What Is It About Your Firm’s Services That Clients Value?

Attorneys often have a hard time marketing their services, as they deal in services which values are subjective at best, and depend largely on the firm they’re with, and on the reputation that they and their firm have built.

So how do you make what one marketing pro has termed “your strategic differentiation” real?

Drago Adam of AdamAdGroup.com, a guest post (and above-mentioned marketing pro) on The Thoughtful Blogger, has laid out his premise on just this topic.  He believes that what matters is to do something totally different from your competition–and to make sure it’s something customers (i.e., clients) consider important.

According to David J. Bilinsky of Thoughtful Legal Management (aka The Thoughtful Blogger), Adam’s idea has particular meaning for lawyers as “they try to distinguish their services from the law firm down the street  – or over the Internet.”

“But if we provide great client service,” you might be thinking “isn’t that enough?”  Not necessarily. Adam claims that great customer service has nothing to do with why clients will flock to your business (or, in this case, firm).

If you think back to all the sides of trucks or advertising premiums you’ve spotted bearing a company’s logo, you’ll realize how many had variations on the same theme:  “We put customers first!”    Adam explains that this sort of message should be relegated to the been-there-done-that…and-it’s-not-working archive.  In fact, he says, it’s “designed to be ignored”.

All businesses or firms claim to serve customers well, yet few [firms] actually do.   When you promise great client service, not only do you have an undifferentiated form of differentiation, but “nobody believes you”.

Everybody defines excellent customer service according to their whims and preferences.  It’s the served, and not the server, who should claim great service.  Adam offers a superb analogy: it’s like when a 15-year-old boy tries to slap a nickname on himself that he thinks is cool…when no one else has done him the favor.  The moment you claim it for yourself, you sound desperate or boring.

So what should you stand on, if not a promise of servicing your customer or client?  How about this…go for something unique and that the customers care for.  That’s it in a nutshell.

For instance, there’s a rent-a-car company that doesn’t claim great customer service–which we agree there is no universal standard for.  They do, however, offer to come and pick you up.  That’s the differentiation, and that’s what makes it stand head and shoulders over its big name competition.

Try something “small and unique”, the marketing specialist advises. Something concrete and tangible that you do pretty well. Now market it. That’ll give you a strategy of differentiation…and that’s something your customers (or, in your case, your clients) will remember, and flock to you for.

To read more, go here: http://thoughtfullaw.com/2011/05/12/customer-service-is-not-a-marketing-strategy/#more-1514  

Interested in learning how to master the value and  pricing  of your services? Check out this audio conference:  http://www.c4cm.com/lawfirm/practical-methods-to-master-value-pricing-for-legal-services.htm

Graphic courtesy of Thoughtful Legal Management.

-EM

Business Development (OK, Marketing) Tips for Your Firm

Not every lawyer feels comfortable being a rainmaker, explains Kimberly Alford Rice, advisor to firms in the field of marketing. But every firm’s health depends on lawyers being savvy enough to get involved in the sometimes subtle arena of business development.

It doesn’t have to involve outright bringing in new clients, money or prestige…it can involve something as behind-the-scenes (but just as important) as tracking which activities meant to expand your business are actually leading to new prospects, and which are not.

Either way, all attorneys are a part of the solution when they’re busy being a cog in the wheel.  But they can sometimes become frustrated when their efforts at business development produce no results.  This happens because “[m]anagement [does] … little to constructively assist lawyers with learning and practicing the basics of business development, leaving coordinated initiatives to the lawyers,” says Rice.  “This long-standing management style is not sustainable…”.

Rice (pictured here), who writes for Law.com’s The Legal Intelligencer blog, notes that, in today’s economy and ever-morphing legal landscape, “there is no better time to examine and enhance how your firm is investing in its business development program.”

One step which can bring in impressive results over the long haul is to stick to one target audience or demographic—your audience, if you will—and go after it.  Rein in watered-down tactics like newsletters or hosted golf games.  If there’s no follow-up or strategic focus, new clients are not likely to materialize to read the newsletters or attend the golf games, and neither is new business.

“What profitable firms have realized is that many traditional marketing activities are not yielding the same results,” says Rice.  Such activities are a drain on a firm’s precious resources.

Something that does make sense (and cents, however) is to cultivate relationships you’ve been nurturing all your professional life.  Your position as potential rainmaker may depend on it. If you’re not yet a rainmaker (or just not that comfortable with those duties), what Rice says your firm should provide for you is support, and this comes about by setting up the lines of communications.

“Despite their size, many law firms do not provide sufficient support or assistance to their business-generating lawyers. Often… rainmakers are highly independent, very focused, and keep their assistants busy with marketing-related projects,” says Rice.  So they’re not likely to need outside assistance.

But, “(f)or the majority of firm attorneys, however, there is little support and attention paid to cohesive business development and marketing support. The reasons usually boil down to several issues: 1) Lack of communication around what resources are available…; 2) The lawyers are not clear about how they can best utilize business development support…; or 3) When business development opportunities arise,”  appropriate responses aren’t planned for.

So whether or not you’re a rainmaker, a firm should touch base with you on a regular basis to ensure you’re aware of all the resources which are at your disposal.  A good firm will even provide a coach to mentor you on the ins-and-outs of cohesive business development initiatives. For more, go to:

http://www.law.com/jsp/law/sfb/lawArticleSFB.jsp?id=1202462995938

-EM

Persuading Managing Partners To Employ Social Media

Education about sending exploitative photos via smart phones, using social networking sites responsibly, or blogging too much private information is typically the task of teachers and parents. But, the generation gap where technology is concerned has hit the legal industry in equal force.

YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, or blog sites are frequently seen as new-age recreational outlets—and even dangers—as opposed to legitimate marketing or business tools. It can be difficult to demonstrate to those senior partners who *ahem* are of a certain era that social media is not only a suitable system for advertising firm services but also an adept recruitment agent for future associates.

Take, for example, the case of Alec Brownstein. This recent graduate bought a Google banner ad that targeted the Creative Directors of some of New York’s leading advertising agencies. Of course, Mr. Brownstein had a high-quality portfolio to back-up his Internet gimmick, but in today’s economic environment, there are myriad qualified (and unemployed) paralegals or associates just waiting for an opportunity to get hired.

In less extreme examples, social media sites like LinkedIn or legal recruitment web-agenices, including lawcrossing.com, are cheap and easy ways to locate qualified candidates. Even if your firm is not looking to hire, it’s certainly still looking to recruit clients. At which point, social media—blog posts, tweets, or Facebook feeds—become crucial in advertising what services your firm offers, who its lawyers are, and why a client should hire you, as opposed to another firm.

So, to adequately convince your senior partners that social media has added value, implement these simple ideas:

1. Start an internal employee blog that discusses caseload, benefits, or calendar items (upcoming CLEs, for example). Then, poll employees about its utility and send the results to the managing partner. Discuss with him or her the various ways you intend to apply the same principles to an external blog site.
2. Record the cost of each new hire in terms of recruitment agency fees. Then, identify a few equally qualified associates online (via LinkedIn or similar websites) and calculate the would-be amount saved for the hiring partner.
3. Identify a few firm clients who use Facebook or company blogs as marketing devises. Then, make note to lead counsel about how these clients appreciate the value of online media to promote and promulgate business. Point out how opening Twitter or Facebook accounts on behalf of the firm would increase exposure to possible new clients who use such social media tools.  For already technology-inclined clients, adding social media outlets makes firm activity and progress more transparent and accessible.
4. Write a social media guide for your firm’s administrators discussing risk mitigation. Coordinate with IT so that all security concerns are addressed. This will put partners at ease when it comes to privacy and confidentiality issues.

Finally, if all else fails, perhaps an appeal to senior partners’ traditional side will win over grandpa comma esquire. Vintage signs send the appropriate message that it’s time for your law firm to get with the times.

-WB

Also read: Can Blogs And Social Media Alone Teach New Grads To Be Good Lawyers?

Don’t Forget To Donate

­The economy is beginning to recover, and law firms are showing their appreciation through philanthropic works. Luckily for Street Law, Inc.—a nonprofit organization dedicated to crime prevention, conflict resolution, and youth advocacy—cost-cutting measures within the legal industry, for at least a dozen firms, have not extended to charitable donations.  

King & Spalding LLP has recently led news headlines with a variety of negative press about its decision to drop the DOMA defense. Today, the firm is still topping lists, but this time, one of generous donors. After King & Spalding gave $25,000 to Street Law, Inc., ten other dedicated firms each donated $10K to the same organization, which will use the funds to provide practical, participatory education about law, democracy, and human rights.  

For the past few decades, Street Law, Inc. has grown from a local program educating District of Columbia high school students about practical aspects of the law and the legal system into a national and international organization. Since its founding in 1972, Street Law, Inc. has expanded its programs and publications to include new content and skill areas, such as crime prevention, conflict resolution, and youth advocacy for use in school systems, juvenile justice facilities, and community settings.  

Street Law, Inc.’s mission is international. It now has established programs and developed materials in over thirty countries. This year, Street Law, Inc. will initiate legal education programs in Latin America, Dubai, and Kyrgyzstan, as well as in community colleges across the United States.   

“These donations will support Street Law’s efforts to diversify the legal profession and bring practical education about law, democracy, and human rights into new countries and audiences around the world,” replied Lee Arbetman, Executive Director of Street Law, Inc.   

So what is your firm doing to give back to the legal community, especially the younger generations?  

Not only do these gifts provide invaluable services to local, national, and international persons in need, but your firm can also benefit in terms of tax breaks and good-will marketing. Street Law, Inc.—as the name implies—focuses on pragmatic issues in law. In the same way, your firm can practice practical philanthropy, i.e., charitable donations can be a profitable business venture or advertising scheme, in addition to an act of philanthropy.  

It’s time to follow suit with the ten other firms who donated 10K:

1. Baker Botts LLP 
2. Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP 
3. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP 
4. Crowell & Moring LLP 
5. DLA Piper LLP (US) 
6. Epstein Becker & Green, PC 
7. Hollingsworth LLP ($15,000) 
8. Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler 
9. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
10. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP   

Read more about Street Law, Inc.’s efforts at www.streetlaw.org.

 

-WB

Marketing Law Firms – With and Without Twitter and Smartphones

In this day and age of marketing gurus for every conceivable service under the sun, there are bound to be one or two…or, more likely, thousands…of folks who make it their business to help lawyers build their online brand. Larry Bodine has a service just like that, and he’s got stories galore about how firms  went from a blip on the screen of new client revenue to a force to be reckoned with. 

• Here’s one:  Christopher Levinson, a law firm administrator with the same firm for over 25 years, has 52,477 followers on Twitter.  This is not quite the same as having that many clients, no…but it’s a beginning.  In the realm of social media, the more you’re known online, the higher your visibility in general. Levinson, with all his Tweets, has inadvertently (or perhaps not always so inadvertently) helped spread the word about his place of employment: Masry Vititoe, a personal injury law firm in Westlake Village, CA, near Los Angeles. (This was also the firm featured in the Erin Brockovich film.)  He usually Tweets about law-related items, such as those that appear on product and recall service lists which he subscribes to. 

• For instance, Levinson let his followers know that B.O.B. Trailers Inc. recalled about 337,000 single and double strollers in the United States and about 20,000 in Canada – http://bo.st/eMmky. A reader commented on the fact that, when you look at his stats, which Bodine provided, it’s evident that Levinson has actively mined a lot of this activity by initiating contact, or by “following” people, to use the Twitter parlance. (The reader also acknowledges that there’s nothing wrong with that.) “I just like to do good and Tweet about things that will help people,” Levinson said. According to Bodine, Levinson automatically follows everyone who follows him. We also learn that he’s a guy “who loves giving back” and is past president and a current member of a local sheriff’s foundation.

• Here’s another case of marketing saviness, this one with less of a coincidental factor: Goulston & Storrs in Boston has placed a high-tech QR code–a quick response code–into a print ad. When scanned with a smartphone (that’s any phone–usually less than a couple of years old—with advanced capabilities), it’ll direct you to Google’s top-five search results on your firm. Or, alternately, it’ll take you  to your firm’s “What’s News” web page…as it does for G&S.  So the ad, which congratulates a client on the several-million dollar sale of its “trophy asset”, has a little box on the lower right hand side which takes would-be clients just where they need to go to learn more.

• And from Lawyer’s e-Journal, we learn that “being present in your community” makes all the difference in the world when it comes to letting people know who you are.  Doing good is its own reward, of course, but “in-person networking remains a vital component of legal marketing”…one that Twitter can’t touch. “Organize an instructive course in one of your practice area topics.” If you are a churchgoer, you might invite those you worship with as, there, you’ve already established the foundation of a relationship.

• When your firm conducts outreach…joins organizations, formulates presentations, etc., it almost makes you the go-to guy or gal.  (Folks still want to buy local—and this includes lawyers’ services.)  Try advertising in a little-league publication; the parents of the young pitchers and batters will love you forever.  Of course, you can always Tweet your online friends about the upcoming events, too.  Remember: you’ve got to be in these endeavors for the long-haul.  It’s about building trust, which takes time. Don’t abandon the effort.

To read more, go to:  http://blog.larrybodine.com/ and to: http://www.massbar.org/publications/e-journal/2011/april/04-21/law-practice-management-tip    Photo courtesy of popsci.com.

-EM

Branding Your Law Firm by Creating Value

Did you know you can brand your law firm with conscious capitalism?   As published in the National Law Journal earlier this year, a marketing professor at Bentley University in Massachusetts uncovered a definite correlation between corporations who “do good” and those who are able to retain a customer base. 

According to lawyer Adrian Dayton, author of the NLJ piece, as well as of the book “Social Media for Lawyers,” law firms can benefit from these principles, too.   The professor at this leading business school, Raj Sisodia (pictured here), based his premise on the amount of marketing spend that each company put forth. After looking at the monies these corporations invested in getting the word out about their products or services, he examined the customer loyalty that ensued.   And what he found was surprising. 

Those who had massive marketing budgets retained very little customer loyalty. But a few companies were retaining a high level of customer trust and loyalty.  Which companies were these?  The ones who were seen as doing something worthwhile.   “They had a conscious leader who was motivated by purpose and not by power and personal enrichment,” says the piece. What has come to be termed conscious capitalism succeeded here, where extreme marketing spend did not. 

And as an added bonus, these very same companies were very profitable.  

By contrast, many believe that conscious capitalism could never work within the constraints of a law firm set-up. This could not be further from the truth, argues, Dayton.  A law firm, despite its combative nature, can always go back to its roots.

The author interviewed Sisodia, who said: “The role of lawyers used to be more of a counselor, of a trusted advisor.  The role now is more of a technician—and is heavily money-driven. Where are the concepts of justice and jurisprudence? We are missing the big picture.”   Dayton then breaks down how a law firm can engage in conscious capitalism.   

“Ask, would our firm be missed if it disappeared? …We need to be value creators, not value destroyers.  How do we create value? We should only, in fact, generate income for ourselves if we are creating value.  Are you creating value for your client at the expense of others? That doesn’t work, either.  How can you help your client, how can you create more value, as opposed to just getting a larger piece of the pie?”  

Professor Raj Sisodia also talks about justly-earned compensation.  “Some Chinese doctors only get paid for months when you are healthy….Think about how good they feel about getting paid….We need more of that mentality….Incentives don’t have to be all financial—they can also be emotional. Heart attacks are highest on Monday mornings.  It doesn’t have to be that way.”   To read more, go to: http://adriandayton.com/2011/04/take-the-high-road-to-success/

–EM