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Marketing

Short and Sweet: Don’t Write Overlong Blog Posts

So, when it comes to crafting narratives that legal consumers can buy into, attorneys tend to struggle.  They have a hard time not writing like a lawyer, using Latin words, and such.  They tend to try to pack too many concepts into anything they write, rather than focusing on singular ideas, in order to match the modern attention span.  Plus, the blog posts they write tend to be too long.  The idea is not to draft a law review article, but to generate shorter posts, that focus only on that one concept – if you have more ideas you want to get out, write multi-part posts.

Generally speaking, you should probably stop around 250 words.

And, if you’re publishing to your main website, you don’t even necessarily need a call to action, because there should be one on the page you’re publishing to.

Blogging is kind of old school, yeah – but, it’s still an effective way for law firms to drive referral sources and potential clients to their websites.

You just need to stop writing, before you go too long, and bore everyone.

Just like this . . .

Marketing, Messaging

And, in the End: Why All Your Marketing Content Needs (Is) a Call to Action

The Beatles wrote that ‘All You Need Is Love’.  But, from a marketing perspective, that’s not exactly right.  You need love, sure.  But, you also need a call to action.

What’s a ‘call to action’?  It’s simply what you want someone to do.

‘Hey, visit my website.’

‘Let’s schedule a time to get coffee.’

‘Listen to my new podcast, at this link.’

One of the reasons you need a call to action is because people are so busy these days, with so much information flying in their faces at all times, that you really need to generate an obvious next step.

Another thing to keep in mind is that, especially for potential law firm clients, many of whom have never worked with a law firm before, and don’t know much about the legal process – they want to know what happens next, and what they should do to move things forward.

So, in the end, any piece of content you produce, reproduce or repurpose, should have at least one call to action, so that you can allow your potential clients and referral sources, to move the ball forward.  Otherwise, they won’t, and you may lose new business because of it.

Marketing

Picture Perfect: Is It Time to Update Your Headshot?

Quick question: When did you last update your professional headshot, or website photography for you and/or your staff?  I bet it’s been a long time.  And, if it has been a long time, you’re right in line with most of the legal professional.

The funny thing is, as far as the internet is concerned: attorneys never age.

Maybe lawyers have discovered the fountain of youth; or, maybe they’re just bad at updating their profile pictures.

So, if it’s been a decade since you had new headshots taken . . . Maybe it’s time to update them?

Or, if your headshots resemble extras photos from ‘The Hills Have Eyes’ . . . It might be time to get your photos redone?

And, if your photos are really grainy . . . Or, have a high school yearbook photo backdrop . . . Or, you have no gray hair . . .

It may just be jarring for potential clients and referral services, who see you looking one way in a website photo, and a starkly different way in-person, or on a Zoom call.

And, if you update your photos for your website, you could apply those pictures to your social media profiles, business cards and more.

You update everything else, including your software subscriptions every year or month.

So, why doesn’t everyone do the same thing with their online images?

Marketing, Messaging, Technology

We Can Be Heroes: Why Your Website Hero Shot Matters

A ‘hero shot’ is the primary photo or video displayed on your website, usually at the top of your homepage.  It is the very first thing anyone sees when they land on your webpage.  And, it needs to be compelling, because modern legal consumers have short attention spans – and, they won’t stay long unless what you have to show  them, catches their eye.

And, it truly is a ‘show don’t tell’ situation, because modern legal consumers won’t respond to walls of text.

Now, knowing that you need a really compelling visual statement, to draw someone into your website, to amplify your chances of being able to keep them there, is one thing.  But, actually picking the image, or adding the video, is another thing altogether – because you need to be sure that you’re selecting something that is relevant to your practice and/or your mission statement.  So, if you don’t have a mission statement – you’ve got some preliminary work to do.

But, since it’s better to show, not tell – check out these websites that have amazing hero shots, for some inspiration:

The Simon Law Group

The Food Law Firm

Paradigm Shift Mediation

Picking the right hero shot for your website, can save the day.

Marketing, Messaging

Dead in the Water: Without Website Engagement, Your Client Conversion Plans Are Sunk

It’s hard to get a web visitor to stick on your site for more than a few seconds, without some viable consumer engagement tools.  It’s not just that modern humans don’t have that kind of attention span, it’s that consumers are conditioned to expect a certain level of immediacy in communication with brands, including law firms.  If a legal consumer cannot immediately and easily take a first step down the client journey with a law firm, they’ll bounce – and, end up nothing more than a statistic in a Google Analytics report, when they might have become a paying client, had a viable engagement option presented itself.

This is largely the reason why contact forms are not particularly compelling for client conversion.  There’s nothing to them; you fill in some information, and then what?  Black hole.

Whereas other options provide value for modern legal consumers, because they allow those consumers to actually interact with a brand.  Scheduling tools are popular, because you can book an appointment with a professional, without having to talk to anyone.  Chat tools are successful because there is a back-and-forth engagement between consumer and brand; and, that’s true even for chatbots – because that level of engagement is tied to the fact that there is an interaction, not necessarily an interaction with a human.

If it’s true that your law firm website is the hub of your online marketing, as it should be, there has to be something at the center.  And, the question of whether or not you can engage consumers effectively on your website is the exact same question you’d ask the holder of a Tootsie Pop?

How many licks does it take to get to the center?

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