Grow My Law Firm

When your own employees sabotage your company's brand

I know I've said it many times before, but I have to repeat it again: your brand isn't your logo or stationery, although they may be physical representations of it. Your brand is the way you are perceived. It's about how people feel when they hear your name or see any physical element of it. It is built entirely from one's experience with your product or service and is the sum total of all touch points that they have ever been exposed to.

So, have you thought about the potential damage your employees can inflict on that brand?

One of the most critical elements of any brand is in setting up expectations of behavior. Think of Wal-Mart. You expect to be greeted in a friendly manner by a smiling someone at the door. Consider McDonalds. You expect those fries to be perfectly cooked and piping hot. Think of the receptionist at your doctor's office. You expect her to be helpful and polite.

But what if the Wal-Mart greeter scowls, the fries are brown and cold, and the receptionist is rude? In an instant, your expectations aren't met, and you feel uncomfortable or perhaps a bit cheated or angry. Your experience doesn't match the perception that you have created about that product of service, and the brand begins to erode in your mind.

Now think about your own business. Are all of your employees on the same page? Do they all deliver a consistent experience to your clients at every touch point?

Your employees are your brand's champions or the undoing of it. They must always present a professional, tactful, classy front. Clients are affected by their tone, attitude, and even the way employees dress, so be careful of who is on your front-line. For example, your accounting person may be terrific with numbers, but if his people skills are poor, he shouldn't handle clients' inquiries. Even if an employee is having a bad day, that's not an excuse to inflict a rotten attitude on the public.

Also consider how toxic a bad attitude is internally. Can one bad apple spoil the whole bunch? I have seen a few organizations that were turned into glum, depressing places by people who made it their mission in life to spread their own misery. If you've got such an employee on your staff, think about addressing him or removing her.

Your brand and your reputation are wrapped up very tightly together. Make sure you protect them by employing the right people.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
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Social media ettiquette - some basic principles

A friend asked me yesterday, if she unfriended someone, would they be notified? Our subsequent conversation revealed that this rather casual acquaintance of hers was often confrontational and rude on Facebook, and that got me thinking, what is and is not acceptable behavior on social media channels?

Social media is the online version of working the room, and basically, all the social graces and standards that you apply to your every day interactions in face-to-face situations apply online as well.

• Be polite and respectful
• Don't swear or be rude
• Resist the temptation to argue
• Don't be confrontational
• Help others with advice and answers to their questions
• Say please and thank you
• Extend the courtesy of responding when someone writes on your wall, @s or DMs you, or messages you
• Don't blatantly push/sell your product or service

The professional goal of social media is to build relationships that may one day turn into business opportunities. You would never walk into a restaurant, interrupt everyone's dinner, pass out your business cards, then leave. So why would you think this is acceptable online?

People do business with people they like, and the way to earn respect is to be authentic and genuine in your interactions with social media friends and acquaintances. Treat people the way that you like to be treated, and always remember that once online, it's there for good. Draft, review, and reconsider before posting. Protect your reputation.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
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Who is your brand cop?

I recently read Tom Kane's blog post "Does Your Firm Have a Marketing Cop?" and it got me thinking about brand protection. Do you have someone in-house who is thoroughly versed in all aspects of your company's brand and in possession of the authority to reprimand internal offenders? In my experience, many companies do not.

Your brand is the feeling that people have when they hear your name, see your logo, or come in contact with any of your company's, product's or service's touch points. It is the sum total of their experience with these things. It is entirely about their perception of you, not necessarily the image that you want or intend to project.

So what happens when someone within your organization puts out something that is disharmonious or in conflict with your brand? Confusion, discomfort and perhaps a feeling of distrust may occur. Is this something you want? Can you afford to risk it?

It's surprisingly easy to undermine a brand though inconsistency. One department might develop materials that don't conform to your corporate ID manual, so they look and feel different. An employee might slap a logo that is oversized, out of proportion, altered, against a forbidden background, etc. on something. Your receptionist might be unfriendly or rude. A client might be put on hold for too long. Phone calls might not be promptly returned. All of these things damage a brand by delivering a customer experience that is outside of expected treatment. And when you start delivering an inconsistent experience, your brand becomes a lie, trust evaporates, and you start losing clients.

It is very important to empower someone within your organization with the authority to control your customers' experience through careful management of all client touch points. This person must thoroughly understand your brand strategy, respect your ID manual, and have the guts to stand up to anybody who abuses your brand in any way.

So who fills this capacity within your organization? If your answer is "nobody," what damage is being done to your brand through the delivery of an inconsistent customer experience? How much more business could you earn and retain if your brand was rock-solid?

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
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Recession marketing – your online reputation is more important than ever

I recently stumbled upon a very good article about marketing during a recession. It was published in eMarketing and Commerce magazine, but the principles are so sound that they relate to service professionals as well.

The first several points the author makes regard consumer behavior. In a nutshell, when gas gets more expensive, people stay home more and do their homework upfront before shopping for anything. This includes professional services.

Since your online presence is more important than ever, what is your online brand? What impression do people get when they Google you? Are you portrayed in a positive and professional fashion? Are your online bios sufficiently packed with information so that prospects get a feel for who you are before they call?

Take a look at your website bio, blog bio and LinkedIn profile. Are they complete? When a prospect compares yours with a competitor's, is one full of helpful information and the other sadly lacking anything but bare minimum facts and obviously not important to the author? What message does that send to a prospect?

Can any service professional afford to drop their guard and allow a competitor to get an appointment because their online brand is stronger?


by: Christine Pilch

Have you Googled yourself lately?

Do you regularly Google yourself to see what the web reports about you? You should. Your online brand depends upon it.

It's pretty easy. Just go to Google and enter your name within quotation marks. Hopefully there will be plenty of information about you on the first page. If not, you don't exist online, and that's not good for a service professional. How will people find you?

To enhance your Google presence you need to have your name appear on the internet in various places, including your own website, referrals from others' sites, on your blog posts, mentions of others' blogs, on published articles, as a speaker on seminar promotions, on professional networking sites like LinkedIn and perhaps Facebook, etc.

It's also a good idea to check the links that you find about yourself to make sure they're accurate. Sometimes, I find typos in email addresses and other contact information. You can easily request corrections.

It's also a good idea to set up a Google Alert for your name. Just go to Google and set up an account. Then go to My Account / Products / Alerts. That way you will be aware of new online mentions of your name.

Your online brand is critical these days, so it's important for you to manage it carefully. Remember, if you're not on the first page of Google results for your name, you don't exist online, and prospects can't find you.


by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com

Beware accepting advertising on your website or blog

Many people are getting more and more strapped for cash lately, and I’ve been noticing one revenue-building tactic that I consider dangerous. Some legal blogs and websites are starting to accept Google ads as part of their design. This may bring in a little money, but at what cost to the public’s perception of your level of professionalism?

You work hard to get people to your website or blog in the first place, and they come for one reason – legal information. When did it become okay for a lawyer to promote unrelated products and services that simply distract your visitors? Why would you give anybody a reason to leave your site for another?

Perhaps more alarming is one particular estate planning site I recently happened upon that had several Google links to other estate planning sites. Again, why would you send away potential business for a fee from Google? That seems rather penny wise and pound foolish to me.

I caution you to think very carefully about the potential impact on your reputation and the potential loss of business to a competitor when you include Google ads on your site or blog.

by: Christine Pilch

Dressing like the successful lawyer you aspire to be

Forbes online recently published a very good article that I encourage all young attorneys to read. It is called Wardrobe Essentials for the Young Professional. This article provides a simple overview of how to dress for interviews and meetings, and how to deal with casual Fridays.

The timing of this article was especially apropos for me because just this morning I had a conversation about professional attire with a law clerk who is employed by one of my clients.

As I’ve written before, your appearance is part of your personal brand, and it is very important for you to look like the lawyer that you aspire to be.

by: Christine Pilch

Getting personal – a legal marketing tip that can give you an edge

Most of us were raised to be courteous, say please and thank you, show appreciation when someone goes out of their way to help us and apologize when we do something wrong. These same basic principles can help set you apart from other lawyers when performed regularly and from the heart.

It seems that it would be obvious to send thank yous for referrals, but it constantly amazes me how many lawyers forget this step in the relationship building process. It doesn’t matter if it’s the first referral you receive from someone or the 100th, saying thank you just plain demonstrates good manners. Choose a thank you tactic. Email works nicely, but so does a hand written card dropped in the mail, and that’s a bit more personal. It will be noticed and appreciated.

Do you also regularly send sympathy cards, congratulatory wishes and birthday greetings? You may think it unnecessary to send these notes at a time when multiple others will also be received, but isn’t it possible that your oversight might be noticed? Can you afford to risk being perceived as someone who didn’t bother or doesn't care?

Another tactic to help facilitate relationships with your referrers and clients is to get to know their secretaries. Always be friendly and courteous to the screeners because they can be an impediment or a blessing when you need information quickly. It’s also a good idea to know the names and basic information about your clients’ and referral sources’ family members. People are generally proud of their families, and when you inquire into their well-being, it helps build a bond. It shows that you have taken the time to pay attention to personal details and helps build a stronger relationship.

It may seem trivial to do these little things, but all of your clients and referrers and people first, and everybody notices and appreciates someone who conducts himself with class. Everything you do markets yourself and contributes to your brand. These simple details may someday make the difference between a deal coming to you or going to a competitor.

by: Christine Pilch

Your web bio – how much should you include?

I’ve seen some attorney web bios that scroll down 3 or 4 screens through a seemingly endless list of engagements and accomplishments. At what point do you draw the line when listing your activities on your biography?

Lawyers have different marketing styles and comfort levels with marketing activities. Retail attorneys frequently have luck gaining new clients through speaking engagements and published works, so they have a lot of bulk to add to their bios. Corporate attorneys are often well served through networking - lunches, drinks, golf, etc, so many have a less impressive list of activities on their biographies than their retail counterparts.

There’s no established standard when it comes to your web bio, so it’s a good idea to balance the bulk against the timeliness of the information. An estate planning attorney, who has multiple monthly speaking engagements will probably want to purge those that are more than a couple years old, while a municipal attorney who served on a planning board 10 years ago may not have anything else to replace that with.

One rule of thumb though is to never purge published works. That information helps to establish your credibility in your field of expertise. And if the full body text of the work is included on your website, that becomes searchable content, thus potentially driving traffic to your website.

by: Christine Pilch

Branding is more than a new name or logo

An article in the online version of the Houston Chronicle on May 26th about law firms cutting down their names only tells part of the branding story. The implication throughout is that a brand is a name, a logo, colors, a website or marketing materials.

The author writes, “…Branding for law firms isn’t just paring down the name. It’s picking a logo with gravitas, a classy color scheme, an important feel for the Web site, a poignant message and a way to convey it all...”

It is true that all of these are elements of a brand, but they are not the law firm’s brand itself. A brand is the emotional response that all of those things generate in your clients or prospects. Your brand is the way people feel about you. It is the sum total of all their experiences with your firm.

The implication in the article is that you can change your brand by changing your name, logo, etc, but actually, the only way to change your brand is to change your client’s experience with your firm. All the rest is just window dressing. Think about it, does a new logo really change the way your clients feel about the experience they have when they engage your legal services?

Successful branding is built around the value your clients get as the result of your legal work, and rebranding is often the result of a need to fix a deficiency or enhance your clients’ experience.

The author does make a very important point however, when she discusses how some firms are recognizing the need to toss their egos. She quotes Corinne Cooper, a former law professor who now runs an Arizona business for branding of law firms. “... the firm has to be branded in ways that make sense. … Many lawyers who have strategically managed law firms into large successful businesses are smart enough to know that what helps the firm success is what matters. They worry not about egos, but about what works.”

Removing ego is critical to marketing success. Successful marketing turns around all messaging from “about your firm” to “about your clients.” It removes ego. Branding is about finding the core value that your clients perceive in your legal service. It’s about making everything about them, not about you.

So, yes, your name, logo, colors, website and marketing materials all reflect your brand as elements of it, but your brand itself is all about how your clients and prospects feel about you. The only way to change your brand is to change your clients’ experience.

by: Christine Pilch

Producing great client publications

Don't waste your money

I’m a big fan of blogging, but many of you are still sending out newsletters and eZines as well, so let’s talk about how to create a client publication that gets their attention and doesn’t waste your resources.

It’s usually best to keep your publication topic specific because corporate clients might be a little uneasy reading about bankruptcy information, and estate planning clients aren’t necessarily interested in municipal law news. You might argue this and say that it’s important to let clients know the other areas of the law that your firm practices, but that can be handled in a simple list with links to your other area specific blogs and online newsletters and eZines.

The most successful client publications turn around the information from news about us and what we do and have to what you are interested in and what you want and need.

Clients only read information about things that interest them. It’s tempting to add attorney bios to your publications and announce a large settlement that your firm was just awarded, but for the most part, clients don’t care about that. They want to read about themselves, their industries and competitors. They want solutions to their problems and relief of their pain. When you deliver that kind of news, you have a successful newsletter, eZine or blog. When you devote your space to talking about yourself, or bragging, as it is perceived by your readers, you just waste your time.

Pack as much topic-specific information as you can into your publication in every issue or post. The more you inform, the more credibility you earn in the eyes of your clients. In our book, “The Definitive Insider’s Guide to Growing Your Practice Through Innovative Brand Strategies,” we talk about how you have to give, give give. The more you give, the more that comes back to you.

Giving tidbits of legal information doesn’t solve problems or discourage people from contacting you, just the opposite. You have demonstrated that you know the law and can handle their legal matters competently. You have also shown them that they can’t handle such legal work without guidance, so when they call someone for help, it will likely be you.

Make sure that your publication is well written. Spelling, grammatical or punctuation errors are unacceptable in anything coming from a lawyer. And make sure that your publications are professionally designed. You can have a newsletter template designed in Microsoft Publisher, then drop in content. You can also have an eZine template designed. For your blog, if you use Typepad, they have over 100 templates that you can use, and it’s easy to incorporate a custom banner to any of the templates that will make your blog look unique.

Finally, client publications shouldn’t be something that is regarded as less important than anything else you do in your law practice. They should be released on a regular schedule and be the best caliber that you can possibly produce. They actually become part of your brand because they represent your law firm. Your reputation is at stake if you don’t do them well because they won’t live up to the professional brand that you have built and your clients expect in all your actions.

by: Christine Pilch

Beware joining everything and offering nothing of value to the organization

I once knew an attorney who prided herself on being involved in just about every organization in Town. She headed up a committee for the Chamber of Commerce, served on the boards of a couple charities, and belonged to a local professional women’s group and a couple additional networking groups. She was out every night and running herself into the ground.

I advised her to scale back her involvement by picking one charity and one organization that was close to her heart, and focus her energies there, but she just couldn’t bring herself to choose from among her various groups, so she continued at a frenetic pace for many more months.

Eventually, I started hearing grumblings from among other members of the groups and organizations that this attorney was involved with. She had started skipping meetings, missing deadlines and not following through on commitments that she made. She had burnt herself out and everything was suffering as a consequence.

This attorney eventually did scale back her involvement as I had suggested about a year previously, Unfortunately, her reputation had suffered in the meantime.

The lesson here is that you need some breathing room. You need a healthy balance between work, other professional commitments and life. Although it is tempting, especially for a young up and coming attorney, to get involved in everything, it is usually best to choose your activities carefully and save some time for yourself as well to recharge your batteries.

It is usually better to do a couple things really well than do a lot of things just mediocre. If you spread yourself too thin, you only hurt yourself in the long run health-wise, relationship-wise and reputation-wise.

By: Christine Pilch

Prepping for the press

If you’re lucky enough to be contacted by the press for an interview or comments regarding a topic that they are working up as a story, you should be pleased to be among the honored few. But don’t underestimate the significance of this opportunity. If you treat it respectfully and carefully, it could be a pivotal step in your personal brand and a chance to open the door to establishing a long-term relationship with the media.

Following are a few tips to help you make the most of this opportunity:

• Treat members of the press respectfully
• Return calls promptly
• Be accommodating to their schedules
• Answer questions honestly and directly
• Avoid “off the record”
• Position yourself as a future resource
• Speak carefully
• Think before you speak
• Beware embarrassing quotes
• Dress appropriately - business attire only, no Friday casual

by: Christine Pilch

Using an AOL email address screams unprofessional

I am always amazed when I receive an email from a professional and their email address ends in @aol.com. It doesn’t happen too frequently anymore, but whenever it does, it just makes me shake my head.

Even 10 years ago, when the internet was first hitting its stride, it was bad business to not own your own domain to host your email. But now, when domains can be bought for as little as $5.00 per year and hosting starts at about $5.00 per month, there is really no excuse for any professional to use an AOL email address.

So, if you’re really not ready to have your own website, (and for a lawyer, that's pretty dangerous too,) you can purchase your domain, park it on a server like GoDaddy, and configure your own custom email @YourFirm.com.

No more professional emails coming from an address @aol.com, or @msn.com, or @yahoo.com, or @excite.com or @lycos.com or any of the others.

by: Christine Pilch

Projecting a professional image - looking like the lawyer you aspire to be

I was in a coffee shop recently across the street from a courthouse, and I saw an alarmingly unprofessional looking lawyer. The buttons of his short sleeve shirt were pulling across a belly that had outgrown it. His pants were high waters. His shoes were severely scuffed with worn heels, and the jacket slung over the back of his chair looked like he had slept in it. Now think what your impression of him would be if you were meeting him for the first time or if he showed up to represent your interests as your attorney?

No matter how good you are, when someone looks at you and sees an unkempt appearance, they will naturally feel mistrustful of your skill. Everything you do markets yourself, from your advertising and PR, to your website, from the way you speak, to your appearance. You wouldn’t submit an article for publishing without polishing the draft. You wouldn’t invite a colleague to lunch and not pick up the check. You wouldn’t allow a publication to print an ad for your firm without reviewing it first.

So make sure that your physical image matches the professional attorney that you are. Even if you’re just starting out, it is important to project an image of the attorney that you aspire to be. Clients want to be represented by someone they believe is successful, so be sure that is what they see when they look at you.

by: Christine Pilch