Law Firm Marketing for Solos: How Niches Can Lead to Riches
Sunday, September 9, 2012

Solo practitioners face a never-ending challenge of taking whatever business comes in over the transom in order to pay the bills, or concentrating on one area to build a niche practice. It becomes a question of short-term focus vs. long-term strategy – and I realize that most solos need to balance both in order to survive.

However, for the long term, nicheing your practice is definitely the way to go. This does not limit you; rather, it helps you better focus your efforts and build a strong base of business.

There are 4 common ways to determine your niche:

Service Niche: labor/employment, complex litigation, immigration, healthcare, IP, etc.

Industry Niche: transportation, construction, energy, real estate development.

Geographic Niche: L.A., Southern California, Chicagoland, DFW Metroplex, etc.

Specialty Market Niche: privately held companies, Fortune 500, physicians, white collar executives, blue collar construction workers, Spanish-speaking only, developers, commercial lenders.

Another way to help determine your niche is to track the inquiries from prospective clients to determine what’s drawing them to you and your services. See if they don’t begin to naturally fall into one or more groups. Becoming aware of these commonalities is a way to let your niche find you, helping you develop your law firm marketing.

It’s fine to have more than one specialty or niche. Often attorneys have a bread and butter niche – a segment that can afford to pay them well -- and another one that they love working with but that pay lower rates. Sometimes it’s helpful to test the waters to see if there’s a demand for your specialty. You can continue working with an established clientele as you determine whether or not to branch out into a new practice area.

Once you niche your practice, you will find that referrals come more readily to you, since it will become clear in referral source’s mind just exactly what it is you do. 

 

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