Law Marketing

Published on: September 8, 2014

Peak Season for Law Firm Marketing & Business Development Is Here; Hurry before the Thanksgiving Lull hits!

It was a joyous day on my work calendar after Labor Day when the kids went back to school. The camp bus pickup at 9 am is replaced by the school bus pickup at 7:25 am. Extended day at school moves the “end of day” from 4 pm to 6 pm. The sunscreen, towels and related daily chores are replaced by much simpler tasks. And while family vacations are nice, they are not exactly relaxing. Many of those work trips are far less stressful.

While summer time is fun, the reality is that a lot of business and work hits the back burners after Memorial Day. If there is one thing I learned when I started working with law firms on marketing efforts back in 1997, it is that there are two significant time frames where little to nothing gets done–the first is from Thanksgiving until after New Year’s. The second (and much longer) are the months of June, July and August. Because marketing falls below “work for clients” and “family commitments/vacations” on most schedules, it means little in my world gets done.

This did not stop a bunch of law firms from discussing business development plans for the coming year during the summer months. It was just made clear that nothing was going to happen until the fall. And I still had a few law firm clients that wanted to launch some advertising campaigns or related marketing ventures–that I quickly put the kibosh on. Because just as people do just enough to get by during the heat of summer, that also includes interest in reading business publications, attending CLEs and other events that don’t involve BBQs, concerts and the beach.

Published on: July 14, 2014

LP Magazine – Age over Beauty? Marketing a Law Firm’s Anniversary

by Micah Buchdahl

In the July/August 2014 issue of the ABA’s Law Practice magazine, I address the always-sensitive subject of age. In this case, it is about the marketing value of a law firms’ years. It is yet another subject that seems to present itself to me with clients a few times every year. How young is too young? And how old is too old? And is there value in touting age–and more specifically–an anniversary to clients and prospects?

Many law firms have taken anniversaries–literally as short as the one year mark and as long as 200 years–and looked to make them into marketable events. In some cases with good success; in others, it simply does not work. My column provides anecdotal examples of ways your firm may or may not commemorate a business birthday. When you look at all the possibilities, you might be surprised to find that some of the ideas and scenarios fit right into an upcoming anniversary of your law firms’ entry into the marketplace. We often look for excuses to celebrate. We often look for ways to manufacture firm “news.” Somewhere in the middle is the marketing of a law firms’ anniversary. If you are going to invest time, money and effort into such a commemoration, read my column first. It should serve as a guide to ways to ensure the highest level of business development return possible.

Published on: April 22, 2014

LinkedOut and MisTweeted: Ethical Uses of Social Networking in Marketing Your Law Practice

by Micah Buchdahl

It is hard to believe that I’ve been teaching the “advertising/marketing” ethics hour for the Pennsylvania Bar Institute for more than a decade now. But what makes it particularly interesting is that my space (pun intended, if you get it) keeps changing with such rapid fire imprecision that it really never gets old. This year I return to the theme of social networking ethics. I could say I’m repeating my program from 2010, but very little is the same. I looked back into my PowerPoint slides to find my first discussion of advertising and social media taking place in 2003. This makes me sound and feel ancient.

As usual, I will be presenting this PBI program live in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in April, August and December of 2014. My April programs take place on the 24th in Pittsburgh and 29th in Philadelphia–from 11:30 am-12:30 pm. For more information and registration, visit PBI.

Course Description:

Published on: April 21, 2014

Lawyers Shifting Facebook Strategies

by Micah Buchdahl

Like and Like. This is like two Facebook posts in one.

For my April 2014 contribution to Web Marketing Today, I return to a topic that I last covered just 11 months ago in May 2013. So much has changed in the social media space in a relatively short time. The players are still the players. But with Facebook changing–more focus on mobile and more focus on revenue (advertising options)–you simply can’t sit around and stay status quo.

On the marketing side, it has certainly gotten my attention. Many law firms are finding that Facebook provides brand awareness options that are sharper, cheaper and more focused than many traditional advertising methods. And you do not need to be targeting a mass consumer audience to find ways to use some of these tools effectively. The bottom line is this–there are two ultra-powerful websites in the world–Google and Facebook–and if you don’t exist on both, your online universe is not operating at full strength.

Published on: April 16, 2014

Marketing for Law Firms: Priorities, Purpose, and Pay Grades

by Micah Buchdahl

In today’s The Legal Intelligencer, reporter Gina Passarella writes about the trend toward sticking “business development” into the titles of many Philadelphia law firm lead marketers. She could have changed the title to “Philly Law Marketers should not let the revolving door hit them on the way out.”

The latest step (or misstep) for many of these firms is to add or change the CMO title to lead or include “business development” in it. Somehow, law firm management thinks this will make it all better. The irony is that most of the hires and candidates have the same set of credentials as their predecessors. It is nothing but semantics. Few have true BD experience, backgrounds or credentials. But that has not stopped many of these management committees from moving forward with their umpteenth marketing head of the last decade.

I often find myself reminding law firm management committees that there certainly is a connection between business development and marketing. In reality, every single employee of a law firm is somehow engaged in BD. We are all in business and we all are trying to develop more of the same. Marketing provides the image, messaging, tools and resources to develop said business. In corporate America, many CMOs are held to a number–meeting a revenue target, increasing market share, balancing the budget between them. In most law firms, it is the attorney that either generates a number–or not. They rely on the marketing team to give them what is needed to develop business. There are exceptions. But generally that is how it works.

Published on: March 14, 2014

The Marketing Value of Work-Family Balance

by Micah Buchdahl

Perhaps this post is just an excuse to brag about my wife, Ivy Brown, who was recently honored as a Working Mother of the Year in the advertising industry by Working Mothers Magazine and the Advertising Women of New York.

The event itself was pretty remarkable. There were more than 750 attendees in the grand ballroom of the Marriott Marquis in New York City. The tables were a who’s-who of leadership from blue chip companies–from Johnson & Johnson and Comcast to Facebook and Sony. The commissioner of the National Basketball Association was at the NBA table, honoring a working mom from his organization.

A highlight was definitely watching the short video our kids put together to commemorate the occasion. They were asked the question, “what do you like to do with your Mom?” Lily, 9, scripted out the video with her brother Benjamin, 5. They put notes on a white board and had me videotape it (with an iPad) until they approved the final version (14 takes later). Talk about marketing. Besides the big screen at the awards, this video has appeared everywhere, from internal company newsletters to social media and in their classrooms at Moorestown Friends School. Lily’s performance earned her the gig of making the “lunch is served” announcement at the awards program (where she quickly memorized the cue card and showed no fear in standing on the stage in front of the crowd).

Published on: March 11, 2014

LP Magazine – The Impact of the Three R’s: Ratings, Rankings and Reviews

by Micah Buchdahl

In the March/April 2014 issue of the ABA’s Law Practice magazine, I address a law firm marketing topic that never seems to lose steam–the impact of lawyer ratings, rankings and reviews on the legal profession.

Of course, I should not really complain. The topic has proven to be great fodder for my Pennsylvania Bar Institute ethics courses; I’ve been quoted countless times in the media on the subject; in the ABA Law Practice Division, we led the “educational” charge with major panels (and participation from all the players in the business) for both the ABA Law Firm Marketing Strategies Conference and an ABA Annual Meeting. Last October, an ABA CLE Premier Speaker Series program on the subject attracted nearly 5,000 attorneys. Everyone always is interested and has an opinion.

It has been fascinating to watch the evolution of the industry over the last 15-odd years. To think, when I first became a lawyer, the only thing you really knew about was Martindale-Hubbell. Today, the brand struggles mightily with shifts from across the pond (the UK’s Chambers publication); from known ranking brands such as U.S. News & World Reports; from thousands of local-yokel attorney “awards”; and both legal and non-legal online reviews from the likes of Avvo and Yelp. The business has never stopped booming, but it has definitely changed–a lot.

Published on: February 11, 2014

WMT: Super Bowl Sunday Brings a Lawyer the Ultimate Viral Video

by Micah Buchdahl

Know your audience. That is my response to the many “water cooler” conversations about what might be the most successful lawyer viral video to date. I’d love to know–and will likely ultimately ask him–what expectations Jamie Casino had when deciding to buy expensive and lengthy local TV ad time on the Super Bowl; and, more importantly, was it a successful new business generator? But for a personal injury practice looking to stand out in a crowded field to an everyday Joe audience–BINGO.

In this month’s Web Marketing Today article, I discuss the wild, raging online viral video success of the sleekly-produced, Hollywood movie quality, two minute ad for a personal injury lawyer. It is like nothing you’ve ever seen before. When all is said and done, it won’t matter that it originally ran for two minutes on the Fox television affiliate in Savannah, Georgia during the Super Bowl. The vast majority of the international viewing audience will see it on YouTube or embedded on another site.

The majority of my clients are midsize and large corporate law firms. None of this would be remotely interesting to them. Actually, they’d generally find it somewhat horrifying. Our marketing and business development strategies are as far away from a consumer-oriented TV ad than placing a huge billboard on I-95. But when I do get to work on marketing for a plaintiffs’ practice or other consumer-driven area of law, the concepts of branding and lead generation are totally different–and can be a lot of fun.

Published on: February 2, 2014

ABA Journal CLE: Leveraging the Press — Marketing Yourself through the Media

by Micah Buchdahl

Join me on February 13th in Washington, DC for a full-day tutorial on media and press relations, presented by the ABA Journal, in conjunction with the ABA Center for Professional Development.

I still recall my old friend Dan Leary telling me about a conversation they were having in the Major Indoor Soccer League office back in 1986. I was the PR Director of the New York Express and Sports Illustrated had sent top reporter Franz Lidz to spend the week shadowing the team. He was writing an SI piece about the importance of the New York franchise to soccer in the United States. Leary told me that in the league office they were trying to guess how high in the story I would be quoted. The answer was paragraph two. I might have been 23 years old, but I knew how to get myself quoted and interviewed–on TV, in the New York Times, Washington Post, SI and major dailies throughout the country.

In my pro sports days, I was known as a go-to guy by the media–for quotes, for off the record stuff, for ideas to fill a column or a TV interview. If you were a journalist, you knew that I’d call you back fast, tell you something you did not already know, and provide a colorful quote (even if I was giving an evasive answer). When I needed a favor–put this in the paper, don’t put this in the paper, quote this guy, do a feature on this player–I was paid back for being a reliable source. Some of the stuff I pulled was pretty clever. But even today, I would not write about it or give specific examples–I’m not sure the statute of limitations has run on everything. And many of those conversations and interactions were certainly off the record. But I was not a lawyer yet, so the Rules of Professional Conduct did not apply.

Published on: December 23, 2013

LPT: ABA New Partner Conference Edition

by Micah Buchdahl

In advance of the fourth edition of the ABA’s New Partner Conference, Law Practice Today highlights the topic with an issue dedicated to the theme of new partners. With the New Year upon us, many new partners are taking their places at the management tables of law firms throughout the country. Yet many find themselves wondering what the new role brings with it. Many of the New Partner Conference speakers and planning board members have authored the articles that coincide with their respective program topics.

LPT issue editor and conference speaker Amy Drushal of Trenam Kemker in Tampa, Florida, authors Transitioning from Associate to Partner: What now? Yours truly, also a conference presenter, writes about the new partner’s role in marketing and business development. Kerri-Ann Bent and Vanessa Cotto write on the effects of mentoring on the duty to supervise.

Avvo honcho Mark Britton discusses the New Partner Cheese–taking lessons from “who moved my cheese” to the law firm board room. Justia’s Tim Stanley, with co-authors Ken Min Chan and David Kemp, writes about building great relationships online, focusing on LinkedIn, Facebook and Google+.