2020 is the Year Lawyers Better Wake Up to The importance of Branding & Reputation

This podcast is about helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses.  But today I want to talk about the legal market.  In todays world of information and transparency, lawyers need to understand the value of their brand, and that their brand is tied to their reputation.  Enrico Schaefer, Traverse Legal, PLC

 

Why "branding" and 'reputation' are the biggest opportunity for lawyers in 2020.

Lawyers and law firms have never paid much attention to sales, marketing or branding. The days of ignorance are over.

Law firms need to start paying attention to their reputation on the Internet, the value of their brand in the market for legal services and the opportunity to differentiate in the market. 

Lawyers need to start paying attention to the fact that their 'personal name' is the most important branding opportunity they will ever have. This is a dramatic change from the way things used to be.  Lawyers to acknowledge and understand the value of their 'name' as a brand, and give it the attention it deserves will be winners over the next decade. In 2020, reputation is everything.

In this podcast, Attorney Enrico Schaefer tells you how and why brand has become the most important tool for lawyers in 2020 and beyond.  He teaches you how to build your online brand, protect your online reputation and build momentum which will differentiate you from other lawyers who do the same work. IF you care about your reputation and your career, you need to listen to this podcast. If you have other lawyers who you care about, you should share this podcast with them.  The world is changed.  Opportunity is everywhere.  The fruit hangs low.  It is time to grab it.  For your sake, the sake of your firm and for the future which has arrived. 

 

Are you looking for more resources on building a brand, protecting your reputation online and registering your name as a trademark? 

• Everyone – especially social media influencers, professionals and individuals with some celebrity status – should consider trademarking their personal name. 
• BRANDING: TOP 5 LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR TRADEMARK REBRANDING
• Your customer reviews on Google places, Glassdoor, Yelp, and other websites are important to your success and affect your revenue.  A negative review can cause real pain to you and harm your reputation irreparably. 
• FIVE REASONS YOUR COMPANY SHOULD START TRADEMARK MONITORING

SEO for Lawyers

Our law firm has always lived on great organic search results driven by great content.  We’ve never really paid a lot of attention to SEO, although we know what keywords drive the most traffic and we try and use those keywords in our titles and text.  Several months ago, we decided to experiment with a SEO firm to find out what they did and how much value they could bring to the table. 
Most SEO firms really do keyword advertising.  The drive business to the web site on your back and you pay for Google Adwords.  They optimize those campaigns.  Hopefully, there’s a return on investment per Adwords dollar spent.

But what does a traditional SEO firm do when it comes to optimizing your web site organic search results?  The answer so far is they work on issues such as keyword density in your web site content. Surprisingly, simple?

Over 3500 Pages of Blog Content for Traverse Internet Law

We are just about to embark on our very first SEO project.  One of the interesting things I discovered is that our traverselegal.com and tcattorney.typepad.com website blogs contain over 3500 pages of content showing off our expertise across a variety of internet issues ranging from trademark infringement, copyright infringement, cybersquatting lawsuits, stolen domain names, patent infringement, trade secret theft, internet defamation, website agreements, and a host of other practice areas.

Obviously, the internet attorneys at our firm like showing off their expertise.  Moreover, our law firm prioritizes quality niche content as part of its online marketing efforts.

How many posts exist on your blog?

How Google Custom Search Can Help Your Online Marketing

We run a variety of different blogs, web sites and other content rich platforms.  As you know, we are big on A+ content within our niche practice areas.  As a result of the thousands of blog posts across various blogs, we have a tremendous database of information for a variety of topics from internet defamation to trademark registration.

Why January is the Most Important Marketing Month for Laywers

There is something about January 1 which creates tremendous opportunities for lawyers to drive new business.  Old clients and new clients alike feel that all the problems of 2010 are behind them.  They have a sense that anything is possible in 2011.  On January 1, they start executing on their plans for an amazing year.  And of course, they need legal services as a result. 

We always see an influx of business in January.  But we don't stand on the sidelines waiting for it to happen.  We actively remind our clients that we're there to help them with their most ambitious plans.  This means increasing the number of blog posts, becoming more active on Facebook and Twitter, sending newsletters and making phone calls. 

What are you doing to help your clients have a great 2011? 

How to Turn Your Blog into a Marketing Tool for Your Business

We want to send out our gratitude to Kevin O’Keefe at Lexblog for posting the article entitled, “How and Why I still Devour Blogs."  In the article, John Jantsch provides several tips on how to become a better blogger.  Here is a summary of each of John's tips:

Chicago, IL: The Midwestern Law Firm Management Conference

I will be speaking at the Midwestern Law Firm Management Conference which is being held at the The Chicago Bar Association, 321 South Plymouth Court, Chicago, IL on September 21, 2010.  The program runs from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  Larry Bodine will be moderating a panel of speakers on business development in a West Legal Ed program titled “The New Norm: Understanding How to Thrive in the New Economy.”  Other key speakers include Fredric D. Tannenbaum, Managing Partner, Gould & Ratner, Chicago, IL; and Kevin Thompson, Partner, Davis McGrath, Chicago, IL.  If you know you’re going to be in the area and would like to attend, please register here.

Here are a few of the key topics for discussion at the conference:

• Learn the best practices of successful law firms and how to increase revenues in a tough economy
• Take steps to position your firm for future growth and success
• Integrate the top talent leaving major law firms into your practice
• Create a viable succession plan
• Protect your equity interest in the firm 
• Make sure your firm succeeds after a rainmaker departs 
• Learn how to protect client interests 
• Meet and network with colleagues and potential clients 
• Ensure that you comply with state bar

Conference Information:

The Survey Says: More People Want ONLINE Legal Services

Technology and the Internet are constantly reshaping the way we look at the landscape of business.  More and more people have turned to the web to do their banking, shopping, schooling, and entertainment.  A recent survey conducted by Epoq U.K. says more people want their legal services on the web as well.  Attorney Richard Granat discusses the findings of the survey with Damien Allen on today's program.Announcer: Welcome to GAL radio, brought to you by the Greatest American Lawyer blog, changing the way law is practiced through technology, innovation, and creativity.  Turning the business of law on its head and shaking things up for the betterment of clients, lawyers, law firms and society. Now here’s your host, Damien Allen.

Damien Allen:  Good morning and welcome to GAL Radio.  My name is Damien Allen, and joining me today on the phone once again is Attorney Richard S. Granat of Directlaw.com and Mylawyer.com.  He’s also the Chair of the Elawyering Task Force of the Law Practice Management Section of the American Bar Association  Today we’re discussing the Epoq Legal UK survey on online services.  Good Morning, Richard, and welcome to the program.


Richard S. Granat:  Good morning, Damien.  How are you this morning?

Damien Allen:  I’m doing fine.  Hope you’re doing well, sir.

Richard S. Granat: I am.

Damien Allen:   Epoq Legal UK recently conducted an online survey finding that the majority of those polled expected good law firms to offer their services online in the next couple of years.  Is this desire or need for online legal services on the rise, Richard?

Richard S. Granat:  There’s no question in my mind that it’s increasing, whether it’s the UK or the U.S.  In fact, if the survey would have been conducted in the US, where, I think, we actually have higher internet penetration, I think the numbers would actually be higher.  I also have another data point. We just recently got a survey from our Google representative showing data in the legal category which shows that over a two period the number of people searching legal sites has increased by 192%, almost 200%.  So, we see an increasing trend by the consumer looking for answers on the internet or legal services on the internet.

Effective Law Firm/Lawyer Communication is Key Topic at the 2010 Judicial and Bar Conference

In the article, "Communication Is Key for Success as a Lawyer, Panel Says" by Jeff Jeffrey on Law.com, reports that communication was a key topic for discussion at the recent seminar, "The 20 Keys to Successful Law Firm Management", held at the D.C Judicial and Bar Conference in the International Trade Center/Ronald Regan Building.  Here are some of the panelists' suggestions for lawyers to communicate effectively: