Gideon Legal Chatbot Software

Chatbot Software for Law Firms

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Marketing, Technology

Home Video: Gideon’s YouTube Channel Is Live

For the last few months, we’ve been hosting live and recording free educational webinars for attorneys on a variety of topics.

This quarter, we’ve had Jared Correia on covering document management systems, Ernie Svenson talking about law firm systems and Jeff Lantz and Desire’e Martinelli addressing ADA compliance for law firm websites.  Next up is Mitch Jackson on the metaverse.

 Now, we’ve archived all those webinars at our new YouTube channel, so you can you watch them any time you want.  New webinars will be posted at our channel the day after they’re recorded; and, in addition to educational webinars, we’ll start adding product videos soon, to boot.

So, check out our brand spanking new YouTube channel, and subscribe, so we can get a custom url 😊.

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.

Messaging, Marketing

Double Duty: Content Marketing Helps Law Firm Lead Conversion in 2 Ways

Content marketing is the most cost-effective way to market a business, including a law practice.

And, to have the most effect in terms of content marketing, publication and promotion, you’ll need to answer your clients’ most pressing question.  No: not where you went to law school; but, how can you help them?  Legal consumers are stressed, and want someone to relieve their burden, as soon as humanly possible.  So, all of your content should be focused on how you can do that.

The easiest way to start content marketing is to identify your potential clients’ common questions, and answer those.  The medium (audio, video, text) matters less than the message.

Now, most law firms will produce content like that and use it to entice leads – to get someone to click to call, fill out an intake form, schedule an appointment or engage a chatbot.  And, that’s great – that’s absolutely what you want: content breeding meaningful engagement.

But, don’t stop there.  There’s another way your content marketing can help your law firm to convert leads.

Take that content and use it to buttress your client journey.  It’s one thing for a lead to reach out, it’s another thing for that same legal consumer to make the choice to hire you.  That decision can be supplemented by additional followups, which can be automated.  So, use your content to keep potential clients invested, as you try to get them to schedule a consultation appointment, or sign an engagement agreement.

Heck, you can even you use content in the new client onboarding process, in order to give people an idea of how you work, and what the legal process entails – which questions new clients are bound to be interested in getting answers for.

Well, I guess that’s now two ways content marketing helps to converts clients, and one way content marketing helps to onboard clients.  The operative word there being help.

So, if you want to improve your conversion rate and onboarding process, having a robust content library sure is helpful.

Marketing

Say It Right: Consumer-Friendly Language Differentiates Law Firm Intake

Every movie about aliens is bult on a foundation of miscommunication.

Like, E.T.’s not here to hurt you!  He just wants some Reese’s Pieces, and to learn how to dial a rotary phone, for God’s sake!  Or, Wall-E isn’t evil, the boy just wants to pick up your trash.  (Let the boy pick up your trash!)  The blue people in Avatar are not dangerous, they’re just environmentalists!  The aliens from ‘Alien’ weren’t bad . . . Oh, wait, they were.  They were very bad.  (Just ask Tom Skerritt.)

You get the drift: misunderstanding, distrust, lack of engagement . . . it all springs from an inability to communicate.

So, you should know that a lot of lawyers sound like aliens to legal consumers.

Attorneys love to speak in legalese, to throw around Latin terms, to discuss arcane points of procedure, to uncover unexpected precedent, to talk through cat filters.  Consumers don’t understand any of it.  They don’t deal in the same formality that attorneys often do.

And, when lawyers try to write for consumers, it often sounds stilted, disjointed and weird.  It sounds just like what it is: an attorney trying not to sound like an attorney, but failing miserably at it.

But, in terms of legal services, a consumer-friendly narrative wins the day.  Legal consumers are universally interested in the legal process, they want to know that help you can help them with their specific issue.  They could not give a rat’s ass about the Palsgraf case, however.

So, law firms need to work harder to generate consumer-centric language, when drafting any kind of content for consumers, whether that’s a video, blog post, podcast or chatbot script.  Explain what’s happening, directly and clearly.  Write crisply.  Point to the next step.

Think of climbing a set of stairs.  Each step is brisk and short, and combine to lead to an ultimate destination.  Model your legal writing for consumers after that model, and you won’t misstep.

Marketing, Analytics, Messaging

Feels Like the First Time: Why Your Law Firm Needs to Develop a Client Journey

Law firms work vigorously to convert leads: to get those leads to pay retainers and sign engagement agreements.  That all makes sense: winning business is essential for any organization.  However, once law firms convert clients, there is often a dry spell before the new clients hear from their new law firms again; and, because many cases start with potentially significant periods before anything of note actually happens, new clients may go for months, or even a year, before they hear from their lawyer again.

This paucity of response is one of the reasons that law firms have a bad reputation for customer service.  Keep in mind that, while you deal with the legal field every working day of your life, for many of your clients, it will be the first (and potentially only) time they ever have an interaction with the legal system.  So, it’s essential to keep them informed of what’s going on, even if you know exactly what’s up.

And, that’s why your law firm should adopt and utilize a client journey.

A client journey is a series of interactions that are scheduled for onboarding new clients.  Even if these are automated, as part of a drip campaign for every new client, that’s a site better than just letting your new clients twist in the wind, wondering what happens now.  And, while you should maintain regular, personal contact with your clients (a good rule is to check in with each of your active clients via phone or email every six weeks), it helps to automate an initial rollout of information, in order to keep your clients engaged, and to make them feel cared for, while you can tend to more pressing substantive legal matters.

What you construct is entirely up to you; but, whatever it is, it should be a consistent demonstration of your investment in the attorney-client relationship.  By way of example, the client journey you build out might look like this: (1) a short video welcoming the client to the law firm, sent by email; (2) a follow-up email listing the various ways that the client can contact the law firm; (3) a text message to see whether or not the client has any questions; (4) an email notifying the client that you’ve signed her up for your enewsletter, which will follow on a schedule; (5) your first check-in call, six weeks into the representation.  In all likelihood that’s five more additional touches than most law firms get on new clients.  This listing assumes that your law firm is like most law firms in that it collects only the most basic client contact information: email and phone number; but, if you’ve got more than that, feel free to communicate with your client via other or alternate media.  No matter how you contact your new clients, set up a schedule, and follow through; that’s the only way to instill an effective system.

If you can install a client journey within your law firm’s client communications structure, you’ll end up with happier clients, which ultimately means more referrals and less malpractice risk.