In one of my recent columns I discussed the idea of measuring marketing effectiveness. As an adjunct to that piece, I want to comment this time out on a trend I’ve noted in the marketing industry that I think is noteworthy for law firms – the rise of the digital marketer.

In-house marketing roles in law firms have historically focused largely on “the classics” of professional services marketing – business development (co-ordinating RFP responses and assisting with client pitches), event management (client seminars and firm receptions) and brand identity projects as well as oversight of firm print collateral (brochures, . . . [more]

Look at any list of current SEO strategies and it will be immediately clear that the #1 tactic relates to content. In my last column on law firm SEO tactics to avoid in 2013, I concluded that more than anything else, we need to ensure a “regular flow of original content (and deep links flowing into that content)” and to “make good choices: on publishing, building audiences, coding, classification, proper description, and most important, connecting with people.”

I stand by those words. The bottom line is that content drives search traffic; this has never been truer than in 2013. . . . [more]

Most mornings you can’t wake up without seeing them: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and Google+, Pinterest, Digg-It and Youtube. Chances are one or more of these sites are lurking in your e-mail box, what’s more, it’s likely the same for your clients as well.

You don’t have to admit it aloud, but do you recognize moments of panic? “I’m not on twitter! Everyone’s on twitter! Must…tweet…!!!” Or “I’m not on Google+! I need to be on Google+ or I’m not in the game!”

And doesn’t there seem to be a universal law that a new social media platform –infinitely crucial to . . . [more]

Few would argue that the core of legal business development is… relationships. How you build them, nurture them and value them is the difference between lawyers who are serious about building a successful practice, and others who just give it lip service. Sure it’s easy to meet people but the question is… what do you do with that introduction? Inc. Magazine contributor Minda Zetlin looks inside the success of Mobile Deluxe, a tremendously successful gaming company, to examine founder Josh Hartwell’s secrets to becoming a master relationship builder. Zetlin explains…

How did Hartwell launch a successful mobile gaming company–with no . . . [more]

Law firms have a tendency to measure effectiveness of a marketing activity by whether “we got a file from it”. This is an inaccurate measure for several reasons, the most obvious of which is that few firms record how a file came to them.

If you’re going to invest time and resources in marketing initiatives, they should enhance at least one of the four Rs—reputation, revenue, referrals, and retention. Clients choose lawyers by their reputation, so reputation enhances revenue. Clients also choose lawyers on the recommendation of another advisor, so referrals enhance revenue and reputation enhances referrals. Clients leave lawyers . . . [more]

The results of the 2013 In-House Counsel New Media Engagement Survey conducted by Greentarget, InsideCounsel and Zeughauser Group in February 2013 reveal that among the 379 in-house counsel who responded, social media use and consumption of information on mobile devices are on the rise.

Here’s a breakdown of some of the results and what lawyers can do to get the attention of in-house counsel online.

Most Popular Media for In-House Counsel

LinkedIn, the “professional network,” is the one in-house counsel turns to most to obtain information and to expand their professional contacts. Two thirds of all respondents . . . [more]

Many professionals find developing a business plan a daunting and somewhat scary thing to do. In law, so much of what a professional does is taught and yet one of the most important parts of practice – finding and keeping clients – is not. Lawyers like things that are definable and business plans can be made to be just that.

If we break down a business plan to its simplest form, there are three areas: Objectives;
Strategies; and Action Plans.

Well conceived Objectives will help focus towards specific results, provide targets, define success, minimize subjectivity and establish a framework for . . . [more]

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” Gandhi’s words could be women lawyers’ “call to arms.”

Over the past few months, the conversations regarding the challenges that working women face have been loud… but maybe not so clear. Articles like… Atlantic Magazine’s, “Can Women Have It All?“ and The Wall Street Journal’s, “The Tyranny of the Queen Bee”, seemed like the opening act for the launch of Sheryl Sandberg’s well-publicized book, “Lean In“.

Unfortunately, the message is often lost on those complaining and whining—and even Sandberg’s encouragement is . . . [more]

More than 1200 legal marketing professionals gathered in Las Vegas for the industry’s largest conference earlier this month. This where marketers with a shared obsession for business development and client retention, sharpen their skills.

Here are the best nuggets from the sessions I attended:

1. Client focus simply defined: always doing what’s best for the client.
2. Understanding the client’s business means being responsive because you understand (and share) in the urgency, follow client directions and never, ever, undermine general counsel.
3. Business strategy knowledge includes understanding the products, competitors and their geographic market.
4. Law firm client relationships are stickier than first thought

In December, fellow Slaw marketing columnist Doug Jasinski wrote a great post about LinkedIn’s new makeover. His post walked you through the Skills and Endorsements feature (that LinkedIn is placing a lot of emphasis on), and the new look for LinkedIn Company Pages, with their new large image-based banner and prominent status update box.

But there have been even more changes to LinkedIn’s platform that may have gone unnoticed, particularly in the legal community. These changes are making LinkedIn more interactive, and more akin to other, more ‘social’ networks.

Sharing Options

In the past, publishing Updates to LinkedIn was largely . . . [more]

I came into the legal profession in the early 1990’s, just as the age of the “national” law firms was dawning. The big downtown Vancouver firms of my formative years – all independents – were soon swept up in a maelstrom of merger mania with their equivalents in Toronto and Montreal. When the dust settled a few years later, we had the basic framework of the large law firm landscape that has prevailed in this country for the better part of the past two decades. In the ensuing years the nationals built out their networks with offices in Calgary, Ottawa . . . [more]

Many marketing professionals have been in a situation where they are packed up and leaving the office when a partner comes by and says they need a promotional package for a perspective client they are meeting first thing in the morning. Generally what will happen is the marketing person will sit back down at their desk and put together a package of material, much of which is available on the website, so that the partner has something to give to the client as a take away the next morning.

Funny thing is, potential clients don’t want it.

Often, not always, . . . [more]