If you have a web-site, you need some way to capture the contact details of those who visit, so you can keep in touch with them, and stay in the forefront of their minds. Then (so the theory goes) when they need a solicitor they will think of you first.
The standard way of doing this is by offering a ‘free’ newsletter. This must offer something of value, or people will not sign up. Most contain news items, articles and tips on the newsletter subject matter, and general information about the firm (i.e. new services, staff members, etc).
I have run a newsletter for years. I have two, one for members of my Landlord-Law service (a subscription site providing information and resources for private residential landlords and tenants), and a free one which anyone can sign up to. Although in point of fact they are actually more or less the same. The chief difference is that the members version cuts out the paragraph suggesting that they join up!
The main reasons why people like my newsletters are the tips (one for landlords and one for tenants) which are always at the top, and the news section. Readers appreciate being kept up to date and made aware of significant legal changes in their area of work or interest.
There are many landlords and tenants (and letting agents and solicitors) who signed up for my free newsletter who have subsequently gone on to become a full member of my service. However often this has only been after several years, so don’t expect results immediately. It is a long term thing.
If you are planning on doing a newsletter, it is best to deal with a specific area of work or client type (as mine is mainly for landlords). You can then concentrate on information and news which are important to your readers. I find that the prospect of having to write monthly news items also makes me more aware and noticing of what is going on in my field. Which is beneficial for me as a specialist.
I think a general firm newsletter is less likely to succeed. People’s time is precious today and they will only want to read a newsletter if it is relevant to them. On the whole, people are not interested in your latest charity fundraising activities, the fact that you have three new secretaries, or your latest web-site makeover. What they are really interested in is “are there any new legal developments out there which will affect me or my business?”
If you are the person to inform them of a new legal development, and if at the same time you tell them about a new service you are offering to help them deal with it, they are more likely to come to you than another firm.
So the best way forward is to decide on which areas of law and practice your firm wishes to major in and provide a newsletter for that (although for larger firms there is no reason why you should not do two or even three specialist newsletters).
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I agree entirely with you that e-mail newsletters are a very powerful tool. We have been sending them out, on a broadly monthly basis, for a couple of years now. Although my law firm operates a number of niche areas, our newsletter is a general one. Despite being a small to medium-sized solicitors firm in a rural area, we have just under 1000 people opening our e-mail newsletter every month — with opening rates of approximately 15 — 20%. I’m sure that specialist newsletters can be highly effective — but so can more general ones. It’s all down to a question of content- we don’t buy in our newsletter content but write it ourselves, making it interesting and informative and clients and prospects seem to love it.
Maybe being in a rural area your clients are more likely to know you or members of your staff personally and are therefore more likely to read it.
Generally I think newsletters from solicitors firms have a bit of an edge as people like to think that they are getting legal information for free! And yes, I think doing your own content is definitely a bonus, if you can get people to do it.
Things have moved on a bit with me since I wrote this post – I now use Constant Contact to deal with the mailings which helps a lot and there are far less bouncebacks.