Club
Google Reviews
SEO
2. Relationships before Transactions
The attorney-client relationship is more than a series of transactions. Connecting on a human level could ultimately result in stronger client loyalty and a client, who becomes a brand advocate after the working relationship ends. This is often the end result when clients feel recognized and appreciated for who they are.
Lawyers often focus on the legal problem and legal options. Instead, shift your focus from task to relationship, during marketing throughout the working relationship, and even after the legal work has ended. The ache for human connection is greater today than it has been in quite some time. The fact that over the past year more people have flocked to online dating, online therapy, and classrooms that emphasize community as much as learning, should tell you something about how the world is changing.
Lawyers often miss easy opportunities to create that sense of connection and community with their clients. In a recent survey I conducted, several opportunities for easy wins stood out. (1) Client intake is an early connection with your brand. Whether you take on the client or not, they will be a word-of-mouth marketer or detractor for your brand. In a recent survey 75% of lawyers surveyed did not use an intake form. (2) Non-engagement letters are easy to use as a matter of habit. How you respond to a person who does not end up as a client is part of the personal touch you offer or hold back. The same survey showed that 75% of attorneys did not use a non-engagement letter. (3) Client onboarding is a chance to talk to a new client about mutual expectations and preferences about communication and the internal processes you use. It’s an opportunity to introduce clients to your team and brand, and offer a personal touch. Only about 50% of lawyers said they do this.
Communicating well during the relationship, is also the best way to avoid malpractice claims. “In a world that now offers us seemingly endless ways to communicate with one another, it is surprising that the majority of legal malpractice claims are related to administrative functions, and particularly, client communication.” This is from a 2019 Above the Law post. Less than 75% of lawyers say they check in with their clients at least every 6 weeks, and when it came to asking clients for feedback, which offers the dual function of conveying to the client that the relationship matters and capturing the client’s perspective on the working relationship, 25% of lawyer said they never ask for feedback, 25% said rarely, and 50% sometimes. No one surveyed said they often or always ask for feedback.
Don’t end communication when the working relationship ends. Keep in touch in between or after a working relationship ends. It’s easier now. Coffee or cocktails over zoom. An email to check in. Be creative.
3. The Need for Authenticity
Communication is key and it works when you add in authenticity. When your actions are in alignment with your core values and beliefs, you are showing your true self and how you feel, rather than showing people only a particular side. Of course, this means you need a degree of self-awareness of your values, motives, emotions, preferences, and abilities. Where possible, bring yourself to the relationship. Do you write and record songs or make pottery coffee cups? Share across common interests or interesting reads. Are you struggling with homeschooling or vaccine worries? Share a favorite recipe or place for a hike. If you are an avid networker, make connections that are mutually beneficial to your client and someone in your network. Where appropriate, share your passion. Whatever it is, share it.
4. The Need for Empathy
Empathy is how we connect with one another’s emotions by catching somebody else’s feelings, attempting to understand what someone else is feeling and why, and offering compassion - the motivation to improve others’ well-being. Stanford University psychology professor Jamil Zaki explains that “the world is full of daily battles in which we’ve consciously or subconsciously sorted ourselves into “us” and “them” camps.” Superimpose your position as an empowered expert and your client as the person depending on your expertise and it creates even greater distance.
It’s easy for a client to feel that they are the “us” and you, as the lawyer are the “them.” Empathy helps with marketing by seeing a client’s problem from the perspective of the client and understanding the cost-benefit of the solution you are offering as they feel it. Also, empathy encourages a client to be open and honest and if you provide difficult feedback to your client with empathy, they are more likely to use it because they won’t feel attacked.
In business development, it’s easy to forget about the fundamentals of communication, such as we all have our default and preferences in styles. Differences in styles can set off an unconscious “us” versus “them” thinking and role assumption.
These differences are apparent when you begin to notice. Some people are very expressive, while others are more analytical. Some are more driving while others are more amenable. Some people show more emotions when they communication and others hold back. Some make more statements and others ask more questions. The best way to connect is to flex to the other person’s style when you want to reduce tension, which right now is running high for most of us. So, first pay attention to how much emotion they show you and flex to that.
5. Develop Adaptability Skills
When it comes to marketing and business development, like running your business in contrast from practicing law, you have to be open to new ideas, to experimentation, and learning from mistakes and failures. You have to be nimble and be able to adapt to a quickly changing world. So, you have to know a little something about changing, when change is hard.
When change is difficult it feels like a loss and when we try something new, we feel unskilled and like we don’t know what we are doing. That’s natural. If only it were as easy as an animal who can change its colors to blend in with its environment. But, it’s not.
So be prepared. Tell yourself it’s okay to feel uncomfortable but instead of pushing back, lean into the discomfort. Be willing to try and experiment until you find what works best for you to display your authentic self or write blogs that jump to the top of a good search.
People have an innate tendency when faced with change. What’s yours? Are you the catalyst, who comes up with ideas, the theorist, who looks for a path forward, a stabilizer, who looks for reasons to stop change, or an improviser, who is impulsive and wants to start without a plan? Knowing your default response helps. Is your tendency to find a path to risks and “no” to change? If so, step back for moment, take a pause, and play devils’ advocate. Find a path to “yes.”
Change that enables the capacity to thrive is hard, but worth the effort. Be able to discern between what you need to preserve about your practice and what you can let go. If you need a new skill, get it. You can learn relationship-building skills, how to be authentic, empathy, and adaptability. They foundation is a willingness to experiment and be okay with anything less than perfection, which for lawyers feels like an awful mistake, but it’s not. Be okay with feeling incompetent and know that the more you practice the more your feelings of competency will grow.