01
Feb

How to write better client alerts: 10 of the best tips

February 1, 2021
by: in Law , Marketing strategy , Content marketing No comments  

Client alerts are a staple of law firm marketing. These short news bulletins — generally written by attorneys and edited, formatted and distributed by marketers — inform clients of recent developments in the law and provide analysis on how these changes will impact their business.

And while client alerts play a critical role in a firm’s marketing efforts, they are renowned in the industry for their lack of readability, substance and timeliness.

This poor quality isn’t due to a lack of guidance on how to use this marketing tool effectively. Numerous articles by seasoned legal marketing pros provide excellent advice on how to write better client alerts. In this post, I’ve cherry picked the best advice out there and put it all in one place for you. If you’re looking to improve your firm’s client alerts, look no further. 

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27
Oct

Attending virtual conferences: How to get value from a socially distanced event

October 27, 2020
by: in Law , B2B , Marketing strategy , Architecture, Engineering and Construction , Professional services No comments  

While attending a conference used to mean skiving off work for a few days to listen to industry-specific keynotes with boutique coffee in your hand, these days … not so much.

Conferences are now being held entirely online, with participants watching presentations on one screen while checking in with work on another. This is all before we take into account that the farthest most of us can travel these days is to our porch. 

So even if you’re a rare unicorn of a human who can focus entirely on days worth of online presentations, odds are you are sharing your space with a partner, enthusiastic pet or homebound children.

This doesn’t mean you should throw in the towel.

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21
May

6 ways lawyers can use downtime to build for the future

May 21, 2020
by: in Law , Marketing strategy , Lead generation No comments  

6 ways lawyers can use downtime to build for the future

While much has been written about how to network and build business during the coronavirus pandemic, a lot of the advice has focused on short-term activities and gains. And while the recommendations are solid (as marketing and biz dev are critical during a downturn), a basic principle of marketing cannot be ignored: Marketing and business development are long-term endeavors. In professional services like the law, those who succeed are consistent over the long term with their marketing and business development.

However, marketing is time-intensive and requires the involvement of the attorneys themselves. This becomes a Catch-22 — marketers and publicists need access to lawyers’ knowledge and expertise (I call our role in the process “knowledge extraction”), while lawyers’ time is stretched thin as they meet aggressive billable targets.

That’s why, as COVID-19 disrupts every aspect of our society, I see an opportunity. While some lawyers are busier than ever in areas such as bankruptcy, healthcare, insurance, employment and cybersecurity, others aren’t faring so well, as M&A deals and court proceedings are put on hold. For those attorneys, now is the time to focus on the labor-intensive marketing activities that form the foundation of any successful practice.

Here are six ways lawyers with coronavirus-induced free time can build for the future:

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01
May

Law firm communications and COVID-19: What’s next?

May 1, 2020
by: in Law , Marketing strategy , Content marketing No comments  

Law firm communications and COVID-19: What’s next?

I was honored to be part of a panel discussion last week, hosted by three Florida Legal Marketing Association (LMA) groups: Orlando, Jacksonville and South Florida. If you couldn’t attend the virtual event, you missed hearing from the following law firm public relations professionals:

The panel discussion was moderated by Laura Kaminsky of BakerHostetler. While we covered a range of topics, I’ve highlighted key takeaways below (the full webinar recording is available here).

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23
Apr

How lawyers should network during the coronavirus crisis

April 23, 2020
by: in Law , Marketing strategy , Lead generation No comments  

How lawyers should network during the coronavirus crisis

Wendy Merrill is the Founder & Chief Rainmaker of StrategyHorse Consulting Group, providing leadership, professional and business development training and support to lawyers. We talked to Wendy about how lawyers can continue to nurture and develop their networks during the coronavirus crisis.

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13
Apr

How much should you spend on marketing during a recession? Here’s what the research says

April 13, 2020
by: in Law , B2B , Marketing strategy , Architecture, Engineering and Construction , Professional services No comments  

Image source: Vaile, Roland S., “The Use of Advertising During Depression,” Harvard Business Review, 5 April, 1927. 

As COVID-19 sweeps the world, our economy is quickly going down the toilet (along with stockpiles of toilet paper). Unfortunately, we are likely already in a recession. For marketers, recessions have historically been scary times. Often, marketing seems like the easiest thing to cut. But is that wise? 

As a marketer, if I wrote a blog post telling you to increase marketing during a recession, I’d look a little self-serving (to say the least). So instead, I decided to look at what the research tells us about marketing during recessions.

What I found is overwhelming evidence that it pays to maintain — and in some cases increase — marketing expenditures during an economic downturn. As Peter Fader of the Wharton School said, “As companies slash advertising in a downturn, they leave empty space in consumers’ minds for aggressive marketers to make strong inroads.”

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14
Mar

How law firms should communicate about coronavirus

March 14, 2020
by: in Law , Marketing strategy , Public relations , Professional services No comments  

Unless you’re living under a rock (which might be a good place to be right now), you know we are living through a global pandemic, as the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, spreads throughout the world. 

While this isn’t a time to panic, it is a time for thoughtful, deliberate action. While I can’t provide technology, human resources or other operational advice, there are some crisis communications best practices that are helpful to remember when considering your firm’s approach to communicating about the virus. 

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04
Mar

Meet the Legal Media: Angel Coker, The Birmingham Business Journal

March 4, 2020
by: in Law , Marketing strategy , Public relations No comments  

Meet the Legal Media: Angel Coker, The Birmingham Business Journal

Name any major metropolitan area in the United States and it more than likely has a local edition of the American City Business Journals. Birmingham, Alabama is no exception. The Birmingham Business Journal keeps local entrepreneurs and professionals up to date on the trends and issues that affect their bottom line. 

While not every Business Journal has a dedicated legal reporter, most have someone covering law firms as part of their beat. For the Birmingham Business Journal, that’s Angel Coker. She joined the publication two years ago. Before that, she was an editor at a small paper in Mississippi, and also worked at the Tuscaloosa News for three years. 

We asked Angel about her beat, how she finds sources and story ideas and what she’s looking for when working with law firm marketing and PR folks. 

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20
Feb

Meet the Legal Media: Rebekah Mintzer, Bloomberg Law

February 20, 2020
by: in Law , Marketing strategy , Public relations No comments  

Meet the Legal Media: Rebekah Mintzer, Bloomberg Law

Bloomberg Law is known for its coverage of the business of law, particularly Big Law. It has become a go-to source for information on the legal industry as a whole, as well as specific practices with newsletters published under the Bloomberg Industry Group banner. 

Rebekah Mintzer is a Deputy Team Leader with Bloomberg Law. For our Meet the Legal Media series, we asked about how she finds sources and story ideas, her preferences for working with law firm PR professionals and what tips she might share for getting coverage. 

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10
Feb

Legal marketing ethics: How specific can a law firm get with targeted social media advertising?

February 10, 2020
by: in Law , Marketing strategy , Content marketing , Public relations No comments  

Legal marketing ethics: How specific can a law firm get with targeted social media advertising?

Law firm advertising and social media. These two subjects are complicated enough on their own, not to mention when you put them together.

Unlike radio ads and the Yellow Pages of yesteryear, today’s social media platforms allow marketers to appeal to users in a more targeted and personal way than ever before.

But how much is too much? And where does that leave law firms?

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