"I am a new attorney in the Northeast looking for a way to get clients. My practice areas are Bankruptcy and litigation. I understand the fundamentals of building a referral base and SEO and are implementing the same now, but those are long term strategies. What is a starving attorney to do in the meantime? This is where I hope you can help me."

This is a question that came into my inbox this week, and it's a good one. "Affordable attorney marketing" is the quest when you open a new law practice, or need to rejuvenate an existing one. 

Here are a few ideas that come to mind:

1. Join a lawyer referral network. Many local bar associations offer a referral network. While you won't get rich, you should start to get a few cases coming in. This can give you visibility in the courts and among your peers. 

2. Use LinkedIn to build your network and stay connected. Use the "Share an Update" feature from your LinkedIn home page to post an interesting item every 1-2 weeks. This will keep you "top of mind" with those you know. 

3. Test a small Google AdWords campaign. While this can be expensive, it is possible to set daily limits on your ad budget and focus on a small geographic area. Also, be sure to filter out terms that don't apply to you with the negative keywords feature. 

4. Start a blog. Demonstrate your knowledge in bankruptcy, litigaion, and other practice areas with an educational blog. WordPress or Blogger allow you to start a blog quickly and easily. Actually the set up is the easy part. Write at least 1-2 blog posts per week, focusing on practice area keywords and also relating stories to your geo area of coverage. Feed the blog posts through other social medial (LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook) using a service like Hootsuite. Select a URL with important keywords to help get online recognition. 

5. Consider BNI or similar lead groups. This can help you to meet other professionals and get the word out about your legal services.

Overall, have lots of business cards and network, network, network! Tell everyone you know what you do. Marketing to those you know is your best source of new business fast. Picking a niche for your practice can also help your marketing dollars work smartly.