tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23064337444356949442024-03-14T02:37:44.405-04:00The Law Firm Marketing BlogThe Law Firm Marketing Blog offers unique perspectives on the major business development questions facing legal marketers today. Sponsored by A.L.T. Legal Professionals Marketing Group, the blog provides insight on such topics as developing a firm “positioning,” plan development, budget-setting, branding, SEO, publicity, networking, tracking ROI, client satisfaction, cross-selling, and coordinating the interests of individual attorneys/different practice areas with those of the overall firm.Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.comBlogger98125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-38519200128501557082019-06-14T11:49:00.001-04:002019-06-14T11:49:54.594-04:00You are Not a Commodity
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Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-31278317824165344862019-03-12T07:56:00.000-04:002019-03-12T07:56:25.150-04:00Marketing the Firm vs. the Practice Area vs. the Attorney
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Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-38121708653032399472019-02-18T11:08:00.000-05:002019-02-18T12:27:33.473-05:00 When It Comes to Marketing Your Law Practice, Are you Willing to Stick Your Neck Out?
Any
way you slice it, the numbers are staggering. According to the American Bar
Association, there are approximately 50,000 law firms in the U.S. with two or
more attorneys. If you also count solo practitioners firms, the
U.S. Census estimates almost 175,000 total legal establishments.
Guess
what?
Not
all of them can or will be ranked #1 on Google.
In
fact, most won't make the Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-6120503627107605362019-01-24T12:21:00.000-05:002019-02-05T10:30:50.088-05:00The Case Against Online Marketing
This article is prompted by an inquiry we received recently from a family law practitioner who felt that he had extracted all he could from the smorgasbord of online marketing tools and was seeking alternative, “out-of-the-box” means for growing his practice.
Now, before I get on my high horse and start to come across as sanctimonious, cynical or perhaps both, let me first acknowledge theLes Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-67585299588455161502018-12-07T12:55:00.000-05:002018-12-07T12:55:58.431-05:00Sick of Online Marketing? Here’s Five Non-Traditional Ways to Market Your Law Firm<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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mso-font-charsetLes Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-26101038678126235942018-11-16T14:29:00.002-05:002018-11-20T11:52:52.162-05:00Top 10 Things I’m Thankful For - Business Edition<!--[if gte mso 9]>
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mso-font-charset:0Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-60282284611287194342018-10-17T12:38:00.000-04:002018-10-17T12:38:16.663-04:00For B2B Law Firms: The Distinctions Between SEO and PPC are Becoming Blurred
There was a time, not so long ago, when we would advise law firm clients with a business-to-business emphasis to consider pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and search engine optimization (SEO) as analogous to advertising (in the traditional sense) and public relations respectively. Under the former, you paid for your ads and they ran. Under the latter, you developed content for Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-91872163254178601132018-08-07T12:22:00.000-04:002018-08-07T12:22:29.704-04:00How to Get the Most Out of Your PR Agency <!--[if gte mso 9]>
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Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-34599798543351889322018-02-22T13:03:00.002-05:002018-02-22T13:33:07.204-05:00Ah, Those Clicks. But Do You Know What You’re Really Getting?
Everybody loves those clicks. It means your pay-per-click (PPC ) and or Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts are paying off. The more clicks you get, the more prospects you’ll likely have. And with more prospects comes more clients. And with more clients comes more… well, you get the picture.
But is that picture accurate?
We recently finished a monthly report for Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-40823111767981144322018-02-12T16:02:00.000-05:002018-02-12T16:13:36.890-05:00Legal Marketing in 2018: Everything Old is New Again
There was a time, not so long ago, when being “innovative” and on the “cutting edge” simply meant having a web site. Really! Then, if you were an early adopter (of which few law firms are), it meant dipping your toe into social media and later, implementing a full throttled social media initiative on Linkedin and Facebook and Twitter.
All of these platforms were (and still are) quite Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-91097501525207891212017-12-05T17:37:00.001-05:002017-12-05T17:37:45.864-05:00Legal Marketing Support: Choosing an IT versus a Full Service Provider
It is always fascinating to learn how individual law firms go about hiring legal marketing vendors. I say that as much because we ourselves are legal marketers as I do because who a firm ultimately contracts with is largely a function of the questions one asks.
Allow me to offer two different examples of two law firms going about this task quite differently.
In the first case, law firmLes Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-18858310213595901822017-11-09T12:27:00.001-05:002017-11-09T12:27:50.367-05:00Legal Marketing? Why Limit Yourself?
Every week, I must get 2-3 calls from frustrated attorneys disappointed in the results they are realizing from their online marketing efforts. The most common complaints? “I’m not on the first page of Google.” “I am getting calls, but they’re not the right kinds of calls.” “My SEO company isn’t providing fresh content on a regular basis.” “Pay-Per-Click has never worked for us.” “It’s taking Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-66766649953614088922017-10-02T15:53:00.000-04:002017-10-02T15:53:04.867-04:00The Ten Traits Through Which Law Firms Get in their Own Way
For the past 25 years, I have had the privilege of working with and consulting for a wide range of excellent lawyers and law firms. Yet for all of their brilliance, it always amazes me how much so many of their marketing programs might have been exponentially more successful had they taken stock of themselves. By this I mean, each might have benefitted from some self-reflection as to the nuancesLes Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-3185510816228613082017-06-15T11:49:00.000-04:002017-06-15T11:49:03.285-04:00Seven Ways to Fine Tune Your Target Marketing
It’s not nearly as difficult to be a great marketer when you are the big fish in the little pond or when in comparison to your competitors, you have unlimited resources at syour disposal.
Unfortunately, for the vast majority of law firms – that is simply not the case. Being a great marketer requires doing more with less, finding ways to extend your various initiatives cost effectively (see my Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-23612610822638117302017-05-30T17:50:00.000-04:002017-05-30T17:50:29.518-04:00Four Ways to Extend the Life of Your Marketing Initiatives
Journalists used to say that a story had “legs” if the topic promised to be far reaching or warranted extensive ongoing coverage. Similarly, many kinds of marketing activities have legs that might allow law firms to extend the depth and breadth of their efforts -- often without incurring much, if any additional cost. Unfortunately, many firms engage in PR, advertising and/or online initiatives Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-50627020336670961802017-04-05T11:47:00.000-04:002017-04-05T11:51:45.871-04:00 Free Legal Marketing eBookSTOP SEARCHING FOR NEEDLES andSTART LOOKING AT THE HAYSTACK INTEGRATED STRATEGIES FOR MARKETING YOUR LAW FIRM
I usually use this blog to provide some thoughts on today's most critical legal marketing issues. But today, I thought I'd do something different.
Instead of offering suggestions on one legal marketing topic, today I’m going to offer my thoughts on a whole slew of them.
And I am going to do it through my new ebook, Stop Searching for Needles and Start Looking at the Haystack: Integrated Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-81241040585013285882017-03-21T15:14:00.000-04:002017-03-21T15:14:39.337-04:006 Ways to Cross-Sell Your Firm’s Services
Many law firms that offer a multiplicity of practice areas often have difficulty cross-selling these disparate services to their roster of clients. Unfortunately, while getting a client whom you’ve provided legal services in one area to now utilize your firm for another may not be as “exciting” as obtaining a new client altogether, it nonetheless represents a viable means for increasing overall Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-91066485800360232332017-02-27T18:20:00.000-05:002017-02-27T18:20:38.873-05:00To Market Consistently or to Do So in Bursts: Assessing Your Practice Area’s Purchasing Mindset
There’s a reason why disparate practice groups require different marketing approaches and it has a great deal to do with the context in which each operates. By this, I mean that the very nature by which potential clients go about deciding with whom they wish to contract for a particular kind of legal service has, or at least should have, a big influence on the types of marketing vehicles that Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-88693951208796728492017-01-31T10:38:00.001-05:002017-01-31T10:38:26.149-05:00The Managing Partner’s Nightmare: Leaving Money on the Table
In our over 20 years of marketing law firms, one of the most often expressed concerns by managing partners is a fear that they are leaving money on the table. By this, they are usually referring to the fact that clients are associating the firm and/or individual attorneys with specific areas of focus, rather than as a resource for resolving any of a number of legal matters. This is typically Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-66749944462764559882017-01-11T14:34:00.000-05:002017-01-11T14:34:13.049-05:00Making that New Year’s Marketing ResolutionNew year’s resolutions are a funny thing. No matter whether they are for an individual or for a law firm, adhering to them is difficult. For many, the beginning of January means the annual commitment to aggressively promote their services. Unfortunately, just as with promising to lose weight, to exercise or to remember that elusive wedding anniversary, actually doing so is less than certain. Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-87009492378443151022016-12-20T12:15:00.001-05:002016-12-20T12:19:28.339-05:00The Best of My Legal Marketing Blog As Awarded By…. Me
At this time of year, it is not uncommon to pay tribute to what was "best about the current year. The news media does it. Entertainment companies do it. ESPN does it. And about a hundred different blogs to it as well.
Not wanting to buck the trend, I took the time to review the assorted blog articles we posted in 2016 and came up with what I perceive to be the “best “ legal marketing tips ofLes Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-13155631435864923622016-12-12T13:33:00.000-05:002016-12-12T13:33:29.515-05:00What Was the Return on Investment for the Couch in Your Office?
You just opened a new law firm office. Or remodeled an existing one. You spent $500 on a couch to go in the waiting area and another $500 for a second one in your private office. The sign that boldly shouts the firm name cost you around $750and the two new paintings you purchased set you back another $1,200. Add in the guest chairs, the plants and the reception desk, and you probably put in Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-6217672280258915192016-11-22T10:43:00.000-05:002016-11-22T10:43:53.246-05:00
When Is It Time to Re-Design Your Web Site?
Whenever we are contacted by a new law firm prospect, we are inevitably asked, “So, what do you think about our web site?”
We try to answer this question as best we can, being honest as to our opinion – regardless of what that might mean in terms of our pursuing this client further. If it’s a great site, we say so and look to discuss ways in which Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-7996801521856398492016-09-29T15:39:00.003-04:002016-09-29T15:39:48.237-04:00To "Seminar" or "Webinar?" That is the Question.
When law firms of any size discuss their marketing and business development tactics, the question invariably comes up: Do we want to run a seminar?
Most often, it is followed immediately by another: “Or how about a webinar?”
The two have become intrinsically linked and for good reason. Both allow law firms and attorneys to highlight their expertise on a particular topic and both offer the Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2306433744435694944.post-19521190567577501342016-09-22T13:02:00.000-04:002016-09-22T13:02:29.229-04:00How to Evaluate The Results of Your Legal Marketing Pay-Per-Click Campaign In evaluating the effectiveness of your firm’s pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaign, there is really only one metric that matters: What is the quantity of the qualified calls and inquiries your firm is receiving?
That’s it. No other metrics matter and for law firms, the data that you do get is really only diagnostic in nature. Fortunately, proper assessment of what I would call interim Les Altenberghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03642521766372987099noreply@blogger.com0