practicehacker

Archive for the ‘Marketing’Category

Open Plea to Legal Marketers … little help?

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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ABA TechShow 2011

As most readers know, I write a column for NYC-based TechnoLawyer called SmallLaw (formerly known as, no joke, “Crazy Mazy”). Anyhow, as TechnoLawyer’s intrepid Chicago reporter I’ve written about the ABA TechShow since 2008; and before that for this blog.

Here are the 12 videos we shot at this year’s TechShow. Feel free to subscribe to my YouTube Channel for more legal tech news and check out my TechnoLawyer pieces as well.

13

05 2011

by practicehacker
posted in ABA, ABA Jounral, Amicus, blackberry, calendar, clio, community, competition, conference, cool stuff, current-events, document automation, document exchange, e-discovery, e-filing, e-mail, enterprise, ESI, FastCase, FindLaw, Google Apps, great conversations, knowledge management, law, law office, legal marketplace, legal research, Lexis-Nexis, lists, litigation, LPM Section, management, Marketing, mass customization, mcle, media, Meeting, Microsoft, Microsoft Outlook, Mobile device, new media, Office, old media, online TV, outside counsel, outsourcing, PCLaw, PDA/SMARTPHONE, PDF, Podcast, practice management, records, research, review, rocketmatter, SaaS, search, security, SEO, software, startup, storage, tablet pc, technology, Telephony & Voice Over IP, the business of law, tips, tools, twitter, Video, web 2.0, website, websites, Westlaw, Word, work, youtube
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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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11 Digital Trends to Watch in 2011

Steve Rubel is an interesting guy. I’ve known him for a number of years and communicated directly with him only a few times, still I feel as if I “get him.” Weird, right? Here’s the crazy part: I’ve never met him. I know him exclusively through Twitter and Friendfeed, and in the blogosphere. He’s not even a Facebook friend. The thing about Steve is that he works for ad agency Edelman Digital. As some readers know, I have nothing but contempt for salespeople since all of them are liars and thieves. But I still like Steve; he is smart and regards the social web as more than another channel through which to cram product … or at least I think he does. Anyway, here are 11 trends for 2011 that Steve sees in our collective future (check out the list and Steve’s interesting web page here):

Attentionomics Marketers realize the value of attention, not just exposure.
Digital Curation Content overload requires a guide, and Google is not it.
Developer Engagement Marketers will court web developers to gain an edge.
Transmedia Storytelling Even in 2011 it comes down to a compelling story.
Thought Leadership Companies must recruit expert voices to create content.
Integration Economy Business finally coordinates social media experiments.
Ubiquitous Social Computing Marketing will follow us everywhere on our phones.
Location, Location, Facebook Foursquare taught us how; now Facebook takes over.
Social Media Schizophrenia SM overload is now everybody’s problem.
Google Strikes Back Google beats Facebook and Twitter by indexing them to pieces
All Web Sites Will Be Social Consumers expect social functions in all websites now.