By Elizabeth Pekin, Esq., Momentum Funding Founder & President

My work day is spent with personal injury law firms. In fact, that’s where you are most likely to find me — with attorneys, talking with them about their clients and their practice.

Solo firms. Small firms. Big firms. Two-person firms. When I talk to these attorneys, I hear one issue come up over and over again, regardless of the size of the firm: marketing. Typically, one or more of the following basic marketing mistakes is holding the practice back.

Mistake #1: Forgetting that practicing law is really a business. Translation: Putting an ad in the Yellow Pages is not enough. When I press this point, attorneys often say something like: “Look, I went to law school, I didn’t go to business school.” True – but you’re still in business, and you’re competing with other law firms, whether you like it or not. The most successful firms find a way to strike a balance between courtroom time and marketing time. Yours should, too. You really do need both competencies! If that means you have to change your routine (or your lineup) so be it.

Mistake #2: Not maximizing the firm’s LinkedIn presence on a daily basis. Somebody needs to spend twenty minutes every business day on LinkedIn, the ultimate business networking resource. Here are some simple to-do items to get you started: Complete your Profile; if possible, add a professional-looking video. Make sure your Summary positions your law firm as the expert resource in a certain specific area of personal injury law within a specific geographic area. Post something daily that adds value to the day of your ideal client. Add a link to your LinkedIn page in all your firm’s outgoing emails. (See also Mistake #3, below.) Consider this the modern day “word of mouth” recommendation.

Mistake #3: Paying someone else a whole lot of money. Whether you’re revamping your website, upgrading your social media presence, or trying to place news items with local media, beware the “expert” who offers to take care of everything … for a big check. An attorney I know of paid several thousand dollars to some social media wizard … and ended up getting no LinkedIn presence and no Facebook presence! If you don’t want to do it yourself, that’s fine. Find someone with good references, someone who’s affordable — someone you can team up with who will grow with you over time. LinkedIn is a great resource for tracking down this kind of marketing help. Start by joining this group: http://bit.ly/personalinjurylegalnetwork.

Mistake #4: Not having at least one lead attorney on site to talk to prospective clients. Here’s what I tell lawyers who are skeptical about this: “Hire good lawyers to attend court hearings. In order to run your firm as a business, it is imperative that you actually be PRESENT in the firm.”  When in doubt, remember: You are the firm – and you are the best marketing message of all!

If you have any questions about client funding, law firm loans, medical funding, small business lending, or law firm marketing and sales call Momentum Funding Founder & President Elizabeth Pekin, Esq. at 1-855-855-3863 (FUND).

She and the team at Momentum Funding can assist you with all of your needs and can help YOU run your law firm like a business.