Lawyers.com Editor in Chief : Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog : Law firm marketing, legal marketing, attorney marketing, business development, sales training, practice development, training, marketing consultant, legal consultant, individual lawyer coaching, business development, client team, practice development, business development, law firm coach

If there is any doubt about the power of a big brand, check out Graphic Design USA’s recent listing of the favorite logos of the past half century.  Even those that are abstract symbols are easily recognized by millions across the globe.  These brands have gained popularity over many years and consumers choose these companies’ products because they believe in the brand - a strong brand can generate fierce customer loyalty.

When someone needs the services of an attorney, the company brand will heavily influence their final choice.   People are used to making choices based on branding – they are bombarded by brands every waking minute of their day, from adverts and product packaging, to television and the ubiquitous internet.   So when seeking legal representation they will automatically assess law firms’ brands and will be attracted to the brand which appears to match their specific needs.

If a law office brand doesn’t send out the right message to the prospective client right from the very first viewing, quite simply its attorneys won’t be hired.  When branding your law office, follow these guidelines to ensure that you have a big brand that will bring you plenty of business:

Use a Professional Branding Company:  This critical step can’t be over emphasized.  A brand is far more than an eye catching logo; a powerful company brand summarizes everything you offer and how you deliver it.  By working with seasoned professionals you can develop a strong branding strategy that reflects your professionalism, your ethics, your experience and expertise.  A big brand will form a firm foundation for all your promotional activities.

Define your Target Market:  A full and complete understanding of your target market is necessary for your brand to be effective.  It must appeal to your audience and make them sit up and take notice.

Define your Unique Selling Point:  Be clear on what makes you different from your competitors.  Maybe you have a great track record in winning your cases.  Whatever it is, make sure it is highly evident in all of your promotional materials.

Choose an Appropriate Company Name:  Partner names can be used but only in moderation, and are far more effective when combined with the area of legal specialization.  ‘Dale & Docherty Family Law’ definitely works.  However ‘Smith, Lewis, Docherty & Slopecki Criminal & Family Lawyers’ is starting to push any reader’s attention span to its limit and is far from memorable.  More creative names are also acceptable so long as they reflect the services on offer.

According to new research, there are three places online that are most likely to influence a consumer to make a purchase:

• "Retail" websites like Lawyers.com^SM
• "Brand" websites, like a law firm's site
• Blogs

Also topping the list were Facebook, and online forums and groups like Ask a Lawyer. The new findings in theTechnorati Media 2013 Digital Influence Report confirm that the best way for lawyers to attract new clients online is to market around the way that consumers behave.

Technorati is an Internet search engine for searching blogs. It surveyed 6,000 "influencers" (bloggers), 1,200 consumers and 150 top brand marketers. "Brand managers report an expected increase in budgets for digital marketing in the upcoming year," Technorati reported.

Retail websites

Consumers love to go to retail websites like Amazon.com or Zappos.com - online shopping centers where people can find many brands. In this sense, Lawyers.com, which gets more than 6 million page views per month, is a "retail" site - where consumers can find tens of thousands of lawyer profiles.

On Lawyers.com, consumers can easily find out many lawyers' expertise, website and contact information, and can compare attorneys by peer and client ranking. Online reviews can be a great source of new clients. Lawyers.com andmartindale.com® are the top online directories used by consumers who sought an attorney in the past year, according to the Attorney Selection Research Study by The Research Intelligence Group (TRiG).

Brand websites

In contrast, a "brand" website displays information about one kind of product or service, like Microsoft or Google. A brand website is an online store, the digital equivalent of an Apple store at a shopping mall.

"Today's consumers are increasingly comfortable going online to find answers for all kinds of issues, including legal ones," says Samantha Miller, vice president of product, Web Visibility Solutions, LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell. "Law firm websites need to capture consumers' attention and engage them, while serving as part of a larger marketing campaign."

There's no doubt that attorney websites still matter. More than one in three potential consumers of legal services turn to law firm websites to find a lawyer, and 26 percent have checked out a firm's website in order to validate an attorney, according to the TRiG research.

Lawyer blogs

It's clear to see why blogs also influence people to make a purchase. Consumers begin their search for a lawyer by researching their legal issue. The ideal place for them to learn a particular aspect of the law is on an attorney blog. And once a consumer has read a good blog post, who better to call than the lawyer who wrote it?

To learn more about what we can do for you and get a free Website Evaluation and Consultation, contact a LexisNexis Law Firm Marketing Specialist.

When creating and updating your firm's website, do you consider what practices match the journalists who you are pitching your expertise and services?  If not, start now. 

TEKGROUP International recently released the 2013 Online Newsroom Survey Report.  It covers how editors, reporters, producers, correspondents and bloggers work with online newsrooms, digital audio and video, press release distribution services and PR professionals in general. 

This survey will help you determine in which areas your website and newsroom need improvement.  Here are some highlights:

•  97% of journalists find an online newsroom important.
• Two key areas saw dramatic increases in expectations of journalists - social and mobile.
• 90% of journalists like to receive targeted email alerts with relevant news for them.
• Does your online newsroom have a landing page for access to all your social media links? Over 50% or those surveyed found a landing page for social media important.
• 2013 shows a 33% increase in visits to corporate Facebook pages.
• Journalists agree that access to biographies for your company/firm's executives is very important.

Click here to download the survey results.

About TEKGROUP International

TEKGROUP International, Inc. is an award winning Internet software and services company that  develops social media online newsrooms and e-business software solutions. Our website can be found at http://www.tekgroup.com and you can also follow our Online Newsroom Twitter account at http://www.twitter.com/onlinenewsroom.

Last week, The American Lawyer 2012 Report on Growth of Am Law 100 Firms came out.  Here is a press release with its results:

NEW YORK – April 26, 2013 – *The nation’s 100 largest law firms achieved modest cumulative growth in 2012, gaining 3.4% in total gross revenue over the prior year to $73.4 billion, 2.6% in average revenue per lawyer to $844,245, and 4.2% in average profits per partner to $1.47 million, according to the 26th annual Am Law 100 report published in the May issue of ALM’s *The American Lawyer* and at AmericanLawyer.com.

However, 2012’s gains were uneven, with only 76 firms showing gross revenue increases, down from 80 in 2011, and 66 registering higher profits per partner, down from 72. In addition, profitability gains were concentrated among the higher-grossing firms. The 50 largest firms registered a cumulative 8.0% jump in profits per partner while the others fell 3.3%.

DLA Piper, powered by an 8.6% gross revenue spurt, topped the Am Law 100 with $2.44 billion, pushing former leader Baker & McKenzie, with $2.31 billion, into second place. Latham & Watkins with $2.23 billion took over third place from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom with $2.21 billion. Kirkland & Ellis retained fifth place. Jones Day took over sixth from Hogan Lovells, which fell to seventh. Sidley Austin held steady in eighth place as did White & Case in ninth. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher moved up to 10th place from 12th in 2011.

The law firms that prospered last year “tended to have an international footprint, a strong transactions group, and a diverse set of practice areas," wrote Robin Sparkman, Editor in Chief of *The American Lawyer*. "The boutique labor and employment and immigration firms were the exception.”

"Many of these firms also have a strong brand and are known by clients for standout work in a particular area," Sparkman added. "The firms that did well also held the line on their equity partner head count and continued to raise rates, increase billable hours, or both. Some stood out for capitalizing on high-growth industries.”

Among the stand-out firm performers, for better or worse, were:

   - Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, whose profits per partner leaped 36.5% due to a contingency class action payment in a Native American royalties rights case.

   - Bracewell & Giuliani, which scored the group’s largest profits per partner increase, 42.2%, based on high demand from their energy industry client list.

   - Immigration-focused Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy, which rose 16 ranks to number 86, its first-ever appearance on the Am Law 100.

   - Barnes & Thornburg, Chadbourne & Parke, Cozen O’Connor and Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker fell out of the Am Law 100. Chadbourne was a 26-year veteran.

On his website, Mitch Jackson treats us with an analogy in the form of a five course dinner.  He shows how successfully negotiating and closing a deal is very similar to selecting and timing the courses of an important dinner party.

Mitch gets his point across with vivid imagery that will have your mouth watering and your stomach growling and maybe even the itch to go close that deal that has eluded you for months. Click here to read the full article.

_________________________________________________________________________________

Closing a deal is a very similar experience. Go about things the right way and the negotiation will flow naturally and the deal will be one to remember. Skip a course or two and the other person just might get up and leave the communication table before the evening is over.

Start with the setting

You don’t serve a 5 course dinner on the lids of garbage cans in an alley behind the restaurant. Along those same lines, don’t try to negotiate an important deal over day old coffee in the parking lot of Wal-Mart while wearing a stained t-shirt.

Make sure that you’ve thought things through and have properly set your communication table—the place you’ll be serving your verbal meal– in a suitable fashion and location. Have your ducks in a row and remember to place your napkin in your lap, serve from the left, and clear from the right. Do what needs to be done to help ensure your surroundings are conducive to a meaningful discussion and presentation.

Now for the first course…

Start with something memorable. Tonight, we’ll be starting with essence of butternut squash, presented with a seared sea scallop, chive oil and young seedlings. Is your mouth starting to water? Mine is!

After a bit of small talk and building rapport, get immediate focus and attention by raising the problem or issue during the first course. 

Tip- Talk about the problem.

The second course

For your second course, we’ll be serving pan seared lump crab cake, presented with fire roasted corn and cilantro relish smoked chipotle aioli and butter poached leeks. While you enjoy this course and start to get in the mood for the main entre, spend some quality time talking in more detail about it the problem or issue. Discuss what bad things will happen if changes are not made. What are the short and long-term consequences of action or inaction? What will happen if things don’t get resolved and continue to drag on day after day and even year after year?

Tip- Discuss the short and long-term impact of the problem.

The third course

What better than to follow the crab cakes with a dish of roasted beet carpaccio, presented with seared goat cheese, beet syrup, aged balsamic reduction and mache greens. Do this correctly and your guest is already interested in what the next course will be.

You’ve got his attention. He knows why he’s sitting at the table and understands that action is needed or things will just get worse. Now is the time to show your guest how your idea will solve his problems. Working your way from the outside in, your utensils should include specific examples, metaphors and stories.

Tip- For the first time, reveal your specific solution to the specific problem of your guest.

The fourth course

Now that you’ve shared your solutions in the third course, knock your guest right off his chair with a fourth course consisting of something a bit more substantial. Let’s go with grilled fillet of beef, presented with caramelized shallot/red wine reduction, crisp truffle scented potato rosti, white asparagus and morel mushrooms. It might also be time to order another bottle of wine.

This course is all about substance and value. Show the other person exactly how your suggested solution will benefit him. Understanding that facts tell but stories sell, use the right utensils (words, pictures, testimonials, videos…) to continue showing your dinner guest how your product, service or idea will benefit and help him. Communicating and share major value and specific benefits, through stories and examples, are what the fourth course is all about.

Tip- Communicate the major benefits of your solution to your dinner guest.

The fifth and most important course

Click here to find out what is served for dessert!

Today's post is a press release that reveals which social media outlets are the most popular, therefore most important to utilize.

LinkedIn, blogs by fellow lawyers and Wikipedia are among the tools most frequently used by in-house counsel in their professional lives, according to a new survey released today by communications firm Greentarget, consulting firm Zeughauser Group and InsideCounsel magazine.

In-house attorneys use social media more than ever, for everything from building professional networks to consuming substantive content to conducting business and industry research.

This survey, referenced with the hashtag #ICSurvey on Twitter and represented visually by an infographic, suggests that many legal marketers are not yet making full use of the channels and platforms that can effectively reach the primary buyers of legal services. But it also affirms the wisdom of law-firm marketers who take an integrated, content-centric approach to incorporating digital platforms into their communications strategies, treating them as an extension of their thought leadership efforts.

The In-House Counsel New Media Engagement Survey, conducted for the first time in 2010, measures the changing perceptions, attitudes and social media usage behaviors of in-house lawyers and their impact on business development efforts. Earlier iterations of the survey are now hosted athttp://insidecounselsurvey.com. 

“The survey results suggest, in no uncertain terms, that the convergence of digital and traditional media is fueling the continued use of social media among the in-house bar,” says John Corey, president and founding partner of Greentarget. “Our 2013 survey makes it crystal clear — as evidenced by the sustained prominence of LinkedIn and attorney-authored blogs, the growth in mobile consumption of news and a continuation of the ‘invisible user’ trend — that in-house lawyers are using social media as part of their daily routines.”

The Highlights:

• New media use is now mainstream. The percentage of respondents who say they do not use new media has plummeted from 43 percent in 2010 to just 27 percent today.
• LinkedIn is still the “serious” social network. Sixty-seven percent of in-house counsel used LinkedIn for professional reasons during the past week, and 40 percent used it during the past 24 hours. It remains the most frequently used platform for professional reasons.
• Attorney-authored blogs are popular and trusted. Respondents say they read blogs by attorneys as often as they read blogs by professional journalists, and more than half (53 percent) say well-executed blogs influence hiring decisions.
• The “invisible users” trend is accelerating. Although social networks are designed to promote online engagement, most respondents (74 percent) are using social media in a listen-only mode versus commenting on posts and participating in discussions—up from 68 percent who identified themselves as invisible users in 2012.
• Use of mobile is prevalent. Fifty-three percent of survey respondents read business news on their smartphones daily, while 39 and 23 percent, respectively, use tablets and mobile apps for news every day.
• Wikipedia is emerging for business-oriented research. Sixty-five percent of respondents say they use Wikipedia to conduct company and industry research, up from 51 percent in 2012. This is one of the more significant jumps in the year-over-year data.
• Online video is largely unexploited. Many respondents report that they are watching online video from law firms, but they are doing so infrequently.
• Peer-driven rankings lack influence. Despite the energy and resources that law firms continue to invest in peer-driven rankings, they have minimal impact on the opinions of outside lawyers or hiring decisions, the survey data suggests.

To download a summary of the research report, click here. For more information, contact John Corey at jcorey@greentarget.com or 312-252-4100.

Donald Rohan, a Law Firm Marketing Specialist with LexisNexis, provides this guest post about basic design for law firm websites.

Bad website design is like a bad tattoo. You went into the process wanting something that highlighted your uniqueness and attracted positive attention. Unfortunately, you got something indistinguishable from thousands of others — or worse, something that stands out for the wrong reasons.

Traditional limits on legal advertising and inexperience with design often lead law firms to overspend on websites that don't deliver maximum impact. Some firms may think they don't need to invest much in their site. But even if your firm maintains a conservative approach to a practice area like estate planning, you can present and promote yourself in a unique, attractive way.  

You don't need to be a design expert. Just keep a few basic tips in mind, and check out these examples of firms that are doing design well:

Tell a story with one dominant image.

Before viewers read a word, they should get the message you're trying to transmit. Don't distract from this message by clouding the viewer's perception with different images. Find one dominant image that works.  On this homepage, you would immediately understand the firm's international focus.

Resist visual clichés.

A picture of courthouse steps does not send a message of trial brilliance. Instead, it leaves viewers with the inability to distinguish your firm from the thousands of others with similar imagery. The first people to put a pink flamingo on their lawn might have evoked curious questions as to whether exotic waterfowl lived there, but now those plastic birds are so common, people don't even "see" them anymore. Here's a website that uses symbolism to get away from the typical images of personal injury firms. 

Think like a newspaper editor.

Without reading any of the text, a newspaper reader knows which stories merit the most attention. Those appear on top with the largest headlines and graphics. Other important stories are presented lower on the page. Interesting items that don't merit front-page treatment receive a brief mention in the table of contents with their page number. On this site, the main headline is large, clear, and well promoted, even as the images behind it shift. As you move down and outward from the headline, the secondary items appear and are easy to access.

Click here to read the article at the source.

I was just reading a blog post by a lawyer who offered "5 easy marketing tips" for young and experienced lawyers. It offered the standard marketing advice but left out something crucially important.

The blog post advised staying top-of-mind with referral sources, making referrals, public speaking, joining organizations and doing excellent legal work. Check, check, check — this is all basic marketing information I've given to lawyers myself. It appeared to be standard advice until I hit the end of the article and found a titanic omission.

Pulling back, I thought to myself — you wouldn't market your law practice without paying attention to your website, would you? No — especially knowing that 76 percent of consumers seeking an attorney in the past year used online resources at some point in the process, according to TRiG research.                          

The standard marketing advice was right out of the 1980s, before the Internet went live. The guidance was tailored for a world with rotary phones, fax machines and VHS video cassettes. Today, the lives of consumers are filled with smartphones, iPads, computers, email, social media and blogs. These are marketing breakthroughs because they allow a lawyer to be many places at once.

In the old days, a lawyer could reach only the crowd he or she was addressing, talk only to the person he met at an organizational event and send a file only to referral source he had on the phone. Marketing efforts were limited as one-to-one activities.

But it's a different world today. Consumers are likely to look up your profile on the Web before they ever see you. They'll find you online before they ever hear your presentation or meet you at an event. When they look you up, consumers more are likely than ever to use their smartphones — smartphones are already outselling PCs and are regularly used by consumers to make purchasing decisions.

The Web has become an essential step in the way today's consumers really search for an attorney. Consumers don't start by looking for a lawyer — instead they begin by researching their legal issue. This naturally makes consumers seek out lawyer blogs and attorney websites that have detailed FAQ (frequently asked question) articles. Consumers will have a positive impression of a law firm if the website is mobile-friendly, and can easily be viewed on a two-inch screen on a smartphone.

So don't be fooled by the standard marketing advice from the 1980s. Get your website in shape so that it generates new business for you. Need some help?  Contact a LexisNexis Law Firm Marketing Specialist.