I saw a great headline the other day: Dear Congress, It’s No Longer OK To Not Know How The Internet Works.

I remember fondly the days when we were all tickled pink by our elected officials’ struggle to understand how the internet works. Whether it was George W. Bush referring to “the internets” or Senator Ted Stevens describing said internets as “a series of tubes,” we would sit back and chortle at our well-meaning but horribly uninformed representatives, confident that the right people would eventually steer them back on course. Well I have news for members of Congress: Those days are over.

Guess what?

Dear Lawyers, it’s no longer OK to ignore social media.

It’s no longer cute to refer to it as “The Facebook” or snicker when someone uses “tweet” as a verb, or ignore LinkedIn connection requests because you think there is a nefarious motive behind the request, or ask when the firm is going to start mailing out a newsletter again.

It’s time to bite the bullet and move beyond a LinkedIn profile. I will continue to recommend that you start there, and maximize it (here are some ideas from my recent post, “Where do I start?”), but, really, in 2012 it’s about time you move a few steps further down the social media path.

There’s Twitter and hashtags.

Twitter is  a great place to cast a wide net. To find people beyond your geographic base.

By way of hashtags you can find the people who are interested in what you are talking about. Legal marketers use #lmamkt to communicate. For my firm, I use #insurance a lot. You get the idea.

If you’re going to a conference, check the website and see if there is a hashtag set up for that. Start communicating with the people attending the conference, before the conference, so you actually have contacts to meet at the conference.

Hashtags will also allow you to follow trends, and you can then identify people and influencers (such as THE PRESS) that you can follow and engage.

And it’s easy to engage someone … just start retweeting their content, or replying to things that they say. Bam. Connection.

Facebook isn’t just for sharing pictures of your kids and grandchildren.

It’s okay to “friend” your colleagues and close clients. It’s okay to share bits and pieces of your personal self. With the new security settings, you can have different levels of sharing, even, gasp, allowing public content.

Facebook business pages allow you to stream content, such as blog posts, but to also add photos and information not really appropriate for your website. Pictures from a charitable event that you sponsored, pictures from your summer associate program, links to conferences you are attending. It’s also a great place to promote firm events.

You can also use Facebook to promote your clients. If they have a Facebook page, add it to your pages favorites. You can then share the content that they promote.

You can also share your firm’s content on your personal page, a very subtle way of promoting the work you do to your personal friends and contacts.

YouTube videos aren’t just for kids. They are a great promotional tool for lawyers and law firms.

Yes, you can go professional and have wonderfully produced segments on your firm’s website, but just think how much more exciting it would be to capture your initial thoughts after a big win on your iPhone, upload that to your YouTube channel, and Tweet it out to your followers, who include your industry’s top reporters, all before you walk down the front steps of the courthouse?

Blogs are more than just an online newsletter. Newsletters were always a one way street. Blogs are a means of engaging and connecting with people. Blogs are easy for people to share with their network.

You can use your blog as a way of establishing your credentials. Want to move your practice in a certain direction? Start blogging about those issues. Perhaps a couple case updates. A new piece of legislation or regulation working its way through the legislature. I always say, “Write on it three times and you will be seen as an expert.”

Some “experts” will say “never post case updates,” however, they are EXTREMELY popular with our readers. So, follow your stats. If they read it, post on it.

But no matter what you do, keep in mind that self-promotion is a-ok.

How will ANYONE know what great work you are doing if you won’t promote it? Add that case win to your bio. Write your thoughts on that new piece of legislation and make sure your clients know about it. If you do it, show it. I like “representative matters” (client names omitted, of course) which discuss the work you do (and, more importantly, the work you want!).

Sure, I, the marketing director, can send out a press release, but think about how much more of an impact a blog post on that case win would make?

Sure, I can post that article in the LinkedIn Group, but how will that showcase the fact that YOU wrote it?

And speaking about promotion. You can’t just write and go, you have to promote. Promote your blog. Promote your Twitter feed. Promote your Facebook business page. Promote. Promote. Promote.

Write a blog post? Add links to Twitter, Facebook business page, then share on your personal feed. Post it to your firm and personal LinkedIn profiles. Add to the appropriate LinkedIn groups.

Update your website and blogs to include your social media buttons. Make it easy for people to follow you where THEY socially network.

If you don’t use a service like JD Supra, Lexology, or Mondaq to syndicate your blogs to the legal and business community, start.

And get a smart phone.

I’m not a New Year’s Resolution kinda gal. I live a day at a time and prefer to make a daily resolution. However, I have a couple resolutions I’ll share over the next few days.

My first one is “Honor Your Commitments.”

When you commit to doing something, or showing up somewhere, it’s not just a calendar item in your Outlook, or an entry in your lists that you can press “snooze” or ignore.

You have committed to another person to meet somewhere, return a call, submit a document, etc.

In many cases, the other person, or persons, cannot move forward until your piece of the pie is completed.

It’s a relay race of sorts.

By not honoring your commitment, you are, at the very least, inconveniencing another person. At the most, you are putting other people, or projects, at risk.

Think about all those HORRIBLE presentations you sit through at a conference. I assure you, someone on the “team” did not honor their commitments. They didn’t turn their handouts in on time. They did not prepare in advance, and threw the slides together at the last moment. They missed the conference calls where the panel would run through the materials.

I can give example after example of how lawyers fail on this one, especially when it comes to committing to their marketing departments.

  • There’s a reason why marketing departments hire outside consultants and coaches for attorneys. For some reason, attorneys are more likely to honor their commitment to an outside consultant than to inside colleague at the firm. We marketing directors and administrators jokingly refer to this as paying someone $5,000 to do what we can do (or say what we can say) for free.
  • What about that RFP that is sitting on your desk, or in your in-box, that you forget to hand over to the marketing director until just days before its due?
  • What about the emails asking for key information to complete a project that just seem to go into that black hole of nothingness? Sometimes you really are the only person who can answer that question.

This behavior is not exclusive to lawyers. My eleven-year old — going on 22 — did it to me today.

She really wanted to come with me to the office. I woke her up at 7:00, told her we were leaving at 8:30, and instructed her to get up and get ready.

At 8:15 she still wasn’t ready. In fact, she hadn’t even started getting dressed. Her room was in such a disarray that she couldn’t find anything to wear. Lots of excuses. But, really, the TV and Nintendo just distracted her. She thought she had more time.

A normal mom would just yell or walk out the door. I, however, chose to explain to her (again) that by not getting ready she was inconveniencing ME. In fact, she wasn’t just inconvenicing me, but a whole group of people down the line:

  • Her sister was ready, so she was forcing her to sit around and wait.
  • There was no time now for breakfast at home, so we’d have to eat downtown, which is costing me money.
  • I will now be late to work. Sure, I’m exempt, but she doesn’t know what that means yet, and it would ruin the lesson.
  • The project I was hoping to have completed by 9:30 wasn’t ready until 10:00, pushing my service manager’s projects back, which pushes the other projects back, and so on.

I not only made her feel guilty, I even made her cry a little.

Some might say I was harsh, but I hope she remembers that conversation the next time I say “Be ready by 8:30,” or her professor says “Final term papers are due at 12:00 p.m., sharp,” or her boss says, “I need that presentation by 3:00 p.m.”

Yes, there are always emergencies, but skiing in Vermont when an RFP-follow up is due on January 4 is not an emergency (True story, different firm).

Sure, you can pretend to not get my faxes (Really?? No WiFi at the lodge). And wasn’t it convenient that you happened to forget your Blackberry at home that week.

But what it came down to is that there was a job to get done. I was committed to it, but the partner of record was not.

Never mind that the firm was incredibly vested in us winning that new line of business. I just wanted to scream “We pulled a team together between Christmas and New Year’s to make YOU look good, and you keep dodging my phone calls!! Why??”

If the work turned out to be sub-par, and you didn’t win the beauty contest, accept responsibility for your actions. Don’t turn around and blame the marketing department. But, hey, thanks for throwing us under the bus nonetheless.

What it comes down to is that every time you commit to someone you form a team. If you cannot honor your commitment, then get it covered, or redefine the time commitments to which everyone can agree, and adhere to them.

Because, at the end of the day, it’s about your reputation. It’s about the work product. It’s about the relationships.

What it comes down to is that no matter how bright and gifted my kid is, if she can’t get herself dressed and out the door on time by the time she graduates high school, she’s going to have problems in college, which will boil over into her career.

In a society where bad reputations can be spread like a viral YouTube video, this is something I do find to be of concern.

But don’t blame me. I tried.

Photo via computerworlduk.com

Last year I wrote about how I thought e-Cards are Lazy. I haven’t really changed my opinion on that. In fact, I was so thrilled to read Jayne Navarre’s post Holiday eCards, law firms, lawyers and one person’s opinion, that I have to respond publicly and say, “Make that two, Jayne.”

Sending a digital eCard to a huge database list of “everyone,” without taking a moment to…

  • reflect that behind each name is a real person,
  • jot a simple note, and
  • add a hand written signature…

…is equivalent to diet mashed potatoes. If you’re going to serve mashed potatoes without the butter, milk, salt, and gravy, why bother. I think eCards, too, miss several critical ingredients. Even the ones that come from an individual’s email address (rather than from info@) seem cold and aloof, no matter how clever the design. It’s impersonal. Besides, who wants diet food over the holidays? We get sooo many emails every day, and there’s a chance your eCard will end up in the spam filter.

Go read Jayne’s post for more. It’s worth the read. So here are my thoughts: I’ve received a couple of e-cards so far this year. I’ve clicked through and have been unimpressed. I couldn’t even tell you who sent them. Plus, since I’m on an iPhone, I don’t have Flash and have to wait to view them when I get back to the office. I will say, however, that I’m anticipating receiving Pillsbury‘s e-card for a couple reasons: 1. It’s always great. You can tell that the firm put time, effort, and, yes, money into it; and 2. I always get a personal message attached. (Full disclosure: I’m a Pillsbury alum, but their e-cards are still great). I’ve read some of the comments on Jayne’s post and I keep hearing the main defense of e-cards is the cost. They’re cheaper, especially in “these harsh economic times,” and the clients “appreciate” their lawyers being so thrifty. Really?? How much does a holiday card cost to send out? A couple bucks? A stamp is $0.42. So, we’re looking at spending a whopping $2.50 or so to send your client, whom you bill anywhere from $250-$1200 per hour, a holiday card. If you can’t invest $2.50, and the 30 seconds it takes to write a personal note, “Bill, wishing you and your family a happy and prosperous 2012,” then what is the value of that message you’re sending to your clients? And, while I’m on my tangent, break open your PERSONAL wallet and send some baskets to your top clients and referral sources. INVEST in your client relationships. Remember, clients hire the attorney, not the law firm. So, if your law firm won’t spend the money on the baskets, then you should. I don’t want to hear the “economic times” BS. Your clients’ staffs are hungry and would really enjoy a Mrs. Beasley’s muffin right about now. Better yet, pick up the phone and take your client to lunch. Don’t talk about yourself. Let them talk about what’s going on in their industry. What they are looking forward to in 2012? How the economy has impacted their business operations? Or their kids. To me, when you’re not willing to personally invest in your client what you’re really saying is: “Thanks for the $1 million in fees this year, but I KNOW how concerned you are about the economy, so I’ll just pocket the $150 we’d normally spend on a fruit basket. I wouldn’t want you to get the impression that we’re mis-spending your money.” And don’t forget, it’s all tax deductible.

Gift baskets are amazing. They are the ultimate present to the person who receives them, Michael Scott, The Office.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRf3dPoJMww]

Image via www.designscollage.com

The end of the year is quickly approaching, and you know what that means?

Year end billing, collections, reviews, trying to get some holiday cards out (don’t get me started), do some shopping, enjoy some family time … and create a marketing plan and budget for 2012.

But before you bid adieu to 2011, take 5 minutes, review your year and ask yourself a few questions:

  • Any new clients of note?
  • Any new matters of interest?
  • What about decisions (published or not)?
  • Any big wins for the client (Not necessarily trials. What about settlements?)?
  • What about interesting or complex deals?
  • Did you establish new case law? Or impact your client’s industry?
  • What did you do that caused the client to pick up the phone and call? (good or bad)
  • Did you exchange business cards with anyone interesting (reporter, head of an industry trade group, a potential referral source)?
  • Did you speak anywhere? Provide any client CLE courses?
  • Did you join anything (social media networks, trade associations, industry groups, bar associations, new clubs – personal or professional)?
  • What conferences did you attend?
  • Did you write any articles or have something published?
  • What did you turn down or refer elsewhere?
  • Where did you go and what did you do there? Could you have done more with that time?
  • What did you mean to do but forgot, or ran out of time?
  • What did you do that was a waste or time, money or resources?

So, you answered the questions above. Now what?

  • Share them with your marketing director (if you have one).
  • Update your bio where you can.
  • Use the information to guide you in creating your marketing plan for 2012.

Use your experience from THIS year to write NEXT year’s marketing plan (here’s a link to a simple one I created if you don’t already have a template), and set a budget. If you didn’t accomplish everything you wanted to, no big deal. If it’s doable, plug it into 2012. If it’s unimportant and won’t drive your business or personal marketing/branding, cross it off the list.

Marketing plans should be achievable. By seeing how much you were able to accomplish in 2011, you can see how much more you can do in 2012 by being strategic and deliberate in your actions.

I got the news via Mashable this afternoon that Google + branded pages were here. Within minutes I had launched my firm’s Google + page. You can add us to your circles here. Setting up the page is easy as there are not too many options. Add a profile. Add some photos. Add some circles. Add some people. Send out some status updates. While I have not drank the G+ Kool-aid, it can’t hurt your Google search results. The biggest downside is that it’s just one more page to maintain. Right now, you cannot add an automatic RSS feed for your blog posts, which means some extra promotional steps every time you publish, but, considering what it used to take for us to send out a newsletter, adding an extra status update isn’t too painful or time consuming. So to plus or not to plus, if that is the question, I say to plus as long as it doesn’t distract you from the real business at hand.

image via grammardocs.com

Can you handle the truth? Can your law firm handle the truth? Or will you just keep on ignoring the truth and hope it goes away?

Edwin Reeser, former Los Angeles managing partner of Sonnenschein (now SNR Denton), sent me the link to the following story today, “We’d Rather Not Change,” by Vivia Chen @lawcareerist about a certain Wall Street firm that doesn’t want to do anything with the findings on their “woman problem.”

Let’s pretend you head a firm that has a woman problem—like trouble retaining female lawyers, poor record elevating them to partners, etc. And you hire a consultant to look into the problem, who, after an exhaustive study, tells you that your firm’s evaluation process is riddled with gender bias. If you’re in charge, what would you do?

M.J. Tocci was the actual consultant in that situation. Tocci, along with Monica Biernat and Joan Williams, authored a study (which I wrote about just a few days ago) on how male and female associates were reviewed differently at this anonymous Wall Street firm. In a nutshell: Male lawyers at the firm got higher numerical scores (which counted more for partnership) though women got raves in the narrative portion of the reviews.

So what did the firm do with these startling findings?

Here’s the kicker: Nothing. (emphasis added)

And is anyone really shocked by that? The doing nothing part.

To me, doing “nothing” is the sad (and telling) part of this story, and says so much about these law firms.

So many firms out there are 100% driven by the annual payout for the equity partners, that rocking the boat, shaking things up, is seen as too expensive, unachievable, and really not that valuable in comparison to the PPEP.

Ed has a very strong take on this:

As long as they believe they have an unlimited supply stream of people willing to work like mules and be abused, without negative consequences for doing so, they will continue doing what they do. The abject failure of leadership in the subject firm, and the profession as reflected in the larger law firms, is pronounced. But this approach to managing people extends far beyond the scope of bias in the profession. It is applied with comparable diregard to pro bono,community service, and all initiatives both external and internal. “We will do it as long as it does not cost us money” is the underlying theme.

And that then means it extends, as we have all seen, to the staff, associates, contract partners, and equity partners within the firms and the manner in which they are treated/mistreated.

We have a system that is akin to a tea kettle, leaking from many seams with dismay and discontent. It is negatively affecting the quality and value of the work to the clients, the reputation of the profession, and delivering a life that is not worth living or being a part of for those who work within the firms.

The good news is that not every firm is like this. There are incredible law firms all over this country, which may or may not be listed in the AmLaw 100 or NLJ 250, but where people show up to work every day, are valued, treated well, do good work, and have lives.

If we, as the employees, do not value ourselves well enough that we take abuse in exchange for a paycheck, then we are just as dysfunctional as our firms.

I feel very lucky to have fallen into one of those great firms I mention.

We might not be on the AmLaw 100, but, then again, we’re not striving to be there.

Our firm’s leadership has a vested interest in the employees within our firm, from the associates down to the folks in office services, because they know who each and every person is.

I’ve worked for firms described above, and worse, and I’ve learned one thing: You can’t hide from the truth.

If your firm’s leadership recognizes a problem, yet is unwilling to change, well, that’s your answer.

So what are you going to do about it?
image via guardian.co.uk

I’m airing a dirty little secret today.

Around the water coolers of law firms across this country, and most likely around the world, lawyers and other professional people are talking about Kim Kardashian.

I am amazed at how many professional women watch the show and follow this family’s follies.

The sports dude and I watched an episode a few months back to see what everyone was talking about (no games on that day), and that was enough for me. I came away with an impression of this family that is constantly reinforced by their very public actions.

However, as I watch the debacle of the 72-day marriage dissolve this week, I can’t help but get caught up by the train wreck, and I find myself way too conversant in the details of the marriage and break-up for my comfort level.

To redeem myself, I did take notice of a couple things that apply to law firms, lawyers and legal marketing:

BRAND MANAGEMENT: The Kardashian family are OBSESSED with following their brand on Twitter, blogs, Facebook posts, etc. They are reading what the fans, and better yet, the “anti-fans” are saying about them.

This is something law firms and lawyers should emulate.

First of all, you must recognize that you and your firm are not only a business, you are brands.

You, as an attorney, have a personal brand, plus you work for a brand.

Secondly, you have to track and manage your brands.

Marketers need to follow and track the press, blogs, Twitter streams, etc. of the brands they manage (firm and key attorneys). Lawyers should make it a point to follow their personal brand as well. Social listening is the new black.

CLIENT FEEDBACK: When viewing the comments section of any story on the breakup, there is rich fan feedback there. The family, however, is in complete denial about the messages they are being sent, and are ignoring the negative comments/feedback from the “haters.”

This is a missed opportunity in my opinion.

The family has become so ensconced in their world that they no longer see themselves answerable to their fans.

When you get client feedback, what do you do with it? Many attorneys and law firms, from what I am told, ignore it, especially the negative comments.

But the negative comments are the best. Those to me are more honest than the positive ones, and they give you something to work with. Hence, firms spending lots of money on their client feedback programs.

For a client to say something negative to you directly, or indirectly, it has to REALLY bother them. Otherwise they just talk with their wallets. They quietly start moving their files somewhere else, and, if you are not “listening” to this feedback, it might be years before you realize that your client has moved on to someone else.

So what can we take away from Kim Kardashian’s follies this week?

  • A charitable donation does not replace good manners or bad press.
  • Listen to your fans, but pay attention to your critics.
  • Don’t become so enamored by your press, or the sycophants that surround you, that you actually believe it all.
  • Everyone likes to watch the train wreck when the mighty (and egotistical) fall. The key being broken off in the door of Tower Snow’s Brobeck office, anyone??
  • There’s always another younger, hotter, better, smarter, rising-star attorney ready to pick up where you have fallen.
  • When the bad press hits the fan, a crisis team is in order, but don’t go to your go-to people. Hire someone new and fresh who know that they are there for the ONE important project. A crisis is not the time to hire someone seeking an institutional client.

Okay. The video I posted last week, Before You Best or Super Lawyer, Watch This!,has really reasonated with my peers.

Like many of you, I have had similar conversations with attorneys in the firms where I have worked over the years.

Luckily for me, my current firm gets it.

And while I might make fun of some of these directories (okay, I do, and often), they do have their place in your marketing plan and should not be ignored. You just need to be strategic about it and understand their value, which will be different for every attorney and firm.

Here are a few of my thoughts on a few of these directories. You can assume that if I am not mentioning a director or peer-review rated system, I don’t place high value in it (today).

  1. Most directories have been invented to sell advertising.
  2. You will not bring in a new client because on your bio it now says that you are a Best, Super or Tier 1 attorney.
  3. Clients WILL be impressed if you make the US News & World Report survey, which uses Best Lawyers‘ data. The plaque looks pretty nice in our lobby as well. (SEE >>>>>>>)
  4. If you have a consumer practice, or a local corporate/litigation practice, participate in the survey that shows up in your Sunday paper.
  5. Spend the time on Chambers. They actually do their research and it means something. But know that the interviews are what really count. Be prepared. Prepare your references. DON’T IGNORE THE CALL.
  6. You as the lawyer have to participate. I as the marketer cannot fill out the Best Lawyers or Super Lawyers ballot for you. You must spend those 2 (non-billable) minutes all by yourself.
  7.  If you don’t fill out the survey, you won’t be ranked, don’t blame your marketer.
  8. These surveys all have a peer review component to them. Make nice with your peers. (Don’t be such an asshole, in other words).
  9. Focus on industry rankings in trade association journals. That’s what your clients read.
  10. It’s worth mentioning twice: Surveys are designed to sell advertising and plaques. Don’t be flattered once you are named to all the other directories. They’re just trying to sell you a plaque/advertising as well.

And just a warning, Chambers is changing how they conduct and rank their survey starting next year (for the 2013 additions). Time to go out and educate yourself.

Happy ranking!

Social media is about being social. It’s about conversations. It’s about contributing to conversations that are taking place, and sharing them with others.

You don’t have to create original content to blog, you can just add a little message to someone else’s content and move along.

Sorta like I did yesterday with my post “Before you Best or Super Lawyer, Watch This.”

I didn’t create the video. I just shared it.

I attributed, via the direct link to the author — lawfirmsatire‘s YouTube channel — promoted it, and moved on.

I even gave attribution via a H/T (hat tip) to my sister who passed it along to me in the first place (I only did that on Facebook because I’m not sure if she wanted her PTB to know that she was my source, lol).

My friend Tom Matte, via The Matte Pad, posted today about Your Law Firm Should Never Steal Content!

Stealing blog content, or any content for that matter, is never a good idea and will reflect very poorly on your law firm.

Tom’s recent post, Bald Lawyer Pokes Fun at Self and Creates Memorable Brand, went viral and got picked up, and appropriately attributed, by several legal blogs. However, it also got picked up, and not attributed, by others, which is called stealing.

That’s how blogs work much of the time – we see something interesting, reference it in our post and add our own two cents to it. It gives us great content and allows us to cross-promote those that we feel are bringing something interesting and pertinent to the table.

(SKIP)

Here’s where it goes awry…when others pick up your content and don’t reference or credit you and your work. That’s stealing. And for better or worse, the popularity of this post has brought a few thieves out of the woodwork. The people that stole my post did reference the ABA in their post, but it looks like they intentionally left out any reference to The Matte Pad since they are direct competitors.

Tom, ever the professional and gentleman, did not reference the “thieves,” (I’ll ask him in a DM via Twitter to name names), but he’s right.

Look at this post. I picked up Tom’s content. I’ve given him credit. I’ve attributed. I linked back. I’ve promoted him by giving you links to his blog, LinkedIn and Twitter profiles.

I have added to the conversation that he began, without diminishing my personal brand. In fact, I have enhanced my brand, because it’s about the conversations that take place around our water coolers.

When it comes to blogging, to paraphrase the great James Carville, it’s about the conversation, stupid.

Sometimes you start the conversation, sometimes you just contribute to the conversation, and sometimes you just listen in on the conversation.

However, don’t steal the content of the conversation. Your mother raised you better than that.

Photo courtesy of http://www.geneabloggers.com

Oh, this is law firm satire at its best, but oh, so true.

If you’re a lawyer, before you go after your law firm marketing director for not getting you into Best Lawyers or Super Lawyers, you’d better watch this.

And, if you’re a law firm marketing director, grab a cup of coffee and enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d355FsbGIRU&feature=colike]