May 18, 2016 – With nearly every lawyer in the world only a few clicks away from potential clients via the Internet, how can your practice stand out from the crowd?

Go niche. That’s the message from Carolyn Elefant, owner of the Law Offices of Carolyn Elefant, Washington, D.C., and author of MyShingle.com, the longest running blog on solo and small firm practice.

Attorneys, especially young lawyers, can better target their audience while becoming known as the go-to specialist in an area by establishing a niche practice.

“Niches are level-izers,” says Elefant, who presented at the 2015 Wisconsin Solo and Small Firm Conference. “There are practice areas today – social media or even marijuana law – that didn’t exist 10 years ago. As a young lawyer, you’re not at a disadvantage to someone who has been practicing for a long time. As a young attorney you want to focus on these new areas because they level the playing field.”

What Is a Niche Practice?

To Elefant, the term ‘niche’ means focusing on a particular segment of the market. “I don’t really consider a niche to be something like family law or estate law, which is just so broad and encompasses so many different areas and demographics.”

Lawyers should define their niche by focusing on a unique segment of the market, such as:

• Demographics. Define your core audience. Women, college students, even football players could be your target.

• Geography. Determine where your clientele is located. For example, you could tailor your practice to assist breweries in all of Wisconsin, or just in a particular locale.

• Subset of a practice area. Instead of practicing consumer law or bankruptcy law, narrow your audience to student loans or a specific type of consumer credit law.

• Delivery method. Don’t need a traditional office? Consider making house calls.

There are many ways lawyers can go niche by targeting particular segments of the market.

Tips for Going Niche

First and foremost, is to do something that you’re excited or passionate about. “One thing that a niche allows you to do is really break out of the rut in your practice,” says Elefant.

Don’t necessarily worry about the financial value of your niche because it doesn’t have to be your whole practice. “You don’t have to leave your ‘day job’ of your regular practice,” says Elefant. “So find something that’s really interesting.”

Secondly, lawyers should work to educate their audience.

“Niche practice really lends itself to an educational type of marketing,” says Elefant. “Put together a small book that answers frequently asked questions about your niche practice, or a checklist that somebody can follow. Those kinds of things have the potential to go viral because people will pass them on from one person to the next.”

Finally, keep your eyes open for emerging areas.

“Read the headlines, see what kinds of things are out there, and see if there’s an opportunity that you can capitalize on because you can be the first mover in this new area and it can really give you an edge,” says Elefant.

Opportunities to Target Your Audience

One of the advantages of establishing a niche practice is the ability to minutely focus your advertising dollars.

“The marketing is very manageable because it is so targeted … You can go right to your audience,” says Elefant.

Instead of jockeying with hundreds of other lawyers trying to market a bankruptcy or estate planning practice, if your niche was dedicated to entrepreneurs from China or Europe, for example, you may even have a small enough audience to experiment with using search terms on Google or Facebook ads, says Elefant. “That’s something that ordinarily would be completely priced out of your market, but because you’re so narrow, it’s something you could experiment with.”

Success with a narrow clientele also means helping to educate them about the solutions available for their legal problems. “Let them know they have legal problems in that area,” says Elefant.

Another great tip is for lawyers to make themselves accessible to reporters.

“One of the websites I talked about at my presentation is called Help a Reporter Out,” says Elefant. “It’s a Listserv where every day there are a bunch of inquiries from reporters on different topics. They are often very narrow topics – about fitness centers or legal issues related to marijuana. You could very easily become a source for a reporter in an emerging area. That’s going to catapult you to the front of the news. There’s no better advertising than that!”

Bring Your Passion to Your Niche

The great thing about establishing a niche practice is that it gives lawyers a chance to pursue their passions, says Elefant. “I really encourage people to explore niche, especially if you really feel that you’re in a rut with your practice. It’s such an easy way to learn new skills without giving up your source of income, your steady job. And it’s also a way to really help make the law. You’re dealing often in areas that are completely new, and completely emerging, and it’s really an opportunity to not just practice law but also make new law and I think that’s very very exciting.”