Legal Business Marketing

Why Taking Control of Your Debt is So Important

adam@solvemydebt.co.uk (Adam Halloran) — Tue, 21 May 2013 06:50:00 -0400

We are living in fairly tough times right now and money is becoming tighter and tighter. Higher energy bills, a higher cost of living and a lack of money is seeing many people starting to struggle especially if they are drowning in debt. If this problem applies to you then you should get in touch with a debt management company to get help.

A debt management company can help by analysing your situation and giving you good advice on the best debt solution to suit your needs. This might be an IVA, a debt management plan or even bankruptcy if this is seen as the best option for you. A debt consolidation loan may also be a good way of arranging your debt and making it easier to pay back.

With so many debt management solutions open to you it should be easy for you to take control of your debts once more. The worst thing you can do, and this is what many people do, is to run up more debt by using it to pay off existing debt. You will simply be incurring

The Necessity of Having Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer

fredgabriel@outlook.com (Fred Gabriel) — Tue, 21 May 2013 05:13:00 -0400

Spinal cord injuries are about as severe as brain injuries. A spinal cord injury could lead to paralysis or general pain throughout the body. Like other injuries there are levels of spinal cord injuries that can cause havoc to the body. With that being said, whatever injury lead to the spinal cord injury is unacceptable.

The Severity of a Spinal Cord Injury

While many people deal with spinal cord injuries, it should never be undermined. The severity levels can be existent for life.

Complete Spinal Injuries – Complete spinal injuries

Facebook IPO | A Take-away Idea for Law Firm Strategy

jln@lawgravity.com (Jayne Navarre) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 21:07:00 -0400

Potential buyers got their first look at Facebook financials yesterday, which showed the company produced a $1 billion profit last year from $3.71 billion in revenues. The company derives 85% of those revenues from advertising, with the rest from social gaming and other fees. The initial public offering could value the social network between $75 billion and $100 billion, putting the company on track for one of the biggest U.S. stock-market debuts of all time.

personal brand, as well as its relation to the firm's brand. Both are important, but the personal brand is more critical since clients hire lawyers in most cases, not the law firm.

In this month's issue of Law Practice Today, personal branding was the theme, and one article by Jonathan Fitzgarrald caught my attention because it also addressed the interrelationship between the two. Specifically, how a bad personal brand can impact the firm's. And, if taken a step further, could have an effect on one's

Basic Rules for Landing a Client or a Law Job

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:30:00 -0400

Younger Attorneys Need To Appreciate the Business Side of The Practice

Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:53:00 -0400

How To Promote Your Law Blog (or any blog)

jln@lawgravity.com (Jayne Navarre) — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 12:45:00 -0400

Now that your blog is "LIVE," you need to do some basic things to help others find you. Or give your established blog a little shove and see if traffic doesn't improve.

Submit to Giant Search Engines

Even though you've optimized the general metadata on your blog, as well as each post, you may still want to hand submit your blog to some key search engines.

Google. Google will eventually pick up your page but it doesn't hurt to submit it via Google Webmaster Tools. You can also check there to see how it is performing. Make sure your metadata accurately describes what your blog is about. Kathryn Ransburg for her article on LinkedIn which identifies four things that solos (and others I would add) can afford to do on a limited budget:
- Work at good (no make that great) client relations. Turn your clients into raving fans by not charging for incidentals and

Top 2012 Goal: Client Retention

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 10:54:00 -0400

As 2011 winds down (this year seems to have particularly flown by), it is time to start setting goals for next year. Since approximately 80% of law firm work comes from existing clients (in the form of new work or referrals) or other referral sources, client satisfaction and retention (except for criminal defense, PI and certain other practice areas, of course) should be every firm's No. 1 goal.

Allan Colman has an excellent article advising law firms on the kinds of things they should be looking at in getting ready for 2012. It apparently appeared on Law360 (subscription required), but you can read it on his web

Adopt the 20/20 Rule for More Effective Networking

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 10:52:00 -0400

Joining Organizations Is Only The Start In Getting Attention

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Wed, 05 Oct 2011 12:12:00 -0400

I've always argued that joining organizations for the purpose of business development is a waste of time for most lawyers. Too many think that by simply joining associations will result in clients flowing to the firm. On the other hand, most lawyers do understand that it takes more than that; and that speaking to and writing for trade and business groups are effective business development tools.

The problem today is that a lot of lawyers have joined those same organizations that you are interested in. Accordingly, there are a limited number of slots available for speaking and writing opportunities within organizations. That point is made by Carolyn Elefant in a Eric Dewey compiled "Ten Tips to Improve Profit in 90 Days or Less," and offered to send a copy to those who requested it. A bunch have. Not a lot of new stuff there, but a number of points he makes are helpful from a marketing and business development standpoint.

My favorites among his tips include:

Cull out bad clients. By that he means those that are unreasonably demanding and slow pays. They waste your time and take up too much of it that could be better spent marketing to

The Relaunch of MoFo Mojo (the MoFo website)

mcmurray@contentpilot.net (Deborah McMurray) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:40:00 -0400

There has nary been a brouhaha about a law firm website as there was about the former website of Morrison & Foerster LLP. The Google analytics traffic stats were undoubtedly boosted by the lookie-lous, responding to friendly viral urges, "You just have to see this."

Well, MoFo has launched its new site and Above the Law has done a fine walk-through of it. http://abovethelaw.com/2011/09/mofo-launches-new-somewhat-less-crazy-website/

So you

Cross-selling By Any Other Name

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 16:33:00 -0400

Semantics sometimes get in the way of some good advice. When you try to convince clients (subtly or otherwise) to engage your law firm for additional services not previously rendered, I think it is silly to argue about whether you are cross-selling or cross-marketing clients.

I've known and admired Bob Denney for many years. He's not only a great guy, but one of the earliest consultants in our business going back at least to the early 80's. When I saw his article "Don't Cross-Sell, Cross-Market" on Attorney at Work, I almost passed it up, because I think it means the same thing to most lawyers.

Getting beyond the myth of the rainmaker

Tue, 20 Sep 2011 09:54:00 -0400

Should Your Law Firm Have a Formal Training Process for Social Media Engagement?

jln@lawgravity.com (Jayne Navarre) — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 14:08:00 -0400

In a nonscientific reader poll conducted for SmartBrief on Social Media, leading marketers (of all types) were asked:

Does your company have a formal training process for employees before they're allowed to blog, tweet or post other social media content on behalf of the company?

The responses were mildly shocking;

70.66 percent said NO,
18.56 percent said YES, and
10.78% replied "not applicable."

Frankly, I say, NOT training all employees for social media engagement is equivalent to giving anyone in the organization blind authority to speak to the press/public/clients/prospects/partners/etcetera on behalf of the entity!

Don't Turn Editors Off - Follow These Winning Tips

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 12:35:00 -0400

Being a good writer with a dynamite article you would like to get published is only half the battle. You must comply with editorial rules and protocol of the publications you're trying to reach, if you will have any chance at all of getting that best ever written tome published.

So, whether you are the next Hemingway, J.K. Rowling or whomever, follow these simple tips from writing guru Joan Feldman in an article on Attorney at Work to improve your chances of success:

Don't be lazy. Know the publication, as in READ it, and also its website and

Is Your Firm A Milky Way or Snickers Bar?

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 12:43:00 -0400

And which do your clients prefer? Can your clients or prospective clients determine which you are? Do they care?

Merrilyn Astin Tarlton has an entertaining piece on Attorney at Work that talks about clients being like kids in a candy store. If all candy looked and tasted alike, like law firms, how is a poor kid (or prospective client) able to make a choice. It would just be random.

As Merrilyn points out, all firms say they have the best lawyers, who went to the best schools, and the firm has the best offices this side of Mars "in an historic low-rise building" instead of a skyscraper. All that means very little

Are You Credible When Making a Presentation?

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 14:01:00 -0400

Whether you are making a pitch to your boss, a client or prospect, or a speech to a more general audience, credibility is a crucial ingredient. Joey Asher reminds us in an article on Law.com of the importance of ethos in any presentation.

Asher succinctly points out four simple tips to boost your credibility on such occasions:

Develop relationships in advance. It's always a good idea to build relationships with decision-makers (asking for more details about their needs is one way), especially before making a sales pitch. Also find out prior to your presentation

Networking Requires Getting Off Your Duff!

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 11:27:00 -0400

Social media is obviously one way to network these days, and it can work. But, it is not as effective as face-to-face events with clients, referral sources and prospects. So, it's time to get up from your desk, and get out and about. That is the theme of an article on Attorney at Work by Theda Snyder. And I completely agree.

Further, Snyder points out some simple tips on networking that aren't new, but I have to admit I appreciate the reminders myself; to wit

Avoid Marketing Procrastination

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 12:12:00 -0400

Do you procrastinate in your practice by delaying drafting that motion, or answering those interrogatories, or reviewing your pre-bills? If so, then I'll bet you aren't doing much better with your marketing activities either. Right? Then you beat yourself up at the end of the day for failing to progress on many of them.

Well, Bill Jawitz has a simple tip or two over on Attorney at Work that may just help you to stop putting things off:

Take 15 to 30 minutes at the beginning of each day to plan your activities (actually, I prefer doing

Do Client Experiences Drive Your Firm?

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 11:11:00 -0400

No. 76 in Ric Willmot's weekly wisdom series "Customer Experiences Drive Your Business" hit a core nerve with me. He starts by stating "(c)ustomer service shouldn't be a poor man's cousin to growing your business." He is right, of course. It should be the center of any business' thinking in terms of creating raving fans that keep coming back and referring others to your law firm.

In his brief post on LinkedIn, he highlights six strategies that should drive your service quality

Use Networking to the Maximum at Conferences

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:59:00 -0400

Okay, you've decided it's time to do some networking at a conference. The first thing you need to do is identify the right conferences to attend. Those would be ones that your clients and/or referral sources attend. If your main referral sources are other lawyers, you would want to go to bar association meetings, and, of course, CLE is an extra benefit.

An article by Sharon Meit Abrahams on Law.com's Small Firm Marketing and in Law Firm Partnership and Benefits Report newsletter provides good insight into how to approach your attendance at conferences generally. Her recommendations

When it comes to Marketing, Sometimes Less is More

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 09:52:00 -0400

Consultants (as well as lawyers) can be a touch wordy sometimes. Especially when trying to sell their services to prospective clients. Often we think that it's necessary to cover the waterfront in terms of explaining who we are, what we do (or did), and whom we do (or have done) work for. Or, in some cases, all of the above and more. Instead, we should be conveying more about the value we add to the personal lives and businesses of those we represent.

So, when I looked at my trusty copy of 365 Marketing Meditations: Daily Lessons for Marketing & Commmunications Professionals

Marketing Tip: Avoid Malpractice Claims

tkane@KaneConsultingInc.com (Tom Kane) — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:00:00 -0400

Now there is a brilliant title, right? Obviously, any client who sues for malpractice (or even files a grievance with the state bar), is probably not going to hire you again. Not to mention how many people they will bad mouth you to. Okay, so that is pretty darn obvious. But stay with me a minute.

Last year around this time, I did a post about poor client communications being the most common reason grievances are filed against lawyers with state bars. And I pointed out that such lack of communication with clients is just baffling from a marketing perspective.

Well, it seems that the lack of communication