Thoughts on Strategy & Operations
My tenure as marketing technology manager is over — I’m off to a new job! I’d like to share my thoughts on law firm life, but it’s nothing earth-shattering. Usual politics, tensions and drama that you could read on abovethelaw.com.
There will be a few people that I miss dearly, but dear BigLaw, good-bye!
Twitter has opened up a number of new blogs for me. Most focus on user experience & relationships, not that it should be a surprise considering the medium. Being a NYC guy (from birth… ok, there were the messy years out in suburbia), I like to focus on other people living here and making an impact. One in particular is Whitney Hess, author of whitneyhess.com. Her focus is the user experience, something many law firms seem to miss out on consistently (note: my own firm is clearly exempt — this blog isn’t a cheap venue for gossip). Continue reading ‘Focusing on the User Relationship’
I had a few days off last week, so Friday’s “Social Intel” post had to wait for today.
Most industries are jumping on social and interactive technologies. I am trying to reduce the use of “2.0″ as it’s really tiresome. Law firms lag a little bit behind others, which isn’t news to most people. However, there is some polarization of the community as social awareness is formed. Take Kevin O’Keefe, champion of blogs and President of LexBlog, who views blogs and other tools as a low-cost marketing tool with a big punch.
In the other corner, we have organizations who take a different view. Legal technology at law.com, with posts such as Is the Party Over for Social Networking? and Web 2.0 Can Be a Pandora’s Box of Liability, takes a limited view on the medium. Others view the space as an opportunity to promote content services, something that already has caused waves within legal marketing.
Which outlook will prevail? Take a look at the landscape. Blogging on the rise and open standards in social networks are being hacked together. This is a resource that is still in its infancy and I don’t think anyone has a clear picture on how it will impact law firms.
In the meantime, add the aforementioned sites to your reader and grab some popcorn.
I’ve been cruising twitter for more companies to add to the Twitter Brand Index. As I’ve been looking around, a number of accounts have been registered and may even have branding (pic, background) but no updates. Take this one for example: http://twitter.com/USArmy
Could this be an initiative by a savvy PR person in the military?
Twitter seems to be ripe with situations where someone could register an account and cause mayhem for a company by blocking their use (passive) or outright spam (active). What if I registered http://twitter.com/HondaMotors and mentioned how Toyota makes a better product, linking to reviews and toyota.com? Or perhaps using it as a personal dumping ground for dealership experiences.
I would be curious as to hear some comments from any IP/trademark attorney.
Note: For an current list of companies on Twitter, check out my Twitter Brand Index.
@missusP asked a question last week I found very interesting: “What corporations do you follow on Twitter?”
Great question. I conducted some quick research, looking at brands with a presence on twitter. Here’s what I found — please note: those that lacked a degree of corporate polish have been indicated as questionable. The list after the break…
I spent some time this afternoon reviewing the WebAward Internet Standards Assessment Report from the Web Marketing Association (WMA). Notably absent from this report is the usual vendor-sponsored “look at us” content found elsewhere. Sites — and industries — are graded on a number of criteria: design, innovation, content, technology, copywriting, interactivity and ease of use. The legal industry fell short in all categories except for copywriting and ease of use.
This really doesn’t surprise me: lawyers are not exactly known for innovation, technology or design. Accurate writing and ease of use (logic) fall right in their wheelhouse.
So does that mean we, as legal marketers, should ignore those elements? No! As the new, tech-savvy generation comes into power, those other elements will become more important. Plus there is the client-side to consider. While there is a large amount engagement by in-house counsel, there are other professionals looking for representation. Sub-par scores in tech & innovation represents a massive opportunity for any firm with a presence on the Web.
Up next: How to Innovate.
Lexblog is constantly talking up the BS factor in “Best Blog” or “Top 100″ competitions. Do we really need Web awards? For blogs: no way, however, “corporate” sites are an entirely different matter, especially when it comes to law firms.
Robert Ambrogi posted about the 2007 Best Legal Site Winner, Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge & Rice. First off, I like bulldogs, so when the flash-based dog walked out, I thought: Yes!” The presence of flash for main navigation was in my mind a serious concern. I ran two tests: viewing the site from my blackberry and turning off scripting in my browser. I was surprised: the site offers a mobile version and there was a relatively clean execution of a non-flash nav. Whomever executed this site knew what they were doing! Add in substantive content, namely blogs and podcasts, and you have a best in class site that offers a tremendous amount of value.
Back to the issue of awards: this is one case of a site that deserved recognition in the marketing community. Thanks to Robert for blogging about it!
Social thought of the week: is it a good business decision to “re-purpose” content within a social context? If so, what are we saying about our audience?
For example: Should an organization post an article or a seminar video and call it a “conversation?”
Thoughts/comments?
This past week I received an email from the ILTA listserv where someone was asking about SEO-vendors. In a way this is a shock: SEO doesn’t require any great degree of understanding or inside knowledge. A careful analysis of the market, an understanding of HTML and the ability to find search-optimizations on the marjor engines delivered a sustained 20% jump for skadden.com. This excludes a lot of the buzz about blogging and SEO (there are benefits, but don’t throw away your Web site for a blog).
I believe this information should be in an open source format. Why should we pay vendors, which may or may not have a complete or legit understanding of technology, to maintain ownership. Whereas user-generated content is becoming more important in communications, user-generated standards must be developed. Open-source standards enable us to become better marketers of our organizations and reach out to clients & customers. SEO and SEM are a critical part of business. Let’s take it back from vendors in a space that is free of vendor influence.
Who’s up for the challenge?
