SOCIAL MEDIA FOR SMALL LAW FIRMS – WHY YOU SHOULD BE DOING IT

For many small law firms, just launching a website was a big move. Many attorneys are still not entirely comfortable with the concept of law firm marketing; and the idea of doing so on line – for many an intimidating territory– can be a daunting prospect.

Big law firms, on the other hand, have widely recognized the importance of marketing and have recognized the opportunities that technology offers. It’s time for small law firms and solo practitioners to embrace what large firms have know for a while – in an increasingly competitive legal marketplace, smart marketing is critical. The need to stand out from the crowd has never been stronger.

Studies report that nearly 20% of all time spent on line is now being spent on social media sites, and the percentage is growing. You built your website, but why do you need to get involved with Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites? The answer is simple – because they can help you to market and grow your practice. Here’s how:

Improve your website’s search engine results – Having social media sites that are linked to your website, and to which your website links, will help your search engine results. Not only will these sites drive traffic to your website, but the ability to put out specific pieces of content on individual topics will help you reach more needs-driven potential clients.

      Social media is an excellent networking tool – Phone calls, lunches and other one on one interactions are always going to be important, but the ability to reach out to dozens or hundreds of people at once is amazingly powerful. Used wisely and judiciously, posts to a firm LinkedIn site or an e-newsletter can enable you to provide news and updates to many people at once.

Maintain ongoing relationships with former and current clients – If your practice is case-oriented, keeping in touch with former clients, who are one of your best referral sources, is critical. There is no better way to do so efficiently and cost effectively than via social media. The same goes for current clients or clients with which you maintain long-term business relationships. 

      Maintain visibility – Out of sight, out of mind. Regularly posting content on social media sites gives you the ability to stay on the radar of potential referring sources – other attorneys, former clients, accountants, brokers, et al. 

Establish or embellish your credentials – Well written blog posts are a good way to impress prospective clients, as well as other attorneys, with your knowledge of a particular subject. Social media posts trumpeting recent or upcoming speaking engagements, publications or volunteer engagements are all good ways to establish or enhance your bona fides as an expert in your field of practice.

      Brand building – A lot is written today about branding – creating an image and identifiable presence for your firm. Being active on social media sites helps to establish your firm’s identity and stature.

As you can see, there are a number of compelling reasons to be actively engaged on social media, but which social media sites are right for you? For most of our small law firm clients, we find that there are six platforms that, taken together, make up an effective social media program:

      LinkedIn – You may already have an individual profile on LinkedIn, but unless you are a solo practitioner, you also need a firm LinkedIn page, where you can describe your firm and your practice and post updates of interest to those in your network.

      A blog site – Having a blog site is one of the best things you can do. Putting out regular (monthly) content on subjects within your area of expertise is an important part of establishing brand identity, visibility and credibility. If your firm concentrates in more than one practice area, you should have separate blog sites for each.

Facebook – A firm Facebook page, separate from your individual page, is an important tool for conveying what your practice is about and how you can help prospective clients. There are now more than 1.1 billion Facebook users. Some of them are potential clients.

Google+ - We originally weren’t big fans of this Facebook wannabe site, but we’ve come around. Although it replicates a lot of what Facebook does, it’s owned by Google, so having a presence here can only help your search results.

Twitter – Being able to quickly put out news and updates, or to comment on topics of interest, cannot be overemphasized, particularly when there is a potential audience of 500 million users.

           Firm newsletters – The availability of attractive, easy to use mass e mail programs (like Constant Contact and their less expensive competitors) provides an excellent mechanism for directly reaching out to everyone within your network. Subscription forms placed on your website and social media sites will also help you to expand that network.

There is no end to the number of social media sites out there. According to the social media tracking blog Digital Marketing Ramblings there are over 200 active social media and related sites in operation. While it is important to put together a program that has breadth and depth, you don’t want to over-saturate. Although you could put your firm on dozens of different social media sites, sticking to a core group of 5-8 platforms is going to be most effective for most firms. 

Depending on the nature of your practice and the extent of your marketing ambitions, however, there are two others worth considering:
 

 You Tube – Google owns You Tube and puts a search engine premium on video content. If you have more than a handful of videos, setting up a firm You Tube channel makes sense.

Pinterest – This site is like an electronic public bulletin board, where you “pin” up things of interest to you or your potential clients.

Of course, what you put on social media is critically important. But if you’re serious about growing your firm and building your practice, you need to have a social media strategy as part of your overall marketing plan.

The Omega Legal Marketing Blog is a service of Omega Legal Marketing, a dedicated law firm marketing company specializing in creating custom designed, comprehensive marketing programs for small law firms and solo practitioners. You can learn more about us at http://omegalegalmarketing.com; you can contact us at admin@omegalegalmarketing.com.

© 2013 Omega Legal Marketing
http://omegalegalmarketing.com

TIPS FOR BUILDING A GOOD LINKED IN PROFILE

We’re big fans of LinkedIn, which we think it is an amazingly powerful networking tool. Unlike social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn is designed exclusively for business. Its concept is excellent – you have a network of people you know, but each of those people has their own network of people, many of whom you don’t know but who can be helpful to you. LinkedIn provides a platform for identifying and reaching those people. And it allows you to do so easily, on line, without having to make an endless series of phone calls. Brilliant!

To get a lot out of LinkedIn, you don’t need to spend hours setting it up or using it on an ongoing basis, but you do have to devote some time to it, and you need to do it right. If you set up a strong profile, manage your settings and set a regular schedule for yourself to check and post to LinkedIn, it can be an extremely worthwhile investment of a minimum amount of time. And remember, it costs you nothing except time, probably less than an hour a month.

This is intended to be the first of several posts designed to help you capitalize from using LinkedIn. We’ll start at the beginning – creating a good profile.

The profile is critical. It is what people who are looking to connect with you will see and it is what people with whom you are trying to connect will view to assess you. Think of it as a resume or CV, but just pasting in your resume info isn’t going to get the job done. The LinkedIn profile offers you the opportunity to create a great first impression and broadcast your strengths.

But remember, the idea isn’t to load up your profile with filler. To the contrary, it is designed to allow you to convey important and relevant information (and only important and relevant information) to someone who may be able to help you professionally. You want your profile to have enough substance to impress, but not to be unduly long.

Here are some tips for putting together a strong LinkedIn profile.

Make sure to include a photo. When I see a profile without a photo, I see someone who is not serious about this. If you’re not serious about yourself, why would anyone else take you seriously? Moreover, your photo can give the viewer a sense of who you are – if they are looking for someone with experience, or someone with youthful energy, a photo conveys this without even having to look at any text.

And use a professional looking photo. It doesn’t have to be taken by a professional photographer (most aren’t), but it should be a dignified head shot, not a vacation photo with you in shorts and sunglasses holding a drink.

Make sure to include the header information – current title, current company, geographic location and industry. If you are a sole practitioner, using a title like “Owner” or “Principal” is fine and preferred over just “Attorney”. If you are a partner in a small firm, use “Partner” or “Owner.”

Complete the contact information section. Make it easy for someone to get in touch with you or save your contact information. Put in the information for the way in which you prefer to be contacted, which should normally be your business phone number, business e mail address, business mailing address. LinkedIn only allows you room for one phone number, so if you preferred to be called on your cell phone, use that one instead of your office number. You can add additional contact information elsewhere in the profile.

Include a concise Background summary. This is your 30 second elevator pitch – a short, concise synopsis of who you, what you do and your major strength. Something like “New York City litigation attorney with 15 years of experience. Concentrating on whistle blower claims, I’ve recovered over $800 billion for my clients.” And don’t use “specialist” or “specializing in” and the like unless you’ve been certified by the US Patent and Trademark Office, a recognized trial certifying organization or something similar; you’ll run afoul of the New York ethics rules. It is permissible, however, to use expressions like “concentrating in” or “practice limited to.” 

If you are certified as a specialist in some area, there is a separate section where you can include the particulars. Being AV rated on Martindale or getting a 10 on Avvo doesn’t qualify. Everyone knows these are specious; their only purpose is to get you to use their sites and to impress uninformed clients.

Complete the Experience section, but keep it short and concise. Fill in all your previous jobs, listing the firms and the job titles. Make sure the dates match up. Keep the descriptions to one paragraph that summarizes what you did there and how great you did it.

Make sure to include your educational information, but keep it relevant. Just the basics here – law school, undergraduate and any other graduate degree. If you graduated with honors, include that. If you were on Law Review, include that. If you have been practicing less than 7-8 years, you can include your law review article or other awards and accomplishments, but no one cares if you did an independent study in college on the health of hygiene in Botswana, even if you got an A+.

Include publications in your field, but only if they enhance your credentials. LinkedIn has a section, called “Publications,” where you can include any articles you’ve written. If you’re 20 years out of law school and a matrimonial attorney, your law school article for the Journal of Historical Jurisprudence on whether Plessy v. Ferguson was properly decided probably shouldn’t be included. On the other hand, if you’ve published something fairly recent in your field in a journal or for a CLE, put that in there.

It’s OK to include speaking engagements and other professional activities. Use either the “Projects” section or the “Honors and Awards” section for these. Again, make sure you include them only if they are germane. If you were a presenter at a CLE seminar, include the particulars. If you spoke at your kid’s career day, better to move along.

Be careful about listing areas of expertise and soliciting recommendations.  LinkedIn encourages you to list your areas of expertise, which it calls “Specialties.” Including a few important areas in which you concentrate, like “mesothelioma litigation,” “ERISA compliance” or “Section 501(c)(3) practice”, is fine. Again, keep the list limited and concise; just include those areas in which you really do concentrate and have a degree of real expertise.

Last year, LinkedIn introduced a feature that allows any of your first level connections to “endorse” you for the areas of expertise you have listed. This is similar to including a recommendation, expect that you have to request the recommendation and you can’t stop anyone from endorsing you. We skeptical about both; we just don’t see any value in having a laundry list of people “confirm” that you are good at drafting proxy statements or deposing expert witnesses. Rather, these types of features come across to us as something concocted by LinkedIn to get people to spend more time on the site, where they will be exposed to LinkedIn’s advertising and promotions.

Avoid the Additional Info section. No one really cares if you like to skydive or go spelunking. No one is going to send you a birthday card, so don’t bother including your birthday. The “Advice for Contacting” subsection is another waste of time. If you already have your contact information at the top of the profile, that will do it.

Join some groups. There are thousands of groups on LinkedIn. Pick a few that are relevant to your practice; they can be a good source of information and a way to expand your network. There are many law-related groups. Find one or two in your area of concentration. Join your law school alumni group. In the beginning, there’s no downside to over-joining; you can always disconnect from a group.

Just be careful whenever you join a group. Make sure you read the notification settings closely or you will be getting e mails every day from every group. Updates once a week from a group are fine. And whenever you go onto LinkedIn, you can always check in on your groups by yourself.

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Once you’ve completed your profile, you’re ready to start using LinkedIn. Next time, we’ll talk about connecting with others and building your LinkedIn network.

The Omega Legal Marketing Blog is a service of Omega Legal Marketing, a dedicated law firm marketing company specializing in creating custom designed, comprehensive marketing programs for small law firms and solo practitioners. You can learn more about us at http://omegallegalmarketing.com; you can contact us at admin@omegalegalmarketing.com.

MAKE TIME FOR BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

Does This Sound Familiar?

You’re a solo practitioner or partner in a small law firm that has been fortunate enough to develop a solid base of billable business. In an economy that is still soft and increasingly competitive, you’re working 60-70 hours per week just to maintain the same revenue and income levels you had five years ago. You can’t afford to hire an associate (or another associate) and you don’t trust temp or per diem attorneys. You have to dedicate several hours every week and every month to administrative matters – payroll, accounts payable, billing, taxes, etc.

You try to spend as much time as you can with existing clients, referring attorneys and other sources of business. You make a few phone calls when you can; perhaps you can manage an occasional lunch or dinner when you aren’t swamped preparing documents or getting ready for a trial. But you don't really have the time and you're always falling behind.

Somewhere in there you squeeze out a little time to spend with your spouse and kids. You're always tired - physically and emotionally. On those rare occasions when you do get away on vacation, you can’t relax because you need to be in constant contact with the office.

Amid all of this, when do you have time for business development? The chances are you probably don’t. And that could end up being tragic. A law firm that lacks a strategic plan for growing its practice, does not invest in its own growth and does not spend adequate time each and every month on developing its business is in jeopardy of eventually finding itself struggling or failing.

Develop a Strategic Business Plan 

The failure to plan is a plan for failure. Every small business has a strategic plan. A small law firm is no different. You’ve probably put together a financial plan so you can retire comfortably, pay for college, etc. Do you also have a business plan for how you’re going to generate the income to fund that plan?

You need to step back on a regular basis to reflect on where you want to go and how you are doing toward realizing that goal. Formulate a growth plan that articulates your long-term goals and the steps you need to take to achieve those goals. It doesn’t have to be long or complicated, but it needs to be detailed enough to serve as a constant reminder of where you want to go and how you plan to get there. Make sure it’s optimistic but realistic. 

Quantify your objectives in terms of revenue, billable hours, number of cases, etc. Establish time markers – where you want to be in one year, five years, ten years. Write it down. Keep it in your desk drawer or on your computer or smart phone. Look at it periodically to remind yourself of your professional objectives and to gauge whether you are still on track. If necessary, adjust it as circumstances dictate over the years.

Get Organized

The key to being effective and efficient is organization and good time management. If you’re a litigator, you probably use a case management program, but you probably don’t use anything to help you organize your schedule and time allocation. Take a look at contact management programs, like ACT or Onconact. They are amazingly powerful and can help you not only to manage your schedule, but to set up reminders and ticklers, and keep track of business leads.

Set a Budget

In an article a few years ago, the ABA’s Law Practice Management Section advised:

Solo practitioners and small firms probably should spend up to 5% of revenues in marketing, advertising, business development, and promotion to achieve a profile and brand-name recognition to influence clients. Advertisements can be either “image-oriented” for name recognition or “direct response.” The practice you are seeking to develop will determine which type of advertising should be used. Generally speaking, business services are not sold effectively by direct response advertising, whereas some personal services such as personal injury plaintiff representation, bankruptcy, domestic relations are.

[http://apps.americanbar.org/lpm/lpt/articles/fin02041.html]

Interestingly, the ABA article recommends that small firms and solos should be allocating approximately 5% of revenue to their marketing budgets. This is consistent with what large firms are spending, even though their marketing efforts are mainly focused on client maintenance and firm imaging. Do you have a marketing budget?  If you do, are you using it effectively?

Invest in Your Firm and Yourself

You’ve invested in phone systems, computers, software, offices and personnel in order to establish an image of professionalism and success, and to grow your practice. Have you invested in marketing yourself and your firm? You’ve probably built a website, but do you use it as a real business development tool? When was the last time you updated it or had a professional review its content, structure and web traffic results? (In this regard, you may want to take a look at our 2/16/2013 post.)

You may have a LinkedIn profile, but do you utilize it to develop your network and potential referral sources? Nearly every major corporate business in America has realized the importance of using Facebook, Twitter and other social media platforms to build relationships with existing customers and grow their customer bases. Have you? Every large law firm has professionally designed promotional literature; many maintain communication with their clients by utilizing periodic newsletters, either by mail or e mail. What are you doing?

Make Time for Business Development

You set aside time on a regular basis to manage your practice and attend to its administrative needs. You do billing, payroll and accounts payable regularly. You make time to keep up on developments in your area of practice and get in your CLE credits. Are you also allocating time on a regular basis to maintaining and expanding your client base? Do you reach out more than infrequently to attorneys, business associates and other potential referring sources, or do you just call them when things slow down?

There is much you can and should be doing, both on the web and through traditional outlets, to market and grow your practice. You don't need to spend a lot of money, but you do need to make a meaningful commitment to business development and allocate time and dollars to marketing.
 
We realize that actually finding the time for marketing and business development is easier said than done. Do it yourself solutions can work, but like so many things, trying to get by on the cheap is usually self defeating. Having a fresh set of eyes looking at your practice, business model, goals, challenges and opportunities can be very beneficial. 

Whether you decide to go it alone or bring in professional help, however, you need to be committed to business development and engaged in the execution of your plan.

OMEGA LEGAL MARKETING is a dedicated, specialty marketing company serving only small law firms and solo practitioners in the metro New York City area. Much more than just a web design firm, we put together affordable, comprehensive marketing programs that enable our clients to stand out from the crowd and grow their practices. You can find us at www.omegalegalmarketing.com

Alternative Dispute Resolution

From The New Yorker - March 18, 2013 issue

5 FREE APPS TO MAKE YOUR LIFE EASIER

The internet is cluttered with thousands of smart phone and tablet apps. How do you separate the wheat from the chaff? Here are a few suggestions for some apps we’ve found to be useful; and they’re all free.

Around Me

Around Me uses the GPS in your phone to find your location and lets you search for places nearby. It has default categories, like restaurants and gas stations, but you can search for a specific place or category by name or keyword. It will then create a list based on distance from your location. When you click on the one you want, it will link to your mapping program and give you directions.

Drop Box

If you’re not already using Drop Box on your computer, take a look at it. It’s a free cloud-based file sharing service. It’s particularly good for storing large files and large numbers of files, which you can organize into folders. You park the files you want on Drop Box and give access to the person(s) you want to be able to access and download those files. It’s good for giving clients access to their documents. The Drop Box app allows you to upload, view and download files from your phone or tablet. It’s great for document retrieval when you are out of the office for extended periods of time.

Docu Sign Ink

This is one of a number of apps that allow you to put your actual signature on a document and send the signed document directly from your phone or tablet. I’m told that Deron Williams used a similar app, Sign Now, to sign his $98 million contract with the Brooklyn Nets on his iPad. I included Docu Sign because it has 10 times more reviews posted than Sign Now (over 1,000 reviews, 950 of which gave it 5 stars).

Any.DO

This is one of many to-do list apps that are a lot better than the one that comes pre-installed on your i Phone. This one is also highly rated – 93% of those reviewing it gave it 5 stars. It has voice recognition, calendar integration and a number of other useful features.

BestParking

BestParking allows you to search to find out where parking facilities are located and which has the best rates. It also lets you download a discount coupon for the facility you select, if one is available. It has search engine capability, so it will let you compare pricing within a specified area.

The Omega Legal Marketing Blog is a service of Omega Legal Marketing, a dedicated law firm marketing company specializing in creating custom designed, comprehensive marketing programs for small law firms and solo practitioners. You can learn more about us at http://omegallegalmarketing.com; you can contact us at admin@omegalegalmarketing.com.

IS YOUR LAW FIRM'S WEBSITE WORKING?

Everyone told you that you had to have a website, so you went out and hired a fancy design firm to put a nice, expensive site together for you. Or your wife’s cousin’s kid, the computer nerd, did it. Or worse, you tried one of those do it yourself sites used by pet stores, plumbing contractors and people selling stuff out of their homes on eBay. Or worst of all, you did nothing; you just sat in your office waiting for the phone to ring while the rest of the world was busy Googling itself into a frenzy.

If you’re in the last category, you really ought to give serious thought to joining the digital, on line world. The rest of you need to ask an important question, “Is your website working for you?” Is it attracting new business, promoting your firm and providing current, relevant information about who you are and what you do? 

When was the last time your site was updated? Do you receive regular reports showing you who is looking at your site, and from where those viewers are coming? Is your site linked to the other marketing resources you have or should have?

In today’s highly competitive digital world, a website cannot be a static entity. Google, Bing and other search engines are hungry beasts that must constantly be fed. Even if that weren’t so, common sense should tell you that you’re not going to impress anyone if the content on your site is more than a few months old.

Here are some of the things you should be doing to ensure that your website is fulfilling its potential:

Keep Your Web Content Current

One important component of the algorithms used by search engines is the amount and freshness of a website’s content. If you haven’t updated your content recently, you need to, and you should make it a practice to do so on a regular basis. Is the description of your practice and the work you do current and accurate? Have you completed any major transactions in the last few months? Have you won a big case or negotiated a big settlement? You should carefully read through all the copy on your site and edit it to ensure that it presents a complete and accurate portrayal of your firm, the type of work you do and what you have to offer to prospective clients.

Do you send out newsletters or bulletins (electronic or print), press releases or other types of communications or updates? If so, are they included on your website? Are there appropriate links on the site?

Does your firm have brochures, forms or other printed materials it gives to clients and prospective clients? If so, those should all be attached or linked to your website.

Update Your Attorney Profile(s)

When was the last time you looked at your attorney profile? Does it start off by explaining the type of law you practice? Are your undergraduate and law school degrees listed at the end and not the beginning? Does it describe your professional accomplishments and offer a persuasive argument for why a prospective client should hire you? Does it include summaries of your major professional achievements, like large judgments or major business transactions?  

Does your profile include a link to your LinkedIn profile? LinkedIn has become an extremely powerful networking tool. If you’re not using it to its full potential, you’re missing out.

Does your profile include a v card or your e mail address so prospective clients can reach you? Is your picture in the profile? If so, is it reasonably recent and flattering? Does your profile include awards and commendations you’ve received? Articles you’ve published? Speaking or teaching engagements?

All this information needs to be included, up to date and accurate

Check Your Inbound and Outbound Links

Do you have a link on your site to your firm’s blog? Many of the big law firm web companies include it in their packages. Do you even have a blog site? Is there any content on it? If it does, when was the last time anyone posted to it?

Similarly, does your site have links to your firm’s Facebook page, Twitter feed or firm LinkedIn page (not individual attorneys’ pages)? Do you even have any of these? Do they have anything on them?

Have you set up incoming links to your site from other sites, such as business and law firm listing sites and various referral sites? If not, are there any that make sense for your practice? Search engines love inbound links. If you have incoming links, have you checked them lately to make sure they’re working effectively, or working at all?

Review Your Site’s Search Engine Results

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art and science of configuring a website to improve its search engine results. Many people believe that you do it when you put your website together and that’s it. Not true. SEO is a dynamic, ongoing process. When was the last time you ran a keyword search using the words or phrases that best describe your firm? If those results are not good, you need to look at the way key words and phrases are being used in your site. 

Websites also contain something called meta tags. These are elements contained within a website’s coding that are viewed by search engines, which rely on these tags to identify and classify the site’s content. If your search results are not very good, you probably need to have a search engine optimization specialist review and rewrite those meta tags. You should be conducting SEO reviews on a regular basis (monthly, quarterly or semi-annually, depending on the site).

Analyze Your Site’s Performance

Many web designers will install a program that provides analytic data about the web traffic the site is generating. This data usually includes the number of hits the site is generating, where those hits are coming from, how many individual pages each visitor to the site is viewing, and which linked sites are forwarding traffic. The data contained in those reports can contain a wealth of valuable information to help you identify potential sources of new business. If you don’t already have an analytic package as part of your site, you can install Google Analytics for free, or you can have a web designer or SEO firm install one for you. And you need to be looking at the reports regularly to see who is viewing your site and who isn’t, so you can make any appropriate changes.

Consider Mobile Web Options

As the digital world continues to evolve, more and more people are accessing the web on smart phones and tablets. As part of a review of your website’s performance, you should try to determine whether a significant number of viewers or potential viewers are accessing your site via those types of devices. If so, you should consider adding a mobile web application. These applications are much friendlier to smart phone and tablet users than accessing your regular site, which is not designed to be viewed on a small screen and could take a long time to load.

If this makes sense for you, you should also consider utilizing QR codes in your firm brochures and other marketing materials, and on your business cards. QR codes are those square, black and white digital bar codes you may have seen in consumer advertising. A smart phone or tablet user simply scans the code, which then automatically transfers the user to your mobile web site. Many businesses and professional firms have started using them, in the belief that they reflect a firm that is technologically savvy, invested in its future and generally more impressive. 

The Omega Legal Marketing Blog is a service of Omega Legal Marketing, a dedicated law firm marketing company specializing in creating custom designed, comprehensive marketing programs for small law firms and solo practitioners. You can learn more about us at http://omegallegalmarketing.com; you can contact us at admin@omegalegalmarketing.com.

© 2013 Omega Legal Marketing
www.omegalegalmarketing.com