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Why Use Direct Mail Marketing for Virginia Attorneys
In today’s world, information is at your fingertips. You can simply “Google It” and it is there for your review. This available technology is why so many criminal defense attorneys have flocked to the internet to advertise their services. With pay per click advertising and search engine optimization, a Virginia Attorney can have a nice website and provide information about their practice to their potential clients before the phone rings. Websites containing, pictures, videos, blogs, and reviews coupled with social media accounts allow the potential clients to now research an attorney before they call them. The problem for the internet marketing attorney is the time and money it takes to get to the forefront of this technology. Thousands of attorneys are clamoring for that top spot in Google, Yahoo, and Bing. The competition is fierce and it can be hard to be found on the internet if you are not in the top spot. What about Direct Mail?
Direct Mail Advertising for Attorneys
Instead of trying to outperform your competition on the internet, why not direct your services to your potential client’s mailbox? Rather than pay Google for AdWords or spend hundreds of hours trying to keep up with optimizing your site and blogging, there is an easier way. Instead of hoping that clients find you, you can find your clients.
If you are an attorney that practices criminal and traffic law, direct mail is available and can be lucrative. This service finds those cases in which a potential client is arrested or otherwise charged with a crime or traffic offense and will send them an advertisement for you. Instead of having to go online, figure out the right keywords to type in, click on a website, read about the services the attorney offers, look them up (essentially doing their own little background check) and try to navigate reviews for that attorney, they can simply call the number listed on your advertisement. The attorney can help the potential client circumvent the attorney research part of their case by reaching out to the client and advertising that you can help them with their particular case. The attorney can essentially sell themselves in the advertising letter.
How Does Direct Mail Work?
When a person is charged with a crime or traffic offense in Virginia, their case is posted on the Virginia Case Information System. This system is updating daily (excluding weekends and holidays) and is set up by Cities and Counties. A direct mail marketing company will have software that scours the system and retrieves the potential clients from the system. Their software can locate their potential client’s names and address and you now have a lead. At this point, most direct mail services give attorneys two options for the leads: they can provide the attorney the data and the attorney can type it up, print it out, and mail it or let the direct mail company do that for you. One such company that can do this for you is Direct Legal Mail. Direct Legal Mail sells both the data and also does mailings for attorneys as well. With the data, you get leads (also known as records) of individuals who have just been charged with criminal or traffic offenses. You can then use this data to mail merge into your advertising materials and mail off to these potential clients. Alternatively, Direct Legal Mail can handle the mailings for you. Direct Legal Mail mails off several mailings each week day. We try to collect the records as quickly as possible and mail as quickly as possible so that your mail pieces get to the potential clients before other attorneys’ mail pieces do.
The benefit of direct mail is its repetitive nature. Every day (excluding weekends and holidays) Direct Legal Mail is sending out data leads or completed mail-outs to potential clients. Instead of the attorney having to spend hours doing website work and trying to figure out 
Google’s algorithm, the attorney can simply wait for the phone to ring while working on other cases.
Types of Cases for Direct Mail
Any criminal or traffic case that appears on the Virginia Case Information System is an option for direct mail. Whether you wish to send mail for only DUIs or wish to send mail for everything that is listed on the system direct mail for attorneys is available. You can expect more leads if you handle traffic cases simply because there are more traffic cases than criminal cases. While advertising for traffic cases will be more expensive than advertising for criminal cases, you will increase your client base the most if you mail for traffic cases. On the other hand, if you wish to save more money by receiving less leads but get higher paying cases, criminal cases may be the way to go. The direct mail marketing campaign strategy is up to you.
What Should go In a Direct Mail Letter?
First and foremost, direct mail is a form of advertising. As an attorney sending advertisements, you will want to refer to the Ethical Rules to ensure your advertisement conforms to the Rules. Direct mail is permitted in Virginia but the ethical rules must be followed closely.
Second, be sure to include somewhere in your letter the charge that the potential client is facing. If they can see that you handle cases similar to what he or she is charged with, the next step is for them to call you. Again, rather than looking around online for an attorney that handles the charge or charges the potential client is facing, they can get everything they need from your letter. Just be sure it has your phone number and email address conspicuously on it so that all they need to do now is pick up the phone and call or send you an email.