Susan Cartier Liebel writes an excellent post about how solos need to focus their practices in a down economy. I would also say pick an industry or two as focus areas as well. Look at the legal trends the recession has exacerbated in particular industries of interest and pitch your message to those issues in those industries. This will differentiate your practice from those who don’t look at specific industry issues.
This doesn’t mean you don’t take work from industries outside your focus area. Your industry focus isn’t meant to narrow your options but allow you to differentiate your practice with a more focused marketing pitch. Don’t throw away presentations or materials that don’t focus on specific industries. Keep them updated and use them when appropriate. Its just that if you don’t represent only consumers, then potential clients will be attached to a specific industry and they will be impressed that you have expertise in their industry.
Tags: legal practice, Linkedin
Reading Tea Leaves by Randy Wilson 
November 30, 2009 at 10:08 pm |
I think you are absolutely right. Niches allow small law firms to specialize in a very small sector or alternatively for medium and large businesses to operate in a number of specialist expert areas. Niche exploitation is very much part of our marketing strategy. When selecting a niche I look at three areas – either geographical, skills-based[such as our lease extension and leasehold enfranchisement niche] or industry based. Our niche strategy is already paying dividends and I’m sure it will be an even bigger money spinner in the future.
November 30, 2009 at 11:27 pm |
Thanks Tim! I think you guys in the UK are pretty advanced when it comes to legal marketing.
September 19, 2010 at 5:37 pm |
[…] practice focus to an industry By Randy Wilson I have blogged about this in the past (see here) so I won’t beat a dead horse. However, this guest post from “Build a Solo […]