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Open Plea to Legal Marketers … little help?

Me Learning to be Humble

Asking for Help ... Hat in Hand

Being the Practicehacker doesn’t mean I know everything. Take law firm marketing for instance.  
In real life I run a 3-lawyer suburban Chicago practice engaged in what I call “Small Business” law; i.e. we do pretty much everything a small business or its owners need their lawyer to do, including:
  • Business start-ups, incorporation, organization
  • Contracts: drafting, review, enforcement, terms
  • Hiring and firing of employees and contractors
  • Commercial litigation, collections, and defense
  • Real estate transaction, liens and construction
  • Business, stock and asset, sale and purchase
  • Divorce and estate planning for entrepreneurs
  • Bankruptcy, reorganization, crisis management
I can’t think of any aspect of practice organization,management, or marketing that I couldn’t improve. In fact, I am absolutely certain that I must learn to do a lot of things better. Of course, if I had to single out one thing for attention at the moment, it would have to be our law firm marketing.
Full disclosure: I’ve never been satisfied with my firm’s online or social media presence. I mean, my name is out there, but the picture that emerges of my firm seems fragmented and weak. Then again, my off-line presence is no better. I’ve prepared and delivered seminars, given talks both locally and nationally, and have had articles published all over. But to what end?
The worst part of the problem is that it feels like my office is being severely underutilized. After a harrowing couple of years in this see-saw economy, I finally have a stable team of trained lawyers and staff, with more becoming available all the time. But if what we have to offer does not reach the right Clients, it’s wasted. That’s the hardest part of the problem: matching the right skills with the right Clients and keeping the process going.
There is one final caveat: I need new marketing initiatives to have a measurable ROI so we can decide whether to stay with it, pivot, or abandon it and start over.  If anyone thinks they can take a crack at evaluating our situation, or knows someone else who can, please get in touch or leave that information in the comments to this post.  
Thanks to everyone who thinks they can help.

17

09 2011


by practicehacker
posted in bankruptcy, Blogging, business, Career and Job, competition, current-events, employment, facebook, Google, law office, Marketing, media, new media, old media, practice, practice management, referrals, social media, social media tools, the business of law, tips, twitter, Video, website, websites, Wisdom of Crowds, work, youtube
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Baby Steps to Social Media Awareness

Media_httpwwwsociable_kdurn
via sociablelawyer.org

With his breakthrough performance in Kindergarten Cop, Arnold showed us why he would someday be Governor of California and leader of the free-world. Or whatever. In the meantime, here are some “baby steps” (get it, Kindergarten, baby steps?) to using social media in your practice, courtesy of Sociable Lawyer.

1. Do not be afraid to try
2. Share your knowledge
3. Polish your online rep
4. Strength in numbers

Posted via email from practice (redux)

 

11

06 2011


by practicehacker
posted in collaborative tools, community, conduct, crowdsourcing, de.licio.us, facebook, friend connect, friendfeed, Gmail, Google, google buzz, google docs, Google Places, google wave, knowledge management, law, law office, Lifehacker, linkedin, lists, martindale-hubbell connected, mashable, myspace, practice management, social graph, social media, social media tools, social networking, technology, the business of law, tips, tools, twitter, Wisdom of Crowds, youtube
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Google “Like” … I mean “+1″ is here!

Posted via email from practice (redux)

03

04 2011


by practicehacker
posted in apps, business, collaborative tools, community, cool stuff, crowdsourcing, disruptive technology, facebook, geolocation, Google Apps, law office, legal marketplace, practice management, realtime, referrals, review, search, social graph, social media, social media tools, social networking, the business of law, tips, tools, websites, widget, Wisdom of Crowds
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Desperately Seeking Relevance …

Information-discovery-matrix

I started using the Web the minute it graduated from monochromatic bulletin boards to HTML pages. Of course I was unemployed like 70% of my law school class, so I had time to experiment. Now I’ve got an office, family, demanding clients, and employees to oversee. You might say I’ve grown up a little. But has the Web grown up with me? Almost every website still wants to monopolize my time as if I had nothing better to do but chat, tweet, poke, or whatever. Sure, today’s distractions are Facebook and Twitter instead of Chatrooms and Message Boards, but it’s not that different is it? So when does “.com” turned “Web 2.0″ need to produce something relevant to my life instead of one more way to waste time? Or is the Internet in perpetual adolescence? As unlikely as it sounds, I was hopeful when I spotted this article on Techcrunch – a blog that I really respect (started by an attorney, BTW). But it turns out the piece is mostly about the oncoming wave of information in our future and how Web Apps might deliver the information in a slightly different form.  In short, there is no reason to believe that the Web, or anyone making things for the Web, will deliver anything relevant to real life. So I guess I’m still desperately seeking relevance to come pouring out my browser. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon either.

Posted via email from practice (redux)

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03

03 2011


by practicehacker
posted in Article, Blogging, Career and Job, careers, chart, comments, current-events, employment, facebook, friendfeed, hacking, jobs, Klout, knowledge management, law, law office, OneForty, social graph, social media, social media tools, social networking, tags, technology, the business of law, tips, tools, Tweeteffect, Twifluence, Twitalyzer, Twitoaster, twitter, Wordpress
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Small Business using Social Media?

… actually it depends who you ask.

15

02 2011


by practicehacker
posted in analytics, Article, business, buzz, chart, collaborative tools, comments, community, cool stuff, current-events, disruptive technology, facebook, friend connect, Gmail, Google, graph, knowledge management, law, manager, Marketing, mashable, media, new media, practice, practice management, social graph, social media, social media tools, social networking, technology, the business of law, tips, tools, twitter, unbundling
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Glympse

 This Redmond-based startup is introducing its location-based  social sharing service  for the iPhone, Android, and Windows Mobile, allowing friends to see their location on any Internet-connected device. Users customize who can see them and their posts, whether that is a single person, a group, or everyone they add on Facebook, Twitter, et al. Read the full story on Read/Write/Web.
 
Sent from my iPhone
Posted via email from practice (redux)

16

04 2010


by practicehacker
posted in android, apps, Article, beta, buzz, collaborative tools, community, cool stuff, current-events, disruptive technology, facebook, Foursquare, free, Glympse, iPhone, iPhone Apps, location-based, mobile, Mobile device, radical transparency, remote, RWW, social networking, Telephony & Voice Over IP, twitter
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