I know you are but what am I?

April 16, 2013 by
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What do you do when someone posts a negative review on Yelp?

When an unhappy client goes on a rant about what a terrible attorney you are, should you respond? When someone publicly criticizes you, says you’re dumb ass, or greedy, or the Devil’s spawn because you defend child molesters.

What do you do?

Do you defend yourself? Fight back? Send them a horse’s head?

The best thing to do about negative comments is to ignore them. There’s nothing to be gained by getting into a pissing match. Even stupid people are entitled to their opinion.

You’re not going to change the mind of the opinion holder, and if you try to explain or defend yourself in public, you’ll only make yourself look worse.

If the negative comment is on your blog or on your Facebook wall, you should respond. It would look weird if you didn’t. But don’t respond in kind, just point out the facts. Your friends and followers will probably come to your defense and neutralize the negative comment, maybe even smother it.

But if someone posts a negative review about you on Yelp or another public forum, or they give your book a one star review on amazon.com, ignore it.

Let it go. Pour yourself a stiff one.

I see lawyers who are afraid to dive into social media or do anything online because they are afraid of what unhappy clients might say about them.

That’s operating out of fear. Maybe guilt.

Life (and the practice of law) isn’t about the complete avoidance of risk. It’s about the intelligent management of it. If you are alive (or open for business) there will always be risks.

You may have some unhappy clients, and they may share their unhappiness publicly, but. . .

they may not.

Are you going to forgo all of the benefits of being on the Internet because of what one or two Bozos might say about you?

How about all of the other clients who think you’re great? You’re going to get good comments, too.

A lot of people are saying negative things about Dell right now. They get tons of negative reviews. But people still buy their products.

Now if someone is posting untruths about you and not just their opinion, if someone is defaming you, that’s different. You may have to do something. A letter from your lawyer, perhaps. Or a horse’s head.

I say you “may” have to do something because sometimes, it really is better to ignore things like this. Yes, even when they are untrue and causing harm. Life is too short to get all worked up about everything.

Probably the smartest thing to do is to stop reading your reviews. The bad ones will only upset you and the good ones, well, you’re an attorney. You don’t need an even bigger ego.

Marketing for smart attorneys. The Attorney Marketing Formula.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Client loyalty, Image, Online Marketing, Personal development, Social media Tagged With:

The hidden cost of social media marketing

February 13, 2013 by
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Social media marketing isn’t free. You pay with your time.

It takes time to

  • Read incoming tweets, stories, posts, and mentions
  • Reply and/or re-post incoming tweets, stories, posts, and mentions
  • Create or find content to share
  • Create and update your profiles and pages
  • Stay up to date with all the new tools and techniques
  • Try out new apps to manage all of the above
  • Read posts like this one. . .

Whether you do this yourself or you hire others to do it for you, there is a cost to social media marketing.

I’m not saying it’s not worth it. It could very much be worth it. If you spend $1500 a month (your time or someone else’s) and bring in $10,000 a month in new business, that’s a good thing.

But that’s a big “if”.

I don’t think most people get this kind of return on their investment.

If you’re not making a profit on your investment in social media, or you don’t “do” social media marketing because you don’t believe it will be worth it (and you don’t want to spend the time to find out), I have a suggestion.

Keep your social media profiles up to date. Promote your web site content to your social media connections so they can push it to THEIR social media connections. But instead of trying to interact with hundreds or thousands of fans, followers, and connections, instead of “one” (you) to “many,” use social media as a tool for marketing “one to one”.

Use it to find one person who targets the same market you do. Another professional, a business owner or executive, a consultant, a blogger. Someone who would be a good fit.

Learn about them. Approach them. And begin the process of networking with them, the old fashioned way. In case you’ve forgotten, that means talking to them and meeting them for coffee.

Find out what you can do for them and they for you. Networking. One to one.

Marketing is simple. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t do it. Here’s proof.

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking, Referral sources, Referrals, Social media, Social media marketing, Time Management Tagged With: ,

How to get endorsed on LinkedIn (and why you’ll want to)

November 12, 2012 by
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Recently, I’ve gotten several Endorsements from connections on LinkedIn. I’ve been endorsed for Blogging, Marketing, Published Author, Referrals, Productivity, and other skills. If you were kind enough to endorse me, thank you!

So what do these endorsements mean? They mean pretty much what LinkedIn’s “Recommendations” mean–someone thinks highly of you and wants the world to know. So what’s the difference?

“Recommendations” come with a narrative from the endorser, a personalized testimonial from someone who has hired you or otherwise done business with you. Endorsements are more casual observations that can be added with the click of a button.

Recommendations carry more weight than Endorsements because of the personal attestation, but because they take time to write, they are harder to come by.

I think there is a place for both.

How do you get Endorsements and Recommendations? This article suggests two ways:

  1. Ask for them. Send an email to your list, post on your blog, etc., and
  2. Endorse others. Many will reciprocate.

Comments under the referenced article suggest that the ease of getting Endorsements diminishes their value. That’s probably true. But that doesn’t mean they don’t have value.

When someone visits your profile, either because you sent them there or they found you through search, having lots of Endorsements will give them an instant dose of “social proof” regarding your skills and experience. Yes, there may come a time when Endorsements are so common people don’t notice them, but they will surely notice if other attorneys have them and you don’t.

Want to earn more? Of course you do. Here’s where to start.

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Filed Under: Client loyalty, Social media, Social media marketing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Is your law firm listed on Yelp? You might be getting reviews and not know it

September 27, 2012 by
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When my wife is checking out a new restaurant or other local business, she often checks the reviews on Yelp. If they have a poor rating she usually moves on. She may also use Yelp’s directory to find businesses in our area. She found a great auto service business that way and we’re very happy with them.

If you target consumers or small businesses, prospective clients may be checking you out on Yelp. If you have a listing, it’s one more place people searching for an attorney can find you.

The thing is, clients can post a review about you even if you don’t have a listing. You might want to do a search and see if anyone has. While you’re there, create an account so that you can post your details and contact information. This article points you in the right direction.

Once you have an account, you can add your photo, additional details, and special offers (i.e., a coupon, a free report or video, etc.). You can engage with people who post reviews.

The listing is free and it’s easy to set up an account so there’s really no reason not to. Tell your (satisfied) clients to post their reviews. You may or may not get new clients from the directory, but if anyone hears about you somewhere else and goes to check you out on Yelp, you’ll be ready.

Are you listed on Yelp? Have you gotten clients from your listing? Let me know in the comments.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: , ,

How to use someone else’s blog post to get traffic to your website

August 9, 2012 by
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You read lots of blogs, right? For work, for news, for fun. You might think most of it isn’t something of interest to your clients and prospects. But you might be surprised at how much of it is.

Your clients and prospects are interested in lots of things that can make their lives better. They want to make more money, cut expenses, protect their credit, and get a better return on their investments. They want to get their kids into college and plan for retirement. They want to know how to be safe when they travel.

No matter what your clients are, they are also consumers.

So when you see an article entitled, 6 Things You Should Never Say to a Police Officer, and share it with your list, you’re providing them with value. The next time they see something from you, they’ll be more inclined to read it. And the next time they need a lawyer, they’ll be more inclined to think of you.

When you come across a post that’s interesting or useful, you probably do share it via social media. But when you share a link to a story and someone clicks on that link, it will take them to the website with the original story. Wouldn’t you prefer to have them go to your website?

Why not write your own article on the subject and share that link?

People will come to your website to read your article (and then onto the original), but by coming to your website first, they may see something else you wrote and be reminded that they need to hire you. When they share your link with their friends and followers, those folks will also come to your site first and hire you, sign up for your newsletter, or see something else they want to share with their friends and followers.

If you are a criminal defense lawyer, an article on what not to say to a police officer is a natural. You can add your comments, agree or disagree, and tell stories about your clients who messed up. What you have to say could be even more interesting than the original post.

If you are not a criminal defense lawyer, you can still comment on an article like this. You might have a personal experience you can share or know someone who has. You can ask a criminal defense lawyer for his take on the subject and add his comments or stories. A quick search may lead to a another article or two you can link to.

A blog post doesn’t have to be authoritative. It doesn’t have to be long. A few short paragraphs are fine. Tell your readers you found something you want to share, and why you like it (or don’t).

If there is a connection with what you do, yes, that is better. Your post will be longer and readers will stay on your page longer to read it. Your post will also be more valuable. That can only lead to more sharing and more appreciation.

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Filed Under: Blogging, Client loyalty, Marketing legal services, Online Marketing, Social media, Social media marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Using LinkedIn to get more traffic to your blog or web site

July 30, 2012 by
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Are we connected on LinkedIn? We should be. Send me a request to connect and mention this blog as our connection.

I like LinkedIn. It’s an excellent social media platform for professionals. No LOL cats, vacation photos, or game requests.

Our LinkedIn profiles lets others learn about what we do, and if that’s all it did, that would be great. But LinkedIn is a giant directory of professionals and business owners we can reach out to and network with, and with a little effort, it’s also a mechanism for actively generating more traffic to our sites.

Here is a very basic example to illustrate:

Let’s say you represent small businesses and you connect with commercial real estate attorneys, brokers, bankers, et. al. One of them posts a link to an article on new government programs for small businesses. You like the article and

  • Comment on their LinkedIn post, which exposes your brilliance to others and brings traffic to your profile, and then to your blog.
  • Comment on their blog, which can also bring traffic.
  • Reach out to the author and tell him you like the article, which may lead to future networking opportunities, guest posts, etc. You can do the same with the person who posted the article if they aren’t the author.
  • Share the article with your clients and prospects, which earns their appreciation.
  • Learn something you can use in your practice and in your marketing.

There are lots of ways to network and share content on LinkedIn. This excellent article on how to use LinkedIn to drive traffic to your blog shows you seven ways to do precisely that. Some of these I’m doing; others are now on my “Next Action” list.

There’s a link in the article to LinkedIn applications you can install to help automate some of these tasks. I use the WordPress app to sync this blog and recommend it. A few applications are designated for legal professionals and I’m going to check them out.

Are you using LinkedIn to get traffic and make new connections?

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Filed Under: Marketing legal services, Networking, Social media, Social media marketing, Web traffic Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Free PR for attorneys and their clients

July 19, 2012 by
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Tim Ferriss has a great guest post by PR expert Ryan Holiday, author of the new book, Trust Me, I’m Lying: Confessions of a Media Manipulator.

At first glance, you may wonder if Holiday has anything to say that applies to attorneys. The slightly outrageous photos from his clothing company campaigns had me wondering the same thing, even though one of the stories features a (fully clothed) attorney.

The process of getting PR is the same in any field, however, and Holiday’s tips are solid.

First, he recommends starting small by becoming a resource for reporters who are researching stories. Help them do their job and get your foot in the door. (Great resource: HelpAReporter.com — a service that matches reporters researching stories with sources).

Next, Holiday says to “always appeal to self-interest”. Give the writer what they want (an exclusive on a good story) rather than what you want (exposure for your firm). Make their job easy by providing the background evidence to support the story.

The final tip is to “feed the monster,” meaning give the media what it wants. It wants what readers want: controversial, sexy, topical. These are what people want to read, and what they will share.

I’ll add my tip: the story you pitch doesn’t have to be about you. Use your clients, their businesses, or their causes. Surely there will be a legal angle and your client’s lawyer will need to be quoted. Just make sure you have something to say that people want to hear.

Holiday knows what makes a story go viral and he knows how to get the attention of reporters and bloggers. He got Tim Ferriss’ attention, and he got mine.

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Filed Under: Publicity, Social media Tagged With: , , ,

Marketing insights for sole practitioners

June 25, 2012 by
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My post on going solo brought emails from lawyers who appreciated that I didn’t varnish the truth about how hard it is.

If you are a solo or thinking of opening your own office, I recommend you read Philly attorney Jordan Rushie’s candid post about his experiences in staring his own practice. It’s interesting reading if you want to compare notes, required reading if you’re about to open that office and need to make a shopping list.

Rushie agrees that going solo is almost a crazy idea–a lot harder and more costly than some would have you believe, far more work and far less income than you can imagine. Although he acknowledges that it’s never the “right time” to go solo, if you have a choice, wait until you have the experience, money, and contacts to be able to do it right.

Rushie’s has some interesting comments about marketing for the new solo. Actually, his advice rings true for just about any attorney. He says you don’t need:

  • An expensive, fancy web site. I agree. You need a place to send people to get information about your practice and how to contact you. You can add more content and make things look nicer later on, after you’re making money.
  • A logo. Right again. Although you can get a decent one designed for a few dollars to a few hundred dollars, you’ll waste too much time deciding on the right look. You don’t need a logo, you need clients.
  • “SEO Optimization”. Rushie suggests that more traffic won’t necessarily bring you good clients but that it will certainly bring you tire kickers. You can set up mechanisms to screen and filter out the low-quality inquiries and, therefore, get some decent clients, but the time (and money) you will spend are probably better spent elsewhere. Put this on the list for later.
  • A marketing/PR firm. I agree with this, too. Even if you could afford the cost and could find a firm that really knows what they’re doing (many don’t), you’re better off building relationships. Rushie says, “take potential clients to a ball game,” family, friends, and other lawyers out to dinner. No question about it, you will get far more business by leveraging your existing relationships for business and referrals than you will get hiring a marketing firm. I’m not saying you don’t need marketing information and advice. You do. But you’re better off learning it yourself so you can do it yourself.
  • Social Media or a social media consultant. Rushie says he doesn’t rely on social media to build his practice. He gets about 5% of his work from Facebook friends, “but they are usually people I knew from high school who would have called me anyway.” I know there are exceptions, but I hear something similar from a lot of attorneys. Don’t ignore social media but don’t depend on it, either. Use it as an excuse to connect or re-connect with real people because the magic happens when you talk to people or meet with people in the real world.

Rushie says not having a plan on how to grow your practice is a big mistake and of course, I concur. The good news is that the plan is a lot easier, less technically challenging, and less costly than you might think. Build your practice by building relationships.

Unfortunately, unless you know a lot of (the right) people, building relationships may take up a lot of time. Fortunately, as a new solo without a lot of clients or work keeping you busy, you have time to go meet some new people. Unless you’re too busy learning how to practice law.

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Filed Under: Career satisfaction, Inspiration, Legal industry, Marketing legal services, Relationship marketing, Social media, Social media marketing Tagged With: , , , ,

The economy sucks. What are you doing about it?

June 22, 2012 by
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Okay, I’m not going to go all save-the-world on you but yes, if you can do something to make things better, you should. Get involved in local politics, volunteer at a charity, help someone in need.

The best thing you can do is to grow your practice. A bigger income would mean you could do more to help others. And you know what they say about the best way to help the poor: don’t become one of them.

I saw this photo on Facebook yesterday and it touched me. In case you can’t see it, it’s the window of a dry cleaner’s with a sign that says, “If you are unemployed and need an outfit clean for an interview, we will clean it for FREE”.

Nice.

Do you think the owner will get some business from this, beyond what he does for free? Publicity? Positive word of mouth? Do you think anyone who takes him up on his offer will continue to patronize his store in the future? Do you think he will tell everyone he knows about the business owner who helped him when he really needed a break?

No question about it. Doing good is good for business.

Could you do something similar for your clients and prospects? For your community?

A discount, a free service, even some non-legal advice. Offer a free financial literacy seminar to help people get a handle on their debts. Get someone a job interview at one of your client’s companies. Offer struggling entrepreneurs two hours of free advice.

Lots of people need help right now. Unemployed, struggling military families, people losing their homes.

What can you do?

Don’t do it solely because it might bring you some business. Do it because it makes you feel good to help a fellow human being.

If we all do that, even a little, everyone will be better off. Including us.

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Filed Under: Advertising, Image, Inspiration, Marketing legal services, Publicity, Social media Tagged With: , , , ,

How to get prospective clients to see you as the ONLY attorney to choose

June 11, 2012 by
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Imagine you are looking for a new accountant. You’ve collected information about several candidates, but you haven’t spoken to any. You’ve narrowed your list to three accountants you plan to contact.

You call the office of the first accountant and tell the receptionist you want to talk to Mr. Roberts about possibly hiring him. You are told that you will need an appointment and you set one up for the following week.

You have a similar conversation with the second accountant’s office, but in this case, you are transferred immediately to Mr. Green. He tells you about his background and practice. He’s friendly and open and you schedule an appointment to meet with him as well.

You call the third accountant, Mr. Jones, and are transferred to his personal assistant, Sally. She asks you some questions and also sets up an appointment with Mr. Jones.

So far so good. Three decent candidates. You’ll meet all three in person within the next ten days and you hope you can choose the right one. You start making a list of questions you will ask when you meet.

You check your email. There’s a message from Sally, Mr. Jones’ personal assistant, thanking you for your call and confirming your appointment. Attached are some documents for you to review before you meet:

  • A letter confirming your appointment, directions, and parking instructions.
  • A F.A.Q. brochure about Mr. Jones, his firm and staff, fees, payment options and other basics a prospective client would want to know
  • Three articles by Mr. Jones, one about saving time and money with bookkeeping, one on how to minimize taxes, and one published in a bar journal about tax issues lawyers need to know that will help with do a better job for their business clients.
  • Another article, an interview of Mr. Jones that was published by a prominent CPA Journal
  • Three back issues of Mr. Jones’ newsletter
  • A booklet of testimonials from Mr. Jones’ clients, including several attorneys, and endorsements from other CPAs, financial planners, and a professor of taxation
  • Mr. Jones’ CV listing his education, experience, awards and honors
  • A two-page questionnaire to be filled out in preparation for your appointment, about your practice and your tax and accounting needs

Every page includes links to Mr. Jones’ web site. There you find additional information, articles, blog posts, white papers, and back issues of his newsletter. There is also a link to subscribe to his ezine via email and links to connect with him on social media. You follow several links and see he is connected to many attorneys, including many whose names you recognize.

The next day, you get an email from Mr. Jones himself. He says he’s looking forward to meeting you the following week, encourages you to fill out the questionnaire, and says he has already visited your web site to get some preliminary information about your practice.

Mr. Jones invites you to send him additional information about your practice that you would like him to see, and any questions you would like him to address.

The next day, in the postal mail, a hand written note arrives, signed by Mr. Jones. It says, simply, “I’m looking forward to meeting you next Wednesday.”

Over the next few days, you get two more emails from Mr. Jones.

The first is an article written by one of his other clients, a lawyer who practices in the same field as you. The email says something nice about this lawyer and Mr. Jones says he thought you might like to read the article, that a lot of his clients have found it helpful.

The second email contains a checklist Mr. Jones gives to all of his clients and a report that shows how to use it to save time and better prepare for tax time. The email invites you to contact Mr. Jones if you have any questions. The email is signed “Bob”.

Next week rolls around and two days before your appointment, you get an email reminding you of the appointment and asking you to either send your questionnaire in advance or to bring it with you.

The next day, the day before the appointment, Mr. Jones’ assistant calls you with a courtesy reminder. She asks if you have any questions, reminds you that they have free parking, and says she and Mr. Jones are looking forward to seeing you.

You haven’t even met Mr. Jones but you already know: he’s the one. You will probably meet with the others, just to be sure, but unless Mr. Jones has two heads and a forked tongue (and maybe even if does), he will be your new accountant.

What can be learned about this experience?

  • Mr. Jones used a “shock and awe” campaign to overwhelm you with reasons for choosing him over any other accountant. Even if you never read the documents he sent you, you are impressed by his diligence and thoughtfulness and convinced he has the requisite experience.
  • The personal touches he adds to the process made you feel good about him. He treats you like a client before you became one. He shows you respect, like you are a valued individual, not a name on a file folder.
  • He provides social proof (articles, testimonials, endorsements) of his experience with and commitment to attorneys as a niche market for his practice. He makes you believe he understands what you do. He shows you that he has helped others like you, suggesting that he can do the same for you.
  • He uses content (articles, blog posts, etc.) to do the heavy lifting. It proves he is good at what he did, without him having to say so himself.
  • It doesn’t take a lot of time to do what he does because almost everything is written in advance and he and his staff obviously use a checklist to manage most of the process.
  • He doesn’t do anything you couldn’t do. You may not have all of the documents he has, but you can start with what you do have and add more later.

I’m sure you can imagine what Mr. Jones will do when you arrive at his office, during the appointment, and after the appointment. Marketing is actually very simple: Treat people like you would like to be treated.

Take some time to outline the process for communicating with a prospective client for your practice. What can you do to show them what they need to see and hear so that they fall in love with you?

Done right, they will “know, like, and trust” you before they even meet you. You won’t just be the best choice, you’ll be the only choice.

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Filed Under: Client relations, Closing the sale, Communication, Law office management, Marketing legal services, Marketing Plan, Social media, Specializing Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
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