Last month I attended a panel workshop called “Building Reporting: Marketing and Business Development Metrics” at the 2012 Marketing Partner Forum in Miami. Presenters were Steve Bell, Chief Client Development Officer, Womble Carlyle, Adam Severson, (then) Director of Business Development & Marketing at Faegre (and now Chief Marketing & Business […]
What law firms can learn from my wonderful experience at Davio’s in Philadelphia.
For the second year in a row, I spent Valentine's Day in Philadelphia, the City of Brotherly Love. (Appropriate enough on this holiday where "love" is front and center.) And, for the second year in a row, I had dinner at Davio's. Davio's is billed as a Northern Italian Steakhouse. […]
What is the dollar cost of directory referrals to your law firm website? And are the visitors worth it?
Senior marketers have been questioning the value of Martindale-Hubbell listings with increasingly loud and passionate voices. For AmLaw 100 and 200 firms, the cost ranges from a bare-bones listing in the $20,000-40,000 range to a comprehensive contract that costs well into the six-figures. And many firms have eliminated it altogether, […]
Mobile apps or mobile websites: What’s a law firm to do??
When my company, Content Pilot, last conducted the AmLaw 100 Websites: Ten Foundational Best Practices research in Q2-3 2010, there were only four of the country’s largest law firms that had mobile apps. A few more had mobile websites, which were typically poorly designed, bare-bones renditions of their big site. […]
What law firms can learn from my disappointing experience at Del Frisco’s in New York.
I met LMA friends after work at Del Frisco's last week in New York. It appeared that most of Manhattan was in the tight surroundings – we were elbow-to-elbow and four or five rows of people back from the bar. Patience and a booming voice were required. That isn't the […]
The strongest law firm brands – a 2012 brand survey by Acritas
"Brand" and "branding" were words that were nearly eliminated from our lexicon during the recession. A respected stalwart in corporate strategic business planning, law firms, when slicing initiatives and the budgets that supported branding the last two – three years, quickly erased those line items. There was almost no looking back . […]
Experience Management – It’s been elevated to mission critical.
I have had more than a dozen conversations with AmLaw 100 and 200 firm leaders starting in Q4 2011 and continuing through January 2012. They identified cross-selling and revenue growth as their top priorities for 2012. As resolved as they are about that, they also admitted that they aren’t entirely […]
How would you transform the legal industry?
Ayelette Robinson, Director of Knowledge Technology at Littler Mendelson, did a guest post on the 3 Geeks and a Law Blog a couple days ago asking, “How would you transform the legal industry?” It got me thinking and I thought I’d carry her idea to my blog and pose it to […]
3 Geeks review our cross-selling mobile app, Velocity
In an ILTA hosted webinar yesterday about experience databases, Kathrine Cain (Winston & Strawn), Lisa Simon (Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck) and I spoke about our own experiences implementing experience databases. As I mentioned in my introduction and observations, this is one of the hottest topics proliferating law firms today – […]
Experience databases: If you build it, will they come?
For many AmLaw 100 and 200 law firms, experience management is one of the most important stated initiatives for 2012. Knowing what your partners do and knowing how to easily sort, parse and leverage this data is a top priority for managing partners, law firm chairs and executive committees. If […]
The best description of “strategy” I’ve read in years
I am having lunch today with the “3 Geeks and a Law Blog” trio – Lisa Salazar, Toby Brown and Greg Lambert. To prep, I am climbing into their award-winning blog of the same name and came across this description in a post by Greg. He’s talking about another blogger […]
Advice to CMOs: Don’t relinquish control when searching for your critical team members.
(Guest post by Steve Nelson and Cassie Battle) One critical determinant in the success of CMOs in law firms is the ability to build a high-functioning team. Anyone who has read “Good to Great” knows that the key to success in any enterprise is to get the right people on […]
A Toast to Differentiation: What law firms can learn from Blue Hill at Stone Barns
(Guest post by Lise Anne Schwartz) Regular visitors to this blog know that Deborah is a connoisseur of fine food, wine and restaurants. So when she visited New York last week, the pressure was on to find a unique dining experience for us to share. I took her to Blue […]
“2012 CFO Outlook” – A survey by Merrill Lynch and Bank of America – What does this mean for law firms?
Now that the holidays are behind us, let’s get down to some serious business – and some prognosticating about what law firms’ business and financial lives might be like this year. The bottom line is that the CFO respondents (600 of them from corporate America) are concerned and have low confidence […]
Attorney at Work’s “Lawyer Marketing Collection 2011”
If you haven’t subscribed to Attorney at Work yet, take 5 minutes during this post-Christmas-gift-exchanging-sale-exploiting week and do it. To get a taste for the benefit you’ll receive, download this free “Lawyer Marketing Collection 2011” — the most popular/best read Attorney at Work posts during the last year. I am happy to […]
3 No cost ways to drive traffic to your website
It’s almost New Year’s Eve. I am a believer in making New Year’s resolutions – I make them every year. When Merrilyn Astin Tarlton and Joan Feldman asked me to write a year-end blog post for their popular blog Attorney at Work, I sought to write one that would inspire readers […]
The secret to becoming a rainmaker – Part 3 (Or, the “Triangle of Success”)
In Part 1 of “The secret to becoming a rainmaker,” I shared the one thing that I think makes the greatest difference in lawyers who are effective business developers. Here is an excerpt of that post: This post isn’t about telling you how to sell. It’s about me finally articulating […]
Get inspired: How working together makes World AIDS Day a true celebration
Most of us know someone who knows someone who loved someone who died of AIDS. Someone's father, brother, son or husband. Today is World AIDS Day, and, after nearly three decades of death and sadness, I think today is a day worth celebrating. World AIDS Day was first conceived by the World […]
How do you balance the yin-and-yang of leaders and managers in your firm?
I bet that everyone reading this is a fan of buying the latest bestsellers on leadership. And I bet that most of you actually read parts, if not all of these tomes. I am drawn to each new title and I am nearly always inspired by what I read about […]
Perfect Mashed Potatoes
I am thankful for everyone who reads my blog and all who care enough about it to pass it on to others. As I sit in the Philadelphia Admiral's Club waiting for my delayed flight to take off in this driving rain, I write this as a sincere thank you. […]