Who's your ideal client? First things first, you need to know what your ideal client looks like!

The more channels that you can market on...

The fewer people see each thing...

The more important it is to build a personal brand, focus on an ideal client and get out there at scale.

As I sit down to write this, no joke, I came across:

2:40pm - a cold (probably scam) facebook message from a Forex/Crypto trader wanting to make me money

2:41pm - a cold email from a BDR (Business Development Rep) wanting to "jump on a call with me to see how they could help up-level my offerings" - props on stealing Kristen David's great company name (Up-leveling your Business)

2:43pm - a cold LinkedIn message that uses the language "so we can learn about each other" but then goes right into why I should buy their marketing services...because I am still a lawyer so I fit into their spammy automated messages.

Also, according to our last Smith.Ai call report...73% of our inbound calls are blocked sales calls...

And frankly, as someone who works 2, maybe 3 days a week, I am fucking tired of the bullshit tactics - ESPECIALLY when they are in ways that UNETHICAL for their lawyer clients to do (depending upon your state).

Thankfully, at 2:28pm someone reached out to request a consultation with us for their legal marketing needs, and then I have a consult at 3 with someone who passed our conflict screening and is speaking with me about their firm's marketing needs.

Why?  Because I work on my personal brand, I have a VERY specific ideal client, and I'm out there (some would say TOO out there...)

So I want to go into those in detail so you can SEE it in action, TWEAK it for you, and find success from it (or value your time over your money and just hire us to do it for you).

My Personal Brand

Look, I get that I am a middle aged white guy and therefore I have no shame and also people think I know what I am talking about all the time...

But also, I get to focus on the things that I find a ton of fun, and only speak on the topics that I DO KNOW shit about.

If you want to have the weirdest conversation ever, ask your mom about the night you were conceived.

But if you want to have the second weirdest conversation - do a personal brand meeting.

I don't believe that people have different levels of WORTH - we are all human, we are all worthy of a lot.  But it's SO weird to look at the worth of our personal brands.

Well you have X followers on this platform, so that's worth more than if you didn't.

You have a great backstory, that's worth a lot for this campaign.

You don't look as good on camera so we need to pivot to more written content, etc

It was an experience...

But at the end of it, I got a much better understanding of my BRAND.

In my case, I am a lifestyle brand.  My law firm supports me working 2-3 days a week and traveling the country and my marketing company helps other law firm owners build the same systems and marketing processes to allow them to spend less time at the office and otherwise have a life.

The Hawaiian shirts, the time with my son, the live shows, all of that is an extension of that core personal brand.  And they are GENUINE and AUTHENTIC to me.

So start thinking about how this applies to you.  It will make more sense when we hit the next part though.

My Ideal Client

The other side of my personal brand is who we are trying to get in front of.  For us, it's you.

So who are you (not in the philosophical way) but at scale:

You are (or are here learning for free) a growth minded law firm making (or hear learning for free to try and make) $500,000 or more in gross revenue and your office culture supports life/work balance and you want to stand out. 

Or at least you want more out of your firm/yourself then just standing in front of a wall of law books in a suit talking about how aggressive you are.

Plus, you're probably 30-50, you probably have kids, and you probably have hobbies that aren't billing 90 hours in a week.

You know how I know that?  Because there are plenty of legal marketing companies that either

A) have no freaking clue who their ideal client actually is, or

B) want to hit the giant firms, and/or

C) want law firm owners who JUST care about $$$. and/or

D) sell cheap templated marketing with outdated concepts of what clients want from a lawyer

So if those things appeal more to you - that's totally your right, but then you're probably not here reading this.

And then to tie those together:

My real backstory makes total sense, I've been through the shit of what we don't want, I've seen the light at the end of the tunnel (and it wasn't an oncoming train), I've partnered up with the right people to deliver that success to you, and hopefully you realize not HAVING to wear a suit (even if you CHOOSE to) is one of the most powerful mindset shifts we can make as law firm owners.  And then the time with my wife and kid becomes the easiest way to see the results of great marketing and systems and office culture that we talk about.

So, while we aren't for everyone (and don't want to be) our stuff fits together.  I get to dress like this and be happy and help you be happy too.

Put Yourself Out There at Scale

Now that we have the right brand/client fit, it becomes a question of how do we market your brand to your clients.

If you're doing high level estate planning for UHNW (Ultra-High Net Worth) - maybe PPC ads aren't the best.  Maybe those people are more likely to ask their business lawyer or financial advisor or family lawyer for a referral.

But if you do estate planning for new parents...they might not know those other lawyers to get a referral, and instead might google for the best option.

It's not that any channel is WRONG, it's a question of is it RIGHT for YOU (or really your IDEAL client).

So for us, we thought about where you would be

1) Social media - lawyers seems to be pretty well split among different channels, we've found facebook groups to be a great spot for us to be together, but also more creative focused firm owners tend to be on Instagram, more b2b lawyers seem to be on Linked In, and TikTok is BLOWING up for all sorts of lawyers

2) So then knowing that, the live show gave us the best shot at the right content for us, because remember, from a 1 hour show we get:

• To build a referral connection with our guests
• Tap into their audience
• An asset to promote the show (on multiple platforms)
• The show itself (again, in multiple places)
• 3-5 clips for social media (on all social channels)
• A podcast (on different websites and apps)
• A blog post (for our website and then to post on social media)
• An infographic or follow up content (on multiple platforms)
• And much more

All from 1 hour (if you want to talk about how we can do a similar show for you, click here to do a consult with me).

3) Conferences - I LOVE speaking at conference...it's like crack to me, and I'm lucky enough to see and hear success stories from people hearing me speak and then using that info to be more successful (which I love, I freaking wish I could have done that versus blowing $200,000 on bad marketing decisions, but hopefully I can prevent someone else from the same mistake)

The next one in St. Louis for Max Law and I would LOVE to see you there. If you sign up with my link I get a % of your ticket, if it makes a difference I will happily return that amount to you.  I would rather you go and learn and have a great firm.

4) This newsletter - most of the above is rented space, Facebook COULD go under tomorrow, TikTok could get shut down the next week, etc 

if all of email goes down...losing this newsletter isn't our biggest issue

and yes, in theory you COULD change your email, but most people don't (and a few of you have actually resigned up or sent us your new email)

In theory, I own this list to stay in touch with you (and trust me, I am NOT selling your info to ANYONE...I hate, hate, HATE when other people do that)

And that basically sums up how I try to get in front of you.  So for firms, we do a marketing plan that goes through this very BASIC rundown that I shared, but in way more detail, and really customized to YOU.

I love video and speaking and being on camera, so you see my face a ton.  If you don't, we need to work around that.

I enjoy the connected-ness of social media and am on it normally quite a bit.  If you don't, we work around that, etc.

Again, nothing is right or wrong, it's just a good fit for you and your ideal client or not.

And that's what this all boils down to.

Simple, but not easy.  Essential, but not taught in law school.

And candidly, if you're NOT my ideal client, and DON'T enjoy these newsletters - please unsubscribe.  You will not offend me.  I hate having my time wasted, and if I am wasting your time I am sorry.  But if you DO find value from this newsletter, and want to do something for me for my birthday yesterday, I would love for you to share it with someone else who needs to hear what we have to say. I'd ask that you send them this link.

Until next week, have a wonderful weekend and an AMAZING Mother's Day!

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