Category: Communication Media & Internet

How a Smartphone App Aims to Replace Attorneys

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A smartphone app that allows users to create, sign and send legally binding documents is the latest tech tool developed to shake up the delivery of legal services.  And its name, aptly enough, is Shake.

Shake is the brainchild of Abe Geiger, an entrepreneur who found that standard contracts were too cumbersome and complicated to meet the needs of today’s business world, even though he has access to all the free legal advice he needs (his wife is an attorney).

As with so many other inventions, Shake started with the thought that, “There has to be a better way.”

Smartphone App Legal Services

With some Silicon Valley VC funding, Geiger and his team set out on their mission, which is posted on their website:

Our mission is to make the law accessible, understandable and affordable for consumers and small businesses. We want to empower our users to share ideas, goods, and services without the fear of being stiffed for a freelance gig or putting their business at risk.

Geiger said he believes that change in the legal industry will be driven by small businesses and consumers, not by lawyers and law firms.  He says that the legal market is huge, inefficient, underserved by technology and begging for change.

Sounds like he has more than one reason to shake things up.

Carolyn Elefant, who blogs about solos and small firms at MyShingle.com, wrote recently in an Above the Law post that the app won’t displace real lawyers because the people who want to use an app or a website for their legal documents are not likely to hire an attorney anyway.  I tend to agree.

I also agree with Geiger’s assertion that people are looking for more technology-based solutions for their legal problems, even if that “problem” is only a freelance contract or a NDA.

What attorneys should take away from this is that the market is moving toward technology much faster than most lawyers are, and making technology solutions available to clients – something as simple as downloadable documents off a secure website – is the new way your clients are defining good customer service.

Article by:

Stephen Fairley

Of:

The Rainmaker Institute

How a Lawyer can Start a Successful LinkedIn Group for Business Development (Part 2 of 3)

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In my previous post, we looked at some preliminary steps attorneys can take to plan a LinkedIn Group. Once you’ve laid this foundation, it’s time ask yourself three questions:

LinkedIn

  • Has the niche you seek to fill with your group been addressed by existing, active groups?
  • Is the focus of your group going to be broad enough to attract a reasonable amount of participants, while being narrow enough to attract your target audience?
  • Are you able to commit to starting meaningful discussions on a daily or weekly basis, encouraging group members to participate in the conversation and removing posts that are spammy or overtly sales-oriented? (This is your last chance to back out!)

Now that you are ready to take the plunge, you’ve got some housekeeping items to attend to:

1. Develop a Strategy

Draft a brief outline of your group’s focus, target audience and goals (both for the group and for yourself). State some objectives for the group, such as, “Inform members of timely news and events” or “Enhance the interaction among professionals in this industry.” Your outline should include a content plan that identifies, for example, the types of timely issues and events your group will track. Identify how you will track this information. Put as much detail into your group plan as you can prior to launching it, to ensure that you have a clear roadmap to guide your efforts.

2. Name Your Group

LinkedIn Groups are used to attract and coalesce like-minded people, so the group name should reflect the interest area. The name is also important as a search term – what words will your target audience type to find your group? Spend some time searching LinkedIn Groups to see what is already being used and what would work best for your group. Also, keep it under 54 characters – if it’s any longer, the title will get cut-off in a search.

3. Get a Logo

A logo is a key element in presenting your group as a professional entity. If you have an in-house designer, talk with him about your group and share your strategy so he can design something appropriate. If you don’t have an in-house designer, ask around for a freelancer. This process shouldn’t take long, but it will go a long way toward giving your group an identity.

4. Create Your Group

When you create your group on LinkedIn, you’ll not only want to have your logo ready to upload, but you’ll also want to post a group summary and a list of group rules for members to refer to.

5. Finally – Invite Contacts to Join!

  • Use your existing network to build an initial membership base. Invite coworkers, past colleagues, and clients (who fit the group’s profile) to join the group. LinkedIn will allow you to send out up to 50 announcements per day to your connections.
  • As manager of the group, regularly support group members who start, and contribute to, discussions. Do this by commenting, liking and sharing their posts.
  • It is permissible to visit similar groups of which you’re a member and mention your group. Politely compliment the group and then mention that you’ve got another group that members in your group’s niche may want to consider joining.

This is the second post in a three-part series detailing how lawyers can start successful LinkedIn Groups to foster their business development efforts. For Part one, click here.

Article by:

Aileen M. Hinsch

Of:

Knapp Marketing

Google Sticks a Fork in Guest Blogging for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

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Last month, Google’s Matt Cutts, who heads up the search engine giant’s webspam team, wrote this on the Google Webmaster blog:

So stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy. In general I wouldn’t recommend accepting a guest blog post unless you are willing to vouch for someone personally or know them well. Likewise, I wouldn’t recommend relying on guest posting, guest blogging sites, or guest blogging SEO as a link building strategy.

So should you halt your guest blogging efforts?  Well, in a word, no.  Because SEO is not the only reason you guest blog – either on other blogs, or hosting guests on your own blog.  Which is why Cutts later updated his original post to say this:

Google SEO Search Engine Optimization

It seems like most people are getting the spirit of what I was trying to say, but I’ll add a bit more context. I’m not trying to throw the baby out with the bath water. There are still many good reasons to do some guest blogging (exposure, branding, increased reach, community, etc.). Those reasons existed way before Google and they’ll continue into the future.

Guest blogging used to be ONE way to develop quality links back to your own website or blog. Unfortunately, those trying to game the system with low quality content have made it – as Cutts says – a spammy practice.  Those that use guest blogging as their sole source of link building will now be out of luck and may even be penalized.

But I would still recommend guest blogging as a way for attorneys to spread their authority to other audiences that may not have otherwise been engaged by your own blog or website.  It can also still be a great way for you to improve the visibility of your firm and, when shared on social media, can help your SEO efforts from that standpoint.

As this blog post and other recent developments at Google demonstrate, you can’t go wrong when it comes to SEO if you pay attention to these 3 things:

1.  Designing a website that provides users with a superb experience – from the way they navigate the site to the information they find there.

2.  Developing high quality, relevant content for your area of practice that people want to read to help them solve the problems they would hire you for, populated with relevant keywords.

3.  Being an active participant on social media networks that your prospects and clients frequent, sharing all that great content you’ve developed for your website and your blog and engaging online with your target market.

Article by:

Stephen Fairley

Of:

The Rainmaker Institute

Call Waiting: Department of Justice (DOJ) to Maintain Scrutiny of Wireless Industry Consolidation

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The wireless industry has seen steady consolidation since the late 1980s.  Recently, in late 2013, reports began circulating about a potential merger between Sprint and T-Mobile, the nation’s third and fourth-largest wireless carriers, respectively.  Last week, however, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, William Baer, the assistant attorney general for the antitrust division at the Department of Justice (DOJ), cautioned that it would be difficult for the Agency to approve a merger between any of the nation’s top four wireless providers.

T-Mobile’s CEO, John Legere, stated that a merger between his company and Sprint “would provide significant scale and capability.”  Baer, on the other hand, warned that “It’s going to be hard for someone to make a persuasive case that reducing four firms to three is actually going to improve competition for the benefit of American consumers,”  As a result, any future consolidation in the wireless industry is likely to face a huge hurdle in the form of DOJ’s careful scrutiny of any proposed transaction.

Much of the DOJ’s interest in the wireless industry stems from the Agency’s successful challenge of a proposed merger between T-Mobile and AT&T in 2011.  Since then, Baer believes consumers have benefitted from “much more favorable competitive conditions.”  In fact, T-Mobile gained 4.4 million customers in 2013, bringing optimism to the company’s financial outlook after years of losses.  In the final two quarters of 2013, T-Mobile’s growth bested that of both Sprint and AT&T.  The low-cost carrier attracted customers and shook up the competition by upending many of the terms consumers had come to expect from wireless carriers, as well as investing in network modernization and spectrum acquisition.  This flurry of activity has pushed the competition to respond with its own deals, resulting in “tangible consumer benefits of antitrust enforcement,” according to Baer.

The DOJ’s antitrust division has kept careful watch over the wireless industry the past few years. That scrutiny will remain, as the Agency persists to advocate that four wireless carriers are required for healthy market competition.  The cards are beginning to play out from the Agency’s decision, and as Baer stated, “competition today is driving enormous benefits in the direction of the American consumer.”

Article by:

Lisa A. Peterson

Of:

McDermott Will & Emery

To Win at Legal Marketing, Know Who Is On The Other Side of the Ball

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Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday!  You know, I believe that legal marketing is as competitive as any sport.  A well-prepared coach will know the facts about his opponent.  A well-prepared trial attorney will not only study their case, but also their opponent.

Marketing your law firm consists of quite a bit of information gathering; learning about top competitors is one of the first steps.

Below is a list of ideas you can use to become acquainted with your competitors to gain an important edge in your legal marketing efforts:

  • Review and analyze their website and social media profiles. You will be surprised what a law firm will reveal on their website and social networks.  Be sure to look up their individual attorneys on LinkedIn and other social networks.
  • Enlist a friend’s help to interview their associates as a potential client. Be prepared with a list of questions before they place the actual call. Choose questions that will reveal important data about the competition. A simple telephone call can produce a wealth of information about the competition’s law firm marketing techniques.
  • Ask them to mail you some information about their law firm. The type of legal marketing material they send out will speak volumes about who they are and how they conduct business.
  • Sign-up for their e-newsletter (using your personal email address, of course). 
  • Use Google to further bolster your law marketing strategic planning. Type in the keywords and phrases someone would use to find your practice area. For example, “LA personal injury lawyer” or “Real Estate Attorney Chicago” or “Estate Planning Lawyer in Manhattan”.  Study the top 10 websites that come up. These are your most aggressive online competitors because they didn’t get there by mistake.
  • Search to see how ‘visible’ they are.  Create a Google Alert for each of your competitors so you can receive news feeds about them as they happen.

Don’t be afraid to ask questions and to investigate as much as possible. Your successful competitors are no doubt learning about you too if they are using the best legal marketing techniques.

Article by:

Stephen Fairley

Of:

The Rainmaker Institute

Legal Intake Software to Track Return on Investment

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Your online marketing campaign is live: the website is up and running, you are ranking well in Google and Social Media is generating buzz around your law firm. You invested well, your phone is ringing, and clients are being signed. But are you tracking which sources are bringing the most revenue and which sources are biting off disproportionate chunks of your budget?

An efficient solution that can take the burden off of you and offer more precision is the use of Intake, or Customer Relationship Management (CRM), software.

Intake software comes in a variety of forms, shapes and sizes – for solo practitioners and for national full service firms – some of which are highly customizable and others that are template-based. Some are made solely to keep track of user information in a database. Some can help set your workflow by assigning leads and scheduling follow ups. And some allow you to assess your marketing strategies by providing Return on Investment (ROI) reports.

Return on Investment is a metric that allows you to compare investments, to see which bring in the biggest returns and which see the biggest losses. For law firms, the best ROI indicators are cost-per-lead or better yet, cost-per-case. Your firm will need to set your own goals and determine which metric is most important to you.

To track ROI you will need to know where each lead originates, how much your firm is spending on that source and whether the lead ultimately converts. The best Intake Software to track ROI should:

  • integrate seamlessly with your intake channels, like quick contact forms and phone calls from multiple sources. (This charting is especially possible when you set up dynamic call tracking.)
  • show the breakdown of leads by specific practice area so you can accurately evaluate your efforts.
  • provide frequent reports to track changes over time or evaluate specific campaigns.
  • be flexible without being cumbersome. Some solutions can be too cookie-cutter and may not fit the individual needs of your firm. Similarly, some intake software can be so difficult to customize and so powerful that it may not be the most cost – and time – effective solution for your firm.

The bottom line is to know what is making you money and what is costing you money. Don’t let your intake process damage your bottom line.

Bearing these criteria in mind, we have reviewed several leading intake software solutions for your firm to consider.

Avvo Ignite

Avvo Ignite
Ideal for any firm size.
Ideal for firms practicing any area of law.
Starts at $199 a month.

Features:

  • Avvo Ignite allows users to set up all tracking numbers and creates a dynamic call-tracking system by providing a code that can be integrated into your website, in online ads and in other marketing avenues. (The only source that might need manual entering is referrals.) This tracking enables attorneys to automatically know where every lead comes from, eliminating the repeated question to potential clients, “How did you hear about us?”
  • The initial setup of Avvo Ignite is quick and easy. The number of marketing sources you want to track, the number of practice areas and the number of attorneys in your firm will determine how much customization is needed beyond initial implementation. An Avvo Ignite product specialist will provide support throughout the entire process.
  • As soon as a lead comes into your firm, it will appear on the Ignite lead management dashboard. From there, leads can be automatically assigned to specific attorneys in the firm. The dashboard is shared by everyone in the firm, ensuring the team can track and manage the progress of all new business prospects from first contact to close.

Avvo Ignite

  • Notifications of new leads can also be delivered directly to your mobile device to ensure that you don’t miss a lead even when you are out of the office.
  • Avvo Ignite has a page built specifically for the ROI Reports. There is a screen to set monthly marketing expenses by source and a report that will compare expenditures over time with the number of leads converted to display cost-per-case for each source.

Avvo Ignite Source ROI

  • Avvo Ignite also features drip email campaign capabilities, and users are able to set the timeline of automatic actions. For example, upon receiving a new inquiry, you can schedule an email to be sent that says “Thank you for reaching out to us.” If the status of a lead is changed to “pending” on day 3 and the person was injured in an MVA accident, you can send an email saying that you are still working on the MVA case and provide additional information. If, say, by day 10 the lead’s status still hasn’t been changed to “client”, you can send an email saying that you are still interested in working with the case.
  • Track how “hot” a prospective client is by assigning 1, 2 or 3 stars based on how interested, willing to pay, urgent, or timely the lead is.
  • Additionally, Avvo Ignite provides custom intake forms that can be built for specific firms and practice areas. They also supply budget requests and online document signatures through secure partner sites that report whether the payment requests or documents were sent, viewed and paid or signed.

Captora Case Intake Software

Captorra
Ideal for any firm size.
Ideal for personal injury and mass tort firms.
Starts at $200 per month.

Features:

  • Tracks which phone numbers are assigned to which leads through a dynamic tracking system, or the origin of the source on the Web if a contact form was used.  For contact forms, Captorra uploads the analytics data that is available from the Web: which search engine the prospective client came from, which keywords they used, and so on. (Note: Keyword data is not available in Google, except via AdWords.)
  • Captorra has several screens for reporting. The Dashboard features a snapshot of the most important information in one place. The Marketing Dashboards provide ROI information for each marketing source.  Management dashboards provide the tracking of individual intake specialist performance in converting leads into signed cases.

Captora Dashboard

  • A dynamic and clickable marketing report allows users to funnel down to the specific lead source and practice area.
  • Through a workflow component, Captorra allows you to schedule your day through features such as scheduling follow-ups and automated email follow-ups that will automatically pull information from the intake database.
  • Captorra supplies pre-made and custom intake forms. Smaller firms may want to use pre-made forms for the most used practice areas to skip customization. More specific intake processes will require that the additional questions be added. Already, Captorra has compiled 300 pre-made questions after one-and-a-half years on the market.
  • The software drives the process of questioning by bringing up relevant questions based on previous answers. For example, if your staff is performing intake for a slip-and-fall case and when asked “Was there a sign?” the client answers “No”, the software may bring up questions about the shoes the client was wearing and other relevant questions.

Captorra Intake

  • Captorra also provides an investigator management and referral (inbound and outbound) tracking system.
  • Captorra will integrate with your firm’s current Case Management System.
  • On a personal note, we found Captorra’s customer service exceptional and very prompt!

Captorra and Avvo Ignite were both designed specifically to address the question of what happens after a wave of prospective clients is delivered to the lawyer – both in terms of the automatic intake process and tracking vital analytical information for your marketing reports.

Microsoft Dynamics xRM4Legal

xRM4Legal
Ideal for a larger firm.
Ideal for firms practicing any area of law, especially firms representing businesses.
Cloud-hosted service is $678 per month for 10 users.
Firm-wide service is a one-time cost of $43,900 for up to 100 users.

Features:

  • Backed by Microsoft Corporation, this CRM was created exclusively with law firms in mind.
  • This software comes with the ability to install Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 for Outlook. CRM for Outlook enables access to your CRM data through Microsoft Outlook. There is also an Apple app available to use the CRM on your Mac products.
  • All customer information is stored on one screen; this CRM does not require users to flip between screens, but rather to tap various fields on one entry screen for complete details.

Microsoft Dynamics, CRM

  • Use organization records to keep track of commercial clients.
  • The records are especially detailed, allowing you to chart details down to office visits.
  • A click- or tap-to-connect feature easily allows you to email, make an appointment, or set a tactic (action item) with your clients.
  • Methodically chart a contact’s progress as your relationship with them grows through the business development pipeline. The pipeline indicates which opportunities the firm has in various stages: qualify, develop, propose, and close.

Microsoft dynamic CRM

  • Navigate the system “by role”, which separates the CRM into various divisions – sales, service, marketing, and so on – allowing each member of your firm to access information relevant to their needs.
  • Easily return to the project you were last working on from the top navigation board.
  • This CRM charts which user entered the last information, providing record-keeping checks.
  • List view of current cases, displaying the work performed by each attorney in your practice. This cases list is helpfully broken down in various ways: cases by origin, case by partner, law type and client, and resolved case satisfaction.
  • xRM4Legal also provides a thorough software demonstration that we found to be very helpful. The demo allows users to explore all of the software’s functionality.

Marketing For Attorneys; The Right Way To Do It

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When it comes to marketing, if an attorney does it at all, they’re usually doing it wrong. Most attorneys focus on getting the clients who are ready to sign a contract. Of course, it’s a logical practice. Why would you want to talk to people who don’t currently need a lawyer? It sounds like a waste of time, but it’s actually one of the best uses of your time.

Let me explain; When someone already knows they want a lawyer, they’re already sorting through all of the lawyers in the area. You’re just another face in the crowd and it’s easy to get lost in a sea of promises.

“We want to help you.”
“Money for your pain.”
“You don’t pay us until they pay you.”

Even if you’re more qualified for the job, you know and I know that doesn’t ever guarantee that you will get the case. What you need to do is make an effort to stand out. How do you stand out? By doing something different.

Marketing to the people who are in phase one of the process (someone who has just gotten into an accident or someone who is simply considering filing for bankruptcy) will give you an advantage.

As an example, think of when you’re awake late at night and you’re not really hungry but then a commercial for a local restaurant comes on and suddenly, you’re craving their special.

If you talk to people before they even know they need a lawyer, you’re at the front of their minds when they come to the decision that they do need one.

There are many simple ways to make sure those people know your name before anyone elses and one of those ways is to produce videos.
A lot of attorneys won’t put forth the effort that it takes to make this kind of marketing strategy work. If you really think about it, that’s a great thing.

If you are willing to put in the effort, you are one of the very few who has this specific marketing technique and – when done correctly – it can bring in high volumes of potential cases.

Article by:

Ben Glass

Of:

Great Legal Marketing, Inc.

California Continues to Shape Privacy Standards: Song-Beverly Act Extended to Email Addresses

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Executive Summary: California retailer restricted from requiring a customer email address as part of a credit card transaction. We knew that asking for zip codes is intrusive personal questioning, and now asking for email has been added to the list.

California’s Song-Beverly Credit Card Act (Cal. Civ. Code Sec. 1747 et seq.) (“Song-Beverly Act” or “Act”) restricts businesses from requesting, or requiring, as a condition to accepting credit card payments that the card holder provide “personal identification information” that is written or recorded on the credit card transaction form or otherwise. “Personal identification information” means “information concerning the cardholder,other than information set forth on the credit card, and including, but not limited to, the card holder’s address and telephone number.” The California Supreme Court has previously ruled that zip codes are also “personal identification information” under the Song-Beverly Act. See Pineda (Jessica) v. Williams-Sonoma Stores, Inc., 2011 Cal. LEXIS 1502 (Cal. Feb. 10, 2011).

Recently, a United States federal district court in California expanded “personal identification information” to include email addresses in a decision denying retailer Nordstrom’s motion to dismiss claims it violated the Song-Beverly Act. The plaintiff sued Nordstrom for collecting his email address as part of a credit card transaction at one of its California stores in order to email him a receipt, then subsequently using his email address to send him frequent, unsolicited marketing emails. See Capp v. Nordstrom, Inc., 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 151867, 2013 WL 5739102 (E.D. Cal. Oct. 21, 2013).

Raising a case of first impression under California law, Nordstrom claimed that email addresses are not “personal identification information” under the Song-Beverly Act, so the Act did not apply. The court disagreed with Nordstrom and found the opposite based on the California Supreme Court’s earlier ruling in Pineda. Nordstrom’s argument that email addresses can readily be changed, unlike zip codes, and consumers can have multiple email addresses was not persuasive. The court held that an email address regards a card holder in a more personal and specific way than a zip code. Unlike a zip code that refers to the general area where a card holder works or lives, email permits direct contact with the consumer and implicates their privacy interests. The court concluded that the collection of email addresses is contrary to the Song-Beverly Act’s purpose to guard against misuse of personal information for marketing purposes. In particular, the plaintiff’s allegation that his email address was collected to send him a receipt and then used to send him promotional emails directly implicates the protective purposes of the Act as interpreted in Pineda.

Pineda held that zip codes are personal information for purposes of the Song-Beverly Act, and therefore a brick and mortar retailer violated the Act when it requested and recorded such data. In the Pineda decision, the California Supreme Court found that zip codes, like the card holder’s address expressly called out as “personal identification information” under the Act, were unnecessary to completing the credit card transaction and inconsistent with the protective purpose of the Act. This is especially true when a zip code is collected to be used with the card holder’s name in order to locate the card holder’s address, permitting a retailer to locate indirectly what it is prohibited from obtaining directly under the Act.

Nordstrom also argued that the plaintiff’s claims under the Song-Beverly Act were preempted by the federal “Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act” (better known as the CAN-SPAM Act), but the court disagreed. While the CAN-SPAM Act contains a preemption provision, it only preempts state laws that regulate the manner in which email messages are sent and their content, both of which are not regulated under the Song-Beverly Act.

Retailer tip: The federal court issuing this most recent decision recommends waiting to request an email address (or a zip code) until after the consumer has the receipt from their credit card transaction in hand, and then sending the consumer emails only in conformance with the CAN-SPAM Act.

In the wake of Pineda, retailers faced class action lawsuits for requesting consumer zip codes at check out. This new decision could have a similar effect.

Article by:

Of:

Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC

Online Legal Marketing Guidelines for 2014

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Lawyers who are exceptionally good at the business of law understand that it is their reputation that is the engine of business development. This is not a novel concept. Provide exceptional representation and client service, people speak highly of you and more people hire you.

In 2014, while this general formula remains largely unchanged, the means by which lawyers can impress clients and the ways in which people communicate the value of a lawyer’s service has evolved significantly. And much of this evolution can be attributed to the internet and related online technologies.

Unfortunately, in adopting online legal marketing strategies and techniques, many lawyers have lost sight of the value of a strong professional reputation built on relationships. Ironically, as social networks and search technologies mature, it will be reputations and relationships that matter most online. Here are some guidelines to help you shape your online legal marketing campaigns.

Set Goals

If you take anything with you from this article, take this: Set specific, tangible and achievable goals for your online legal marketing activities. But not just any goals, goals that have meaning to the business of your law practice. Some examples might be:

  • Increase the number of clients you can source to organic search traffic.
  • Increase the percentage of visitors to your website or blog that complete an objective that will help you earn more meaningful attention.
  • Increase the instances of professional, or where permissible, client endorsements of your services online.

Make these goals specific and realistic. Use real numbers. Create systems to measure and analyze your progress. If you’re working with vendors or consultants, hold them to meeting these goals. Do more of what’s working for you and less of what’s not.

Update Your Online Assets

People expect to be able to find information about you online. And what they find is likely to have more of an impact upon their impression of your than you probably think.

While your website might not get you hired or fired on its own (based on what I’ve seen in the wild, this is becoming more probable), it is sure to contribute to the visitor’s perception of you and your practice.

Web technologies are rapidly evolving. Much of what was state-of-the-art online only a few years ago, is obsolete today. Outdated online assets can be a significant liability to business development. Do you walk into new client meetings with apparel, accessories and technologies from 1950 (perhaps a bad choice of year for some of you)? What message would that send to your potential client? The same is true for your online assets. In 2014, your web assets must:

  • Be built on technologically sound search engine-friendly architectures.
  • Load very quickly (in around a second)
  • Have designs that contribute to the user’s experience and are easy to read, use and interact with on a variety of devices (desktops, tablets and smartphones, responsive design).
  • Resonate with the problems, challenges and issues of your target audience.
  • Demonstrate why you are uniquely positioned to help them solve these problems.
  • Motivate online engagement in the form of comments, subscribers, links, social endorsements and shares.

You probably won’t know when your online assets cost you a new client. It’s unlikely that prospective clients will call or email you to tell you that your site is a joke (although they might if you provide them an avenue for feedback). But if you are getting visitors who don’t engage your pages, bounce off of them, or quickly exit, you might ask yourself whether it has anything to do with the quality of your online assets.

From Self-Promotional to Useful

In case you haven’t noticed, there’s a lot of noise online. Most of it is made by people and businesses talking about how great they are. And the legal profession is no exception. Visit any ten law firm websites, blogs or Facebook pages and you’ll be exhausted by all the “look at me” marketing.

Now put yourself in the position of someone who is looking for information about a legal issue or looking for more information about a specific lawyer. Do you really think they’re persuaded by that pop-up video of a lawyer talking about how much experience they have and how hard they fight? They’re not impressed. And they’re certainly not going to share that cheesy marketing with their friends (unless, of course, it’s in jest).

Instead of building a web presence that feels like a television commercial, focus your efforts on the “stuff” that enhances your professional reputation and helps to create, nurture and solidify relationships. Ask yourself:

  • Who is my target audience online? What makes these people tick?
  • What are they looking for online and what do they like to do?
  • What are they passionate about? What are they afraid of?
  • How can I supply their demand for information in a way that demonstrates my knowledge, skill and experience in addressing their issues?

The internet doesn’t need another article about what to do after a car accident. What it does need is real leadership from people who know what they’re talking about and can be trusted. And it is this approach to online legal marketing that impresses clients, earns meaningful attention, motivates action and earns new clients. Just like it did before there was an internet.

Article by:

Gyi Tsakalakis

Of:

AttorneySync

The New gTLD Program: Latest Updates on Brand Protection and the Trademark Clearinghouse


Katten Muchin

The most significant development in the Internet space in recent years is the ongoing generic top-level domain (gTLD) expansion. (As a reminder, a TLD is what appears to the right of the “dot” in a domain name (i.e., .COM, .ORG, .GOV).) The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has embarked on an aggressive plan to expand the Internet from just 23 gTLDs to more than a thousand gTLDs, culminating in an application process in 2012 that allowed any organization with an interest in running a registry to apply for a new gTLD, provided it could meet the designated technical, operational and financial criteria. After this lengthy application and vetting process, ICANN has now delegated the first 44 gTLDs, with additional gTLDs launching each week. Over the next couple of years ICANN expects to delegate nearly 1,400 new gTLDs – including .CLOTHING, .COMPANY, .EDUCATION, .GURU, .HOSPITAL, .INC, .INVESTMENTS, .LAND, .MENU, .MOVIE, .NEWS, .PHOTOS, .SCIENCE, .SPORTS and .WEBSITE.

ICANN’s new gTLD program presents an opportunity for brand owners to utilize the Internet in ways not previously possible, but also raises new enforcement challenges for brand owners. For the first time ever, brand owners can register their trademarks on domain registries tailored to their target industries. On the other hand, brand owners may also be required to monitor 1,400 additional registries to prevent misuse and abuse of their trademarks. With that in mind, in order to ensure that trademark and brand owners’ rights are protected as the Internet expands, ICANN has devised a Trademark Clearinghouse (TMCH), one of the key new gTLD enforcement tools for brand owners, which now serves as a repository for information regarding trademark rights.

A very important step in developing a TMCH strategy is understanding the benefits of participating in the TMCH. The TMCH offers brand owners two separate services for protecting their brands online:

  • Participation in the Sunrise Period. The Sunrise Period is an initial period of at least 30 days before domain names are offered to the general public. Companies that participate in the TMCH have priority in registering domain names that match their trademarks on any of the new gTLDs to protect them from cybersquatting or to actively use them for strategic business and marketing purposes.
    • To take advantage of the Sunrise Period, brand owners can enter registered trademarks for which they can provide proof of use of the mark.
    • For example, by entering KATTEN MUCHIN ROSENMAN in the TMCH for .LAW, our firm can later register the domain namewww.kattenmuchinrosenman.law to prevent a third party from obtaining that domain name. Alternatively, the firm may choose to redirect its current website to the new domain name and drop the .COM altogether.
    • Opting not to participate in the Sunrise Period does not preclude brand owners from registering domain names matching their trademarks on the new gTLDs. However, once the Sunrise Period expires, brand owners will be competing with the general public on a first-come, first-served basis.
  • Trademark Claims Service. This is a mandatory service that must be available for at least 90 days during the initial launch of a new gTLD (some registries are opting for longer periods). When attempting to register a domain name, the potential registrant receives a warning notice that the domain name exactly matches a verified trademark record in the TMCH. If a potentially infringing domain name registration proceeds, the trademark owner is notified, and the owner can take appropriate action.
    • To take advantage of the Trademark Claims Service, companies can enter registered trademarks in the TMCH (proof of use not required) and be notified of up to 50 domain labels that were found to be abusive by a court under the Anti-Cybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA) or under the Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP).
    • For example, by entering KATTEN MUCHIN ROSENMAN in the TMCH for Claims Service, our firm would receive a notification upon the registration of the domain name www.kattenmuchinrosenman.fail. The firm can take immediate action against the domain name registrant, and transfer or suspend the infringing domain.
    • Deloitte, ICANN’s TMCH provider, recently announced plans for a free Extended Claims Service wherein the TMCH will offer notification to trademark owners of marks listed in the TMCH of domain names registered in any of the new gTLDs that match their marks or abused labels for an indefinite time period after each new gTLD registry’s Claims Period. Brand owners must opt-in for the service.
    • However, unlike the standard mandatory Claims Service, the Extended Claims Service will not provide a warning notice to prospective domain name registrants that an applied-for domain name matches marks listed in the TMCH or their abused labels prior to their registration, thus providing less deterrent effect than the Trademark Claims Service.

There is no deadline to enter marks into the TMCH. However, as of January 3, 2014, ICANN has already launched 44 new gTLDs, and it is anticipated that ICANN will continue to announce the start-up information for additional TLDs on a weekly basis until all 1,400 new gTLDs are delegated. As such, it is recommended to submit your trademarks as soon as possible to allow sufficient time for processing and to avoid missing out on Sunrise registration opportunities.

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Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP