by Trey Ryder
© Copyright 2004-2005 by Trey Ryder LLC. All rights reserved.

Trey Ryder is a law-firm consultant who specializes in Education-Based Marketing for attorneys. He offers lawyers three free articles by e-mail: 11 Deadly Assumptions That Kill Your Marketing Program, Marketing Secrets of a Powerful Web Site, and 17 Fatal Marketing Mistakes Lawyers Make. To receive these articles, send your name and e-mail address to trey@treyryder.com and ask for his free e-mail packet of articles.

One purpose of a weekly or monthly alert is to keep everyone on your mailing list up to date on your successes.

Why is this important?

Everyone likes to think their lawyer is the best. A former client might hire you again -- or a referral source might send someone your way if you shared your recent experiences so they had continued confidence in your skills.

When you send an alert to everyone on your mailing list, you again have the opportunity to talk about the types of cases you=re working on and to report your successes. Providing this information does many things:

1. It shows that you have current knowledge in this area of the law.
2. It shows that your services are in demand, as opposed to lawyers who have nothing to do.
3. It proves that you have experience in this arena, as opposed to someone who only claims to practice in this area of law.
4. It increases the confidence people have in your knowledge, skill, judgment and experience.
5. It affirms that you are the person they should consider when they need services or when they want to refer someone.
6. It assures (or reminds) them that you’re still practicing law, so you don’t fall victim to out-of-sight, out-of-mind.

Also, don’t forget that people like to know and witness what lawyers do in the office and courtroom. It’s fun and interesting to look into a law practice and see what goes on behind closed doors. People are fascinated with lawyers, the law, and how our justice system works, or doesn’t work.

Our obsession with lawyer shows on TV goes back many years. In the old days, we had Perry Mason, Judd for the Defense, and Owen Marshall. In recent memory, we had L.A. Law, Law and Order (and its three brand extensions), The Practice, Family Law, Boston Legal… and many more. And if the lawyer shows aren’t enough, we have a parade of courtroom shows, with Judge Judy leading the way.

Plus -- every high profile case is now scrutinized, analyzed and dissected on every cable channel you can name.

You can profit from this public curiosity by alerting everyone on your mailing list to what’s going on in your law practice. Because the more they know about your practice, the closer relationship they feel with you, the more they trust you, and the more confident they are with your skills.

Of course, this is only one purpose of an alert or newsletter, and it’s one you should not overlook. Because you never know when prospects or clients will need services, or when they might want to refer a friend.

And the more prospects and clients know about you and your successes, the sooner you’ll profit.