5 Ways To Use The Reno Rule For Your Law Firm Marketing This Summer

The schools are closed, the kids lining up for ice cream by the truck with that annoying jingle emanating from it. Moms and dads are forking over money for water parks, blockbuster movies and chlorine for the pools.

No work is getting done whatsoever. And here in New York City, we’re facing temperatures closing in on the triple digits all week.

If you have a legal problem and need a lawyer, chances are pretty good that it’s going to wait until Labor Day unless it involves something extremely urgent.

For those of us who get the majority of our business from clients who could conceivably wait for a few months with anything awful happening, the instinct is to pull back on our law firm marketing efforts.

Me? I’m going to double down on my law firm marketing rather than take a breather.  But I’m going to play with the Reno Rule, not just throw money at the table.

Perhaps you’ve never heard of the Reno Rule. It’s a blackjack term that means you can double down only if you’ve got a 10 or 11 on the first two cards. It’s meant to increase the house odds by preventing someone from doubling down on a soft 17 but I follow it in my law firm marketing as well.

See, I like to take a risk – but I’m no fool when it comes to my law firm marketing. I’m looking to up the ante so I can maximize my payout, but in my mind doubling on a soft 17 just isn’t a smart bet. I’m sure a lot of blackjack players will disagree, but doubling down on an ace-6 just feels wrong.

Why double down in the first place?  Everyone else is away, and no business is being done.  Seems like a waste of time, doesn’t it?

Not at all. The competition is off playing, and their eye is off the wheel.  I could play, or I could get some work done and overtake them in business development.  It’s an investment of time and effort to be sure, but it’s easier to win the race when the other folks aren’t even running.

Here are my 5 killer ways to use the Reno Rule in your law firm marketing this summer.

Increase Your Lead In Content Creation On Your Law Firm Blog

Most of the other lawyers in your area are off on vacation with their families, enjoying the sun and sand.  Their content creation is going to slow to a trickle, their blog languishing like a plastic bucket left on the beach by a forgetful toddler.

Not yours, though.  You realize that your law firm blog is a key player in your law firm marketing efforts, and that those pearls of wisdom keep working for you long after you publish them.

I’m not telling you to strap yourself into your chair and write all summer, but just think about the power of one or two posts per week on your law firm blog.  With ten weeks of summer, you could have twenty blog posts up and working for you while the competition is getting a tan.

Make Some Phone Calls To Referral Sources

Nobody is going to be making any major business decisions during the summer, but your referral sources are far more than keys to your law firm marketing success – they’re people, too.  None of them want to be in the office (and neither do you) so make a phone call just to say hi and catch up.  See if they want to grab an iced tea and enjoy the sunshine.  You’ll build rapport, maintain a personal touch, and have some fun.  And when the weather turns cooler, they’ll be more likely to remember you for those referrals.

Catch Up On Your Reading

With so many incredible business books out there, the slow season is a good time to catch up and get some fresh ideas for your practice (may I suggest you pick up a copy of Search Engine Optimization For Lawyers?)  I’ve just finished reading Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur by Richard Branson, and it’s not only a treasure trove of new ideas for my law firm – it’s a fun read.

The side benefit of this is that you can read from anywhere – even from a beach or your back yard.  Law firm marketing with a cool drink in your hand … not a bad idea, right?

Create A Tractor Beam For Your Advertising

I’m a big fan of tractor beams, those pieces of freebie content that you use to entice people to contact you.  No cost or obligation, just free information someone can use to get a better idea of what you do and how you can help.   We’re talking about ebooks, special reports, white papers, and the like.

It’s the most effective piece of my law firm marketing efforts, and the tractor beams I’ve created do the work of a hundred ads.  The problem is that they can take a ton of work to produce effectively if you’ve never done it before, which is why so many lawyers leave this law firm marketing vehicle by the side of the road.

Summer is a great time to hop back into that car and take it for a spin.

You probably don’t have time to focus on putting something together during the winter months when things are hopping, so why not take the time and work on something remarkable right now?

Invest In Your Practice

Maybe you’ve been thinking about some new piece of software or hardware for months but haven’t had the time to implement and learn how to use it.  Or perhaps there’s an incredible educational resource for your law firm marketing that you’ve been meaning to dig into.

Now that things are a bit quieter, you can concentrate on wringing maximum value out of your investment.  This will allow you to reap the benefits in the months ahead rather than ramping up just as the phones start ringing again.

No matter what you do, it’s important to remember that your law firm marketing efforts have a double-down effect when undertaken during the summer months.  Take some time to relax, but remember that those vacations are even sweeter when you’re on top of things and your competition is just realizing that they’ve fallen way behind you.

Use the Reno Rule this summer and you’ll maximize your payout before you know it.

Photo credit:  Bob Owen (flickr).