Solo Practice

If you are reading my blog chances are you have a certain comfort level on the internet, do searches through popular search engines such as Google, Yahoo and others, maybe book airline flights, order from Amazon, joined Facebook and/or LinkedIn.  My readers run a range of ages but they all have one thing in common - they found me using the internet as I do not market myself any other way. My target audience IS on the internet primarily.

Do you know how your potential client will find you?  Have you done a survey of your existing clients or studied secondary information if you are just starting out to determine the best marketing/advertising vehicles to reach them?  With money tight, the scatter shot approach is foolish and wasteful of scarce resources.  The old approaches may just not be effective at all.

Here are some interesting statistics for you.  And given we are living in an aging demographic (meaning the mean average age of the American is getting older) this collection of information should hold some interest for you:

Jay Foonberg spoke at the National Solo and Small Firm Conference in Santa Fe the first week of October and stated the following:

As of 2006, 22% of blue-collar Americans and 11% of middle class Americans find their lawyer in the yellow pages. (H/T Lisa Solomon for the Tweet)

This statistic is two years old.  It's fair to say this number has most likely decreased as more homes include computers and training on computers. Anecdotally, look at your own personal increased computer usage and those around you these past two years.

In the September/October 2008 edition of AARP, the editors compiled statistical data from surveys by Focalyst and Dynamic Logic, and the Pew Internet and American Life Project:

Think technology is just for the young?  Thing again.  A significant number, 37.6 percent to be exact, of Americans 62 and older are now logging on and taking advantage of the World Wide Web.  These 'Connected Matures' - a whopping 17 million individuals - spend an average of 44 minutes a day surfing the Net. (That totals almost 750 million minutes each day!) And despite the commonly held stereotype, this group is doing a lot more than just e-mailing their grandchildren and looking at family photos.

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52% of Americans 62-71 years of age are online

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Who's Doing What?

• 59%  - using search engines
• 59%  - keeping up with family and friends
• 43%  - checking out news, current events, and weather
• 38%  - getting health - related information
• 23%  - paying bills
• 21%  - playing games
• 13% -  accessing education and training

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Here are some broad characteristics of 62-plus individuals who are online, compared with those who aren't connected.

Attended college           75%    Online             42%  Not Online
Employed                     26%                          13%
Married/Partnered          70%                          48%
Annual Household        $55, 000                     $27,000
  Income

If you look at your practice areas, this type of information can help you direct your marketing/advertising dollars from blogs to Google adwords, Yellow Pages to particular magazines, newspapers, targeted mailings and more.  But you must know who your audience is and their uses of various media.

US adult Internet users surveyed spent an average of 21 hours per week online, according to a study conducted in May 2008 by Illuminas for Cisco Systems.

And, not surprisingly, the group who uses the internet the most is the affluent:

The researcher found that the average number of hours logged weekly increased with income, and that users in the top income tier spent nearly 6 more hours online per week than those whose incomes ranged from $100,000 to $150,000.

Based upon some of this information, you should now look at the vehicles you are using to present your services to the world.  Does it jibe?  If you are doing immigration in blue-collar, urban areas with high unemployment are you using a state of the art website with flash as your only vehicle?  Wouldn't make sense.  If you are doing complicated trusts and estates for the affluent in Miami are you using Yellow pages and billboards?  I hope not.  You may be the best at what you do, but make sure you are focusing your marketing/advertising dollars and efforts in the vehicles your potential clients are using.