Networking & Business Development

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Something you may not know about me is that I’m a big fan of the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Every day, Ellen reminds us to laugh, to dance, to do something for others, and most importantly, to "be kind to one another." 

In the course of business, we can sometimes forget that it’s possible to be successful AND nice.  I’m not suggesting being a pushover or not being a fierce advocate for your clients (as the famous line goes, "Don’t mistake my kindness for weakness"), but I am suggesting that it’s possible to be excellent at your job without tearing someone else down. That extends to marketing as well. 

It’s long been a pet peeve of mine when one brand uses their advertising to tear down another brand.  It’s more than just an adverse reaction to the "bullying;" it’s the sense that the company must not really be any good if they have to resort to such immature tactics. If a company or firm is excellent, does excellent work and provides an excellent product, then that all stands for itself without having to show how they’re "better." 

Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Be Kind to One Another

"Authenticity" has become a dirty word in the last few years.

It’s right up there with some of the other most hated buzzwords and phrases – "at the end of the day," "thinking outside of the box," "synergy," "value add," "circle back," "bandwidth." 

Are you cringing yet? 

But even though the word "authenticity" might make your skin crawl, it’s actually a pretty important concept – it’s a buzzword for a reason. 

Today, I sat in on a webinar with Nancy Myrland (@nancymyrland) and Patrick Baynes (@patrickbaynes), on "How Law Firms Can Leverage Attorney Use of Twitter." As they were going through their tips, Patrick noted that the idea of being authentic is key to all networking, not just social media networking. And he’s absolutely right.Continue Reading “Authenticity” Might be a Dirty Word, but it’s Essential to Good Networking

Regular readers of my blog may be shocked when they read the title of this post – am I really suggesting that you should make relationship-building all about you? 

Yes and no. 

For the purposes of this post, let’s separate out the "you" and "them" of relationship-building. When you’re building relationships, the content has to be all about the other person: 

  • You let the other person do most of the talking, and you do most of the listening. 
  • You ask pointed questions about what is of interest to them. 
  • The content you share online and off is directed at what is most useful to your audience. 
  • You’re sharing some of your own content, but mostly others’, because that’s what’s most useful to those you want to connect with. 
  • You’re constantly revising your efforts to make sure they continue to be in line with what your audience/targets needs and wants. 

Continue Reading Relationship-Building: It’s All About You

On my calendar for today was an assignment to share with you all my thoughts on some best practices for networking. "But Lindsay," I can hear you saying, "we’ve been talking a LOT about networking lately!" 

And yes, we have, but we’ve been focused more on where you can be networking, and how you can add networking into your daily life, but not as much about the nuts and bolts of actual networking. 

So what works well? For some inspiration, I headed online and found that most networking suggestions focus around what to do if you’ve lost your job and are hunting for a new one. But it turns out that many of those suggestions can be applied to lawyers and legal marketers who want to connect at events as well (and let’s clarify, we’re not speaking strictly about "networking" events – networking can happen anywhere, from your child’s softball game to sitting at the airport). 

Out of the tips that I saw, I’m sharing with you my five favorites here, drawing on this post from HowStuffWorks on Networking Tips for People Who Hate Networking and this post on 10 Simple Tips for Networking Success from US News  & World Report. Continue Reading Five Tips for Networking Success

In our first "episode" of Wondering Wednesdays, we answer the question "How can you make the most of your memberships?" with three key points.  

//www.youtube.com/embed/Hp7pf2jER-4

To make the most of your membership in an organization, I have the following three suggestions: 

  • Attend events: in-person relationships are the most important part of making any membership

…

Since I already had ten "good" Superbowl commercials for this year, I felt that adding another three would be crazy talk. So instead, I’m bringing you those spots as honorable mentions – spots that I really liked, but maybe missed the mark for one reason or another (or just weren’t *as* good as the top ten). 

The first is a spot that I just loved: 

GoldieBlox

//www.youtube.com/embed/WnqLgbKKUjwContinue Reading Superbowl Commercials – Honorable Mention 2014

And here we are, folks, time to discuss my list of "ugly" Superbowl commercials for 2014. Once again, these commercials were not as awful as in years past – I wasn’t terribly offended by any of them, or sitting in disgust.  These were just my least favorite of the bunch, for various reasons (but generally because I was left thinking "what?!"). I’m bringing you a list of seven commercials today, because there were two extra that I disliked a little bit more than would be deserving of the "bad" list.

GoDaddy

Not surprisingly, if you’ve seen my lists before, GoDaddy’s commercial makes it onto my ugly list. Amazingly, it’s not because I was majorly offended by it (which is normally the case). Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Ugly 2014

For a change, there were very few commercials in this year’s crop that I truly hated, so it was tough to come up with a "bad" and "ugly" list. However, there were a number of commercials that I felt particularly blah about, or just thought that they really missed the mark with a big opportunity. 

In more than a few cases, I was surprised that a company would spend so much money both on the commercial itself, and on the ad space, only to fall flat. And in other cases, I thought the hype about the commercial built it up to be something great, only to have the execution be less than memorable. 

So without further ado, let’s take a look at the commercials that made it onto my "the bad" list: Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Bad 2014

Yesterday, we kicked off the start of my Superbowl commercials review with five of my favorites. Let’s keep the positivity going for another day with five more good commercials (before we head into the bad and the ugly!). 

It’s interesting to see how subjective these choices are (and goes back to my favorite quote, which is from Anais Nin – "We see things not as they are, but as we are"). There are many lists I’ve seen and favorites quoted that I just hated, and so many of my preferred commercials didn’t make it to anyone’s top lists.  So add your thoughts to the comments – which were your hits and misses? Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Good 2014 (Part II)

I feel like such a nerd saying this, but I LOVE commercials. 

Not all commercials, mind you, but commercials that are really well done make me very happy. I have been known to *not* skip through the commercials while watching a show that I’ve DVRd. Really.

So, although I like football (I mean, it’s not hockey or anything), what I love most about Superbowl Sunday is the commercials. And maybe the cake I made in the shape of a football field. 

Last year, I was really disappointed in many of the choices that brands made, and I remember wondering why they would spend so much on ad space for a commercial that was so-so, or downright offensive. I didn’t feel that way this year – there were so many spots that were just brilliant, clever or funny, so I know I’ll have a hard time of narrowing it down! 

Since I’m just coming home from judging weekend for the Legal Marketing Association’s Your Honor Awards (for which I was a judge), I’ve got all of those conversations and criteria swirling through my head at the moment. So that with likely make me hyper-critical of the messages of these ads and hopefully able to narrow them down to just my top five! All right…top ten – but I’ll split them into two posts for you!

Continue Reading Superbowl Commercials – The Good 2014 (Part I)