Legal Marketing & PR

Six Hot Areas of Law Practice for Regional and Mid-sized firms

Posted on February 02, 2009
I see six hot areas of law practice for regional and midsized firms.  Now is the time to step up law firm marketing in the following areas: 1. Employment law. President Obama just signed a law making it easier to bring employment discrimination cases...

March 17-18: Economist Conferences' Seventh Annual Marketing Forum

Posted on January 30, 2009
I plan on attending this conference. If you are going, let me know at Lbodine [at] LawMarketing.com.  Chief marketing officers have been hit with a double whammy in the current financial turbulence: the slowing economy is forcing most of them to become cost-cutters just at the time they are being asked by their CEOs to take more responsibility for building brands and increasing revenue...

Economic Hell Coming in 2009 for Big Law Firms

Posted on January 30, 2009
Two leading advisors to major law firms predicted a declining demand for legal services, a 15% drop in net income from 2008, the inability to raise rates, additional layoffs, salary freezes and cost cutting, heavier fee discounting, expenses rising faster than revenues -- and a long wait for better times...

Reflections at the Marketing Partner Forum

Posted on January 29, 2009
There are 250 attendees at the 16th Annual Marketing Partner Forum in sunny, balmy Dana Point, CA.  Though the group is smaller than in the past, these are people from the law firms that will stand tall after the recession ends. They see the importance of spending money on marketing in an economic downturn, and have sent their partners and talented marketers to a conference to learn how to stay ahead of the pack...

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Marketing Excellent Awards - Marketing Partner Forum

Posted on January 29, 2009
At tonight’s Marketing Partner Award excellence in marketing awards, the winners are: Marketing Professional of the Year: Deborah Grabein, Director of Marketing at Andrews Kurth in Houston. Marketing Initiative of the Year – Private Eduqity and Banks Initiative: Goodwin Procter Best Use of Technology to Support the Marketing Efforts – Patton Boggs for a weekly “Capital Thinking” podcast and radio show hosted in house...

4 GCs Describe How They Pick Law Firms

Posted on January 29, 2009
Four in-house counsel gave their views on “The Changing Paradigm: What Will Drive Outside Counsel Selection, Retention And Profitability in the Future?” at the 2009 Managing Partner Forum in Dana Point, CA, today. They were: Michael Gruskin, Managing Attorney, Commercial and Product Litigation, General Motors John E...

Marketing Excellence Awards - Marketing Partner Forum

Posted on January 29, 2009
At tonight’s Marketing Partner Award excellence in marketing awards, the winners are: Marketing Professional of the Year: Deborah Grabein, Director of Marketing at Andrews Kurth in Houston. Marketing Initiative of the Year – Private Eduqity and Banks Initiative: Goodwin Procter Best Use of Technology to Support the Marketing Efforts – Patton Boggs for a weekly “Capital Thinking” podcast and radio show hosted in house...

Law Firm Marketing Message Should Be "We want YOU to be satisfied"

Posted on January 28, 2009
Here's something refreshing: the General Counsel of AutoZone described in 20 words or less what his company does.  He said: "We are in the customer satisfaction business." Notice that he didn't say he was in the business of selling auto parts...

5 Tips for Better Business Cards

Posted on January 27, 2009
If you think business cards aren't important marketing tools, you're wrong, as reported by Kimberly Atkins in an interview with yours truly in Lawyers USA:   Yet too may lawyers simply stick to the old, outdated format of white card stock with a name and number printed in boring black letters...

Bankruptcy is a Growth Area for Law Firms

Posted on January 26, 2009
When I teach lawyers how to sell, I advise them to ask questions to discover client "pain."  In this recession, there is an ocean of pain for businesses and individuals that can't pay their landlords, have run up debt so high it can't be paid off and revenue has dropped drastically...

5 Ways Blogging Can Make a Difference for You in This Economy

Posted on January 23, 2009
By Dan Schawbel, from the ProBlogger blog. Dan is the author of Me 2.0: Build a Powerful Brand to Achieve Career Success, and owner of the award winning Personal Branding Blog. If you ever were scared or intimated of a blog, now is the best time to flush away those fears and start a blog...

Make Four Personal, Face-to-Face Contacts Every Day

Posted on January 22, 2009
Found on Peter Darling's blog: Your goal should be to make at least four personal, face-to-face contacts every day.  They should include: 1 prospect, to determine needs, present a proposal, or close a sale1 existing customer, to maintain the relationship, deliver on promises, up-sell and gather testimonials and referrals 1 lost customer, to see how they are doing and to remind them you haven’t forgotten about them 1 professional colleague, to ask how you might help them further their career (don’t worry, they will offer to help you too) If you do enough of this, you will soon have to see 2 existing customers each day because there won’t be very many lost customers to win back...

Dr. Evil Appears in Law Firm Marketing Ad

Posted on January 21, 2009
When I first saw the law firm advertisement in American Lawyer magazine I had the following impressions: 1. Omigod! A law firm has used Dr. Evil from the the Austin Powers film series in an ad!  How much did they have to pay to get comedy actor Mike Myers? Wait a minute...

Top 10 Marketing Blunders of 2008

Posted on January 20, 2009
From the Collateral Damage blog: Ford features “Space Oddity” — a song about astronaut suicide — in new car campaign. Framingham State College  uses the word blah 137 times in a 312-word fundraising letter...

Law Firms Could Rock the Train Station with Guerilla Marketing

Posted on January 19, 2009
T-Mobile rocked the Liverpool Street station in London with a guerrilla marketing campaign filmed at 11am on Thursday January 15, 2009. They cast some hundred people and had them dress in normal work attire while passing through the rail station...

Baby Boom Generation Now Outnumbered

Posted on January 16, 2009
Ever since I was born, the Baby Boom Generation ruled.  What we decided was the majority rule.  Our worldview prevailed and our music, fads and hairstyles were always dominant. What we did  defined the news and ultimately, history...

Guerilla Law Firm Marketing Idea for ACC Convention

Posted on January 15, 2009
Why doesn't a law firm use guerilla marketing tactics at the next convention of the Association of Corporate Counsel (ACC)?  Or any of the 48 ACC chapters in the US and abroad?  We all know the ACC annual convention is going to be in Boston on October 18-21...

My 2009 Tech Resolutions

Posted on January 14, 2009
Earlier this year I bought a webcam, and it’s been staring at me, sitting in the package.  My 2009 tech resolutions include breaking open that package and learning how to use it. I saw myself on a webcam at Radio Shack and looked like a character in Grumpy Old Men...

Top 10 mistakes People Make on LinkedIn

Posted on January 13, 2009
Christine Pilch of Ware, MA, a co-owner at Grow My Company says "LinkedIn is such a wonderful tool to sell yourself to prospects and potential customers, clients and employers. Unfortunately, a lot of people make a lot of mistakes and don't fully utilize LinkedIn to its full potential...

Blagojevich impersonator says, "Impeached? For being Awesome?"

Posted on January 10, 2009
Follow me at http://twitter.com/LarryBodine For a great laugh, follow  govblago on Twitter -- the writer is pretending to be the F*%#ing corrupt governor of Illlinois - http://twitter.com/govblago Here are some samples: govblago After all of this political BS, I am thinking about becoming a Spokesperson for Mantyhose  http://is...

Sixteen Reasons to Tweet on Twitter

Posted on January 08, 2009
Follow me at http://twitter.com/LarryBodine Twitter is the newest tech sensation in legal marketing. Lawyer Robert Ambrogi explains how to use the microblogging tool to mold your image, distribute news and attract new clients: So I strapped on some wings and gave it a try...

AVVO Has Lost its Credibility

Posted on January 07, 2009
From Scott H. Greenfield's Simple Justice: Avvo made a big splash with its numerical ratings, but was subject to severe criticism from within the bar for its secret algorithmic methodology that burned younger lawyers and experienced lawyers who couldn't be bothered to play its game...

GCs Face Budget Cuts Averaging 11.5% for 2009

Posted on January 06, 2009
75% of responding General Counsel indicated that their law departments are facing budget cuts averaging 11.5% for 2009.  An additional 15.6% reported that their budgets would increase by a smaller percentage than in prior years. Follow this link to read the Altman Weil research...

Attorneys Flocking to Twitter for Marketing

Posted on January 05, 2009
Follow me at http://twitter.com/LarryBodine From where I’m sitting, 2009 will be the year Twitter becomes the major business development trend. Why?  Because lawyers don’t have time to update their own bios...

LMA Abandons its Listserv

Posted on January 02, 2009
After trying for years to compete with the original LawMarketing Listserv, the Legal Marketing Association has given up and abandoned its listserv, according an online press release. The LMA launched its members-only listserv in 2002. It will be "decommissioned" on February 1, 2009...

Wishing You a Prosperous 2009

Posted on January 01, 2009

Rosy Outlook for Long Island Law Firms

Posted on December 31, 2008
From the Long Island Business News: Lawyers throughout the Island say that for the next year and for many to come, they will be reacting to the new presidential administration, the national recession and how it locally impacts Long Island’s businesses and homeowners...

NPR Ads by Law Firms are Wasted Money

Posted on December 30, 2008
I found the post  Brought To You By A Large Firm With Offices Everywhere on Patrick Lamb's blog, In Search of Perfect Client Service.  A lawyer based in Chicago, he asks the question: do you remember the name of the law firms that advertise on National Public Radio?  He doesn't, and neither do I...

The Year in Tweets: 10 Most Memorable Twitter Moments of 2008

Posted on December 29, 2008
Follow me at http://twitter.com/LarryBodine Doriano "Paisano" Carta writes on Mashable.com how Twitter has exploded into an Internet phenomenon where people sent tweets including the first news about the Mumbai attacks, the deaths of prominent figures, and the 2008 Presidential election...

Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 25, 2008

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