Networking & Business Development

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Today marks six years since Zen & The Art of Legal Networking made its debut in the legal blogging world. In some ways, it feels like it’s been longer than that, while in others, the time has just flown! 

I’ve only ever marked this "blogiversary" three other times – on the second, fourth and fifth anniversaries, when I shared a sort of "state of the blog," things I had learned, and tips for blogging. Blogiversaries, like anniversaries, should be a time of reflection, so today has got me thinking about what I’ve learned in the past year, specifically six things I can share with you from Zen. 

Before I jump into that, however, I’ll tell you another thing I learned today – the traditional gift for a sixth anniversary is candy! For those who know me personally, you’ll know that I have a terrible sweet tooth, so it’s a rather appropriate gift for me. Last year, for the 5th anniversary, I donated trees in honor of wood, and this year, I purchased some candy from my niece’s school fundraising efforts to help her meet her goal!

Lesson One: Blogging is NOT Dead

I’ve heard whispers in a few corners recently that blogging is dead; that no one is really doing it anymore or at least not in the same way that they used to. But I beg to differ. I still see it as a hugely valuable component of any content marketing strategy, and one of the best ways to own your content and engage with readers. Continue Reading Happy 6th Blogiversary to Zen & the Art of Legal Networking!

And here we are, at the last of my Superbowl Commercials posts. We’re talking about the worst of the worst of this year’s Superbowl Commercials and while there are only a couple for a change, they are really doozies. 

I’ll start with the least terrible of the two, to ease you into the cringing. 

T-Mobile: #KimsDataStash

https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZTwzsV3I3OQContinue Reading Superbowl Commercials: The Ugly of 2015

With this year’s crop of commercials, there actually weren’t too many that fell into the ‘bad" category – the commercials were either pretty good or really terrible. But I did manage to find a few that I wasn’t happy with. 

The first one on my list will surprise many people, because it made a lot of "good" lists and seemed to be a popular favorite: 

Snickers: The Brady Bunch

https://youtube.com/watch?v=rqbomTIWCZ8Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Bad of 2015

I’m finally back with another Superbowl commercials post! In today’s post, we’ll cover my second tier commercials, those I’m calling the "good" of 2015. I’m going to look at three of them, as well as the lessons that lawyers and law firms can learn from them, and then I’ll list the other commercials that I liked and would consider worth a watch. 

Always #LikeAGirl

https://youtube.com/watch?v=XjJQBjWYDTsContinue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Good of 2015

It’s one of my favorite posts of the year – my recap of the Superbowl commercials! Recall, if you will, those Staples commercials with "It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" playing as parents ride shopping carts gleefully through the store followed by glum kids, and you’ll have some idea of how excited I am over the superbowl of advertising. 

Before I jump into my absolute favorites (instead of just "The Good" this year, I’m splitting it into "The Great" and "The Good"), I wanted to make an observation – social media is a big part of any viewing experience for me, and the Superbowl was no different. While watching the game, I was also checking in on Twitter and Facebook, and it was interesting to gauge the reactions of the people I follow and engage with to the same commercials I was watching. 

Often, I would have one reaction to something, and then others would have a completely different reaction, and I’d find myself getting sucked into "groupthink" a little bit, and changing my mind. So I’ve worked hard to bring you the commercials that I like best, and offer my lessons for legal marketing. I heard several times last night that people were generally unhappy with last night’s crop of commercials, but I thought that while there were a few major duds – we’ll get to those in later posts – they were mostly very, very well done for a change. Now, on with the great! Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Best of 2015

You may recall that at the beginning of 2014, I put together five posts on my wishes for you for the coming year: 

More than wishes, these posts were full of challenges to you on how to make 2014 a better year professionally. So how did you do? Let’s see if I took my own advice in 2014…

Plan & Be Open

I am, by nature, a huge planner. I LOVE lists and keep them everywhere, and I enjoy the challenge of putting together a marketing and business development plan for the coming year. So this was a no brainer for me. 

Continue Reading 10 Wishes for 2014 – How did we do?

Somehow, it’s already December. 

I know, I can’t believe it either. But it’s true. And you know what that means – it’s time to review 2014 and prepare for 2015. A lot of people have already started this process, but I like to leave it until after our last conference of the year, so that I can incorporate as much feedback from my clients as possible. 

For me, December is a time of reflection. I take out my marketing/business development plan (which I have been reviewing throughout the year, not just this month) and take a good look at it. So in the shuffle to get through all of our year-end activities, try these two tips to have an even more productive 2015. 

Tip One: Review

While each new calendar year is a fresh start, there’s no better way to begin your planning than by taking some time to look back first. Hopefully, you’ve been regularly reviewing your marketing/business development plans, so you have an idea of where you stand in terms of accomplishments. Continue Reading Two for Tuesday: Review & Prepare

You are in for a treat today, while I’m away at the ILN’s Regional Meeting of the Americas – we have a very special guest post! We’re welcoming Joanne Thorud, the Director of Marketing for the ILN’s Boston member, Davis, Malm & D’Agostine. She’s talking about one of my favorite subjects – client service – and shares with us an excellent post on why communication is so important in keeping clients happy. 

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Last week, I attended the Legal Marketing Association New England’s annual regional conference in Boston. The theme of this year’s conference was Simplify to Maximize. There were a dozen programs and over 30 speakers who presented topics focused on cutting through clutter and static and delivering clear and concise messages. One message that resounded in almost every program I attended was communication is key to maximizing client relationships. It is not a new or revolutionary concept, but it is extremely relevant, especially in today’s legal climate.Continue Reading Silence Isn’t Golden When it Comes to Managing Client Relationships

If you’re a regular reader of Zen, you’ll know that I love to look outside of the legal industry to find ideas for how we can market and develop business differently. With that in mind, I’d like to share a story with you – bear with me, and I’ll explain the legal connection.

If you read my Twitter profile, you’ll see that one of the ways I describe myself is as "crazy about my bassets." I have two basset hounds (Barney and Oliver), and like any good pet parent, I love to take photos of them. I share a lot of these shots on social media, and have been tagging them with various hashtags (such as #bassetboys, #bassets, #bassethounds, and #dogsofinstagram). 

I don’t have children yet, so I dress my dogs up for Halloween – basset hounds are very particular looking dogs, and seeing their faces when they have on hats, sweaters, costumes, etc. always gives me a good laugh. 

So on Friday, I shared a couple of photos of my dogs, in their costumes (including the one above), which led to a conversation with Purina. It played out as follows: 

Continue Reading Lawyers: Reach Out and Touch Someone

The truth is, I’m a BIG fan of Starbucks, so I’m predisposed to love this commercial.  But I think there’s a very important message that we at law firms can learn from this ad, and communicate through our own marketing (without even needing a commercial of our own). 

Watch the spot, and see if you can guess what I mean: 

//www.youtube.com/embed/LZVCLVGymmo?list=UUj4nCgtjKJppK_IZeY8TUJgContinue Reading “Meet Me at Starbucks” – What We Can Learn