Answering Legal Presents: The Lawyer’s Complete Guide To 2021
The legal profession is constantly changing, and there’s a lot attorneys need to know these days in order to ensure their firms have a chance to be successful. In this guide we’ll help prepare lawyers for everything that may come their way in 2021.
We’ll be discussing COVID-19, leadership, technology, law firm websites, content marketing, search marketing, video creation, public relations, legal conferences and much more! Along the way you’ll get to hear from our writing staff and company CEO, as well experts from CASEpeer, LawLytics, Everest Legal Marketing and Reputation Ink. We hope the information below helps lead you to tremendous success in the new year.
Stories Featured In This Guide:
- Keeping Your Firm Running During COVID-19
- 5 Tips On Managing Your Staff In 2021
- Best Books For Law Firm Leaders
- A New Legal Tech Revolution
- 5 Legal Tech Tips For 2021
- Checking In On Your Website
- 5 Website Building Tips For 2021
- Explore Our Let’s Talk Legal Marketing Community
- Content Marketing Dos and Don’ts
- 6 SEO Tips For 2021
- YouTube Marketing Tips From A Pair Of Leading Law Firms
- Rules To Follow When Engaging With Local Media
- 5 Public Relations Tips For 2021
- 2021 Legal (Virtual) Conference Schedule
- Introducing The Everything Except The Law Podcast
- 5 Reasons To Invest In A 24/7 Answering Service For 2021
Keeping Your Firm Running During COVID-19
It isn’t an easy time to be managing a law firm, especially if you practice in an area where clients haven’t been pursuing cases at their usual rate. But there does seem to be hope for the future. As Clio’s 2020 Legal Trends Report states, the events of this past year may have given the legal world the push it needed to update many of its outdated ways of doing business and take steps towards creating a more efficient and sustainable future.
Looking forward, as we look to build a better normal for the future of legal practice, building firm infrastructure for more flexible and robust legal services will be critical. The advantages gained in building these systems based on cloud technologies will ensure the ability to work with clients in person or online—whatever is most suitable to the client at the time. In turn, these innovations will create more resilient business structures designed to withstand even the challenges posed by a global pandemic. Firms that adapt to these challenges will also prove more successful over time.” -2020 Clio Legal Trends Report
So yes, the industry got a much-needed wake up call and things could be looking up in the long-term. But there is still much work to be done, as we collectively work to overcome the obstacles created by this current time of crisis. Here are some things lawyers should be prioritizing in 2021.
Be prepared to thrive virtually.
Even if you’ve already returned to your physical office or have a plan to do so soon, making sure your firm is technologically equipped to handle working outside of the office is an absolute must. No one knows what this pandemic will require of us next, so take steps to prepare your practice for any situation that might be thrown its ways. Be ready not only to communicate with clients virtually, but electronically collect their intake information, handle their payments, and share their documents. Your mindset should no longer be, “I’m just getting by virtually until the pandemic ends”. Instead carry the mindset of, “let’s make our firm entirely digital so we can succeed under any conditions”.
Increase your availability to clients and new prospects.
If your firm is seeing a decrease in new leads, it’s extremely important that you make the most of all the client opportunities that you still do have. Aim to provide a higher level of customer service than usual, so that clients will want to use you again in the future and tell all their family and friends to use you too. Make sure your firm is always giving clients a live person to speak with, and if they leave a message with your receptionist, don’t wait long to give them a call back. Also give your clients multiple avenues for staying in touch with you, such as video conferencing and text messaging. When it comes to requests from new prospects, make sure your firm is always responding right away. Never let new leads go to voicemail, and invest in phone answering help if you need it.
Make sure you keep yourself running.
2020 was difficult on all of us, and it is important that lawyers make self-care a priority during this time. If you’re dealing with any level of depression, anxiety, or burnout, know that you aren’t alone. In fact, we’re happy to see that conversations about these topics are starting to become much more commonplace in the legal field. For more information on organizations that can help guide lawyers through wellness related struggles, check out this guide we released back in October.
Bookmark these pages.
Keep up with all of the most recent COVID-19 developments in the legal world by regularly visiting the four sites linked below.
Fast Facts
75 percent of U.S. employees do not stay at their jobs for more than five years. (iHire)
59 percent of people in Generation Z say they expect to stay with their current employer for less than two years. (Deloitte)
Highly engaged business units achieve 59 percent less turnover. (Gallup)
5 Tips On Managing Your Staff
The job of CEO seems glamorous to most – and I’m not here to tell you that that’s not true. However, being the CEO of a company like Answering Legal presents obstacles that typical businesses have never really thought about, but left us uniquely prepared to handle transitioning our staff to working from home, and left us in the best possible scenario to manage all of our staff during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Obviously, we’re a 24 hour answering service, which means we have to always be ready for challenges and hurdles that come our way. We also built our infrastructure to be highly portable, because failover for our answering service is what makes us reliable for our customers. So, we felt that we were able to handle these transitions with a bit of grace, and are eager to share them with you now. Here are some tips on managing your staff that we’ve seen great success with.
1- Empower your employees to work as effectively as possible.
It wasn’t really a decision to start working from home; it was a necessity. The risks of performing our jobs in person were far too great, and we all needed to comply with the stay at home order. So, as we transitioned our work force to work from their homes, it was extremely important for us to give our employees the tools to succeed, and not micromanage or frustrate them as we asked them to continue working through hard times. So, what do I mean by empowerment when I talk about employees?
Let your employees know that you trust them to make the proper decisions when it comes to taking care of your customers, and that you are here to help if they have any problems. Let them know that they are absolutely not alone in their duties, and that there is an entire team and organization behind them. This should come after you’ve properly trained your employees, of course, to perform the duties you’ve required of them. After you feel that your employee is trained and capable, support them by empowering them with a team, and not hanging them out to dry if they make a mistake. Instead, if a mistake is made, go back to training and make the mistake into a learning experience.
2- Provide your staff with the tools they need to succeed.
We worked with every one of our employees to make sure they had a proper workspace, internet availability, phone, and even furniture to perform their job at a comfortable level. In doing so, we can rest assured that our staff is able to perform the job we’ve asked them to, without hindering their ability. We let our employees “sign out” their usual work equipment and kept track of who has which piece of equipment.
Law firms, you can do the same thing. Let your employees take their equipment home, and help coordinate to make their transition as smooth as possible. Create a spreadsheet of which employee took which piece of equipment, and label each item appropriately. Then, make sure your employees are able to get everything working. If they need to remote in, help them in the process of getting set up. Here are some actionable things you can do to make sure they’re ready to work remotely.
- Give employees their own virtual conference logins (Zoom, Google Meets, Jitsi, etc.)
- Help get work phones set up by contacting your phone provider. If you use a VoIP, you should be able to plug the phone into the internet at the employee’s remote station. If you use a traditional landline, you might want to forward the calls to your employee’s desired phone number.
- Make sure employees have adequate furniture to work from home. Ask if they need a desk, a chair, or any other materials that will make their work from home experience easier. You can even let employees take home their existing desks or chairs, provided they’re not too heavy.
3- Communicate, don’t micromanage.
As soon as we reached decisions in our organization on how we were going to handle the workforce, how we were going to give employees the materials they needed to perform their jobs, and how we were scheduling shifts to ensure we maintained 24 hour coverage, we let our staff know so that they could prepare themselves to help us get to work. Micromanaging often left us sensing the feeling of resentment from employees, and we’d rather all of our staff be in a great mood than feel unimportant. That’s why we give them the tools to succeed, and let them do their best work for us.
However, keeping all of these things in mind, it was important that we set up and managed a communication platform whereby we could be contacted by our employees, and employees could speak with each other in order to work together and get things done. Using platforms such as Slack, Flock, or Jabber, we were able to foster better communication between team members.
4- Provide helpful feedback.
We use various methods of communication in our teams, spanning from instant messaging channels, to emails, to even text messages or phone calls between everyone in the organization. However, in order to maintain quality control on our phone calls, there’s always a few people from our quality control team listening in on phone calls. Rather than use the “big brother” attitude and reprimand agents when they’ve made a mistake, we try to provide helpful feedback and let them know what they could do better for us next time.
Discipline isn’t always necessary, especially when intentions are good. Remember, we are all always learning and improving. Similarly, point out and praise a job well done when you’ve recognized it. The attitude of, “Well, it’s their job. They should do it well,” is outdated and unappreciative. Let your employees know when you recognize a job well done.
5- Be direct with your employees.
It’s no secret that it’s a difficult time to be a small business owner. Set clear expectations with your employees so that they know what you are looking for and they can align their intentions with your strategies. If you don’t express the importance of certain tasks or duties with your employees, how will they know how to best take care of your business?
Sir Richard Branson famously says, “If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”
Best Books For Law Firm Leaders
There was a lot going on in 2020, so we won’t blame you if you haven’t done much reading over the past year. But, let’s make 2021 the year we get back to educational reading. For those running firms that are looking to improve upon the way they currently do business, and educate themselves on the latest trends of the legal world, the following six books are absolute must-reads.
Long-time Michigan personal injury attorney Mike Morse says running his firm more like a business has been a major key to his success over the past few decades. These days, he doesn’t make a single decision for his firm without referring to data first. In “Fireproof”, Morse and his COO John Nachazel go in-depth on the importance of tracking your firm’s numbers, and how to build a law firm that is prepared to handle any crisis that comes its way. Learn more about the origins of this book in the video below.
When Answering Legal spoke with attorney Eric Farber about “The Case For Culture” back in February, he told us this book was about putting people first. “Everyone, from the person answering the phone to the most senior counsel is crucial to building a great culture and organization,” Farber said. In this book, Farber explains how to transform the culture around your firm, and get your staff to come together and rally around a shared mission of success.
In his latest book, Alabama attorney Jeremy Richter provides a blueprint for long-term sustainability in the legal world. “Level Up Your Law Practice” covers topics such as the importance of mindset, building collaborative relationships with clients and why lawyers must always be examining their processes. Get to know the author a bit in the below clip.
Clio has long been an industry leader in analyzing the habits of legal consumers. In “The Client-Centered Law Firm”, company CEO Jack Newton shares his thoughts on what law firms must be providing their clients these days if they hope to be successful in the 2020s and beyond. It is made clear in this book that how lawyers provide their services is just as important as what they provide. Hear Jack talk about his book in the clip below.
Where is the legal industry heading next? In “New Suits”, Michele DeStefano and Guenther Dobrauz-Saldapenna provide a closer look at how advancing technology, new business models and altered client expectations are shaping the future of law. The book explains why attorneys shouldn’t fear the future, but instead take this opportunity to reinvent the way they do business. See Michele talk about the importance of legal innovation in the clip below.
For those that didn’t get the opportunity to check out our latest marketing survey eBook, we encourage you to do so. Inside this free guide, you’ll find data from a 21-question legal marketing survey we conducted, as well as exclusive insight on how to grow your firm from a panel of 13 legal marketing experts.
Fast Facts
AI technology offerings for businesses have increased nearly two-thirds since 2019. (IndustryArc)
In 2019, 58% of law firms were using cloud technology. (ABA)
In a 2019 report, just 34% of law firms felt their firm was very prepared to keep up with technology changes in the legal market. (Wolters Kluwer)
A New Legal Tech Revolution
No it didn’t come easily. Much of the legal world was basically forced into it kicking and screaming by a global pandemic. But, it appears that we’re finally seeing a new wave of legal technology adoption.
With attorneys having to operate remotely for parts of or in some cases all of 2020, equipping your firm with reliable legal tech has become much more of a priority over the past year. Even long-time lawyers that had been getting things done within a physical infrastructure for decades were finally forced to reevaluate their ways.
If the events of this past year weren’t enough to convince you to at least start exploring new softwares and cloud-based technology for your firm, we have to ask… WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? Take a moment to watch the below clip of long-time law firm consultant Jared Correia explaining the advantages of transitioning to a digital law office.
For those that didn’t watch the whole clip, you’ll at least want to take note of Jared’s ending statement. “Look at every aspect of what you do in a given day, figure out what the tasks are, and then automate as many of them as you can,” Correia said.
By taking steps now to digitize your firm, you’ll be setting yourself up to work more efficiently and ultimately spend less time on day-to-day office and case management tasks. You’ll also be giving yourself a chance to make a lot more money.
Check out this data from Clio’s 2020 Legal Trends Report:
- Firms using electronic payments collected $10,429 more per lawyer in 2019, and are projected to collect $15,179 more in 2020.
- Firms using client portals collected $16,556 more per lawyer in 2019, and are projected to collect $23,587 more in 2020.
- Firms using client intake and CRM software collected $15,124 more per lawyer in 2019, and are projected to collect $27,304 more in 2020.
- Firms using multiple legal technology solutions collected $19,541 more per lawyer in 2019, and are projected to collect $37,622 more in 2020.
So which legal softwares offer the solutions you’re looking for? There are countless great options available to attorneys today, but here are a few of our favorites.
Best softwares for overall practice management: Clio Manage, Filevine, Zola Suite, CosmoLex, PracticePanther
Best software for legal payment management: LawPay
Best software for personal injury attorneys: CASEpeer
Best softwares for legal intake management: Clio Grow, Filevine
Best software for appointment scheduling: 10to8
Best software for task management: Todoist
Best software for time tracking: Toggl
Best software for internal communication: Slack
Best software for text messaging clients: Zipwhip
Best software for handling website leads: Gideon
For a more in-depth look at top softwares options, see our list of 11 Best Legal Softwares. Also be sure to review our lists of 11 Apps Lawyers Need To Be Using and 11 Marketing Tools Lawyers Need To Invest In.
5 Legal Tech Tips For 2021
A lot has changed in the last ten months. Technology adoption in law firms moved from important to essential. Legal tech and productivity tools are ever-evolving, it’s time to make sure you’re using the most updated systems available. Here are five ways legal technology can effectively improve your legal practice in 2021.
1- Transition data and files to “The Cloud”
The Cloud is no longer optional. When an entire firm needs to transition to working from home overnight, having the flexibility to access your firm’s data remotely is essential. Maintaining a cloud infrastructure is vital to growing your firm.
Historically, law firms have been concerned with cloud security. However, cloud technology providers have shown their security measures are far superior compared to law firms’ local networks. Common safety measures include shatter-proof walls, video surveillance, sophisticated firewalls, retina scans, and more.
Has your business fully transitioned to the cloud? For many firms, it is a gradual approach affecting all operations including:
- Document storage
- Case management software
- Phone technology
- Accounting software
- Intra Office communication tools
If you and your firm had to work from home tomorrow, would you be able to transition easily? Identify areas of operations that still require moving to the cloud, make a plan. Cloud computing technology will empower you and your team to stay productive anywhere, anytime.
2- Rethink your firm’s hardware
Upgrading hardware technology is vital. The truth is, your staff productivity is only as good as the hardware they work on. Do their computers and phones allow them to transition easily between the office and home? If you’re like most law firms, your answer is probably “no.”
While updating computers and phones can become expensive, think of long-term team productivity. Consider mobility and stability for your next hardware purchase. A laptop and monitor setup is initially more expensive, but will certainly pay off with increased efficiency.
Still relying on desk phones? Most firms are on VoIP phone networks, but are dependent on operating through their office network and hardphones. Talk to an IT consultant about softphone options, so your team can remain productive even during uncertain times.
3- Upgrade your case and practice management software
If your firm still depends on paper files – even if you have case management software – there’s no better time than the present to evaluate your options. Depending on paper files is a handicap, and will limit your law firm’s flexibility, productivity, and growth. While comparing software options, make a list of your firm’s needs and wants. Then find a technology that meets all of your needs and some (or most) of your wants.
Consider the following:
- Will the software improve your level of client care?
- Does the software track all relevant case and client information?
- Do you want document storage integrated into your case management system?
- Does the software integrate effectively with other tools your firm uses?
Case management software is the hub of your business. Upgraded systems, like CASEpeer, have built-in accountability tracking features, making it easy to monitor productivity in the office and working remotely. The right technology can take you to a new level of efficiency and profitability.
4- Evaluate cloud-based accounting software
While moving to the cloud, firms find transitioning operations like accounting to be the most difficult. It’s hard to introduce change because attorneys are often dependent on outside accountants, used to working with one or two mainstream accounting softwares.
Building a successful law firm means evaluating technology critically. Mainstream accounting software is not ideal for law firms and, more importantly, is not IOLTA compliant.
Does your firm lose track of out of pocket expenses? Do you know how long money has been sitting in each of your trust accounts? Can you pull up the starting and ending balance of a client’s trust for any given month?
It’s time for something stronger. Today, there are several reputable cloud-based accounting software programs designed just for law firms. Whether you choose Soluno or TrustBooks, your firm can be more flexible – and more compliant – than you would be, settling with a legacy accounting solution.
With the right cloud-based software your firm should be able to track time, log fees and costs, print ledgers, and run reports. Adopt technology that will maintain a full audit trail. Using legacy software may cause your firm to leave money on the table, change your future and upgrade today.
5- Bring internal communications into the 21st century
Are your internal office communications effective? If you’re not using cloud-based team chat technology, now is the time to start. It will provide your firm with the opportunity to speak and make plans of action from anywhere, at any time. Chat technology is the ultimate form of accessibility for powerful intra office communication.
Optimal features from an office chat app include:
- A Sophisticated mobile application, for communicating on-the-go
- Organize conversations by topic, creating groups and channels
- Tag team members in the application, quickly bringing important things to their attention
- Capability to search across conversations, channels, files, and direct messages
Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google Chat, and Discord are examples of widely adopted chat applications. At CASEpeer, we love using Slack to communicate as a team. We have channels for our teams, integrations, and culture-building. It’s an instant messaging tool designed for the modern workplace. One of our favorite features is the ability to set a reminder to revisit a chat you’ve received.
Whether you are working from home or heading back into the office, 2021 is a promising year for law practices. Using up-to-date technology and practices lets your firm reach its peak performance quicker than you’d think.
About the author: CASEpeer is a cloud-based case management software, designed specifically for those in personal injury law. Their software has been created for law firms who want to encourage accountability, empower staff, and make data driven decisions. CASEpeer is built to assist with intake tracking, e-signatures, task management, texting, discovery management, automated calendaring, letter generation, document management and more.
To learn more about CASEpeer, visit their website here.
Fast Facts
56% of organic search traffic comes from mobile phones. (Statista)
52% of consumers say that a bad mobile experience will make them lose faith in the company. (Think With Google)
A great user interface can boost your website’s conversion rate by 200%. A better overall UX design can bring that number to up to 400%. (Forbes)
Checking In On Your Website
In the digital age, law firms can’t afford to be without a strong online presence, and having any kind of real web presence is just about impossible without possessing a high-quality law firm website. Before offering you some tips on making your website more engaging and user friendly in the next section, let’s go over some of the basics of what your website will require in order to have a chance at performing at a high level in 2021.
A mobile-friendly design
More and more legal clients are accessing law firm websites from their smartphones and tablets these days. Make sure your website is responsive, meaning it fits the screen size of different devices automatically. Also when choosing things for your website like fonts, logos and navigation menus, always consider how they will look on smaller screens.
Fast loading pages
We’re all pretty spoiled these days when it comes to interacting with websites. If the pages on your firm’s website are taking more than three seconds to load, you can expect a lot of users to get frustrated and exit your site in a hurry. In fact, data shows that slow moving websites lead to $2.6 billion revenue lost each year. To find out if your site has page speed issues, this free tool from Google is a good place to start. Their PageSpeed Insights tool will provide you with a roadmap on how to improve your page load time.
Compelling attorney bio pages
As legal PR expert Michelle Calcote tells us in the below video, attorney bio pages are the top visited pages on a law firm website. Remember that your clients aren’t just looking to hire a firm, but want to get to know the person they are hiring as well. At smaller firms, the attorney is truly the product. Use these pages to tell site visitors exactly why they should want your attorneys representing them. While sprinkling in some credentials and achievements can add value, you’ll also want to tell stories that showcase why your attorney is great at what they do, and where their passion for their job originates from. Hire a professional content writer if you need help with these pages. They matter a lot.
Credibility builders
There’s perhaps no better ways to sell your legal services than to have a former client do it for you. Consumers will almost always trust the words of a peer more than that of a business they haven’t used before. Have client testimonials and links to case studies prominently featured on your website, and let someone else tell the story of what your firm did for them and how you improved their life for the better.
An active blog
Data shows that blogging leads to 55% more website visitors. Your blog is your way to sell potential clients on the value of what your firm can provide without it coming across as overly salesy. Simply put, blogging remains one of the best ways to showcase expertise to prospects and build trust. Do research on the topics your clients are searching for and commit to blogging regularly.
Expert guidance
Website development is pretty complex these days, and chances are there’s at least a few things that can be improved upon with your existing site. All law firms would be wise to consult with a company or individual that has a high level of experience in building law firm websites. Digital marketing isn’t going away anytime soon, so make the investment to make your website an elite performer.
5 Website Building Tips For 2021
Your law firm’s website needs to be engaging and user friendly to attract visitors and convert them into potential clients. Here’s how to reliably and predictably attract and convert web visitors into new business for your law firm.
1- Understand your potential clients’ online behavior
Whether potential clients know they need a lawyer or are starting research on their legal situation, more than one in three potential clients begin searching for an attorney online.
The most successful law firm websites anticipate potential client behavior. These websites display prominently in search results because potential clients use search engines as a research library. They ask complex questions to Google and look for law firm websites that provide tailored, easy-to-understand information that helps them make decisions. That means Google wants to return these kinds of websites to them.
Attorneys who understand what Google and potential clients want from a law firm website can engage and convert web visitors predictably.
2- Remember that website content is what drives search engine optimization (SEO)
Google’s motto is to “Make pages for users, and not for search engines.” It’s easy to see why: People rely on Google to get the best search results for their questions. The best search results provide detailed, specific information to answer a question.
As a result, Google needs high-quality content to return to users. If Google didn’t return accurate, appropriate information, it would erode user trust. That’s why Google prioritizes law firm websites that feature valuable, educational information and relegates sites with little information or poor user experience.
Content drives search engine optimization for law firms. Without it, any other SEO-related efforts won’t work.
3- Create unique, educational content that answers your potential clients’ questions
High-quality content attracts web visitors from search engines. But the value of content doesn’t end there: Once a potential client is at your law firm’s website, it’s the unique, educational content that potential clients engage with.
As they learn how to handle their problem, website content builds trust that encourages web visitors to contact your firm.
4- To increase conversions, eliminate distractions and trends in favor of user-friendly design
If web visitors navigate to your site from Google’s search results, they expect to consume the content that answers their questions without frustrations or distractions.
If pop-ups or autoplay videos pester them, or the images or ads on your site make it hard to locate the information they want, those web visitors won’t stick around to look for it.
A clean, straightforward design that supports your website’s content is what wins new clients. A poor user experience on your site will cause you to lose business to competing sites that focus on web visitors’ needs.
5- Make it easy for potential clients to contact your firm
You’ll want your potential clients to reach out to your law firm as soon as they determine that hiring you is in their best interest.
If your website visitors struggle to find contact information on your site, you might miss the chance to convert those visitors to clients for your firm.
Include prominent contact information on every page of your website (preferably in a permanent header or footer, as well as an easy-to-use form) and add calls-to-action (CTAs) to make it simple for potential clients to reach out to your firm.
Engaging law firm websites build trust with Google and potential clients
Much of the information about successful law firm websites is more noise than signal. That leads many attorneys to focus on SEO methods that don’t generate business for their firms or harm their web presence.
With so much online competition, the attorneys who build trust with search engines and potential clients attract more (and better) business to their law firms. The good news is that any attorney can easily succeed with access to the right tools and strategies.
About the author: Victoria Blute currently serves as director of communications at LawLytics. She leads weekly customers-only mastermind webinars, as well as the company’s podcast and public webinars. Today, LawLytics powers successful attorney websites across the United States and Canada, giving law firm owners the ability to grow their practices without compromising.
To learn more about LawLytics, visit their website here.
Fast Facts
High-quality content is still the number one factor in search engine ranking for Google. (Search Engine Watch)
86% of marketers said they were able to successfully reach their brand awareness-related goals with content marketing. (CMI)
1/3 of all online activity is spent watching video (Siteefy) and 32 % of Americans listen to podcasts monthly (Convince & Convert).
Explore Our Let’s Talk Legal Marketing Community
Has your firm recently been stumped by how to handle a certain marketing issue or how to best approach a certain marketing decision? If so, why not share your situation in our “Let’s Talk Legal Marketing” groups?
Answering Legal hosts online marketing communities on both Facebook and LinkedIn, and all lawyers and legal marketers are welcome to join. Our groups are completely free to be a part of, and will quickly become your favorite marketing resource.
Let’s go over some of the ways you can use our “Let’s Talk Legal Marketing” groups.
Ask for recommendations
Looking for a new content writer? Want information on a great website design company? Want to know if you can trust *insert marketing company name here*? Our Facebook and LinkedIn groups are full of lawyers who have already hired content writers, met with design companies and been scared off by shady marketers. They, along with the numerous marketing experts in our group, can give you honest feedback and assist you in making the right hiring decisions for your firm.
Get expert feedback
Sometimes just asking the people around your firm for feedback on a name, logo design or advertisement won’t be enough. As the head of your company, you never know who is giving you honest feedback, and who will just say anything in hopes of gaining a future promotion. Before committing to a marketing idea, ask for some thoughts from the attorneys and marketing experts in our marketing groups. You can set up poll questions, share images, or even share links to help get the best feedback possible. In most cases, you’ll get a ton of comments back.
Expand your marketing knowledge
Even if you don’t feel confident enough to start or chime in on group conversations right away, you’ll still want to join our groups and follow along. Some of the best legal marketing minds in the country are sharing ideas and thoughts in these groups, and chances are you’ll learn a few things and end up with lots of actionable tips for your firm.
Make valuable connections
Our marketing groups have become one of the best places for attorneys and legal marketers to network. Quite often we see conversations between members of our group lead to email exchanges and phone calls. Think of our groups as the ultimate virtual legal conference that never comes to an end.
Check the groups out now on Facebook and LinkedIn, and request to join.
Content Marketing Dos and Don’ts
Creating online content has always been a bit of a daunting process. Creating content with all that’s going on in the world right now is absolutely terrifying. However, now is not the time to abandon content creation. Quality content will still go a long way towards boosting your online presence and helping you connect with new clients. Even if you just begin by blogging, your firm needs to be doing something.
Need convincing that creating content will actually bring real results for your firm. Check out this story from Steven Long, the president of Precision Legal Marketing.
Before you begin putting together your next content marketing plan, let’s go over some basic dos and don’ts to be aware of in 2021.
Do set content goals
Setting goals is a must, especially during a time in which there is so much going on in the world to distract you from actually getting your blogging, vlogging and podcasting done. Setting monthly, quarterly and annual content creation goals will help keep you accountable. You’ll always know what you need to do more of, and will be able to plan out your schedule accordingly. So before you dive into any of the specifics of what your content will be about, lay out what it is you want to get done this year.
Don’t make your content plans inflexible
Making a schedule for when you want to release your content is smart. Being fully committed to posting content on a particular date no matter what is going on in the world is not smart. As we saw throughout 2020, the universe doesn’t really care about your content schedule. And when there are important new developments regarding topics such as COVID-19 or racial injustice, your new blog post about traffic ticket laws isn’t likely to get much traction. In fact, promoting such a post on the wrong day could make your firm seem extremely out of touch. Always be aware of what is going on in the world when you are releasing new content, and don’t be afraid to alter your content plans on the fly.
Do speak with clients before creating new content
Don’t make assumptions. Take the time to gain a proper understanding of what your clients are struggling with right now. Call up and email former clients and ask them how they’ve been doing during the pandemic. You’re likely to obtain valuable insight on the types of questions they currently have and what’s concerning them the most. You’ll want to know this information before you begin generating new content, because the future client you’re trying to reach likely will have many of the same questions and concerns.
Don’t let your opinions take priority over clients’ needs
Of course you have opinions on the things going on in the world right now. Everyone does. But the direction of your content needs to be client driven. You need to be addressing the issues that are directly impacting your target clients’ lives, and offering real solutions to their problems. Always make sure your content is presenting clients with something of real value. Also be cautious about sharing opinions that could be divisive. When you are diving into sensitive areas such as politics and religion, do your best to stick to the facts and not say something that might make a potential client feel alienated.
Do offer timely reactions to things going on in the world
Addressing things that are happening in the real world can make your content feel more relevant to potential clients, and allow you to share important messages with the support of real life examples. Don’t be afraid to weigh in on complicated issues such as COVID-19 or racial injustice if they currently relate to things going on in your field of law. Speaking up on such issues can be a great way for attorneys to establish themselves as true community leaders.
Don’t speak on sensitive issues before educating yourself
If you are going to speak up on hot button topics, take the time to really get to know the issues at hand first. Your content on these topics should also be geared more towards education and insight, rather than sharing bold opinions that might garner your firm the wrong kind of attention. Making sure the information you’re sharing is 100 percent accurate is also a must. No one wants to hire a law firm spreading misinformation.
Do push yourself out of your comfort zone
Video marketing is continuing to explode. Podcasting has also become a highly popular content avenue in recent years. If your firm doesn’t already have a presence in these areas, now is the time to get started. We know a lot of lawyers won’t be immediately comfortable stepping in front of a camera or speaking into a microphone. You probably won’t be that great at it either during your first few recording sessions. But, push through that initial awkwardness and expand your firm’s chances of reaching new clients online.
Don’t get frustrated by a lack of immediate results
If you are going to dive into YouTube marketing or podcasting, be prepared to make lots of content before you start consistently seeing new leads from your work. Also don’t be overly concerned with vanity numbers such as subscribers and likes. Instead focus your content on offering specific solutions to your target clients’ problems. Check out the video below of attorney Robert Gruler explaining some of the biggest obstacles he had to overcome in finding video marketing success for his firm.
Fast Facts
0.78% of Google searchers click on results from the 2nd page. (Backlinko)
62% of legal searches are non-branded (i.e. generic: Phoenix divorce attorney). (Uptime Juris Page)
69.7% of search queries contain four words or more. (Ahrefs).
6 SEO Tips For 2021
You may already know that search marketing—also known as Search Engine Optimization, or SEO — is the process of gaining traffic and visibility from search engines through organic (natural) rankings. However, did you realize that in our increasingly competitive marketplace, SEO is one of the most effective ways to grow your practice outside of referrals? People are increasingly becoming more comfortable with researching and making large & significant decisions based on the information they find online.
Perhaps the greatest strength of SEO is that law firms have the opportunity to place their website in front of motivated clients—hopefully, clients who are ready to retain an attorney quickly. After all, typically one does not accidentally search for a lawyer. “Search Engine Marketing” is different from SEO in that SEM is paid search marketing, where Google is paid by law firms for each click generated by their ads in the search results, also known as Pay-Per-Click (PPC). Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process by which a Page or article (blog post) on your website naturally appears in the organic or local section of a Search Engine Results Page (SERP).
Both SEM and SEO can have very different strategies, and you should seek an SEO firm with specific experience working with lawyers regardless of which mix of both you decide to pursue. “Lawyer” searches are often the most difficult to rank a website for, and you’ll likely get a better result if your vendor already deeply understands the legal field.
Here are six important Search Engine Optimization tips to follow in 2021:
1- Focus on User experience (UX)
The User Experience is crucial when embarking on an SEO campaign—even if your campaign is stellar, if your UX is not right, you will lose potential clients and the bounce rate may indicate that your website was not compelling for the user. In short, there is no point to great visibility, if your Users don’t find your site to be user-friendly, credible and authoritative. UX design revolves around your customers and their feelings, accomplishing this by preventing people from being greeted by intrusive pop-ups, links to dead pages, content with little to no value (or value only to a search engine), or unbearable load speeds.
Think about the following ways positive UX leads directly to customer satisfaction:
- UX is an inevitable element when it comes to building customer relationships, because it boosts customer satisfaction, and, in turn, gives you repeat business, as well as word-of-mouth business.
- While SEM and SEO are different, good UX improves SEO by contributing to visibility in searches, encouraging Users to explore content, and reducing bounce rate. Since Google gives consideration to the bounce rate (the lower the bounce rate, the higher indication to Google that your site has useful content), you improve SEO through UX.
- Great UX has a significant impact on your conversions. When Users have a positive User experience on your site, they are much more likely to purchase your product or service.
- Make absolutely sure your landing page offers a great UX. When the site a customer lands on fails to live up to their expectations, they are extremely likely to leave and find one that does.
- Make sure your site is mobile optimized. A very large number of mobile Users say they are much more likely to purchase a product or service from a mobile-friendly site and are frustrated when products are not properly optimized for mobile Users.
2- Write comprehensive, quality content on a primary topic and relevant subtopics
Many site owners worry constantly about the metrics for measuring content success. While organic traffic certainly tops the list, creating content that attracts organic traffic can be challenging. SEO can impact your performance positively over the long run, and when you optimize text at the beginning, you are saving time in the future, creating valuable content, and attracting new audiences. Google tends to deliver the most comprehensive content that matches the query, so think about Brian Dean’s “Skyscraper” technique.
The Skyscraper Technique relates to content marketing for link builders, and, in short, contains the following three steps:
- Find existing link-worthy content for phrases you are trying to compete for.
- Make it even better.
- Reach out to the right people & websites to get a link to the content.
The theory is to find the tallest “skyscraper” in your space, then add 20 stories to the top of it. Suddenly you have content everyone’s talking about—and linking to. Begin by researching popular trends, topics, and existing content in your topic areas that have already been well-received. Then look for new, unique ways to communicate the same message, but with your own twist (updated statistics, more engaging, better design). Once you have your new and improved content, reach out to those who have linked to similar content, and earn yourself a link. When you discover great content that is already successful, you know there is already a demand, leading to serious ranking potential.
3- Make sure you’ve claimed critical business listings with links to your website
Google has no idea who you are, what you do and where you’re located until you tell them. The way your law firm is perceived by Google is highly influenced by listings on websites that Google already trusts. Free (and paid) legal directories like Justia, Avvo and FindLaw, as well as Google My Business, Bing, Yelp, yellow page websites (IYPs) and more can help you earn trust. It is imperative that your listings display your firm name, address, and phone number correctly (NAP).
Google My Business (which handles more than two trillion searches a year) has the following tips for success:
- Avoid “spammy” business names—your business name on Google My Business should be your actual, real-world business name. In other words, don’t keyword-stuff your business name, or it will likely be flagged or automatically updated sooner or later.
- When creating business listings on directories, make sure they match your Google My Business name exactly.
- Make sure your website is listed on directories (when possible) and is correct.
- Make sure your phone number is listed and correct.
- Always add a photo and your logo when possible.
- Seek out some reviews on platforms that allow it, and respond to them if possible.
4- Make sure your website showcases your Expertise, Authority, and Trustworthiness (EAT)
This is crucial for law firm YMYL (Your Money or Your Life) websites, or what Google categorizes as a website of extreme importance to a person’s well-being in 2021. Google classifies the credibility of your website (at least partially) based on the EAT portion of their algorithm; the manual review team at Google consider law, finance, politics, and health websites as critical topics that require the most trustworthy information because these are some of the most important topics a person may be searching for information on. Google wants everyone to trust that the information they’re delivering is accurate. Crafting your strategy around Google EAT can be a significant step in the right direction.
5- Earn quality links to your website
Getting backlinks to your website can be a topic all it’s own, and it’s such cliche advice that I even hate to offer it without disclosures. It’s a divisive topic among SEO professionals about how, and where to obtain a link to your website. There are entire websites and thousands of videos dedicated to this topic, and to say it’s beyond the scope of this article would be a monumental understatement.
I’ll offer a few guidelines that I’ve come to trust over the years:
- Try to get links from websites that you yourself would visit;
- Given a choice, quality is better than quantity;
- Relevancy to your page from a link source is important;
- “Follow” links are critical, but “No-Follow” links can be valuable too.
- Great content earns links by creating a “linkable asset”.
6- Always pay attention to the technical factors, including internal links to relevant pages, mobile optimization, SSL, page load speed and URL structure
Whether you’re using an SEO company or working on your own website make sure that the technical aspects of your website are maintained and optimized. Here are a few tips:
- Make sure that you link to relevant content on your website (internal links) within blogs or practice pages. This helps Users find related content to subtopics within your website, and helps search engines discover what other content on your website is relevant for.
- Make sure your website can be easily accessed and navigated from a mobile device. This goes without saying, but people are using phones and tablets more than desktops and laptops these days – meet them where they are.
- Ensure you have an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) on your website and that it is configured properly. This is typically provided by your website Host and is cheap and easy to install. It’s a no-brainer.
- While I continue to believe that site and page load speed is the most overhyped metric of SEO for lawyers, it is still important to pay attention to. This goes back to UX… if a person visits your website from a mobile device on data instead of WiFi you don’t want your website to take forever to load. However, like most things this metric gets abused by a lot of fear mongering SEO companies and suddenly became the only thing that mattered. Is it important? Yes. If your website is slower than others will it prevent you from ranking well on Google? If the load speed is outrageous, possibly, but most likely not if it’s average or even below average load speed.
- The way your URLs are configured (URL structure) can be critically important to an SEO strategy, especially if you are redesigning your website or moving site platforms. Generally your URLs should be descriptive and as short as possible while conveying the relevant topic of the page. If your URL structure is broken (either through a move or setting change), this could greatly impact the way that your website or specific pages rank.
Conclusion
Whether you are building your law firm’s website and SEO strategy internally or with a vendor partner, you should pay special attention to making sure your website’s content is high quality and that the technical factors are taken care of. This will likely be the constant standard forever. Even as Google’s algorithm continually changes, the cornerstone of planning for long term SEO success should continue to be a focus on developing high quality content, paired with high quality links to your website. Avoid SEO strategies that focus too heavily on acquiring backlinks, flavor-of-the-day gimmicks, or trying to “game” the system. These often lead to the opposite intended impact.
About the author: Doug Bradley currently serves as the owner of Everest Legal Marketing, which is an attorney SEO and online marketing agency in Southern California. Bradley has worked with attorneys and law firms of all sizes, helping them understand the intricacies of marketing to their target clients. His company specializes in areas such as website design, content marketing and legal profile management.
To learn more about Everest Legal Marketing, visit their website here.
YouTube Marketing Tips From A Pair Of Leading Law Firms
Creating original video content for YouTube has become one of the best ways for law firms to be found on Google and connect with new clients. For this guide, we decided to reach out to a pair of law firms who have seen their YouTube pages boom in recent years. Check out our conversation below with Ed Herman (Attorney at Brown & Crouppen Law Firm) & Rory Berry (CMO at Berry Law).
What has been your firm’s main strategy for building a successful YouTube page?
Ed Herman: We wanted to find a way to really connect with the public on a deeper level. How do we reach people who don’t need our services (right now), so they remember us when they do? There are different levels of marketing and most people have a good understanding of brand awareness: billboards, busses, etc. And so, we went to the next level and asked the question, what about brand love? Ok, people have heard of your brand but how do they feel about your brand? We developed the YouTube channel so people could see we are likeable, approachable, and knowledgeable so then later down the road when they do need our services, they would hopefully already feel a connection to us.
Rory Berry: Our YouTube marketing strategy is to create content that will show up in search results on either Google or YouTube. To achieve that effect, we try to focus on specific topics that would appeal to our ideal client at the right point in their buying cycle. We do a mixture of very niche topics alongside broad popular topics to try to pick up a mixture of traffic. We maintain two different channels that are focused on our very different audiences (National Veterans Disability Law vs. Regional Trial Practice). We also do paid ads through YouTube to increase our views and brand reach. Our ultimate goal is to be able to track hires back to our YouTube channel, but as proxy goals we look at the number of views and new subscribers.
What types of videos have been most successful for your firm so far?
Ed Herman: A lot of people in legal advertising focus on talking about the topics they want to discuss themselves which is usually the law. Most people scrolling on social media aren’t looking to have the law force fed to them. So, what we do is focus on broad, relatable areas that connect to what people want to do online: people want to laugh, and people want to learn. People love food. We looked at what was already successful on the internet and developed our variation of it. We wanted to do it in a way that used us and our personalities, including me with the Ed vs. series, Andy and Terry Crouppen with 3 Lawyers Eating Sandwiches and Safety Squad, and Tammie Holland with her weekly series.
We also focus on our local communities. For instance, people really love shows on the Food Network, but they are even more interested when something nearby is featured. With 3 Lawyers Eating Sandwiches, someone will see we are at a place they’ve been to or heard of and so the interest is much higher.
For Ed vs., I highlight topics that everyone has some experience with like cereal, flying on an airplane, being in an elevator. Those are all things people can relate to and it’s an outlet to show my genuine personality. We let our personality come across and try to let people in on who we are, and I think that’s ultimately why our videos work. People connect with us.
Rory Berry: Our most successful videos have all had a combination of a good topic and a good amount of personality. The topic has to draw in viewers and the personality has to keep them engaged. One of our attorneys has developed a little bit of local celebrity as “The CBD guy” because he has done a series of great videos about local CBD laws in which his personality shows through and it’s a fascinatingly convoluted topic right now.
Doing a good amount of research can also be very important – we did a video about a Veterans Law case, and the attorney from the case actually reached out to us because he was impressed at the quality of it and he said that he would be referring us cases going forward.
What’s your advice for lawyers looking to get started with YouTube?
Ed Herman: Talk about what you know so that your YouTube videos will be genuine. People respond well to enthusiasm and expertise. I think what people like about my Ed vs. videos is seeing me passionately discussing relatable topics. My biggest piece of advice is to let that guide you: what am I passionate about, what do I have enthusiasm for, and where am I the most knowledgeable. Then think about what the people want. It’s like any other type of relationship where you find the most success when you locate your common ground.
My technical tips would be to not over script- you’ll do better the looser you are, and people respond better that way. Try to speak from the heart. Find a good editor who can help you edit it down so there’s a good flow without the stuffiness of a script. Speak for a half an hour and edit it down to five minutes. Identify your goal and your audience before getting caught up in analytics. Is this just for your current followers or to grow an audience?
You don’t have to commit to a production style, be flexible for whatever works. Filming on a cell phone is just as effective as a produced video sometimes, especially when addressing real time events. Once you attract your audience and grow a following, then you can really start showcasing your legal expertise with a captive audience whose attention you’ve earned.
Rory Berry: YouTube marketing requires a lot of discipline when it comes to content creation. You generally won’t see any success from very ad hoc efforts, and instead need to try to be pushing out at least one video per week in order to have some presence as a content creator. Everyone thinks they can just “go viral” with a great video, but most “instant success” is really built on top of months of hard work. Building a foundation and a following will enable later successes.
Fast Facts
93% of journalists prefer to be pitched stories over email. (Muck Rack)
Nearly 60% of journalists say they prefer pitches that are no longer than 200 words in length. (Fractl)
PR pros say customization and personalization are the most important elements of a good pitch, followed by timeliness. (Muck Rack)
Rules To Follow When Engaging With Local Media
Earlier this year, our blog released a post sharing 11 rules for attorneys to follow when interacting with journalists and trying to get featured by local media outlets. Below we’ll revisit those rules, this time adding on some additional tips that apply to interacting with local press during the pandemic.
Rule #1: Make sure you have something of value to pitch.
News outlets are already dedicating a large portion of their publishing and broadcasting space to covering COVID-19, so if you want to see a reporter take on your story, you need to give them something they can really sell to their editors.
Rule #2: The more work you do for the reporter, the more likely they’ll be to do your story.
The coronavirus has kept reporters busier than ever. If you want a journalist to work with you on a story, you’ll need to show them it won’t take a great investment of time on their part. When pitching your story, have a fully-formed idea and a few potential sources for them to speak with ready to go.
Rule #3: Be mindful of reporter deadlines.
The news will go on with or without you. If you can’t be bothered to answer a journalist’s phone calls or emails in a timely manner, they could be quick to abandon your story.
Rule #4: Don’t be difficult to work with.
If you want to become a go-to source for a reporter, make their job easier, by being as pleasant to work with as possible. No one has patience for a jerk during these times, no matter how good a quote you are.
Rule #5: Make your quotes easy for the average person to digest.
Avoid complicated legal jargon, and don’t worry so much about coming across as the smartest person in the room. When contributing to typical news reports, do your best to provide simple and direct answers to the reporter’s questions. This will make it less likely your quotes get left on the cutting room floor during the editing process later on.
Rule #6: Remember, the story is usually not about your firm.
Most reporters won’t want to waste time doing a story about an award your practice recently won, especially during times of crisis. Remember, journalists aren’t your PR people. Instead focus your stories around relevant issues or charitable causes that newspapers and newcasts will actually want to highlight. In doing so, your firm will still get the chance to establish itself as a community leader.
Rule #7: Make sure you have your facts straight, and don’t exaggerate.
There’s no quicker way to lose credibility with a reporter than to share incorrect information with them. Make sure you really know what you’re talking about regarding a certain subject before agreeing to be a source for a news report. If you greatly embellish facts, you’re likely to receive a call from an agitated copyeditor later in the day.
Rule #8: Assume everything you say is on the record.
Most reporters are actually pretty nice people and won’t want to embarass you. Sometimes, however, there can be some confusion over what is on the record and off the record. You’re better off just not saying anything to a journalist you wouldn’t want to see in print or hear on air.
Rule #9: It’s okay to follow-up.
Like we noted above, reporters are pretty busy these days, often covering COVID-19 related breaking news stories. Sometimes they may need to shift their focus and temporarily put smaller stories off to the side. Remember this, and that just because you don’t hear from a reporter for a day or two doesn’t mean they’ve abandoned your story. When this does happen, it’s more than fine to send a polite follow-up text or email. But also, try to be patient.
Rule #10: If you have nothing to pitch, pitch yourself as a resource.
Stories will come at journalists pretty quickly these days, and they will often need to find expert sources in a hurry. This is why you should be introducing yourself to relevant local media members now, and letting them know they can always call on you to share a few quick thoughts.
Rule #11: Not every news appearance will bring you results.
Don’t get frustrated if you appear in a story and don’t see your phone immediately start ringing. It will likely take several news appearances before you truly see results from these efforts, especially with most of the world currently occupied by COVID-19. If your firm continually makes media appearances, you will over time see a rise in recognition and credibility within your community. Just keep sticking with it!
5 Public Relations Tips For 2021
Just like every other industry, the legal world was rocked by the events of 2020. We all rolled up our sleeves and quickly reacted to the pandemic, social unrest and an election season like no other. For law firm public relations professionals, that meant rapidly developing messaging on COVID-related legal issues, work-from-home policies, racial justice platforms and much more.
So what does 2021 hold? If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that life is unpredictable. However, we can use the lessons from this tumultuous year to prepare for possible trends in the coming year. In that spirit, here are five tips for law firm PR in 2021:
1- Move your conference and event budget to thought leadership activities to stay visible with your prospects
Conferences and in-person events won’t come roaring back as soon as the calendar flips to a new year. In fact, many predict that these events won’t come back until the later part of 2021.
That doesn’t mean you should pocket the money you’ll save on travel and event fees and call it a day. You still need to maintain top-of-mind visibility with prospects and keep your foot on the marketing pedal. That means shifting your budget to focus more on thought leadership activities such as writing byline articles, speaking at online events and pitching the media for commentary on legal issues. So, put your PR activities in hyper-drive to ensure you don’t lose brand visibility and reputation traction.
2- If you haven’t before, now is the time to try pitching broadcast interviews
According to Muck Rack, the pandemic forced broadcast producers to rethink how guests appeared on their shows. Instead of shooting live or requiring that interviewees come into a studio, producers instead booked guests via Zoom and were more flexible with scheduling. That’s a trend that’s likely to continue through most of 2021 and PR pros should take advantage.
3- Podcasts continue to grow and should be part of your pitch strategy
Podcasts continue to rise in popularity, with many traditional media outlets adding podcasts to their mix of media platforms. In 2018, there were 48 million weekly podcast listeners. This is expected to grow to 115 million by 2021, according to Statista. Get your feet wet by appearing as a guest on newer, less well-known podcasts, then work your way up to those with bigger audiences.
4- Up your “social listening” game and be ready to pivot
In 2020, the news agenda changed seemingly by the minute and PR pros rushed to respond. Those who were already actively engaged in social listening — using digital tools to understand public sentiment — were much better prepared to shift their messaging and respond to current events, whether that meant pausing planned social media posts or postponing public announcements that would have seemed tone deaf given current events.
To ensure you don’t fall in the “tone deaf” camp, make sure you’re tracking online mentions of your brand and related topics, as well as general customer sentiment, to ensure your messaging is appropriate to current conversations.
5- Brand activism is here to stay. Know where you stand
2020 was the year of brand activism. Amid a pandemic and racial unrest, brands took a stand like never before, with firms pledging support for the Black Lives Matter movement in droves. This is a transformational shift, as conscious consumers force brands to publicly declare their values and then act on them.
To avoid the perception of tokenism, law firms must be clear about their values and ensure they are walking their talk. This is especially true for diversity in law firms, as in-house continue to call for more diverse representation.
While 2021 seems like the promised land where we can safely leave behind the pain of 2020, we must learn from this historic year and apply its lessons to all aspects of the firm’s business — and public relations is no exception.
About the author: Michelle Calcote King currently serves as principal and president of Reputation Ink, which is a B2B and professional services marketing and PR agency. Her company assists law firms with building their reputations and driving sales through thought leadership activities.
To learn more about law firm PR in 2021, visit Reputation Ink’s blog or contact Michelle Calcote King at [email protected] or 904-374-5733.
Fast Facts
85% of people say they build stronger, more meaningful business relationships during in-person business meetings and conferences (Team Referral Network)
49% of people say they prefer in-person meetings because they allow for more complex strategic thinking. (Hubspot)
95% of people say face-to-face meetings are essential for long-term business relationships. (Team Referral Network)
2021 Legal Conference Schedule
Back in 2019, we shared a list of legal conferences that all lawyers should consider attending, noting that there would be the added bonus of getting to travel to some of the United States’ top cities. We’re not quite sure yet just how many in-person conferences 2021 will allow for, but even if events are moved online to a virtual setting, attorneys should still consider attending. The opportunities for learning and networking are truly limitless at these events.
Here’s a list of already scheduled conferences to look out for in the new year:
ABA Tech Show– March 8-12, 2021, Virtual
Crisp Game Changers Summit– May 21-22, 2021, Atlanta, GA
MaxLawCon– June 9-11, 2021, Saint Charles, MO
AILA Annual Conference On Immigration Law– June 9-12, 2021, National Harbor, MD
Legal X Filevine User Conferences– June 22-24, 2021, Salt Lake City, UT
And here are some more top legal conferences that as of right now don’t have dates:
Autopilot’s Small Firm Bootcamp
Legal Marketing Association’s Annual Conference
The above details were last updated on December 1, 2020. Please see each event’s website for current information.
Introducing The Everything Except The Law Podcast
These days, attorneys truly have their hands full when it comes to running their own firms. As you can tell from all of the content included in this guide, there’s a lot lawyers need to know in order to operate a successful legal practice, most of which law school didn’t exactly cover. That’s why this past summer, Answering Legal decided to launch a new podcast, designed to help educate legal professionals on the parts of running a law office they were never trained to handle.
The podcast is called “Everything Except The Law”, and is hosted by Answering Legal marketing director Nick Werker. Each episode, Nick sits down with a different legal industry expert for an in-depth and enlightening discussion. In 2020, we taped 10 episodes, of all which can be listened to on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Anchor, or watched on the Answering Legal YouTube channel. Check out some of these highlights from the show so far.
Attorney Robert Gruler shares the secrets to actually getting your law firm’s videos seen
Marketing expert Steven Long offers advice for firms not getting calls during the pandemic
Attorney Mike Morse explains why data drives every decision he makes for his firm
Law firm consultant Jared Correia shares his essential list of legal tech
LawPay’s Jordan Turk explains why accepting payments online actually makes life much simpler for attorneys
Clio CEO Jack Newton shares the most surprising results from his company’s latest legal trends report
Stay tuned throughout 2021 for new episodes of the “Everything Except The Law” podcast. If you have an idea for a future episode, reach out via email to [email protected].
Fast Facts
87% of legal consumers that have a positive interaction after calling a law office, go on to hire that firm for their matter. (Legal Talk Network)
35% of phone calls to law firms go unanswered or to voicemail. (Law Firm Technology Today)
72% of consumers prefer to contact an attorney via phone call. (Legal Talk Network)
5 Reasons To Invest In a 24/7 Answering Service For 2021
A lot of different topics have been covered above, and we sincerely hope you found the information to be valuable. Before we wrap things up, we’re going to try and provide you with a little more value and tell you about Answering Legal.
Some of you are probably already quite familiar with our service, and we may even be already answering your phones. For the attorneys out there who haven’t experienced our phone answering service, here are some things you should know.
- Our virtual receptionist team is available to answer calls 24/7/365.
- Our service exclusively serves the legal community.
- We train our receptionists to become legal intake experts.
- We can answer your calls in both English and Spanish.
- Our service can be customized so that we sound like a seamless extension of your firm.
Now that you know the basics of what we provide, let’s cover five reasons why law firms will want our support in 2021.
1- Legal consumers won’t wait for you
After all that went down in 2020, we won’t be foolish enough to try and predict what may happen over the next year. But one thing we are pretty sure of heading into the new year is that you shouldn’t expect your firm to grow at all if you aren’t answering phone calls live.
Too many lawyers still operate under a “clients work on my time” mindset. They fail to realize that consumers now have endless options for legal help. Lawyers can no longer afford to be laid back in their approach to lead capturing. They have to be the first to answer a consumer’s call for legal help or they lose out on the client. Asking clients to leave a voicemail is essentially asking them to call your competitors.
With Answering Legal you get 24/7 live phone answering coverage. Any calls your firm can’t get to, we’ll be there to answer. It’s really that simple. We’ll give your new leads a real person to speak to right away, and start collecting their information so they won’t feel compelled to shop around with other firms.
2- Marketing is only half the battle
In the highly competitive digital age, law firms are forced to pour hundreds, and in many cases, thousands of dollars into their marketing campaigns each month. With so many firms in existence today, all competing to be seen online, attorneys are left with no other choice but to take a pay to play approach. Unfortunately, simply spending money does not guarantee results, and for many legal practices, their advertising efforts frequently end up falling flat.
If you have been struggling for years to grow your firm further, and nothing you do on the marketing side of things seems to be making a difference, chances are it’s your lead capturing that is letting you down. You’re either missing too many calls from potential new leads or making a poor first impression on the people you do connect with.
With Answering Legal’s receptionist team you get a high rate of availability and lead capturing expertise. All of our receptionists have handled hundreds of legal intakes before, and can be relied upon to start onboarding your clients in a highly professional manner. All of the information they collect gets sent to lawyers via text and email message right after the call ends, giving them the ability to take action right away when new client opportunities arise.
3- Your clients will be heard, either by you or the internet
These days, the experience attorneys provide their clients matters just as much as the results they achieve for them. If you repeatedly send clients to your voicemail and take forever to get back to them on questions regarding their case and legal process, you’re opening yourself up to receive a not so glowing online review.
One bad review may not seem like such a big deal to you, but prospective clients will think otherwise. Fair or not, consumers generally trust the opinions of their peers a lot more than they trust what businesses have to say. If the first thing a person sees when they Google you is a series of one-star reviews detailing how you’re hard to reach and difficult to work with, good luck getting anyone to contact your office.
While overcoming a series of poor online reviews isn’t impossible, it’s highly difficult, so you’re better off doing all you can to avoid them. Investing in 24/7 phone answering coverage from Answering Legal will go a long way in making your clients feel heard and appreciated. When they call into your firm with pressing questions, and you’re unavailable, they’ll still get the chance to speak with a live person rather than deal with the frustration of being sent to an automated machine. Answering all of your clients’ calls will go a long way in helping you build a reputation as a lawyer people enjoy working with.
4- Time is money
There’s no denying that a significant number of law firms fail to reach their maximum income potential, because their attorneys don’t have enough time for billable case work. According to 2019 data from Clio, the average lawyer spends only 2.5 hours on billable work each day. Clio data also confirms that being constantly interrupted throughout the day is one of the biggest reasons why attorneys fail to get more billable work done.
While putting a stop to all attorney interruptions is virtually impossible, investing in quality phone answering assistance can severely cut down on the number of disruptions attorneys face each day. Having someone else you can trust to handle all the phone calls you don’t have time for will allow you to take back more of your work day and start making more cash.
The great thing about Answering Legal is that you can rely on our virtual receptionist team as much as you need to. If you’re having a light day, and want to answer a lot of calls yourself, you’ll always have that option. But, if you want to commit more time to billable work and give your firm more opportunity to make money, just let our service handle your calls for a while. We’ll let you know whenever important issues arise.
5- You’ll get to try before you buy
All law firms get the chance to try out Answering Legal for seven days before deciding whether or not they want to become a paying customer. During your trial period with us, you’ll never sign any contracts, and won’t have to put any credit card down until your trial period expires. Your service only becomes activated after a post-trial discussion with one of our account executives, in which official pricing plans are discussed. If at the end of seven days you don’t want to continue using Answering Legal, you can leave without a single penny being taken from your bank account.
During your free trial period, you’ll have full access to almost all of our features. Once we set up your phone lines and customize everything about your account, you’ll have seven whole days to see how our virtual receptionist services impact your business. By the end of your initial week with us, there will be no questions about what you’re getting with Answering Legal, and you’ll be able to make an educated decision about whether or not we’re a good fit for your practice. Remember, there’s absolutely zero risk in going through the trial.
Get started with Answering Legal now by filling out this form or calling us at (631) 400-8888.