COVID – 19: How To Build A Strong Business Network And Personal Brand While At Home.

 

The invisible novel coronavirus has placed a halt on work and business leaving us in a state of uncertainty. Its impact on businesses especially SMEs is crushing. Businesses including law firm owners are faced with the challenge of running “business as usual” from their homes as the government policies on lockdown keep unfolding.

 

“Working from Home” (WFH) is the new acronym that has suddenly become a part of our daily vocabulary.

What can you do to keep business alive, be proactive in these times? What activities can you and your staff engage in to stay relevant and be in business?

It is quite obvious that most of your clients and prospects are right now stuck at home. Yes, quite a number will be working from home. Your prospective clients have a lot of downtimes and they are keeping themselves busy and entertained with their phones or hand-held devices; there is no better time than now, to get right in front of them to establish your brand.

 

At the moment Netflix views are at an all-time high, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are raking in trillions of dollars as the data subscription levels are skyrocketing. I am sure you can bear witness to this as you might have spent a bit more on data.

If you are serious about growing your practice, this is not the time to join in the relaxed bandwagon but it’s time to seize the opportunity and get your prospective clients’ attention.

So how can you use this to get that edge you are looking for and build a strong brand and network? The answer is quite obvious and simple – build a strong online presence.

In this post, we would be showing you in 6 steps on how to achieve this on LinkedIn even if you don’t have a website. There are other channels and platforms that can be used but we will be focusing on LinkedIn today.

 

Let’s get right into this.

Step 1

Create or Update Your Personal LinkedIn Profile – Let your profile show your knowledge and achievements around your areas of expertise. It should focus on highlighting your strengths, personality, and passion for what you do. This goes too for any lawyer working in your law firm.

 

Step 2

Setup Your Law Firm’s Company Page – Create a compelling Company Page for your law firm that promotes the areas of law you specialize in. Provide some case studies to show how your firm has delivered a positive outcome, and perhaps offer a FREE Industry report or educative piece to prospective clients.

You have a good idea of the challenges your clients face in relation to getting solutions, why not create content that educates them. You can start with a piece of content a day and increase it subsequently.

 

Step 3

Promote Your Expertise – You simply do this by creating content or articles that showcase your firm’s area of expertise and provide some general help and guidance to your prospective clients. The purpose of this content is to build up your personal brand and that of your lawyers, as well as the firm’s brand and reputation.

Now you’ve built a great profile so that when someone refers you, the prospective client will see an impressive profile with some great content. The next step is to get as many prospective clients to see your profile, to read your content and to get in touch when the time is right.

 

Step 4

Leverage Your Business Network on LinkedIn -The next step is to reach out to your prospective clients to expand your exposure.

Invite Your Clients To Connect – Go through your database or list of contacts and make sure you’re connected with all your current and previous clients on LinkedIn. The power of LinkedIn comes through the 2nd-degree connections, and so building your network with people who recommend you will help you to attract more clients.

Step 5

Get Some Testimonials On LinkedIn – This will require a bit of work from you especially when you are just starting and there could be confidentiality issues to consider, but you’ll attract a lot more clients by building credibility.

The best way to build credibility is to have your clients speak on your behalf. So ask for recommendations from those clients that you feel comfortable asking. Although this takes time, it is worth it because those testimonials are on your LinkedIn profile forever, and you can also copy them over to your website, etc.

 

Step 6

Reach out to Prospective Clients – Strategically go through your 2nd-degree connections and create a campaign where these people will want to connect with you on LinkedIn.  You can use LinkedIn’s Advanced Search function to find your target market.  For example, if you want to connect with all CEOs, directors, and partners from Lagos, Nigeria who have a company size of 10 – 30 staff and are within the oil and gas sector, you can easily do this on LinkedIn.  When you’ve done this for a few weeks, you’ll see the power and potential LinkedIn can offer you. I will also recommend you upgrade to the Business Plus Premium LinkedIn account when you’re ready to reach a higher number of prospective clients each day. But a regular account is fine to start with.

 

Step 7

Establish a Conversation with Your New Prospects – Once connected, send them a sequence of 3 messages that are sale-sy or annoying but rather personal, thoughtful, and meaningful.

 

Your objective is to meet them in person or at least over the phone so they can get to know more about your services. From here, you continue to build the relationship offline – but these clients will also see your updates and content as they come up in their feed – so it’s all about staying top of mind.  When they need your services or know someone who does, they’ll be confident to recommend your firm.

 

LinkedIn is a gold mine of opportunity. If you are consistent with these steps blocking about 1-2 hours daily, it will help generate a steady flow of new inquiries to your law firm and help you stand out from the hundreds of your competitors that seem to be paralyzed when it comes to taking action on using Social Media.

So, let’s get busy. Just in case you need so more help on knowing exactly how to get started feel free to mention in the comment section below or reach out to us at support@legalpediaonline.com.