While I was at the National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF) Business meeting in Washington, D.C., I had the opportunity to meet with large-firm general counsel, communications directors and small firm members from across the country.

I really enjoy talking to lawyers in person about  social media, mostly because it gives me an opportunity to discuss the importance of on-line networking tools and how they can directly impact their business, face-to-face.

One attorney I spoke with said, “One of the reasons lawyers aren’t really going for social media like Facebook, is because it started with young people using it, kids really kind of playing with it.”  Unfortunately, she’s right.   Many legal professionals have antiquated ideas about how to generate business and technology has always been a challenge.

So,  they’re really suffering when it comes to understanding and developing new online tools for business development.  That makes the fast moving development of online communication all the more challenging for many in the industry.

During the NAMWOLF business meeting, the importance of staying in communication was an ongoing theme for the panelists.  We all know that for generations, lawyers have built their business through personal relationships.

It’s time to expand your “Comfort Zone” and learn new communications tools!

Facebook is the perfect tool to help lawyers have deeper conversations and relationships with acquaintances so they can become friends, and potential business contacts.

Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, JD Supra, Martindale.com and Avvo are fast becoming primary tools for generating new business for legal marketers going forward.

An article in the Lawyerist elaborates on the usage of Facebook and it’s intense growth among users between 35 and 55 years old.  The precise demographic legal marketers are targeting…

As of August 4, 2009, there were about 78 million users on Facebook, 40% of them over the age of 35. Facebook’s users in every demographic are increasing, not decreasing, with certain demographics like those over the age of 55 increasing by 514% from January through July 2009.

If you are not actively using social media in your marketing efforts, your firm’s business is missing out on some incredible opportunities.

Other articles you may be interested in:

Legal Marketers – Now is NOT the time to give up on Twitter

Legal Professionals Who Are Not Social Media Savvy Can Jeopardize Their Cases

Listening, monetization, and ethics are key for successful social media campaigns and your legal marketing reputation

Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want.

You can reach her at 917-856-5410

The National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms (NAMWOLF) 2010 March Business Meeting, will be held March 4 – 5, 2010, in Washington, DC at the Dupont Hotel.

This is free conference for in-house counsel, will feature the launch of an exciting new initiative, as well as sessions for in-house counsel and NAMWOLF law firm members.

Attendees will participate in an informative session presented by Stephen Hanas, Senior Counsel, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation; an In-House Best Practices Session presented by Jason Brown, PepsiAmericas and Andrea Clark-Smith, American Airlines; annual meeting planning; and many networking opportunities.

Current registrants of the meeting include:  Accenture, Time Warner Cable, PepsiAmericas, Prudential, American Airlines, FDIC, ALM Media, Choice Hotels, Ocwen Financial, Banco Popular, A. O. Smith, Amtrak and Sodexo.

I was first introduced to NAMWOLF last year, via a Direct Message Tweet I received from a graphic designer, whose sister was affiliated with them.  The organization is committed to providing opportunities for minority and women-owned law firms, so is indeed a privilege for me to support this year’s Business Meeting.

Karasma Media is also a member of NAMWOLF’s  Corporate and Public Entities Partnering Program.

Members of the program have a committed to set a goal of eventually expending a minimum of 5% of your outside counsel budget with certified minority and women-owned law firms.

Please don’t hesitate to join our colleagues and register today.  I’d truly like to meet you in person, so please look for me!

Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want.

You can reach her at 917-856-5410

I have been a verbal proponent of legal marketers cross branding your personal and business profiles on Facebook for more than a year.

Over the last two weeks, both my God-mother, Mildred Ricks, and her son, Franklin Delanore Kinder, passed away.

I know that many in the legal field are leery about sharing their personal lives via social media; and in the midst of being profoundly saddened by their passing, I wondered if including who Millie was for me would be appropriate here on this blog. I also now that you have a vibrant, busy life and are surrounded by many people you love dearly, without whom doing your chosen profession may not have been possible.

So, I’m choosing on the side of generosity.  It would be incredibly selfish and impersonal for me not share one of the most important people in my life with you.

“Millie” was hired by my mother to take care of me when I came home from nursery school, more than 40-years ago. She fast became best friends with my mom, and second mother to me, and over the years our families spend numerous dinners and vacations together. I can honestly say, I didn’t have a more diligent, loving supporter of my dreams and aspirations.  I already tearfully miss our late-night pep-talks…

Millie Ricks

Without Millie’s never ending compassion, strength and support, it’s very unlikely that I would have finished college, let alone have an advanced degree and my own business in New York City. Her generosity seemed endless, as my family’s experience of her was duplicated countless times with the multitude of children she cared for over the years. Her care-taking even extends to the off-spring of the kids she originally cared for and some of their children, so she deeply impacts more than 4-generations of a wide-spread extended family.

Randy, Ummuna, Azeb, Almaz and Randy III — much  love to you.

My advise to legal marketers…

Never cease doing what you love to do and sharing yourself generously. If you continue to follow your passion and stay aware of who you’re talking to, you’ll find the right words to say — not to worry.

Other articles you may be interested in reading:

4 JD Supra Applications For Your Law Firm’s Facebook Page and Accentuating Your Personal Brand

Keeping Creativity Flowing on Your Legal Marketing Blog

Are you a Legal Marketer looking for help with Facebook? Here’s A Free Guide!

Legal Marketers: You Can Create an eNewsletter from your Facebook Fan Page

Legal Professionals Who Are Not Social Media Savvy Can Jeopardize Their Cases — Legal marketers, what you don’t know is hurting you

Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want.

You can reach her at 917-856-5410

I’ve been working at my “media” career for more than 25-years now.  That’s a surprise to a lot of people.  It could be because they think I make doing what I do look “easy”.  But, it’s more likely because they’ve never heard of me…

I was talking to my aunt about what it takes to stick to a venture and keep making it run, particularly when surrounded by folk who don’t quite “get” the internet or how entrepreneurship is a good idea.

Thanks to the writing of many, many successful folk, my belief that fortitude, stubbornness and lots of kindness are what it takes to become successful at anything, is constantly being reinforced. As I’m watching newcomers enter into the realm of legal marketing social media, I’m watching a multitude of them make a common mistake:

They show up

Invest a few hours on the networking being really aggressive with people an then shortly –

Disappear — Most likely disgusted because “it didn’t work.

Becoming “Famous”  really isn’t any different.  Web or no web – it still takes ten years to become a success.  The frustrating part is that you’ll see your tactics fail right away. The good news is that over time, you’ll get the satisfaction of watching those tactics succeed.

A lot of old thinkers want to see overnight success, mostly so they’ll have someone they can tear down later.  For those of us who are using social media to build our business and are doing it the way it’s designed to be done, it’s important to remember to listen to our real customers and to our inner vision to make what we’re doing last the long haul…
It may just take that…

Seth Godin is one of the start-up & go-get-em authors I referred earlier and it was his elaboration on these points that inspired this post.  There’s much value in reading the original …

The secret of the web (hint: it’s a virtue)

Other articles you may be interested in:

Keeping Creativity Flowing On Your Legal Marketing Blog

Does Social Media End Cold Calling as a New Business Tactic For Legal Marketers?

Seven Sites That Will Keep Legal Marketers On Their Toes and Up to Speed With Social Media Marketing Rules

Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want.

You can reach her at 917-856-5410

I’m regularly asked, “Where do you get your ideas for your blog?

Honestly, I have more ideas and topics I’m interested in than I could ever find time to write about.  Now, I have the initial structure for my first book rumbling in my head, so I’m starting to map that ou, simultaneously with coming up with daily post content.  I’ve even slacked off for a time and had to pick up where I left off.

How am I doing it??

I’m finding that I have to keep practicing at it.  “Practicing” as in “the act of”…
Muse In the making...

Three-weeks ago, I went to the Tim Burton exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York with my friend Theresa and her daughter.  I’ve admired Burton’s wild work for many years.  He’s just a bottomless pit of out-of-the-box creation and macabre sociological commentary ranging from prose like Tragic Toys for Girls and Boys to the darkly beautiful Alice In Wonderland .

Needless-to-say, I had an absolute blast.  It was just a Saturday afternoon out with some friends, but wala — I have something I can talk about regarding keeping creativity flowing and my blog content interesting.

Inspiration comes from EVERYWHERE.

We just have to keep ourselves open for it.  I never stop look looking!  Chris Brogan suggests simply using your phone’s camera and snap some weird things that you see.

From Initial Thought to Brilliant Post

Our having a good idea is one thing.  Turning it into a blog post is another. I constantly keep in mind the categories on this blog, which keep me focused:   Legal Marketing Tips, Trends, Tools and Tactics. Ideas that spur me into writing are inevitably thep osts that get other people’s imaginations going, inevitably stimulating new ideas from them.

The Practice of Writing

I wrote this section at 3:00 in the morning.  I’ve had the photos sitting on my desktop, but there were several other hot issues happening that I wanted to write about.   So, this idea  sat, until I just couldn’t sleep until I got it down — literally.  Writing looks like this for me — a lot!

Simply stating, “I’ll write every morning”, doesn’t really work for me.  I truly have to find the time where I can.  That’s why I have a desktop and a laptop to work on.  I suggest that the practice of writing is something you try doing — all the time…

You’re probably wondering how in the world you can do this — You have a practice to run and tons of other responsibilities…
Think about pieces you want to write. Really.  Simply Jot down notes about those pieces. I never leave my office without a small notebook on hand, but little snips of audio or leave yourself voicemail or write on the back of receipts work just as well.  Literally, whatever you can do, think about what you’re going to write.

Grab paragraphs wherever you can. I’m finishing this in the middle of the afternoon now after having the initial idea 3-weeks ago on a sidewalk in  mid-town.

Read other folk’s stuff. I read CONSTANTLY.  Yes, this actually counts as writing practice, provided you read as a write keeping in mind that you want to better your own writing from it. Publish often! . A place that my preactice will slack off is I end up keeping a ton of drafts of thins around, that never get published.  Unfortunately, the truth is unless it gets out and onto this blog — it  doesn’t count!

The more I publish, the more people will come at me and not always positively and the more people will “steal my ideas”  – Oh well, if we don ‘t write, we don’t give ourselves the  opportunity for feedback.

Just Keep Practicing…
And in the act of practicing continue to share what you find and it will help others.  It never ceases to amaze me how true this actually is.  Hopefully, this post spurs you on and you’ll create something you’ll want to share with me.

Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want.

Change is happening faster than EVER…

Five years ago, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook,  JD Supra and the iPhone didn’t exist. Today Facebook has 350 million members; Twitter -  30 million; and Hulu having surpassed Time Warner Cable, is the second largest “channel” in America.

We all know technology has profoundly impacted consumer behavior.  Smartphones brand loyalty is a prime example. Smartphones empower us to comparison shop on the basis of price at the point of sale.  Not to mention a shopping experience at any Apple Store is just a “Tech & Customer Care Heaven”…

As legal marketers, we are already witnessing how technology can  alter how potential clients  purchase our services and  give  third-party influencers are having effect.  Paid media’s “management” of our target audience’s purchasing cycle is have a transformational shift on our brands.

Ironically, while consumers and retailers are embracing these innovations, legal marketers are significantly  lagging behind the rapid technological evolution of our marketplace.

Considering that ten years ago consumers spent about 30 minutes online per day. Today, it’s four hours, according to Media Metrix, (twice as much time as they watch TV — and that time spent does not include e-mailing!)

In this decade, broadband expanded from 3% to two-thirds of American homes. Yet legal marketers barely adjusted their approach.

Change is always difficult, but legal marketers need to be  more aware of the new marketplace or run the risk of consumers disengaging themselves completely and rendering their marketing programs irrelevant.

The legal marketing narrative needs to be rebooted and the architecture of legal-brand building re-engineered.

Several important points to note:

• Legal CMOs must recognize that the speed and scope of change are so overwhelming that they need to dramatically revamp their marketing ecosystem.

• Transparency is the new black, making public relations and social media essential elements in a successful marketing strategy.

• CMOs must demand that all of their agencies, and not just the digital shop, be technologically savvy.

• “Traditional” agencies, and other disciplines play supporting roles, but if you spend 90% of your budget with traditional agencies, it makes integration all the more difficult.

In an interview I did with BlackEnterprise.com, I talked about the necessity of companies hiring people who are inclined toward technology and accept change as a given. That does not necessarily mean that those people are IT experts, but rather that they are curious, adapt easily and are inclined toward collaboration and social media.

As the landscape changes, the digital agency, the PR firm and especially the media agency should play an equal role in brand creation.
This time of change may mean that outside sources,  fluent in effective legal social media PR,  are necessary to achieve the best ROI.

Article referenced:  Why Brands Should Embrace Technological Change, Avi Dan,  Advertising Age, 1/11/2010.

Other articles you may be interested in:

Developing a Social Media Hiring Strategy: How To Use Networking Sites To Find Employee

How Social Media Impacts Advertising and Marketing for the Legal Industry

A Legal Marketing Revolution Is At Hand

Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want.

Maisha Walker of Inc.com wrote a brilliant blog post on the Top 13 Ways to Drive Blog Readership.

Since you probably have a blog or are at least thinking about having one, you already know that your biggest challenges are creating content and generating readers. Maisha points out that there’s no magic wand to be waved in order to solve these issues and outlines some of my best techniques here.

I know better than to “recreate the wheel” when it’s being turned by one of the best in her field. Thank you Ms. Walker.

Other articles you may be interested in:

13 Must Have Blog Techniques & Tools

My Typical Morning Routine — Using Social Media Tools For New Business

Using Twitter to Keep and Grow Your Law Firm’s Client Base

How to Be the King (or Queen) of Social Media At Your Firm

Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want.

President-elect of the American Bar Association, Attorney Stephen N. Zack, a partner in the national, Miami based firm Boies, Schiller & Flexner, discusses his new role  and the ABA’s new agenda .  Zack is a founding member of  the Cuban American Bar Association and represented Vice President Al Gore in the infamous Vice President Gore vs. Bush Trial, and  the first Hispanic-American to serve as president of the ABA.  Attorneys and co-hosts Bob Ambrogi and J. Craig Williams  interview on the Legal Talk Network show, Lawyer to Lawyer,

Growing up, Zack witnessed his family’s  struggle with the loss of their liberties and it is their fight to keep them that inspired him to be a lawyer.  His primary goals as president will be to renew the importance of  a prominent civics education and  focus on inspiring a new generation of lawyers.

An exert from the Bill of Rights was read on the on street, and people were asked what the origins of the document was, 50% of them , actually thought it was a Communist Doctrine.

There are some disturbing gaps in the civic knowledge young people have, and Zach stresses how the ABA is going to impact the  importance of civic education currently lacking in our schools.

3-out-of- 4 high school students believe that the 3 Branches of U.S. Government govt are democratic, republican and independent.
(In case you’re not sure… they are Executive, Judicial and Legislative)

Pretty sad, but unfortunately, not surprising.

A result of No Child Left Behind, where Civics is an elective, there is an entire generation of Americans who are civicaly ignorant.

There are 400,00 members of the ABA, the largest voluntary assoc in the world...“Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor has been working closely with this issue and emphasized that civic knowledge of — not something that’s “transferred in the gene pool”,

There’s an impressive program in conceptual stages at the  ABA called the  American Bar Academy, with a faculty consisting of the organizations 400,000 bar members.  Conceptually, they’re going to go into every high school  and provide a curriculum that teaches Civics.  They’ll be working with 11th graders (50% women & minorities),  in turn they’ll be taking that knowledge back to classrooms.

The program will also request that American Bar Academy Certificate holders be allowed Certificate holder will be allowed to work for an one of the ABA member firms of their 400,000 members for a day,  allowing them to see how important the law in this country is about is to them and their families.

Listen to this invigorating interview on the  Legal Talk Network

It’s amazing to me that we’ve been celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday in the U.S. for the last 27 years.  Then, in the wake of his legacy, we watched as the first African-American was sworn into office as the  President of the United States.

Dreams are what keep us all going when challenges hit us hardest, and the legal marketing business like so many others, is in the midst of adaptation.  Not withstanding, social media and the legal concerns that come with it are are growing more prominent by the day.

I have the privilege of working with legal professionals as you reinvent who you are, both as individuals and the structure of the way you do business.  As an integral part of our country’s legislative structure, history has shown that we of all people, have the ability to generate change, shift perceptions and dissolve barriers.

As we struggle to do all we can for friends in Haiti, take a  moment to remember Dr. King and acknowledge yourself for who you are.

Read the text of   “I Have A Dream”

Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want.

Arianna Huffington, co-founder and editor-in-chief, The Huffington Post, and health care industry whistleblower Wendell Potter held a post-keynote press conference at the PRSA’s (Public Relations Society of America) 2009 International Conference

Arianna Huffington

Wendell Potter

They truly provided some “keys to the kingdom” for public relations professionals that I feel are exceedingly important for legal marketers working with social media to note and impart:

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST ON PRSA

• Too much breaking news that is not breaking news
• What is PR’s greatest potential that we’re missing
• PR has it’s own PR Problem that prohibits practioners
• Pros need to take the time to know your org and be willing to call your clients on unethical behavior.  “If your clients do do something that is unethical — Call Them On It!  Your reputation is all you’ve got and if you don’t protect it, then “that’s that”…
  
• Listen to your community and monitor your online conversation
• Keep track of your online messaging
• Comments on your blog  are necessary: Keep your commentary interactive with your audience with moderation, not to avoid criticism, but to keep the language “clean”
• Rather than building a wall around your content and  wanting to be the only source, monetization is key.  You want to monetize and have your content EVERYWHERE

Other articles you may be interested in:

My Typical Morning Routine – Using Social Media Tools For New Business

Twitter’s Just Getting Started For Legal Marketers

Seth Godin’s 7 Tips for Startups in a Down Market — Solo Practioners & Small Firms, You Don’t Want To Miss This

Protecting Your Legal Marketing Brand From Social Media Bad Buzz

Kara works with legal marketers to create a more clearly defined focus and distinctive business strategy that will provide them with a competitive advantage for new business, higher reputation recognition, and enhance their ability to attract, win, and retain the clients they really want