Tag Archives: Content marketing

How can professional services firms use social media to increase their tender success rate?

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

More often than not, professional services firms know when an organisation will be going out to tender, well before the tendering organisation issues the RFP or EOI.

They may have told you.

They re-tender every two to three years.

Or, there’ve been reports they’re looking to rationalise their spend, initiate a project etc.

Professional services firms spend a lot of time and money evaluating whether or not to pitch for work and, if so, compiling their proposal.

The enlightened ones even look for ways to tip the level playing field in their favour before the tender’s been put out.

This is where social media can really help.

How can leveraging social media help professional services firms to increase their tender success rate?

Looking at who’s on social media platforms within the target organisation will help you to identify the likely decision makers, influencers, veto-holders and gatekeepers.

You can use this information to compile your Who knows Who matrix.

You can then ensure members of your team connect with as many of these people as possible – be it by inviting them to connect on LinkedIn, by joining the same groups or communities on LinkedIn or Google+, by following them on Twitter, or friending them on Facebook (if appropriate).

You’ll likely be thinking about the key issues and considerations for the target organisation – be it in relation to a particular project they’re putting out to tender, or more broadly in the case of a panel tender.

Once you have a list, you can develop content that will be both of interest, and relevant, to the target organisation. This will help to position you as ‘experts’ in your area and/or their industry sector.

As well as sharing this content strategically via traditional means such as a news alert, and on your website you can also share it via social networks.

Those connected to the decision makers, influencers, gatekeepers and veto-holders can share this content via their personal feeds such as their LinkedIn updates, their Twitter account, their Facebook page or their Google+ account.

In addition, you could post it in relevant group or community discussions on LinkedIn and Google+, and put it on your company page, firm Twitter feed, Facebook page etc. In this way, you’re softly positioning your firm well before the RFP’s been issued and are ensuring that, should someone from the target organisation check you out, they’re likely to see this content.

When compiling your RFP response, you can point to the central repository for this content, be it your website, your blog or You Tube.

In some cases, firms may want to take it one step further and tailor specific professionals’ online profiles for a particular opportunity. This would involve a bit of work but, where an opportunity is of strategic importance to a firm, it may pay to ensure that profiles highlight those areas of key interest to the target client shortly before and during the pitch process. Profiles can easily be changed back afterwards.

Do any firms do this already?

I’ve anecdotally heard of a firm in the US that strategically places content on LinkedIn prior to RFPs being issued. They’re looking to position themselves in the tendering organisation’s eyes early. I think that’s a really smart approach.

I’m not aware of other firms doing this at this stage, but would love to hear of more examples if you’re aware of any.

Your 6-step approach to leveraging social media for RFP success

1. Use features such as LinkedIn’s Advanced Search to identify who, within the tendering organisation, is likely to be involved or have some input into the evaluation process.

2. Identify the key issues and considerations for the tendering organisation using your usual processes such as coffees/meetings with the client, strategy sessions with the client, client interviews, secondee interviews etc. and develop a content plan for the months leading up to the pitch. This can be as simple as a calendar setting out what you will be compiling when. Actively hunt out relevant third party content too, and build this into your plan. 

3. Develop/source the appropriate content.

4. Share this via social networks  - e.g.

  • directly with specific contacts (if and when appropriate), via a professional’s personal LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and Facebook accounts if he/she is directly connected with, or followed by, one or more of those who will be involved in the decision making process.
  • within LinkedIn groups and Google+ communities. 
  • on your website, your firm’s Twitter feed, Facebook page, and LinkedIn company page
When doing so, don’t forget to ask a question to encourage discussion and debate. 
5. Stay actively involved in any discussion threads around the content you’ve shared. 
6. Refer to your repository of content, where appropriate, in your RFP response.
Do you know of any firms already doing this?
How else could professional services firms leverage social media to increase their RFP success rate?

 

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Posted in Legal marketing, LinkedIn for professional services, new business tendering / pitching, Professional services marketing, Social media

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Will law firm websites even exist in 5 years’ time?

Posted on December 11, 2012 by wadminp| 2 Comments

 

And, if so, what will they look like? 

With the growth in functionality of social media platforms, will there be a need for law firms (and other businesses) to maintain their own websites in the future?

In September 2011 I attended the APSMA conference in Sydney where there was a great panel session on ‘the evolution of our roles as professional service marketers’. When asked about how law firm websites have changed over the past 10 years, one of the panelists commented that her firm’s website is becoming much more of a resource centre and that the amount of content on it has grown exponentially.

Great Jakes in New York, have developed a ‘Rainmaker-focused website’, essentially comprising attorney microsites. This setup allows lawyers to customise the information that appears within their individual microsite (which sits within the overall firm site), and to organise that content across multiple pages.

The thing I love about this approach is that it allows lawyers to post reputation-enhancing content into their microsite so it’s linked to them, rather than getting lost elsewhere on the site. This also eliminates the need for lawyers to set up their own work-related blogs that are entirely separate from their firm’s website. I think this is a really smart approach.

As the proliferation of content continues and the channels diversify, I believe it will be those professionals and firms that provide valuable resources and content to their clients, prospective clients and other stakeholders that will prosper…However, it must be easy for them to find that content.

The power is increasingly in the hands of the client:

  • It’s the client who seeks out the info he/she wants
  • It’s the client who compares the relative merits of two or more providers
  • And it’s the client who determines the channels through which he/she will access info.

Having valuable resources which are regularly updated and which are easy to find and access will differentiate professionals/firms and, I believe, influence clients’ buying decisions going forward.

However, the old adage that good content will get found is simply not true any more. It’s those people who are active in the social media space, who have built their reputations, whose content is shared most. Is it good? Most of the time yes, but is there other good content out there? Most definitely. It’s just you don’t always know about it.

While I think engagement via social media will continue to grow, I think in 5 years time websites will become less necessary EXCEPT:

  • as a content repository (i.e. an expanded blog),
  • as a portal to transact business, or
  • as a place to find out a person/organisation’s contact details.

I believe the majority of people will visit these websites via social media platforms (whatever they may be in 5 years’ time) and that the majority of searches will take place within the social media platforms themselves.

What’s your prediction?   

N.B. I actually wrote this post in late 2011 but never posted it. One year on my thoughts are still the same! I’d love to hear yours.

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Posted in Legal marketing, Professional services marketing

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The key to getting good content in professional services

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

Anyone who’s worked in professional services marketing will know that it’s not always easy to get good content from professionals.

Often it’s not timely

Or is not fit for purpose.

Perhaps it’s an 8 page essay with the key points buried near the end or it’s unclear who should read/watch/listen to the piece and why.

During Clare Adshead-Grant’s workshop on getting fee-earner buy-in at the recent PSMG conference in London (which I’ll cover in a later post), a participant asked how you get fee-earners to put together good content (or, in some cases, any content) in the first place?

It’s a great question and one that I struggled with for years when I was in-house.

Interview the fee-earners and write the content yourself

One delegate responded that, in her firm, the marketing people interview the fee-earners and write the content themselves.

This is a great idea and one which can be applied to a wide range of content from articles to bios. It not only saves you inordinate amounts of time editing, but also allows you to ask the right questions and to drill down to get to the crux of things.

We work with smart people.

The knowledge is in their heads but it often takes questioning and gentle probing to elicit the key points that will make clients and prospects sit up and take notice.

Or, at the very least, see the relevance to them.

This information is often missing from pieces professionals put together because they haven’t been trained to think in terms of features and benefits and it doesn’t come naturally to some of them.

Interview fee-earners to develop video and audio content too

Interviewing professionals for content doesn’t just apply to the written word. It can be equally effective to interview them for video and audio content.

Interviewing them, helps them to relax and turns the clip into a more natural, as opposed to scripted, piece. It’s easy for a skilled editor to edit out the interviewer so that the professional appears to be speaking directly to the person watching/listening.

Next time you want a professional you work with to pull something together, think about whether you, a member of your comms team or a skilled copywriter could interview them.

Asking them to edit your work is a lot easier and less time consuming for them than having to put something together from scratch.

What’s your view?

Have you tried this technique and, if so, how’s it worked for you?

Image courtesy of Renjith Krishnan at FreeDigitalPhotos

 

 

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Posted in Legal marketing, Professional services marketing

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Social Media: Turning the traditional business development process on its head

Posted on May 15, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

Image courtesy of Danilo Rizzuti @ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

"By the time prospects call me, it's like half the work's already been done."

My virtual assistant, Justine Parsons, was talking about how LinkedIn is one of her primary sources of referrals and how it's shortened her lead times. She's an active LinkedIn user. She regularly posts interesting status updates, initiates group discussions and has conversations. She's helpful and friendly.

I met her on LinkedIn, liked what she had to say and engaged her. The lead time was short from her perspective – I emailed her via LinkedIn introducing myself and asking if we could talk. But I'd already been able to make a judgement call before she even knew who I was – by reading her blog posts and discussions/comments. Traditionally, I'd have asked around for a recommendation and then called two or three people to see who I thought was the best fit. In this case, I didn't have to – I already felt comfortable with her.

How is this relevant to you as a lawyer, accountant, engineer or other professional? 

Having conversations with others, sharing useful content and helping people out via social networks (and in person!) means you too can position yourself to win new work.

Imagine going into more new business meetings that are yours to lose rather than being on a level footing with two or three of your competitors.

You may still need to put together a proposal but much of the hard work has been done.

You've already demonstrated your capabilities/knowledge, and positioned yourself.

The prospect has articles, comments or blog posts they can point to that will help them convince others in their organisation that you're on top of your game.

Much of the purchasing decision happens BEFORE the prospect makes contact with you, meaning once they've spoken to you, they're often ready to hire you pretty quickly.

That's what smart use of social networks can do for you.

12 ways you can engage using LinkedIn

Once you've got the basics right (profile set up with good content), and you've found and started to connect with others (clients, referrers, prospects, colleagues and peers) you're ready to engage.

Using LinkedIn as an example, here's what you might do:

  • use your status updates to ask questions, share articles and other content that those you are connected to will find interesting, run polls etc.
  • comment on, like or share a status update one of your connections has shared.
  • send a direct message (via LinkedIn email) to one or multiple connections with some information they will find valuable.
  • put two of your connections who might benefit from meeting one-another in contact.
  • start a discussion in an appropriate group – you may want to ask a question, share some content and ask for views/comments, offer a free guide or White Paper etc.
  • comment on a group discussion someone else has started – answer their question, give your opinion, respond to someone else's opinion in the discussion thread, point them to some helpful information.
  • like a group discussion that you've found valuable.
  • invite someone with whom you've engaged in a group discussion to connect (let them know why they should do so).
  • answer a question in the answers section.
  • if you've signed up for an event on LinkedIn, invite someone who is attending the same event as you to meet up at the event.
  • start, vote or comment on a poll.
  • give recommendations to others who have done a good job.

Provided you are clear about why you're using social media, who you want to engage and the topics you want to discuss, you can position yourself in your area of expertise, remain front of mind with existing clients and attract new prospects.

If you want to make it easier for people to choose you, leveraging social networks can help.

What's your view? 

If you want to know how you can use LinkedIn to achieve YOUR business development and marketing goals, then my book 'The complete guide to LinkedIn for lawyers: connect, engage and grow your business' will be available from June 2012. I'll post further details shortly.

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Posted in Legal marketing, LinkedIn for professional services, Professional services marketing, Social media

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Does your LinkedIn profile position you to win new business?

Posted on April 17, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

Image courtesy of Renjith Krishnan @ Freedigitalphotos.net

It's all very well having a complete LinkedIn profile BUT does it position you to win new business?

Using your LinkedIn profile to DEMONSTRATE why you are the right person for the job is critical if you are to position yourself for new business before someone has even met you.

It needs to reflect the key things that clients say they look for when selecting a lawyer or other professional services adviser. Based on interviews I have conducted with over 200 clients of professional services firms since 2009 these are:

Someone with the necessary technical competence/expertise as defined by:

  • their past experience working on similar projects/matters/cases
  • their reputation, including their ability to influence decision makers
  • their knowledge of their subject area
  • their level of professionalism.

Someone who is the right fit: 

  • at both a personal and a team level (including the wider team of consultants and other experts).

Someone who understands, or shows they are willing to learn about, the client's business: 

  • an adviser who will anticipate needs and protect the client's interests.

If this is what they look for, then think about how you can showcase this in your LinkedIn profile:

For example:

  • Including results and past work in your summary section as well as in job descriptions helps to showcase your expertise.
  • Including a short paragraph about your working style and approach helps people begin to understand how well you will fit with them and their team as do recommendations (if you are allowed to get these in your market).
  • Adding additional apps to your profile such as Projects, Google presentation, Slideshare presentation or Box.net allows you to display presentations, videos, case studies or other information relevant to your prospects (again this will help to demonstrate your expertise and/or your understanding of an industry sector).
  • Adding the Blog link app means you can display your latest blog posts within your profile, which is another great way to showcase your knowledge.
  • Including some personal information about your hobbies and interests enables people with similar interests to connect with you.
  • Regularly sharing valuable information via your network updates helps to position you and demonstrate your knowledge of your subject area and your client's industry. The latest posts appear on your profile.
  • A good headline can inform people, at a quick glance, whether you have the expertise and industry sector understanding they need and can encourage them to read further. For example, imagine a construction company that has a dispute with another company on an international project. They need an arbitrator and see an arbitrator's headline which reads 'International Arbitrator specialising in the Construction and Infrastructure sectors'. They're likely to investigate further and that person will almost certainly stand out from someone else who merely has the headline 'arbitrator and mediator'.

If you want to increase the likelihood of prospective clients requesting a meeting with you and winning new business, make sure your LinkedIn profile positions you in the best possible light. Doing so could mean the difference between a prospect contacting you to find out more and moving on to the next person.

Take a look at your LinkedIn profile. How well does it position you? 

Look out for my forthcoming book 'Lawyers: LinkedIn made easy. Learn how to grow your business using LinkedIn'. It's packed with information like this and is a step-by-step guide to leveraging LinkedIn to achieve your business development and marketing goals. It will be available by June 2012.

What other ways could professionals enhance their LinkedIn profiles to better demonstrate the key things that clients say are important to them? 

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Posted in Client feedback, Legal marketing, LinkedIn for professional services, Professional services marketing, Social media

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How are law firms using Infographics?

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| 2 Comments

Source: The Christensen Law firm website

Following my blog post last year about how law firms can use infographics, I thought it would be good to find some examples of infographics law firms have put together. 

A quick google search threw up the following 5 examples. It’s great to see some law firms are embracing these but disappointing that it only appears to be US firms that have produced these so far.

  1. One of my favourite infographics is by Loeb & Loeb. I love the fact that this is not stand-alone but is part of the firm’s Media MindShare series that looks at what the dominant issues will be in 2012 in the digital marketplace. The firm’s also put together some videos and this is a great example of a firm thinking about an issue and creating and sharing a variety of content around it. The only downside is I couldn’t find the infographic on the firm’s website or blog. I’m sure it’s there but it wasn’t obvious to me.
  2. Christensen Law Firm, personal injury lawyers, has produced a number of infographics on various issues related to its areas of expertise. These are designed to help clients gain valuable, accurate information and to communicate it in an entertaining way. It certainly looks like they are on top of the issues. Their infographics include distracted driving, US oil consumption, cycling injuries revealed and insurance profits.
  3. De Witt Law Firm put together an infographic around a high profile murder trial that captivated the public’s interest in their market – the Casey Anthony Trial – the infographic set out the possible outcomes of a trial and the key elements the prosecution must prove to get a conviction. I like the fact they prominently displayed the code so that people could embed the infographic on their website or blog. While a horrendous Case, this was a smart use of an infographic to communicate information the public would want to understand. 
  4. The Cowan Kirk Gaston Law Firm, DUI (Driving under the influence) lawyers in Seattle have put together an infographic about Washington DUI facts. It’s another good example of a firm using an infographic to position its lawyers in a specific area of expertise.
  5. California firm Bohm, Matsen, Kegal & Aguilera, estate planning lawyers, posted an infographic entitled What happens to debt after you die? I’m not sure if the firm put it together or just posted it, but if the latter, then it’s great that they’ve found and shared some content that will be valuable to their clients and prospective clients.

Infographics are a great way to break down complicated information in an easy-to-absorb way.

They are another way you can re-purpose content.

They are a way to position your firm and your lawyers and to show you are specialists in your field.

So why aren’t they used more widely by law firms? 

What’s your view?

What other examples of law firm infographics have you seen?

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Posted in Legal marketing, Professional services marketing

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Social media tips from Julian Summerhayes – What’s your USP?

Posted on March 27, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

Julian Summerhayes runs Brand You, a UK based company helping people become the best they can be: his strap line is “to become what we truly are.”

He works mainly within the professional services sector, assisting clients to leverage their talent to maximise client wins and revenue, mainly using social media.

Julian is a former lawyer who specialised in sports law and dispute resolution; he practised for 14 years. I started following Julian on Twitter (@Ju_Summerhayes) about 18 months ago and love his straight-up, practical advice and his clear passion for what he does.

I talked to him about his raison d’être and how he envisages social media helping professionals build and develop their personal brand (amongst a number of other interesting, service orientated issues – Excellence being Julian’s other big thing!)

KH: Tell me about Brand You?

JS: I had an epiphany one day. My passion has always been people – or the reason why some people make more of their talents than do others. I have been a long time student of personal development in the broadest sense (Napoleon Hill being high up as one of my all time favourite authors). I set up Brand You to help my clients – mainly service professionals – leverage their intellectual and creative capital to become the best version of their brand indentity/persona. Brand You is about passion. It’s about finding your unique voice, being different, memorable and making a lasting impression. It’s also about talent and managing your talent.

KH: When and why did you start using social media tools?

JS: When I was a practising lawyer I set up a sports law team acting for agents and athletes, which I loved; it stems from my passion for cycling. Lance Armstrong was an early adopter of Twitter and, because he was on there, a number of other professional cyclists also joined. I did too.

KH: How can leveraging social media help lawyers and other professionals to harness the power of their own brand?

JS: If someone is passionate about what they do, and if they have the patience to make a difference in their area, then they can think about how social media tools can help them to make a dent in their world. Social media isn’t an instant fix. I think lawyers (in particular) expect to do one thing one day and see an immediate return the next. For me, it’s about tapping someone’s passion, focusing on why they got into their profession and what they want to achieve and then using some of the social media tools and methodologies to make more of that passion. In a way it feels like I am helping people who have a message to share reach out and connect with their tribe.

One suite of tools will be right for one person, another suite will work for someone else and that’s the great thing. One person might say let’s do a blog and another person might put some videos out: It’s about finding your unique voice.

I think the key thing many professionals struggle with is the idea of a USP. I always say to people think about how you can sum yourself up in the smallest number of words that you possibly can. I try to tap into this and help people convey their passion succinctly. Using Twitter as an example, I’d ask what the difference between your Twitter feed and your competitors’ feeds is.  If you’re all dishing out the same news, the same reports of case law, and the same piece of legislation, why should people follow you?

What you will see soon, I suspect, is lots of redundant accounts, lots of people who give up on it because they think that’s a waste of time, and a distraction.  Quite what they will revert back to, who knows!

There are professionals who absolutely hate what they do and social media is the last thing in the world that they need. What they need is some coaching, possibly some career counselling to say ‘Do you know what, you have this absolute passion for painting.  Why the heck are you pursuing law when you should be painting?”  People are not fixed to their careers – yes there’s a financial constraint if you’re a senior partner, you’ve got a huge amount resting on this but ultimately you won’t be happy and won’t deliver the best value nor the best service if you don’t enjoy what you do.

It’s a complex issue but in terms of the power of social media it’s about maximising the how rather than just the what.  If you pursue something that you are passionate about, then everything else will fall into place.

Some firms in the UK have really gone niche, but they haven’t done it from a passion point of view, they have done it from an economics point of view, which is actually wrong.  For example, they’ve got into spinal injuries claims because there’s a rash of these coming through. Is it something they’re passionate about?

No?

Then why do it?

If you don’t have passion you can’t sustain anything for very long.  

KH: Assuming someone is passionate about what they do and they want to build their own brand, what do they need to think about before they start using social media?

JS: Less is more.  Just start with one thing and get good at it.  Get really, really good at it.  In terms of building your tribe, you need to be thinking about each platform having its own individual theme, ecosystem and way of doing things.

Try not to do too much.  If I was starting off again, frankly I’d probably only start with a blog and maybe Twitter but I wouldn’t end up as I did at one point, having about 40 platforms that I messed around with.  

You need to be quite strategic, you need to think about where your clients/referrers/fans are going to congregate.  If you’re in a private client scenario, you may not start with LinkedIn.  You may start with Twitter, a blog, a video.  It’s important that you understand the viewing habits of your audience. The book Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research introduces the Social Technographics Ladder, which breaks users into groups based on their level of participation online.

In terms of ROI you can have that conversation but it’s pointless at this early state, I want to see how committed you are.  Are you going to master the two platforms, are you going to stay engaged, are you going to fall off the wagon after three months?

Social networks are just tools! They will evolve and change over time. Don’t get hung up on the tools.  Focus on the passion, focus on your messaging.

I follow the POST philosophy – People, Objectives, Strategy, Technology. Focus on the people first.  Don’t worry about the objectives, the strategy will come and the technology is last.  I have a thing about it, strategy is execution. Strategy will come out as you do more stuff. The more stuff you do, the better your strategy will become.  I think too many firms spend hours and hours drafting a strategy.  Then, when they execute it they think ‘hmmm, maybe we should try something else’.

Do lots of stuff

Fail faster.

That way you’ll know what works through trial and error. Try different messaging, different content.  Don’t expect instant results.

I believe it’s going to be the quirky ones, the edgy ones, the rebels who are going to get noted.  Their service may be frankly no better than others but that doesn’t matter.  From a social media point of view it’s these quirky personalities that get picked up.

KH: Talking about client service…

JS: The thing that attracts me to social media is the collaborative spirit, which you just don’t get in many professional services firms. It is counter-intuitive. At the end of the day it’s about the client experience. Without the client you have no business.  What you should be thinking about is am I the best person for this job, if I’m not then who can I refer this work to who will do a better job than me?  

If you don’t do the very, very best job you can, clients are going to go somewhere else. Put your people first or equal first with your clients because with the people doing a fantastic job, marketing will take care of itself.  If you make promises to someone else and keep them, you will be doing well.

Social media for me is just a tool, an extension of who you are and if it helps you do your job better, great.  But don’t get wrapped up in it in thinking that people will go around and forget the fact that you provide a lousy service and your receptionist doesn’t answer the phone in a very polite manner.  Those are things that, for most people, make more of a difference than regular tweets.

What’s your view?

You can find out more about Julian and Brand You at www.juliansummerhayes.com

 

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Posted in Legal marketing, LinkedIn for professional services, Professional services marketing, Social media

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Professional Services Marketing: How the Internet Has Stolen Your New Business – And What To Do About It

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

 

A guest post by Gihan Perera, an Internet coach for thought leaders, consultants and other business professionals on why it's so important for lawyers, accountants and other professionals to establish their authority online: 

The Internet has changed the entire buying process – and it affects you, even if you don’t sell anything on-line. Barry Trailer and Jim Dickie, writing in the Harvard Business Review in 2006, put it this way:

“Buyers have always had a buy cycle, starting at the point they perceive a need. Sellers have always had a sales cycle, starting at the point they spot a prospect. It used to be that these were in sync … [but] now, the buy cycle is often well under way before the seller is even aware there is a cycle.” [emphasis added]

Customers still need to deal with businesses, but now they do it differently.

In the past, when they wanted to buy something important – whether it was insurance, real estate, legal advice or their next car – they would start by talking to a professional, preferably somebody they already knew, liked and trusted. This adviser would then take them on a journey, guiding them to the right buying decision.

That’s no longer the case. If you’re an adviser, you might want people to turn to you first, but they don’t. Instead, they first ask Google. And then perhaps they will ask their Facebook and LinkedIn friends. Or send a tweet to their followers. Or be guided by an e-mail newsletter or blog they read recently. At the end of this process, they might still choose to talk to you, but now the interaction is very different. Information is power, and the customer now has all the power.

Of course, some of your long-term clients do still call you first. But many don’t. That’s why you have to be there consistently in their minds, so that when they’re ready to take action, you’re the first person they call.

That’s easier said than done, because you don’t know exactly when the buying process started (exactly the point that Trailer and Dickie made in the extract I quoted earlier). So the only way to be there is to always be there.

Give Value, Get Business

One of my favourite actors, Steve Martin, when asked for his secret to success, put it this way:

“Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

That’s the approach to take in your marketing, and it all starts with your expertise. The more you can position yourself as an expert (and even better, as the expert), the greater the leverage you have in your business.

You must do this, because if you don’t, somebody else will! This is not something you can ignore. Even if you already have a stable of existing clients, you need to generate new business. And even those loyal clients might be tempted to look elsewhere.

So how can you do this without giving away the farm or spending every waking moment on-line?

The Secret is Consistency

I spent a month in Auckland in 2010, and one of the simple pleasures during my stay was buying from “The White Lady”, a mobile hamburger stand that parked itself every night on a street corner near my apartment:

The White Lady is an Auckland icon, which has been in operation since 1948. Its most impressive feature is not its longevity, but its consistency. When I said it’s been there every night, I really do mean every night. It has a proud history of being open every night for decades, except for a few weeks in 1998 when Auckland suffered a major power outage.

Make consistency your goal as well. Success on-line is not an event; it’s a process.

Here’s a sample process you can use to consistently deliver high-quality material that establishes your authority:

1.       At the start of each month, find a topic of interest to your clients and prospective clients, and write a 300-500 word article on that topic.

2.       Post it to your Web site and blog at the start of the month.

3.       A week later, send it to your newsletter subscribers.

4.       A week later, post it to your Twitter feed as well.

5.       A week later, post it to your LinkedIn account.

6.       Repeat this process each month!

If you follow this process diligently, you’ll be taking the first steps to building your authority and reputation on-line with a blog, newsletter, Twitter and LinkedIn. As a result, you’ll be increasing the chance that you’ll be the first port of call when somebody is ready to take action.

Remember: Be so good they can’t ignore you!

Gihan Perera is an Internet coach for thought leaders, consultants and other business professionals. He's the author of "Fast, Flat and Free: How the Internet Has Changed Your Business". Visit http://GihanPerera.com and get free e-books, webinars and more.

What's your view? 

What other tips would you share? 

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LinkedIn company profile for law firms – which firms use this feature well?

Posted on March 6, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

LinkedIn has built more functionality into its LinkedIn company profile feature over the past 12 months or so. I took a look at the company profiles of the first 100 law firms to appear in the LinkedIn search results to see which firms are taking advantage of this feature and to put together a list of those worth looking at if you're building your LinkedIn company profile.

I used the keyword 'Law Firms' in my search and the first 100 results included many of the leading UK, US, Canadian and Australian firms. I also took a look at the 8 largest New Zealand firms (none of which had set up their services pages). The total number of law firm profiles returned by my search was 18,017. While some of these are service providers to the legal sector, the majority are firms themselves. 

While about half the firms I looked at have developed their profiles in some way, the vast majority are still not taking advantage of the feature, despite their followers numbering from the high hundreds to well over 5,000 in some cases. 

Missed opportunity? I think so. 

Granted, some of these followers will be staff and others will be competitors, but many appear to be clients, prospective clients, and potential staff. If they've already chosen to follow your firm through LinkedIn, why wouldn't you try to engage with them within this platform? Make it easy for them to access information you share and information about your firm within LinkedIn. 

Which law firms are using this feature well? 

Before I come onto this, if you want to know what it's possible to do with your LinkedIn company profile check out this short video I put together a few weeks ago. 

The best examples of firms, making good use of the features available, are: 

DLA Piper - I really like the way the firm has laid out its services – practice groups is one service, global sectors is another, its microsites are listed and there's a service titled Interact with us that provides information about the firm's blog, Twitter feed, YouTube and Facebook pages. It's a great way of communicating a lot of information without overwhelming people. 

Goodwin Procter - like DLA Piper, Goodwin Procter makes good use of the Product and Service spotlight and it's a rare example of a firm that's set up a promotion on its services homepage (for its sustainable development blog). 

Axiom - While Axiom doesn't appear to be posting status updates I love its services homepage – it's the only firm I could find, that has uploaded a video. 

Other firms who are using this feature pretty well include Baker Donelson and Foley Hoag. 

There are several other firms that have set up their services pages but a number of these don't currently have a services landing page, which is a shame as you just see a list of their services without an introduction (the advantage of having the introduction is that you can tailor it to different audiences and provide a flavour of who you help, how you can help and what you're like to work with). 

There are other firms that have set up their careers page but haven't set up their services page. And there are way too many firms that have done nothing to their company profiles. 

I know that it's another thing for already stretched marketing teams to do, but much of the information can be copied from your website. At the very least I'd recommend you take a look at who your firm's followers are and then consider how, if at all, you should use this feature. 

Which other firms do you think are using the company profiles feature well? 

Do you think firms should use it? Why/why not? 

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Posted in Legal marketing, LinkedIn for professional services, Professional services marketing, Social media

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Want to be seen as an expert in your field? Then work to own the space

Posted on January 10, 2012 by Kirsten Hodgson| Leave a comment

I read a great article late last year by Allison Shields about repurposing content (and definitely recommend you read it). I absolutely agree that lawyers, accountants, engineers and other professionals should do that but I think that they should take it one step further…

If you want to position yourself as a specialist/expert in your field, then you need to own the space: you need to identify key issues that will impact your target market and then leverage all the channels available to you. 

How can you do this? 

The ideas below are based on some work I did with a law firm partner in 2004 that positioned her as a leader in her field in the climate change space. Those operating in the field say she's still right up there today.

The first thing you need to do is to brainstorm the upcoming big issues in your area of practice. When doing so, think about:

  • whether there is any new/emerging legislation
  • what your clients and prospects say their big-ticket items are going to be for the next year or two
  • what's happening in your area overseas that may impact your clients or may become legislation in your country
  • whether there's an opportunity to commission some research that will be of value to your target audience (such as research to uncover attitudes, future trends, issues etc) or to run round-table sessions

Then choose your topic or issue and create an action plan:

  • write down your goals ensuring they are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound). For example a goal might be to generate $X in revenues from water-related projects between Jan 2012 and Dec 2012. NB: goals don't all have to be financially related and could include converting specific prospects into clients, or to be the go to person for the media for enquiries in your area etc. 
  • write down the measures you will use to ascertain whether you have achieved your goals. For example, number of clients, number of repeat clients, percentage of overall work from this area, client feedback etc.
  • write down the actions you will take and when you will take them (see below for some ideas of how you can leverage the various channels). You may want to do this as a timeline so you can see what you are going to do when and include when third party decisions will come out that you will need to respond to (such as when Bills before Parliament are due to have their next reading). Doing this means you can allocate time to read through decisions and summarise these to your clients/prospects.
  • keep updating your action plan with next steps to ensure there is forward momentum.

How to leverage the issues

I regularly see professionals put out a news alert to their clients, and they may even speak at a conference and put together an article on the same topic but I very rarely see them proactively leveraging all communications channels open to them to really own the space. While it might look like a lot of work it's actually surprisingly easy to repurpose content. You can also ask your colleagues and marketing team to help with some of the activities. Using the example of some new legislation coming into force, here's what you can do:

  1. Call your top 5 clients who are likely to be impacted. Don't wait until the legislation comes into force. Give clients an early heads-up and then let them know you'll come back to them when you have more information.
  2. Talk to colleagues whose clients may be impacted by the upcoming legislation, including what it may mean for their client. If they agree this may impact their client, ask them to give their client a heads-up and offer to go and talk to the client when the time is right. If you want a colleague to set up a meeting between you and their client, give them a few prompts they can use when talking to their client as this will increase the likelihood of client buy-in.
  3. Talk to your main referrers about the issues and offer to speak to their clients.
  4. Put together a short newsalert setting out the issue, who it will impact and what it is likely to mean (or when further info will be available). Repeat as Bills have their next reading or become legislation.
  5. Put together a short video along the lines of the information in the newsalert.
  6. Speak to conference organisers early and look to get a speaking slot at any relevant events.
  7. Organise a seminar/webinar at an appropriate time. You may want to look at specific events for specific clients plus more of a catch-all session.
  8. Put the newsalert on your website, consider adapting it into a blog post, and share via social media networks. Do the same with the video and conference/webinar slides. You could also put your videos on your YouTube channel and they could double as your blog. 
  9. Identify the best publication to reach your target audience and call them to give them a heads up on the issue and how it might impact their readers, and to see if they would be interested in an article or some commentary on the topic. Repeat for other media including TV, radio, and online. 
  10. Do a roadshow in the main centres in your country.

Using a multi-pronged approach means you will achieve maximum reach and will be visible each time the issue comes to the fore. I strongly believe that taking an issue and leveraging it is one of the best things you can do to position yourself as an expert in your field.

What's your view? 

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