I just got an email about the 11th Annual Webby Awards, which has a category for Law. From the Webby Category:

Law

Web sites for law firms, legal service providers, pro-bono legal services, litigation support, and self-help legal information. Sites that feature content on legal issues, trials, law and business issues, court decisions or legal advocacy.

From the email I received:

The awards, hailed by the New York Times as “the online equivalent of an Oscar”, officially launched their Call For Entries last week. Justice Learning took home the top prize at the 10^th Annual Webby Awards, while sites from Court TV, Jurist, and FindLaw were among the nominees.

If your firm has a site that you think is Webby-worthy, I would definitely encourage you to enter. While designing your firm’s site with an award in mind is an absolutely awful idea (you’re trying to get clients and make money….not have a pretty site), the converse is also true: If you’ve got a great site that is really working well for you, maybe you deserve an award!

And as any law firm knows, a little bit of nationwide good publicity never hurts.

Popularity: 15% [?]

I’m currently reading a book on what could best be described as the “first humans.” The book explores the origin of consciousness and more specifically, the birth of language. In it, one scene describes early humans in a cave doing random activities. Picture a caveman chipping away at stones, and in an instant, he recognizes that a sharp stone is something he can use. The discovery turns a piece of meaningless rock into something that has utility and definition. From that point forward, sharpened rock is a necessity.

When I’m reading, I have to admit that I’m not consciously looking for parallels to legal marketing. Thank God. What a tortured existence that would be! But after processing the text, I started thinking about the “New Necessity” as something that, in our modern capitalist society, businesses and entrepreneurs are constantly striving to find.

An invention, a piece of software, a new gadget: all good enough. But if you really want to make a splash, you have to bring something to market that everyone “must have.” Now, I’m not going to debate the definition of “must have” here. Surely, as a species, we don’t need iPods. In fact, I don’t have one and I’m able to function just the same.

Getting out of the realm of physical products, there are several new necessities in legal marketing that have developed over the years.

1) The Logo- As competition among law firms increased, firms realized that a visual representation- something that triggered thoughts, feelings, and remembrance of a firm could be beneficial. Though the results and efficacy of law firm logos are often debated, that is beside the point. A logo is just something a firm has to have.

2) The Web Site- Like smashing at stones in a cave, the early WWW was seen as an academic exercise. But when the broader business community saw the web as an opportunity to promote products and services, competitors had to follow suit. If the firm down the block has a web site, you better have one too. The law firm web site became a new necessity.

One thing that can be said of the new necessity is that it is a game of innovation followed by assimilation. The new necessity has a life cycle.

1. Someone does something completely different and stands out.

2. People notice that the new thing has a potential to be beneficial.

3. Some jump on the bandwagon, others see this new thing as just a fad.

4. The people that resisted the new give in and join the rest.

5. The “new” isn’t new anymore. It’s a given. Now no one stands out.

So what will the next new necessity be? Will it be blogs? I don’t think it will be. Because right now, the quality and frequency of blog posts have a direct relationship with the blog’s success. In other words, it takes effort. So those people in law firms that say “Blogs aren’t worth our time” won’t be the people that finally give in and say “Fine, everyone has one. Guess we should too.”

With blogs, you can’t just phone it in. Just having one doesn’t put your firm on par with the early innovators.

So, what’s the new necessity in legal marketing going to look like?

Popularity: 5% [?]

We’ve all heard of myspace. We know the basic premise behind flickr. Every day a new piece of “social software” comes out and is touted as the next big thing.

But are any of these new services useful to the attorney or blawgger?

The answer, in a word: sure.

But the problem, to me at least, is finding the time to try these new services out. There are just so many of them! So, in this post, I’d like to highlight a few 2.0-ish services that may be useful to this blog’s readers. If you’ve got others, please feel free to add them in the comments section.

RSS:

Bloglines. I’ve been using bloglines as my RSS reader since the day I’ve heard about it. You sign up for an account, add your favorite RSS feed addresses, and you’re done. Exactly what a “Web 2.0″ service should do: simplify the complicated and be reliable.

Project Management:

Basecamp. This is a great “project collaboration” tool that allows you to assign “to dos”, post messages, schedule meetings, share files and track time.

Business Networking:

LinkedIn.  LinkedIn is basically an online rolodex of connections. I can’t say I’ve used it much, but I do like the idea.

Connecting With Entrepreneurs:

BuildV1. Still in its infancy, BuildV1 is an interesting idea: Entrpreneurs ask for help from advisors, service providers, etc through the web.

Blog Traffic:

Technorati.  I have a love-hate relationship with Technorati. Sure, it can be very slow. Sometimes it takes days for a post to be indexed. But either way, technorati sends readers to blogs. If you’ve got a blog, you will want to set up a technorati account and add their small piece of javascript code. Your posts will be indexed in technorati, you’ll get traffic, and you’ll be able to see other blogs that link to you.

Blog Message Board:

BlogString- This is a very shameless plug. BlogString.com is something I’ve been working on for some time now, but it’s going to be at least four more months before the “service” is launched.

Until then, I’ve put up a message board with one simple premise: I haven’t seen a forum dedicated to blogging issues. So if you’ve got a blog and can’t get something working, want advice on anything blogging related, or just want to meet fellow bloggers, the BlogString board is the place for you. Again, this is VERY new. If you’re interested, sign up for an account here.

Popularity: 5% [?]

I’m sure most of this blog’s readers have heard of the recent controversy over the SuperLawyer designation. In short, a committee appointed by the New Jersey Supreme Court decided that calling yourself a “Super” lawyer violates the professional code of conduct.

So, I think I’ve got the answer.

This morning, I created an award. I’ll give it out each year, and the selection process is absolutely a no-brainer. There are just two qualifications:

1) You need to be an attorney.
2) You have to post a comment on the Adequate Attorney page.

All adequate attorney honorees are encouraged to display the following graphic on their blog:

Popularity: 16% [?]

Google’s popular Blogger service has announced a new beta. Finally blogger is giving users new features, such as the ability to categorize posts and a drag-and-drop template editor.

As Google always does, this beta is only available to a limited number of people (invitation only). If you’re using Blogger and want to try the beta, sign in and you’ll need to indicate that you want to switch to the new beta. Maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones.

Popularity: 6% [?]

This weekend while driving, I was listening to an NPR segment about why U.S. automobile manufacturers are lagging behind their Japanese counterparts in revenue and innovation. Some of the suggested reasons for this were:

• American auto workers are being paid too much
• US car makers are reluctant to introduce fuel-efficient vehicles, as they are much less profitable
• Manufacturers do not know their customers
• The notion of “buying American” is no longer compelling in an increasingly interdependent global market

And so on.

One commentator noted that the average American automobile buyer is more educated than ever (an obvious statement, but a powerful idea). Rather than walking into a showroom and just looking around, today’s car buyer goes to the dealership after hours of research on the internet. Sometimes, the commentator suggested, consumers know more about a car than the salesperson.

That was interesting to me. Is an educated consumer a positive or a negative?

Thinking in terms of law firm clients, I would have to say that it’s a good thing.

First off, having an uninformed customer is only beneficial when you’re trying to hide something. In general, I like to think of law firms as being more ethical and professional than that.

Secondly, having an educated client speeds up the process. When a client really understands their problem, the attorney has a much easier time getting to the solution(s). I think of it this way: You’re walking down the street in your home town, and someone approaches you asking for directions. Which case would you prefer?

a) someone that has never been to your city before and knows nothing about the area

or

b) someone very familiar with the area

Obviously it would be easier to give directions to person b. You can use landmarks (”It’s over by the old Dunkin’ Donuts”) and draw on their previous knowledge to get them to their destination.

This is another reason I like blogs. As a legal blogger, you can provide the information you’d like your clients to have. Teaching as marketing. Now that’s a win/win.

Popularity: 4% [?]