Two for Tuesdays

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During the Legal Marketing Association’s Social Media Shared Interest Group’s 12 Days of Social Media last year (say that three times fast), my friend Lance Godard predicted that 2015 would be the year of content marketing. And he’s one smart guy, so I always listen to him. As he says: 

After all, content marketing has been around forever (long before that’s what we were calling it that, anyway). And we’ve been talking specifically about content marketing in the legal profession for a year or two at least. So why do we think it will change your life in 2015?"

Because it’s catching on in a big way (think LinkedIn Publisher, for starters)… And that means law firms – and legal marketers – are going to have a lot more competition for their written materials in 2015. They’re going to have to stop taking a haphazard, ‘let’s-keep-tweeting-and-posting-on-Facebook-the-links-to-our-content" approach to getting their work in front of the people who buy their services. They’re going to have to write better, to tell better stories, to articulate the skills they have to solve the problems their clients face, using the very language that those clients use to describe their problems. They – and that means all of us, too, – are going to have to get better at this, to spend more resources, to develop stronger strategies, to stop doing the things that don’t work and start doing more of those that do."

Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Content Marketing

One of the things I’m always thinking about is how to network better or differently. A lot of the articles I read offer the same tips, spun in a different way – and that’s important, because I can always get something out of implementing the tried and true.  But when I find something unique, I’m definitely excited to share it!

Last night, I came across this piece from Branding Magazine, with "5 Tips to Network Like the Pros." My last couple of posts have introduced the idea that big data is going to become more and more important for clients choosing lawyers, but that doesn’t mean the impact of relationships goes away. 

Bearing that in mind, let’s make 2015 the year that we supercharge our networking. Branding Magazine offers 5 tips, but for this Two for Tuesdays, let’s take a look at two of them, and how they relate to the legal industry.

Before we start, let’s first consider a couple of important points that the article makes about why networking is so essential – beyond just for building client relationships. In case you’ve ever thought that networking was a waste of time…Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Pro-Networking in 2015

Everyone and their brother will be writing posts this week about making plans and resolutions for 2015. Since I’m focused on finalizing my own marketing plan and jumping into the new year, it’s on my mind too, so I’m adding to the chatter. 

But I’m giving some thought to what I can add to the conversation that’s different to what you might be hearing elsewhere, and I’ve come up with the following two tips for you. 

Tip One: Throw Everything Out

It can be awfully tempting when you begin your planning to start with what you had the previous year. And while it’s absolutely important and valuable to build on the previous year’s success and progress, it can be just as useful to start with a clean slate. 

Heather Morse talks about how she starts her planning by cleaning off her white board.  And that’s what I’m encouraging you to do – wipe off your white board, start with a blank sheet of paper, mentally wipe your brain clean and start fresh.Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Planning for 2015

For today’s Two for Tuesdays, I’m cheating a little and giving you a preview of a post I’ve written as part of the 12 Days of Social Media, which the Legal Marketing Association‘s Social Media Shared Interest Group is putting together.  As a side note, our 12 Days posts are open to everyone (not just LMA members), and I encourage you to read through them – there are some great tips and tools in there! 

I’m responsible for the 8th Day of Social Media (which is tomorrow), and tasked with sharing 8 Helpful Hashtags. I’m not going to divulge any of the eight, but I will share with you some information on why you should care about hashtags, and two ways to use them.  If you’re not familiar with what hashtags are, definitely check out tomorrow’s Day 8 post for a primer. 

Why Care About Hashtags?

So who cares about hashtags anyway? Sure, it seems fun and funny to make up a hashtag here and there to add to your tweets or Facebook posts (#justsaying), but why should they matter to lawyers and legal professionals? I’m here to tell you that there are PLENTY of reasons.

Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: What the Hashtag?

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

It’s hard to believe that only three days ago at this time, I was snorkeling with my clients in Costa Rica and seeing my first sting ray! Spending a few days with my clients always gets me thinking about networking, as you know, but it also gets me thinking about client service. So for today’s Two for Tuesdays, I have two tips for improving client service!

Tip One: Say Thank You

In the US, this week is Thanksgiving, so people are talking a lot about gratitude and what they are thankful for. After a tumultuous few years in the world economy, I think we can all agree that along with family and friends, we’re also pretty grateful for our clients. What better time to tell them?

While I advocate active gratitude on a yearly basis, Thanksgiving can be a good reminder for this. Reach out to your top five clients this week and thank them. Even if you’re not in the US, use it as a reminder to offer your clients your gratitude. Try: 

  • Thank you for trusting me with your business. 
  • I’m grateful for the opportunity to work with you. 
  • Thank you for being a client. 
  • I appreciate being your business adviser. 

Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Client Service

Since our Regional Meeting of the Americas kicks off on Thursday, there’s no more appropriate time to check in with some networking tips than today! We’ve covered a lot of "to dos" when it comes to networking, so today, I thought we’d take a look at what we should avoid doing when it comes to networking, and how to fix any networking mistakes we might make. 

In early October, Mashable shared this great list of the 5 Worst Networking Flops, and How to Recover From Them. There are two that are particularly important for lawyers when networking, and those are the two we’ll focus on in today’s Two for Tuesdays. Add your big pet peeves for networking in the comments, and your suggestions for recovering from them! 

Flop One: Too Much "You" in the Conversation

Raise your hand if this has ever happened to you – you’re deep in conversation with someone you’ve just met (or even someone you know well), only to realize that you’ve been talking about yourself the whole time! What to do?Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Networking Mistakes

Here in the US, today is Veterans Day, a day to remember and thank those who have served our country. I have had family and friends in the military – everything from Army and the Air Force to Marines to Navy and Coast Guard – so today is an important day for me. I like to give thanks to our military as much as possible, but I’m all in favor of any day that especially calls for it.

So it’s got me thinking about the community work that our companies and firms do, and how we can extend the reach of that in different ways. My most favorite way to give back is anonymously, but when we’re doing it as an organization or firm, it’s best to try to get as much publicity as possible for the charitable organization we’re supporting. 

There are many different and creative ways to do this, but I want to focus on two as they relate to social media. And while I’m at it, I also recommend checking out some of the many amazing Veterans’ organizations out there and offering your support! 

Tip One: Use Social Media to Showcase

Supporting community organizations is one of the best ways that firms can communicate what they care about. Whether it’s through teams of employees joining together to run for a cause, or jeans Fridays to raise money, there are tons of ways that firms and their employees work together and individually to show they care. Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Community Work

One of the things I think a lot about is client service – I’m regularly trying to figure out how I can bring more value to my own clients, but also looking critically at how others meet their clients’ needs and wants. 

For all of us, no matter what work we do, we are all acting as providers and receivers of client service. As a receiver of service, I can be quite demanding – I’m very detail-oriented, I know the level of service I deliver to my clients, and I expect the same attention to detail and passion in those I’m working with. 

Unfortunately, it’s fairly rare that I’m impressed by someone’s level of client service. Which got me thinking this afternoon about two ways we can "up our client service game." Although these are two separate tips, they generally have to be undertaken together in order to really wow someone. 

Tip One: Responsiveness

I almost can’t believe that I have to include "responsiveness" as a tip for great client service – we’ve talked about it SO much, and I’ve heard it mentioned time and time again, so it should be the norm today instead of the exception. Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Up Your Game

Despite a lingering migraine this afternoon, I am bringing you a Two for Tuesdays post! Last night, I got thinking about some of the negatives that I’ve heard from my lawyers about networking, and how to combat those. Today, I’m bringing you two of the top complaints I’ve heard and some suggestions for solving them.

Networking Negative One: Awkward Silences

There are some people who can talk with anyone – my brother-in-law is like that. Put him in a room with a bunch of people he doesn’t know, and he excels at connecting with them without awkward silences.

But for many of us, that is unfortunately not one of our strengths. I’m a prime example of that. Raise your hand if you’ve ever been speaking with someone, only to have the conversation taper off and leave you standing there wracking your brain to come up with something to say? 

*Hand raised*Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Networking Negatives