Many people think Facebook’s sole purpose is to share pictures and thoughts with friends and family around the world. However, Facebook also offers a number of excellent marketing tools for business professionals, such as law firms, that can help you reach out to the over 900+ million users currently using the site.
Read more at Cliccmedia...
Recovering deleted files from a storage device can be difficult for non-techies, but there is software available which makes the process easier for users. Recovery software varies in price and efficiency, though, and is often not as effective as taking the device to a professional.
Read more at MyBroadband...
Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is a rather large unwieldly and ever-changing practice that is time-consuming and mundane. Most of the time I recommend getting in a specialist in the SEO space, but it is important that before you go down that road, that you understand the basics of how it works.
Imagine being able to predict the next big thing on social media, knowing what social media will look like in 2017 and beyond and how will brands use social platforms to connect with their audience. As someone who works with social media every day, this information would be invaluable. At Buffer, we’re always eager to dig up new research into social media marketing — things like how marketers are using social media and what they’re excited about heading into 2017.
Read more at the Buffer Blog...
For the technically-savvy entrepreneur, building a business online and doing it on a shoestring budget isn't just some fairytale fantasy, it's a proven reality. However, for those that aren't in-the-know, finding the right strategies that work can prove to be a painful and costly experience. Not everyone has the budget to make those mistakes.
Read more at Forbes Magazine...
If you are going to make a new year’s resolution about your law firm marketing in the next few weeks, I would suggest you seriously consider improving your law firm blog.
I believe that there are attorneys that have lost the plot with what they offer society. The client is not the conduit to offer the attorney more billable hours, the client is somebody/entity that you and your law firm need to take a serious interest in, be invested in their business, to be able to really help them when they are in trouble.
We can’t help it. At year-end we commit to change (12,000 steps a day, I’m looking at you). On top of personal goals, many attorneys resolve to improve their practices. We commit to fewer hours, quicker meetings, better marketing and ROI.
Whatever your goals, consider how technology will help you. Below, I detail why tech competence is important to attorneys, some common tech questions to ask and how attending a legal technology show is a good way to kick-start solutions.
Read more a Buffalo Law Journal...
How many Christmas cards have you received in the last 2 weeks and will receive in the remaining days leading up to Christmas?
New disruptive technology for business allows routine tasks to be automated, driving efficiencies in a number of different sectors and allowing for better cost predictability and service quality for clients. In the legal market, it’s doing away with outdated, manual and time-consuming tasks that are better left to technology.
Read more at the Samsung Insights Blog...
To start off, Googling yourself and your firm, may give you a very important heads up on some bad publicity that people are seeing when trying to find you on the internet. But there are many other great reasons why this regular practice will benefit you.
An online robot lawyer designed to help people represent themselves in court state their case to the sentencing magistrate will be launched by a Melbourne law firm this week. Bill Doogue, a partner at Doogue O'Brien George, said he had seen too many people — up to 30 per cent — going through the court system unrepresented.
Read more at ABC News...
“Focus! If you chase two rabbits, both will escape” (ancient Chinese proverb)
Veteran class action litigator Garry Mathiason, a short time ago, traded his management role as firm chairman for a new challenge, co-chairing the firm’s emergent Robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Automation practice group. Mathiason recently sat down in his San Francisco office with ALM Director of Intelligence Dirk Olin to discuss the new group as well as the brave new world of the law machine.
Read more at Inside Counsel...
People who have a great experience - whichever way that experience is deemed as great – will bring your law firm more business. At the very least, it will bring people to your door, whether that expected experience converts them to a client or not, depends on how you treat them when they arrive.
There are many ways to generate new business-development conversations with the right decision makers; networking, client referrals, strategic introductions as well as casting wider nets inside of existing clients. LinkedIn, although considered a social selling site is really a business research and engagement platform.
Read more at Legal Productivity...
You know the good feeling we get when the car workshop calls you to see if your service with them went as planned? What is stopping your law firm from making a similar follow up call to make your clients feel just that extra bit special after doing business with you?
Don’t think for a second that branding at a non-related function or event will not create leads for your law firm. Firstly, just having your name up there creates awareness, secondly if it is really unrelated, the firm name will stick in the prospect's mind even more.
Yes, artificial technology is rapidly improving — and true , AI will invade the legal business before you know it — but futuristic AI-infused robot lawyers aren’t going to replace legal pros anytime soon. AI-based tools and technologies created and customized for legal work are coming for sure, though.
That’s good news. AI-enabled software can use pattern recognition and extreme machine learning algorithms to help legal pros work faster. Their capability digest vast amounts of information and interpret it can help you work smarter, too.
Read more at aNewDomain...
I’ve heard these comments, or ones similar to them, many times in the past several years. “I’m not sure this is all worth it….this Social Media thing.” “I tried LinkedIn, but it didn’t produce anything for me.” “I can’t see how Twitter could possibly result in anything positive.” “Why would I want to spend time on Facebook?”
I understand this doubt, and I also understand what causes it. Why don’t we spend a few minutes talking about a few ways to overcome that doubt about social media.
Read more at Merlandmarketing.com
I know I sound like a stuck record, but as I have said many times before, “If you cannot measure your marketing efforts/results, you should not do marketing!”. Here are some ways to measure your marketing efforts…
If you have an extra large marketing budget, I agree that you should have a custom website designed with a special administration module attached that allows your staff to edit the content – otherwise for 97% of the law firms in the world – I strongly suggest using a CMS (Content Management System) platform for your website.
If you thought Wall Street was a den of thieves, then welcome to Internet marketing. I just attended a jam packed conference in Central London with over 500 people. Now hold on tight to your selfie stick 'cause you'll want to hear this…
Takeout 1: Internet marketing has become a fraud.
Read more at LinkedIn...
The old school introduction and information exchange is still handled by the business card. It makes sense to use this opportunity to stand out above the rest. Here are some aspects to an effective business card.
Social media is one of the most effective ways to get in front of the people you want to serve. But so many entrepreneurs are doing it wrong. If you’re not succeeding at social media, chances are…
- You’re not using the right social media platforms.
- You’re not effectively using each social media platforms.
- You’re using social media just to deliver annoying sales pitches.
Of course, there could be other reasons, but these are some of the most common. That’s why you have to make sure you’re making the best use of each social media platform you work with.
Read more at Small Business Trends...
This last week we took a relatively good post reaching over 300 people with 8 engagements, we boosted that post for 24 hours with a ceiling of $20. This reached an additional 70 people and increase the engagement by 2 for $4.45. Not worth it, I think.
In an interview with NZ blog LawFuel, Jordan Furlong gave some advice to solo and small-firm lawyers who want to “avoid extinction.”
Read more at The Lawyerist...
Well, my experiment to drive engagement by posting good content, pictures and questions last week did not work. Let us look at a few more options and improve on a couple of things for the coming week.
For most new law firm websites, I think the most-interesting question is how big an improvement is it over the previous one(s). Is it just a polished-up 2016 version of the previous site? Or is it a significant strategic overhaul as well?
Read more at Fishman Marketing...
Let’s put aside the virtual “North of Umgeni River Property Law” Facebook page, and use our own Tech4Law Facebook page to continue this session, in other words – eating our own dogfood - this will allow us to demonstrate our efforts in a real live environment.
We continue from last weeks’ article - Starting a Facebook Page for Your Law Firm – Baby Steps – and now we continue the setup to complete our Facebook page profile.
Twitter is a great platform for meeting and nurturing relationships with fellow professionals, sharing your thoughts and useful links, and catching up on the latest news and trends. It’s also a terrific tool to learn by monitoring targeted practice area topics and following industry and legal experts and thought leaders.
Read more at Legal Productivity...
I decided to start a small series inside a series giving you the exact steps to creating a Facebook page for your clients and prospects. So follow these steps if you don’t have a Facebook page for your law firm or if you have one already, use these to double check what you have already done.
Ask any lawyer about their presence on Facebook and watch their body language, the arms fold, legs cross and if wearing a jacket, they would probably button it up tight. It is not something lawyers feel warm and fuzzy about, the openness, sharing, free opinions and “out of control” aspects all are very foreign to law.But the opportunities for marketing a law firm are plenty...
When we start off in the social media/blog or website news, we tend to think that creating the great content is enough to bring in the masses – alas, we are mistaken, that is only the beginning and boosting the effectiveness and spreading the word are what makes us the money.
Social media marketing is great if you’re selling a product that suits being advertised on it, like a clothing or make up brand for example. It gets a little trickier however if your trying to sell a service that isn’t quite so attractive or ‘sexy’.
Do not be fooled by the play on words in the title. It is a serious and frank talking book where ‘C.R.A.P.’ is an acronym for a key 4 step formula to help Trainee Solicitors understand the expectations of Clients and provide the best possible service to them. C = COST, R = RISK, A = ASSESS and P = PROCEED (or not).
Read more at Lawyer Monthy
Back in the day when pops managed a 20 partner, 100 paralegal law firm – to upgrade your image, you built a fancy new office, spent a good penny or two on PR consultancies and printed new fancy business cards and brochures. Now days, there are so many open windows for the public to look at or into your business, it makes it easier to improve this image – not to forget to mention that it also offers a few open windows you would prefer to have the curtains drawn.
Sort of like setting an exam paper for a school subject, first you find out what the goal is – 100% and say 300 marks, then you decide what each question will be and which answer will give you the full marks for the question. Just so for marketing a law firm, what is the 100% and what are the questions being asked.
Having a truly great website for one’s law firm is a visible differentiator. If potential clients are evaluating multiple firms, the quality of a firm’s website leaves an impression and is especially important. In my day-to-day as an online marketer for lawyers, I often speak with lawyers wanting to make the best possible web presence for their law firm. But, the “best” law firm website is going to vary based on each firm’s goals. Let’s take a look at some elements that can separate out your firm’s website and make it more of a best lawyer website than an OK lawyer website.
Read more at JurisPage...
