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Marketing & Making Money

Invest in This…Or That?

November 18, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

You’ve heard the pitch; we all have. For just $10,000 — less than $1000 per month — you’ll get a specially designed, SEO-optimized, social-media enhanced website — and a couple of pay-per-leads as a bonus. Can’t afford it or don’t want to spend that much? No worries, the salesman assures you – and then, the [...]

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Your Realization Rates May Make You Realize That Flat Fees Often Make More “Cents”

November 7, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

As a solo or small firm lawyer, you’ve probably heard the term “involuntary pro bono.” That’s what happens when you sign up to take a case, collect a retainer, exceed the retainer and the client stops paying the bill on the eve of trial when it’s too late to pull out. Well, turns out that [...]

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Pay for the Product, Legal Service is Free or Pay for the Legal Service, Product is Free?

October 19, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

In my last post, I discussed different types of freebies that lawyers offer as incentives to encourage existing clients to send or refer more work. But lawyers — and quasi-legal providers like Legal Zoom — are also using free to generate new clients. Many lawyers – from solos to behemoth firms – are giving away [...]

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Two Different Business Models of Free – Frequent Buyer Benefits

October 19, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

As I mentioned in Marketing by the Numbers video, it’s 11 times more expensive to generate new clients than to attract business from existing clients. Existing or former clients already know you, so you don’t have to convince them to hire you. At the same time, because your clients are constantly inundated with marketing materials [...]

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Community Involvement As A Marketing Tool

September 13, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

The following is a guest post by Noble McIntyre of McIntyre Law in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Let’s be honest. That title sounds cynical at best, opportunistic at worst. But hear me out. Getting involved with your community can be one of the best ways to market your firm, not just because of the business you’ll [...]

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Summertime, Selling and the Solo

June 22, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

So, it’s summertime for the solo, and surprisingly, the selling is easy. At least, I’ve always thought so. For starters, lots of law practices slow down, what with clients, other judges and lawyers on vacation and many lawyers have time on their hands. Moreover, with the economy in its current state, it’s a buyer’s market [...]

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A Tentative Thumbs Up for LawyerUp

June 17, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Update – 6/19/2011 – opposing views, end of post As proprietor of MyShingle, a hub for solo and small firm lawyers, I receive calls and emails every few days pitching the latest, greatest online marketing tools. When I don’t jump at the chance to hop into an affiliate relationship (which I don’t do ) or [...]

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ABA report: No New Rules Needed for Law Firm Rankings

June 15, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

The following is a guest post by Roy Ginsburg When U.S. News & World Report decided to rank law schools, this ranking – for better or worse — fundamentally changed the law school admissions process. So when U.S. News announced that it would join forces with Best Lawyers to publish rankings of lawyers, that announcement [...]

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An Open Letter to “Content” Writers: Pay Me $1500 And I’ll Publish You

May 24, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Recently, I’ve been receiving daily emails like this one: Hi Carolyn, My name is Mary and I’m a writer for (http:[omitted]. I’ve been following your blog lately, and because we write on similar topics, I thought you’d be interested in a recent article we published, “20 Alternative Jobs For Law School Grads”. If you think [...]

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Update on Testimonials & Ratings

April 28, 2011 by Carolyn Elefant

Here’s a round up post on my Legal Marketing Blawg posts on testimonials and ratings Responding to Negative Ratings (May 17, 2011). Marketing Through Testimonials: Giving and Receiving (March 2, 2009)

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