What forums are you a member of?

One of the things which is great about web 2.0 is our ability to connect and engage within our industry. As a member of a professional service firm? How are you doing that?

Forums and groups are a great way to stay connected to news. Here are just a few ways of finding them...

• Find out if the trade association you are a member of has a social networking presence (LinkedIn Group, Twitter account, Facebook Group or Fan Page)
• Many industry magazines now have an online element that they are actively seeking to grow their engagement with and community for. Check them out
• Ask other people you work with what forums they are a member of
• Google "groups for ..." for your particular industry. You can also often get location specific versions. You could also try forums and the same search term
• Search LinkedIn group directory for relevant groups. You can also search Facebook for groups as well.
• Look at individual LinkedIn profiles of people you know to find out what communities they are a member of.

What's the tone of your brand?

I went to a great seminar yesterday at Internet World Expo at Earls Court. Focused on Brand Tonality, it was a thought provoking look at how companies get tonality right - or wrong - and good places to start.

Some of the key messages I took away from the session were:

• It is no good just being generic with your language and expecting that this will translate to a consistent tone of voice for your business. Many companies want to sound "warm", "friendly" or "business like" - how do you make your business stand out from the crowd?

In short, the more specific you are and the more help you give people with understanding your particular story, and the way that "warmth" is conveyed in your company, then it's more likely that this is what you will get, time and time again.

How do you achieve this?

• Crafting guidelines for your brand tone - not just visually what it looks like, but what it sounds like with all the "nuances" so that everyone understands exactly what "warm" means - and what it doesn't!
• Training consistently across all the people who express your brand - these could be copy writers, code writers, customer service reps - in short, more maybe than you were thinking about!

It can also be easier if you start with individuals behind your brand - the presenter talked about brands started by individuals like Boden and Innocent, which have a very clear, and unique tone of voice.

The final thing I took away is that you can be more creative with this, if creative is where you want to go. So it is no longer about being just consistent in your online web copy, it's also about the emails you send out, the customer service responses you make, wording on sign up boxes etc. In other words, done well, all elements can strongly contribute into your brand, rather than detracting from it.

Start with a real conversation

Social Media can be easy to jump into, especially where platforms are easy to use and update (think Twitter). The risk of this is that you can be left with accounts which aren't often updated, or lack value add content. Or, that the channel is only an additional way to push out information which can be found on the web.

Starting with a real conversation means that you are more likely to see social media as part of the wider marketing and development of your business. It joins up what you want to achieve, what is working for you already, and where your prospects and other industry leaders are involved online.

It's also the strategic edge of social media marketing. It's the smart conversation where you involve and engage internally, and join up the dots so that when you do get started, everyone is "singing off the same hymn sheet".

Some useful tips to help you to do this are:

• Talk about who uses social media already and how they see it fitting with your firms strategy
• Facilitate an open conversation about the different goals and uses of social media for your company
• Open up the conversation about how using social media to market your company fits with how you allow or expect employees to use social media.
  

It also creates an open atmosphere, which considering our goal is "social" is an excellent starting point to your social engagement.

Tips for Managing your Google Adwords campaign

Google Adwords is a very important tool for online marketers as it provides immediate visibility for products, services, publications and events. It is vital to manage your Adwords campaign to get the best return on investment.

With Google Adwords you can generate relevant search engine traffic and ensure that traffic converts into sales and inquiries through constant monitoring and management of your account.

Writing effective ad copy

Google Adwords programme can give you the opportunity to compete in your market and possibly give you the competitive edge if you can word your ad effectively. Writing several ads for each ad group gives you the opportunity to test and monitor which language patterns visitors respond to best. Good ad copy also gives you a fair chance of being selected over your competitors.

The most important thing to remember is that your ad should match the search query visitors type in. If a potential visitor types in the phrase “private equity law firm” and the ad that is running is about commercial contracts, then they are less likely to click the ad. Even if they do click, chances are they will land on a page about commercial contracts and leave the site. Landing pages are based on ad copy, so if the ad that is running is not relevant to the search query, you may need to add or adjust your campaign or ad group.

Using negative key phrases

Google Adwords also provides you with a wealth of intelligence which you can then use to further refine your search options making it more cost effective.
Results and success can be measured through the reporting system, which gives you access to the wealth of information such as negative key phrases. Negative key phrases are keywords or phrases you want to exclude from your campaign. For professional services firms, keywords like free, jobs, courses, and locations outside your target geographic area are the most common negative keywords.

One of the easiest ways to find non-relevant keywords to add to your list of negative keywords is by using the Search Query Report. This report allows you to see what visitors to your site have actually typed in the search bar. Running these reports allows you to identify any keywords or phrases which you do not want to pay for.

Using intelligence in your organic campaign

Using Google Adwords helps you in organic search engine optimisation strategy. By seeing language patterns, and popular key phrases used in paid search campaigns, you can create effective and engaging content on your site. High performing key phrases can then be optimised for organically, allowing you to reduce your Adwords spend on these keywords over time.

Adwords is a wonderful short term marketing solution when managed properly. It works hand in hand with medium and long term organic search strategies, giving you an immediate boost in traffic, and intelligence you can use in organic search.

Resources:

PPC management services

Google Adwords keyword tool

Adwords blog

Social Media for Law Firms: 5 Tips to get you started

One of the challenges I hear from law firms all the time is that of whether it is right for a law firm to get involved in social media, and if they do, where and how the best approach to get started is.
Here are my five top tips for those with concerns – watch out for more similar posts to help you think through your social media as we move into 2010!

1. Audit the environment before you begin

Whilst you may see this as another way to put off getting started, it makes good business and planning sense. Auditing your social media environment in advance of getting started helps you to:
• Build your business case by being able to show what buzz there is (or isn’t!) around your firm or the business areas you want to be known for
• Helps you spot where the highest concentration of effort is already
• Helps you see what your competitors are doing, and how your use of social media compares to theirs
• Gives you a benchmark for taking future action against.

Creating a thorough audit by analysing the environment with a Listening Audit definitely helps keep you aware and empowered about the right actions to take.

2. Go where the people already hang out online

This makes good sense –from listening you are more likely to know who is out there, what they are talking about and which sites they are present on. This is a real gift for helping you target your social media activities. It helps you avoid spending lots of time creating content and discussion in areas where your target market isn’t present. It also means that you are working with people on sites they already visit often (LinkedIn is a good example of this) rather than forcing them to use yet another site they aren’t getting the value from

3. Find an area you can get started on.

If there is resistance within the firm, one thing you can do is to suggest you work within just one area of the firm, or speciality to see how that goes. Again, your listening strategy will help you inform which may make the most sense for your individual firm. Getting started by focusing on just one area at a time will help you to manage the effort that goes in, test the results, and respond to feedback. It helps you feel in control. A social media area some firms are starting in is the graduate recruitment area, as firms recognise that graduates are used to working using social media.

4. Utilise the strengths you already have

Knowing what your own strengths are will help you apply that knowledge back into your social media success. Think about what areas you get the most PR and news discussion around – these may well be another place you can leverage social media marketing in your business to co-exist with your existing online and offline marketing plans. Another key strength is your partners and associates – listen out for those already utilising social media themselves on a personal level, such as having an up to date LinkedIn profile, or blogging themselves – these can help you in your quest to widen social media beyond the marketing team.

5. Create yourself a plan

When you are getting started it can be easy to get overwhelmed with what to do on social media and how much time to spend on it. One good tip is to give yourself an agreed amount of time. Another is to create yourself a content plan to help keep what you are doing on track, and ensure that everything you do links back to your key purpose for being on social media, whether that is to show your thought leadership, create additional brand awareness, or build business.

Social Media for law firms: Deal with the fear factor

Another area I hear a lot being discussed is the contrary nature of social media, and the nature of law firms.

Law firms want to protect their clients and confidentiality. They are filled with people who are, by their own words (via a LinkedIn group I am a member of) cautious in nature, and defensive over how they share content, reveal information and protect the reputation of both the firm and the client. Add to this the large size of many law firms, and the number of people working with them, and it’s easy to see just why this can be a concern. There are some tips to help you deal with this fear factor, if it is a concern for your own firm:

• Consider creating a policy which says what is and isn’t ok to share on social media if you work for the firm. This will help set out clearly acceptable behaviour and give people who work for you a good framework for their online reputations. Some elements you may want to think about are:

  • People starting their own blogs / twitter accounts etc

  • What happens if they talk about the firm

  • What happens if they talk about a client (either generally or in specifics)

  • What information can’t be shared for confidentiality, legal and regulatory reasons

• Talk to the people who you hear (or know!) have the most concerns, to find out what they actually are, and then you can think about how to ensure that these concerns are answered

• Start small, with a passive / reactive social media campaign rather than with a huge plan that will concern people more. Prove it one step at a time

• Think about what as a professional service firm you can bring as a strength to working in social media. For instance, you may be able to add support and information via these new media, in a more interactive way than you could before.

• Monitor what is already being said about you and your firm on the web, so you can decide what responses are appropriate.

• Work with the people within the firm who already understand how social media works, so it is less likely they pose a risk in terms of how they respond on your behalf.

In conclusion, dealing with the fear is about recognising what the particular fears are which are present in your firm. In understanding the fear, you are able to understand, and from understanding, to propose the most effective course of action. You’ll be able to call on examples and case studies of what works within other firms, whilst recognising that they may not all be appropriate for you, provide a guideline and framework for you to share.

Law firms who are active in social media:

• Fulbright & Jaworski
• DLA Piper
  
• Fenwick & West LLP
• Pannone (although they are just pushing info on their Twitter acct, not really getting the "social" bit of social networking)
• Blake Lapthorn
  
• Inksters

Marketing for small to medium law firms

Large law firms have entire departments dedicated to online marketing and website content. Smaller firms may rely on a practice manager or senior partners to develop a marketing strategy for the firm. How can smaller firms possibly compete? What can you do to help your firm stand apart from the competition?

First of all, you need to find your position in the marketplace. You probably know the names of your top competitors, but do you know their strategies? Do you regularly look at their websites, check out their events listing, or browse their news, press releases and briefings? How do you stack up against them?

In order to develop an effective marketing strategy, you need to know what you are up against. Here are a few tips on how to find this out:

1. Research your search engine position – First, make a list of the 20 most relevant key phrases for your firm. Both the obvious ones and the not so obvious, for example “law firm Gloucester” and “personal injury claims Gloucester”. Think of how visitors looking for your services would find you. Now make a simple table of those terms, and go to Google UK. Type in each key phrase, and see where your firm ranks, and the top competitors for each key phrase.



2. Investigate social media – Go to the most popular social media platforms, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. You may need to log in to your account to find your competitors (if you don't have an account, now is the time to create one using your firm's name). Try and find your competition. Do they have an active Twitter account? How many followers do they have? Do their partners have LinkedIn pages? Does the firm have a page, or a group?



3. Look at their website – You will get the most information on your competition from their website. If they have an events page, how many events per month do they run? If they have a news page, how do they use it? Do they post news frequently? If you see lots of press releases, look on Google for evidence that those are spread through online PR or social media. It might help to make a table or spreadsheet with information on their activities. Do they have a knowledge hub, or a place to feature thought leadership articles? Do their service pages cross link to partner pages and relevant publications?



4. Check out your analytics – You should have Google analytics at the very least on your firm's site, or some type of web analytics. If you do not, get that sorted through your web management now. If you have this, look at what is referring traffic to your website, search engines, emails, external sites, forums, blogs or social networks. Look at the bounce rate for each source (high bounce rates indicate poor performance from a referrer). Look at your top content, and the keywords people are using to find your firm.
   

Once you have all of this information (what our agency calls keyword research and competitor analysis), then you can begin to formulate a strategy. Ironically, the top result for “law firm Gloucester” is a firm with six partners, and the top results for “personal injury claims Gloucester” are all firms with between 12 and 14 partners. These are not massive global firms, but as the areas or cities get bigger, so do the firms.

If you did not rank in the top 10 search results for any of the 20 key phrases you chose, then you will need to include some form of search marketing in your plan. Paid search, or pay per click, can give you immediate visibility and instant results. You pay for those results in auction style bidding, where cost and placement is dependent on the competitiveness of the key phrases. Organic, or natural search, typically takes months to achieve, and is more of a medium or long term strategy.

Social media is an inexpensive way to engage and interact with potential clients. Asking your partners to create LinkedIn profiles will enhance their visibility in search engines, and allow them to create a network of clients and prospects. Forums and blogs allow you to showcase your knowledge, and to reach those people who are seeking advice in the decision making process. Forums tend to work well with subjects like divorce, immigration, or personal injury, but also for high profile topics such as the recent Eurostar fiasco in the run up to Christmas (where Russell Jones & Walker agreed to work on a “no win no fee” basis for people stranded by Eurostar).

Did you spot areas on your own site that your competitors have and you don't? If you are only running 1 event a month, and your top competitor is running 4, think about how you can include more events for your firm. Breakfast briefings, conferences your partners are speaking at, seminars, webinars, and mock employment tribunals are all very good ways to boost your events. If you don't feel confident doing more events yourself, why not take a page from the big firms and sponsor a few events? Charity or sporting events are great ways to help the community, gain valuable links to your website, and show support to worthy causes. These can then be put on your events page under “sponsorship”. It gives clients and staff a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Finally, from your website analytics, I will bet that what you found was that over half your traffic comes from search engines, that most of it is brand or partner driven, and that your top pages are your home page, your partner pages, and maybe a few of your service pages or news/events page. Ensure your pages are cross linked, and include a content strategy into your marketing strategy, so that clients and prospective clients can read articles showcasing your expertise, recent cases for the firm, up to date events information, and current partner bios (when were these last updated? They are some of the most important information on your site).

Resources:

Law.com Small Firm Marketing

Legal Marketing Services

Web Trends from the Top 100 Law Firms

DIY Marketing for Small Law Firms