Be consistent
Make sure your database maintains a consistent format. Ideally, you should have separate fields for first name, last name, email and phone number. It also helps to think of your database as a list of people, not clients. Your client might be an individual, but they might also be a partnership, company or another entity made up of several people. Each person should be separately listed in your law firm marketing database.
Get personal
Personalising emails means your e-newsletters are less likely to be caught in spam filters, and more likely to be opened by your clients and potential clients. To get this right, make sure every person on your database has only a first name in the first name field. Delete any middle names. For example, James Frederick Smith becomes James (First Name) Smith (Last Name) in your database. That way, your e-newsletter starts, “Dear James”. The first name might even be a preferred name rather than a legal name. If you actually know James Smith as Jim, you might put Jim in as the first name. Then your e-newsletter reads, “Dear Jim”. Professional, yet personal.
Stay up to date
From time to time, people change jobs, change emails, or businesses change their names. So it’s important to keep your database up to date if you want to stay in touch with your clients, potential clients and referrers. You can amend your database as new information comes in, or, depending on how you collect new information, you could extract data from Outlook, LinkedIn or your practice management system.
Fix your marketing database today
Taking these three simple steps today will help improve your law firm marketing tomorrow. If you need a hand with extracting data or formatting your database, Lift Legal can help. Ask us about our simple guides to help you extract the data you already have. We run email marketing campaigns for law firms across Australia and know how to make the most of your law firm’s database. Talk to us about a service or tune up for your law firm marketing database today.
