Advertising and marketing is one of the biggest expenses that small firm and solo attorneys have to face. Sooner or later, almost every small firm has advertised in a local paper or magazine.

But these ads can be expensive and their hit rates can be somewhat unreliable. Are there cheaper yet very effective ways to advertise and market yourself without having to spend a fortune? Yes.

Try These Easy Tips to Boost Your Business

Here are three of our top suggestions for easily marketing your practice:

• Start a Practice-Related Blog: Okay, not so cheap. Why? Because blogging takes time. Since so much of commerce is reliant on online traffic, one of the few ways that you can boost awareness of your firm and brand is by writing consistently for a blog or creating your own. Include many in text links to other pages that are authorities on a particular topic and properly credit their work. Eventually, you will get contacted for work. Beyond blogging, you can also consider writing LinkedIn endorsements for people who may have business for you.
• Starts Hanging Around Professionals: This is one that you’ll not find in the strategy books, but going to areas where there is a lot of professional foot-traffic is a wonderful way to meet potential clients. You may even consider working on less sensitive work materials at a cafe with very obvious lawyer books nearby. This will invite people to strike up conversations with you about their (legal) problems. Other subtle marketing tricks like this can be found in Foonberg’s iconic tome on starting your own law firm.
• Turn Down Business, Build Trust: Don’t be too eager to take on every single potential matter that comes your way. You have an ethical duty to reject a case that you don’t feel you can get competent in. And besides, it’s not true that every controversy requires a lawyer. If you truly feel that way, you can always reject a manner and advise the potential client to seek a second opinion. This may even have the effect of fostering trust.

Additional Marketing Suggestions

There are lots of other ways to cheaply market your practice. For example, you can attend bar association events to get referrals from other lawyers. Or you could volunteer with community groups. Also, don’t forget that you can always find expert help from the experts at FindLaw.

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