Jabez LeBret, Author of Online Law Practice Strategies, presents Marketing 101 Continuing Legal Education to members of the Alabama State Bar in January 2017
7. @gngfound
MILLENNIALS
• 18-33 years old now
• Yes, they are adults and many are middle managers with great
income
• They grew up with mobile devices not phones
• On average send over 100 texts a day
• 2/3 rather text than speak to someone on the phone
• They knew Amazon the retailer before Amazon the river
• 75% are on social media (from a mobile device)
8. @gngfound
GEN Z
• <20 years old…. but
• Largest population in U.S.
• Prefer Images vs. text (snapchat, instagram, video)
• Can work multiple screens at once (iPad, computer, TV,
smartphone, games) and have only seen touchscreens
• Learn as much from YouTube as school
• Low attention span - “Bite-size media”
• Leaving Facebook??
9. @gngfound
THE INTERNET MINUTE
• 701,389 logins on Facebook
• 69,444 hours watched on Netflix
• 150 million emails sent
• 527,760 photos shared on Snapchat
• 347,222 tweets on Twitter
• 28,194 new posts to Instagram
• 2.4 million search queries on Google
• 972,222 Tinder swipes
• 2.78 million video views on Youtube
10. @gngfound
TYPES OF SEARCH TERMS
Branded (Protect
Referrals)
Law Firm of Daley &
Homer
Justine Daley
Chris Homer
Non-Branded (Grow
Your Leads)
Estate Planning
Attorney
Probate Attorney
Real Estate Attorney
11.
12. @gngfound
TWO ETHICS AREAS
Protect your referrals
• Reviews
• Branded search
• Website & Attorney bio
pages
• Accurate directory
information
Grow your leads
• Linkable content
• Backlink acquisition
• Onsite Search Engine
Optimization
• Google and Facebook
Ads
13. @gngfound
KEY CHANGES IN 2016
• Mobile search and traffic is continuing to increase
• New ads in local search
• Local 3 pack and even Google Maps app
• Voice search is changing search behavior
• Reviews are becoming more and more important
• Facebook is growing
• Backlinks are still king
15. @gngfound
REVIEWS ARE IMPORTANT
2015 Survey:
• 92% of consumers now read online reviews (vs. 88% in 2014)
• 69% of consumers say a review must be written within 2-3 months to be
relevant
• Only 14% of consumers consider using a business that has a 1 or 2 star
rating
• 48% of consumers will visit the website after reading positive reviews
16. @gngfound
REVIEWS ARE IMPORTANT
2015 Survey*
• 92% of consumers now read online reviews (vs. 88% in 2014)
• 40% of consumers form an opinion by reading just 1-3 reviews
(vs. 29% in 2014)
• Star rating is #1 factor used by consumers to judge a business
• Consumers are becoming more concerned about fake reviews
*BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey 2015
22. @gngfound
REVIEWS - THE ETHICS
• Don’t make up profiles to write reviews
• You can’t write your own online reviews
• Don’t pay for reviews
• 7.2[B]: A lawyer shall not give anything of value to a person for
recommending the lawyer’s services except…”
• Responsible for reviews you can control October 2016: https://
www.supremecourt.ohio.gov/Boards/BOC/Advisory_Opinions/2016/
Op_16-008.pdf
23. @gngfound
REVIEWS - THE ETHICS
EXAMPLE: You ask Joe Smith to leave you a review:
“Jim will win every time. He won $1 million for me in an auto accident
lawsuit, Jim is the best Personal Injury attorney ever!!”
How do you control?
7.1[3]
An advertisement that truthfully reports a lawyer's achievements on behalf of clients or former
clients may be misleading if presented so as to lead a reasonable person to form an unjustified
expectation that the same results could be obtained for other clients in similar matters
24. @gngfound
A CULTURE OF REVIEWS
• Ask for paper internal review at closing meeting or you can use
an online form on your website
• Good review? What’s their email address?
• Ask and provide a how-to guide
• Provide guidance on what NOT to say
• It’s not easy in Legal Profession
34. @gngfound
DIRECTORY ETHICS
• Ethics issues arise when you “Claim” the listing
• Online Directories are acceptable form of advertising (Rule 7.2-5(a))
• Business description
• Categories / Services (Rule 7.4)
• “A lawyer may communicate the fact that the lawyer does or does not
practice in particular fields of law or limits his or her practice to or
concentrates in particular fields of law.”
35. @gngfound
DIRECTORY ETHICS
• A lawyer can only claim designation, specialist or expert only if permissible
• Business description + Categories + Practice Areas + NAP
• Caution: you could be responsible even if you hire a firm to “claim” your
directory listings
• Responsibilities Regarding Nonlawyer Assistants
36. @gngfound
DIRECTORY ETHICS
• 7.1
[2] Truthful statements that are misleading are also prohibited by this
rule. A truthful statement is misleading if it omits a fact necessary to
make the lawyer’s communication considered as a whole not
materially misleading. A truthful statement is also misleading if there
is a substantial likelihood that it will lead a reasonable person to
formulate a specific conclusion about the lawyer or the lawyer’s
services for which there is no reasonable factual foundation.
38. WEBSITES THAT GET CLIENTS
P A S T
2002 2014
LEGAL
WEBSITES
COMMUNICATE
S O L V E
I N F O R M
S E R V E
MARKETING
P R E S E N T
COMMUNICATE
S O L V E
I N F O R M
S E R V ECOMMUNICATE
SOLVE
INFORM
SERVE
41. @gngfound
WEBSITE COMPONENTS
• Name / “Brand”
• Where are you located? How can I get a hold of you?
• Phone Number / Contact Form / Chat / Text?
• Do you understand my problem? What can you do for me?
• Proof I should call you?
• Easy to navigate and find things
• Schema Markup for Google (business, attorney, and reviews) -
ask your webmaster
42. • How do I call
you?
• What do you do?
• What can you do
for me?
• Proof I should
call you?
47. @gngfound
WEBSITE ETHICS
• Make sure your web and content developers understand what you
can and can’t say about your experience, expertise, trial publicity,
etc.
• Hiring Someone: the partner or lawyer must take reasonable efforts
to ensure that the [company] they retain's actions are within the
professional obligation of the lawyer and not violate the Rules of
Professional Conduct - 5.3.
48. @gngfound
WEBSITE ETHICS
• Do not mislead with your website copy
• Communications Concerning a Lawyer's Services
• No testimonials on website without consent (re-post online
reviews?)
• Avoid saying "I can save your business" or "higher my firm and
you will walk free" - nothing that could lead someone to expect
results
• Don’t compare your firm to another like "Our firm is better than
Smith and Smith" unless you can factually substantiate
49. @gngfound
WEBSITE ETHICS
• Watch the content of your website pages
• Comparative Speech in title tags, meta descriptions, copy
• If you have pages in another language, e.g. In Spanish, then you
must have a disclaimer in that language. Simple stating that your
firm Hablamos Espanol does not require a Spanish disclaimer
• Disclaimer on your website should be on every page.
• A copy or recording of advertisements or written communication
needs should be retained by the law firm for 5 years (hint: take
frequent backups of your website)
51. @gngfound
BLOGGING/CONTENT ETHICS
• No Names Please
• Do not talk about clients without consent in blogs or online
content
• Trial Publicity
• Tread lightly if you are going to talk about the case at all
• Hunter vs. Virginia (1.6, dismissed, but…..)
52. @gngfound
THE FUTURE IS MOBILE
*IDC Research Report 2013
have their phone on or near
them for all but up to 2 hours of
their waking day.79%
reach for their smartphone
immediately after waking up
62%
say they can't recall the last
time their smartphone wasn't
next to them.25%
Among smartphone owners age 18-44
53. @gngfound
MOBILE TRAFFIC ON THE RISE
Leads are also coming from mobile
devices
45% of leads came from mobile
devices based during August 2016*
*from GNGF data
56. @gngfound
ETHICS ON MOBILE WEBSITE
• Even on mobile it is still a website.
• Don’t forget the disclaimer
• If required to say “this is advertising” at a certain font size in
your state, make sure the mobile doesn’t scale it too small.
59. @gngfound
FACEBOOK
• There are 1.71 Billion monthly
active users on Facebook
• 1.13 Billion people log into
Facebook every day
• 4.75 Billion pieces of content are
shared daily
64. @gngfound
LINKEDIN
• There are 433 million users
• 40% of users check LinkedIn daily
• 59% of LinkedIn users don’t use
Twitter
65. @gngfound
BEWARE OF “SKILLS”
“Opinion rules that a lawyer
may accept an invitation from
a judge to be a "connection"
on a professional networking
website, and may endorse a
judge. However, a lawyer may
not accept a legal skill or
expertise endorsement or a
recommendation from a
judge.”
66. @gngfound
TWITTER
• There are 310 Million monthly
active users
• 44% of created accounts have
never sent a Tweet
• 80% of users access Twitter via a
mobile device
• A day’s worth of tweets would fill a
10 million page book
71. @gngfound
SOCIAL MEDIA ETHICS
What counts as advice?
• Dealing With Unrepresented Person
• If the lawyer knows or reasonably should know that the
“unrepresented person misunderstands the lawyer's role”
• If you are engaged in a discussion LinkedIn and there is a
possibility that the person misunderstands your comments
make sure to inform them of your relationship and do not
give legal advice.
72. @gngfound
SOCIAL MEDIA ETHICS
Is this Advertising? - Facebook Page Post Ad
• Yes
• May want to submit a copy of Page Post Ad as Advertising
• Keep records of Ads by not deleting them
Don’t Imply Results or Mislead
• Communications Concerning a Lawyer's Services
• Don’t say things that could lead someone to expect results
• Don’t compare your firm to another like "Our firm is way better than
Smith and Smith" unless you can factually substantiate
73. @gngfound
SOCIAL MEDIA ETHICS
• Other Issues
• Don’t “friend” potential jurors
• Accidental Discovery
• Using Social For Discovery
• Using Social as Evidence (Competence?)
• Advising Clients About Social
• Commercial Speech = Advertising
87. @gngfound
SCHOLARSHIP
• Body One
• Body Two
• Direct outreach to
schools (.edu)
• Scholarship websites
• Social magnification
• Tie into geo-location
and industry
• Cast a wide net
