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

You are invited to tune into LexisNexis' new, free webinar, "Keywords to Success: How to Generate More Business for Your Law Firm with Search Engine Optimization" to be broadcast on Tuesday, December 6, 2011.  LexisNexis is applying for CLE credit* for the program.

You can register for free at www.lexisnexis.com/webinar.

I'll host the webinar and will describe how your law firm can focus its online search marketing strategy to drive more business.  The program will show you how to optimize your website to promote the areas that matter most to your clients and prospects.

At a time when more and more consumers are searching online before meeting with a lawyer, this seminar will show you how to make your website more visible to prospects searching for the areas of law you practice.

You will learn:
      •     How keywords and search engine marketing works     
      •     The difference between organic links and paid links, off-site and on-site optimization     
      •     How to promote specific business initiatives at your firm such as entering a new market and targeting new types of clients.

There's no charge and no obligation. You can register at for free at www.lexisnexis.com/webinar.

*CLE is in the process of approval. LexisNexis is approved for telephonic/Webinar training on this topic in the following states: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New York†, North Dakota, and Utah (self-study only).

†Only experienced (having completed their first 32 hours of CLE) NY attorneys may take telephonic training for CLE. New York regulation requires that all CLE sessions must be conducted by a JD or an attorney in good standing.

A California appeals court has reinstated a jury's $17.35 million damage award to more than 100,000 businesses and individuals who took out ads in Pacific Bell phone books that were delivered either late or not at all.

The Yellow Pages advertisers' money was wasted. 

Jurors awarded damages to advertisers in 66 of Pacific Bell's 163 directory service areas in the state, including the cities of San Francisco and Los Angeles, finding that the company had failed to use its "best efforts" to deliver the books as promised. In most cases, those were districts in which fewer than 94.5 percent of the directories arrived on time.

A Superior Court judge had overturned the verdict in June 2009 and dismissed the suit. But the First District Court of Appeal in San Francisco overruled the judge on Tuesday and restored the verdict. The court said the advertisers had relied on a delivery verification survey by Pacific Bell's contractor, the nonprofit Certified Audit of Circulations, which offered the only data available.

The jury found that the plaintiffs "paid for advertising distribution services they did not receive," the court said, and they are entitled to compensation even if "precise proof of the amount of damage is not available."

The evidence, including admissions by phone company distribution managers, showed "ongoing, severe problems in delivering directories," said Presiding Justice Ignazio Ruvolo in the 3-0 ruling.

The suit was a class action on behalf of 380,000 advertisers in the yellow pages in California between 2002 and 2004. Plaintiffs' lawyer Michael Schrag said somewhere between 100,000 and 200,000 would be eligible for damages in districts where the jury found inadequate deliveries.

If you haven't canceled your yellow pages ads yet, now is the time to do so.

As law firm marketers contemplate their advertising buys, we should be aware that the audience for newspapers and magazines has moved online. For example, before buying a $12,000 full-page ad in a print publication, it makes sense to see if there is a cheaper online option -- which will reach more people.

The Audit Bureau of Circulations recently conducted a survey of print publications—newspapers, magazines and b-to-b titles—to learn how their mobile initiatives are progressing. Publishers’ growing mobile know-how, increasing confidence in mobile strategies, maturing product offerings and anticipation for future revenue streams is evident in the results.

• Eighty-five percent of survey respondents said they currently have mobile content for smartphones, e-readers or tablet computers, up from 76 percent last year. Newspapers (88%) were most likely to have mobile initiatives in place, followed closely by consumer magazines (83%) and business publications (79%). Publishers cite development and maintenance costs as the primary reason they did not have a mobile presence.
• Publishers are gaining confidence in their mobile strategies. Fifty-nine percent of publishers now say their company has a strategy for capitalizing on mobile platforms.
• Many publishers believe that e-readers and tablets will be the biggest boon to their business. Seventy-three percent said readers are most likely to read  their content on e-readers or tablets compared to 60 percent who said the same thing about smartphones. In Canada, the gap was even wider. Fifty-seven percent said e-readers and tablets had the brightest future compared to just 34 percent for smartphones.
• Publishers in the U.S. and Canada are investing in optimized mobile websites. Eighty-one percent of U.S. publishers and 65 percent of Canadian publishers said this was an important part of their strategic plan. Respondents said mobile websites often account for up to 15 percent of their overall website impressions.

Marketing takeaway: when you have a case outcome, completed deal or hot legal news story, conduct at Google search to find the newspapers and magazines to offer the story to.

Learn how to expertly handle business development opportunities with prospects, contacts and new referral sources in our upcoming webinar, What Do I Say To A Prospective Client To Win Their Business? On November 18, 2011, veteran business development expert David Ackert and I will  describe:

• How to test to see if a prospective client needs an attorney.
• What you should say about your firm and its capabilities.
• How to transition from a social conversation to a business dialogue.
• How to avoid looking like a salesperson. 

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Click here to register. Save 20% if you register on or before Nov. 11: fee $240

Save 10% if you register on or before Nov. 15: fee $270

Fee beginning Nov. 16: $300

You can pay online with a credit card. Display the program in a conference room and invite as many attendees as you wish.

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Topics Include:

• Common business development mistakes that attorneys make
• What clients care about when meeting you
• How to ask the right questions and listen effectively
• How to excel in a networking situation
• Diagnosing a clients' need for service
• How to overcome client objections to engaging your services
• How to sell ideas for next steps
• How to use a proven, step-by-step business development process

Who Should Attend:

• All Attorneys who want to understand and apply the best professional practices of business/referral discussions for successful business development.
• Associates looking to develop the right skills for business development and to begin now to develop their networks.
• Marketing Directors looking for ways to support their attorneys with sound, practical methods.

Click here to signup for this event.

“In the Internet age, online content marketing is the best way for lawyers and law firms to establish their reputations and attract new business,” said Per Casey. “And web traffic analysis is the best way for lawyers and law firms to measure the success of a content marketing campaign and move forward based on that information. Content marketing and web analytics are inseparable parts of the same strategic process.”

Casey, founder of Tenrec (www.tenrec.com), a web technology consulting firm that focuses on law firms, discussed strategic content marketing and web analytics at the monthly program of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association in Denver.

“Content marketing involves distribution of your content using popular social media sites (like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube) as well as successful content syndication sites (like JD Supra, LegalOnRamp and Scribd),” he said.

Each time your keyword-rich article is published on one of these sites, it is indexed by Google and other search engines – enhancing results for searches on terms like your name, your law firm’s name, your geographic area and the relevant subject area.

“Not only does the Internet facilitate the wide distribution of content,” said Casey, “it also allows lawyers and law firms to closely track distribution – to know how many visitors click on the content; how much time they spend reading, listening or viewing the content; and where (your website, search or some other site) they found the content.”

The popular Google Analytics program is free and yields information about site visitors, including:

• number of visitors (unique, new and repeat)
• page views
• repeat rate
• visit length
• page view length
• page view per visit
• bounce rate (those who leave quickly from a given page)
• entry pages (where visitors enter you site)
• exit pages (where visitors leave your site)
• referral sources (direct traffic, search engines and other referral sites)

“Web analytics programs are capable of generating a vast amount of information,” said Casey.

For more about Casey's presentation, read the story reported by Janet Ellen Raasch on the LawMarketing Channel.

Smart law firms are using social media to generate leads. 55% of marketers have closed deals from social media leads, according to a report from Webmarketing123, “2011 State of Digital Marketing Report.”

The November 2011 report says that marketers have had the most success with Facebook, with 40.7% saying they have closed a deal from a Facebook lead.

Roughly one in 5 have also closed a deal from a lead generated on LinkedIn or Twitter. 68.4% of marketers say they have ever generated a lead from a social network, with Facebook (47%) again ahead of LinkedIn (34.8%) and Twitter (33.8%).

"Lead and sales generation activities dominate as the most important objectives for digital marketing campaigns," according to the report, far ahead of other goals such as building brand awareness, generating web traffic or building a community.

68% of marketers have generated leads from at least one of the three major social media platforms. As for spending, "as expected, B2B marketers invest 1/3 of their digital budgets on SEO activities, while B2C marketers invest most heavily in PPC," according to the report.

The results are based on an online survey of 500 US marketing professionals. Webmarketing123 is a digital marketing agency that helps clients convert online visibility into measurable results.

Thanks to Ryan Nelson of LegalWebExperts  for this guest post:

The ABA Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference coming up on November 8^th and 9^th, 2011, will explore the ever growing importance of attorney website design in promoting three core elements of business success: reputation, referral and ranking. The conference has been named R³ after these three elements.

The conference is presented by the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association (ABA) and will be held at the Four Seasons Hotel in Philadelphia. This is the third legal marketing conference hosted by the ABA as they continue to help law firms of all sizes grow their marketing for the future.

The event offers the opportunity to learn from the ABA’s faculty of attorneys and expert keynote speakers from the industry. Networking with other fellow attendees is a major part of the event as opportunities are provided before, after, and during the conference.

Over the course of the two day conference the keynote speakers and other presenters will delve into how law firm web presence and legal website design can grow your business, how the internet is changing everything, and how the secret to success can be reduced to reputation, referral and ranking. 

Reputation

The key to your success is having the world know about you. Keynote speaker Dan Hill, President of Sensory Logic, Inc. of Minneapolis, MN begins the conference addressing how law firm internet marketing can improve or hinder your reputation in his speech “Lie to Mie! ‘Emotion Management’ of Your Marketing Will Invite Trust, Not Contempt.” Dan Hill is an internationally recognized authority on the use of facial coding, the method of reading facial expressions to know what someone is really thinking. Hill is a prominent figure in the national media on facial coding analysis on a wide variety of topics such as presidential elections. 

Also dealing with reputation in the talk “Social Media: Does Your Firm Marketing Plan Need A Face Lift?”, Steve Silverberg, the moderator and partner at Silverberg Zalantis LLP, White Plains, NY, will discuss how to use Social Media in a way that you are comfortable with to help the overall reputation and awareness of your firm. 

Referrals

A large part of maintaining business is referrals. The second keynote speaker, Peter Shankman, Founder of Help A Reporter Out and Founder of The Geek Factory, Inc. New York City, New York discusses the impact of the internet on law firm marketing and how it has changed everything. Shankman, known for “redefining the art of networking” will explain how social media, legal website design, internet marketing and public relations are transforming client referrals and retention.

The process of internet rankings and ratings - not search engine rankings; rather, the various companies and resources that rank lawyers - is growing more complex as it gets more attention. The conference luncheon “Effects of Rankings & Ratings on the Legal Profession” will address many topics surrounding this issue such as how to sort through the thousands of companies (Chambers USA, Martindale-Hubbell and American Lawyer Media) that do rankings and ratings. Other topics include the pros and cons of participating in rankings, how to deal with ethical quandaries, and how to incorporate rankings into your attorney website design and even marketing campaign. The roundtable discussion will include perspectives from law firm management consultants, in-house counsel, traditional print and online entities, and other media.

You can still register for this even. Visit www.lawpractice.org/marketingconference for registration and conference updates. 

This is a guest post from LinkedIn Marketing Expert Kristina Jaramillo.

LinkedIn is the most popular business social networking site used by attorneys. In fact, a recent report shows that 70% of corporate counsel use LinkedIn as a tool, and half rely on it. Executives from every Fortune 500 company are using LinkedIn.

To help law firms attract and retain more clients using LinkedIn, I have identified ten different opportunities attorneys should take advantage of.

10 Ways Law Firms Can Use LinkedIn to Attract and Retain More Business

1. Build relationships with potential clients – If you deal with corporate business, small business or real estate issues then you can use LinkedIn to network with potential clients – and educate them so they will want to come to you with their problems.

2. Build relationships with potential referral sources – For example, an attorney who specializes in social security law can network with partners or employees at general practice firms so they can pass business on to you. Business lawyers can network with accountants and business advisors. Lawyers that work in the real estate industry can connect with realtors who can refer business to them.  Elder care attorneys can network with assisted living homes and care giving service providers and associations who can refer business to them.

3. Create a community of like-minded professionals - For example if you are a real estate attorney educate a group of real estate agent so they can refer business to you or use you if their clients need your advice. Within this group, you need to create conversations and link prospects, referral sources and the media back to your blog or website where they can get even more information. Notice, your LinkedIn group is part of the lead generation funnel.

4. Build relationships with the media - 92% of all media professionals are on LinkedIn, which is more than any other social networking site. That means editors, journalists and reporters of local, regional and national publications and other media types are available to you on LinkedIn. You can reach out to these individuals and invite them to your group so they can see the type of information you can offer their readers, listeners or viewers.

5. Spread your content and prove you are a thought leader - Placing your content, expertise and messages in front of targeted prospects is the absolute best way to attract new clients and referral sources. That’s why you need to join groups where your prospects are going to for information you can provide and engage in conversations.

6. Nurture relationships with existing clients - Your marketing and relationship building efforts should not stop once someone becomes a client. That’s why attorneys should have a group specifically for providing ongoing, exclusive content and information just for clients where they can answer more specific questions. This will help you with client retention.

7. Perform market research that you can promote with articles and press releases - Recently a client of mine who is a workplace communication expert conducted on LinkedIn a study of CEOs, Presidents, Vice Presidents and manager. From his research he found that 44% of the executives surveyed were unhappy with their employees’ performance and their own communication style. Using his survey questions he was also able to uncover what problems they were encountering. 

With this knowledge he then created:

• A report that showcased the results. 
• Press release to reveal the results and position him as a thought leader.
• Webinars to discuss solutions to the problems his audience were encountering
• Articles and LinkedIn discussions to promote the study, the report and the event
• A complete marketing and PR plan and strategy based off this study

8. Build an extensive network of connections who can be expert witnesses for your clients. By building a relationship on LinkedIn with connections who can be expert witnesses for issues relating to your law specialty, you give prospects and clients a reason to hire you. Now, you are combining your expert knowledge in the industry with support that other law firms may not be able to offer.

9. Stay up-to-date on what’s happening in your industry – Join groups that your peers, colleagues and competitors belong to. This will help you way stay current on trends, problems, concerns and even cases in your industry. You will be able to see what others are talking about and what they have to share. And, you can use this as an idea bank for articles and press releases that you can write to promote your law firm.

10. Showcase your attorney’s abilities - Every attorney in your practice should have a LinkedIn profile and there should be a link to it on the company website. This will enable clients or prospects to reach out to your practice in another way and on a more personal level. And, the lawyers will be able to update their LinkedIn profiles to showcase their skills, abilities, articles that were published and media mentions without having to pay expensive webmaster fees. .

Now, as I said earlier, LinkedIn is reportedly the most popular business social networking site used by attorneys. In fact, a LinkedIn search for the keyword “legal” gave me more than 1 million results. However, only a small percentage of these attorneys are using LinkedIn to its fullest potential for bringing in more clients, referrals and publicity. The question is:

Are you willing to breakthrough the pack – and become part of that small percentage who of attorneys who are using LinkedIn effectively to market their law firms?

About the Author:

LinkedIn Marketing Expert Kristina Jaramillo creates online marketplace opportunities for lawyers and law firms who want to attract more clients. Now, you can uncover the LinkedIn marketing mistakes you are making the opportunities your law firm is missing by grabbing Kristina’s free special report at: http://www.Free14LinkedInMistakesReport.com <= Get this report for free and start getting more publicity, more clients and more referrals!   

The best law firm marketing program can be found at 800-lawyer King & Spalding, according to the new issue of the Marketing the Firm newsletter.

"Never before in the history of legal marketing have we seen such a powerful convergence of strategic marketing principles and today’s mind-blowing advancing technology. Social media, still in its infancy for most businesses (and definitely law firms), is coming into its own as a necessary component in the marketing mix. Blogging, tweeting, "linking in," and Facebooking have made their way into the law firm arena with a major blast," says an article by Kimberly Alford Rice, Wendy Stavinoha and Steven Salkin.

King & Spalding was named No. 1 in the seventh annual MLF 50 competition among law firms in marketing and business development. With the leadership of CMO Katherine D'Urso, King & Spalding has created:

• A secure client extranet with 400 users averaging 5,000 unique log-ins per month and housing more than 1.25 terabytes of data.
• Web-friendly URLs to optimize web pages for search engines. After a site optimization, organic search results jumped by 60%.
• Firm events that are searchable by practice and industry, with relevant lawyer contacts. Clicking an icon adds the event to your calendar.
• Free e-Learning webinars for clients, covering hot topics and offering CLE credit in many jurisdictions.
• A mobile intranet accessible by BlackBerry, Android, iPad and iPhone devices.
• QR codes in marketing materials.

Other law firms with top-listed marketing programs include:

• McGuire Woods
• Goulston & Storrs
• K&L Gates
• Goodwin Proctor

One of the elements demonstrating that the legal profession has changed permanently in the last five years is that the 100 top-grossing US law firms earned approximately $7 billion from alternative fee arrangements (AFAs), according to a new white paper “The Evolution of the Legal Profession.”

Written by Ari Kaplan, Principal of Ari Kaplan Advisors, the paper is based on interviews with 30 lawyers, in-house counsel, law professors and other legal experts. “By relying more heavily on alternative billing arrangements than we ever have before, we were able to bring in a lot more work,” said Crowell & Moring’s chairman, Kent Gardiner. Arent Fox, Akin Gump and Skadden Arps also derived income from unconventional billing.

According to Fulbright’s 2011 Litigation Trends Survey Report, 52% of US companies are using AFAs. Companies with bigger gross revenues use them to a greater extent. Lower costs are the overwhelming reason for using AFAs, followed by their predictability.

Law firms and corporations are still not focusing enough attention on creating efficiencies in internal processes, according to Beth Anisman, a consultant with B&Co. and former Global Chief Administrative Officer for Legal of Lehman Brothers.

Some efficiencies, such as software that reviews e-discovery, have actually eliminated the need for thousands of junior associates, who have been laid off.

To maximize their value, lawyers need to focus on prior work produce and experience as opposed to solely billing hours, according to Jeffrey W. Carr, General Counsel of FMC Technologies.

There’s no looking back, according to the report. 74% of the respondents agreed that the changes will be permanent.