Gideon Legal Chatbot Software

Chatbot Software for Law Firms

marketing strategy

Marketing, Data Security, Technology

Great Barrier Reef: Modern Customer Service is About Breaking Down Barriers

You may have heard that there are now a majority of states that have adopted new legal ethics rules insinuating that a lawyer’s competence includes knowledge and understanding of legal technology.  And, although you’d probably never hear this from anyone on any accredited CLE panel, this seems to also include technology for marketing, inasmuch as that extends to data retention and security.

But, the broader idea of a lawyer’s competence extending to marketing technology is a new concept.  Does it also mean that an attorney should understand how to wield marketing technology effectively?  Maybe, maybe not.  But, you should treat it as such anyway — because for most attorneys the thing that’s going to put you out of business is not that you undergo an ethics investigation, it’s that you don’t make enough money, often enough.  That’s directly related to your marketing strategy and tactics, of course.

And, while the notion of generic technology competence is something lawyers have had a difficult time wrapping their heads around, marketing technology competence is a little easier to understand — to wit: In order to be a competent legal marketer, you should always be seeking to reduce the number of steps a potential client needs to get to you.  For example, if you can reduce a step in your intake process, do it.  If you can make it easier for your clients to pay you, do that too.  And, if you can create a more compelling payment arrangement by fixing costs, and taking the guesswork out of calculating lawyer rates, do that thing also.  Of course, in some cases, it may be appropriate to add steps to reduce barriers, like when you build out an effective client journey, for new law firm clients who may never have interacted with a law firm before.

Modern law firm consumers are more impatient than ever.  They don’t have time for your accolades; they just want someone who is going to solve their problem.  So, position yourself as a solution point; and, then continue to educate your client through the course of your relationship.  This is not about burnishing your war chest; it’s about focusing on helping people.  And, isn’t that why literally everyone went to law school?

Marketing, Messaging

What’s Your Problem? Marketing a Law Firm Effectively is Simply About Addressing Pain Points

I have terrible news: your clients don’t give a shit that you’re a Super Lawyer.

Generally speaking, potential law firm clients aren’t interested in how many awards you’ve won, because those kind of industry standard competency qualifiers are meaningless to them.  It’s not like people understand what it means to be a ‘Super Lawyer’, like they understand what it means to be a ‘Super Bowl MVP’.  I mean, sure, a layperson could identify the fact that a ‘super’ lawyer is probably better than an ‘average’ or ‘awful’ lawyer.  But, what leverage does being maybe slightly better than average bring you?

Selling any type of service, including legal services, is more about how well you focus on your clients’ issues than it is about how well you compensate for your own. (You’ve got your AV rating, and your overpriced sports car . . . but, that’s better than a spray tanning addiction, I suppose.)  So, it pays (literally) to think about how to identify your clients’ problems in a way that resonates with them.  And, here’s an easy strategy for meeting your potential clients’ needs when they’re searching online: Think of the 10 most frequently asked questions that your existing clients have, and create content consistently on that subject matter.  Since those clients are mostly plugging in long form questions related to the serious problem they want resolved, like ‘I was injured at work, can I sue my boss’ — not ‘tort law Cincinnati’, by the way — if your content answers that question, and is titled in a similar fashion . . . Guess what?  You’ve become a highly relevant and sought-after search result.  Keep doing it, and you become even more relevant, and even more sought-after.

And, while picking the right questions is important, you also need to be sure that your message resonates with your potential clients.  So, don’t write like a lawyer, write like a layperson — or, in a way that a layperson understands.  And, if you can help it — don’t farm out the content work.  Do it yourself; and, that will make you more authentic, and seem more accessible. 

Law firms often tend to reflect on their own comfort, rather than their client’s — but, getting out of your comfort zone is the key to developing your modern marketing chops.

Technology, Marketing

Automatic for the People: Marketing Systems are Essential for Modern Law Firms

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.