Integrity Marketing

What Keeps You Going?

Time management is a challenge for busy lawyers, paralegals and assistants. How can you, as the leader in an estate planning law practice, keep yourself and your team on track, on time and motivated when you feel like all you do is race to catch up?

Here are suggestions we’ve gathered from attorneys who seem to have their practices and their lives in order:

Schedule quiet time. Just like kindergartners have a structured nap time after lunch, many grownups perform better when they have a specific amount of time set aside when they are not answering emails, picking up the phone and constantly shifting gears. Some offices set aside 1 – 3 o’clock for uninterrupted concentrated work. They put the phone on night service, or if there is a live receptionist, messages are taken for a two hour period. This is a habit that takes a lot of effort, but the payback can be worthwhile.

Consider your success stories. Keep a notebook at your desk (yes, a notebook!) and write down every time you solve a problem for a client. It could be a big thing – like preventing her heirs from having to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in estate tax – or a little thing, like getting a grumpy elderly cousin to finalize a will. Look at the lives you’ve impacted, and the good that you have done. Sometimes you need this kind of encouragement to keep you going when the hours are long and the problems are daunting.

Add some order to your tasks. If every day is different and you race from home to court to office to court to home… well, you get the idea. Some people do well with chaos, but most of us prefer some kind of order. Start the night before, by taking time to leave yourself an orderly desk and a list of tasks in whatever system works for you.

Tackle the quick stuff first – or last. You know how you work best. If your day is brighter with a few fast successful tasks, that’s the best way to start for you. If there are things you need to do that keep you up at night, get them out of the way as early as possible so you don’t spend the day dreading them. Pay attention to your most successful days. Chances are you have certain rhythms that work well.

Take a break. We have a colleague who sets a timer for 40 minute intervals and every 40 minutes he gets up, walks from one end of the office to another, then gets back to work. His back feels better and it helps him concentrate. You might prefer a walk around the block to clear your head.

Play music. Law offices have not yet gone to the same shared space and tables/benches that IT companies favor, but if a little Bach or Beatles in the background helps you concentrate – and it doesn’t bother people working around you – by all means enjoy.

You know better than anyone else what makes you more productive. If you don’t, then experiment to find out, and use this knowledge to make you a more productive and fulfilled attorney.

The View from Olathe

Do you remember wanting to go to law school? Maybe you were in grade school and had a family member who was an attorney. You wanted to follow in their footsteps. Or maybe you wanted a professional path that would elevate your life and let your intelligence shine. Whatever compelled you to take the journey to becoming an attorney, you know one thing: no one was giving any of it away.

Few have described their experiences of getting into law school, surviving the rigors of law school and passing the bar as an easy task. It took a lot of work, time and dedication. And now that you are at the helm of your own law firm, or guiding a practice area within a multi-practice law firm, you still have to work harder and smarter to achieve successful outcomes for your clients.

But just as you found methods that worked for you when studying for bar exams – bar review courses, tapes, books, study groups – today there are methods that can be used to make the practice of estate planning law easier.

At IMS, we are proud of the large number of attorneys who rely on us to help guide their practices into a place where they are busy, profitable and fulfilled. Repetitive tasks are automated and streamlined, from basic marketing functions like responding to a website query to managing professional time and more. This efficiency allows our clients to focus their energy on serving clients better, growing their practice’s profitability and having the ability to chose clients that best suit their practice.

We do this using a variety of tools that we have carefully selected, customized to suit the specific needs of our estate planning attorneys and, it should be noted, that we continually refine. Sometimes we make major revisions. Other times we discard something that is no longer relevant. The pace of change in law practice management and marketing is increasing exponentially, and we are dedicated to keeping ourselves and our clients at the forefront.

Our question to you today is this: Is your practice where you want it to be? Are there areas that you know could be better? What gets under your skin on a regular basis? Chances are we have a fix for it. Give us a call – you can reach James easily at 877-352-2021, ext 80.

Better Blogging

By Anneliese Krull

So, now you have a solid handle on posting blogs to your Typepad account. Congratulations! You are successfully adding valuable content for prospects.

Posting the blogs “as is” will give you good website content and increase your website’s SEO and value for your clients. However, you can take your blogging to the next level and find even more success.

Personalize. Add your own voice or personal flair to the blog posts. Try sharing a personal story to tweak the intro or add a picture from your own family photo files to illustrate the point. You could even add a brief sentence or two as to why the specific topic is important to your state and your clients.

Localize Keywords. Tag each keyword with your location so that these blogs are picked up in local searches. After copying the keywords from your weekly blog content and pasting them into the keywords box for your Typepad post, place your cursor in front of each term and type in your target geographic location. 

For example, if the sentence includes the phrase “estate planning attorney” and you are located in Olathe, KS, the phrase should read “…an Olathe KS estate planning attorney.” Each keyword is separated by a comma, so avoid using commas when you type each location.

Distribute content. If you do not have the E2 CRM and want to provide your contacts with more up-to-date information, upgrade to add a “Weekly Blog Digest” to your marketing strategy. Just think, you already are sending them your monthly e-newsletter, but this will add another 52 “touches” each year. Talk about maintaining “top of mind awareness”!

Distributing a Weekly Blog Digest provides your contacts with educational and relevant content directly to their inbox, which they can easily forward to friends or family members. As people click on the specific articles, they will be directed to your blog page, increasing the number of sessions on your site. With more traffic on your website, you will gain the attention of search engines. If this sounds like a desirable feature for your firm’s marketing, give James a call at 877-352-2021 ext.80 to discuss whether a simple add on or a CRM upgrade is best for you.

With a few of these customizations, you can make your blogs work for you better than before!

Measuring Your Marketing: Part One

 

By Kelly Myers

As you know, Integrity Marketing Solutions sends a report once a month with your Website’s Google Analytics. You click on the link in the email, and you are taken to your Google Analytics Dashboard to evaluate a handful of numbers.

What do these numbers mean? Are these numbers normal?

In the next few weeks, I’ll be identifying, defining and discussing what goes on in Google Analytics and the additional platforms we use to track your marketing performance and what they should mean to you.

First, let’s talk about Traffic within Google Analytics.

Your traffic overview is the first chart to appear when opening your Google Analytics dashboard. You’ll see there are a handful of “Channels” in the beginning column. A channel is the source from which your traffic originates. For example, Organic means the website traffic comes from search engines like Google or Bing. Direct Traffic refers to when a visitor typed your web address into the browser’s address bar directly. Other popular channels include Social, Referrals and Email. Don’t panic if the latter of these channels aren’t on your Google Analytics. The ideal goal is for your website’s main source of traffic to come from the Organic and Direct channels.

In the column to the right of Channels is Sessions.

One session means one visit to your website. It includes all interactions a user may have on your website once they arrive. On average, most IMS clients have around 300 sessions per month. If your number of sessions is around 300, consider your website to be in good standing. If the number of session your website is receiving is well below 300, consider the factors. Are you a new firm? Have you recently bought a new domain? When is the last time your site was updated? Have you postponed upgrading your website to a responsive design? These can all contribute to low session numbers.

The next column you’ll see on your Google Analytics dashboard is New Users. The number of new users your website receives is correlated to the number of sessions. Typically, the number of New Users to your site should account for over half of your overall sessions. For example, if you have 300 sessions for the month of March, the number of new users should be over 150. If you feel this number is too low, please reach out to IMS through the support ticket system.

Now that you know what kind and how much traffic your website should be receiving, next time I’ll discuss what those website visitors are actually doing on your website.

 

Succession Planning for the Estate Planning Law Practice

Succession planning is a topic that you discuss with business owner clients. But have you thought about succession planning for your own law practice?

The cobbler’s children never seem to get those shoes, do they?

Consider your business owner clients. You don’t think twice about discussing what their wishes are when it comes to doing their estate planning. Do they have family members who are active in their businesses? Do they want to sell their business to a long-standing employee? Or do they plan to sell their business, reap the rewards of years of hard work and enjoy a leisure-filled retirement? They rely on you for help mapping out a plan, starting with the big picture when they are younger and digging into the details as the years go on.

Depending on your age, health and finances (let’s not ignore the 800 pound gorilla in the room), you have options. You could conceivably continue to practice well into your 70s or 80s. Look at the Supreme Court bench for inspiration! Lawyers who love what they do often chose to work long past the time when other people have retired. After all, it’s your profession, your practice and a large part of your identity.

If you are just starting out, this is a concept to put in the back of your mind. Building your practice to succeed today, utilizing all of the available tools to grow and sustain your practice, will give you more options in the future.

If “someday” is closer in your future, consider these questions:

What would you like your future to look like? For some lawyers, that means less time practicing law and more time in leadership positions: speaking, writing and expanding involvement in the profession or with community groups.

Is your practice making the most out of technology? Are systems in place for document management, practice management, marketing and accounting functions to be as efficient as possible? This will make a big difference in freeing up your time for other activities. It will also make a difference in making it attractive for another attorney to merge their practice in with yours or come in as a partner and eventually take over for you.

Is there someone in your office who you would like to pass the baton of ownership to? The young lawyer who started with you years ago is now an experienced practitioner. Will they chose to stay with you if there is a discussion of partnership, or will they leave and become your toughest competitor?

You have built a law practice centered on helping others plan for the future. That doesn’t mean it is easy to do this for yourself. But like any other difficult topic, the earlier you start exploring the issues, the better decisions you will be able to make for yourself, your family, your clients and your practice.

Back to Basics: Making Your Website as Welcoming to Search Engines as it is to Humans

Google continues to dominate the world of online search, and as long as that is the case, we will continue to design and polish our websites and blogs to maximize their use by humans and Googlebots.

Googlebots are Google’s name for its powerful and proprietary software programs that have no other function than to examine billions of pages on the web, which continues to grow exponentially. These “bots,” also known as robots or spiders, rely on an ever-changing series of algorithms to ensure that humans in search of information find exactly what they are looking for.

Unlike cell phone apps who seem to always want to send you somewhere nearby for pizza or make phone calls to people you would rather never see again (we are told that former spouses seem to get many of these calls), the precision of Google’s algorithms are pretty awesome.

Consider the vastness of the internet and the enormous talent and energy dedicated to harnessing the Googlebots. We do truly live in the future!

What does this mean for your estate planning practice?

When IMS team members look at your website, we are looking for things that may not seem obvious to you. We are looking for information – video, images, language – that will tell the Googlebots that your website, in your city, holds the information that the searching human is looking for.

There are also many other technical elements that you don’t even see. But we know what they are and we make sure that your website has exactly what it needs!

Your website also needs to work well for humans.

Once they get to your website, they need to be engaged and informed. A little entertainment doesn’t hurt! Score extra points if you have a strategic attorney video on your home page. Does it take more than one click for them to learn about services, community involvement or your background? Make it easy and quick.

Does your home page tell them where your office is located? Location is an important part of your website, as most estate planning attorneys are selected with location in mind. Run a zip code search of your current clients to find out where they live. Lean on that data when doing strategic planning.

Web design and maximizing your website for search engines is an ever-changing and ever-challenging process. Last spring, Google made it very clear that websites that did not employ responsive design would start falling by the wayside in searches.

What’s coming next? We’ll be sure to keep you posted!

Plan Annually and Measure Quarterly

Remember your New Year’s resolutions? Don’t feel bad – few of us do.

Big tasks of all kinds are more likely to be completed when they are broken down into smaller components. Just as you would not train for a 5K without preparation, you can’t possibly succeed in marketing and growing your practice without breaking all of the related tasks into smaller pieces, finding resources to help and planning, planning, planning.

One of our favorite planning tools is the calendar.

What is more basic than a calendar, which divides our solar year into days, weeks and months?

Start by setting strategic goals for the entire year. Be specific. That’s what we dig into at our private strategic planning retreats. What do you want for your practice: more clients, fewer clients but ones with higher asset levels, more estate litigation or less estate litigation? What do you want for yourself: more time with your family, more time doing community outreach? What is realistic, and honestly, what is not?

Defining specific goals gives you benchmarks that are critical to achieving success.

Consider the four quarters of the year. One month is too small a span of time to measure efforts and results, but a quarter – three months – is better. Ask anyone in corporate finance or stock markets – that’s why reports are issued quarterly.

March 31 marks the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2016. Make an appointment with yourself and your team to look back at the first quarter. How did you do? How many new leads came in from your website, how many phone calls came in and how many of those became clients? Did your associates and paralegals bill enough hours so that they paid for their own salaries and benefits and generated profits for the firm?

Yes, these are a lot of questions, but a time billing system should be in place that will allow you to get these answers readily. In fact, all of your time and billing and marketing systems should be integrated so you can see what is working as well as what is not working.

The year is still relatively young – young enough that there’s still time for you to plan ahead, make necessary changes and make 2016 your best year yet.

Don’t Go Mad in March!

By Kelly Myers

Every March, talk of “seeds,” brackets,” and the “big dance” fill the air at the office, home and even out and about at the grocery store. You’re constantly pestered by co-workers to join the office bracket challenge and your friends invite you to endless watch parties. College basketball fans simply go, well, mad in March! However, as an attorney, March Madness® has a different meaning.

Now that we’re three months deep into 2016, paperwork is starting to stack up, your inbox is packed with unread emails and, if you are using the E2 CRM, there are more consultations on your calendar than you can count.

Here are a few tips to keep your sanity amongst all the madness.

Tidy up. Few things feel better than working on a clean and clutter-free desk. And no, tidying up does not mean moving a stack of papers from the left side of your desk to the right side of your desk. It’s time to organize those client documents, throw away any trash and clean your office with a multi-surface wipe. This will help you to feel comfortable in your workplace and boost productivity. If you struggle with keeping your space clean, look into hiring a service to come in and take care of those needs for you.

Get moving. If you have the opportunity, try taking a short walk. This quick break will allow blood circulation that can reduce anxiety, boost energy and stimulate endorphins. Also, spending a few minutes out of the office will enable you to clear your mind and re-focus on the tasks at hand. When you return from your walk, you’re sure to feel invigorated and ready for the remainder of the day.

Decompress. If you’re stressed out, odds are, your staff is feeling it too. Take a few hours out of the day on a Friday and have a firm outing. This could be anything from bowling, volunteering at an animal shelter, taking the team out for lunch or maybe even having one of the NCAA Basketball® tournament games on at the office. Not only are outings a great way to relieve stress, but it will also promote bonding and a chance to get to know one another outside the office.

When madness strikes at the office, shoot for one of these suggestions to stay in the game.

Taming the Marketing Beast

By Anneliese Krull

March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.

Okay, I’ll admit it.

As a child, I only liked this phrase because my twin’s favorite animal was a lion and mine was—you guessed it—a lamb. However, as I have grown older, I have come to appreciate the truth in this statement.

In Kansas, the weather is unpredictable. Rain, snow, ice and hail come with little warning. Fortunately, with the benefit of radar technology and the work of meteorologists and climatologists, we can get a pretty decent idea of weather patterns and then make necessary preparations.

The digital realm of marketing used to be just as unpredictable as the Kansas weather.

Business owners couldn’t tell when people were coming or going from their website or who these people were. One could only tell when there was a flood (or a drought) of clients but could not trace their reason for visiting to any particular cause.

The E2 CRM tracking functions much like today’s advanced radars, thermometers and sensory equipment available to meteorologists—but for marketing.

By tracking who is going where and when, you can begin to more accurately evaluate your website and recognize patterns. For example, if people are visiting the “about” section of your site, perhaps you need to prioritize shooting quality video for that page, introducing yourself and telling your story.

What if a prospect (who is already a contact in your CRM) reads your content about Special Needs Trusts? How powerful would it be to add a video on Special Needs Trusts and then follow with an automatically-generated drip marketing campaign that sends the prospect relevant information to educate them and motivate them to contact you for a consultation?

With the E2 CRM, you will know the digital trends on your website so you can tame that marketing lion into a docile, profitable lamb.

For more information call James at 877-352-2021, ext 80.

Can You Really Win Friends and Influence People Through Your Wardrobe?

Let’s say you are out at a senior day event. It’s not upscale, but it’s not down market either. Seniors who own homes, some who rent; regular people who are enjoying their golden years. There’s a big crowd, because everyone enjoys getting out for the day and seeing their friends. One of the speakers is well dressed, even sports a pocket handkerchief in his jacket pocket. You can just tell that he takes a lot of care with his appearance – he’s perfectly groomed, with monogrammed initials on his shirt and the best haircut in town. You can smell his aftershave if you get close up.

Another speaker isn’t quite so polished and poised, but you note that people are headed over to his table and chatting with him in a friendly and conversational way. He is not talking so much as listening. And while he is definitely business-appropriate, that “flash and dash” that the other speaker has is not quite his style.

Let’s consider the importance of knowing your audience.

An office meeting with clients demands that you and your office put on your best, most professional appearances. That means that the office is clear of clutter, there are neatly stacked supplies on the conference table or a nearby credenza – pads of paper, pens, etc. – and comfortable chairs. Need we mention that the paint and the carpet are in excellent condition?

If your client runs a big construction company and you are visiting him or her on the jobsite, you’re wearing appropriate footwear. A meeting in the office – you are wearing a suit. When an emergency requires a visit to a hospital or care center, you are still dressed as a professional. Even in the middle of the night, your jeans are clean and pressed and you put on a button down shirt, not the old band t-shirt your spouse has been after you to throw out for years.

We take care to dress ourselves and decorate our offices for two reasons. One is to be clothed and to reflect our personal tastes. But another reason is to communicate to the people we are coming into contact with. We want to make those around us comfortable, which is after all the essence of good manners.

Now this is not a slam on sartorial all-stars. You know who you are. But do consider your audience.

If you are dressed for the Royal Ascot racecourse to address a room of NASCAR fans, you’ve missed the mark. On the other hand, if you are speaking to a room of high net worth families and your jacket needed to go to the cleaners last month, you’re not doing yourself or your practice any favors.

Consider your audience and how you want them to think of you. Their first impression is under your control!