Word of mouth is the most reliable marketing strategy for lawyers—and for any service-oriented business. Why is word of mouth the best way to promote your product or service? Credibility. Potential clients trust, or at least seriously consider, positive endorsements from previous clients—particularly when the endorser is a personal connection, or in our Web 2.0 world, a “social network” connection.
Online, the power one traditionally garnered through word of mouth marketing has grown exponentially, and attorneys are now presented with limitless business development opportunities. This is where social networking attorneys have a clear advantage over their less tech-savvy counterparts. To state it mathematically, and to borrow LinkedIn’s algorithm, if you were connected to 115 people on LinkedIn (the popular social networking site favored by professionals from every industry), you would potentially be linked to more than one million people through the connections of your connections (i.e., through word of mouth introductions/endorsements). That’s impressive.
How do you harness word of mouth? Beyond offering remarkable service that is worth remarking about, the most effective way to obtain online endorsements from clients is simple—ask. “If you’re happy with our service, please Tweet!” can be added as an e-mail tagline. Or, if your firm is on Facebook or Twitter, encourage clients to “like” your page or “follow” you. Remember, although marketing strategy for lawyers evolves constantly, word of mouth is here to stay. Ignoring the power of a positive (or negative) endorsement online can prove disastrous, so take steps now. More on how to handle negative comments on social networks later.