Archive for the ‘Wisdom of Crowds’Category

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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Law via the Internet 2011

Law_via_the_internet_2011

 

I generally avoid posting about far-fetched, Jestons-inspired stuff. Sure, someday computers will practice law, instant video conferencing with replace Court appearances and most of the people reading this post will be out of a job.  But until that day, law practice is still a job, more or less. Learning how lawyers might practice in 100 years is of marginal interest.  Of course that simple fact doesn’t stop professors and judges from using euphemisms like “law is a calling” or “the law is a profession.”  That sounds great until I try to pay my mortgage with the gratitude of a non-paying client or the respect of my peers. Then it’s every man for himself. That said, jut just this one time I noticed a conference (=waste of time) in Hong Kong (=expensive) sponsored by the University of Hong Kong (=foreign law with no bearing on real life) and just had to post about it. Feel free to enjoy it for about 10 seconds. Then get back to work. Posted via email from practice (redux)

 

 

11

06 2011


by practicehacker
posted in Blogging, business, collaborative tools, community, conduct, conference, cool stuff, knowledge management, law, legal marketplace, practice, tags, technology, the business of law, tips, tools, Wisdom of Crowds
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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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Attack of the Local Q&A Sites

Bet you don’t know which pizza place in Des Moines has the best deep-dish. Bet you didn’t know you wanted to know, either. Well you do. And these sites are going to tell you where to get it. So ask yourself. Were you thrilled by location-based service Foursquare? Did you jump for joy when Q&A phenom Quora came online? If so then you’ve been waiting for these 1/2 dozen local Q&A sites.  Each one is begging to show you what’s going on in cities and countries you’ll never visit and have no business asking about:

  • Hipster – Site hasn’t even launched and it’s already hiring. How cool are these guys?
  • Loqly –   Finally, a site that focuses on what’s really important: the local bar scene.
  • Gootip – Actually knows where you are and offer local opinions on stuff. Uh, thanks?
  • Loqize.me – No idea what these guys are trying to do. I signed up for the beta though.
  • Localmind – Seems the most commercially oriented and potentially the most practical.
  • LOCQL – This is the Microsoft entry. Eh. I could go either way. But thanks for playing.

Now pardon me while I track down a dry-cleaner in Nome, Alaska. Awesome!

Posted via email from practice (redux)

07

06 2011


by practicehacker
posted in business, collaborative tools, Foursquare, geolocation, Glympse, Google Places, location-based, mobile, Opzi, Quora, research, review, search, social media, social media tools, social networking, startup, tips, website, Wisdom of Crowds
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Opzi Upgrades Galore!

You remember our piece about Opzi,  the Q&A sensation that’s sweeping the nation? Sure you do. Well, Opzi has upgraded and is delivering more bang for your buck. Changes in this iteration include:

  • Improved stability
  • Attach files to pages
  • Embed images and video
  • Easily link between pages
  • Create”Read-only” users

Sign in here and see for yourself. 

Also, the company welcomes feedback here.

Posted via email from practice (redux)

 

Tags: , ,

07

06 2011


by practicehacker
posted in apps, Blogging, browser, business, chrome, collaborative tools, community, cool stuff, crowdsourcing, current-events, disruptive technology, DIY, extension, Foursquare, Glympse, location-based, mobile, Opzi, practice, Quora, technology, the business of law, tips, tools, website, websites, Wisdom of Crowds
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Opzi … it’s Quorariffic!

Opzi

You’ve heard about Q&A phenom Quora, right?  Well meet Opzi, the site started by Attorney Euwyn Poon that aims to bottle that Quora lightning and put in on your desktop.

Opzi is part bulletin board, part wiki, part e-mail in-box, part whiteboard, and part real-time-collaboration. The site threads, tags, and organizes every question and answer, then applies a powerful search engine and some machine intelligence. Voila – your office knowledge base grows effortlessly with every new question and answer. The possibilities are staggering. Deployed in a firm or across a group of solos and small firms, for instance, Opzi can draw information and resources, then deploy them when and where needed. In other words, instant knowledge-sharing.

Opzi is currently in closed beta. I’m just starting to appreciate it myself. If you’d like to join the experiment check it out here and let me know your thoughts.

12

05 2011


by practicehacker
posted in beta, business, closed beta, collaborative tools, community, cool stuff, crowdsourcing, current-events, disruptive technology, DIY, ESI, knowledge management, law, law office, legal marketplace, legal research, practice, practice management, realtime, search, software, startup, tags, technology, the business of law, tips, tools, web 2.0, website, websites, Wisdom of Crowds
1 Comment

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