THE LAW OF ATTRACTIONLEVERAGING SOCIAL MEDIA AND MARKETING FOR YOUR PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FIRM

“Within every brand is a product, but not every product is a brand”

- David Ogilvy, Founder, Ogilvy & Ogilvy

FIRM STRATEGY

• Branding• Social Media• Content Distribution• Public Relations• Networking (formal and informal)• SEO• Directories

WHY BRANDING?

• Strong brands ensure client retention and acquisition• Products and services have life cycles—your brand

outlives these• Brands convey a uniform quality, credibility and

experience.• Brands have real value—many companies include

this value on their balance sheet

BRANDING

• Establish your brand– Company philosophy and mission statement– Message and tagline– Logo– Marketing Materials – Unique selling proposition (USP), in other words, what

makes you different?– Delivery of brand promise

BRANDING

• Website– Linked to all your social media networks– Conveys your brand message– Client testimonials

• Marketing Materials– Downloadable from your website– Cohesive and conveys your brand message

• Logo– Review your logo with an experienced Creative/Art Director– Have multiple logos for varied uses (with tagline, w/o tagline, B&W)

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Focus on social media platforms that deliver the greatest ROI:

LINKEDIN

• Update LinkedIn info for individual lawyers and firm• Join LinkedIn groups• Share expertise and help other LinkedIn members• Network within LinkedIn communities

FACEBOOK

• Create a page for firm and profiles for individual lawyers– Use WildFire’s iFrame for Pages to create custom Facebook tabs– Use “Events” to invite fans to upcoming firm events

• Post engaging content (don’t always sell and avoid spamming)– Trends, Research, articles, photos and videos

• Update and engage often– Once or twice a week is sufficient, Monday is the best day to

update content

TWITTER

• Create accounts for the firm and individual lawyers and link to the same Facebook accounts

• Tweet: announcements, news, events, interesting information

• Include links to information in your tweets• Use hashtags “#” to make topics easily searchable• Engage legal Twitter communities: LexTweet,

TweetLaw and Justia Legal Birds

YOU TUBE

• Create a branded channel for your firm• Upload client testimonials• Upload useful webinars

BLOGS

• 51% of internet users in the U.S. (over 91 million people) read blogs

• Tag keywords to make content more visible in Google searches

• Discuss cutting edge topics and current events (e.g., tax issues in cloud computing)

• Publish blog posts constantly (2-4 times a week)• Enable RSS feed on blog so readers can follow you

BLOGS

• Register your blog in directories– Technorati– Blograma– BlogHer– Bloghub

• Blogging platforms– Blogger– Tumblr– Wordpress– Lexblog (made for lawyers)

CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

• Blogs • E-Newsletter– Once a month is sufficient– Constant Contact, iContact, Mailchimp

• Articles – Post on your website and blog and with other industry

related websites and blogs

• White Papers / Research– Share on JD Supra, Scribd, slideshare

CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

• Video– Content, content, content– Professionalism– Focus on target audience– Post on YouTube and Vimeo

• Webinars• White Papers / Research– Share on JD Supra, Scribd, slideshare

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• Press Releases– Search engines loves press releases

• Considers them an authoritative source• Ranks them high for search results

– Good way to show firm success without overpromising• Avoids ethical issues

– Press is more meaningful than advertising

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• Press Releases (continued)– Distribute at least one release a month

• More if you are a new practice

– What to write about?• Commentary on current news events• Legal decisions that potentially affect your community• Results of a poll or a survey you conduct among clients• Firm news such as awards, community involvement, new hires,

etc.

PUBLIC RELATIONS

• Send release through a newswire service for maximum visibility in the media– PR Newswire– PR Web

• Use a media list company to find media contacts in locally, nationally and internationally– Burrelles Luce– Cision– Vocus

Remember…

Advertising is what you pay for,Press is what you pray for.

NETWORKING

• Attend industry events– Making impressions with a few key people is better than

not being memorable to many – To build relationships with potential referral sources NOT

to get new clients

• Sponsor events in your industry and industries where you want to target clients

• Join Meetup.com groups related to your industry

NETWORKING

• Speaking engagements– Join panels as an “expert” in your field– Get the attendee list from the event organizer– Have a follow up strategy (e.g., offer, consultation, monthly

newsletter, etc.)

SEO

• Content, content, content: develop, maintain and distribute content through blogs, YouTube, press releases, articles, etc.

• Ask industry related websites to link to your website• List your companies in as many directories as

possible• Analytics– Monitor your visitor activity (demographic, time of day,

geography, page views)

DIRECTORIES

• Martindale Hubbell Connected• Legally Minded• Legal OnRamp• Hubstreet• JD Supra• LawLink• Avvo• Justia

CHALLENGES AND ETHICS FOR LAWYERS

• Make sure online content matches firm’s prevailing culture

• Be professional—whatever you post stays online forever

• Preserve the security and privacy of online relationships

• Protect firm name—secure online user names

CHALLENGES AND ETHICS FOR LAWYERS

• Maintain ethical standards per local and model rules– Client solicitation– Attorney advertising– Communicating with jurors, judges, witnesses, etc.– Legal advice

CHALLENGES AND ETHICS FOR LAWYERS

• Maintain separate professional and personal identities

• Manage negative sentiment—address comments and posts, don’t ignore

• Google your company and employees; be proactive about clearing up outdated, negative and incorrect information

REMEMBER….

YOUR BRAND ISN’T WHAT YOU SAY IT IS. IT’S WHAT GOOGLE SAYS IT IS. IS.

Palo Alto(650) 813-97001717 Embarcadero Rd.Palo Alto, CA 94303

Los Angeles(310) 481-012511150 Santa Monica Blvd.Ste. 1200Los Angeles, CA 90025

San Francisco(415) 421-9700135 Main St. 12th FloorSan Francisco, CA 94105

www.rroyselaw.com