Law Firm Marketing and the Lottery Mentality

So, have you earned $10,000 from home this month using Google yet? Me neither, but it sounds like a great concept. What's not to like about it? 95% of us would take this deal in a heartbeat. Even you successful trial lawyers out there. You're probaly pulling 80 hour weeks before a major trial. I bet most of you would trade it in for a guaranteed $120k per year w/ little to no work involved.

You're thinking about it right now, envisioning what your life would be like... all that extra time spent with your family, freedom to travel, to relax with no deadlines, clients or bosses, watching your favorite sport team, or tv show, on a weekday afternoon, driving your sports car to the beach while others are working... OK SNAP OUT OF IT!

I believe the statistic that I have come across is that 97% of the people who get involved in any online get-rich-quick scheme either lose money, or fail (spend countless hours to make little, or no money). So how is it, that against such odds that so many highly intelligent people continue to choose to defy logic and participate in these brainwashing cults, where it is virtually impossible to beat the odds, unless you are among the founders of the entire system?

If you can understand this, you will understand one of marketing's most powerful secrets. These marketers do not promote products. They promote happiness. The logic of how you get there becomes completely blurred. No different than the lottery. "Hey, you never know". Actually, most people do know that they have better odds of buying $50 Million in lottery tix before actually winning a $25 Mil. lottery that only pays out about $10 Mil. after taxes and lump sum payout... but they buy anyway...

Most people know that these get-rich-quick schemes are bogus, but our brains are hard wired in such a way that we find the allure of "happiness" too difficult to resist and the lottery mentality (risk a little for a chance to win a lot) highly attractive.

The lesson to be learned from this as it applies to law firm marketing and new client lawyer lead generation? Remember this when you are advertising, or speaking with clients... Clients do not hire you because you are the greatest thing since sliced bread. In fact, they don't care who you are, where you've come from, or where you've been featured. They hire you because you are a means to an end for them. That end is their happiness, whatever that may entail. For one, it's retribution for a wrong. For another, it's the peace of mind that comes with having one's estate in order. For a third, it may be the monetary settlement and what it means for them personally.

Demonstrate to the client that you are the most qualified to remove their pain, or help them achieve that specific happiness that they are seeking and you will win that client's trust and business.

Also remember this tendency when you interact with legal marketing vendors. Many will attempt to sell you by painting a picture of the volume of leads they will generate for your law firm and how great the end result will look. Fight the urge and let your logic guide you through the maze of snake oil marketers. Remember that LitigatorEdge can do everything they can and more, at a fraction of the cost and that it pays to explore a more-cost effective alternative, while you comparison shop. You have nothing to lose by going to http://www.litigatoredge.com/ and calling us today for a no-cost analysis of your law firm's Internet marketing.

And I know times are tough, but please, try to stay away from the get-rich-quick Google schemes.

Using Social Media to Generate New Law Firm Leads

I have a problem with most Social Media "experts" today. Despite the fact that most know the ins and outs of Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter and every technological widget associated with these services, what really baffles me is that a wide majority of them don't TRULY GET social networking as a marketing vehicle.

Social networking is not about geting 20,000 followers to make yourself look popular, only to have 97% of your network tune you out 99% of the time. Social networking is not about flagrantly promoting one's own services, under the guise of information distributor. If you are really looking to be tuned out by a large group of recipients, you already have SPAM e-mail and non customer centric e-newsletters that are equally ineffective.

Social networking is about building, or developing real and meaningful relationships with clients, colleagues, friends, or individuals of similar interests and affiliations.

Is anyone truly interested in being part of your Smith, Jones & Doe LLP Facebook group? I argue that few are. What they do care about is the photo album from Italy that their cousin posted. They also want to know which of their old college buddies saw the movie The Hangover. Comprende? While LinkedIn is more oriented to a professional community, the formula to using any social network successfully for business purposes is the same.

ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKING = FACE TO FACE NETWORKING + EFFICIENCY

You have to do the same things you do in real networking. You cannot expect that you will plant yourself on top of a pyramid and everyone will bow to you and buy what you are selling. Listen to your network. Connect with people 1 to 1. Learn their needs, their problems, seek to solve someone's problem and you may find that your own challenge is alleviated.

Do you have a valuable service? Don't shout about it incessently. Instead, let a friend or colleague introduce you to their network as someone they trust (by now, everyone knows that a trusted testimonial is worth 100 self serving ads). Give people something of real value. If you are a lawyer, tell your friends that you will answer their colleagues' legal questions that are sent to you via a social network for free.

There are many ways to use social networks effectively that do not involve self-serving mass marketing. Always ask yourself how you can contribute to your social network, rather than how to sell those in your social network and success will come your way.

Lawyer Lead Generation: Tips for Using PPC to Deliver More Law Firm Leads

Law Firm Lead Generation

If you use PPC (pay per click) as part of your law firm's Internet marketing strategy, here are some tips you should keep in mind.

1) Remember that your laymen clients do not think or speak like lawyers. Actual key word phrases used by your target audience when seeking out a lawyer may differ considerably from what you may expect. For this reason, having an in-depth understanding of the search patterns of the demographic you are targeting is often a critical part of launcing a successful program.

2) Remember to include plural and singular variations of keywords, abbreviations, hyphenations, etc... For example, Westchester NY lawyer, Westchester NY lawyers, Westchester New York lawyer, Westchester New York lawyers and then do it all over with the term "attorneys" and "attorney", "law firm" and "law firms." As you can see in this simple example, the combinations become vast.

3) Check out your competitors for ideas. Not just for PPC strategies, but also for business insights. For example, is you are a law firm handling toxic torts, there may be an emerging harmful product or defect that may be revealed through a review of your competitor's PPC campaigns.

4) Start with a modest budget and always measure ROI. Unlike SEO, where analyzing periodic reports highlighting improvements of search result page rankings may suffice, PPC requires constant monitoring and adjusting. There is no such thing as the perfect PPC campaign - there is always room for improvement. Constant testing and modification is the secret to PPC success. The large law firm lead generators use it effectively because they have their finger right on the pulse of lead conversation rates

Whether you are spending tens of thousands of dollars a month, or just testing out a small budget, keep a constant eye on the vast data that is available and leverage your experience to continually increase your return.

For more information on improving your law firm's lead generation and maximizing return on investment please visit www.litigatoredge.com.

Law Firm Marketing - My Latest Thoughts on Twitter

I have been carefully monitoring Twitter over the last several months. Instead of sharing my opinion, I have been reading those of others. I have listened to the perspectives of marketing and law firm marketing luminaries, both supporters and detractors of the service.

Click here for a Wikipedia refresher if you first want to understand more about the application and its recent growth.

Here are the general conclusions that I have come up with based on the information that is out there. Again, note that this is less gut feelings and more compilation of aggregate feedback that I have come across.

1) Twitter, has been used to effectively distribute information and connect with peers.
2) Celebrities have found it valuable for increasing relationships with fans and creating buzz
3) Corporations have found that it is a useful tool for listening to customers and impressing with a cuting edge customer service approach. Some have also found value in its ability to disseminate product and event information to clients, prospects and industry peers and increase traffic to its blogs and Web sites
4) In essence, Twitter is yet another tool that facilitates the commoditization of information. If you want to make money, it might be better to use the energy you would otherwise spend on acquiring 10,000 random followers and use it to open a hot dog stand.
5) Quality of followers is much more important than quantity - very important for lawyers to remember this. If they don't care about you, they will tune you out - Twitter is about building a community, it is not modern day SPAM e-mail.
6) Twitter is important enough that you should get an account and learn to use it. Start by following other lawyers and industry experts - some have valuable information that can make you more competitive in your business.
6) Twitter is not important enough that you should be spending more than 15 minutes a day on it today - so don't get hooked on useless (or even seeming useful, but distracting) information.
7) The 2 most important benefits I see for consumer oriented law firms are: (a) the ability to connect with existing clients to build lasting relationships that extend beyond the representation and will lead to increased referrals and (b) the ability to network with other professionals (lawyers in the same and different areas of expertise, as well as other potential referral sources - accountants, financial advisors, etc...) and to send periodic updates on the law, as it pertains to your area of expertise.

So remember the following point well: Twitter is a referral enhacement tool for law firms, that will add some value if and when the service becomes more mainstream. It is nothing like the panacea that ranking #1 on Google for "New York Mesothelioma Attorney" can be.

The service is not sufficiently mainstream today and therefore, consumer oriented law firms will not be able to speak with enough of their clients this way - I would still stick with e-mail / newsletters for the time being, but definitely start exploring Twitter. If for no reason other than the fact that it never hurts to be more connected.

LitigatorEdge - Law Firm Marketing

Internet Marketing is a Superior Value for Lawyer Lead Generation in Recession

Recent figures released by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) found that despite the recession, Internet advertising revenues in the U.S. were at $5.5 Billion, for the first quarter of 2009, representing only a 5% decline over the same period in 2008.

Accroding to the organizations, the recession has hit other media much harder and is a testament to both the accountability afforded by online advertising and the growing share of consumer time spent online.

What does this mean for law firms seeking to increase their incoming case leads?


Lawyer Lead Generation

First, it means that online marketing presents less risk. If you are not generating the return on your investment, you can react and modify. This may mean changing your law firm's Internet marketing provider to one delivering greater value for your money, or changing your lawyer lead generation strategy.

Next, it means that Internet marketing is becoming increasingly important in the marketing mix. You wouldn't buy stock in a company with a steady decline in revenues and a bleak future, so why would you continue to invest your valuable resources in antiquated methods of reaching prospective personal injury clients, while ignoring the Internet as a primary lead generation channel?

LitigatorEdge - Law Firm Internet Marketing

Marketing a Plaintiff's Firm: The Pros and Cons of Top Personal Injury Law Firm Marketing Tactics

So, you recently won a major verdict, or settlement and are ready to take your plaintiff's personal injury firm to the next level. How do you put your limited law firm marketing budget to good use? Do you pay for a billboard on a local highway, buy television advertising, go on the Internet, target a niche community? There are many directions you can go in and while I usually pitch the Internet because of its growing influence, high return on investment and accessibility, today I will objectively address the pros and cons of a number of the more popular law firm marketing tactics.

Network Referrals

Pros: Minimal cost - very high return on investment, relationships can be perpetual and provide a steady stream of business, can open new business opportunities, additional revenue source on referrals,
Cons: Can take considerable time and effort to build network, not all lawyers have the skillset to network effectively, fee sharing with another plaintiff's firm can reduce profit margins, ensuring accountability on cases you refer, may not always be a reliable source - circumstances change

Television

Pros: Can lead to high volumes of incoming cases, Low cost per qualified lead relative to other forms of traditional marketing, immediate results, measurable and controllable
Cons: Expenses of producing ads, expertise required to stand out and maximize response, may be less effective at lower frequencies, national firms can buy ads cheaper than local ones

Media Coverage

Pros: Exposure to huge numbers of consumers, Having a tv or radio legal program can help your firm dominate a market, can have sustained positive impact on firm's brand, You are always one case away from potential stardom
Cons: Hard for PR firms to deliver without truly newsworthy material, need to be very lucky, or very connected for homerun-type publicity, easy to get caught up in distracting and self-serving efforts that do not generate results

Yellow Pages

Pros: Once a powerful lead generation tool: measurable, consistent and predictable
Cons: Internet has greatly diminished its effectiveness, too many brands caused saturation, hard to compete with big spenders

Internet Search Engine Optimization

Pros: Can yield high return on investment, provides flexibility for focusing on niche, there is room for small budgets despite big spenders, investment can have positive long term lead benefits, measurable, highly qualified leads, consumers prefer organic search results
Cons: Requires several months of ramp-up time, vendor choice is absolutely critical in keeping cost per lead low, changes in algorithms require regular program to stay on top, if keywords are not in the top 5 results in Google, you do not exist, more challenging to use to target new torts, best results require considerable content production (like this blog)

Pay Per Click

Pros: Immediate results, easily measurable, works with any budget, great for immediate response to toxic torts and product defects, small budget programs can be "do-it-yourself", no clickthrough - no pay, allows for very strategic niche marketing that other firms may not be aware of
Cons: High value keywords get bid up and return on investment goes down, can lose money until expertise is developed, pay for every lead, consumers prefer organic listings to pay per click ads.

There are many marketing options, but whatever you choose make sure to always monitor and measure impact to maximize the efficiency of your marketing program.

Law Firm Internet Marketing: A How To

It is remarkable that there are still a large number of established plaintiff's law firms with no defined Internet marketing budgets. I'm not talking solo practitioners here, but firms with three, four or more lawyers. OK, so your firm dominates its market because you landed a local television legal expert gig, or you have thrived as a result of seven figure case referrals from your network.

5 years ago, a professional Web site was par for the course for any successful law firm. Today, a mature Internet marketing program is a "must-have" and no longer a "nice-to-have". For a list of reasons why lawyer Web marketing has become so critical, download the informational guide on the LitigatorEdge.com home page.

So, how do you start and what do you focus on? The answer to this depends on what you are trying to accomplish and the type of new business leads that you are looking to generate.

A well designed Web site is typically the first step for most firms. Design is much more than aesthetics. It is about how conducive your Web site is to capturing leads and how well your content reflects the type of search traffic you wish to generate.

The second step for most plaintiff's firms is search engine optimization. There are onsite elements (including tags, keyword phrases, specific landing pages) and offsite elements (including directory submissions, link building, article submission, press releases). Search engine optimization has become very sophisticated and it pays to do your homework and to speak with multiple vendors before making a decision.

Because of the growing role of content in search engine formulas, the next consideration for law firms is the degree of internal or external resources to dedicate to content creation for the firm. Of course, having SEO experts monitor and optimize all content produced by your firm greatly increases its value.

Some firms may decide that Pay Per Click is a viable alternative in particular situations. In certain toxic tort or product defect cases firms have to react quickly and SEO has too long of a ramp up time and is not sufficiently predictable. While SEO may work well for a search phrase such as "dog bite lawyer New York" it will not fly for "Hydroxycut lawsuit", where time is of the essence and firms are seeking to reach a specific claimant audience before the competition does.

The best advice I can give is to learn as much as possible about SEO and PPC. There are many free Internet resources including the LitigatorEdge Web site. If you have any questions please contact me and I will gladly discuss any specific areas of marketing interest.

Are You Paying to Market Your Law Firm or Their Marketing Firm?

I get it, there's comfort in face to face relationships. You just finished your educational session at a major legal conference and proceed to walk into the exhibit hall, where you greet an array of Lawyer Internet Marketing vendors pitching you on the latest and greatest products and services.

Most lawyers, who have been buying products and services in the same way for years, will select one of the 3-4 Internet marketing vendors within these halls to handle their online marketing. Why? For the same reason you are willing to pay double at the supermarket, for a product with the exact same ingredients, but different labels. It is the power of branding.

By experiencing their brand in person, you gain a sense of added comfort. If they are at this event, they must really be experts in their trade. They are tangible and real, there is comfort in the fact that you have shaken hands with them and thus they have created the perception of added trust, credibility and work product quality.

I believe in branding, but I also believe that brand power is dying. We see this today in supermarkets, through the increased dominance of store brand products and there is no reason to think that this trend away from big brands will diminish.

The reason for this is that the Internet is educating consumers at an extraordinary rate. People are sharing information like never before and there is an increased surge in demand for true value over hyperbole.

I always go back to referencing Honda. They do not have the best marketing in the industry, but they have the best product. They succeeded in communicating this value to their clients and the rest is history... that is until Hyundai came along and started giving them a real run for their money on value...

Back to the big attorney tradeshows. There is a price to pay for shaking hands with those marketers. That price is exhibit fees, travel costs, sales and marketing staff overhead, sponsorship fees and additional high operational expenses - all of which have to be passed on to YOU.

You will not get to shake my hand at conferences because the way law firms are buying is changing and we are on the cutting edge of this trend. All of our promotion today is done via the Internet and direct e-mail. We leverage a stellar offshore delivery team that is extremely talented and can deliver results that are equal to or better than anyone else you will find in the business today. Simply put, there is no more efficient model than ours available today.

You may not have the that same warm and cushy feeling until we handle an Internet marketing project for your firm. We fully expect to see a backlash from every marketing company out there that is comfortably used to charging you 2 to 3 times more than you should be paying and everyone else that is profiting from this.

Mom and Pop stores all over the country kicked and threw mud when Wal-Mart came in and changed the face of retail in America. You know who didn't hate it? The customer, who received superior value. Similarly, established online marketing companies ("the overchargers" and their supporters and partners will likely throw mud at us. Like Wal-Mart, our #1 focus is delivering maximum value to our clients and at the end of the day, results come down to basic finance that we can measure and no detractor can deny.

YOU SPEND LESS WITH US FOR MORE LEADS - PERIOD.

Our vision is to change the online legal marketing landscape in the same way that Wal-Mart changed retail. We promise that once you see how your fees compare to your results, you will never want to work with another Internet marketing vendor. Visit LitigatorEdge today.

Top 10 List Why Lawyers Should Market Online

10) High return on investment
9) Minimal Risk
8) It is fun seeing your relevant keyword phrases in the top 5 organic search results of Google
7) It is more fun seeing your Web site in the top 5 organic search of Google for over 50 relevant keyword phrases and watching the leads coming in
6) Watching your peers' jaws drop when you tell the story of how you once spent only a few dollars on pay per click and found a client for a major toxic tort case
5) Internet clients are more likely to swamp you with e-mails than calls
4) Your great-grandchildren will one day enjoy reading your Articles and Blogs
3) Google's spiders will enjoy reading your articles and blogs and will reward you with higher search engine results
2) Show your competitors that you are young and hip

...and the number one reason lawyers should market online

1) Watching your top competitor's grin disappear when LitigatorEdge helps you leapfrog his/her search engine rankings for a favorite keyword phrase

If Search is King, then Content is its Queen

Any law firm that targets a consumer client base and wants to be a major online player over the next 10 years should read this post very carefully:

By now, you probably don't need anyone explaining the value of being at the top of search engine results pages for keywords relevant to your area of practice. If you're only focused on traditional media and rely on referrals, know that there are firms in your geographical area generating tens of millions of dollars in verdicts and settlements using the Internet and they are not spending millions to drive this business through their Web sites.

Now, unless you do something about it, these firms will likely continue to generate this traffic and the more they learn about Internet marketing and the more consumers use the Internet to find law firms, the larger the competitive gap will get between the top online marketers and everyone else and the harder it will be to catch up.

Why is the gap getting larger?

OK, here's the scoop. Google loves content and also loves links to your site from relevant Web sites with content. What is one of the best ways that is completely within your control, to generate quality links back to your site? Writing and submitting online articles that are relevant to your area of expertise and having them linking back to your Web site.

That's right... Quality Content -> Quality Back Links -> High Rankings

While Google can change the rules whenever it pleases, this is the general law of the land in SEO and while it may be tweaked here and there, no one expects it to deviate radically.

So, it will be very difficult to dislodge firms with significant content and links from their positions of search engine dominance. The good news is that the online content world for law firms is still in its relative infancy and only a few firms have really grasped its long term value.

If you want your firm to climb to the top for your favorite keywords and stay there, contact me today and I will explain how we can help. Just make sure that you don't come to see me after they have stopped publishing the Yellow Pages, OK?