Personal injury law firms across the country all have the same problem: how to acquire personal injury leads and remain in contact with them. A lead that eventually becomes a client might often only be a one-time client. But there are times when the client might need your legal expertise down the road for an additional case. You don’t want this person to work with a different firm when they relied on you in the past. So, how can you remain in contact with old personal injury clients so you can drum up more business, referrals and raise brand awareness? How do personal injury attorneys get clients in today’s competitive environment? Let’s explore this issue in today’s post.
Craft a Monthly or Quarterly Newsletter
An excellent way to stay in touch with your old leads to get more personal injury clients is to craft a monthly or quarterly newsletter. A newsletter is a great way to spread the word about all that is going on with your law firm, including any significant updates from the partners or other members of the staff. A newsletter can be sent monthly, if there is enough new information to share with clients, or quarterly. The better option of the two is a quarterly newsletter. The information you should share in a newsletter includes the following:
- Announcing newly hired attorneys or other staff members
- Announcing the retirement of a long-time employee
- Sharing news of awards, recognition and other honors
- Sharing the news of a major case victory
- Sharing tips on how to maximize your car accident settlement
- Celebrating the grand opening of a new office
- Celebrating milestones of employees
- Sharing success stories (with permission) of clients
The newsletter you craft for your law firm needs to share new information each time it is distributed. You cannot simply recycle newsletters every couple of months in hopes that it will help retain clients for future business. Your clients’ time is precious. Don’t waste it by sending repeat content. They will stop opening the newsletter or will unsubscribe from your feed.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is another way that personal injury attorneys get clients. Create a subscription list of all your former clients, old auto accident leads, etc using their email addresses and start an email marketing campaign. You don’t want to spam your clients with emails every single day, or multiple times per day, so be sure to pick a good distribution day and time. Maybe an email once per week reminding clients of the work you do. You could also include the newsletter mentioned above as part of your email marketing campaign.
Join Relevant Groups and Organizations
Does your law firm specialize in construction accidents? If so, it’s important for your firm to join relevant groups and organizations. For example, join the local construction trade association as a participating member. When you join, be sure to attend as many meetings as possible. This will help grow your presence in the construction industry as a trusted personal injury attorney.
You should also consider submitting articles and other content to related websites that seek free content. These websites, including bar association sites, are visited by thousands of potential and current clients of law firms across the country. When you submit content, you help build your brand and show you are an expert in your field.
Host a Seminar
It doesn’t cost much for your personal injury law firm to host a seminar. The seminar can be held at your office, if large enough, or a local conference center. Hosting a seminar helps shine a light on your firm in an educational and helpful light, not so much in a marketing or confrontational light. Inviting former and potential clients to your seminar can help increase your client-base, spread brand awareness and build your reputation. Be sure to host a seminar that focuses on the main practice area of your firm.
Become a Trusted Resource
Your law firm needs to become a trusted resource with former and potential clients. This is how personal injury attorneys get clients to come back, and it’s often done by renovating your firm’s website. If the website only has attorney profiles, a couple of informational pages, an about us page and a contact us page there won’t be much information for the public. Potential personal injury clients rely on finding information on the websites of law firms in their area. Build the website to feature a lot of information via static pages and regular blog posts, as well as making sure your newsletter is sent regularly and contains valuable info.
Sponsor an Organization of a Client
Keeping in touch with a former personal injury client can also be accomplished by sponsoring an organization of a client. Join their trade association, merchant group, or other organization in which they operate. This shows the client that you are interested in their operation and in creating a strong bond with them. It could go a long way towards them using your firm for personal injury work in the future.
Hold In-Person Meetings
Do your best to schedule in-person meetings with former personal injury clients. It’s nice to send an email or text message to check in with a former client, but it’s even more personal when you can meet with them face-to-face. When you tell a client or former client you want to meet with them in-person, you show them how much you truly care about how they are doing since you last represented them.
As you can see, it takes a lot of effort to remain in contact with old personal injury clients, but it can be done. Law firms need to focus on keeping their clients happy while building brand awareness and bringing in business. You will quickly find that all of these areas are intertwined and all play a role in the success of your firm.