It’s not like you have to hire him to get the Ipod.  Just register for updates. Talk about easy.  Since I don’t have an Ipod, and I have nothing against freebies, I considered it, but realized that the chances of my needing a Scottish Solicitor were really slim, and it would be wrong to take his Ipod without much of a chance of giving him business in return.

It appears that “social media” has done well for Inksters, producing 22% of its new clients.  You can’t argue with success, and you can’t blame Brian for being a huge fan of social media as a means of marketing his firm.  He puts the “solicit” in Solicitors. 

So I wondered, how would that work for criminal defense lawyers.  Would a free iPod be enough of a draw?  Commit a crime and get a Nano?  Maybe with a docking station? That might be good enough for an infraction, maybe even a low-rent misdemeanor, but hardly much of a draw for any serious crime.  Maybe a Kindle?  Nah. Not that many potential clients are big readers.  They would just fence it.

What about something really big, really shiny?  Get a free Laptop (choice of colors) with every Class “B” felony or higher?  Maybe, except for kiddie porn defendants, for whom this could present a real problem.  And almost everyone already has a computer, so it might not do the trick for getting a defendant motivated to fight those decades in prison.  Plus, it could serve to keep decent criminals at home, playing computer games, rather than push him onto the street to wreak much havoc.  That wouldn’t help much.

No, if we’re going down the premium road, it would have to be something that would provide just the right incentive to not only bring the client in the door, but keep him coming.  After all, repeat business is the foundation of legal success.

That’s when it hit me.  For every 10 felony defenses, get one free!  I could make up little cards, and each time a client returned for yet another criminal defense, I could punch a little hole around the edge, obliterating a gun or maybe a baggie of heroin, to signify how close he was to his free defense!  We could have a different card for white collar criminals.  Maybe platinum colored with little checkbooks or backdated stock options.  With proper branding, it could create quite the cache next to his AmEx card in his wallet.

Now that we’ve broken through the wall of hardcore marketing, what with half-price sales, BOGO free and iPod giveaways, the possibilities are endless.  I can’t wait to hear from you. Operators are standing by.