New Year's Resolutions...Not!

I am in agreement, yet again, with my good friend Heather Morse, who admits in a new year's post that she's not much for resolutions. Me either, Heather. And I agree that it is no longer OK for lawyers to not to know how online social media work.

Heather's post about this gives a great catalog of meaningful sites and features that lawyers brush aside at their own peril. There are still some at the law firm where I work that insist that they will never develop a reputation as subject matter experts through social media. Yet, this is only true because they are not participating in social media.

I think of social media as "the people's public relations." Where once one had to be known by a reporter or editor, or conference planner, in order to be asked a question, quoted in a story or offered a speaking gig at the next industry conference, now it is much more likely that one of these media and industry professionals will reach out through social media to find the experts known among their networks of sources. If you are not in these collections of virtual connections, you will be virtually invisible.

And while lawyers once looked for the editorial exposure of being quoted in a news story on an issue as enhancing and spreading their reputation, they now have the dynamic duo of blogging and Twitter to develop audiences of interested people who will listen to and look forward to their views.

If you or your firm are making online social media a part of your public relations strategy, here are ten, well, they are not resolutions, let's call them ten suggestions...strong suggestions for 2012:

1. Set realistic expectations
2. Define your target market
3. Choose tactics carefully
4. Stay on topic, be provocative
5. Don't overdo it
6. Measure and listen in equal amounts
7. Keep current and be current
8. Reach out and circulate
9. Ask questions, give answers
10. Keep a record

I'll expand on this list in the weeks ahead, so bear with me.

A shout out to the Minnesota Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association, where I'll be speaking on social media on March 21, in Minneapolis. Thanks for the invitation!

More Tips for Business Development Coaching

At the Legal Marketing Association Virginias Chapter meeting in Richmond last August,  Deb Knupp and Megan McKeon were talking about business development coaching. Previous posts have discussed some of their presentation here and here.

One of the intriguing ideas that I wrote down was an action concept they called "Three INs." The authentic business relationship between lawyer and contact/prospect generates three kinds of responses that facilitate a continuing conversation and a deepening understanding of one another:

• Invitations - these would be issued along the lines of the contact's specific interests, might be educational, social or some other mutually enjoyable shared activity;
• Introductions - these would be among contacts to assist in building corollary business or social relationships that would benefit the contact's career, life or happiness;
• Information - these would be highly customized for top prospects, perhaps regarding the specific business expertise of the contact or the lawyer, or for some other situation that reflects shared goals.

Deb and Megan also had some great suggestions for networking:

• Always keep your business cards where you can fetch them in two seconds (the 2-second rule);
• Approach individuals or groups of three to introduce yourself, where conversations are easier to start and participate in (the 1 or 3 rule);
• When waiting in a long line, make two friends by speaking to both the person in front of you and behind you;
• When you speak with someone new, make at least three minutes of conversation to be gracious, ten minutes to have a deeper discussion and fifteen minutes of conversation for a hot prospect, then move on (the 3-10-15 rule);
• Avoid lingering in conversations (or getting trapped in unproductive chats) by preparing to exit with finesse, step away for food or drink or have a ready reason (return a call, check for client email) to depart.

My thanks go to Deb Knupp of Akina Corporation and Megan McKeon of Katten Muchin Rosenman for their gifts.

What advice can you add for business networking? How would you overcome the natural reluctance to make an intentional process out of social conversations?

Qwikster, New Coke and Big Fat Marketing Egos

Netflix's Reed Hastings has fallen on his knees again, begging for forgiveness. No need to rehash this news from yesterday's Netflix blog. This might be a good time to put the cement overshoes on his marketing consigliere, though. Someone's corporate ego is in the way big time.

I hear from NPR that the finance side might have been a big reason for these twin black eyes for Netflix. On the one hand, raising prices is bad enough. But not understanding the needs of your consumer and how they interface with your revenues is deadly. Here's a cycle not to repeat: double your price, say I'm sorry and we're going to make you do twice as much work to consume our service and then mea culpa, we didn't understand you used our service to simplify your life and entertainment choices.

I'm old enough to remember "New Coke" and it's a case study in wrongly-done marketing in courses and graduate schools around the country. It seems like such common sense now, but back in the day this was big fat marketing egos gone wild. Despite the Coca-Cola Company's spin (read this!), "New Coke" was a try that failed in the most public way. It cost a bunch of money and generated much negative press and consumer confusion. Even today, it is shorthand in the marketing profession for a really bad marketing decision.

OK, nobody's perfect. But we all can use a little humility. What are you doing to make sure big, fat marketing egos don't get in the way of your integrated marketing communications programs with ill-conceived strategems like market share warfare and illogical service spin-offs?

More reading:

Qwikster – Biggest Marketing Blunder since New Coke

Mobile Is Now How Content Gets Shared

Go Popcorn (@GoPopcorn) is the source of this very interesting graphic, which details the fast growing influence of mobile platforms on social content sharing activity. Here's a slice of activity that's just 60 seconds long.

Motivating Lawyers in Business Development

It's amazing what you can learn for a $35 lunch at the LMA Virginias Chapter. Below you will find my first followup to the earlier post on Deb Knupp and Megan McKeon's program in July, also posted at the Virginias Chapter blog.

Business development coaching is about motivators. Motivators can be carrots (recognition, compensation) or sticks (management, peer pressure), but everything boils down to what’s in it for the lawyer. Methods of motivation include training (what is it I need to do), coaching (how do I perform business development) and encouragement (where is my support).

Business development for any lawyer, says Deb, revolves around three truths:

1. Knowing his target market – what’s a good fit so he can concentrate on catching only the clients he wants
2. Building authentic relationships – she must focus on mutuality, trust, frequency and sincerity
3. Solving problems that should be solved – even when self-interest must be suspended

Simply, the keys are being focused, making friends and solving problems. Akina sees the business development cycle in six phases, which they call the Revenue Acceleration Framework. It describes three preparation phases that Deb likened to “taping the room” before you paint; necessary, but definitely not the exciting part.

 One of the principles in these phases that served as a light bulb moment for me was the deliberate segmentation of a target market. In the Akina approach, as Megan and Deb outlined it, a lawyer makes a list of their top 20-40 contacts. These must fall within three types: prospects (contacts who buy legal services), connectors (contacts who know and refer people who buy legal services) and allies (contacts who can co-market legal services). Further segmentation sets a “priority” level: A= definite prospects/clients; B=not sure about the contact’s value; and C=completely unknown value. This matrix puts the highest value contacts at the fore, but also defines concurrent work to understand the business development benefit of the additional relationships. Thus begins a process resembling “dating”, according to our speakers.

Despite the mechanical nature of the description, Deb insisted the purpose of the exercise is to “share the love.” And for the next phase, a lawyer must discern what these contacts need to know. She and Megan had some suggestions about messaging.

In training lawyers on the proper message to deliver, Deb works in two areas. The “quick pitch” (“elevator speech”) is the answer to the ubiquitous question “What do you do?” Deb arranges the answer like this: the problem I solve for whom. Diagrammed another way the answer is “I [verb] [target market] [problem solved].”

The “follow up” is also the familiar question, “What’s new?” This answer can be broader, but should show some relation to 1) current events (ie. specific news), 2) a current project (either business or personal) or 3) looking forward (what’s on the horizon). Deb even handed out a worksheet to outline these areas in more detail, where the lawyer can note the possible answer to “What’s new?” so they enter a relationship activity prepared.

That’s what’s new with me. What’s new with you?

When automation subs for thinking, is that a good thing?

Yesterday, we were told that Google+ is wide open for business. We learned that Facebook now sends your account news based on what they think you are most interested in. Both of these platforms congregate personal networks into audiences and apply an automation model to the process of extending the user's identity and activity across that audience.

I'm a proponent of social media, which I consider "the people's public relations channel" as it taps into and uses online broadcast utilities to distribute comment and reputation outside of traditional media. What once was under the complete control of a reporter and editor now is within the command of any individual internet user. And it has turned the previous media relationship on its head, as reporters and editors now search among social media looking for sources for stories and expertise.

However, the proliferation of multi-featured channels, with increasing demand for permissions to access and sell your personal attributes, poses huge questions for users, both corporate and individual: how much do we trust these social utilities to understand us and respect our individuality? How great an effort are we willing to put into managing these tools so that the automatic features we use operate as we intend?

Marketing is a process. Each cycle of communication rests on calculated tactics aimed at specific outcomes drawn from product and consumer knowledge. All along the communication and feedback loop, energy must be expended. When we enter social media channels with the hope that they will automate our communications and ease our work, are we putting our faith in the right place?

Hello, LMA Midwest!

Sometimes you just have to thank your lucky stars. How else to explain occupying the same forum as Ross Fishman, Ann Lee Gibson, Tim Corcoran, Barbara Miller and Bill Flannery? I am not worthy!

Friday, September 9 we each play a part in the Legal Marketing Association Midwest Chapter Conference being held in Chicago at the University Club. My topic is Social Media (big surprise there!), but I'll be talking about how to calculate the benefit of participation, using some of the "big five" as examples.

For folks in the audience, I have put some resources in my public Dropbox, a service I have used for over a year and which I recommend to anyone who has to keep up with files from several computers or mobile devices. If you came to the Conference, I hope you will let me know in the comments below if you got what you wanted, or anything, from my time at the front of the room. I'd appreciate your help in improving the information.

Even if you didn't attend, here are some recent resources I find really helpful, you can collect the articles and reports at the links below.

• Considerations for Your Social Media Playbook
• 10 Mistakes Businesses Make In Social Media
• ROI of Social Media (Forrester Research)
• Social Media: It's All About Results...And How To Measure Them
• Social Media Planning Guide
• Social Media Marketing Report 2011

And check back with my blog to let me know how you're doing on measuring social media.