Legal Marketing Archives - Page 34 of 50

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

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

Marketing For Attorneys; The Right Way To Do It

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.

Build Better Relationships in 2014

While social media, mobile advertising, content creation and blogs are important in your new year’s marketing efforts, building strong relationships with clients and potential clients is still your most important marketing tactic. Don’t neglect this foundation of your marketing efforts. Make relationship building an integral part of your 2014 marketing plan.

build better relationships in 2014

How do you go about building better relationships with clients and potential clients? The key is to communicate and communicate often! But all forms of communication are not equal. Let’s break down the ideal process for building a communication strategy that will lead to stronger relationships with clients and potential clients.

Understand Your Ideal Client:

First and foremost – know who you are targeting. Spend some time looking at your client list. Are there common attributes? What types of cases are you looking for? What types of information are important to potential clients? Or is there a practice area you are looking to expand or start? Now think about what types of information you provide or what types of information would be valuable for each type of client. Today’s consumers are driven by information. Providing highly personalized content directly to the right audience will give your firm the opportunity for direct engagement with potential clients.

How Will You Communicate?

Technological advances mean you have multiple ways to communicate to your audience? Ideally you should leverage more than one to get your message heard. Social media, blogging, and email marketing form a trifecta that attorneys can use to distribute content without having to develop individual messaging for each. This trifecta will allow you to reach not only new prospects (through social media and blogging) but current clients and contacts that are also an important marketing opportunity that shouldn’t be overlooked. Clients may have need or may have contacts within their sphere of influence that have need for legal representation.

If you haven’t already, develop an email marketing list of all your contacts, clients, former clients and referral sources. This will be the basis of the marketing list you will use for email communications. Simultaneously, create a blog (wordpress is fairly easy) and sign up for Twitter and LinkedIn.

Develop An Editorial Calendar:

Now that you understand what your potential clients are looking for and how you will communicate, develop a content list of what you want to write and a schedule (at least 3 months out, but a full 12 months would be even better) for when you will send each article. Once you have your topics laid out you will have a schedule that will be easier for you to maintain moving forward.

Note that more content does not necessarily mean its better! Some attorneys we work with have avoided developing a content strategy primarily because of time constraints – assuming that every article needs to be a treatise on the law. This isn’t the case. You can create compelling content in 1500 words or less that is easily digestible for the average reader. Ideally your content should be informative and conversational, engaging readers and provoking them to want to find out more information or share what they have read with others. Attorneys – this means skip the legalese as much as possible and write content that is easy to understand for the lay person.

Once you have written the article it can be emailed to your contacts, posted to your blog and shared on Twitter and LinkedIn. This allows you to get maximum exposure for every article you write.

Staying in regular contact with your clients and potential clients by providing them with valuable information builds trust, stronger relationships and loyalty.

When settling into 2014 and preparing your marketing strategy, it is important to understand what your potential client’s needs are. Building relationships and providing informative, engaging content is the key to continued success.

Article by:

Anush Alexander

Of:

RW Lynch Company, Inc.

Online Legal Marketing Guidelines for 2014

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

How to Talk Your Way Into Becoming a Recognized Expert, Part 2 of 2

I speak to bar associations big and small all over the country every year, and I can’t remember ever not having attorneys seek me out after the event to ask me how I could help them. In fact, some of my biggest clients have come to me that way. So I feel confident in telling you that nearly every time you speak, if you do it right, you can generate business as well as enhance your reputation as a recognized expert in your field of practice.

Of course, doing it right means following up. In fact, the number one reason why people who speak at events don’t get the results they are after is because of their follow up — or more precisely, their lack thereof.

public speaking expert conferences You must develop your follow up strategy before you speak. So what kind of follow up works? Let me give you an example of what I am talking about.

Let’s say you want to follow up your presentation with a series of emails. So you would send out email #1 within 24 hours after the seminar, thank them for attending and perhaps even offer a free gift or a free report. The free gift could be a free half hour consultation where you will give them an assessment of their case or how you could help them. Or you might offer them a free audio CD.

If you choose to follow up by telephone, this is something you yourself should not be doing. It is something to outsource to your staff, but essentially they would be doing the same thing as in the email, thanking them for coming and offering a free consultation.

If you use this kind of strategy every time you speak, you will get much better results from your presentations – building your reputation as a recognized expert and getting new clients at the same time.

Article by:

Stephen Fairley

Of:

The Rainmaker Institute

How To Obtain Local Ranking For Cities Where Your Law Firm Does Not Have An Office

If you do not have physical presence in a specific city then it is unlikely that you will be able to obtain local map rankings within that city. If you are targeting a small neighboring city there is a greater chance that you can work your website optimization and business listing optimization to get your business listed in the local rankings. In our experience, we have seen businesses achieve such local rankings, but this typically happens when city populations are under 60K, within a 20-mile radius, or without strong law firm competitors.

If you are in a larger city like New York and are trying to target small neighboring cities, it is much harder to rank locally due to the large amount of competition and distance from the center of the main business cluster for your industry. That center is one of the top 10 foundational ranking factors as seen in the image from the 2013 Local Search Ranking Factors from Moz. However, for local businesses that want to rank for local cities there is a viable option.

Ranking in Cities Where You Do Not Have an Office

The strategy is to build a page on your law firm website and dedicate it to the city. You want to have your title tag, meta description, your page content and page headings contain the term or terms for want to rank for . If you are pursuing personal injury lawyer rankings for Cary, North Carolina, you would set your title to have Cary personal injury lawyer in it, and the same goes for the rest of the previously mentioned locations. Do not stuff that keyword on the page multiple times in any one tag or area. Having that term once in the title, once in the description, once in a header tag, once in the description for the page content and in the content of the page two or three times is sufficient. Also consider incorporating the keyword into an image so the image file name mirrors the image Alt Tag. These are the basic foundations for your city-specific page.

What Content Should I Use On A Local Page?

You want to incorporate your business and the community into the content on that location page. Post pictures of client meetings, testimonials or case results that you have achieved in that city. If you have been in the local media for community service or cases you have worked, link to those sources. If you sponsor a school activity or are a member of a charity or non profit in that community, briefly mention the connection and link out. When you link out, make sure the links are going to relevant and related sites to your business and the location. Linking out to a legal nonprofit in that city that you are a member of or support is a great example, or even the city hall since that organization would have a physical location. These practices all tie in the location and make the page stronger for ranking in that location. Another good thing to do is link internally to your site. If you are trying to rank for Cary personal injury lawyer, then in the content on that local page you should link the words personal injury over to your main personal injury page. Also provide a link to your nearest office location – a link to your contact page or that office page which will have details such as hours of operation and directions.

Since your local page is basically a landing page where you will be driving potential clients, include a call to action. Try a form that they will fill out for more information or a phone number they can click on to call you, this way you are driving visitors to your physical office.

How To Build Links To A Local Page

The next important step, and often the hardest currently, is to build links back to this local page. One way to build links is to link from within your site to the location page. Examples of this are having phrases like “Cities we serve” or “Communities we help” on the page, then listing those locations and linking over to the specific local page. The next, and easiest, links to generate are to contact the organizations you are associated with for links. If you are part of the local chamber, you should already have a link from that location. If you sponsor a local kid’s sports team or another school related activity, see what it would take to get a link over to that page. The same goes for other non profits and any other association you are part of. Make sure you work with the organization to get a link to your location page.

The harder links to get are the ones that require considerable outreach and development. This is one reason many firms hire an agency to work out a strategy for obtaining these type of links. To obtain links from sites you are not connected to, but feel may be a relevant resource to, like a prominent legal blog, you have to organically build that relationship. Then, you have to offer to write high quality and attention-getting content so it will drive potential clients to your website from that website. Another wonderful technique is to leverage events. If you host or sponsor any local events then you have great opportunity to obtain local links and citations from those events.

Gone are the days that you could write quick, simple articles and post them anywhere. With all the Google updates in 2013 link outreach has taken a 360 and requires much more effort and skill to build a quality page and obtain quality links.

How To Use Social Media For Local Optimization

Finally, consider social media. While it may not directly help rank your page, it will increase your exposure and “signals” that Google monitors. Consider participating in discussions and groups that are in the location you want to build visibility. Post content to these groups and genuinely contribute to discussions. This can help raise your recognition in that community. If there are no groups or discussions going on, consider starting them yourself if you have the time. Post quality content that is shareable. Particularly, shared posts on Google can rank quickly if done properly and tied to Google Authorship.

While you will not be able to get a map pin for a city you are not located in, you can take these actions to optimize a location page for that particular city and work on ranking it organically. This is the next best thing if you have no physical location. If you think you can pull enough clients from a specific city or if you were able to rank there, then you can consider opening a location there. Both are large undertakings. Creating a strategic local page is more simple and less costly, but getting those rankings without the local physical presence does make things difficult and can take considerable time. This must be taken into consideration.

Article by:

Grant Brott

Of:

Consultwebs.com, Inc.

How to Talk Your Way Into Becoming a Recognized Expert, Part 1 of 2

For those of you who have done some speaking in seminars and presentations, you know that sometimes you are doing great, you have the rapt attention of the audience and it goes really well. Other times, it may feel as if you bombed, you just weren’t making a connection.

One of the reasons why that may happen is because you didn’t have the right group. If an organization asks you to speak, you need to make sure you are in front of the right people. Find out:

The number of people expected to attend
The demographic profile of the audience
A list of topics from previous presentations

The more you know about the group, the better you will be able to tailor your presentation, and you must avoid speaking to the wrong groups!

You should also remember that there are many different forms of speaking engagements. You could speak at a private client-only seminar where you invite a few of your clients or the clients of a referral partner. Or you could be part of a moderated panel discussion.

You can also utilize current technologies to host an online webinar or web conference where your PowerPoint presentation is what is seen on screen and you talk to your audience via a bridge conference call.

Next, your subject matter has to be educational. People do not want to hear legal jargon, they want practical, useful information without a sales pitch. Now, I can hear most of you thinking that you don’t want to give away the store! I don’t want to give so much information that they can just go do it themselves!

Look, there MAY be some who would try to do that, but they are not your clients! You want to target the people who have the money to hire an attorney so that they don’t have to do it themselves. You don’t want the tire kickers or the do-it-yourself crowd because they will beat you up on your price anyway.

You have to make sure you are targeting the right audience. And if you give a good, educational presentation, the right people will seek you out after the seminar to ask questions, plus in most cases you will be able to get the attendees’ contact information so that you can be ready to contact them later. If it is not you who is sponsoring the presentation, ask them to capture the attendees’ email addresses whenever possible, because as you will see in tomorrow’s post, follow up is the secret ingredient.

Article by:

Stephen Fairley

Of:

The Rainmaker Institute

Bedside Manner: The Key to Landing and Retaining Clients

Practicing law is very much a client-centric business and providing exceptional service is pivotal to a successful practice. Are you providing the service that your clients expect?

Survey after survey will tell you that the #1 reason why clients fire attorneys is “lack of responsiveness” or in general an overall lack of customer service. Correspondingly, the top reason clients hire lawyers is empathy and responsiveness. Keeping clients and potential clients happy is the key to not only maintaining, but growing your practice. The following are a few tips for ensuring that your bedside manner doesn’t impede your ability to attract and retain new clients.

client retention bedside manner law office management

Return Calls Promptly

The legal industry and in particular personal injury law is highly competitive. Speedy response time to new leads is the key to higher conversions (See our recent article about response time:http://www.rwlynchblog.com/the-key-to-converting-more-leads/). But your bedside manner doesn’t end there: lack of responsiveness is the most cited reason for firing a lawyer. Return client calls as soon as possible, even if it’s an email (or a call from a secretary or paralegal) that lets them know that their call is important to you and that you will respond as soon as possible.

Listen

Our most successful attorneys can attest to this advice: listen to everything a potential client has to say about his/her potential case. Yes, some potential clients can run off on tangents that are seemingly unrelated to a case. However, some of the best cases our clients say they’ve landed are cases that other attorneys turned away; simply because they didn’t take the time to listen and ask the right questions. Don’t lose potential clients because “you don’t have the time” to sort through all of the “riff-raff”. Giving your full attention and asking questions will allow you to uncover the important nuggets of information you may miss otherwise.

Don’t Use Legalese

Take the time to explain legal issues in a way your clients can easily understand them. These are complicated issues and clients are often scared and confused. Explaining issues in a clear and concise manner devoid of legal jargon will put your clients at ease.

Above All Empathize

Taking the time to care, explain the process and reassure clients will not only help you retain clients but will create a lasting impression that will ensure those clients will continue to refer new business your way.

Article by:

Brian Lynch

Of:

RW Lynch Company, Inc.

Can Law Firms Get Business From the Internet?

Yes, but…

Law firms can absolutely get business from the Internet when armed with a strong plan and backed by an appropriate investment.

How Has Internet Marketing for Lawyers Changed?

The Internet is no longer dominated by single industry websites that people simply visit and read. Today, consumers can interact. They can browse a website, look at and comment on a firm’s Social Media pages, view a law firm’s rating and write their own review.

Business from the Web

A few years ago, a law firm could set up a website, do some on-page search engine optimization (SEO) work, add a few links and get site rankings and cases. Today, search engines look at a variety of factors to determine if a site has value. Search engines look at content to ensure that it is relevant and has true value. They look at visitor activity. They analyze incoming links for quality and relevance. They look at a law firm’s online presence, including other websites and social signals.

The potential for attracting new clients through the Web is tremendous. While other advertising mediums are shrinking, the Web’s growth continues to be explosive. Law firms that take the right approach and are selective in choosing their vendors are drawing more clients and cases to their firm.

What Should Law Firms Seek in a Web Marketing Vendor?

Law firm SEO vendors who have been watching the Internet as it changes know what it takes to make a practice succeed online. When searching for the right vendor, look for one with proven success and a team of experts.

Successful Internet marketing for lawyers requires more than just a designer with an eye for professional flair. The vendor should customize websites and SEO campaigns. Some of the larger vendors employ great salespeople, but clients are provided with cookie-cutter designs and template SEO processes.

Your marketing provider should be legal specific. The firm should not have to push the vendor through projects to get work accomplished. The vendor should understand and be able to easily navigate the world of legal marketing. The vendor should have licensed attorneys who understand and can navigate the ethics of law firm marketing. Prior to hiring us, one of our clients had been forced to spend more than twelve painful months and significant staff-time to launch his site.

Look for a Web marketing company with sufficient staff to support your campaign. The staff should include professional designers, attorney content managers, programmers, a Social Media team, marketing consultants and strong account managers.

The best vendors are those that endeavor to be a law firm’s partner, not just a vendor. When you find a company that gives your firm the personalized attention it needs, they can be a true asset. This type of vendor will grow with your firm instead of making a sale to you and then going down the street to sell to your competitors. They commit to your firm’s long-term success and return on investment.

What Kind of Return Does Internet Marketing for Law Firms Offer?

If law firms are partnering with the right SEO vendor, there can be huge return on investments for the firm. One of our clients, Ken Hardison, receives a 10 to 1 return on every dollar he invests. Another client recently settled a case the firm acquired from the Internet for close to $10M. Our Motor Vehicle Accident, Social Security, Workers’ Compensation, Family Law and Bankruptcy clients receive several cases from the Web each month.

Today, very few prospective clients go to the Yellow Pages to find a lawyer or law firm; they search on the Internet first. Achieving a successful ROI through online marketing takes time and strategy, but there are solid results available to those to who invest properly. We work hard for our clients to rank high in the search engines and have compelling websites so they will get the call.

Article by:

Consultwebs.com, Inc.

Of:

LeAnna Easterday

Category: Legal Marketing

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

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Marketing For Attorneys; The Right Way To Do It

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