2012 State of Legal Marketing in the U.S.

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Contents
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T h e S TaT e o f L e g a L M a r k e T i n g i n T h e U n i T e d S TaT e S 2012 a dv e rT i S i n g v e r S U S M a r k e T i n g?

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T h e B i rT h o f L e g a L a dv e rT i S i n g k i c k i n g d o w n T h e La w y e r a d v e r T i S i n g d o o r a dv e rT i S i n gS P U r P o S e: T o g e n e r aT e P r o S P e c T S ( a k a L e a d S ) c o M M o n a d v e r T i S i n g M e T h o d S U S e d B y La w y e r S

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T r a d i T i o n a L L e g a L a d v e r T i S e M e n T S c U r r e n T T r e n d S i n T ra d i T i o n a L L e g a L a dv e rT i S e M e n T S y e L Lo w Pa g e S

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n e w S Pa P e r , T e L e v i S i o n , r a d i o a n d B i L L B o a r d S ( Lo U d a d v e r T i S i n g ) P r e d i c T i o n S r e g a r d i n g T r a d i T i o n a L f o r M S o f La w y e r a d v e r T i S i n g

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P e r S o n a L B ra n d i n g a S a f o r M o f L e g a L a dv e rT i S e M e n T c U r r e n T T r e n d S i n P e r S o n a L B ra n d i n g a M o n g S T La w y e r S

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P r e d i cT i o n S r e g a r d i n g P e r S o n a L B ra n d i n g a M o n g S T La w y e r S o n L i n e L e g a L a dv e rT i S e M e n T S T r e n d S i n o n L i n e L e g a L a dv e rT i S e M e n T S

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This report provides a brief overview of the most popular advertising strategies used by lawyers over the past few decades. We highlight advertising approaches that are seeing a slow and stead death in this age of social media, as well as newer advertising methods that are on the rise. We are well aware that individual advertising strategies depend on your particular practice areas, the size of your business, your target audience and your budget. What works for a practice handling national mesothelioma class actions, for example, wont work for a small town solo general practitioner. But knowledge is power, and we hope the information provided in this report will provide new insights, dispel outdated beliefs and produce amazing end results: more clients, more revenue, more profits and a better quality of life.

w e B S i T e d e v e Lo P M e n T a n d S e o r e P U TaT i o n a L S T r aT e g i e S Pa i d S e a r c h a n d L e g a L a d v e r T i S i n g P r e d i cT i o n S r e g a r d i n g o n L i n e L e g a L a dv e rT i S e M e n T S

T h e S TaT e o f L e g a L M a r k e T i n g i n T h e U.S. 2012

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concLUSion e n d n oT e S

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2012 State of Legal Marketing in the U.S.

We dont always like the fight or the client or the arbiter of justicebut we fight anyway
Legal marketing in the United States has experienced dramatic change over the last few decades. What once was taboo amongst lawyers is now both an expectation and a matter of survival. The exponential growth in legal advertising is difficult to quantify due to the numerous advertising methods being used in todays digital and mobile world and a lack of reliable data, but plenty of factual and anecdotal evidence points to nearly universal agreement that legal advertising in the U.S. is moving from tradition mass media methods to online and social-centric strategies. This report provides a brief overview of the most popular advertising strategies used by lawyers over the past few decades. We highlight advertising approaches that are seeing a slow and stead death in this age of social media, as well as newer advertising methods that are on the rise. We are well aware that individual advertising strategies depend on your particular practice areas, the size of your business, your target audience and your budget. What works for a practice handling national mesothelioma class actions, for example, wont work for a small town solo general practitioner. But knowledge is power, and we hope the information provided in this report will provide new insights, dispel outdated beliefs and produce amazing end results: more clients, more revenue, more profits and a better quality of life.

caUTion

do noT aTTeMPT

LegaL adverTiSing
wiThoUT UnderSTanding eThicS rULeS

Since the two terms are so closely related, we may use the terms synonymously with an understanding that marketing, in its truest sense, is far more detailed and comprehensive than any single advertising strategy. Every effective advertising strategy will have thought and purpose behind it, the result of a solid marketing plan. The two concepts really cant be separated. We are confident that you will see how they play together and when they are different. Legal advertising is subject to certain ethics rules that are beyond the scope of this report. Do not implement legal advertising without understanding the rules of the game.

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20%

10%

%
33%

15%

a dv e rT i S i n g v e r S U S M a r k e T i n g?
Lawyers are a unique group. We are the defenders of truth and justice. We suit up and enter an adversarial arena to fight battles that may conflict with our personal beliefsbut we fight anyway. We dont always like the fight or the client or the arbiter of justicebut we fight anyway. We demand that our clients rights, especially those guaranteed by the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution, be respected. Surely with the unique and important role lawyers play in our society, one might think that legal advertising is equally unique. But its not. Advertising is advertising. It is the distribution of a message designed to bring buyers and sellers together in a mutually beneficial relationship. Advertising usually is the single largest and most expensive component of a marketing plan. A marketing plan goes beyond advertising (distribution of the message) and may also include market research, media planning, public relations and may also include market research, media planning, public relations, customer service and sales strategies.

5%

30% 65%

a dv e rT i S i n g a n d oT h e r co M P o n e n T S o f a M a r k e T i n g P La n Individual advertising strategies individual advertising strategies depend on your particular practice areas, the size of your business, your target audience and your budget.

Strategic Planning .................................... 33 Advertising .................................................. 30 Measuring and Testing .............................. 5 Sales .............................................................. 15 Customer Service .......................................17

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The Birth of Legal advertising

As communities grew and lawyers carved out niches, it became more difficult for people to connect with the right lawyer
Prior to the late 1970s states banned lawyer advertising in any form. Looking back at such prohibitions, it is almost laughable that lawyers, the very defenders of our Constitutional rights, were strictly banned from exercising commercial free speech. Some scholars surmise that legal advertising was unnecessary in the mid 1900s since communities were smaller and people often knew a general practitioner who could provide adequate legal services when needed. As communities grew and lawyers carved out niches, it became more difficult for people to connect with the right lawyer.

kicking down the Lawyer advertising door

Then in 1982 the United States Supreme Court kicked down the lawyer advertising door. Following the Bates decision, Missouri (and several other states) lifted their absolute ban on lawyer advertising but severely restricted the categories of information lawyers could include in their advertisements. Missouri listed ten Enter John Bates and Van OSteen. In 1974, just a couple years out of law school, Bates and OSteen established a legal clinic aimed at providing legal services at modest fees to moderate income people who didnt quality for legal aid. The only way for Bates and OSteen to maintain a viable business was to rely on a consistently high volume of relatively simple cases that could be duplicated and systematized. To generate business, they ran an ad in the Arizona Republic (see image to the right). As you can see from the ad copy, it is a far cry from todays lawyer advertisements. Yet this seemingly innocuous advertisement landed Bates and OSteen in disciplinary proceedings with the Arizona State Bar. The lawyers defended themselves, arguing among other things that the ban on lawyer advertising was a violation of their free speech rights. The United States Supreme Court eventually heard the case, ruling that Arizonas ban on lawyer advertising was indeed a free speech violation. The Courts opinion opened the door, albeit just a crack, to lawyer advertising. The Court recognized states power to ban false, deceptive, or misleading lawyer advertising, to regulate the way lawyers solicited business in person, to require warnings and disclaimers on lawyer advertising and to impose other reasonable restrictions as to the time, place, and manner such ads.(i) During this same time, the American Bar Association formed a six member task force on lawyer advertising which submitted two proposals to the Board of Governors at the ABAs annual meeting. The final rule (ii) adopted by the ABA in August of 1978 read: In order to facilitate the process of informed selection of a lawyer by potential consumers of legal services, a lawyer may publish or broadcast, subject to DR 2-103(iii), the following information in print media distributed or over television or radio broadcast in the geographic area or areas in which the lawyer resides or maintains offices of in which a significant part of the lawyers clientele resides, provided that the information disclosed by the lawyer in such publication or broadcast complies with DR 2-101(A)(iv), and is presented in a dignified manner. categories of permissible information and provided a list of practice areas that could be referenced. An enterprising lawyer wanting to announce the opening of his new office placed advertisements in local newspapers, yellow pages and telephone directories. The lawyers advertisements(vi) failed to comply with the strict rules of the Missouri State Bar (for example, listing his practice areas as personal injury and real estate instead of tort law and property law) leading to charges of unprofessional conduct and disbarment proceedings. The end result was a Supreme Court The list of permissible information included basic contact information and background information and a list of fees (v). The lawyer advertising door was now open. opinion holding that while States retain authority to regulate advertising that is inherently misleading or that has proved to be misleading in practice, the First and Fourteenth Amendments require that such restrictions are done with care and in a manner no more extensive than reasonably Image 2 necessary to further substantial interests. Since In Re R.M.J., lawyer advertising has become almost a free-for-all. While misleading adver tisements are still prohibited, and disclaimer language is enforceable, lawyer advertising has come a long way, baby. From finger-guns (Image 1) to chests and breasts (Image 2). Even thug lawyers (Image 3) are getting in the game. Whether this benefits society or further erodes lawyers reputations (or both), lawyer advertising is an integral part of our society. And with the explosive growth of new media and unexplored media and communication tools we cant yet imagine, lawyer advertising will continue to evolve. Image 1 Image 3

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individual websites, blogs, legal directories, Q&A sites, social media tools and pay for performance models. This report will discuss each of these three broad categories, including information on current trends, the pros and cons of advertising methods within these categories and predictions on where these categories are headed. Just as the law contemplates the fiction of a reasonable man, this report contemplates a fictional reasonable GP, small firm or solo practitioner. In other words, any suggestions we offer are directed toward a generic GP, small firm or solo practice which may or may not be applicable to your particular situation.

Traditional Legal advertisements

When the United States Supreme Court opened the floodgates for legal advertising in the 1970s and 1980s, the internet as we know it today did not exist. Lawyers started advertising in newspapers, telephone directories and yellow pages. Not long after that, lawyer advertisements started appearing on billboards and in radio and television spots. As communities grew and expanded, the number of lawyers also grew, spawning more competition for new clients and more advertisements.

current Trends in Traditional Legal advertisements

Yellow Pages
Perhaps the most universally accepted traditional advertising tool for advertising tool for lawyers is the yellow. If you own a yellow pages directory, take a look at the Attorney section and youll see just how thick it is compared to other categories. Dont forget to look at the front and back covers, inside covers, spine, tabbed flaps, stick-ons (such as magnets or cards) and even the coupon sections. Lawyers buy a lot of real estate in yellow pages, with ads that seem to grow in size year after year until cost becomes prohibitive (growing ad size is due, in part, to the directories profit-driven system of placing larger ads in front of smaller ads regardless of alphabetical order). Yellow page directories in their hard-copy form are dying. As reported by ReadWriteBiz.com last year, nearly 70% of adults in the United States rarely or never use the phone book, and instead opt to use the Web-based search tools, which are infinitely more convenient and efficient. Lawyers who advocate the use of yellow page ads fall into one of two camps. The first group tracks yellow page results and has data to show how many leads come from yellow pages and how many of those prospects convert to clients. They can demonstrate a positive return on investment to justify the cost. The second group believes they will cease to exist as lawyers if they are not in the yellow pages, even though they dont have numbers to know whether they are generating a positive or negative return on investment.

Pros and Cons of Yellow Pages

Pros: The older the prospect, the more likely they are to use a yellow pages directory. If your ideal clients are senior citizens, then yellow pages may be right for you. While research shows a dramatic decline in the use of yellow pages, people know lawyers exist in yellow pages, so they might turn to the yellow pages in a time of need. cons: Yellow page ads are expensive, and coverage of a geographical area (youre lucky if its not a large metro area) requires placement in multiple yellow page directories. Preferred placement requires larger ads which require more money. Updates? Think once per year (assuming you remember). And keep in mind youre competing for attention as a lawyer and you are competing in every individual category in which you practice. If it sounds like yellow page directories are designed to squeeze every penny from your pocket, youre onto something.

advertisings Purpose: To generate Prospects (aka Leads)

Advertising is not a complex activity. Even with limited resources, its easy to buy a yellow page ad, put a spot in the local newspaper or even run an online ad campaign. The challenge is to create effective advertising. For most businesses, effective advertising means phone calls, clicks or people through the door. When the 4-color ink is dry, when the billboard is hung, when the website is online and when the networking event comes to a close, at the end of the day advertising is about acquiring new clients or resurrecting old ones. For general practice, small firm and solo lawyers, our employer is not our law firm, its our clients. Unlike a Fortune 500 company or government agency that offers stability and a steady paycheck, our employers want to see their matters handled quickly, efficiently and with a distinct end. As matters are resolved and cases closed, we require a steady flow of new clients. Thus the need for advertising. Advertising, however, is not really about adding clientsits about generating prospects (aka leads). In simple terms, a lead is a person who has a need you can fill and knows about you. Once you have a lead, through whatever advertising vehicle you use, your job is to convert that lead from a prospect to a client (this is where a marketing plan becomes far more important than a mere advertising campaign).

common advertising Methods Used by Lawyers

Lawyer advertising can be put into three broad categories. First, there is traditional advertising which includes the ever-popular yellow pages, newspaper ads, radio and television commercials and outdoor advertising. Personal branding is the second category, which includes strategies like individual newsletters, networking, speaking events, community involvement and referral programs. Then there is online advertising encompassing

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Newspaper, Television, Radio and Billboards (Loud Advertising)

Even though yellow page directories are headed toward the light at the end of the tunnel , at least there is some hope they will be the go-to source when the need arises (and they can double as an inexpensive doorstop or campfire starter-fuel). Newspaper, television, radio and billboards (lets call these loud strategies) are not as fortunate. Loud strategies yell at people for attention whether the person has a matching need or not. Some loud strategies are effective, but when it comes to legal services, timing is everything. How many clients have purchased your legal services on a whim or as an impulse buy? Marketers often talk about push and pull advertising strategies (see, for example, David Siegels excellent book Pull: The Power of the Semantic Web to Transform Your Business). Push strategies are like shooting a shotgun into a flock of birds and hoping one of the hundred tiny pellets hits something (if youre not a hunter, imagine throwing spaghetti on the wall and hoping some of it sticks). Loud strategies are push strategies. Loud strategies are not laser-guided or surgical. Just cross your fingers and hope your message aligns with a prospects needs at just the right time. Loud advertising strategies may not be dying, but they certainly are not growing in popularity. Newspapers are struggling to stay relevant in a society that gets its news in real time or on demand. Premium radio and television services are available with limited or no commercials, and digital recorders allow us to skip commercials that arent entertaining. Billboards struggle to catch our attention as we become more and more immune to their visual interruptions.

tiveness of such advertising will decline noticeably over the next decade. Certain practice areas will continue to benefit from loud advertising as an effective way to reach large and geographically dispersed groups, but even those will become less effective over the next few years as the internet becomes the go-to source for information and mobile internet access expands its reach.

Personal Branding as a form of Legal advertisement

The concept of personal branding has been around for decades (viii) but it has not seen wide adoption in the legal profession. In fact, some attorneys think personal branding amongst lawyers is shameful (ix) . While personal branding may not be a true advertising strategy, it is an important part of any effective marketing plan. Personal branding involves things you do that tie you to your business as a lawyer and affect your reputation. Personal branding leads to being known for somethinggood or bad. Its your business identity, your personal wrapper, your uniqueness. It doesnt come from a logo or a slogan or a trite mission statement. Its what people

Pros and Cons of Personal Branding

Pros: Personal branding doesnt require a strategy per se. The easiest way to develop your personal brand is to provide exceptional service. Most bar complaints involve a lack of communication, so one way to stand out from the crowd is to be a stellar communicator (something you should already be doing). Another way to set yourself apart is to consider what matters most to your clients, then let people know you do that (and deliver!). Go back to the cocktail party scenario at the beginning of this section. Your long-time friend is telling someone about you. Write your friends script the way you want to be known (seriously, write it), then make it a reality. cons: Theres no drawback to doing great work and watching your reputation as a go-getter take root. However, if you develop a catchy phrase, a slogan, a stunning logo or even a killer website that does not reflect you and your practice, you may do more harm than good. It takes effort, discipline and a good deal of time to develop a marketable reputation, but it only takes one vengeful, angry client to destroy it all. Thats not hyperbole. With the protection of the Communications Decency Act (47 USC 230) and a proliferation of gripe-sites, your reputation can be tarnished online in a matter of minutes, and there is very little you can do about it. If youre not familiar with the CDA, take a look at The Anatomy of a RipOff Report Lawsuit(xii) by SEOMozs Sarah Bird for a good introduction.

Pros and Cons of Loud Advertising

Pros: Old-school advertising professionals talk about TOMA (top of mind awareness). Being etched in someones subconscious mind is not a bad thing. Also, some practice areas (particularly class actions where potential plaintiffs could be anyone, anywhere) are well suited for loud advertising. And yes, there is something to be said for the ego boost that comes from seeing your larger-than-life picture on a billboard next to a well-traveled freeway. cons: Loud advertising is expensive and results are never guaranteed (try asking your yellow page sales rep for a guaranteed number of prospects and see if you get laughed at). To make matters worse, some lawyers engaged in loud advertising strategies fail to track results, so they never really know how effective their advertisements are (if at all). This costly tragedy is compounded when multiple strategies are used at the same time without tracking individual results. It might seem daunting, but if you are not tracking the source of every lead and the conversion rate of every strategy, you cannot possibly know which strategies yield the best results, which are making money and which are draining the bank.

think about when they think about you as a lawyer. You might be thinking, Do I really need to worry about my personal brand? Consider this: Youre at a cocktail party when a stranger comes up and asks what you do. Do you answer Im a lawyer? That all too common answer is boring, nondescript and utterly useless for marketing purposes. Or do you say something like I dedicate my time helping accident victims get their lives back on track so they can avoid bankruptcy? Now consider this: Youre at another cocktail party talking to a long-time friend and snacking on free hors d oeuvres. A stranger comes up and asks what you do. You just took a big bite of a delicious appetizer, so your friend answers for you. Does she label you as a lawyer? Or does your longtime friend see you as more than just another lawyer? Your personal brand should manifest itself in how your friends and family see you and what they might tell others about you. Personal branding is more about the person than the brand. In other words, the quality of your work, the contributions you make to the world around you, your reputation, your integrity and your character all contribute to your personal brand. Your uniqueness is also part of your personal brandmaybe even the most important part when talking about advertising strategies.

Predictions regarding
Traditional Forms of Lawyer Advertising
When lawyers began advertising in the late 1970s, we lived in a different world. People used real (tangible) telephone directories and got their news from the newspaper printed on real paper with real ink. Sources for real-time and on-demand news were not readily available. Near the turn of the century, the internet became user-friendly and we became a digital world. Today newspapers struggle for survival as ad revenue is in freefall (ad revenue in 2011 was half what it was in 2006(vii)). Television is no longer dominated by only three networks. Viewers are now spread out over hundreds of channels. Radio stations fight for listeners against digital music players, satellite radio, streaming services and podcasts. Billboards compete for attention in an increasingly polluted visual environment and face growing regulatory pressure from local and state governments. Lawyers not wanting to leave their comfort zone will continue to donate their hard-earned money to traditional advertising vehicles, but the effec-

Current Trends in Personal Branding Amongst Lawyers

Being a lawyer in the United States truly is a noble profession (notwithstanding the abundance of lawyer jokes). Gerry Spence, famed trial lawyer and best-selling author, suggested lawyers are more important than health care providers: I want to ask you which would be more important: If all of the doctors in the country somehow disappeared or all the trial lawyers in America somehow disappeared? We can live without medical

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care, but we cannot live without justice.(x) Whether or not you agree with Spence, it is great food for thought. But if were all so special, can we really stand out from each other in meaningful ways? Graduate from law school, pass the bar, pay your dues, meet your continuing legal education requirements and keep your trust account in order, and you can practice the same kind of law and appear in the same courtrooms as Gerry Spence. Nothing unique about that, right? While some lawyers insist that the practice of law is a profession and it should not be treated as a business(xi), enterprising lawyers know better. As competition for clients grows (along with the numbers of new lawyers), finding your uniqueness will become more important. Its stressful enough just needing a lawyer. When you complicate a prospects hiring decision (for example, by not standing out), you only end up hurting yourself and helping your competition. Buyers are more likely to buy when the decision is an easy one. Even though most law schools still havent realized (or dont care) how important business development is to the practice of law, more and more lawyers are figuring it out. Service providers have figured it out too. Do a quick Google search for lawyer marketing coach or similar queries and youll see that personal branding is not just a growing trend, but an entire industry.

Predictions regarding Personal Branding amongst Lawyers

Lawyers may be practicing a noble profession, but there is little nobility in being unable to pay the bills. Unless you are academia, in-house or toiling away on assigned work in the bowels of a large firm, you should care about the business-side of law. In 2009 there were 53,508 aspiring lawyers who passed the bar to fill only 26,239 openings(xiii). Competition might be an understatement. The National Association for Law Placement Inc. recently reported that in 2011 85.6% of law school graduates had jobs (the lowest level in nearly 20 years) and only 65.4% of law grads had jobs requiring a law degree(xiv). The practice of law is not an if you build it, they will come business model. And the proliferation of self-help websites (ranging from free to inexpensive) only adds competition. Personal branding, setting yourself apart and thinking like a business owner will become more important in the coming years. Lawyers who fail to differentiate themselves and fail to develop their personal brand will be forced to find work in government gigs, as in-house or outside the legal profession altogether. enough information for you to assess whether or not online advertising is right for you. There are three broad general online advertising strategies that are growing in importance and popularity: websites and blogs, reputational strategies and paid search.

ing), there is a good chance theyll find your website online. A few quick pointers: make sure (1) your name is used in the websites text more than once, (2) your website is crawlable, and (3) your contact information is easy to find and up-to-date. Proper website development is not a quick and easy discussion, so we will provide you with more quality in-depth resources through our own website www.AttorneyBoost.com.

Website Development and SEO Website = Legitimacy

Fact: a private-practice lawyer without a website does not exist. Before objecting to such a ridiculous statement, consider it from the potential clients perspective. Remember, a lead is a person who has a need you can fill and knows about you. No matter what law school you went to or how many awards you won or how many thousands of dollars you owe in student loans, if a prospect doesnt know you exist, then to that prospect you simply dont exist. As more and more people turn to the internet to find or research lawyers, it is increasingly important that you have at least some presence online. Legal websites run the gamut from simple one-page do-it-yourself sites to complex sites costing tens of thousands of dollars. Some websites have flash, some have audio, some even have virtual hosts welcoming you to the site (a feature that is cool once, then becomes incredibly annoying). Regardless of its complexity, having a website is a great advertising tool. If someone is searching for you by name (maybe they heard about you at a PTA meet-

Good SEO: I know it when I see it.

Once you have a website (or better yet, while youre in the process of developing it), you should understand the ever-changing world of search engine optimization (SEO) and how it affects your website as an advertising tool. In simple terms, SEO is the process of optimizing your website for search engines to find and rank. But as Vanessa Fox points out in her excellent book Marketing in the Age of Google(xv), SEO is more about optimizing your website for your audience than for the search engines (after all, the only results that matter are the results your prospects see). SEO strategies are somewhat related to Justice Stewarts famous reference to pornography when he said I know it when I see it(xvi). In other words, good SEO is not good SEO in and of itself. It requires context and may vary from person to person. Algorithms used by search engines to rank websites are regularly evolving,

Trends in Online Legal Advertisements

Internet use continues to grow. Mobile internet access (via smart phones and tablets) continues to grow. Consumers turn to the internet more and more to socialize, communicate, play, research and buy products and services. So it comes as no surprise that trend in online legal advertising is also growing.

online Legal advertisements

Online legal advertising covers a vast range of strategies. This analysis will merely scratch the surface but should give you

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so what works today for effective SEO might not work the same tomorrow. Also, results are not one size fits allwhat works for one prospective client might not work for another. If you intend to use your website as a primary advertising strategy, then SEO is important to your success. Optimizing a website for searchability requires you to start with an understanding of your prospects and how they search. Before you buy your domain or pick out a color scheme or write a single article, you need to understand your intended audience and how they are looking for you. Only then can you make the technical decisions that will yield positive results. Be warned: there are countless self-proclaimed experts, gurus and shysters willing to take your money to optimize your website. Some are worth the money, but run away from any SEO consultant promising a top ranking without understanding your business and your prospects! How much benefit will you gain from being ranked number one on Google for the query complex divorce attorney to the stars if your ideal client is a middle-class couple with fairly routine divorce issues? Ranking number one is great but it only matters when tied to the right query (and in the right location). Whether you decide to outsource SEO or do it yourself, the starting point is the same. How are prospects searching for you?

Reputation via Social Media Tools

Social media tools are effective, easy and low-cost ways to market yourself as a lawyerand they are growing in popularity by the day. The number of social media tools also grows by the day, with hundreds of credible and popular tools available to build your reputation. It would be difficult to create and maintain an identity with every social media tool (or even to mention them all). The underlying strategy is far more important that the tool itself. What is popular today may not be popular next year (remember MySpace?), and tomorrow there will be another emerging craze (heard of Pinterest?). In the context of legal marketing, one of the most popular non-lawyerspecific social media tool is LinkedIn. According to some estimates, there are over one million legal professionals on LinkedIn, making it one of the websites top five most popular groups. Lawyers like LinkedIn for a number of reasons: (i) it is a professional network, so teenagers wont be offending your eyes with raucous photos of inappropriate activities; (ii) it allows you to post your pedigree so others can see your Ivy League status and big-firm credentials; (iii) it allows you to form cliques (aka groups) with like-minded individuals where you can network and share information (groups can even restrict members); and (iv) it allows you to find information about others. Facebook, on the other hand, is far more popular globally than LinkedIn, but has a smaller population of self-identified lawyers using it as a business development tool (e.g., paid advertisements, fan pages and groups). Facebook is a casual networking site and encourages self-promotion through status-updates and posting pictures. Facebooks environment makes it popular among younger audiences, but more Gen-Xers, Baby Boomers and businesses join daily. The lack of professionalism found on Facebook is what appears to keep most lawyers from giving it a high five. Lawyers traditionally are more conservative than other business owners and when it comes to technology, they usually wait for the front lines to take a beating before they get into it. Most Fortune 500 companies use Facebook as a marketing tool because thats where their customers are. As lawyers, we like to feel unique, so its easy to say Facebook isnt for lawyers. But our prospects and clients are on Facebook too. Lawyers who play in the same sandbox as their clients and prospective clients have a better understanding of their clients world and are more effective advocates. And when you are in the same sandbox, its easier to find you when prospects go looking. The state of lawyer advertising would be incomplete without a reference to Twitter. Twitters rapid-fire platform is used by some lawyers as a quick and easy way to share tidbits of information, usually consisting of links to more extensive blog posts or news articles. Social-media savvy firms use Twitter as an advertising vehicle by linking people to their websites or blogs under the guise of legal updates. The most successful firms not only benefit from brand development and increased internet traffic, but they also become known as givers, further enhancing their credibility and

Pros and Cons of Website Development, SEO and Blogging

Pros: Websites and vanity URLs are relatively cheap to obtain. Its possible to set up a simple website with basic content in a few hours. Adding SEO to your website can yield amazing results and a healthy return on investment because you dont pay for clicks or views and your credibility is all but endorsed by the search engines. As search engines becoming savvier with their ranking algorithms, it becomes easier for substantive websites to rank over keyword-stuffing or manipulative content designed only for rankings. Excellent and up to date resources abound both online and in books, making SEO a viable do-it-yourself strategy. Compare SEO to pay-per-click strategies (explained below) and youll appreciate SEO as the gift that keeps on giving. And when you leverage a blog (also relatively cheap and easy to set up), you can further enhance your SEO while positioning yourself as an expert and enhancing your personal brand. cons: Your website is a reflection of you, so if you throw up a website that looks like you threw it up after a long night of drinking (or litigating), that could do more harm than good. Also, a website with a bad picture, stale information or incorrect contact information can turn prospects away. Even if you have a good website, if you decide to tackle do-ityourself SEO to improve your rankings, be warned that it takes time to (1) learn, (2) implement, and (3) update. Websites rank best with lots of substantive content and a steady flow of new content (not to mention plenty of links directing the search engines to your pages). While SEO is a fairly simple concept, the more you dig into it the more complicated it becomes. Of course, you can outsource SEO, but that requires selective screening to avoid the shysters, and regular monthly payments irrespective of results. When you add consistent and substantive blogging to the mix, you are pledging time that might be lost elsewhere. If you decide to outsource your blog, then youre facing a host of other concerns beyond the scope of this report.

Pros and Cons of Social Media

Pros: If you have a goal in mind before you dive head-first into your social media tool of the day, you are more likely to find success. Goals can range from direct lead generation to reputation building to merely having an online presence aside from a website (or even in lieu of). Some attorneys even use various social media tools to understand the inner workings of their clients industry in order to provide better advice. Whatever your objective, most social media tools are free to inexpensive (although premium features will cost you) and easy to set up. Having a presence on the most popular social media tools is also a good way to protect and monitor your individual and law firm brands. cons: There are a few notable downsides to using social media tools. First, misuse or ignorance can raise ethics concerns. Are you advertising? Do you need disclaimers? Are you practicing law in other jurisdictions? What if you answer questionsare you at risk of establishing an attorney-client relationship? Second, effective use of social media tools usually requires engagement (thats the social part of it), and engagement takes time. If youre on Twitter but you never tweet, you might end up looking more silly than shrewd. Third, you can become consumed with social media tools, feeling like you must be involved or youll miss something important (or others will miss you).

Blogs. Blawgs. Blahhhhgs.

Blogging is like the Swiss Army knife of lawyer advertising. For some lawyers, blogging is an adequate substitute for a static website. Conversely some argue websites are becoming more like blogstomato tomahto. Blogging is a great way to contribute to search engine optimization. Personal branding? Yes, blogging helps develop your personal brand and showcases your personality better than static websites or scholarly articles. You can become known as an expert in certain areas through regular and high quality blawging. And there is something to be said for having an outlet for psychological and emotional health (the ahhhh of blogging). As you can see, blogs are a multi-use tool. Blog postings can be a sentence or they can be the equivalent of a short law review article. Authors of some legal blogs use a sarcastic, witty and even downright caustic tone, while some stick to more antiseptic facts. Blogs range from personal to philosophical to political. What you blog about (and how you say it) can enhance your reputation just as easily as it can bring you down. Popular blogs are hosted and promoted by the titans of legal publishing (West and Lexis) as well as solo practitioners. As more lawyers accept internet solutions as part of an overall marketing strategy, the popularity and usefulness of blogs continues to grow.

Reputational Strategies
Reputational strategies take many forms both online and offline (this includes personal branding strategies discussed earlier). Arguably the most common reputational strategies used by lawyers in the online world include the use of social media tools (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others), online legal directories, and question and answer forums.

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building a larger audience. Firms who are more blatant in their attempts to get clients (more advertising and less substance) have missed the point of social media and may see neutral or negative results. No matter the social media tool, the goals are often the same: create an online presence, enhance your reputation and communicate with your audience. At the end of the day, you hope your audience turns to you in their time of need. If youre conspicuously absent, your online audience cant turn to you because youre not there.

economy. Q&A sites have been around long enough to know that they wont destroy the practice of law. Lawyers who participate in such sites, however, must understand that they are solely responsible for their own participation. The good Q&A sites have disclaimers advising visitors that answers are not legal advice and no attorney-client relationship is formed by a question and answer exchange. You might even add your own disclaimer to each answer reinforcing these points. Are the disclaimers sufficient protection against malpractice claims, attorney-client relationships or ethics violations? Do you risk the unauthorized practice of law by chiming in on questions from other jurisdictions? Does your malpractice insurance cover this type of activity?

Online Legal Directories

Online legal directories offer lawyers a sort of virtual yellow pages. The concept makes sense. Let lawyers create their own profile (name, contact info, photo, background, etc.) so consumers can find them. The practice, however, is far from ideal. First, there are already a large number of legal directories. Creating a profile in each directory is time consuming, and tracking them all would require additional resources and time better spent practicing law. Second, most companies hosting legal directories have money on the mind (this is not a bad thingjust be aware that these are mostly commercial endeavors). Some directories charge for listings from the start while others allow you to post (or claim) a limited profile for free. Directories routinely charge extra for additional features or premium placement above the other free-ride lawyers. Third, consumers probably dont care about most directories. If a consumer is searching for you by name, would you rather have a website or a free directory listing? If a consumer is searching for an attorney in your practice area, will you spend your money on a directory listing or are there better ways to target prospects? Which ones matter? Which ones should you join? Before taking the plunge, you should know who your ideal client is and where they hang out online. If a directory host has the means to draw in your target audience, it might be worth testing and measuring results. Unfortunately there are no useful statistics on the number of directories available, how many lawyers use them, how many prospects find them helpful, how many lawyers see prospects from their directory participation and how many actually convert to clients. Pros: Most directories provide a free profile. Some even have a profile for you already (whether you know it or not) created from public records. If you dont want or dont have your own website, directories offer a viable alternative. cons: Directories come with strings attached. If you rely on a directory as a primary marketing tool, you are subject to the marketing efforts of the host. The quality of prospects you get from a directory (if any) are completely outside your control. Your directory listing is also an advertisement. Once you built it (or claim it), ethics compliance is on you and not the host.

Paid Search and Legal Advertising

A costly but effective form of online legal advertising is paid search. Paid search includes display ads and pay-per-click ads that appear on search result pages and throughout the internet on almost any kind of page. Paid search can also be used on various social media sites, including ads on

Pros and Cons of Question and Answer Forums

Pros: Question and answer forums are a great way to see what people are talking about. If you provide answers, you can do what a lot of attorneys do, and give the famous it depends answer: Generally speaking, your blah blah blah means blah blah blah, but these are difficult cases and the unique facts of your case are very important. You should definitely consult with an attorney to understand how best to proceed. This may be a relatively safe approach and might result in prospects reaching out to you. cons: Q&A sites are expensive to maintain. Companies who hosting Q&A forums are in it for the money, not for the benefit of building a better society. Some companies charge customers (non-lawyers) a monthly subscription. Others charge the lawyers for enhanced features or preferred placement on consumer-facing pages. As with any marketing or advertising strategy, the beginning of the analysis is to ask what you hope to accomplish, and if this strategy is right for you. Are you counting your Q&A answers as pro bono hours? Are you dabbling in these forums to gain experience? Are you actively trying to get new clients?

Facebook and sponsored tweets or trends on Twitter. As a trend, there is no question lawyers and legal marketers know how valuable and effective paid search can be. Search engines and social media websites have an almost inconceivable amount of data about internet users. They might know more about you than your spouse or children. They use this information to serve advertisements to you that are likely to pique your interest. Its no coincidence that ads mirror topics you have been discussing in emails or searching for online. To appreciate the power of paid search, you can set up a free Google Adwords account and evaluate the cost of search queries that might be relevant to you. Since Adwords is built on a bidding platform, the more you have to pay to get top placement for your advertisement, the more competitive your query is. Unless your name is Ford or Gaga, you can probably bid on you own name for mere pennies (of course, if you have a website you probably already rank organically for your own name). Bid on personal injury lawyer and you might be paying $50 per click! This is an indication that there is significant online competition for this query.

Pros and Cons of Paid Search

Pros: Paid search, when done right, is likely to be the most targeted of any online advertisement. Even when paid search is expensive (and for lawyers, its very expensive), the return on investment can justify the high cost. As an advertising strategy, paid search is easy to measure, so you can evaluate your success with relative certainty. And when you need to stop, pause or change your approach, it only takes a few minutes to make that happen. cons: Did we mention paid search is expensive? Whether you pay for display ads (where youre charged when your ad shows on a page regardless of what the user does) or PPC ads (where youre charged when your ad is clickedeven if its an accident or a competitor or a three-yearold), conversion is up to you. To make paid search work, you must have a strong conversion strategy. Pay and they will come, but they might not stay long enough to put dollars in your pocket.

Predictions regarding online Legal advertisements

Books have been written on the vast world of online legal advertising. Even though online legal advertising has been around for many years, its still a new creature with more questions than answers. What seems almost irrefutable, however, is that online advertising for lawyers will continue to grow. Websites will continue to play an important role in legal adverting, both to validate your existence and to attract new clients. Lawyers who undertake effective SEO strategies will benefit from top organic search results and

Question and Answer Forums

Several popular websites now host Q&A forums where lawyers can respond to consumer questions and dish out free non-legal legal advice. These websites are growing in popularity, which may be a sign of a dismal

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the search engines implied endorsement. Lawyers who understand and capitalize on local search engine optimization will reap even greater rewards as the internet becomes increasingly local and personalized. The number of lawyers actively using social media will continue to grow both among new lawyers (who are practically programmed at birth to accept social media) and the old guard. Social media will become an almost indispensable form of marketing. Where a website used to be required to validate a lawyers online existence, social media will soon become the measure of a lawyers existence. More lawyers (particularly solo and small firm lawyers) will grudgingly become active on Facebook simply because thats where prospects are. All but a few legal directories will likely wither and die over the next decade. Directories tied to other services (such as lawyerratings and Q&A forums) will thrive so long as they offer a benefit to their participants. Q&A forums also will continue to thrive but will wane in popularity as lawyers discover their idea clients are not the ones looking for quick and easy legal advice. Other nonlegal legal services (aka self-serve forms providers) will compete for small transactions, leaving lawyers with a less than ideal pool of prospects on the Q&A forums.

end notes
(i) (ii) (iii)

(iv)

(v)

about attorneyBoost.com
If you want to know more about AttorneyBoost.com, check out our website. Or pretend we just met at a cocktail party and you asked, What do you do? Heres our response: You know how Google charges over $50 PER CLICK for personal injury keywords? You nod your head affirmatively. At Attorney Boost we help attorneys reduce their marketing expenses and increase revenue. We connect attorneys with people who are looking online for an attorney right now. For example, if youre a divorce attorney, we connect you with people who are looking for a divorce attorney. People who want a DUI attorney are only sent to attorneys who defend DUIs. We put the attorney in control. You tell us what cities you want to work, and we deliver prospects from those cities. You specify what kind of legal matters you handle, and those are the prospects we delivery. You want to blow the roof off your firm? We can deliver prospects for days on end. Or you can pace yourself and set a daily or weekly limit. The beauty is that you only pay for leads that fit your specs...and theyre hot leads...delivered in near-real time. Dont be surprised to see an ROI that will embarrass your other marketing efforts.

conclusion
The state of legal marketing has been in flux since the advertising door was opened in the 1970s. Change is part of our evolving society, but with the explosive popularity of the internet and constantly emerging and nearly global acceptance of social media tools, legal advertising will see dramatic and frequent changes over the next decade. Lawyers, generally considered risk averse and more traditional, will either need to adapt to changing technologies or they will lose market share to the more adventurous and pioneering lawyers. Its worth noting that the current state of lawyer advertising didnt come without risk or pain. Imagine the lawyers who broke the advertising barriers by risking their law licenses. The future may contain some risk and some pain. But what great things have been created or experience without risk or pain?

Bates v. State Bar of Arizona, 433 U.S. 350 (1977) ABA CODE OF PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITY, Disciplinary Rule 2-101(B) (1977) DR 2-103 discussed the recommendation of professional employment and prohibited, among other things, the payment of referral fees. DR 2-101 -Publicity in General. (A) -A lawyer shall not, on behalf of himself, his partner, associate or any other lawyer affiliated with him or his firm, use or participate in the use of any form of public communication containing a false, fraudulent, misleading, deceptive, self-laudatory or unfair statement or claim. DR 2-101 (B) (1) Name, including name of law firm and names of professional associates; addresses and telephone numbers; (2) One or more fields of law in which the lawyer or law firm practices, a statement that practice is limited to one or more fields of law, or a statement that the lawyer or law firm specializes in a particular field of law practice, to the extent authorized under DR 2-105; (3) Date and place of birth; (4) Date and place of admission to the bar of state and federal courts; (5) Schools attended, with dates of graduation, degrees and other scholastic distinctions; (6) Public or quasi-public offices; (7) Military service; (8) Legal authorships; (9) Legal teaching positions; (10) Memberships, offices, and committee assignments, in bar associations; (11) Membership and offices in legal fraternities and legal societies; (12) Technical and professional licenses; (13) Memberships in scientific, technical and professional associations and societies; (14) Foreign language ability; (15) Names and addresses of bank references; (16) With their written consent, names of clients regularly represented; (17) Prepaid or group legal services programs in which the lawyer participates; (18) Whether credit cards or other credit arrangements are accepted; (19) Office and telephone answering service hours; (20) Fee for an initial consultation; (21) Availability upon request of a written schedule of fees and/or estimate of the fee to be charged for specific services; (22) Contingent fee rates subject to DR 2-106(C), provided that the statement discloses whether percentages are computed before or after deduction of costs; (23) Range of fees for services, provided that the statement discloses that the specific fee within the range which will be charged will vary depending upon the particular matter to be handled for each client and the client is entitled without obligation to an estimate of the fee within the range likely to be charged, in print size equivalent to the largest print used in setting forth the fee information;

(vi)

(vii) (viii) (ix)

(x) (xi)

(xii) (xiii) (xiv) (xv)

(xvi)

(24) Hourly rate, provided that the statement discloses that the total fee charged will depend upon the number of hours which must be devoted to the particular matter to be handled for each client and the client is entitled to without obligation an estimate of the fee likely to be charged, in print size at least equivalent to the largest print used in setting forth the fee information; (25) Fixed fees for specific legal services,* the description of which would not be misunderstood or be deceptive, provided that the statement discloses that the quoted fee will be available only to clients whose matters fall into the services described and that the client is entitled without obligation to a specific estimate of the fee likely to be charged in print size at least equivalent to the largest print used in setting forth the fee information. The following text is from the advertisement appearing in the yellow pages of the Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. telephone directory for St. Louis Suburban West issued in February 1978, and was the basis for unprofessional conduct charges brought against the attorney (455 U.S. 191, 208 (1982)): J,RM * Corporate * Personal Injury * Partnership * Trials & Appeals * Real Estate * Securities-Bonds * Tax * Wills, Estate-Planning * Bankruptcy * Pension* Probate Profit-Sharing * Contracts * Workmans * Anti-Trust Compensation * Labor * Divorce, Separation * Criminal * Custody, Adoption Admitted To Practice Restore THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT Licensed In: MISSOURI & ILLINOIS 120 Central--------------------------721-5321 http://stateofthemedia.org/2012/newspapers-building-digitalrevenues-proves-painfully-slow/newspapers-by-the-numbers See, for example, Napolean Hills Think and Grow Rich. One prominent blogger wrote: I shudder sometimes when I hear about lawyers having a brand, as if we were some form of potato chip or car. http://www.legalnewsline.com/news/217295-spence-trial-lawyers-more-important-than-doctors For example, Deborah Bucknam wrote in the ABAs Law Practice magazine: Last year I had the honor of being sworn in as a member of the New Hampshire Bar. At the swearing-in ceremony, the states chief justice admonished new admittees to remember that the practice of law is a profession, not a business. The chief justice was echoing a traditional distaste for commerce that is well-known to the legal profession. The Anatomy of a RipOff Report Lawsuit, posted by Sarah Bird, Esquire, January 21, 2008. The Lawyer Surplus, State by State, June 27, 2011. As reported by the Washington Times on June 17, 2012. Vanessa has presented her ideas and strategies to lawyers and other business owners to help them understand search engine optimization strategies based on the way buyers search. You can find information about her book here. Justice Potter Stewart, concurring opinion in Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184 (1964).

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Were H ere To H el p Yo u
Mailing Address 500 N. Rainbow Blvd, Suite 300 Las Vegas, NV 89107. Talk to us Our toll-free number is (888) 224-9449 Email us Our all-purpose mailbox is info@attorneyboost.com Tweet us Were on twitter: @AttorneyBoost Like us Our Facebook page is Facebook.com/AttorneyBoost Comment about us Our Google+ Page. Engage us Join our LinkedIn Group for attorney marketing and let your thoughts be known

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