Latest / UnF*ck Your Legal Marketing / The Power of Narrowing Focus to Grow Your Legal Practice Faster with Lana Manganiello
Transcript
- Gary Johnson: Welcome to Unfuck Your Legal Marketing, where we get brutally honest about marketing, business development, and the messy middle of making it all work. I'm Gary Johnson, marketing coach, strategist, and professional BS detector for attorneys and professional advisors who are tired of doing what everyone else does. And if you listen to this and think, I need help with this, my next group coaching cohort starts June 11. Check out the show notes for details. So around here, we skip the fluff, real conversations, real insights, and yeah, probably a few F-bombs along the way. So let's get into this. Marketing can sometimes feel all over the place. One of the reasons why is because the attorney's focus is too broad. And I'm joined by my friend and colleague, Lana Manganello, who is the law firm growth strategist. And founder of Practice Growth Partner. We are going to talk about why narrowing your focus is what actually creates traction, not limits it. And she's going to share why attorneys resist it and what changes they can do to commit to it and how it impacts everything from your messaging to your referrals. If you've been trying to grow, but things aren't really compounding. Then this one is for you. So welcome, Lana, to Unfuck Your Legal Marketing. Thanks, Gary. I'm so happy to be here. Thanks for inviting me. I'm I'm privileged to have you here. So let's jump into it. When you say narrow your focus, what does that actually look like in practice? Are we talking about industry, case type, client type, all of it, or Something else. Yeah, we're talking about all of it. We're talking about a marketing focus. I think sometimes attorneys confuse the idea of having a focus around your marketing with having a focus for your practice where you're eliminating the work that you currently have on your plate or or saying no to more things. So, you know, when I'm working with someone, I want them to think about what do they want to be known for over the next 12 months? Where do we really want to? raise their visibility and thinking of it in kind of a shorter term scope so that it helps to shape their marketing activities. And, you know, another thing that I'm usually asking them to do is think about, you know, who their ideal client is and what is ideal work and what is kind of the initial engagement to start working with those people and and start to do that kind of work. And then use that as a marketing focus and kind of shape the rest of their marketing activities around that kind of entry point matter with that specific client and so that it really informs the places they show up and the things that they're, you know, writing about and speaking about. Yeah. So you had said that. A typical fear is that they're gonna lose business, right? That they're gonna be like, ⁓ my God, but I can work on this and I can work on this and work on this. Do you think that that is why they're so uncomfortable about, you know, niching down? Yeah, there's a lot of reasons why lawyers are hesitant to do this. I mean, you know, it's part of their identity. They're they like the fact that they can handle complex, varied work. So, you know, when they're hearing me say, fo you know, pick a focus, it feels like reduce yourself. Right. And so, you know, this is really about being recognizable and memorable, not about your abilities. And, you know, I think being able to say no to things really strengthens your positioning and people are just uncomfortable saying no to things. I know how that is too, you know. So, you know, when you do look at this and you're like, okay, you're not going to lose opportunity from this. But what are some of the huge benefits that people get when they really narrow their focus? Because I know you had touched on, you know, it allows them to write about different things, speak about different things. But do you also see some sort of transformation when they really get niched down? Yeah. There's There are so many benefits to niching down from a marketing perspective, but also from a practice perspective. When you're working with the same kinds of clients on the same kind of matters, you see patterns faster than your competitors. It Great point. Again, from a competition standpoint, if you're the go-to person for this kind of work, it's a lot harder to look at the competitive environment and say, you know, apples to apples, it's like, well, they can't really compare you on price alone because you have this unique experience or you really focused on this area. So, you know, beyond making it so much easier from a marketing perspective of like, okay, if we want, you know, for us, if we're like, okay, let's focus in on everybody IP attorneys. Yeah. And really kind of build a practice around IP attorneys, it we would get better at our jobs of like, okay, you know, I work with 20 IP firms and a hundred IP lawyers, all doing things a little differently, but there's a lot of kind of universal components to their practices. And I'm able to give them ideas and see things before someone who doesn't only work with IP attorneys. And so it's the same thing with lawyers, but it's that's also, you know. why people don't want to do it. Like I like IP attorneys, but I like working with all sorts of attorneys. So so even though I'm saying, you know, the the ba the way to get the best result is to pick a lane and really build around it. But but that's a choice on how you want to build your practice, you know, and that's why people don't do it is because it's not that easy to pick something and I mean, obviously you and I only work with lawyers, and I think there's a lot of people in marketing who who work in professional services. And so they'll include architects and engineers and accountants. And there's some value to that. I mean, lots of people, you know, want to talk about the benefit of having this varied experience. And that is that is a real thing. But when you you know, I I think the book is called Range that talks about profess I am not an athlete, so for me to be referencing this is kind of funny, but the best athletes are the ones who have played multiple sports and then use that to really help them in whatever sports whatever sport they're focused on. Same thing with like scientists and stuff. If they've had a a varied experience And then bring it to a focus, like they're much better than the people who have only had this focus. And so undoubtedly, from a marketing perspective, it's much easier when you have that focus. And so that's what I'm trying to help people is Yeah. Here's one way to do it that like doesn't require a lot of thinking. It's pretty formulaic. You know, if we want you to be known as the IP attorney for life science around a very specific kind of product, it makes the marketing so much easier because you know exactly who your target audience is and it's a lot easier to know what they care about and and you know really like what are their struggles? Because you've worked with so many. That you've seen the spectrum across the board, and you're like, life sciences, I know that they struggle with this and this and this and this. And because I'm an expert at that, one, I'm able to get the patent done faster because I understand the invention. But also, I am able to relate to them, to talk to them, you know, because you know, inventors are difficult to sometimes talk to because they're so ingrained in that. But if you're an IP attorney who really understands. that niche, they're gonna pay more for it, a lot more for it, you know. So you get more money. It makes things so much easier for marketing. Because if you're like, I'm an IEP attorney and I am a personal injury attorney and estate planning and I do some contract work and you're like, that's the master of none. Like, you know, okay. Those people are typically the ones, and I hate to say this, and if you're listening to this, please don't get insulted by it. But It's those new individuals who they're trying to find their niche. They've just come out of law school and they're trying to find what do they want to really focus in on. And and then once they do pick that lane, they go after it, then they get this great experience and they really understand their clients, what their clients are trying to achieve, what their struggles are, what their problems are, that they are helping them out with. It just makes it so much easier, you know? Mm-hmm. is just yeah, it's it's radical. I mean, it really is, but they have to overcome that fear, right? You know, so ⁓ yeah, now we talked about ⁓ content a little bit, but in regards to networking specifically, and somebody niches down, how is niching it down beneficial to them for their networking abilities or activities, I should say? Yeah. So it makes you so first it shapes where you should be showing up and networking. Yeah. So ⁓ you know, I see a lot of people you and I know each other through provisors. So there's a lot of people in provisors who have not picked a lane. ⁓ and then and those are usually the people that everyone likes and knows and never knows what to send them because You know, one day they're standing up and talking about personal injury, the next day they're talking about a real estate dispute, and then they're talking about setting up an LLC. And it's like, well, I I feel like that's one way to get the least sophisticated work. And that's what I see a lot of is those types of that kind of messaging, even though this person has been in practice for 40 years and is actually excellent at a lot of things. We as human beings can't can't kind of understand that message and remember somebody as the go-to person when when it keeps changing. And, you know, I recognize like, okay, personal injury requires a certain kind of lawyer that is different than transactional work. And so, you know, there it just kind of goes against how we as human beings are like putting people into boxes in our memory. So, you know, if you have that message that repeats and builds momentum, it makes you memorable. And then people will call you for things outside of that focus because they remember you and they trust you. They're like, ⁓ you know, this guy all all he talks about is real estate disputes. This isn't a dispute, it's transactional, but he probably knows who to call. And then He can decide like do I want to take this or not? That's exactly right. Yeah. But the people who are memorable get more calls across the board beyond just that focus. Yeah. And this for the listeners, that that knowledge right there is so important because sophisticated work is actually more money. You can charge more for s for s for sophisticated work as opposed to the run of the mill stuff. You know, so if you want to make more money and you want to have better clients or more like without using the word sophisticated, but but clients who really value your legal expertise and it makes it intellectually stimulating, niche down. Niche down because you you'll get that sort of work. And also you'll get more calls. A whole lot more fucking calls. Like, holy shit, like. It's it's it's amazing that not everybody does it. And and again, because of their fear of I'm gonna lose out, but like what Lana just said, you're gonna get more calls. You're gonna get more stuff that people will reach out to you because you are the one that they remember, you know. So now, what does stronger positioning actually look like when someone gets it right? Like How would their messaging change differently now that they ⁓ choose the lane, they choose the niche? ⁓ what does that look like for somebody who's successful at doing that? Yeah, I think, you know, once you've picked a marketing focus and you've decided like I want to be known as the go-to person for this kind of work. Let's say it's real estate and you're doing real estate transactions. I'm in San Diego, so People are, you know, there's a lot of labs and life science down here. And so say that's your focus. What that looks like in practice. So it's like, okay, in my mind, that is my focus. Like, how do I now have create the social proof and yes, all the indicators that I actually am the best qualified representation for this kind of work? And so it's st I think I think You need to start with your website bio and make sure if this is your focus, it's very clear when I skim your bio that you have done this before. You're writing your rep matters in a way where you're really highlighting your previous work as it relates to this kind of work that you want more of. And you're, you know, you you have actual rep matters that don't sound super broad where the next ideal client can look and see like this is I can see myself in these representative matters. This person has definitely done it before. One of the things that, you know, I help lawyers build out their websites and you and I are always thinking about this is like anyone can say anything on their website. Yeah. And so I'm always looking at like what are the actual pieces of proof that this is something that this person is highly experienced in, and that's the rep matters. And then it's all all the other stuff we help them get, like awards and recognitions. It's getting involved in the professional associations, organizations that relate to the types of clients and the type of work that you want. And being more than just a member, like being, you know, in some kind of leadership role where it's like, okay, well, you know, this Person is involved in life science groups, they're involved in real estate's real estate groups, they're they're in, you know, positions of leadership. So it's more than just filling out, you know, your practice areas and putting everything you can think of under the sun. It's someone who's made an investment in a specific area. think that really differentiates you. So and then, you know, we talked about where you're showing up and then what you're talking about. So, you know, most of those associations have conferences or they have learning opportunities with webinars or they have newsletters. So thinking about okay, your target audience and how you want to be perceived, picking topics that relate to the kind of work you want at the most sophisticated level. So even if it's something that like only pertains to, you know, two percent of the population, that is the kind of stuff that demonstrates like, ⁓ you know, Gary knows all about X data centers. I assume he can handle my like boring, you know, whatever I've got going on. Work. So that's usually the guidance I'll give around picking a topic for thought leadership is is picking something that you can r write or speak about a couple times over the next 12 months to really build that momentum. Because that's like the fastest way to prove that you're an authority in a space is to show up, you know, ⁓ multiple times on multiple platforms talking about the same topic. And then picking something that is gonna demonstrate your complex understanding versus like Ten things to think about when you're buying a building. You know, that that is something that a robot can write and it's probably something lots of people have written. Yeah. ⁓ my God. So much good stuff. I mean, from bio to social proof to, you know, really focusing on the reps the rep that matters and awards and recognitions and you do the leadership in those professional associations. I mean You actually do the shit that you're actually saying to do, right? Because I know how much you are into LMA, Legal Marketing Association, and you're always on the board. You've been on it for what, eight years now? And like, you're doing the shit. Like, I love it, you know. Especially like your content. I mean, you wrote a book. What was your book called again? Careers Careers and Business Law. Yeah, that's right. I wish I had a copyright here. I don't. I wish I could have remembered it. ⁓ that would have been good. But yeah, it's, you know, it it it's so it makes things so much easier, right? ⁓ and you will be so much more memorable. So for someone who isn't ready to fully commit to a niche yet, is there a way to start testing like A more focused approach without going all in ⁓ on, okay, this is it. I gotta pick it and then this is it. I mean, usually people who are in this boat are like doing nothing. So they're it's not like we're we're changing gears. It's like they're going from doing nothing, you know, feeling comfortable and safe, s being a hundred percent reactive to whatever's coming in the door and Basically, those people are letting their career and their practice happen to them. And you know, that's a matter of luck. And so, you know, what I'm helping people do is be intentional and actually create the practice that they want based on the things that they like about the work that they do or the people that they work with. And so again, you know, when you pick a focus for your marketing, it's not like you change, you know, the headline on your Well, I guess you could change the headline on your LinkedIn. But it's not you're not like making a declaration. It's just you're using that to guide your next step. So I think of it as like, all right, let's think about over the next six months, where do we want to make a concerted effort to build your reputation as the go-to person for something? And then kind of take those steps that we already kind of went through and commit to a few things. Like, all right, I'm gonna join this organization and see about getting involved over the next twelve months. And I'm gonna write, you know, three LinkedIn posts and I'm gonna make sure my rep matters, you know, there's a highlighted section in my rep matters that are specifically showing the the work that I've done before specific to this area and really just kind of tailor your marketing efforts. To that specific audience. And then after six months, you'll see if if you've made some traction there. I've never worked with someone who regret taking action. You know, maybe we're changing things. And that's the thing, too. It's like some people will spend way too much time trying to come up with the perfect focus. And God, yeah. The market will more or less tell you. if you're on the right track and you'll probably kind of wiggle a little bit and you need other people to validate that kind of the direction that you're going. It's not something that you can do through self reflection alone. ⁓ there is a little bit of a challenge 'cause it's not an immediate validation. It's not like, ⁓ this was the perfect pick because now the f the work is flowing in. ⁓ so it takes a little bit of persistence there, but it it will one hundred per move you forward versus kind of where I see people who are who are sticking to this broad messaging that are moving so slowly and in a hundred different directions. So even if you're like moving and then have to pivot a little bit, you'll still be further ahead than than you were not doing anything at all. Yeah. Yeah. And and it's and like you said, you know, you and I both are building our own practices and We practice what we preach because that's how we get business. Right. And so 'cause it works. Yeah. And this is definitely something where, you know, I'll have a new program and I'll push it out through different channels. And I'm like really I I started one for individual attorneys. Most of my work is usually a law firm hiring me and I put together, you know, cohorts inside of a law firm. I wanted to try something different with attorneys that were either solos or their firms didn't have anything internally. And so I created this program for individual attorneys and really like marketed that and was a little nervous like, are the law firms that hire me gonna gonna feel like this is moving away from the value that I bring to them? And what actually happened is I got a bunch more law firm clients. Like just the fact that I was being so active Yeah. People saw me and then they're like, ⁓ can you do something for our firm? And I was like, Yes, actually that's all I've ever done for the last eight years. But so anyway. That's the point. Yeah. Yeah. It definitely This is one of those things where I'm like, you know, I've read books about, you know The business of expertise, which David Baker wrote, which is really good. And he works a lot with ⁓ people on the advertising side, but there's so many parallels with legal that I definitely recommend lawyers read that book. But since I've been kind of preaching this, it's it's only been reinforced. ⁓ and I think as technology changes and all of these things, the world evolves, being a general practitioner in the legal space is gonna be a hard hard thing to build from scratch. Yeah. Totally is. And I mean, I appreciate you talking about your fear of that because I have that same fear is, ⁓ my God. I remember when I was starting my practice and twelve years ago my coach said, You need a target market. And I'm like, I know how important it is, but really like and so we came up with attorneys, but what helped me was he said, look, commit to it. For three months. And if it doesn't work out, we will re-evaluate it. That's it. Like, just commit to it. That was 11 years ago, you know, where I committed to it. I was like, okay, I'm gonna do this and boom, moving forward and haven't moved off of it. But I love what you were saying in regards to you get so much intel from the market, from your network, from your friends and family that they will either validate it or they'll be like, That's like, I don't know if that's so good, you know, so that you can be like, okay, I'm gonna move. And to your point, you're doing something. You're actually doing something as opposed to being vanilla or not doing anything at all. Because people just don't like that. They really don't. And they, especially if you are thinking about charging premium pricing for what? For your expertise. They want to know, not just because you have a JD after your name, but that you can actually solve their problems. And they go, Yeah, this is a person, because I don't want a general practitioner. You know, I want somebody who really understands my situation, whatever that may be, and can help me get out of it. And that's where the highest paid attorneys are at. They're not like, it reminds me of the office. Do you ever watch The Office? Of course. Okay. So you remember that when they were doing the emails and you couldn't send out any email? And Michael ⁓ was totally against it and he hired an attorney. And the attorney comes into the office after he's just been told that the ⁓ company was giving him an attorney. And the attorney goes, What do you mean? You you you're you're firing me already? Like I put a lot of time into this, and then he looks in the camera and he goes, If you if you got a slip and fall, if you need an estate plan done, if you need a contract, if you do ⁓ we do it all, we do it all. And you just go, God, like it's so cringy to hear that aspect, but it's done, right? And and people need to ditch it down. It's just Well, the difference is it puts a lot of responsibility on you. So like that lawyer who does it all, they're not telling you as a prospect that they do it all, like If for whatever reason you get referred to them, then it's on the attorney to really sell themselves and prove that they have the capability to handle this work. When you have a focus, everything in the ether proving your ability to do this work. And so the lawyer themselves very rarely has to demonstrate that I have the expertise because it's all like do a quick Google search and you can see. This is what I do. You know what I mean? And and yeah, that is you can't expect people to come to that conclusion if you this is what you do is a hundred things. If this is what you do is one thing, then people will make the assumption that you actually are the authority here. And so anyway, most of the clients I work with or I've I've met very few attorneys that like to sell themselves. ⁓ I think some of them have come gotten into the habit of it. It's like, ⁓ this is just how it goes is, you know, I get a referral from provisors and then I have to explain to them all the things that I've done in this area. It's like, wouldn't you rather that they could clean that really quickly on their own? And then when you do meet with them, it's more of a personality match. They're just making sure that, you know, they would enjoy working with you. Yeah. Great point. I love that. I love that aspect because I I think all of this also leads to confidence because when you're that expertise, you show up as going, I know, I know, I know the questions to ask you, I know the information to glean from you, and I can then help you in a very efficient way, as opposed to I'll try I'll figure it out. And I might miss something because I'm not an expert at it, but I can figure it out. Like it's the law. I can figure that out. And you're like, no. Good guy. And they can't figure it out. It's just the people who are willing to pay you to figure it out. Yes, exactly. They're, you know, they're not paying a premium, that's for sure. Right. Yep. Yeah. And they're like, well, you know, I can only afford this guy, so hopefully he can come through. And who wants to get hired that way? Who wants to be, you know, the low-cost leader of all things legal? And everyone's just kind of. Crossing their fingers that you'll actually figure this out. Yeah. So Yeah. I mean, here's a really good example, not lawyer, but I had I had three knee surgeries and I was going to hire a trainer. And so I would talk to these trainers, and ⁓ the there was one train when they're like, I'm like, what would you s tell me to do? You need to do this and this and I'm like, ⁓ my God, no, that's gonna that's gonna fuck up my knee like there's no tomorrow. And I'll never forget, I talked to this one trainer and he was like, I that's all I do. All I do is people that have had knee surgeries, ⁓ athletes, because that's the biggest thing. And here's what we would be doing ding d-ding-d-ding-d-ding. He was three times as much as everybody else. And it took me a millisecond to make the choice of I want him. Like it was immediate. I'm like, yeah, I like you get it, as opposed to these other people might screw up my knee. And I might be having a force surgery on this and they don't understand what I'm going through. This guy did, and I was willing to pay it. Like, I'm like, I know that I'm going to get results faster. I'm not gonna get hurt. And he just gets me. He can talk, you know, physiology with me that makes me go, ⁓ I'm gonna learn something and I'm gonna know what to do as opposed to what not to do, you know. And ⁓ it's just there's so much nuggets from this, Lana. Thank you. Like, holy shit, you know, like from you're not going to eliminate the business. So don't have that fear. Know what you're actually going to have as a reputation over the next 12 months. What do you want it to be? It's going to make you a lot more efficient with your expertise. You're going to understand the struggles of them. You're going to know where to show up. You're going to get more sophisticated work that's going to allow you to charge more. You're going to be memorable. And then action steps like starting with your website bio, put social proof on there, get the awards and the recognitions, be in leadership roles within those professional associations, show up where those people are actually at, where you're networking, and teach. Like do topics that are sophisticated so that people can really understand exactly what you want your reputation to be. ⁓ and it's just this has been a treasure fucking trove. Thank you. Like you're huge. Thank you. Thank you. I really appreciate you being on here. And if anybody wants to hire her, and you should, if you're struggling with any of this stuff, anything that has to do with business development or marketing, contact her. I'm gonna put all of her contact information in the notes. Reach out to her, follow her on LinkedIn. She puts great content out there. ⁓ that is very specific for attorneys that helps them out. She's giving a treasure trove of stuff not just today, but just on a regular basis, which is why I wanted you on here because I know how intelligent you are and how giving you are. So thank you. Thank you for coming onto the podcast. Thanks so much, Gary. This has been so fun. Yeah. And we'll have to do it again. Hopefully sooner than later. All right. Thank you. Thanks. That's it for today's episode of Unfuck Your Legal Marketing. If you got a spark of inspiration Learn something new, or at least got a good laugh. Make sure to follow, rate, and share this with someone who needs to hear it. Thanks for hanging out with me and remember, the best marketing is the one that actually sounds like you. See you next time.