Publishing a Book to Get More Clients, with Ken Hardison

05/22/20 • 15 min

Ken Hardison has fought for people’s rights as a trusted personal injury lawyer for over 35 years. His ethics, integrity, and passion for his clients helped to build one of North Carolina’s most successful firms, Hardison & Cochran, and a successful Social Security disability firm, Carolina Disability Lawyers, in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Now, as owner and publisher of the law firm management website, Law Practice Advisor, and founder and president of PILMMA, Ken devotes his time to helping attorneys build their own preeminent law practices with proven marketing strategies and management resources. Ken has been recognized as one of the top 100 Trial Lawyers in North Carolina and is a member of the exclusive Million Dollar Advocates Forum. Systematic Marketing is his tenth book. Ken has authored 5 books on marketing and managing law firms. He is a sought-after speaker throughout the country on marketing and managing law firms.

Ken is known as the “Millionaire Maker” due to his coaching clients doubling and quadrupling their law practices and income following Ken’s practice growing advice and insights.

Ken lives in North Myrtle Beach, SC where he enjoys playing golf and fishing when he is not helping lawyers grow their practices.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

Why writing a book is easier than you may think and serves as a fantastic way to market your law firm
Why a book can help you stand out from your competition and position you as a trusted expert and resource for your prospective clients
How there are eleven different ways to leverage your book to generate new clients and double your referrals
Why 20% of past clients won’t refer you no matter what, 20% will always refer you, and it’s the other 60% that you need to help refer you
How a book can help you not just generate clients directly but also can encourage other professionals to refer you
How interview-style infomercials on local TV or radio stations can be a great, inexpensive way to leverage your book
How you can repurpose the content in your book in numerous ways including in blog entries and tip sheets
What publication options are available to help you get your book printed, and how you can even license books directly from PILMMA
Why you should write your book at the seventh-grade level, and why it doesn’t matter much if the people you give your book to actually read it
Why including “questions you should ask when evaluating a lawyer” in your book can position you to be the logical choice, and why a title that catches interest is critical

Resources:

Hemingway Editor: www.HemingwayApp.com
PILMMA Publishing: www.pilmma.org/publishing

Additional Resources:

PILMMA Super Summit: www.pilmma.org/pilmma-super-summit-2020/
PILMMA’s free Coronavirus Survival Kit: www.pilmma.org/free-resources/
Strategic Attorney Coach: https://www.pilmma.org/strategic-attorney-coach/
PILMMA Join Page: www.pilmma.org/marketing-lawyers-law-firm-management/

Ken is known as the “Millionaire Maker” due to his coaching clients doubling and quadrupling their law practices and income following Ken’s practice growing advice and insights.

Ken lives in North Myrtle Beach, SC where he enjoys playing golf and fishing when he is not helping lawyers grow their practices.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

Why writing a book is easier than you may think and serves as a fantastic way to market your law firm
Why a book can help you stand out from your competition and position you as a trusted expert and resource for your prospective clients
How there are eleven different ways to leverage your book to generate new clients and double your referrals
Why 20% of past clients won’t refer you no matter what, 20% will always refer you, and it’s the other 60% that you need to help refer you
How a book can help you not just generate clients directly but also can encourage other professionals to refer you
How interview-style infomercials on local TV or radio stations can be a great, inexpensive way to leverage your book
How you can repurpose the content in your book in numerous ways including in blog entries and tip sheets
What publication options are available to help you get your book printed, and how you can even license books directly from PILMMA
Why you should write your book at the seventh-grade level, and why it doesn’t matter much if the people you give your book to actually read it
Why including “questions you should ask when evaluating a lawyer” in your book can position you to be the logical choice, and why a title that catches interest is critical

Resources:

Hemingway Editor: www.HemingwayApp.com
PILMMA Publishing: www.pilmma.org/publishing

Additional Resources:

PILMMA Super Summit: www.pilmma.org/pilmma-super-summit-2020/
PILMMA’s free Coronavirus Survival Kit: www.pilmma.org/free-resources/
Strategic Attorney Coach: https://www.pilmma.org/strategic-attorney-coach/
PILMMA Join Page: www.pilmma.org/marketing-lawyers-law-firm-management/

Previous Episode

Marketing Your Firm Through the Power of Video, with Nick Veser

Nicholas Veser began his career at an early age on stage and in front of the camera. His creative and leadership strengths eventually landed him Director of Business Travel Sales for The Ritz Carlton, Battery Park in Manhattan. Nicholas then decided to revisit his original passion and joined on with an international media company as a Creative Director and ultimately became Senior Producer for many shows produced by the company. In 2008, he was promoted to Senior Vice President of Production where he thrived in the free and creative environment that he cultivated for the many Scriptwriters, Production Coordinators, Editors, Traffic Coordinators, and Directors of Photography. Under his leadership, the team achieved tremendous success including 32 Telly Awards over a 5-year span.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

How Nick and his wife found their calling helping third-party political candidates get high production value video messages out
Why video can be a powerful marketing and messaging tool for law firms, and why a brand video is just the tip of the iceberg of the types of videos a firm can create
How firms are using diverse topics in their videos to help humanize their firms and entertain and capture the attention of their audiences
Why law firms should have a YouTube channel to boost their presence and maximize their web search rankings
Why a mix of both organic and professionally produced content can be valuable for your YouTube channel
Why sound quality is more important than video quality when you are creating your own video content
Why a great thumbnail image is the biggest deciding factor in whether a potential viewer will decide to click on your video
How Vimeo differs from YouTube, and how each platform has certain benefits and advantages over the other
Why your videos should focus on your clients and their needs rather than focusing on yourself and your firm
Why authenticity and allowing your personality to come through in your videos is the key to making an impact

Resources:

Website: https://libertylinkmedia.com/
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: (610) 203-25502
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/j-nicholas-veser-a7671859/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYuHsmTqkkvEY7DV2gucYHg

Additional Resources:

PILMMA’s Super Summit 2020: https://www.pilmma.org/pilmma-super-summit-2020/
PILMMA’s free Coronavirus Survival Kit: www.pilmma.org/free-resources/
Strategic Attorney Coach: https://www.pilmma.org/strategic-attorney-coach/
PILMMA Join Page: www.pilmma.org/marketing-lawyers-law-firm-management/

Next Episode

Client Acquisition in the Internet Age, with Harlan Schillinger

Harlan Schillinger has four decades of experience in legal advertising with a passion for legal marketing, intake, and conversion. Harlan is widely considered the Grandfather of Legal Advertising, being the very first in the Legal field to produce and market Television Advertising for the Legal community. Harlan’s commercials started airing throughout the country in 1978-79.

Harlan has worked with more than 130 law firms in over 98 markets throughout North America. Currently, he is consulting privately only with lawyers who share his vision of increasing business, being accountable, and obtaining high-value cases. He takes, perhaps, the most unique and accountable approach to intake and conversion and insists on complete accountability within that arena.

In April 2016 Harlan retired from Network Affiliates of Lakewood, Colorado, the nation’s first and largest Full-Service Legal advertising agency, where he was the leader of their attorney marketing efforts for over 34 years. Before joining Network Affiliates in 1985, Harlan was Vice President and one of the founding partners of Madison, Muyskens & Jones advertising agency in Lakeville, Connecticut. In 1975, along with his partners, Harlan founded the first syndication TV production firm for high-end retailers and Lawyers, creating television commercials that aired throughout the United States and Canada.

What you’ll learn about in this episode:

How Harlan began legal advertising on television all the way back in 1978, and how he joined Network Affiliates and has worked with top lawyers all over the nation
How new client acquisition has changed significantly over the course of Harlan’s career, and how the internet has completely altered the face of legal marketing
How few firms are “players” in the internet legal marketing space despite almost all firms having a website, and why “what you don’t know, you don’t know”
How today’s TV audience is much more fragmented due to the advent of streaming services and the decline of network television
What key mistakes Harlan sees lawyers often make, and why complacency and following other lawyers’ methods without innovating are critical errors
Why many firms have significant room to improve their intake conversion processes, and why large and small firms deal with different problems with the same end results
Why social media is an increasingly powerful platform, especially during the pandemic, and why video content is the key to unlocking social media’s potential
How YouTube is one of the most powerful search engines on the internet, and why hiring the right people to help you create your YouTube presence is necessary
Why the secret to reaching people and getting your message across is to understand what content people are consuming and how they consume it
Why differentiating yourself from your competitors and offering a unique value proposition is a necessary ingredient for growth

Resources: