July 2010
4 posts
12 tags
Your Experience Is Not A Competitive Advantage
Once at a conference an attorney complained to me that his clients saw lawyers as interchangeable commodities rather than vaunted experts. ”They think we all do the same thing,” he said, “and that one of us is the same as the next.”
I asked him what market he targeted. He listed eight or nine disparate areas in which he takes legal work. I asked him what he charges. ...
12 tags
Hourly Billing Equals Bad Marketing?
As someone who runs a marketing company it never occurred to me to charge my clients by the hour. A particular training session costs X. A specific web video project costs Y. Ghost writing three blog posts a week costs Z. Makes sense, right? I mean, who would hire me by the hour to coach them on putting a marketing steering process in place – I’d just take two hours to do so instead of...
10 tags
Warning: Avoid Operating Like A Law Firm
Over the weekend I read an insurance industry magazine (was your weekend as exciting??) and the article that caught my eye was titled “Create Solid Processes, Avoid Operating Like A Law Firm.”
The article warned that too many insurance practices are operating “like law firms,” with no systems or processes in place to manage new business marketing, client relationships,...
June 2010
6 posts
10 tags
Attorneys: Discounted Marketing Training In...
We’re rolling out four revamped marketing training sessions for small and medium law firms. Before I make the new versions of the sessions generally available, I’m asking fellow group members (attorneys at small law firms) to provide some structured feedback, in exchange for a hefty discount on the sessions.
**Email me if you’d be interested in a discounted fee in exchange...
10 tags
Four Steps To Avoid A "Feast or Famine" Law...
Being responsible for both selling high value legal services and performing those services is a tough balance. Many lawyers find themselves in a “feast or famine” world. Sound familiar? You work hard to get some new business, and then you spend all your time servicing those clients. When the projects finish…no more business. So you start over, scrambling to get clients, serving...
10 tags
Great story: Adding value is well worth the fee
This is not my story, but one I read. You’ll enjoy it:
I had a college professor who did engineering consulting. A brand new office tower in Boston had a serious problem—there was a brown stain coming through the drywall, (all of the drywall) no matter how much stain killer they used. In a forty story building, if you have to rip out all the drywall, this is a multi-million dollar...
9 tags
Small law firms can compete without big marketing...
It takes work and imagination, but small and solo law firms with little budget for marketing can effectively compete for the attention of potential clients and referral sources. Any business that wants to create services and sell them must put some real thought into what marketing texts call the “marketing mix” or “the four P’s”: Product, Price, Place,...
Do You Have Trouble Getting Client Testimonials? Try this http://ping.fm/cs8rx
9 tags
Do You Have Trouble Getting Client Testimonials?
Client video testimonials — if done properly, of course — pack a wallop like little else. Who wouldn’t want to have a website full of happy clients talking about their great experience working with you and your firm? Recently I’ve heard from several small law firms who can’t seem to get their former clients — happy, satisfied clients — to give the...
May 2010
4 posts
9 tags
How To Create Bad Attorney Web Marketing
When you’re a small law firm your competitive differentiation is not simply your expertise, but also your trustworthiness, personality, and manner. Look at your website and three others from similar firms. Can someone really tell that you are any different from the others? Here are a few things to keep in mind so that you don’t fall into the Bad Attorney Web Marketing trap.
...
10 tags
Two Reasons Why You Don't Look Good In Your Videos
On occasion we have a client who, despite the assurances from us and others, doesn’t like the way they look in their videos. Let’s be clear what we’re talking about: Professional video done in a manner consistent with what we know works for lawyers on the web. Of course if your video content is amateurish, scripted / sales pitch oriented, poorly edited, and so on, it is...
11 tags
Do The Thing That Already Works
Here’s something that you already know works: Meeting potential clients. There is only one of you (I assume), so think about ways you can leverage yourself so that you can “meet” potential clients all the time, even when you’re sleeping. Do you write articles? Maintain a blog? Send a periodic email to potential clients? Speak to groups? Watch out for this common...
9 tags
The Power of Stories
Perhaps you might say about your law firm: “I offer big city talent with a small town feel.” “I truly care about each one of my clients.” “This isn’t just a job for us, it’s a mission.” YAWN. I don’t need to explain how I came up with those three examples — they, and dozens like them, are all over every law firm website out there. ...
April 2010
4 posts
9 tags
Ways That Web Video Can Backfire
I advise law firms all the time that video is not magic, and that just “doing video” will often be harmful to your brand and image. Here’s a quick list of three ways that web video can backfire for an attorney:
You look like a low budget amateur. Everything you do to present yourself — your clothes, your office, your handshake, your voice — gives people an...
9 tags
I Got My Money's Worth At The $8.95 Sushi Buffet
An overlooked benefit of video: Control of your message Yes, video done properly will effectively convey your trustworthiness and expertise (of course video NOT done properly for a research-based web audience will simply convey you as a sales pitchman). There’s another huge benefit to using video that many attorneys I talk with have never considered. Control of your message. The...
9 tags
On What Pages Should You Put Your Web Site Videos?
You’ve probably seen law firms that have a separate video page, or some kind of pop up video center. Most of the time that’s because they (or their web people who are not experts in video marketing) get enamored with the technology and seem to think that potential clients say “Ooh, I’m going to search out video and watch all the videos because I love videos!” Okay,...
9 tags
Is my video too long?
I read a recent statistic that the average length of an online video is between 3.5 and 4 minutes. But the tracking that FacesMedia has done strictly for attorney videos shows that people will typically watch from between 30 seconds and 2 minutes, depending on the type of content (biography, overview of your firm, topical Q&A, etc.) This means you have to create the entire story arc of the...
March 2010
6 posts
9 tags
When is the last time you fired one of your...
I don’t agree that “the customer is always right.” Sometimes a client is unprofitable, too time consuming, or otherwise not the right fit. You can make yourself happier, more productive, and more profitable by cutting loose the clients that don’t fit your practice. Think of a baseball player. A batter doesn’t swing at everything that comes at him; he lets the...
9 tags
“Here are this week’s top viral videos. Chart from the Guardian compiled...”
9 tags
YouTube voice recognition for legal videos
Google / YouTube took a big step towards voice recognition with their auto-captioning service. They’re using some of the technology they’ve mastered in Google Voice. This is good news for getting content-rich videos to show up in “plain old” text searches. Email me if you’d like a download of the article: dzimbalist@facesmedia.com
9 tags
Email Marketing
9 tags
WatchThe Legal Services Buying Funnel
At any given time there are more people looking for legal information than looking for a law firm to contact. Are you doing things that get you in front of people in the Information Seeking stage?
I recommend creating lots of video content that is targeted toward responding to a specific question or issue. You want to be found when someone searches for a...
9 tags
Looking for attorneys to interview for a book →
I’m writing a new book about marketing law firms. Attorneys who would like to be interviewed (about 20 minutes on the phone) will get a copy of the book when it’s published. Contact me for more details or if you’d like to participate. dzimbalist@facesmedia.com
February 2010
6 posts
9 tags
Leverage: Be In Lots Of Places At Once →
You can only be one place at one time…or can you? Forward thinking attorneys have figured out that there might just be a way, or even a few ways, to get around that old physical and metaphysical conundrum. I call this the concept of Leverage. Can you in some manner meet and talk with potential clients and referral sources 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Yep. Is it easy to do this correctly and...
6 tags
Never Eat Alone
I read this book several years ago but just pulled it off my shelf again. I recommend that everyone reads “Never Eat Alone,” by Keith Ferrazzi. It’s an easy read and will get the wheels turning.
6 tags
Will Video Hurt You? Or Help You? →
Why does web video (sometimes) help attorneys? Here’s a link to a 1-minute explanation that should provide some insight. www.facesmedia.com
At the very least, you’ll get to see me after a 3-hour train ride and no sleep the night before. Excellent!
6 tags
Attorney Web Video Basics & Common Mistakes
We had a good crowd yesterday on my webcast, “Attorney Web Video Basics & Common Mistakes.” Glad you all could join me.
I’ve had several requests from people who couldn’t make the scheduled time, and so…(drum roll)…there will soon be a recording of the webcast made available. Stay tuned.