by Brian Focht | Nov 12, 2015
Special Guest: Dan Weeks Download this Episode: Download Audio Name one thing that all lawyers hate. And you can’t even say “BlueBook” anymore, because it’s kind of become a little bit of a joke. Advertising. All lawyers hate advertising. Ok, so it’s probably not totally true. I’m sure there are a few who like it. But I’d be willing to bet that any survey of lawyers in this country would bear me out on that. I’d imagine the percentage of lawyers answering “hate with the hellfire of Satan himself” would go even higher if we asked specifically about online marketing. View image | gettyimages.com Why do lawyers hate online marketing? Setting aside the (somewhat) accurate line about lawyers hating business, there has to be a more specific reason why lawyers hate dealing with advertising. It could be that, as a profession, we’re embarrassingly bad at it. I mean, like HUGE embarrassingly bad. Why do lawyers suck at online marketing? But I actually thing it’s something a little more cerebral: we don’t understand it. We don’t know what works, what doesn’t, or why. How can we do something better if we don’t know what works? Sadly, most of us pick one of two options: we ignore it or we accept the advice of third-party vendors blindly. The results suck, and it’s long past friggin’ time to STOP that crap! I doubt that I have the actual mental endurance to truly protest, but we need to start an uprising here! As a profession, let’s all agree to generate ads that don’t suck, and to take an active role in promoting our law... read more
by Brian Focht | Sep 28, 2015
On Friday, September 25, 2015, I gave this presentation on the ethics of social media in litigation at the North Carolina Association of Defense Attorneys conference for insurance defense attorneys and insurance adjusters, in Greensboro, North Carolina. It was an impressive event. Below, you will find my slideshow from the presentation, as well as some additional information and helpful links that I promised to upload, including the sample request for production of documents I use for requesting social media evidence in discovery. eDiscovery and Social Media: 2015 NCADA CLE Presentation from Brian Focht If you would like to download a copy of the supplemental documents prepared for this presentation, including the updated version of North Carolina 2014 Formal Ethics Opinion 5, click on the download button below: Here is the sample language from the discovery request I use to obtain social media evidence in motor vehicle accident cases: Copies of any notes, diaries, logs, journals, letters, electronic mail, text messages, calendars, Facebook postings, tweets, or other social media messages that relate or refer to the accident described in the Complaint, or any injuries or damages you contend resulted therefrom. Additionally, here are a few good resources for litigators who want to make sure they’re doing their due diligence and obtaining all the potential evidence available: A Social Media Evidence Checklist – Slaw.com Lawyer’s Duty to Preserve Social Media Evidence – JD Supra A Measured Response to Social Media Evidence – Bow Tie Law (Case law review/update) A Social Media Subpoena Guide (2015 Edition) – Associate’s... read more
by Brian Focht | Aug 18, 2015
Special Guest: Jason Marsh Download this Episode: Download Audio For many attorneys, digital marketing is less a driver of revenue than the perceived bane of their existence. They hate it. I can’t help but think that some of this hate comes from the traditional “we hate what we don’t understand,” but in reality it goes deeper than that. There are, quite frankly, a lot of attorneys who simply don’t like the concept of advertising. Among that group are also attorneys who view advertising in the internet to be almost unclean. This post is not for them. I have come to accept that I’m not going to convert everybody. For the rest – those who have avoided digital marketing because they just don’t know where to begin, my podcast interview with digital marketing expert Jason Marsh of Marsh8 could be revelatory. What is Digital Marketing? First, I need to say that this might have been one of the most interesting podcasts I’ve done, particularly from an editing standpoint. I always put together the outline for my blog post while I edit – a “two birds, one stone” concept. Usually it takes about twice the length of the podcast. This one was much longer, because as I was writing my outline, I was actually amazed at how much Jason covered. While discussing creating great content, @_Jasonmarsh created great content. Click To Tweet I know, it’s cheesy. Give me a break, I’m tired! So what do we mean when we talk about “digital marketing”? Well, we’re talking about many of the ways that simply didn’t exist in the proverbial “back then.” Before... read more
by Brian Focht | Aug 3, 2015
Creating a new website for your law firm, whether you’re opening up a new practice or updating a dated law firm, can be an immense task. I’d love to say that following this guide will allow you to put together a successful and profitable website in your spare time. It won’t. However, in this series, I will walk you through the critical steps of putting together an effective website. Some of those steps inform you to go get help from someone else. Unless you’re a veteran computer programmer, a marketing expert, and a practicing, there’s a lot that’ll probably be over your head. Don’t worry about it. In this four-part series, you’ll learn the basics of setting up a website that, as part of your overall marketing plan, will help convert visitors into clients, and give you a competitive advantage in your market. Check out Part I: Getting Started Once you’ve figured out how your website can best serve your prospective clients, you need to secure a domain name: Secure A Quality Domain Name My God, we’ve finally reached something techy-sounding. This is what you came for! Now it feels like you’re actually building a website. So we start with a pretty important part, your website’s name. There are two components to your website’s domain name: the Top-Level Domain (“TLD”) and the appropriately named Second-Level Domain (“SLD”). These two components are probably the reverse of what you expect. Choosing a Top-Level Domain Name The most popular TLD, as you probably know, is .com. However, there are a number of potential TLDs that you probably use fairly regularly: .net .org .edu .gov .biz... read more
by Brian Focht | Jul 27, 2015
Creating a new website for your law firm, whether you’re opening up a new practice or updating a dated law firm, can be an immense task. I’d love to say that following this guide will allow you to put together a successful and profitable website in your spare time. It won’t. However, in this series, I will walk you through the critical steps of putting together an effective website. Some of those steps inform you to go get help from someone else. Unless you’re a veteran computer programmer, a marketing expert, and a practicing, there’s a lot that’ll probably be over your head. Don’t worry about it. In this four-part series, you’ll learn the basics of setting up a website that, as part of your overall marketing plan, will help convert visitors into clients, and give you a competitive advantage in your market. In my experience, there are four types of law firm websites: Call to Action-centric This website has one goal, to get you to perform one specific action. It could be clicking on a link, it could be dialing a phone number, it could be participating in a contest. Regardless, you know exactly what that one thing is, no matter where you are on the site. Information/Expertise-Sharing This website is less direct than the Call to Action-centric site. The company operating this website knows that its prospective clients aren’t going to make up their mind in 8 seconds. It might take days, weeks, months or even years. The goal is to make sure that, through providing information and demonstrating expertise, when the time comes, the website visitor thinks... read more
by Brian Focht | Jun 29, 2015
Your website is how you’re found, it’s as simple as that. There are no attorneys anymore who are both looking to bring in new clients and in a position that they don’t need an effective website. Even if recommended by a close friend, family member or business associate, you’d be foolish to assume that anyone who walks into your office didn’t look you up first. They did. So what did they find? I’ve discussed a number of different content-based issues on this blog, but today I want to address something a little bit different. The reason for that is quite simple – no matter how beautiful or expensive your website is, it’s worthless if it doesn’t convert visitors into clients. There are a lot of variables, for sure. However, without certain elements, you’re wasting important opportunities to grow your client base. Here are the 8 critical components of your law firm website: 1) Client-focused… everything I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Your website isn’t about YOU! It’s about how you will SOLVE your potential clients’ problems. Guess what, nothing that you did on the moot court board in law school is going to do a damn thing about your prospective clients’ problems. Period. Everything from your home page, to your practice areas, to your attorney bio pages, to your contact form, should be about how your law firm can solve your visitors’ problems. Believe me, very few people visit a law firm website for the hell of it. They’re on your site because they need, or will soon need, a lawyer. Make sure your content always lets them know... read more
by Brian Focht | Jun 24, 2015
LinkedIn is the social networking site for lawyers – despite Thompson Reuter’s best, and entirely useless, efforts. More attorneys are active on LinkedIn than on any other social network, and nearly 100% of law firms have a presence – no other social network comes close. And unlike your local bar association, LinkedIn has plaintiff’s lawyers and insurance defense lawyers, white collar criminal defense attorneys and your local DA. And judges! (But be careful!) The opportunity to establish a powerful network is immense, if you know how to use the LinkedIn tools available. Six incredibly powerful LinkedIn tools exist right under your nose. You’ve been ignoring them. It’s time to take a look at the Relationship Tab. The LinkedIn Relationship Tab Open up one of your contacts on LinkedIn, preferably one you you don’t mind knowing that you looked at their profile. (For this, sadly, you have to be on your desktop – no mobile option as of yet) Right below your contact’s photo, you’ll see a separate box with two tabs on it: Relationship and Contact Info. It will default to the Relationship Tab. Despite it’s fairly understated look, this tab contains several incredibly useful tools to help supercharge your networking. The information in each contact’s Relationship Tab is visible only to you, so don’t worry about what you put in there (unless you don’t follow my password advice, that is). The information is also unique to each contact, so you don’t have to worry about mixing up your contacts. So how can these LinkedIn tools help your networking? 1) Remind Yourself About When You Connected Let’s be honest, we all look at... read more
by Brian Focht | Jun 16, 2015
Special Guest – Ben Stroinski Download this Episode: Download Audio A few weeks ago, the AMC show Mad Men came to an end. The final episode, set in November 1970, ended with a classic ad for Coca-Cola. (And everybody dies. Oh, spoiler alert!) That ad came 10 years before I did, but I immediately knew that the ad was Coca-Cola. It was easy, Coke is one of the most recognizable brands out there. Whether it’s the spot from Mad Men, the “Mean Joe” ad, or the Coca-Cola Polar Bears, you know it’s a Coke ad. So when one of your prospective clients sees your ad, or your law firm’s logo, what do they think? If you don’t have a brand – and I’m talking about more than just a logo – they probably don’t think much. So what is a brand? More importantly, how can you create a powerful brand for your law firm? Your Brand Transcends Basic Advertising As I mentioned before, a brand is more than a logo. A lot more. Your logo may be the visual cornerstone of your brand, but without all the other elements, it’s just a storefront. It can be memorable and interesting, but if a prospective client sees it, but has no idea of what to expect inside, it’s highly unlikely they’ll walk in the door. That lawyers mistake the two shouldn’t be too difficult to understand. Considering we’ve only had the right to advertise since 1977 (Bates v. State Bar of Arizona), our beginning of true advertising happened almost a decade after the Golden Age depicted in Mad Men ended. Yet today, amid increasing competition... read more
by Brian Focht | Jun 12, 2015
This is a guest post by Stephan Roussan, the founder of ICVM Group. “I don’t need to update my website, because all of my business comes from referrals.” This is one of the most common excuses for having an outdated or neglected website – or for lacking one altogether. But in today’s online world, it’s a risky stance that will cost you future business. Personal referrals and word-of-mouth may have been enough to sustain a law practice in the past, but that is quickly changing. With little exception, the first thing potential clients do is visit your website to learn more about you – even if they first heard about you from a friend. The Modern Referral Chain Requires An Online Presence With legal fees today, fewer are the clients who will simply take someone else’s word for it and hire you without further due diligence. Given the financial investment required, and what may be at stake in the outcome of the matter, online research has moved front and center in the evaluation process. If the general population today isn’t willing to buy a toaster without reading a host of online reviews, they will certainly not be hiring lawyers without similar scrutiny. If you’re still not convinced, don’t forget that there are also other audiences who may be frequenting your website. Opposing counsel, bar association peers, potential recruits, firm alumni and members of the media are all routine visitors of law firm websites. It’s in your best interest to have it reflect the level of your expertise. Word-Of-Mouth Is Necessary, but Not Sufficient, for an Effective Referral Network The... read more
by Brian Focht | May 28, 2015
Twitter is probably my favorite social network. Sure, when I’m at home, I might spend more time on Facebook than Twitter. LinkedIn may be a more “professional” way to network with other professionals. And Google+ is much easier to make fun of. Yet I always come back to my Twitter feed (displayed nicely on TweetDeck). There are a lot of really nice things about Twitter, most of them completely contrary to the negative opinion that many lawyers I talk to have built in their minds. There are a ton of people there, the news comes fast and furious, and there’s always something new. But most importantly (particularly for this post), it’s simple. It’s easy. Really, it is. What you see is what you get. You don’t have to worry about which one of your privacy settings were just reset, without warning, by Mark Zuckerberg. Every Tweet is public, so no worries about someone pulling a SnapChat and holding your private posts for ransom. It’s simple. And amazingly effective. Best of all, you don’t need to be a computer programmer or social media guru to get the most out of Twitter. Here are 10 simple ways Twitter will make you a better lawyer: 1) Generate more leads by interacting with prospective clients and using targeted ads. Your clients and prospective clients are on social media. While they may not all be on Twitter, a lot of them probably are. As I’ve mentioned countless times before, social media marketing is more about being social than about marketing, so engage already! Reply to Tweets, and respond to those who reply to yours. It’s a conversation. Beyond simple... read more
