Gideon has been named a 2019 Emerging Legal Technology by The National Law Journal.
You can read the write-up here.
If you want to learn more about why everybody’s talking about Gideon, schedule a demo with us today!
Automated Intake for Law Firms
Gideon has been named a 2019 Emerging Legal Technology by The National Law Journal.
You can read the write-up here.
If you want to learn more about why everybody’s talking about Gideon, schedule a demo with us today!
Analytics, Marketing, Messaging, Technology
It’s time to find out.
Gideon’s COO, Jared Correia, talks with Mockingbird Marketing’s Conrad Saam about the modern law firm chatbot experience on March 13 @ 11 am PST / 2 pm EST.
(You won’t want to miss this one.)
Many of the things that law firms do surrounding processes resemble cottage industry. Much of the work is done by hand. Even at this late date, manual processes rule the law firm environment. But, as many lawyers become concerned over the use of marketing automation technology, due to the loss of a ‘personal touch’, the fact of the matter is that lawyers and staff are often too busy with substantive work to provide that personal touch, and that modern consumers are far more accepting of technology-based communications than law firms realize.
Legal consumers are contacting a lawyer because they’re worried about something, usually very worried. And, when people are worried, they need to be reassured. The way potential customers of legal services are reassured is by consistent contact. They want to know that the business they intend to choose will be looking out for them, and will be keeping them appraised of what is happening in their case.
Of course, this flies in the face of how most law firms do things. Lawyers onboard clients, but their usual MO is to let clients know when something ‘important’ happens on their case —the only problem with that strategy is that, in many cases, not very much happens on a legal claim, on a regular basis. What happens if you don’t have a substantive case update on a client’s case for six months? Not contacting them at all is a common, but poor solution, because that’s a surefire way to raise your client’s anxiety level. One thing a thoughtful law firm might do is to automate a regular check-in process.
And, this starts by conditioning clients to regular, automated communication, starting at the outset of representation. Get your clients used to communicating with chatbots and receiving email and text pings when they’re leads and new clients. This will also advantage you at intake, because the majority of potential law firm clients are more likely to become the clients of the law firm that offers a first point of engagement. That’s not a form to fill out, or a link to click. It’s a virtual receptionist, or a chatbot. Communicate with the potential law firm client in a fashion that does not require a lawyer or staffperson’s time, but that does equate to actual engagement, and your chances of winning that client skyrocket. Plus, you’ll prep them for the methods by which you will communicate with them later. Extend that proposition by using a client journey. Further entrench the procedure by automating regular check-in and checkup options.
Marketing automation is not the end of ‘personalized’ communications, it’s merely the preferred method of personalized communications in the digital age. And, this is what lawyers have always struggled with: keeping up with the times. But, if your law firm becomes a first mover on marketing automation, you’ll end up creating a massive competitive advantage for yourself.
One of the reasons that general law practices, while satisfying the intellectual curiosity of attorneys, are nonetheless difficult to market is because it’s difficult to sell everything . . . unless you’re literally selling Swiss Army Knives.
I mean, think about it: If you need to hire a plumber (and, that’s a need, not a want), are you going to go find somebody who’s a jack of all trades, who can fix your clogged toilet right after he molds a scented candle? Hell, no. You want an expert. The best businesses do one thing really well; and, that’s true of law firms, also.
Put yourself into the shoes of a legal consumer for a second. Suppose you wanted a recommendation for or were looking for a divorce attorney. Don’t you want somebody to tell you, or don’t you want to view marketing materials tending to the conclusion that, the person you would hire is an expert in that particular field, and does only that kind of work. If someone tells you, ‘You should go see my friend, Jane. She practices all kinds of different types of law; but, I’m sure she would do a great job with your divorce!’, that doesn’t exactly inspire confidence, does it? It would be like telling someone, ‘Oh, your toilet’s overflowing? My Uncle Ray is an HVAC technician, but he unclogged the toilet in his house the other day, so you should really give him a call!’ You ain’t never gonna call Uncle Ray.
Clearly, it’s important for modern law firms to decide on a practice niche, stick with it, and consistently market it. You need to be able to sell one concept, one major idea, to be able to succeed widely. It’s partly a viable business strategy, and partly a recognition that people have neither long patience nor lengthy attention spans in a world that is saturated with information.
This notion of selling a single idea should also extend to any kind of marketing you will do within your law firm. Don’t try to throw multiple concepts out at one time. If you’re an outside counsel firm, and you’re productizing your law firm offerings by selling a business management audit, just sell that — don’t also try to offer employment law services and contract drafting services in the same advertisement, or pitch. Less is more. And, if you can get in at one level, you know you’ve gained your clients’ trust, and you can then upsell, or sell more services, down the line. Remember that the attorney-client engagement is often a long road; and, understand that you win broadly in the long run, by winning small victories along the way.
This notion of single concept marketing is not new; but, it’s not often actualized effectively by lawyers. So, every time your law firm runs a new marketing campaign, ask yourself how many different things you’re selling, or trying to sell. And, if you find that it’s multiple things, try to whittle it down to one, and get focused, because your potential clients won’t have then ability, or the interest, to multitask on a sales proposition that is not unique.
Everything you do for your law firm marketing should have a singular focus. If it doesn’t, it’s your job to create a true marketing funnel by narrowing down your approach.
Your clients do want a piece of you . . . you just have to decide which piece.
Everybody wants to do social media marketing. Many small business owners view it as a panacea for their marketing woes: It’s free, and it’s easy. Of course, that’s not entirely true. It’s not free — because anything that you spend your time on involves at least an opportunity cost. And, it ain’t easy: I mean, nothing worth doing ever is. That all being said, social media marketing is effective, if you make the time, and take the effort, to do it right.
The biggest problem with social media marketing is time management. The point of using social media to build out your law practice is to reach new audiences, at the streams they care about. Maybe someone prefers Facebook, as a method to search for professional services; or, maybe they like LinkedIn. The more places you can cover, the more likely you are to convert clients, because the expansion of your market is essentially limitless. So, social media Increases your opportunities to be where they are.
Now, that all sounds good in the abstract. But, when you consider that being present in all those places involves the management of a number of different platforms and passwords, your head may start to spin. And, if social media marketing involves creating and managing personal and professional Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and other social media accounts, most lawyers would probably elect not to start at all — either because they don’t want to do it themselves, or because they feel that their staff should be doing higher leverage work, and they don’t want to hire consultants or vendors to manage it for them.
Of course, it’s difficult to argue with the thesis. Social media marketing is a pain in the ass. But, if you could eliminate managing each portal separately, it would be a lot easier, right? Well, the good news is that you can do exactly that. There are a number of tools available that will allow you to manage various social media platforms across one dashboard, with a single sign-in. These software, some of which have free versions, like Hootsuite and Buffer, integrate with social media providers, to allow you to manage your accounts at their interface. You simply add the accounts you want, and create content streams. This helps you to view content and to post content easily. The ability to create and view multiple streams across social media platforms means that you can easily repost content that you like, thereby interspersing your own content with others’, which is a way to establish your expertise without coming off as entirely self-promotional. Perhaps the best feature of these systems is the ability to schedule posts for later release. Because one of the biggest issues with social media is that it’s so easy to fall down a rabbit hole and lose hours at a time, scheduling posts allows you to get in and get out more quickly, and with a purpose. If you’re clever, you can even schedule a post for a week or more at a time, and make it your practice to engage with your connections on your time. The ability to parachute in and parachute out makes you a much more efficient marketing tactician on social media. And, if you’re not continually frustrated about what would otherwise appear to be a waste of time, then you’re more likely to keep at it, and that’s a recipe for winning the long game of law firm social media marketing.
Besides, it’s kind of cool to have someone you’re in conversation with ask you whether you just sent out a post on LinkedIn. Then, it’s up to you whether you want to reveal your secret, or not.
I’ll never tell.