It can be really hard to get conference attendees to visit you at a trade show. There’s a lot of competition for starters. It can be somewhat overwhelming for attendees.
How to Draw Prospects Into Your Trade Show Booth
Why Regularly Googling Yourself Will Strengthen Your Professional Brand
I am a true believer in the positive power of social media, but it does have its downsides. As the lines between our personal and professional lives get blurrier by
Here’s a Sneak Peek Into my 2019 LMA Annual Conference Session in This Q&A
I recently had the opportunity to participate in an interview series with the Legal Marketing Association where they asked some of the speakers of the upcoming LMA19 conference to respond to questions on why they submitted to speak at the LMA Annual Conference, what they hope attendees will learn from their presentation, what they think are the keys for success for legal marketers today and which other sessions they are most excited to attend. Here are my responses. I’m looking forward to seeing many of you in Atlanta on April 8-10, and I hope you will join me and Jennifer Carr for our deep-dive workshop session on April 10 at 1:30pm on “Beyond Branding: Aligning Social Media Strategy With Business Development Goals.” Learn more about the session.
Why You Should Never Forget That Anyone You Meet Could Be a Potential New Client or Referral
I recently heard a very inspiring story about how a client referral came from a conversation that a lawyer had with the cleaning service employee who was assigned to his
How to Write an Amazing, Engaging & Client-Focused Professional Biography
Your professional biography is one of the most important pieces of copy you’ll ever write about yourself. It’s your opportunity to showcase your work, capabilities, areas of expertise and what makes you stand out from your competitors.
Many in-house counsel cite lawyer bios as one of the most important sources of information regarding researching outside lawyers (yes, everyone is Googling you and your bio is usually the number one search result of your name). In addition, lawyer bios are among the most trafficked pages on law firm web sites.
Your bio can serve as an important business development tool if it is well-crafted. Yet within the legal industry, so many bios are still lackluster, outdated, not client-focused or just plain poorly written.
Given the power of bios, it has always baffled me that many lawyers do not update theirs at least several times a year or write them with a client focus. Any down time you have or right before a pitch or a speaking engagement are all great reasons to take a fresh look at your bio and them more engaging and client-focused. Now let’s get to work!
12 Ways to Develop a Successful Social Media Strategy at Any Size Firm
I’m often asked how to develop a successful social media strategy. Firms of all sizes and budgets can do it if they are resourceful and creative.
Here are some ideas
What You Need to Know About LinkedIn Live, the New Social Livestreaming Feature on LinkedIn
Content marketers now have a new way of reaching their target audiences on LinkedIn using live video.
Recently, LinkedIn, the most powerful social network for professionals, added a livestreaming option in beta to a select group of users.
Called “LinkedIn Live,” the platform will provide its 600 million plus members and businesses the option to share and stream live video content such as Q&As, events, conferences, earnings calls, award ceremonies, company announcements and more.
According to Social Media Today, it makes perfect sense for LinkedIn to put increased emphasis on video content because its users are 20x more likely to share a video on the platform than any other type of post (wow!). To further support video on its platform, LinkedIn also launched video sponsored content and video for company pages early last year. The addition of LinkedIn Live will also enable LinkedIn to build on the ‘record levels’ of engagement that it says it is currently seeing on the platform.
LinkedIn has lagged behind its competitors when it came to providing users with video content options. This is interesting because because the platform says that video is the fastest-growing format on its platform alongside original written work, shared news and other content, so it seems like it’s in LinkedIn’s best interests to embrace in the technology that will support what its users want.
Launching first in the United States, LinkedIn Live is invite-only for now. In coming weeks, LinkedIn will also post a contact form for others who want to join. It’s not clear when and if LinkedIn will make it possible for everyone to create LinkedIn Live videos, but it is expected that is what will occur given how they rolled out LinkedIn Publisher.
So what can law firms do with LinkedIn Live? Here are some ideas (just keep in mind that your content must have a topical/timely aspect to it in order for it to be worth going live).
How to Easily Enhance Your Business Development, Social Media and Branding Efforts in 2019
In this article, I provide 16 easy ideas to incorporate into your social media, business development and branding efforts for professionals at all levels because it’s never too late or early to shake up your marketing efforts, and the new year is a great opportunity to start fresh and add new activities to our business development and marketing mix.
A word to the wise for young professionals – you should build your network before you think you’ll ever need it. Your peers will be tomorrow’s business leaders. And a word to the wise for seasoned lawyers who don’t think they need to spend the time on business development – today it’s not enough to just be a great lawyer.
You need to market yourself as well as churn out exceptional legal work. One day your steady stream of work could dry up or something unexpected could happen where you need to rebuild your practice.
Also, you never know who can turn out to be a client, referral or future employer. I always tell the lawyers with whom I work to never underestimate the importance of every person and connection. Be friendly and kind to everyone. Because you never know. Read the full article for the 16 tips.
Video Sneak Peek of my 2019 LMA Annual Conference Session on Aligning Social Media Strategy with Business Development Goals
I’ll be presenting a workshop at the 2019 Legal Marketing Association’s Annual Conference (which is the premier yearly gathering of legal marketers) on how to align your social media efforts with your business development strategy with Jennifer Simpson Carr on day two of the LMA Annual Conference (at 1:30pm on April 10). This is going to be a hands-on, immersive program with lots of actionable takeaways for marketers of all firm sizes and levels. It’s another reason that we hope you stay until the end of the #LMA19 conference. Here’s a sneak peek of our session! Thank you to Rob Kates for filming this segment.
What Do Clients Want From Their Outside Counsel? 15 Takeaways From Every In-House Counsel Panel You’ve Ever Attended
If you could hear directly from your clients about what they want and need, wouldn’t you jump at every opportunity to listen? And even better act on it?
With that in mind, I try to attend as many events featuring in-house counsel as I can, even if what they largely say is the same, because I appreciate their insights especially when it comes to what they value most when working with outside counsel. And every year, what they say they need and want most from their outside counsel – transparency, responsiveness, cost-sensitivity, understanding my business, anticipating my needs and providing value-added content and educational add-ons – continue to be a challenge for some firms and their lawyers to consistently hit the mark in all areas.
A law firm’s most precious assets are its clients, which are the source of both today’s business and tomorrow’s referrals. Therefore, you’d think that firms would strive to integrate the voice of their clients into all they do. But not all of them do, or maybe they try but just can’t.
Law firms always need to remember that their clients do not need to work with them. They need to want to work with them. And it is all within the power of law firms (and their lawyers) to achieve true client satisfaction and long-term loyalty by providing the highest-quality legal services, quickly resolving client issues, being a fierce client advocate who anticipates and solves problems and adding consistent value throughout the client lifecycle.
In today’s competitive environment, law firms must adopt a client-centric perspective in everything they do in order to remain competitive. Every single touchpoint matters and will be remembered, and a misstep can be very costly.
Here are some ideas from recent panels featuring the voice of the client that I hope inspire you on how to enhance attorney/client relationships at your firm: