Raise your hand: How many of you are stuck in the PUSHING TOO MUCH INFORMATION trap of social media? Right, just as I expected…too many.

Pushing information on social media is like using a garden rake to comb your hair. It’s the wrong tool for the job.

Just today, while explaining the finer details of a successful Twitter presence to a #lawyer, I emphasized the old don’t-toot-your-own-horn let others toot it for you approach to social media. To be interesting, be interested—and not just about what you think. It is most important to stimulate the conversation and draw attention to the ideas of others, inserting your expertise and opinion where it adds value, or entertainment in some cases.

Still, we forget: As witnessed by the incessant stream of look at me Tweets (including those with links to perhaps interesting articles, but no commentary) showing up in my Twitter stream because I follow a lot of law firms and lawyers. That is PUSHING. Cringe. It is pushing your own boat against stream instead of letting the stream lead.

I’ve said it before, here and here, social media is supposed to be social. When you are in a social situation, to establish new relationships you must be aware of those around you at that very moment. You will do best to draw them into a conversation—and yes, that usually means you have to place a higher degree of focus on who you’re speaking to and what matters to them rather than shining a light on yourself. Let others raise your profile. It will deliver greater benefits and it’s really not that hard.

While there’s nothing wrong with pushing information—there’s always luck and timing—expecting meaningful results for the precious investment of resources diminishes greatly when you do not understand and act upon the classic tenants of social behavior and what motivates people to engage.

Later today I read a timely blog post by David Aaker on Harvard Business Review’s The Conversation, “Secrets of Social Media Revealed 50 Years Ago.” I’m sharing this link with you because I hope that you’ll be enlightened and inspired, like I was, by Aaker’s observations on how the findings of Ernest Dichter, who 50 years ago outlined the key elements of word of mouth persuasion. These elements apply so aptly to social media today.

“…[in] the absence of exceptionally entertaining communication, in order to employ social media effectively a brand needs to deliver extraordinary functional, self-expressive, or social benefits.”

Okay…stop here. How many law firms deliver extraordinarily functional or self expressive benefits. Not many. We’re all sort of “just a law firm on the Internet.” With a few exceptions: IMHO. That leaves us with delivering social benefits, agree?

“Listeners…[want] the speaker to be interested in the listener and his or her well-being without a bias. Is the speaker’s intention to sell a product or help me? What is the speaker’s relationship to me?

…[A] firm should promote a dialogue because a listener will be more likely to accept judgments from someone with whom there is an interaction going on. With a dialogue, it is much easier to communicate expertise, interest in the subject matter, and the right motivation because there is a chance to build up a relationship and use reassuring cues. In contrast, a one time, one-way communication will have a harder time demonstrating credibility and motivation.

Aaker concludes that:

“It is amazing that the nearly forgotten theory and practice of word-of-mouth communication and influence from five decades and more ago can be so relevant today.”

I encourage all marketing professionals involved in their entity’s social media outreach, as well as individual attorneys, to read the full article and take the points made to heart and action.

David Aaker is the Vice-Chairman of Prophet and the author of Brand Relevance: Making Competitors Irrelevant and the davidaaker.com blog on branding. There is some terrific stuff here…check it out!

Today a package of materials from a new client of mine arrived overnight, first AM delivery. The delivery surprised me and exceeded my expectation as our scheduled meeting is weeks away. There was nothing urgent about me receiving the materials, but it sure was nice to have them in hand so far in advance. Then I recalled how earlier communications with the managing partner and his staff had clued me in that I was dealing with a first class organization with great respect and value for everyone they do business with, even those outside the direct revenue stream. Their treatment of others goes beneath the surface and is the heart and soul of their success.

They are successful not only because the firm has excellent, experienced lawyers, though they do. Not because they discount services or offer alternate fee arrangements, they don’t. They are successful because they have a law firm culture that operates on mutual respect, consideration, and honesty. CLIENTS like that. A successful firm will not take for granted the impact their internal culture has upon its success.

Culture is a law firm’s DNA.

Truth be told, you can actually tell A LOT about a law firm’s culture by the way they treat their vendors. When someone told me this, years ago, I thought it was absurd. Now, after 15 years in the legal profession, both as an employee and a vendor, I can tell you its true. [Too bad more prospects don’t know this or they’d be interviewing a firm’s vendors, not their lawyers, to uncover what they might expect from the client/attorney/law firm relationship.]

I can now predict, with accuracy, client satisfaction levels in almost 100% of cases simply by my dealings with the firm as a vendor. I have found that there is a direct correlation between the degree to which I am treated respectfully and the degree of the law firm’s success.  Weird, I know….well, maybe not.

In a new book by Barry Libert of Mzinga, “Social Nation. How to harness the power of Social Media to attract customers, motivate employees and grow your business,” (Wiley, 2010), Libert posits that the power of culture is not to be underestimated where business and community intersect. (Yes, your clients are a community!) Among many golden nuggets the book has to offer (full review to follow shortly*), Libert proposes that clients can sense when your culture is a healthy one, and a healthy culture is a healthy company.

“If the DNA is healthy, the company is healthy. If it is not, the company, just like your family, will falter and eventually fail. In business, it means your customers will leave in pursuit of a competitor that will care more about them and better meet their needs.”

I couldn’t agree with Libert more. To wit, I’ve worked inside law firms that had a DNA of respect, honesty and action. They respected their employees and their vendors, i.e., valued their expertise, engaged in fair contracts, didn’t haggle, returned calls, and paid invoices promptly. Not surprisingly, they also had a lot of loyal and happy clients and are still going strong today. Conversely, I’ve also worked where it was exactly the opposite. Ironically, in once such instance, the law firm no longer exists!

Observations from the vendor trenches. [ Or, what shoppers can learn from vendors.]

It starts in the evaluation stage. When a prospective client law firm and I are getting to know one another I’ve noticed that the best firms have taken the time to prepare good questions. They might also have an idea for how they want to proceed, and they have determined a range of fees they’re willing to pay.  Some even have an idea of the specific results they are seeking. (They’ve done some homework or they tell me up front that they are clueless. Honesty is always a good start.) Though this often evolves as we talk, their preparedness is a sign that they take the project, my services, and me seriously. Following the logic, these law firms would also be those that are not afraid to tell one of their prospective clients the truth about the prospects for their case. They would reasonably estimate fees and, if necessary, refer them to another attorney or law firm that is better suited for the matter. In essence, they are prepared and preparation is a hallmark of great law firms and great cultures.

Alternately, I can immediately tell when an evaluation call is a fishing expedition for FREE expertise. In these cases I can fairly accurately assess that the firm is not successful enough to pay for expertise or that they believe their own expertise is the only kind worth paying for; both are bad. Avoid these firms and you avoid disappointment.

After the evaluation stage, I learn a lot about the firm by the length of time it takes to return phone calls or respond to emails. It is illuminating.

For example I am often asked to submit a proposal TOMORROW, i.e., “This is an urgent project for the firm. Can you get that to me tomorrow?  Our committee is meeting on Friday.” “Sure,” I say and work through the evening hours to deliver on my word only to hear silence for weeks. Now, I know that my proposal is not always at the top of the list, but is it too much to ask for a quick email response to say; got the proposal, the committee did not have time to discuss it on Friday, but it’s on the agenda for next month? Non-responsive behavior from a firm that has an URGENT need is likely to be a firm that communicates poorly (or even dishonestly) with their clients. (Note: a distinction should be made between lawyer and law firm, i.e. the law firm may be unresponsive but an individual lawyer can be very responsive. However, when you hire a lawyer you essentially hire their law firm. It’s a 360-degree relationship, and it takes both to make it work.)

The pricing stage is also often a very telling sequence. Being the Pollyanna that I am, I assume that once past the evaluation and the proposal there is sufficient understanding of the value of my services and respect for me as a business owner; that I’ve priced my services competitively and that I intend to deliver value along with the price tag. If I say my day rate is X, it is X. If there is variation in what you’re asking me to provide there may be room for a discount, but if the project is as quoted you can be sure that is what I believe the project will cost—and for me to remain in business to help you in the future. The law firm that doesn’t understand this equation distrusts me. And, not in all cases of course, but such a law firm could actually be over charging or under-delivering their services and they are projecting their behavior on me. [Note to shoppers: There are some firms that just can’t help themselves from negotiating everything! While that’s fair, beware; they will likely be tough negotiators when it comes to writing down your legal bill too!]

Finally, much can be read from the payment process. As a responsible contractor I always include terms of payment in my letter of agreement.  When a client signs that agreement I believe they, in good faith, intend to conform to the terms. (Lawyers must understand this, right?) But to my surprise, even when the situation is black and white, i.e. product or service delivered and approved, there are some law firms that purposely sit on the payment for months, ignoring the terms of our agreement. How this reflects a firm’s culture is crystal clear. In one example, I waited over a year to get paid! It was no surprise to me when I learned that the named partner of that firm was found guilty of fraud and his license suspended.

If clients aren’t raining from the sky…

Word of mouth marketing can be the life-blood of a law firm, i.e. referrals. It can also be what’s standing between success and failure. In today’s social marketplace,  people are talking. The insight we receive from social interactions and communications that take place among and between our clients, employees, vendors, and partners reveal a lot. Decisions about purchasing products and services are more frequently based on how the outside sees our “inside” culture. If clients aren’t raining from the sky for you or your law firm, you may want to step away from the sunshine and look inside at your culture.

“Everybody talks about the weather, but no one does anything about it.”– Mark Twain

Perhaps I could have saved a lot of words and simply said “actions speak louder than words.” Or, perhaps corporate culture, like the weather, is impossible to change for anyone but the Heavens. So, our only recourse is to talk about it and make us feel a little bit better-though totally not in control.

Whatever the case, weather happens. So does culture. Only difference is you can influence your law firm’s culture. Like it or not, how you do business with others outside your revenue stream will impact how you do business with your revenue stream, i.e. clients. And, as Libert suggests….”take good care of your personal values and you will energize your customers, partners and employees.”

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*Disclosure: I was given a complimentary copy of this book to review.

The first time I saw the new Old Spice commercial I chuckled and said to my friend, that’s clever, good branding. Great appeal. Well, overnight it became a viral success on YouTube and of course all over the Internet. Now, as  Eric Lipman from Legal Blog Watch says it’s become bacterial (love the lingo, Eric!). And, it seems everyone is jumping in. I’ve seen quite a few spoofs on the ad — which is itself a spoof of the old macho image of Old Spice.  This one is too too funny. More on the NEW SPICE Guy here. Enjoy!

PST: Heather Milligan just posted on the demise of print advertising for law firms here. And admittedly, we’ve got better things to do….

What are you doing to differentiate your law firm in a highly competitive market?

Differentiation is the process of distinguishing products or services to make them attractive to a target audience. In short, differentiation helps “us” choose – pink or blue, regular or lite…. What happens when there’s not enough differentiation? What happens when everything is gray? The choice doesn’t matter as much.

Years of doing what “other law firms are doing” has created a lot of undifferentiated law firms. When everyone is average they begin to compete on price location and style. Are law firms ready to start acting like Walmart and Target? Or are they already there? Are they in too deep?

Prospects want law firms to tell them why they should choose them. But that’s impossible, right?  Meaningful means something different to everyone. Impossible to align, so many variations among clients and practices.

This presentation suggests that law firm leaders stop focusing on differentiating their features and start differentiating around something that matters to clients. Something that will help them choose. Focus on delivering the basic category benefits –those things all clients expect from their law firms — better than anyone else….and the rest will follow.

In these changing times, we all need fresh ideas and inspiration.

Delivering Happiness delivers.  

Tony Hsieh’s recently released book, Delivering Happiness | A Path to Profits, Passion and Purpose, is destined to be a classic Gen X must read business book following in the footsteps of other great Boomer reads such as Jim Collins’ Good to Great and Built to Last. I read it cover to cover and found tons of nuggets. Despite being a case study of an Internet retailer the nuggets should be pure gold for law firms who currently are struggling with their business model, culture or staff morale (law firm layoffs) in light of the recent economic landscape.

Here are just a few:

• Figure out the game when the stakes aren’t high. Get core values in place, know who you are as a culture so you will be ready when the stakes get high.
• Don’t play games you don’t understand even if you see a lot of other people winning at them, i.e. making a lot of money from them.
• Take the focus off of “making money” put the focus on people; happy people, and passionate people, people who want to go to work tomorrow. What would it take?
• Great companies (and great people) have a greater purpose and a bigger vision beyond just making money or being number one in the market…if you fall into this trap you never become a great company…the core values of your employees must go beyond the paycheck. The best gift you can give your employees is the perception that there’s something ahead for them…
• Help shape the stories that people are telling about you. Do you want to be about the VERY BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE? How many people in your organization want to be known for the VBCS? Your culture is your brand.
• A customer centric organization will execute exceedingly well on core competencies. A core competency of Zappos is shipping. They ship product. They promise customers delivery in 4-5 days, but they “upgrade” the service for almost all customers. It’s not something they have to do and it’s not something that increases their profits in the short term. It is something that creates a great customer experience.
• Never outsource our core competency. Trusting a third party to care about your customers as much as you do is a big mistake.
• What is the extra step? Think about some experience where you interacted with a person responsible for your satisfaction….what did they do?
• Life values apply to both work and life…that’s they way they should anyway.
• Make the transaction for the customer as easy and risk free as possible.
• Make customer service a priority for the whole company, not just a department.
• View each interaction as an investment in building a customer service brand, not an expense of time or staff you’re seeking to minimize….
• How a company treats its vendors is a reflection on the company.
• If you had to describe your company’s culture in two or three paragraphs, what would you say? If you asked your coworkers to do the same, what would they say? How different do you think their answers would be…

The World is Changing for Law Firms.

The power structure is shifting from the law firm to the client in the legal industry. That’s the word on the street from general counsel to clients, law firm leaders, marketers, and Michael Bremer, President of The Cumberland Group in Chicago. He addressed attendees last week in a keynote at the Legal Sales and Services Organization’s RainDance conference. He suggested that what is missing most when the average law firm tries to improve its position in a competitive market is a focus on customer value, engaged employees, and an executive mindset that knows these are the most important things.

According to a Gallup poll, in an average organization less than 30% of people say they are ‘highly engaged’ at work. Certainly the average level thinking of law firms of today fit in that mold. Worse is that they don’t see a need to change, don’t want to change, feel they’re already working at it and routinely push back on fresh ideas. How long can that be sustained and keep employees engaged?  If we’re not giving employees a voice with open environment, learning environment we’re loosing engagement. The firm misses out on good ideas when employees are not passionately engaged. To remedy this, it is leadership’s primary responsibility to create an environment where people can do their best work (this does not mean a well decorated office space and stocked break room).  It’s easy to say we want this to happen and we aspire to this but to be successful organizations must have above average thinking and strategy. Leadership needs to understand that customer loyalty IS linked with business performance.

Every employee of the organization is capable of driving customer loyalty and this is exactly the message you’ll find in Delivering Happiness.

Back to Zappos….

Delivering Happiness is an action packed story, easy to read in a few sittings, documenting how Tony Hsieh and his associates at Zappos did exactly what Michael is suggesting for law firms who want to succeed in the value game…create a workplace where employees are fully engaged, do their best work and exceed customer expectations because they perceive a greater purpose than making money. Zappos provides an open, learning environment that has made them one of the most successful Internet retailers of the decade. ( On Oct. 31, 2009 Amazon purchased Zappos for 1.2B. In Jan 2010 Zappos moved up 8 slots and was ranked #15 in Fortune magazine’s annual “Best Companies to Work For” list.)

Gen X

So, the book is really great and I highly recommend it…with a few sidebars.

1. Tony built the culture of Zappos inspired by PLUR, an acronym for “Peace, Love, Unity, Respect” born out of the rave community.  (see here for Wikipedia description of Raves) (This may be a stretch of the imagination for anyone pre GenX. I had to adjust my thinking a bit and well, that’s exactly why I think the book is great. It made me think outside my box….yeah, hippies rule, right?)
2. Tony had a “mysterious” and brief encounter with a woman following a New Year’s Eve party that involved ear whispering: “Envison, create, and believe in your own universe” which became a sort of mantra for him. (Not dissing that, just pointing out that again, not exactly the stuff you’ll hear from a managing partner of law firm…tee hee)
3. Tony does not use proper grammar and sometimes the structure is weak. This was a distraction for me as I most enjoy well-crafted (written) books. True to his GenXer generation…he chose to write the book without the help of ghostwriter, and I get that but…. he also chose to use a lot of dangling prepositions to make his grade school English teacher cringe. I read an advance copy of the book and so some of the structural things may have healed themselves with an editor at the helm—hope so.

Otherwise, again, fantastic case study with lots of golden nuggets and inspiration for law firm leaders, marketers, human resource professionals and certainly anyone responsible for process improvement in an organization….

As a final note…gotta run down to my mail box….I looking forward to some happiness being delivered today…placed an order on Zappos last evening, got an email an hour later telling me it was packed and shipped and  already in route to my house  and may even get here today… LOVE YA ZAPPOS.

(Disclosure: I received an advance copy of Delivering Happiness through a call for bloggers who would write reviews. The criteria for receiving an advance copy was that I would give an honest review of the book, which if you got this far, you have read. Cheers!)

Baker McKenzie beat Skadden in gross revenues in the 2010 AmLaw 200 list taking over the top spot for the first time since 1994. That’s a big deal, I guess.

Ben Hallman writes in “Behind the Numbers: A Change at the Top”, (The American Lawyer, April 19,2010) that Baker McKenzie, the largest U.S. based law firm with nearly 4,000 lawyers in 39 countries, although #1 in gross revenues took a hit in profits per partner—now falling just below the 1 mil mark. Probably a bigger deal, I guess, because the firm has cut staff and lawyers significantly in order to get that number back where it belongs. (Author acknowledges this is a big deal to those people and sincerely feels their pain.)

But, most interesting to me, in writing this post about branding, are the brief comments in Hallman’s article where Baker McKenzie Chairman, John Conroy, Jr. attributes some of their success to a “rigorous branding analysis.”

Hallman writes:

“Still, surpassing Skadden to lead The Am Law 200 is a notable accomplishment. Conroy credits his firm’s success to a “rigorous branding analysis” that led to an office-by-office and practice-by-practice review.”

Says Conroy of their numbers:

“The result reflects the client response to our efforts. We’ve made a real effort to implement our strategy [emphasis added] as relentlessly as possible. It always helps when financial results vindicate our work.”

Corporate Actualization.

Baker McKenzie recently took home the prestigious top prize in the Identity Category at The Legal Marketing Association’s 2010 Your Honor Awards. Indeed their new brand was a visually well executed entry, however, if I’m reading Conroy’s comment correctly it wasn’t the visual results that made the re-branding most valuable to the firm and its clients, it was the process—the rigorous branding analysis—and the outcome of that exercise that enabled them to re-connect with clients and ultimately drive their revenues. A lesson for anyone in the throes of re-branding…your comments welcome.

The re-branding helped the firm to focus on their potential– we can assume –and to assess and draw up a strategy to meet what their clients’ value most in the delivery and execution of their services. We may also assume that “an office-by-office and practice-by-practice review” was essential for all professionals in the firm to get on the same page.

In this author’s opinion, therein lies the essential value of branding. Only after that hard work of self-analysis—who we are and what our clients’ value—is done can a firm focus on brand communications such as websites, social media interaction, and content offerings. This is not a task for the weak of mind or self-centered, egoist entity.

Communicating your brand.

Once the brand is actualized, the words and visuals should combine to tell your true story, connect with the audience and evoke a response. It takes all that to be successful. If your brand—who you are—resonates with the client, it won’t be hard.

Heather Milligan writes over on the Legal Watercooler:

“Any attorney who has ever worked with me knows my first command is: make certain that the client sees him/herself and their problems (along with your solutions) in your marketing materials (practice descriptions, attorney bios, client alerts, PowerPoint presentations, etc).”

Heather’s comments reminded me of an email I received recently that illustrates the first command concept, albeit in a whimsical way:

A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign that said:  “I am blind, please help.” There were only a few coins in the hat.

A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words. Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy.

That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, “Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write?”

The man said, “I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way.” I wrote: “Today is a beautiful day but I cannot see it.”

Both signs told people that the boy was blind. But, the first sign simply said the boy was blind, putting the focus on features; i.e. I am blind, I am a litigator, I am a Super Lawyer, I try “bet the company” cases.

The second sign told people that they were so lucky that they were not blind. The focus shifted to client, i.e., my world, my options, my values, my opportunities.

Should we be surprised that the second sign was more effective?

Although this is a simplistic illustration, and some may argue manipulative, it is what a client saw in the boy’s brand that was valuable to him—a reminder that the day was beautiful and he could see it—the client wrote the message for him. It expressed the client perspective and resonated meaning to others as was evidenced in this non-scientific study which resulted in an increase of gross revenues (tee hee).

Despite the flaws in the illustration, are you asking your clients’ what they value in your services and expertise—specifically?

Bottom line: branding wears two hats; corporate-actualization seeking to understand the full potential of what you have to offer a client and, artfully communicating those benefits in a way the client can see him or herself and their problems in the context of the law firm’s brand.

Nothing new, nothing shocking here; but serves as a reminder that…

“Yes, Mr. Vice-President, This is a big “f—ing” deal.”

Where does your law firm stack up? Are you creating experiences or are you delivering “business as usual?”

I wish I had some really good excuse for not publishing to my blog in over a week; like I tripped, fell and broke both my hands. But I don’t. Fact is, I’m still in the belly of the beast finishing up my manuscript for social.lawyer due to my publisher Thomson/West this week! Yikes!

Even if I had an a good excuse for my readers or my publishers, I’d be falling beneath the Amazon standard of Disney delivery,  the very thing I strive for in every business encounter and encourage my law firm clients to do: deliver Amazon or  Walt Disney to your clients.

Every time I order from Amazon (or Zappos – thanks for your support of professional tennis – love ya!), it amazes me. I get the feeling I’m a kid at Disney World.  It starts with the appeal: millions of choices, millions of visuals, with hundreds of people standing beside me saying I liked that and you might too.

From start to finish it’s an experience, not just a purchase. It’s so easy to use their one click button and buy with confidence knowing they they back up everything they distribute. (True for me in over eight years and counting.) But the crème de la crème is the delivery…it is an experience like no other online vendor. It is so efficient and they always seem to exceed my expectation even though they clearly state when the delivery will be made. As they say, they are in the business of delivering happiness.

What I don’t understand is why other online vendors can’t or don’t have the same standards of service? Why can’t they deliver happiness?

Amazon isn’t instant gratification; it’s better. Schlepping to a store and buying something that I immediately take home and use isn’t nearly as gratifying as shopping (with my unknown friends who review products and give objective advice) and getting that package in the mail a day or two later. For a few dollars more per year I sign up for Prime Shipping on Amazon, which means I get most items virtually overnight or second day delivery. Whether or not they beat their deadlines it always feels like it. It’s VIP treatment and it works. (Shouldn’t your law firm be doing this?)

It’s the Disney formula: book the trip, anticipate the day, then have it delivered perfectly exceeding expectations and leaving the client with good memories to share with others (or at least the perception thereof). Disney doesn’t sell rides and Amazon doesn’t sell products; they sell experiences. (And shouldn’t your law firm be doing this, too?)

No offense to the “other” online stores I’ve made purchases with over the last few weeks while I’ve been locked down to my computer drafting my book, taking only a few minutes to contemplate the things I need and steal a minute to order them online—yes, I have the iPad in my shopping cart on Apple.com but have yet hit the purchase button. I still have the capacity to see the difference between needs and wants. Quite unfortunate for my bank charge accounts.

Sorry but, Nordstrom and Gap you just aren’t cutting it. If the only time I have to shop online is on a Saturday morning and you tell me that it will take five to seven business days to arrive (excluding Sat and Sunday when your offline stores are open) after the order is acknowledged (Monday) you are NOT delivering a happiness experience.  You’re not making me mad and it doesn’t stop me from buying your stuff- yet-you are just not making me happy. I recently purchased from both vendors and waited and waited and waited, till it was so anti-climactic that when I got the box my feeling was “Finally! I thought you had forgotten about me.”

Maybe most people are used to that lag time; it’s business as usual. Maybe I’m just spoiled because Amazon rocks and I use them religiously. Still, when it all comes down to where I’m going to purchase something, I’ll choose happy—the one that ensures my experience always exceeds my expectations—over one that is doing business as usual. Better still for those who exceed my happiness quotient, I’ll tell my friends and my blog readers. How’s that figure into your business model…pretty solid I’d say.

There’s a lesson in this for me and for you. Is your law firm creating a Disney experience or is it business as usual? What do you think? Can law firms deliver a Disney or Amazon experience to their clients? Or are some law firms delivering the experience but aren’t doing enough to brand it so we’d know about it?

“There’s a lot of business done in country clubs, but you’ll never see a company open a booth in the club’s dining room.  Instead, individual business people network quietly there, blending into the scene and using the social atmosphere to their advantage.  That’s how I feel about Facebook, at least for now.  Individual lawyers and strategists can get a lot of benefit from Facebook.  But as soon as the firm comes in, as the firm, it somehow breaks the social rules of the medium and calls negative attention to itself. “ A comment from an attorney in response to my post from the other day….

For two years now I’ve been using the comparison of old things in new places, i.e. LinkedIn becomes the Chamber of Commerce, Martindale.com Connected is the Bar association meeting, Twitter the cocktail party and Facebook is like the country club, to illustrate how the new social web tools fit into our lives. We’re not doing anything different—humans seek connections—we’re doing the same things only differently. I’m not suggesting that online tools can replace the benefits of face-to-face socializing, but I know first hand that together offline and online networking are a complimentary duo.

Yesterday, Curt Meltzer, the editor of PinHawk Legal Tech Digest (sign up for a free trial here), who shared that attorney’s comment with me, added….

“I reminded my friend that law firms have often (at least in the past) rented tents at golf events/tournaments, spending lavishly on client entertainment. The name of the firm is typically evident on the outside of the tent. The good old days!”

And they still do, sometimes with great branding benefit. So is there a difference between sponsoring a sporting event at a country club and hosting a Facebook Fan Page? Let’s explore…..

What is a Facebook Fan Page?

According to Facebook, they noticed that people were trying to connect with brands and famous artists in ways that didn’t quite work on Facebook. So they created a feature, Fan Pages, where you connect with your favorite artists, movies, celebrities, and businesses, and show your Friends what you care about and recommend by adding those Fan Pages to your personal profile. Likewise, you can also see which Pages your friends are fans of via the “Info” tab on their profile.

Brilliant! Especially if you have a brand that people want to follow. Tell a friend marketing has always been a powerful strategy and the Internet is making it even easier with reviews, favorites, recommendations, and comments. We all pretty much trust the opinions of our friends when it comes to making decisions about what we purchase, right?

Brand or celebrity Fan Pages are effectively like normal profiles on the site and have the ability to have friends, add pictures, and applications. They have tabs that uncover more information and Page owners communicate by “updates” which show on the update tab, or a person’s wall if they select to show them in their updates. Unlike normal profiles, however, a Fan page has two walls; one for what the Page owner writes, and one for fans to write their own messages.

Can Law Firm Brands Have Fans?

Sure, why not? Corporate America is jumping on board in droves, so, why not law firms? Some corporate brands are actually doing it quite well. They have figured out creative ways to engage their fans –coupons, contests, applications, games, service operations, special offers, give-aways, and so on.

Law firms, on the other hand, that have launched Fan Pages tend to be more conservative. They use them to push out press releases, articles, announcements and event invitations. On law firm Pages, Wall postings by Fans are pretty much non-existent. Seriously, what would a law firm Fan write? And so, while the lack of interactivity and conversation on law firm Fan pages goes against the social web purist in me, the fact is, hey, why not brand your law firm on Facebook? It’s another opportunity for name recognition, presence in search results, and another channel to push messages for a small investment of the marketing department’s time to set it up and keep it populated. Seems to me that the larger or more international the law firm the more likely a Fan Page would fit into a social media strategy as they are more “brand” focused than their smaller, local brethren. But who knows…..

Here’s a list of AmLaw 100 firms with Fan Pages that John Byrne of Drinker Biddle put together on The ByrneBlog. I looked at a few and went ho-hum. The tone of the Page was flat and in some cases they even took the About copy from their firm web site and pasted into the info page. No attempt to be creative or even adjust the language and style to reflect a more hip persona. Oh well….there are a few bright spots.

Check out the Fan Page for Baker Daniels created by Melanie Green and her marketing team, which is like a mini-law firm web site on Facebook! Of all the law firm Fan Pages they seem to be getting closest. Recently they launched a survey for their Fans with a hook to be entered into a drawing to win B&D branded stuff if you completed it.

The verdict as to whether a law firm (as opposed to an individual with a profile page and social networking goals) can achieve much in the Facebook space beyond a push-messaging channel is still out and probably will be for a while. Offering an iPhone app of your blog content from your Fan Page may be a start, but hardly something to talk about. (Give me a good example of a law firm using Fan Pages interactively in the comments below and I’ll send you a copy of my new book, social.lawyer, when West Publishing releases it this summer.)

Meanwhile, it’s smart to keep your options open.  To create a fan page, one simply has to go to here and create it. You can access the Facebook Help Center to get ideas on how to promote it, get fans and cool things to add to it.

And finally, for those who are confused about the difference between Fan Pages and Groups I’ll cover that in my next post…till then…Happy Facebooking!

There’s been a curious amount of discussion among law firm marketers, this New Year, about branding. When it comes to launching brand campaigns for law firms, the past two years have been as flat as the world before Magellan. It seemed as if everyone locked down the steering wheel and few boats left the harbor.

However, one seaworthy crew from a well-established Norfolk Virginia law firm, with roots back to 1918 and offices overlooking the lovely Elizabeth River and the world-famous Port of Norfolk, smartly set sail on their journey despite the gloomy outlook.

I had an exceptional opportunity to converse with the ever-illustrious, first-rate mate, Janet L. Davis, (JLD) law marketer at Kaufman & Canoles, P.C, last month after the launch of her firm’s fresh new branding and client service initiative that was in the making since 2007. The following summarizes some of the detailed information, she so generously shared, about how her firm developed core values and incorporated them into a firm wide brand identity that encapsulated what the firm stands for, and how that identity helps them focus internally. Perhaps her experience will give you some wind for your sails.

JN: What was the over-riding or critical event that caused you to revisit your core values and carry out a full-on client service initiative?

JLD: Kaufman & Canoles has always been proactive in regularly reviewing their strengths and weaknesses internally with their lawyers and staff, and compare them to other law firms in our market.  We continually conduct casual interviews with our clients to determine their satisfaction and recommend areas for improvement.  However, the key event was our new chairman’s commitment to branding as part of his vision for leading the law firm into the future.

JN: How did you get started?

JLD: In 2007 we conducted an internal attorney survey, using an online survey tool, to uncover their opinions on the strengths, weaknesses and opportunities for the firm. In 2008 we enlisted our marketing firm, OTTO, to conduct personal interviews with 20 select attorneys to dig deeper into their thinking, their personal vision for the firm and their opinions on various management and client service topics.

We began to recognize common themes and threads in what we observed and heard both internally with our staff and externally from clients. Using initial value statements developed by the firm, along with the insight from research and interviews, we arrived at 11 core value statements and a brand promise:  “We Can. And we will.”

JN: What happened next?

JLD: After further refining of the value statements through a newly formed Branding committee which consisted of key attorneys, the Director of Administration, the Marketing Director (me), and our CEO, Bill Van Buren, and with the help of our outside marketing firm, we distilled these 11 core value statements into three easy-to-remember ideals; integrity, stewardship and innovation.   We knew that these core values were important to the future of the firm. During the internal launch of our new brand we formally presented the entire staff with a brand architecture model providing a visual framework for the core values and brand promise.

JN: I understand that the branding campaign wasn’t limited to a new tag line, but also placed a high priority on getting the firm to buy into a new era of service.

JLD: Yes, we believe the core values must adopted by everyone in the firm from the receptionist to IT to secretaries to attorneys.   Each person has a specific and important role to play as they interact with our clients and their peers. So, we implemented GEM-Going the Extra Mile.  The GEM program recognizes staff members who adopt and personify our core values.  Any person can nominate any one in the firm and a prize and certificate are given out monthly to the winner.   Winners are photographed accepting the award and the photo is posted in the firm’s newsletter. The firm also has The Beryl Atkinson Award; given annually, with a generous cash award, to the staff person who exemplifies the firm’s commitment to client service.

JN: What do you consider the highlights of the client service part of your brand initiative?

JLD: Return calls or emails within 24 hours; give feedback and updates to our clients about their cases – sometimes regardless of whether they want them (i.e. Hunter Sims video ); and offer more educational seminars and newsletters for clients with the latest, relevant information for their business.

JN: What were some of your first obstacles?

JLD: Variety and diversity of opinion about what the new brand identity should look like.

JN: What are the ongoing challenges?

JLD: Successful branding can’t be completed and placed on a shelf. We continually look for strategies to reinforce our core values among staff and promote them consistently to our clients through our actions.

JN: How long did it take to get things going and how long did it take to arrive at a point where you felt you achieved your goal?

JLD: Once the momentum started, most people were on board and excited about the prospect of having a unified reason to be the very best law firm we could be for our clients and for future generations. The process took about 12 months.

Thanks Janet.  Visit www.kaufcan.com to see their BRAND new website. Check out the videos tab on the upper right utility bar. They’re some of the best I’ve seen!

Do you have a new brand roll out in your future? Let us know how it’s going…