In typical fashion, mobile computing is yet another area where law firm marketing trails how corporate America goes to market. As of last week, only 28% of AmLaw 100 firms offered a mobile-enabled version of their website. The Interactive Advertising Bureau conducted a study during the summer and reported 55% of the Fortune 500 now have a mobile-optimized website.

As a legal marketer, why should you care about these statistics?
For starters, in 2012, mobile phone sales surpassed the number of PCs sold, and tablet sales are increasing exponentially: Gartner predicts 99 million iPads will be sold worldwide by the end of 2013, and nearly 170 million iPads will be in use by 2016.

Earlier this month, Kevin O’Keefe wrote on his blog, “For law firms, your target audience is even more apt to have a tablet or smartphone. For corporate clients, the percentage using mobile is going to be high.”

How critical is a mobile site for law firms now?
My quick and admittedly unscientific sampling of seven LMA colleagues’ firms (mostly AmLaw 200) revealed some very interesting stats:

• Mobile users represent 8-21% of their firms’ total Web visitors, and these numbers are up significantly over the same period last year.

• In nearly every case, 50% used smartphones (iPhones, Android and a few others) and the other half used tablets (iPad, Kindle and a few with Nook devices).

• The most compelling stat: For all seven firms, the time spent on the mobile-enabled version was nearly equal to time spent on the main (desktop) version.

But a Google study conducted this summer revealed “… [Web] users are five times more likely to abandon the task they are trying to complete if the site isn’t optimized for mobile use, with 79 percent saying they will go back to search and try to find another site to meet their needs.”

So what are your options?

Take a wait-and-see approach and let the other firms figure it out. Meanwhile, visitors may be looking at a site that covers only half of the mobile screen. (See graphic above.)

Include a mobile-enabled site in your 2013 BD/Marketing budget. The good news for law firms is that unlike a major website redesign, a mobile version is not difficult or terribly expensive to implement. Most Web companies that focus on the legal market have a mobile-enabled product for their clients’ sites. But if your site was developed in-house, your IT group probably knows of the low-cost options available from Google and several other vendors. You can read more about what your colleagues are doing with mobile sites on the LMA Connect area of the LMA website.

A couple quick tips to consider during design

Take advantage of the “Call to Action” already built in to a smartphone. It’s okay to include a ‘click to call’ or ‘call us’ button to make it easier for your clients and prospects to contact your attorneys!

Keep it simple. If it’s a pared-down version of your main site that you’re offering, select the areas your visitors want to access. For most firms, the top three areas accessed are lawyers’ bios, office addresses/phone numbers, and practice descriptions – in that order. If your traffic stats show users are visiting via tablet devices, make sure the PDF copies of your lawyers’ client bulletins and practice area newsletters are also available.

Which law firms have a mobile-enabled site?
Arnold & Porter – #48 on the AmLaw 100 list has a very good mobile-enabled site (see graphic below), yet #2 DLA Piper (above), does not yet offer one. Click here to see the full results of my survey.

Resources
Search Engine Watch: 72% of Consumers Want Mobile-Friendly Sites: Google Research

Law Firm Mobile: Should Law Firms’ Mobile Strategy Focus Only On Mobile Compatible Web Sites?

Kevin O’Keefe – Real Lawyers Have Blogs: Explosion in mobile audiences and what it means for law firms

IAB.net: IAB Unveils ‘Tap into Mobile’ to Help Business Maximize Digital Impact in the Mobile Age

This post originally appeared on NYLMA News – the New York Legal Association’s news site on October 25, 2012.

A well known law firm needed to team up with another firm on behalf of their client. When it became clear that none of the lawyers personally knew anyone at the first firm on their short list, the business development manager went to other firm’s website, hoping to connect with the practice section leader.

But when she got to the practice page, there were no contact names – just an overview of recent experience and a hyperlink to another Web page with links to a dozen attorneys’ bios. (Talk about falling down a rabbit hole!) Trying hard not to waste any more time, the business developer took the lo-tech route. She called the other firm, identified herself and the purpose of her call, and then asked the receptionist to connect her with the head of a particular practice. Regrettably, the receptionist didn’t know who that was, nor did she know how to handle the call.

And with that, the business development manager hung up the phone and moved on to the next firm on her list.

Sure, the receptionist’s error was inexcusable and hopefully a rarity; however, the website issue is all too common. When firm management decides to be democratic (by not listing the practice section leaders’ names), it’s usually done to avoid a political firestorm.

In every other aspect, this firm’s website is one of the best out there. Sadly, the firm’s internal politics neutralized the primary goal of a professional services’ website – to help bring in new business.

I love mobile apps. But I’m not a fan of most law firm apps.

Typically, the business case for the law firm app just isn’t there, and I know of several firms that have thrown a lot of money at app development because someone in charge thought it’d be cool.

So I gotta hand it to the folks in the Global Sourcing practice over at Pillsbury (my former firm) for bucking the pointless law firm app development trend! Yesterday, Pillsbury launched an iPhone app, called the “Sourcing Deal Tool Kit.” For the general population, what this app does is some pretty esoteric stuff. But a quick look at the email copy tells you they know their audience. The Sourcing Deal Tool Kit features several calculators, an inflation index tool, and a glossary of common outsourcing terms. Plus, their email announcement hits all the right notes.

Could they have offered this on the main website? Sure. But then the information wouldn’t be as readily accessible. And that’s what makes this app so successful: Understanding their constituents’ need for instant data at their fingertips puts Pillsbury’s outsourcing lawyers and consultants way out in front. Here’s the official press release on Pillsbury’s website.

Know any other firms with worthwhile, client-focused apps? Do share!

Every now and then I find myself having to explain the importance of good website design.

Here are the home pages for two companies selling air plants – a very hot trend in home decor. Maybe you’re thinking: This blog is about marketing professional services online. What could air plants possibly have to do with professional services marketing?

Stay with me and I’ll show you!

As you can see, Air Plant Supply Co.’s site is fresh, elegantly designed and looks to be well-organized. On the other hand, Air Plants 4U showcases its air plant products on a screaming neon palette of chartreuse, magenta, cyan and hot yellow, making the information difficult to read and the overall experience frightening.

Consider these scenarios:

Scenario #1: Air Plants 4U offers the same products as Air Plant Supply Co., but at lower prices. Which company gets your business?

Scenario #2: All products on Air Plants 4U and Air Plant Supply Co. sell for the same price. Now, which company gets your business?

Let’s substitute the air plants (goods) for legal representation (services).

Scenario #3: The lawyers’ experience is the same at the two firms under consideration. But the lawyer with the significantly lower hourly rate also has a very poorly designed website, when compared to her pricier colleague with the more intuitive website. Which lawyer gets your business?

Scenario #4: The lawyers’ experience and hourly rate is the same at the two firms under consideration. Although you’ve not met either lawyer, you’ve reviewed both websites. Do you give the business to the law firm with the website presented and organized like Air Plants 4U? – or, Air Plant Supply Co.?

Whether it’s air plants or legal services, you may tolerate a poorly designed website experience because you’re saving money.

But when all things are equal, as explained in Scenario #4, the lawyer with the more intuitive, and well-organized website typically lands the business.

When tasked with “marketing themselves,” a lot of great lawyers I know will only engage in marketing activities that they actually enjoy, regardless of the outcome, thus avoiding the ones outside their comfort zones. (Can you blame them?)

So I thought it’d be helpful to share three real-life scenarios that take up a lawyer’s time, use firm resources, and cost money – yet are unlikely to yield new business. I have also provided advice for an intervention.

1) A big law firm partner publishes a very focused minisite. This guy loves technology, plus he is the most experienced partner in an esoteric area of corporate tax law. Sounds good on the surface, until you realize:

• The firm does not promote his minisite, nor is the information available on the firm’s main website.

• Web traffic reports to the partner’s minisite reveal fewer than 10 visitors per month – unique, or otherwise.

• The minisite was designed in the late ’90s and looks nothing like the firm’s new website.

• The partner coded the entire site, and then codes the updates every quarter. Yes, the partner does all the work – himself.

• And if that isn’t enough, his billable rate is $500/hour!

2) A partner/team/practice writes client alerts that arrive too late, are too long, and are rarely read. No surprises here, but the amount of brainpower and opportunity costs associated with these endeavors is crazy. Why do law firms continue to produce client alerts when the open rates are well below industry standards, and few lawyers can point to new business from their efforts?

3) A lawyer wants to consider all options – even the unsolicited ones. Curiously, the same lawyer who entrusts the secretary to screen and prioritize all unsolicited marketing mail and phone offers is often compelled to consider each and every unsolicited email received. Even worse, the lawyer forwards these to the in-house marketing experts for consideration.

THE INTERVENTION
Do the scenarios above sound familiar? Here’s how you can help…

• The $500/hour HTML coder:

Marketers: If there really is an audience for that esoteric tax law information, have the lawyer put away that HTML cheat sheet. Marketing should take responsibility for producing the minisite.
Lawyers: While your marketers are updating the site, ring up a few clients and let them know how and why the latest changes in the tax code may affect their business. Then, send a personal email that includes a link to the new data.

• The prolific partner-authors out there:

Marketers: A blog could reduce production time significantly. And a quick email blast will let clients know there’s new info on the blog.
Lawyers: Limit client alert copy to four paragraphs. Call a few clients or prospects while the alert is off your desk and in production. Just like the intervention advice for the $500/hour HTML coder: Give clients a heads up on the info covered in the alert and how it may affect their business. (That is why you’re sending these out, right?)

• The partner who loves to consider all options:

Marketers: Ask the lawyer to clarify the request. And no polling your peeps on the LMA listserv until you know whether it’s a priority or a curiosity. You’d be surprised how unimportant most of these requests truly are!
Lawyers: Unless you recognize the sender, or had a need for the services before you checked your email, you must learn to IGNORE these emails. If you must forward unsolicited emails, kindly let your marketer know whether you’re just curious – or you are making a priority request – one for a product or service that is aligned with the firm’s new business strategy.

It’s gotten so you can’t pass the sidewalks of New York – or the mall, without having to dodge all the people who are walking while texting.

Perhaps the women on my train (pictured left) were checking Facebook or catching up on email. But for any professional services firm, it’s critical for key sections of your site, like office addresses, bios and contact information to display correctly on mobile devices.

While this may not be the time for a full site redesign, a mobile version is now a ‘must-have,’ and should be added to your 2012 marketing budget.

Yes, we know real lawyers have blogs. But does your law firm’s blog(s) encourage conversation? The ones that do are real blogs.

But the blogs that engage in a one-way conversation, without allowing visitors to comment? These blogs are not the real deal, folks. These are faux blogs.

Typically, when a law firm considers a blog, the question is: Yikes! How are we ever going to manage the conversation? And then the discussion goes something like this:

Can we really allow visitors to comment, like we see on Above The Law? (A scary proposition!)

Maybe we should moderate our comments. That way, we can review first, and then publish… Won’t be immediate, but at least we’re covered. (Safer!)

We can’t possibly allow comments. (Safest possible solution!)

Most times, the group votes to go the safest route, where readers cannot make comments. And this is how-and-when the blog is longer a blog, but simply a practice or industry-focused micro-site.

What do you think?

Please use the comment feature below to respond! (Note: Comments are moderated and are usually published within 24 hours during the business week.)

The marketing term “sticky” appeared on my radar about ten years ago. NetLingo.com defines sticky content (a/k/a stickiness), as “Information or features on a Web site that gives users a compelling reason to revisit…”

And over the years, I’ve probably participated in a dozen brainstorming sessions about ways to keep the reader engaged – or stuck to the website. Games, contests, coupons… Anything to get the user to come back to the site. If I were to update NetLingo’s definition of sticky, it might go something like this: ” “Information or features on a Web site that gives users a compelling reason to purchase goods or services, or engage in discussion with the site’s creator and/or community…”

Fast forward ten years, and apps are providing powerful and useful tools for users to engage with a company online, often to facilitate a purchase. My newest and favorite app is SnapShop (pictured above), which I just discovered this morning via a blast email from CB2.

CB2 – in case you aren’t familiar, is Crate & Barrel’s more modern home furnishings store, and probably skewed toward a younger demographic. And I’d bet 95% of CB2′s demographic has a smartphone.

While I’m not the typical CB2 customer,  I do have an iPhone. So when I saw this app, all I could say was, “Genius!” Plus, I’m in the market to replace my current leather sofa, now looking like it’s straight out of Tobacco Road, thanks to my previous cat. It took me just five minutes to use the SnapShop app. Granted, I’m home alone this morning and couldn’t move my current couch for the optimal outcome, but it’s a pretty darn useful tool. I’ll keep you posted if this endeavor leads to a sale. In the meantime, check out my pics below!

UPDATE: March 28, 2011
Received a really sweet email today from Brian Chaikelson, SnapShop’s founder! Props to Brian for:

1) Developing a cool and useful app
2) Using Google Alerts to monitor comments about his company, and
3) Taking the time to reach out – and in such an authentic way.

CB2 couch -- pic taken with SnapShop. (A little too modern?)

Pier 1 Imports couch. Pic taken with SnapShop -- Hadn't considered Pier 1 until I saw they had the SnapShop app!

Yep, another speaking engagement! On Friday, March 25, I will be presenting a session on search optimization for lawyers as part of the New York State Bar Association’s MCLE program entitled: “Getting (and Keeping) the Clients you Want: Effective Ways to Market your Practice.”

And a special ‘thank you’ in advance to my colleague, Dr. Silvia Hodges for having organized this terrific program!

Agenda
12:30-1:00 — Registration
1:00-1:10 — Introduction
1:10-2:00 — Marketing Your Practice Ethically
2:00-2:30 — Optimizing Search Engines to Bring in Business
2:30-3:20 — Honing Your Existing Skills to Develop a Client Base
3:20-3:30 — Refreshment Break
3:30-4:05 — Leveraging Media Relations to Your Benefit
4:05-4:55 — Using Alternative Fee Arrangements to Win Over Your Clients
4:55-5:00 — Concluding Remarks
5:00 — Adjournment

Faculty
Dr. Silvia Hodges, Adjunct Associate Professor, Fordham University School of Law
Prof. Roy Simon, Howard Lichtenstein Distinguished Professor of Legal Ethics, Hofstra Law School
Ms. Nancy Slome, Partner, One to One Interactive, Inc.
Prof. Gary Munneke, Pace University School of Law
Mr. Mike O’Horo, Co-Founder, RainmakerVT
Ms. Paramjit Mahli, Founder & CEO, SCG Legal PR Network
Christopher Marston, Esq., Chief Executive Officer, Exemplar Companies, Inc.

Location
Concierge Conference Center
780 Third Avenue (at 48th Street)
New York, NY 10017
(212) 735-0072

CLE Credits
3.0 MCLE Credits: 1 Ethics, 1 Skills, 1 Law Practice Management.

For questions about registration or to receive more information about this program, please contact the Registrar’s office @ 800-582-2452 (in Albany & surrounding area dial 463-3724).The last day to pre-register online is March 24, 2011. Register online now

When lawyers are charged with writing their practice’s description for the website, the result is often like a bulletproof brief, intended for the court. These descriptions may not have the footnotes and citations of an in-depth law journal article, but most suffer from the dreaded Cavalcade of Commas. Having edited so many practice descriptions over the years, it was easy to invent a poorly written practice description in less than ten minutes!

Glance at both descriptions and choose the one you would be most inclined to read.

Practice Description A
Working closely with attorneys from the firm’s project finance, real estate and M&A groups, our 95 tax practice attorneys have deep experience in all aspects of the tax laws of the 27 countries in which we currently serve our clients, including all phases of the corporate tax process, which is not limited to tax preparation and filing, but also the many complex tax issues related to multijurisdictional transactions in established and/or emerging markets, international investing, project finance, real estate and transfer pricing. We guide our clients to help them limit their tax obligations and liabilities, and together, we navigate the ever-changing tax laws and issues facing their businesses as we work toward successful outcomes.

Practice Description B
Our tax practice attorneys help our clients reduce their tax obligations and liabilities, and successfully manage the following:

• Multijurisdictional transactions

• Established and/or emerging markets

• Project Finance

• Real Estate

• Transfer pricing

• Complex tax preparation and filings for corporations doing business in the United States and overseas

By reorganizing and regrouping the information into bite-sized chunks, you can quickly see why “B” is the more effective approach. Plus, some copy was eliminated because it failed the Marketing/PR axiom and test: “So what. Who cares? What’s in it for me?”

• 27 offices (So what.)

  While 27 offices is an impressive accomplishment, it is not immediately germane to the buyer, especially since “multijurisdictional transactions” and “doing business in the US and overseas” conveys the point just as well.

• 95 attorneys (Who cares?)

  Most people familiar with your firm can see the number of attorneys within the practice with a simple mouse-click. Besides, it’s not the number of tax attorneys, it’s the quality of the one – or handful of attorneys that work on a client’s business.

• Lose the “We” and limit the “Our” (What’s in it for me?)

  “B” has just a few pronouns, and only one refers to the firm. Remember: It’s all about the client’s issues – not the firm’s credentials.

And a special ‘thank you’ goes to my colleague Andy Edelstein, for introducing me to the term, ‘Cavalcade of Commas.’