Nolo's Legal Marketing Blawg

A recent piece up at Marketing Profs suggests using slower summer months to write up case studies of successful projects.  In the hopes of using an actual law firm case study on using case studies as an example, I ran some searches to find a law firm website that includes case studies - and came up short.  So it occurred to me that before describing how to write a case study, I should describe what a case study is and why it's an effective marketing device.  After that, I'll discuss how to lawyers can write case studies that will attract clients, but at the same time, not reveal so much as to violate confidentiality rules.

What is a case study and why is it effective?

As defined in Wikipedia, a case study is an explanatory tool based on "an in-depth investigation of a single individual, group, or event" to highlight underlying issues."  The reason that case studies are effective is because through reference to facts and events, they show, rather than tell, how an attorney can assist.

How can a lawyer write a case study?

Even though there aren't many examples of lawyer case studies, fortunately, there's a fairly stock, multi-step formula for drafting a case study, as described at VAR Marketing.  First, select the matters that will serve as the focus of the case study and highlight your "best work and current business practices."  For example, if you're marketing your firm's responsiveness and ability to get the job done, you might want to focus on a client who retained you to resolve a dispute that had dragged out for years on another firm's docket.  If you want to show your willingness to take on risky or "long-shot" matters, write about a matter where you not only prevailed, but created new precedent.

If you're a new lawyer who hasn't had much experience, not to worry.  Though you can't lie or exaggerate about your involvement in a matter, you can describe your participation - even at a "low-man-on-the-totem-pole" level - in a high profile case that your firm handled.  You could also write about pro bono matters or cases that you handled through a clinic at law school.

Once you've selected a few exemplary cases, organize the content as follows, recommends VAR Marketing.  (I've modified the steps to make them applicable to lawyers):
  
    •    Client description
    •    Client Challenge
    •    Solution
    •    Results

How can I write about my clients -- what about confidentiality issues?

In contrast to some businesses, lawyers are bound by confidentiality requirements and for that reason, may not be able to discuss certain cases simply because the discussion might encroach on a client's privacy or breach attorney-client privilege.  If there's a case where you risk breaching confidentiality, you could consider getting a client's consent to discuss the details.  But in my view, you're probably better off focusing on a less sensitive case.  In addition, avoid identifying details and stick to discussion of information that resides in the public record - for example, the summary of the case from the court's opinion.

In describing the solutions and results, do so in a way that makes sense to a client.  Boasting about setting new precedent means nothing; a prospective client will want to understand why the particular precedent matters.  Likewise, you should describe the solution in layperson terms, rather than lawyer-ese.

Not convinced that the case study approach works?  Which of the following descriptions is more persuasive:

1.  Our firm's lawyers collectively have 50 years of appellate practice experience.  We have a winning record before the XYZ Court of Appeals.

2.  After our clients completed construction of their dream home, the County which had previously approved the plans,  claimed that the clients were in violation of zoning laws and directed them to move their entire house seven feet from the street curb.  Our clients challenged the County's ruling in court, and lost.  They came to our firm to handle the appeal after several firms advised them to accept a settlement which would partly compensate them for the costs of new construction but leave them without a place to live for at least a year.    Instead, we appealed and secured a reversal of the County's decision as well as an award of attorneys' fees, thus enabling our clients to remain in the house of their dreams.

As the examples show, a case study can make your work come alive for clients - which is another reason that case studies are so persuasive.  At the same time, they do require more time to draft than an ordinary practice description - so as I said at the outset, use summer downtime to make the case for your law firm by drafting a case study.

It's been a while since I've done a marketing round-up post -- either updating older posts or throwing out a couple of links.  So let's get started, and see what's new in the world of legal marketing.

Generating Business From Conferences

A while back, I posted about how you can market your practice through speaking engagements.  Of course, speaking engagements at a conference can be hard to come by.  If that's the case, you can also extract value just from attending a conference - particularly if you read this piece, How to Use Conferences to Generate Business Opportunities by Lee Rosen which appears in the May 2010 issue of TechnoLawyer.  Rosen sets out a three-phased approach for conferences which includes: (1) pre-conference reconnaissance where you identify prospects you want to meet, as well as rehearsal on what you'll say; (2) working the conference, which involves getting around during the conference to meet attendees and (3) post-conference follow up.  (Incidentally, as the video at the end of this post shows, a whopping 80 percent of conference attendees fail to follow up on leads).

The Importance of Being Mobile

Over the past year, I've twice posted -- here and here about the increased importance of being mobile when it comes to marketing.  Well, mobility still matters more than ever.  As law firm marketing gury Larry Bodine reports at his Law Marketing Blog, smart phone ownership is up 38 percent, and lawyers need to start thinking about ways to deliver marketing and education-based contents through mobile media.  Along these same lines, a recent post at Marketing Profs notes that frequent users of social media (those who use social networking sites several times a day) have more than doubled to 39 million in 2010, up from 18 million a year earlier.  These frequent users are likely to be using mobile technologies, both to engage in social media and for other purposes.  In short, it's not premature to think about ways to make your web content and other marketing messages accessible for mobile platforms.

Marketing Tips from MyShingle

For those of you who don't read my blog at MyShingle, I occasionally post marketing ideas over there.  In the past month or so, I've posted on ways to market your practice on the government's dime and also created the short video below on Marketing by the Numbers for lawyers.

Marketing by the Numbers: A Thirteen Minute WhyTo on Marketing A Law Practice from Carolyn Elefant on Vimeo.

We may be living in a Web 2.0 world characterized by interactivity and user-generated content, but you'd never know it, looking at many lawyer websites and blogs.  Most lawyer sites are decidedly first generation, serving either as glorified online brochures or a skeleton for SEO- keywords rather than offering a robust and multi-dimensional user experience.  Though admittedly, adding interactive features as recently as four or five years ago required special programming skills and cost a pretty penny, today, free and low cost tools abound.  And most of these tools are simple enough so that lawyers with average tech skills can install them on their own, or delegate the work for minimal cost to a virtual assistant or college student.

So let's get started.  In the first part of this post, I'll describe some of the reasons that lawyers should consider adding interactive features to their websites.  In the second part of the post, I'll catalog the different types of features available, and offer a couple of examples.  Finally - because we're all lawyers here - I'll briefly identify some of the ethics issues to address when making a website or blog more interactive.

I.  The Case For Increasing Interactivity

Interactive websites benefit both lawyers, prospective clients and the public.   Some interactive tools help educate users.  For example, autoresponders support education-based marketing initiatives by making it easy for prospects to sign up to receive a newsletter or an information-packed e-book.   Online quizzes and assessment tests enable users diagnose, at least preliminarily, whether they have a legal problem that warrants retaining counsel.  

Interactive tools don't just educate clients, though.  An action as simple as enabling comments on blog posts can help lawyers understand if they're getting their point across or help identify other concerns.  Forms allow lawyers to gather preliminary information about clients even before they call for an appointment.  And surveys can provide lawyers with feedback from clients that lawyers can then use to further improve their practices and quality of service provided. 

Interactive tools also facilitate immediate responses.  On-site chats, "call us" buttons and self-scheduling calendars let clients get in touch right away, while their matter is still urgent, to set up an appointment or get a quick answer.

Finally, if nothing else, there's a certain "gee-whiz" quality to interactive tools.  They're just plain neat - and convey an air of sophistication to many clients, even though they're cheap and easy to implement.  As a result, these tools will set you apart from the competition and  impress clients and colleagues.

II.  Types of Tools To Incorporate

There are literally, dozens of interactive tools and widgets that lawyers can deploy on their websites, with new ones frequently emerging.  In this section, I'll identify some of the types of interactive tools that you might incorporate along with some of the examples that I've personally used or seen employed at other sites.

1.  Comment Features
 
On the interactivity scale, comments rank fairly low.  A comment section is most appropriate on blogs; it allows users to participate in an online conversation about a post or ask additional questions.  Most standard blogging platforms include comments as a default feature; however, you can also install a third party platform like Disqus to support comments.  Third party comment platforms can make a comments section more dynamic, by enabling participants to receive notice when new comments are posted, and to reply directly to a specific comment.   (I recently installed Disqus over at my home blog,  MyShingle.com).

2. Forms

Emails are somewhat interactive - and indeed, most lawyers include an email address on their websites so that clients can get in touch.  But often, emails invite lengthy rantings or omit important details that you may need to decide whether to pursue a client further.  In contrast to email, forms provide a more effective means to gather preliminary information from a client because you can identify the information that you want the client to provide.  Sometimes, that information may be as basic as their city and state so that you can figure out whether their matter occurred in a jurisdiction where you're licensed to practice.  A form is also conducive to providing more explicit instructions; for example, you can include disclaimers next to certain questions reminding clients not to provide too many details to avoid compromising confidentiality.

Some blog platforms, such as Word Press, support contact form plug-ins.  Though my law firm website, CarolynElefant.com came with a Word Press plug-in form, my personal favorite is Google's free form generator, which you can embed in any website.   

3.  Autoresponders

Auto-responders do exactly what the name implies:  they provide an automatic response to emails generated through a collection form that appears on the website.  If you've ever been asked to complete an online form to register for a newsletter or to download an e-book, you've probably seen an auto-responder in action.  At left, you can see an example of an auto-responder that visitors to my home site, MyShingle.com use for registration.

Because auto-responders send an automatic reply to users, they are more dynamic than forms, which simply capture information but require a manual response.  For that reason, auto-responders are useful for distribution of educational content, like newsletters or e-books, because once a user supplies the information requested on the form, the auto-responder will automatically send out the ebook or newsletter without need for human intervention.  In that way, an auto-responder can help lawyers control distribution of valuable materials - for example, you can, as lawyer Jay Fleischman describes at LegalPracticePro, use an auto-responder to efficiently dispense information over a set period of time to keep your name in a client's mind.  Auto-responders may also deter competitors from downloading your work since they'll have to use their name to retrieve it (true, they can create an alias name and email, but that involves an additional step).

One of the most popular and widely used auto-responders is Aweber, which costs around $200 annually.  Aweber supports multiple releases and also includes templates that you can use to set up e-newsletters.  Constant Contact is another inexpensive service for newsletter or event registration, with different pricing options starting at as little as $15 per month.  If you're not ready to commit financially, MailChimp offers a limited free auto-responder and newsletter service for up to 500 subscribers.

4.  Assessment Generators and Quizzes

Assessment tests and quizzes serve as a fun way to engage clients at your site by teaching them about the law.  For example, you might create a quiz on the structure of the Supreme Court or the Bill of Rights as a public service to educate clients about the law. There aren't many online quiz creators, but one that is free and works for this purpose is Quibblo.com.  

Somewhat different from a quiz about facts, an assessment test can also help clients determine whether they need to hire a lawyer.   For example, a bankruptcy lawyer might create a test that asks clients about their ability to pay their bills or whether they are subject to pursuit by debt collectors, and assign points for each answer.  Depending upon the number of points, the answer key might suggest that a client consider the bankruptcy option (as discussed in Part III, you'd want to include extensive disclaimers and caveats as part of the test, to avoid having a client believe that it constitutes legal advice).

The best out-of-the-box online tool that I've found for assessments is the Assessment Generator.  Robust and easy to use, the Assessment Generator lets users create five different types of assessment tests (the example above is one that I created here at MyShingle, that lawyers can use to evaluate their need for a contract lawyer).  There's a free version of the Assessment Generator available; the more full-featured version costs around $10 a month.

5.  Surveys and Polls 

Like quizzes, polls can entertain site visitors - for example, soliciting their opinion on anything from political issues (Do you agree with the President's Supreme Court nomination?) to personal preferences (How many  hours a week do you spend on Facebook?).  Several blog platforms offer poll plug-ins, but you can also create and install your own with services like WidgetBox.com.  With polls, users can vote and then see the results of the poll after voting.

Surveys are a little different from polls because users won't automatically see results.  You might include a survey at your website for clients to provide you with feedback on your firm.  In addition to using Google Forms (mentioned previously) as a basis for a survey, you can also try Wufoo or Survey Monkey, both of which offer a limited free option.

6.  Online Scheduling

Are you losing clients because you don't have the staff to answer your phones and schedule appointments promptly?   One interactive tool that can remedy lack of staffing is a do-it-yourself scheduling system installed at your site.  Scheduling systems are basically an online calendar where prospective clients view your available openings and set up their own appointments.  The calendars are set up so that only the site owner can view the names and information associated with the appointments; site visitors don't have access to this private information.     

There are plenty of options for online scheduling, and many are free, including Tungle.me (displayed above), Doodle.com and Scheduly.

7.  Call Me Buttons and Live Chat

Ideally, your website should provide multiple ways for clients to contact you.  Most sites include phone numbers and emails - but if you're not available, the client will still have to wait for a response.  That's why you might consider getting a free Google Voice number to use as a "call me contact" at your site.

Previously in beta and available via invitation only, GoogleVoice is now open to all.  Google Voice allows users to create a "Call Me" button which can be embedded in your website.  When users click the button, they'll be connected to your Google number, which in turn, you can set up to re-direct to another phone number - thus, increasing the chance that you'll be available to take the call when it comes in.

Equally interactive is live chat, another feature that can be installed at a website - and a concept that I discussed about a year ago here at MyShingle.  With chat-ware, users can  type in a question at your site and you or your staff can supply an immediate response.  Live chat  options include ZohoChat and BoldChat, which costs around $300/year.

III.  Ethics Caveats

Any blog post on interactive websites for lawyers - even one as lengthy as this one - is not complete without a discussion of ethics issues.  Below are some of the ethics red flags that interactive technologies may raise, and suggestions on best practices for addressing them:

1.  Creation of Attorney-Client Relationship/Legal Advice:  One potential ethics risk of interactivity is that the immediacy of the communication may create the perception of an attorney-client relationship.  Or, a client may believe that the attorney is providing legal advice.  For example, consider a situation where a client asks a specific question in the comments section of a blog or through live chat.  If an attorney replies and provides suggestions, a client could rely on that advice - and the attorney could face malpractice exposure if the advice turned out to be incorrect.  To avoid any perception that a communication at the website constitutes legal advice or gives rise to an attorney-client relationship. lawyers should include appropriate disclaimers.

Likewise, if you include an assessment generator at your site on a topic like whether a prospect qualifies for bankruptcy, include caveats to clarify that the test provides guidelines - it is not a definitive diagnosis of a legal problem (nor is it legal advice) and that all cases are different. 

2.  Confidentiality & Conflicts Issues:  Clients may assume that information collected in forms will be treated as confidential.  If you are using a free form generator, the information that you gather may not be fully confidential - and the client should be advised of that risk.  At the same time, you should limit the type of information that you collect to begin with - never ask potential clients to provide social security numbers or extensive details about their claims through a form that is not secure.

3.  Unauthorized Practice of Law (UPL)

Some of the communications that you receive at your site may involve individuals in jurisdictions where you're not licensed to practice - and potentially trigger UPL claims.  Make sure that your site is clear on where you are licensed to practice, and avoid substantive responses on matters that are outside of your jurisdiction.

IV.  Conclusion

As I've posted repeatedly, many lawyers focus myopically on SEO, without any thought to how to convert transient visitors into paying clients.  By inviting interaction, lawyers can make their websites more inviting and impressive to visitors, and in doing so, improve their chances that short term visitors will eventually become long time clients.

If you've come to this post expecting a checklist of criteria by which to evaluate your current marketing efforts or implement a new marketing initiative, then you've come to the wrong place.  Those kinds of checklists (especially a task list) are useful to be sure, because they make it easier to delegate marketing to a subordinate or assistant so that it doesn't go by the wayside when your schedule picks up.  But today, I'm addressing another category of checklist:  the kind that lawyers use, or at least should use, that outline the steps or procedures involved in handling the substance of a case.

If the "checklist" concept sounds familiar to you, it's because it's the focal point of Anul Gawande's book, The Checklist Manifesto: How to Get Things Right, which has been the subject of many-a-recent blog post.  I recently finished the book myself and was convinced by Gawande's thesis:  that the "humble" checklist can minimize error in carrying out complex tasks by helping with memory recall and setting out the minimum necessary steps in a process.  Moreover, by committing routine procedures to a hard and fast list, a checklist frees up professionals to devote more time to the kinds of judgment calls that they always have to make, whether there's a list in place or not.

Gawande draws on examples from medicine, engineering and aviation to demonstrate how checklists can minimize error.  In the medical profession for example, a study showed that by using a checklist for placing a central line (comprised of seemingly mundane tasks like wearing a mask or body-draping a patient), the  the ten-day infection rate was reduced from 11% to zero.  But you can probably imagine situations in your own practice where a checklist - such as the essential elements of a personal injury complaint to a list of documents required to file a bankruptcy petition - could also help avoid error and eliminate the risk of dismissal of a case.

OK.  So you're convinced of the importance of checklists.  But what's that got to do with marketing?  Plenty.  Consider these potential ways to use checklists to market your practice educate your clients and keep your firm at the forefront of their mind.  Here are some ideas:

1.  Create a task-oriented checklist of all of the steps involved in a particular type of proceeding -- for example, a typical divorce dispute.  Post the checklist on your website or blog, or publish it online as a mini-ebook.  The checklist will help clients understand all of the steps involved in even a so-called simple divorce.  As a result, the list can help weed out prospects who aren't really serious about divorce, but nevertheless, eat up your time at a free consultation.  And where a client does hire you, a task-oriented checklist helps clients know what to expect, and also familiarizes them with the amount of work that their case may potentially entail - which can help reduce complaints about excessive fees down the line.

2.   Create a client "to do checklist" - for example, a list of documents that clients should bring to the first meeting or gather together for a bankruptcy filing or preparation of an estate plan.  A client to do checklist will help you to market your practice because it makes clients' lives easier.  Going through a bankruptcy or preparing an estate plan is stressful enough for busy clients; it's even more stressful if they need to keep providing additional information because they forgot to write down a particular item that is required.  Clients will appreciate a checklist that they can work from and they'll appreciate it even more if you offer it on your website and in both paper and computerized format, so that they don't have to keep calling for another copy if they lose the list.  Satisfied clients will provide positive testimonials, which if accurate and sincere, are one of the most effective ways to attract new clients.

3.  Create a post-engagement checklist for clients to use after you've finished the matter for which you were retained.  Even after you've finished a case for a client, there are still matters for which they are responsible, or that may trigger further legal action.  For example, even after an incorporation is complete, the client retains responsibility for filing annual reports and other documents to keep the corporation in good standing.  Creating a checklist of these post-representation matters will help the client avoid problems down the line.  And if you put the checklist on your law firm letterhead (or if you're feeling particularly ambitious, create a branded mobile app for a client to download a checklist on his or her phone), clients can always get in touch with you for follow up questions or problems.

For other matters - like a bankruptcy discharge or a divorce and child custody agreement - you'll want to create a checklist to help clients determine whether they need further assistance.  For example, after a bankruptcy, clients shouldn't be getting calls from creditors whose debts were already discharged - and if they do, they should call you.  Likewise, for divorce matters, a lawyer might identify a list of events - such as loss of a job or an ex-spouse's remarriage or relocation - that may trigger the filing of modification petitions.

Checklists are an ideal marketing tool:  they educate clients and enable lawyers to serve them more effectively.  Checklists aren't as flashy as a T.V. commercial or even a fancy website, but they're inexpensive and most of all, something that lawyers should be creating for their practices anyway.  So when you get around to making a list of the tools that you want to use to market your practice, be sure to include the humble checklist.

I've posted a few times about do-it-yourself tips for search engine optimization.   Professional SEO companies can be expensive, so doing SEO yourself, especially if you're starting out, can save you money.  Moreover, doing your own SEO, at least for a short period, gives you a better understanding of how it works, thus enabling you to evaluate professional SEO companies.

But let's say you reach a point where despite best efforts, you're still not getting much visibility in the search engines.  Or you've gotten so busy that you no longer have the time to diligently tag your blog posts or research key words.  In these situations, you might consider hiring a professional SEO company.   And if you take that route, this article from the ABA's Law Practice Management magazine, Making Your Web Site Visible: How to Find a Good SEO Company by Sharon Nelson and John Simek is required reading.

For starters, just as with marketing consultants, choosing an SEO company is a process fraught with peril.  Hiring a shady or unethical company that uses deception or under-handed techniques can will get you visibility, alright.  It just may not be the kind you want.

Importantly, Nelson and Simek recognize these dangers.  Thus, they advise lawyers to seek out personal recommendations from colleagues and to avoid companies that guarantee top five placement on Google  in a month - because that's an impossible promise to keep without some kind of gamesmanship. 

In addition, the SEO business tends to attract fly-by-nighters and get-rich-quick types.  So Nelson and Simek suggest that you research the company's history to determine how long it's been in business and how many people it employs.  They also point out that reputable SEO companies will list their clients -- you can then search for those clients on line and see how they present in search results.  Finally, Nelson and Simek recommend that lawyers use SEO companies that have worked with attorneys in the past, because those companies tend to be more familiar with the ethics constraints that lawyers face.

Lawyers should also compare pricing (which varies widely between companies) and closely review the terms of the contract, including whether any minimum duration is required.  Also, the arrangement with the SEO company should include preparation of regular reports so you can determine whether the SEO campaign is working.

Perhaps Nelson's and Simek's best advice is essentially to manage expectations.  As they emphasize throughout, SEO companies can help, but at the end of the day, they can't do much to improve your visibility if you're not producing content or taking other action to drive traffic to your site. 

SEO is only one part of the marketing equation.   So while you might hire an SEO company to kick your marketing campaign up another notch, realize there's no point in investing time and money to improve your website's or blog's SEO if clients have nothing to see when they arrive.

Many lawyers exhibit Type A personalities in the court-room or board-room:  highly competitive, ambitious, business-like and aggressive.  Yet when it comes to choosing the appropriate typography for the documents used in court or exchanged during transactions, these same lawyers are far more laid back, rarely searching for choices beyond the default Times-New Roman.

So how does lawyer typography relate to legal marketing, which after all, is the focus of this blog?   As I'll spell out below, one Helvetica character as a time, in the Internet Age, typography matters to lawyer marketing more than ever, largely because the web makes lawyers' writing so widely accessible.

I.  The Letter of The Law Is Everywhere 

In an Internet Age, lawyers' writings are available to all. These days, virtually every law firm has a website, and many have blogs which together comprise a large portion of lawyers' writing on the Internet.  These sites require careful typography choices to ensure that the site caters to its audience.  Thus, a site aimed at the elderly should employ large font on light backgrounds, while a site for younger folks might use an edgier look. 

But, bear in mind, typography issues aren't limited to on-line postings (and indeed, for websites and blogs, is not as critical because readers can, as a last resort, bypass the site through use of RSS feeds or email).   The more significant typography problems, in my mind, are those related to previously paper-based documents that are now rapidly making their way online.  For example, some law firms publish e-books to show their expertise in a particular subject matter and educate prospective clients.  Lawyers routinely make e-books available for download at their websites or post them at article archiving sites which means that the e-books are viewable by a far broader circle than their predecessors, the pamphlet, the law review article or the treatise.       

Likewise, a decade ago B.E.F. (before e-filing), lawyers submitted hard-copies of pleadings or briefs to the court.  Most of those hard copied documents lived out their existence in practical obscurity in courthouse file cabinets, unviewed by anyone besides the judge and the parties involved in the case.  Fast forward to today when anyone can search PACER or a state electronic filing system and find and download briefs and pleadings.  As with e-books, sites like JD Supra offer lawyers an SEO-charged location to upload work product for colleagues and potential clients to review.

The upshot of all this is that both the substance and style of lawyers' writing, is on display.  More importantly, readers' impression of the the latter can influence their opinion of the former.  For example, a reader who downloads a law firm e-book on Fighting Foreclosure that resembles a legal memo - single spaced, Times New Roman font on white paper - may assume that the e-book is written in complex legal-ese without bothering to take a closer look.  Alternatively, the reader might view the e-book as cheap-looking or homemade and wonder about the firm's financial stability, its availability of support staff or potentially, even its competence.   

Likewise, even the typography in briefs and memos tells a story to those who care to "read between the lines."  For starters, a lawyer's choice of typography for a brief can signal to others whether that lawyer is familiar with the rules of the jurisdiction, which often dictate font selection.  Others may wonder whether the lawyer still using a dated font like courier has actually practiced much in recent years.  Finally, some readers will simply feel annoyed or frustrated as they try to work their way through a fifty page memo on the complexities of securities law in font comfortably visible only under a magnifying glass.  

Granted, most of the concerns just described (with the exception of the one related to ability to follow rules) are based on leaping and most likely, inaccurate assumptions. Nevertheless, whether fair or not, the kinds of negative impressions that clients may glean from a lawyer's chosen typography can result in lost business.

On the flip side, however, smart typography choices can help lawyers market their practice.  Bold fonts and interesting layout make an e-book look so crisp and attractive that clients can't resist reading it.  A font that's compatible with other lawyers with whom you work shows that you know what you're doing.  And a unique typography style -- perhaps an unusual combination of readable and stylish fonts --  can serve as your brand, so that all who see the document  know that it's from your firm even before they flip to the signature page.

II.  A Font of Font Solutions

So how can lawyers pick the type of typography that's right for them?  For major products like e-books, engaging a professional to assist with design and typography choice is probably the best solution.  But hiring professional help may not be within your budget, nor is a designer a cost-effective approach for traditional documents like briefs or memos.

Fortunately, the web is a font of information on font selection.  Below are some resources to get you started:

1.  The beautifully designed Typography for Lawyers site offers the most detailed and comprehensive information on font choices for lawyers.  Plus, it includes examples of each font discussed, so you can see how they look in action.

2.  For transactional lawyers, Adams Drafting principal Ken Adams, describes his preferred choice of Calibri as a font for contract drafts here.

3.  The Seventh Circuit discusses federal court typography requirements and offers advice to lawyers on how to choose, as does this journal article, Painting With Print by Ruth Ann Robbins.

4.  Big Brand System explains different types of font and suggests ways to combine them.

5.  Here's a great infographic (kind of like a flowchart) from Julian Hansen that you can use to select the right font for your project.  (In fact, it's that chart that inspired this post).

Finally, if you're interested in a new font to spiff up a blog or website, Google just introduced a bunch of web fonts, free for download. 

III.  Conclusion

As I stated at the outset, many lawyers are already Type A personalities.  For that reason, it shouldn't be too difficult to convert them into Typography-A students as well, once lawyers wake up and realize how much the "letters of the law" matter to potential clients.




 

These days, when I speak about practice issues to lawyers, I'm often asked to comment on trends for social media and legal marketing.  In my mind, the future points in the direction of increased mobility, and concomitantly, mobile marketing.  In fact, just a few months back, I posted about bullish projections for mobility (as well as tips on how to market on mobile media) and since then, it seems that mobile media is gaining even more momentum.

Consider these numbers.  According to ClickZ.com, Apple's App store revenues are expected to grow from $4.2 billion in 2009 to $29.5 billion in 2013, with mobile advertising predicted to increase to $914 million.  Meanwhile, Android, iPhone, and iPod touch users are averaging a whopping 79 to 80 minutes per day engaged with apps.  Moreover, demand for apps is on the rise, with companies turning to sites like Elance to hire new developers.  And with the recent ipad launch, app demand will likely increase even further.

So who's spending all that time on mobile phones?  As a noted previously, mobile media is more popular with some groups than others.  In addition, it's important to understand not just the demographics of usage, but the purpose for which certain categories of users employ mobile media.

Fortunately, there's some new research data available.  According to Drop Ship Access, women are more likely to purchase from a cell phone, which suggests that they might be receptive to buying legal services through a mobile platform.  On the other hand, men tend to use phones to comparison shop - which means, they'd likely spend time reviewing lawyers' websites and credentials on their phones.

The most surprising statistic to me related to seniors:  Seniors (82%) are much more likely than the traditional user (64%) to use their mobile phones to educate themselves.  With that in mind, lawyers who target senior clients might want to be sure to deliver education based materials, like blog content or produce articles that render quickly on mobile devices.

Bottom line:  it may be time for lawyers to start moving towards mobility when it comes to marketing.

If you've always wanted to create a video to market your law practice but were deterred by cost, you're in luck!  Courtesy of Google (as well as marketing guru Larry Bodine, who passed the tip along), you can put together a nifty "search stories video" for your practice that mimics the style of Google's inaugural Super Bowl Ad.  A couple of my colleagues have already taken the service out for a test drive, with outstanding results, depicted below (for my own attempt, visit here):

 

Victor Medina

Robert Kraft

Using Google's search stories video is just one part of the marketing lesson for this post.  Consider this second idea.  Look at how effectively Google is branding itself with these free videos.  Everyone who puts one together and posts it on a site effectively provides another little bit of free advertising to Google (not that they need it!).  Well, what if you could create some type of branded tool that visitors to your website or law firm clients might use and share with others.  For example, if you represent small businesses, you might create an online business plan - users could fill in a form and generate a business plan, with your firm logo displayed on the back page.  Or if you handle adoption cases or estate planning for families with young children, consider creating an online "annual report" for a child, where users could fill out an online form with their children's major accomplishments and generate an attractive mini-report that they could share with relatives.  You could even consider developing an app for a phone that's branded with your law firm that potential clients might use.

Most likely, you probably don't have the tech skills to develop this kind of a generator.  Not to worry.  Turns out that there's enormous demand on sites like Elance for app developers - and you could likely find someone who's relatively inexpensive.  If the costs still seem prohibitive, why not team up with a couple of lawyers in other jurisdictions and share the costs?

Of course, if you don't feel ambitious enough to commission your own online application, Google search stories videos are impressive enough. 

In Part I of this two-part series on webinars, I discussed why webinars are an effective marketing tool for lawyers and identified suitable topics for webinars and free and low cost platforms to support webinars.  In this Part, I'll go through the nuts and bolts of setting up a webinar from start to finish.

1.  Choose your weapon.  As I suggested in Part I, test drive a few of the webinar platforms to figure out which ones work for you.  The platforms vary in price and features but what's most important is that you (or your staff) feel comfortable with the interface.  (One of my personal favorites for features and ease of use is DimDim).  Once you've decided on and registered for a webinar service, you can start planning your first webinar. 

2.  Decide on a topic for your webinar.  For prospective clients, pick topics that are timely and don't usually receive adequate attention at other seminars.  Remember - because webinars are so inexpensive to host, you can keep the topics narrow.  You may attract a smaller number of participants, but chances are, they'll be much more interested in the event and more likely to retain you.  To select topics for existing clients, why not ask them what interests them?  Clients will feel flattered that you've sought out their input and will appreciate your continued responsiveness to their needs. 
 
3.  Pick a date.  Choose a date for the webinar anywhere from four to six weeks out.  A shorter time frame will cut down on your ability to promote the webinar.  

4.  Pick a time for the webinar.  The best times for a webinar will depend on your audience.  If your target audience includes a 9 to 5 working crowd, an evening or weekend will work best.  For a national audience, a time slot after noon is necessary to ensure that West Coast participants will be awake in time for the call.  Limit webinars to no more than ninety minutes and preferably, aim for 40 to 60 minutes of content with 15 minutes available for questions.

As for your own schedule, try to set the webinar on a day that you won't be in court or at other meetings.  Though a webinar is only an hour and can be conducted from your office, you're better off hosting it on a day with few distractions.

5.   Set Up Registration:  Once you've set a presentation date, it's time to start marketing your seminar.  Prepare a snappy announcement and post it on your blog, website or a separately created landing page.  You can use auto-responder programs like Aweber or Constant Contact for registration, or even something free like Google Forms.  
These programs will capture registrants names and emails so that you can send them the log in information for the webinar. 

6.  Start marketing.   After you've set up the registration, begin promoting your program.  Use social media applications like a Facebook fan page or Twitter.  Disseminate information about the webinar through your newsletter as well as any listservs in which you participate (if they allow promotions).  Reach out to bloggers who cover the topics that you'll be addressing in the webinar and ask whether they can get the word out to readers.  You might also consider advertising on Facebook.

If you're targeting a consumer audience, don't limit your promotions to the Internet.  Depending upon your audience, consider announcing your webinar in school or PTA newsletters, through leaflets or fliers at the local coffee shop, bookstore and library and perhaps even through an inexpensive ad in a small local publication.

7.  Prepare the Webinar.  Once the marketing for the webinar is underway, begin preparing your materials as soon as possible, for two reasons.  First, getting the prep out of the way early on means you'll have less to worry about when the webinar date approaches.  Second, you may decide to send an outline to participants in advance to provide more details about the topics you'll cover. 

8.  Send Out the Access Information.  Two days before the webinar, send out the access information to participants.  Some of the services - such as DimDim can transmit an invitation for you, or you can simply send an email yourself.   In addition to sending the numbers to call and/or codes to enter to access the webinar, you should also provide participants with an alternative way to get in touch with you (such as email) if for some reason, the webinar disconnects.

9.  Test Run.   It's always good to do a quick test run a day before you put on the program whether you've used the product or not. Sometimes, companies may change the features of a webinar platform and if you don't check it out in advance, you may find yourself fumbling on "game day."  Also test out your recording options and run a sound check.  If the sound comes across weak, you may need to plug a microphone into the computer.

10.  Webinar.  Giving a webinar can be tricky since unlike an in person event, you can't judge reactions.  So stop from time to time to ask participants to send in questions.  Err on the side of keeping the webinar short.  Many people budget a limited time frame - typically not more than an hour - for webinars, so try to keep your presentation short, while allowing time for questions.   

Definitely record the webinar, either using tools included in the platform or screen capture programs like Camtasia (for PCs) or Screenflow (for Macs).

11.  Post Production  Once the webinar ends, there's still plenty of work to do.  For starters, you should email participants with a short survey (also something that can be done with Google Forms) asking them to rate the program and for testimonials (be sure to ask for permission about using them in your marketing materials). 

Next, save a copy of the recording and arrange to have the audio transcribed.  That way you'll have both a visual summary of your talk (on CD or thumb drive) as well as written materials for those who don't care for video.  If you're pleased with the product, you might consider selling the recording bundled with the tape and a written transcript or making it available on your website.

CONCLUSION  Though all of these steps to put on a webinar seem complicated, they become much easier over time once you've mastered the learning curve.  In fact, you may become so adept at webinars, you might decide to hold a webinar for colleagues or clients on...what else?  How to put on a webinar!  

According to the 2009 Benchmark Report on Professional Services Marketing, seminars and webinars are some of the most effective tools for attracting new clients and retaining existing ones.  The Report found that professional services use in person seminars (66%) and webinars (45%) to identify service providers and make hiring decisions.  The results apply with equal force to legal services; at the  Marketing with a Book blog, Henry DeVries writes that:

In 1991 a random survey of the top 1,000 U.S. law firms found that 89 percent held at least one client seminar per year. In 1999, 94 percent of law firms were regularly holding seminars. Lawyers at the top 1,000 firms ranked seminars as the most effective tool for cross-selling and gaining new clients (Source: FGI Research, 1999).

I've already discussed at length the benefits and how-tos of speaking events.  But for all their effectiveness, seminars and speaking events aren't without their drawbacks.  For starters, if you have a national or multi-state practice, you may have to travel to the event on your own dime, and lose billable time while you're away from the office.  Local events are more convenient if you can find a group that's willing to host you.  But you may have to rent space and serve refreshments, which are an added cost that may outweigh the benefits if only a handful of people actually show up.

Though webinars can't replace face to face events, they are a cost-efficient way to supplement live activities.  With today's low cost, user-friendly technologies, even a solo lawyer on a tight budget can put on several webinars a year and perhaps even make a few extra dollars by bundling and reselling the content.  Below, I'll describe what a webinar is, suggest ways that a webinar can work for any practice and finally, give some practical tips on getting started.

THE WHAT, HOW AND WHY ABOUT WEBINARS:

1.  What is a webinar?

Basically, a webinar is what the term implies -- a seminar delivered over the web.  Webinars offer several advantages over their poorer relation, the conference call.  During a webinar, you can present power point slides from your computer that participants can view on their screen.  Many webinar products (I'll discuss them in more detail at the end of this post) allow you to use whiteboard and mark-up features, so that you can highlight parts of your presentation, or demonstrate a skill - perhaps how to fill in a form or improve a contract draft - in real time. 

Other webinar products offer additional features that set them apart from conference calls.  Some incorporate video, so that participants can see you while you deliver your presentation while others will tape the webinar so that you can post it on YouTube or distribute a copy on a CD or thumb drive.  Some products allow participants to submit written questions or comments during the presentation which can be viewed by all other participants through a side bar.  During conference calls, listeners are often intimidated from posing questions, either to avoid being recorded or because they're simply not comfortable doing so.   All of these features make webinars are far more impressive and interactive for potential or existing clients than a simple conference call.

2.  Are webinars better for existing or prospective clients?

Webinars work extremely well for both.  A webinar gives a prospective client a more personalized and impressive introduction to your services.  In addition, a webinar can educate prospective clients, making them realize a need for your services.

As for ongoing webinars, they're a great way to help existing clients keep up to date on developments in the law while showing them that you value their business.   And of course, like newsletters, webinars let you stay in touch with existing clients so that you'll be first to come to mind when they're asked for referrals.

3.  What kinds of topics and practice areas work best for webinars?  Can webinars work even for a consumer oriented practice?

The scope of potential webinar topics is limited only by your imagination.  Consider the following ideas:

• Corporate, tax or regulatory attorneys:  The law in these practice areas is constantly in flux and clients are subject to an array of compliance issues.  Webinars are ideal for providing updates on changes in the law or offering tips on compliance and ways to keep out of trouble.
• Small business lawyers:  In addition to the issues discussed above, small businesses face a variety of legal issues, from leasing, zoning and property issues to employment, trademarks and copyright.  Many times these businesses don't have in house counsel, and aren't able to determine whether they need a lawyer or not.  Educating business owners about the legal issues they may face can help them figure out when it's time to call a lawyer - and that lawyer could likely be you!
  
• Consumer and general practice lawyers:  Holding a webinar on broad consumer issues, such as the need for will or how to draft a lease may not attract much attention if only because so many lawyers offer these seminars already.  However, niche topics - such as estate planning for single parents or parents, tips on writing a contract to hire a nanny or the basics of special education law are more likely to generate interest because these audiences less frequently served by in person seminars.
  
• Unbundled providers:  Many lawyers are beginning to handle legal matters on an unbundled basis.  For example, a lawyer might draft documents for a business incorporation or will but the client would have the responsibility to file the documents with the Secretary's office or execute the will before a notary.   Though most lawyers provide written instructions to clients on how to perform these tasks, a webinar could also be used to supplement the information provided - and clients would have a chance to ask questions as well. 
  

4.    What kinds of materials should I prepare for a webinar?
Again, you have many options.  You can create a power point presentation that participants will be able to view when they log in to the webinar.  Or, as you become more adept delivering webinars online, you could show websites to clients as part of your presentation.  For example, many government websites contain information on rules or filings that may interest your clients, but they may not know how to navigate the site.  You could show them how during the webinar.

5.  What technology is required to put on a webinar?
There are a number of different free and low cost webinar packages available.  I recommend using those that are "cloud" based, i.e., accessible over the web rather than those that need to be downloaded onto your computer or participants' computers.  In this way, participants can log in easily without any advance preparation and further, you avoid any Mac/PC compatibility issues.

As for specific programs, consider the following low cost options:
 DimDim - free for up to 20 users and also supports video (so participants can see you on the screen) and recording capability.
Glance - $49 per month for up to 100 users who can call in free (or available as a one time day pass for $9.95).
Go To Webinar - $49 per month, but only allows up to 15 users; up to 100 will cost $99/per month. 
WebEx $49 per month for up to 25 users; also offered with per minute charge.
Huddle.net - Really a hybrid web conferencing/project management tool.  $40/month for up to 5 users, but not an apples-apples comparison because the Huddle system includes document storage and other team management tools.

All of these services offer free service either on small scale or a trial basis, so play around with them to figure out which ones you like best.  In Part II of this post, I'll go through the nuts and bolts of setting up a webinar.

In Part I of this series, I considered whether lawyers should advertise on Facebook?  Though Facebook's traffic numbers recently surpassed Google, making Facebook the most heavily trafficked site on the web, most of the commentary that I found related to Facebook ads suggested that they were rather ineffective.  In addition, I expressed concern that Facebook users, who are interested in socializing and escaping the stresses of daily life, might be put off  by lawyer ads which might come across as an undue intrusion into their personal life.  I concluded that if lawyers wanted to experiment with social media, they might do so by offering a class or an ebook on a lighter topic (e.g., copyrighting a blog rather than personal injury), but not by directing links to a law firm website.  Still, they shouldn't expect great results. [but see the update at the end of this post]

As it happens, I've experimented with Facebook myself for a similar reason:  to promote a program on Hanging a Part Time Shingle with my colleague, Julie Tower Pierce.  In this post, I'll share the my thought process in creating the ad and the results of the campaign.

1.  Background:

  The part time shingle program is geared towards lawyers interested in starting a part time law practice.  Julie and I identified three demographics:
 

• Lawyers with children who are currently home raising them, thinking about leaving a full time job to spend more time with family or who'd left the work force to raise a family and now seek gradual re-entry.  Though increasingly, it is common for men to work part time, we believed that even in the 21st century, women would continue to dominate this category. 
  
• Lawyers interested in starting a firm but who could not afford to leave a "day job" or give up contract work.  While this category encompasses almost any lawyer, we assumed that younger lawyers and new graduates with large loans fit within this group.
• Lawyers seeking to retire or who have retired but want to keep a foot in the law either for personal interests.

2.  Set Up: Choosing A Demographic

As I described in Part I, Facebook allows users to specify the demographics of their target groups.  After you select a particular demographic, Facebook will tell you how many users fall within that group and will recommend a price per click (CPC).   

Once you've selected a demographic and specified a CPC (and daily or total ad budget), Facebook will determine when to run your ad based on the following guidelines:  

 For any given ad unit, we select the best ad to run based on the ad's bid (CPC or CPM) and ad performance. Your ad's ability to win the auction will change based on its past performance and as the pool of available ads changes.

If you are not receiving as many clicks or impressions as you would like, we recommend increasing your maximum bid. You should also take a look at your ad's targeting to make sure you're reaching the most appropriate audience. Your ad is more likely to run successfully if you're targeting a highly relevant group of users with Facebook's detailed targeting options.

[Source:  Facebook website]

Based on this information, I chose to target users who are college graduates and over the age of 50 (to capture re-entry candidates as well as retired lawyers); college graduates over the age of 28 (to capture those with day jobs) and married female college graduates between the ages of 29 and 33 (to capture mom lawyers home with children).  I restricted the last group to a narrow demographic because the recommended CPC for all women users was more than I wanted to pay.

The results of my ad campaign, which lasted for approximately six days, are shown below, with the results ordered as just described (all college grads over the age of 28, college grads over 50 and women between 29 and 33):
 For the first two categories (28 and older; 50 and older), I used Facebook's recommended CPC.  That wasn't very effective for the 28 and older category, as it resulted in 33,037 impressions.  I had better luck with the 50 and older crowd, where I scored 203,151 impressions by paying the recommended CPC, presumably because the 50 and older demographic on Facebook is smaller and not as frequently targeted by advertisers.  For the 29-33 married female category, I exceeded the recommended CPC by .25 because I knew that I'd be facing still competition.  My decision paid off in that it yielded 148,908 impressions.

Of course, the more important metric than impressions is the click through rate - since that's the first step to converting to a sale.  As predicted, click through rates were not impressive  - just five from the 28 and older group, 58 from the 50 and older and 40 from the women ages 29 to 33.  On the plus side, I didn't pay much for the click throughs - an average of 68 cents.

Did any of those click throughs result in a sale?  The program cost $25, so three sales would have given me a positive ROI.  Unfortunately, I didn't track sales origination closely so I don't have that data.  But my guess, based on the pattern and timing of program registrations, is that all of the registrants learned about the program from list serves, blogs or Twitter rather than through Facebook ads.

My results don't tell the whole story because of other variables.  I ran the Facebook ads just a week before the program which was a live call - so it's possible that those who clicked through and were interested had scheduling conflicts.  In addition, since I'm not a professional marketer, my ads (I used different ones for each group) may have simply been ineffective.

Given the low cost, I might experiment with Facebook again for a similar type of program.  I'd try to narrow my demographic groups further and also provide more lead time before an event.  However, I don't really see Facebook as a valuable promotional tool just yet. 

Finally, I would not use Facebook to market my law practice -- I don't market to consumers and even if I did, I strongly favor educational based marketing over pure advertising. Plus, I think that lawyer ads on Facebook are intrusive.  Nevertheless, if the results of my efforts to market the Part Time Shingle program on Facebook are any indication, I don't think that lawyers who avoid Facebook ads to market their law firms are missing out on much.  At least right now.

Update #1 (3/17/10)  I've received several reactions to my posts.  Two providers who serve attorneys (a legal marketing professional and a CLE company) have used Facebook for ads, with far better success.  The CLE company reported 200,000 hits, 1300 click throughs for $25, while the marketing professional has generated several serious leads through Facebook and  found two clients, for well under $100  $300 per month (correction as of 3/20/2010).  I already pointed out why my campaign may have been less successful - it ran only a week and my ad copy may not have been compelling.  Though my experience was more aligned with those of others (discussed here who have used Facebook ads), apparently there are those who are experiencing success and it's important to portray both sides so that you can make an informed decision.

As for posting lawyer ads on Facebook (rather than an ad for an ebook or webinar), that's a matter of taste.  Personally, I am tired of lawyer ads littering every site that I frequent online. But that's just me -- and if you don't take issue with that approach, then Facebook advertising may be something worth considering. 

It's official!  As of yesterday, Hitwise confirmed what many had long predicted: that Facebook surpasses Google as the most visited Website in the U.S. 

So what does this new development mean for those lawyers who've hedged their Internet marketing bets on Google-driven search engine optimization (SEO) or pay per click?  This  article from Fast Company discusses the implications of Facebook's ascendancy for advertising.

For starters, Google will continue to dominate search.  So to the extent that you invested in professional SEO services or activities like blogging to build visibility online, your efforts will still pay off.  Moreover, even if you're a diehard Facebook user, with hundreds of friends and fans, you won't get much mileage from that presence in Google search.  And while users could also search Facebook to find you, as  the Fast Company article points out, search is not why folks flock to Facebook:

 Facebook does have a search ability inside the site, but what's really driving users to Facebook in droves is that it's a genuine phenomenon. Social networking is still riding that "oh you should try this, it's new and cool" wave and the site itself has reached a critical mass of user numbers whereby if you want to contact almost anyone, odds are that they have a Facebook account.

Of course, that doesn't mean that Facebook is without value - not just as a participant but potentially as an advertiser.  Fast Company suggests that:

 Facebook is now in a position to leverage those user visits to seize control of the online ad-placement business from Google--advertisers will begin to do the math and work out which site will get their ads in front of more eyeballs. And while Web 2.0 has been with us for a while, the fact that more people are visiting Facebook than Google indicates that this interactive revolution has really changed U.S. Netizen's online habits.

With enormous traffic numbers and still undiscovered advertising potential, there are certainly benefits to marketing legal services on Facebook.  Moreover, Facebook makes the advertising process easy with these tools that enable you to design your ad and specify where you want it placed.  Features of Facebook ads include the ability to:

• include a photo or logo as well as a link to a website or fan page.  The graphics feature makes Facebook ads snappier than the bland Google pay per click ads that dot the top and side of Google search results pages.
• specify the precise demographic audience you want to target based on age, gender, marital status, sexual orientation, and key words on a fan page.
• choose amount to pay per click through, as well as a daily and/or total limit for the ad campaign.   
  

But for all their benefits and low cost, Facebook ads haven't been terribly effective, as described here, here and here.  That's not surprising either.  After all, most people come to Facebook to interact with friends or socialize.  Thus, an ad for lawyer website isn't going to be terribly appealing, and in fact, might be regarded as an annoyance (though a recent study from Australia showed otherwise).  In fact, to the extent that Facebook ads are effective, they tend to work best for entertainment or recreational services rather than for the pharmaceutical or financial industry.
 
Like Facebook, Linked-In also offers advertising opportunities.  My guess is that Linked In ads might potentially be more effective than Facebook -- since Linked In users are more likely be combing the site to find a service provider rather than to chat with buddies -- I haven't been able to find studies that corroborate my hunch.

Despite the ineffectiveness of Facebook ads thus far, some (for example, a few of the commentors at this post) suggest that Facebook ads may be worth a try for a couple of reasons.  First, because the ads are cheap and users can limit their budgets, they have little to lose.  Second, because users can include logos and pictures, the ads offer an inexpensive way to build brand - though branding of this type is arguably less important for lawyers.

As for me, I'll concede that Facebook ads might be appropriate, albeit not all that useful to publicize a discrete law firm activity or product, like a free webinar or ebook (In fact, I've used Facebook for that very purpose, and I'll share my results in Part II of this post).   But as general tool to advertise a law firm, the the potential intrusiveness of lawyer ads ultimately outweigh any minimal benefit they might provide. 

As the saying goes, a picture is worth one thousand words.  Nowhere is that statement more true than when it comes to logo design.  In fact, the term "logo" finds its roots in the Greek term, logos which literally defined means "word," but actually encompasses concepts like storytelling and analogy.  Which makes sense, because in some ways, a good logo succinctly encapsulates a company's story. 

If done right, a logo also draws attention, conveys memorability and reflects a business' personality.  Even if you believe, as Seth Godin does, that a great logo doesn't mean anything until the brand makes it worth something, if you do decide to create a logo for your firm (and opinions diverge on the need for logo, as discussed below), devote some thought to it or you'll be saddled with something hideous if you eventually hit it big.

So should a law firm have a logo? As with most topics related to marketing or branding, there are two schools of thought.

No Logo Needed 

Several years, Tom Kane of the Lawyer Marketing Blog (absolutely not to be confused with this one, as Tom's been around forever!) downplayed the importance of logos, arguing (somewhat like Seth Godin) that if your service isn't excellent, then a logo is worthless.  From Kane's post:

The point is, logos can be helpful if your product and service is excellent. Otherwise, it can truly give off negative vibes, and it would be better to not have a logo than to have one that generates immediate disdain. I like logos, but a logo is much less important than the impact of your legal services (both the legal product and the actual client service experience).

Dan Hull of What About Clients concurs, adding that a logo is really nothing more than your firm's look -- the patterns, letterhead and colors reproduced on stationary, business cards and the firm website.  Indeed, seems that a number of law firms subscribe to Hull's philosophy; even mega firms like this or this one which could readily afford a fancy logo, instead use simple typography that one might find on letter head in lieu of a logo.

Which raises a second point about logos:  great, professional design doesn't come cheap.  As I'll discuss, there are some low cost and even DIY options, some which are more preferable than others.  But if you can't afford more than a generic logo, you may be better off taking the approach that Hull suggests.

Tips for Logo Design

Let's say you want to take a chance on a logo - maybe you have a distinctive idea in your mind or perhaps you feel that it will make your firm stationary and business card look more prominent.  If that's the case, here are some tips for getting started:

1.  Identify what you like...and what you don't

Do you have a concept for a logo?  If not, there are plenty of resources to stimulate your imagination.  Steve Matthews of Stem Legal suggests SeekLogo.com, a tool that allows you to search a database of around 200,000 - though as Matthews points out, there are only 59 examples for law firms.  Even so, you may find inspiration from other industries. 

If you find that nothing resonates, you might find it useful to review examples of top logos, selected by others, such as this top 250 logo list or 20 great and 20 not so great logos.  It's also interesting to read a designer's explanation of what makes a good logo.  Logo Design Love offers a treasure trove of information on logo design, including samples and discussion of the design and redesign process (not surprisingly, Logo Design Love has a great logo!).

2.  Setting a budget

Once you've got a couple of logos in mind, you'll probably want to set a budget.  Great logo design costs money, which was something that I never fully appreciated until I actually explored the process.  Six Revisions rounds up a bunch of posts like this one that depict the steps in developing a logo, from idea to inception.  If you thought editing a brief or drafting a contract was time consuming, take a look at the design process: it's equally involved. 

3.  Design options for implementation

    a.  Professional designer or web company

With a budget in mind, it's time to find a way to implement it.  If you're able to spend several hundred dollars or more, you might decide to hire a professional designer.  Seek recommendations from colleagues, but don't stop there, as your colleague's tastes may differ.  In addition to references, you want to look at the designer's portfolio to get a sense of his or her style.  Where a designer is local, an in person visit is useful.  And for a designer who's in another location, a phone call is imperative.  You'll be working with this person intensively, albeit for a brief period, so it's best to get a sense of how you'll interact (a phone call also provides added reassurance that the designer isn't fly by night).

Another option for logo design is to commission the work as part of web or blog design.  Again, personal recommendations, followed by a review of the company's portfolio is important.  In addition, if you see a logo on a site designed by your web or blog developer, don't assume that the web company did the design.  Many times, customers hire a web company and provide their own logos that were prepared by another designer.  So if you choose to use your web company for logo company, ask explicitly about their design experience and whether the company actually designed some of the other logos at the site.

b.  Online options for more affordable design

If you can't afford a professional logo design now, not to worry.  There are plenty of mid-range options that you can locate through the Internet.  Results vary, but with some due diligence, you can may be able to find a satisfactory logo at a reasonable price.  On line options include:

1.  Craigslist and intern websites

Several designers offer logo creation services on Craigslist for fees ranging from $60 to $199. You probably won't get anything high end, but again, check the portfolio and see if the designer's work appeals to you.  Another option for low cost work include websites like UrbanInterns or College Helpers where you might find new grads or students looking to build a portfolio and thus, willing to work for less.

2.  Elance, Odesk and freelance sites

Instead of hiring someone for a flat or hourly fee, you can also bid out a logo project at sites like Elance.com or Odesk.com.  You can sign up and provide some details about your project, and set a cost cap and see what kinds of responses you generate.  Both sites include information about a designers' work history and feedback from other customers and provide an escrow type account to hold money in case there's a dispute later on.  As an alternative, you can search for designers by project (e.g., design or logo) and directly contact those who've done work that you like.

3.  Design Contests

Several sites, like 99 Designs or Cullego allow users to run a contest to select a logo.  Essentially, users offer a prize and a description of the project, and designers submit a proposal, with the winner collecting the prize money. While I've seen law firms use contest design sites, I don't recommend them.  Though characterized as crowdsourcing, in my opinion, logo contests are a way to get free work on spec, which isn't fair (would you work on spec?)  In addition, there are a host of other concerns about logo design contests, including the likelihood of attracting low quality or inferior design, winding up with potentially plagiarized work and the legality of contests.  (For another view of crowdsourcing design, see here.

4.  DIY Sites

Some online sites allow users to design a logo themselves, by mixing and matching stock images, fonts and colors in an online template.  Some of the online sites  like LogoYes offer decent variety and themes; you can design the logo free and then pay $69 to $99 to purchase it.  Logoease offers a similar concept but it's free, though its choices are more limited.

Conclusion

Though a professional logo can be fun to create and add some distinctiveness and pizazz to your website and business cards, ultimately, your logo won't carry much value unless you do the work to back it up.  Oddly, when it comes to something as visual as a logo, seems that substance trumps form.

You've heard of cold calls, right?  I posted some tips about cold calling almost a year ago, but they're still relevant if you missed them the first time around.

But these days, what's perhaps even more relevant than the cold call is the cold email.  After all, we interact so frequently online - through social media sites and listservs where we're more likely to have access to someone's email rather than their phone number.  In addition, it's a little less intimidating to make a first crack at contacting someone we don't know by email rather than phone.

So what are some reasons you might contact someone via a cold email? Here are a couple of scenarios.  Let's say that you're a family law attorney interested in generating more referrals from bankruptcy lawyers, since you've noticed that bankruptcy lawyers are already a good referral source.  You might run some searches on a site like LinkedIn to identify bankruptcy lawyers in your area who also attended the same college or law school.  Sending an invitation to "link" with them won't accomplish much if they don't know who you are.  But an email explaining the connection and suggesting a meeting or phone call could lead to a relationship that might generate referrals.

Or, maybe you've just started a blog on estate planning for young families that you believe might be interesting to financial planners or new parents.  Sure, you could compile a list of 50 planners or mom-oriented websites and send a canned announcement.  Or, you could customize an email that introduces you and your site and gives recipients reason to check it out.

As with cold calls, you should follow certain best practices for cold emails to ensure that they satisfy the three Es:  ethics, effectiveness and etiquette.  These practices are discussed below.

 1.  Ethics  Rules prohibiting client solicitation may apply to cold emails.  For example, if you come across a tweet on Twitter that "en route to hospital. Drunk driver hit me," emailing the victim and offering your services would violate solicitation rules.  To avoid running afoul of ethics rules (and, as discussed below, to avoid annoying people), you're best off limiting cold emails to lawyers and other service providers rather than prospective clients, potentially consumers.

2.  Effectiveness   A cold email is effective when it meets with a fairly quick reply rather than a delete button.  Tech start-up advisor Thomas Korte offered some great tips (and a template) for effective cold emails in a recent blog post.  Specifically, he advises that you include the following information:

•   a description of who you are and where you are located;
•  an explanation of your connection to the recipient.  Did you work at the same firm?  Attend the same school?  Or follow him on Twitter? 
  
• an explanation of the reason for the email.  Do you simply want to inform the recipient about an article that you wrote that might prove useful?  Or would you like to schedule a phone call to talk further or even an in person meeting?
• a link to your website and any relevant attachments that can help the recipient learn more about you.

Bear in mind that cold emails don't become effective once you hit "send."  If you don't get a response within a week, definitely send a follow up email.  Many times, emails are accidentally deleted or a recipient may set it aside to respond and simply forget.  Of course, if you send a follow up and still don't hear back, you can probably check that recipient off your list.

When you get a positive response, consider what steps you want to take next.  For instance, if the recipient agrees that meeting in person over a cup of coffee might be a good idea, then the ball returns to your court to set a date.  Do so promptly.

3.  Etiquette  Even if your cold emails are ethically compliant, that doesn't mean that they're not annoying.  Take care not to send impersonal, mass emails, emails rife with misspellings  or emails that make clear that you haven't taken twenty seconds to learn about the recipient.

So why not give cold emails a try?  If you follow these three Es, you'll realize how very Easy cold emails can be.

The numbers are in, and as you might have expected, 2009 was a banner year for social media.  According to the Nielsen Company, consumer usage of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter increased by 82 percent.  In fact, consumers spent over six hours per month on Facebook, or more than three times the amount of time spent on Google. 
 
Many lawyers give short shrift to the growing importance of social media, which is mistake.  As described in this article excerpted from an upcoming book that I co-authored with Nicole Black, lawyers should keep in mind these three themes when they approach social media:

1. Social media is not a fad or a frivolity but a paradigm shift sweeping both the legal profession and society at large;

2.   A social media presence is a tool for achieving other professional goals, not a goal in itself and

3.  Use of social media does not transform otherwise appropriate conduct into something unethical, but nor does it insulate unethical conduct.

Take a look at the full article for more detail on these three themes.  And if you're interested in learning more about social media,  consider  these additional resources:

Mashable - Premier online site for social media, packed full of demographic information, trends and how-to guides.

Social Media Law Student - Don't let the fact that this site is run by students and young lawyers deter you - this blog covers social media issues related to lawyers, judges and the legal system at large, and includes some product reviews of social media tools.

Social Media Today - Focusing on how businesses implement social media.

Web Strategist - Though focused on business use of social media, detailed discussions and statistics at this site make it a great educational resource for lawyers on intelligent use of social media.

AllTop - Social Media - Top social media stories aggregated in one place.