This article was first published by West, a division of Thomson Reuters, in the July 2009 edition of Practice Innovations, Volume 10, Number 3.

Social networking can boost business development efforts. But first you must educate the members of your organization about appropriate usage, professional conduct and ethics, and avoiding legal liability.

Where are we today?

A lot of lawyers are still on the ledge about the “safety” of social networking. For lawyers on the ledge, industry specific, peer-to-peer, membership-only sites such as Martindale Hubbell’s Connected, Legal OnRamp, ABA’s LegallyMinded, or JDSUPRA provide a safe entry point. Networks comprised of attorneys reduce concerns about commercial speech, disclaimers, and unjustified expectations –though other liabilities exist such as copyright, confidentiality, and Reg FD.

Peer-to-peer networking, a virtual bar association meeting, gives those who originate work from lawyer referrals more value than directory listings. Good ones facilitate substantive thought leadership and provide a presence beyond the bio listing.

Not much different from offline networking, online’s distinctive difference is the ability to reach many people with one post. Having no geographic limitations, lawyers online can be in more than one place at a time. Free tools allow users to update status, share links, and other networking goodies across platforms.

Online or offline, networks are only as good as the people who show up. A social network host can provide a class-A tool or venue, but if it isn’t easy to use, if it doesn’t catch on, if the audience is full spectators instead of contributors, it will be just another online directory or dead social network.

Social networks are not about making deep relationships. They do, however, help like-minded people find each other. And, where the potential to do business together exists, relationships typically move off-line and go deeper.

The Five Ps of Social Networking.

If you or a member of your firm is considering a social network, whether industry specific or general interest, there are five P’s to follow:

Policy

At one firm a number of new first-year partners were using facebook as a tool to stay connected.  The firm, led by a senior management team who was unfamiliar with the value of these tools, decided to turn off access to facebook at the firm.  There was an immediate uproar from the 30-something partner crowd.  One tax lawyer in particular, was able to point to three new clients he gained by staying connected to his network on facebook.  The firm determined it needed a policy.

Email and Internet usage policies are not enough. Social networking requires a new set of rules.  A good policy will include guidelines for appropriate business netiquette, professional conduct and ethics, best practices, and avoiding legal liabilities.

Placement

At another firm, a mid-level partner questioned the value of LinkedIn and facebook.  She was urged to sign up and create her own page.  A former in house counsel, she was surprised to see that on LinkedIn, she had a whole network from her law school classmates (many of whom are now in house) who were happy to reconnect with her.  Additionally, she found a group of ex-in house counsel from her former public company currently in new in house positions.  Again, she was able to reconnect quickly with some forgotten contacts and everyone was up to speed on the relationships immediately.

Online networks have offline cousins. LinkedIn is the chamber of commerce or industry group; it’s all business and button down. Facebook is the country club where things get a bit personal –you can share photos of the kids or pets, talk about boats, golf, movies, books, travel, and almost anything. Peer-to-peer networks are the virtual Bar association meeting. Beyond that, there are interest specific discussion boards, forums, Wikis, blogs, and review sites on politics, hobbies, cultural, and community causes.

There is a sense of success in simply connecting with others. However, consistent participation is the key; don’t over extend your self. It’s not smart (or possible) to join every organization in your city. Be selective. Either mirror what’s working off line, or use online for something different.

Persona

Sameness is ineffective. Your profile is a billboard. DON’T regurgitate the formal bio. Avoid marketing gibberish or clichés. This is the time to GET REAL.

For example, a “title” on your LinkedIn page should reveal that you are more than an attorney at XYZ law firm. Why? When posting questions or answers, your name and title feature prominently. Make it count –Jane Doe, Employment Law Attorney, Workplace Counselor and partner at XYZ.

Privacy

Locate the social network’s documentation on security and terms of service. Default settings are generally public. So, upon joining a network, change all settings to PRIVATE and then make them public one at a time. You can always go back and change them. Some networks have layers of settings, so be thorough.

Be cautious with 3rd party applications offered on networks, but not paranoid. Ask others if you are uncertain.

Posting

Once you join a community, surf around and get a feel for the tone, communication styles and content. In order to stand out, stay top of mind, and make posting manageable join discussion groups within a network.

The Q&A format is common on professional sites and helps you establish your knowledge base and expertise. However, you must bring value to the discussion. It’s not a transaction; it’s a conversation. Either start the conversation or move it along.

General interest sites like facebook are more casual. Many posts involve photos, links to books, articles, You Tube videos, and other entertainments. Facebook is trying to shift over to a business format to generate revenues, but the jury is still out.

All networking sites have FAQ’s and/or official blogs; e.g. http://blog.linkedin.com. Visit them for ideas.

Three immediate steps to take today.

First, schedule in house training workshops so members of the firm become informed about the tools and their potential value.  Work with the marketing and business development teams to present the programming and hold it on a regular basis so if people miss one session, they are able to attend another.  Be a resource to help drive revenue.

Second, create a firm policy on the use of these tools.  Be clear about how they are used for business purposes and what should and should not be on lawyers’ profile pages.  Keep it professional is a message that will need to come across loud and clear.

Third, don’t forget about staff training. The firm brand and reputation is in the hands of everyone. Don’t overlook the fact that employees list employers in social profiles. Innocent mistakes can be made but are difficult to correct after the fact.

By implementing these ideas and providing these valuable resources at the firm, the Information Resources team will be providing value added to the firm’s business development efforts.

Jayne Navarre is Managing Director of LawGravity, specializing in advanced social media strategy, blogs and Web sites.  She blogs about these topics at virtualmarketingofficer.com.  Join her network @ www.linkedin.com/in/jaynenavarre, Follow her at www.twitter.com/jaynenavarre or contact her at jln@lawgravity.com.

What do law firms need from the CMO?  The answer is contained in this one simple statement. The CMO is the voice of the client across the law firm. That is the CMO’s job, plain and simple.  Any firm that gets this; gets it.

The role of the CMO only gets complicated when management committees, hiring committees, marketing partners, recruiters, and even the candidates themselves do not understand or exploit this simple fact.

To further complicate matters, despite the written job description in front of them during the interview, these same parties often have different goals, criteria or even personal agendas outlined for the candidate that are not presented.  More often than not, the CMO job description is only worth the price of the piece of paper. And so, the CMO is hired as a one-trick pony to satisfy the highest compensated voice.

In fact, for real CMO success, hiring committees should be looking for the individual who can tune into and represent the voice of the client. They must have the skill and patience to deliver the message to the entire firm at every level.

The cross-departmental CMO.

The challenges of client-centric demands and changes that are taking place today are not limited to the marketing department. Every CMO needs a cross departmental think tank. I’m not talking about a Monday morning staff meeting with the CEO. The voice of the client must be heard in coordination and collaboration with all departments.

Marketers, as activists, must help law firms, cross departmentally, find and meet the unique needs of the diverse client base. The client voice must be prominent in management affairs and service development across the whole law firm. Ultimately, the best CMO represents the voice of the client throughout the organization, and everyone should be listening –from the receptionist to the accountant and the managing partner, from the practice chair, the associate, and their legal assistants.

The two most important questions a firm can ask the candidate during the interview are  “Can you be the voice of our clients across the firm?” “How can we support you in your role as the voice of the client?” Once that little piece of business is settled, you can move on to the details.

New skills required for success.

Today, CEOs and executive committees are pushing hard for growth and more effective marketing efforts (read ROI). Finding a CMO with the full range of necessary skills is not always easy.

Many chief marketers focus on building brands, making marketing communications more effective, finding new markets, and repackaging slow practices. These responsibilities aren’t going away, but new channels are available and they need to be addressed by the marketer and the firm.

There are a number of areas where change is creating new priorities for chief marketers. They are playing a more active role in shaping the firm’s public profile, managing delivery methods that involve technology, and building new capabilities within the marketing department and among individual attorneys. How will the CMO inject the voice of the client in each of these disciplines and across the firm in a holistic manner?

There is a proliferation of touch points, today, like in no other time. Many factors are changing the way clients’ research and engage law firms. Broadly speaking, the low-cost, time-saving, “facts-only” sales approach isn’t going to fly in a time where instant access to relatively trustworthy information is available via the Internet, user generated content, citizen journalism, and instant access to feed back via the Web.

The ability to build the firm brand across an increasing number of media, including user-generated content, is critical. Many of these skills, such as expertise in the business use of social networking and online media require a degree of specialization.

The skills needed to keep up are becoming so specialized that chief marketers may have to operate quite differently in the future. While these new roles will compliment the generalist capabilities of traditional marketing leaders, some law firms may see a need to restructure their marketing and business development teams to address these new key marketing capabilities by adding social media technologists. Smaller firms will likely consider outsourcing online media marketing programs just as CIOs rely on external information technology resources.

Conclusion.

The demand for higher value and service-oriented approaches only make the CMO’s job more complex –and without the support of the CEO, managing partner, and partnership in responding to the client voice, the CMO’s job will continue to become less attractive. A nice paycheck only lasts so long before the lack of support or the willingness to move the ball forward outweighs its reward.

The churn of CMOs in law marketing is a cost most firms could avoid if their expectations, intentions and perspective were in the right place – giving voice to the client. Placing new leadership in marketing roles is expensive. Why not give your CMO the necessary support to be successful? Your clients will thank you.

Download PDF of  what-do-you-really-need-from-your-cmo

…keep it simple

Everything a firm does is, in fact, marketing. This is true for the seemingly little things like how tidy you keep your lobby, how you show appreciation to your clients, or how you handle your billing.

We all know that maintaining a notable reputation is the bread and butter of growing your law practice. Will doing the simple things better than anyone else have a huge impact on your reputation? You bet it will. So, how can you be simply better?

Deliver on the basics.

We live in a time where consumers (law firm clients) seem to have unprecedented and unlimited choice.

Truth be told, as a service industry, law firms are not as client-focused as they’d like to think they are. Client surveys often bear that out. Still, their marketing communications hammer away at the importance of this or that unique practice area or one of a kind depth of experience.

So? When it comes to marketing, law firms may be doing a lot of head banging and still be missing a real opportunity. Is it possible that what a client really wants is for their law firm to be the very best at the basics? So good at the basics that they would tell others how great their law firm is at the seemingly little things?

In marketing, law firms often make two assumptions that I believe are wrong.

1. Law firms assume they need to offer something unique to attract business.
2. Law firms assume that the legal market has matured to the point where service is a commodity.

The reality is that a law firm can differentiate themselves by simply being the very best at the basics. Being the best in class on that which is, at the lowest common denominator, expected of all law firms, instead of trying to do something radically unique, presents an opportunity to give you a leg up on the competition.

WOM

Let the client’s satisfaction be your most powerful marketing communication. This is WOM. Word of Mouth Marketing. When a law firm delivers a great merger deal or a advantageous settlement, it’s not always the case that you can shout about it from the roof tops. Sometimes it’s even confidential. And, if it’s not, after the press exploits it and your result becomes old news, you’re only as good as your last victory. But being best in class on the basics never stops getting noticed and your clients will talk about it.

Get close to your customers, understand what matters most to them and then simply provide it better than the competition. While it is not possible to predict exactly how each interaction with clients or prospects will play it self out, sometimes even little modifications can have a big impact.

Control that which you can control.

Let’s review, for a minute, the basics that you can control, but that often get missed by your competition.

What are the basics? They are those things that all clients expect a law firm to provide, even before they start looking at expertise. Here are the top 10.

1. Bills
2. Phone, fax, mail, and email communications
3. Returned phone calls, well routed phone calls
4. Legal documents
5. Conference space
6. Reception etiquette (not just for receptionists)
7. Case management
8. Timeliness
9. Confidentiality
10. Ethical behavior

Carefully decide what you can and cannot deliver in these ten basic aspects of service. Then frame the issues to be best in class and guard consistency as it were the lifeblood of the firm -because it is!

If you need help getting the basics back to work for your firm, contact us for a consultation. If you would like to add a getting down to basics presentation for a partner retreat, we can do that too.

Contact Jayne Navarre @ 786-208-9108 or jln@lawgravity.com