Gideon Legal Chatbot Software

Chatbot Software for Law Firms

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Marketing, Messaging

Multiplicity: The Secret to Content Marketing is Repurposing

Lots of lawyers avoid content marketing as a strategy, because they feel like they have to be James Joyce, or some shit.  But, there’s no need to write the great (Irish) novel every time you put pen to paper, or fingers to keys.  That’s far too much effort, for what you’re trying to accomplish = answering anticipated questions from potential clients or referral sources, in order to cement your expertise online.

On the other hand, some lawyers avoid content marketing, because they feel like they need to be Milli Vanilli.  So, they hand off the content creation responsibility to a vendor, and just crank out a bunch of informational posts that look a lot like a bunch of other informational posts, and that don’t really have any connection to the person who hired out for the service.  They’re not authentic to the attorney they (supposedly) represent.

But, there’s a middle ground, that allows for attorneys to produce content effectively, that is authentic to their voice, without becoming overwhelmed.

Instead of trying to write a complex legal brief, or a multi-pointed address, boil your topics down to the simplest elements.  Address singular issues, in the most direct way possible.  Do that, and you’ll find that your blog posts, videos, audio content, etc. are shorter, more to the point, and perfectly suited for the modern attention span.  Simplicity is the watchword.

Now, here’s the magic trick: Once you have all these segments of content, in a variety of formats, you can start playing at Legos.  Put them together, for an enewsletter.  String together blog posts to create an ebook.  Turn a whiter paper into a Powerpoint.  Now, that’s repurposing, at its finest.

Because, you don’t need to derive an infinite well of useful ideas – just 6-10 that you can mix and match.

Marketing, Technology

Trendsetter: Does Your Law Firm Need a TikTok Account

Well, it depends.  (How’s that for a lawyer answer?)

Now, as we’ve discussed at this blog in prior entries, it’s good to diversify your marketing – so, adding a TikTok account to whatever else it is you’re doing certainly makes sense from that perspective.  But, to do TikTok right, you really have to love the video format – and, be willing to be a bit more animated than the standard law firm talking head video requires.  Successful TikTok accounts generally feature more active subjects, and can include certain edits that standard videos don’t – like quick screen wipes and on-screen graphics.  You also have to heavily commit to a single idea, because the format works best for shorter form videos. 

That’s all doable; but, you shouldn’t do anything you feel uncomfortable with, or that you’re trying to force – because marketing rule #1 is that you are authentic.  That applies to whether you like to write enough to commit to a blog, just as much as it does to whether you want to commit to producing regular TikTok videos.

For inspiration, check out Alex Su and Cat Casey, both of whom are legaltech folks, with great TikTok profiles.

And, the good news is that, if you feel like you can get into TikTok, the return on investment is pretty good, in general, for business accounts – and, likely even better for attorneys, because there are relatively few of them (still) on the platform.

Marketing, Uncategorized

I, Robot: Why Law Firms Chatbots Are Better Than Live Chat

Lots of law firms still retain a hankering for live chat, viewing it as more effective than chatbots.  Like many choices law firms make, this one, too, may not be based on informed decisionmaking, but rather the soft comfort of the status quo, which many law firms rely on – to their detriment.

Chatbots are essentially scripted intake forms that take operate via a conversational interface.  This represents an improvement over traditional law firm intake forms, in that there is an actual give-and-take, an engagement, as the bot ask questions, and the user answers in reply.  This can seem very much like a natural conversation (even as users knows they’re talking with a bot, a machine), and is fast becoming the preferred business communication platform, especially for younger consumers.  Legal consumers want to be able to immediately engage with law firms, and take a next step – like scheduling an appointment with a lawyer – and, chat tools are perfect for that use case.

Now, both live chat and chatbots offer that functionality.  But, chatbots can do it better.

How?  Glad you asked:

-Chatbots allow you to control the entire conversation, and to limit it to only the information gathering that you need.  How many times does a live chat agent or virtual receptionist go on a frolic, and take a circuitous route to a final vetting of a potential client?  How often do they make mistakes?  How often have you asked yourself, ‘Geez, can’t they just follow a script’?  Chatbots always do.

-Nothing kills engagement and client conversion like waiting.  Legal consumers are particularly impatient.  So, what happens when a legal consumer is waiting for a live agent to appear?  That legal consumer moves to another website.  Chatbots are never late.

-Since live chat agents are real people, they make real money.  So, live chat costs more than a chatbot.  And, if the goal of intake is to follow a script and qualify clients, doing so directly, rather than by an agent, as alluded to above, can be 100% accurate, and far cheaper.  Chatbots cost less, often much less.

So, it turns out that chatbots are a modern digital solution, built to engage and convert legal consumers, at a lower cost than live chat.

Honestly, what’s not to like?

Marketing, Messaging

Sell Yourself: Be Authentic When You Market Your Law Practice

For all its faults, full fat butter knows what it is, and embraces it.  Sure, there’s margarine.  And, there’s Olivio.  And, there’s probably something made from soy that would kill me.  But, if you’re a full fat butter consumer, full fat butter is here for you, whether you just like to do damage because that’s the way you throw down, or whether you’re a new school ‘natural foods’ enthusiast.  Full fat butter knows that there are myriad ways for it to sell itself, so long as full fat butter remains true to itself.  Full fat butter knows that it need not get all the butter-consuming clients, just a specific percentage of them.

Thank you, full fat butter.  Full fat butter, meet lawyers.  Lawyers often try to do too much in selling their products and services.  They try to be all things to all people, and they try to be something they are not: they’re trying to meet an idea of what they think lawyers should be like, rather than being themselves.  But, if you’re full fat butter, you should be full fat butter.  If you’re margarine, be margarine.  Or, be Olivio.  And, if you’re a soy product, be the soy product.

I think the reason why attorneys don’t act like themselves more often, is that they’re afraid of turning some people off.  But, you have to realize that you can’t please all of the people all of the time, and that trying to do so turns you into wet toast, that nobody really likes.  So, be who you are, and don‘t worry about the haters.  Chances are, you’ll get more of the types of clients that you want, with whom you’ll develop more meaningful business relationships.

Like butter.

Marketing, Messaging

Singularity: The Importance of Selling One Thing

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.