This is funny, I’ve heard Texas really is the wild west for Lawsuits. This pretty much sums up that theory:

Ahh the old cliche’… something about lawyers and lips and lying.

Now… I’ve actually had martini-based business discussions with out of town Texas-based personal injury lawyers before. They were here in Metro Detroit on a “meso” (asbestos caused cancer) case.  They really do think they’re rock stars in a sense.  I saw a little bit of George Bush cowboy in each one of them.  But when they told me how much money they were spending on leads… My jaw dropped.  I told them I was an “internet guy” and thier jaws dropped.  They asked:  “Can you get me to the top of Google?  How much does that cost? I could make you a LOT of money!”

Popularity: 18% [?]

On LexBlog, Kevin O’Keefe points to a study by my alma mater, Northeastern University, on “What Makes a Successful Corporate Blog?“

The study identified five factors as important to the success of a blog:

1. Culture- If you’ve got culture traits that are interesting to people (think Google) or if you’ve got culture problems (think Dell or Microsoft), showing what your company’s culture is really like is a great reason to blog. With the Google scenario, you’re giving customers a glimpse into a fascinating company, and giving behind-the-scenes info on a universally loved brand. On the other hand, when you’re dealing with consumer distrust or bad PR, blogging (if done correctly) can help repair a tainted reputation.
2. Transparency- Blog readers want to read authors they can trust. They don’t want to read blog posts by a company that is trying to take a thinly veiled approach at hawking their products. It really is a balancing act. Sure, your company’s blog can help sell products/services. But at the same time, you don’t want to seem like like you’ve got too much of an agenda.
3. Time- It takes time and research to write a worthwhile blog.
4. Dialogue- You’ve got to talk with your audience. You’ve read the cliche “Blogs are a conversation.” Well, they are. And successful blogs are conversations between the audience and the writer(s).
5. Entertaining writing- When the blogger brings a unique style to the blog, it makes the blog so much more interesting.

How does this relate to law firm blogging?

Culture- I don’t see how law firms would offer a glimpse inside their inner workings on a blog. Unlike Google or Microsoft, law firms aren’t trying to persuade the masses  to use their products. A law firm’s target is much more narrow in scope, and would not likely benefit from showing how business is conducted (not to mention issues of confidentiality).

Transparency- Law firm bloggers have seemed to do a great job with transparency. Rather than having huge, blinking ads saying “BE A CLIENT!!!!!! WE’RE THE LAW FIRM FOR YOU!!!!!!!”, attorney blogs are best when they establish the author as an expert on an issue. And since that expertise is essentially the service clients are purchasing, there is more benefit in the content and the writing than advertising the firm. Am I saying attorney bloggers should get rid of any mention of their firms, or get rid of links and contact information for their firms? Absolutely NOT. That’s the point. But the idea is to gain trust, then gain the clients.

Time- This is a big issue with law firm bloggers. When the time you spend writing can be so easily calculated into opportunity cost figures, the question of “is it worth it?” will always come up.

Dialogue- For the most part, law firm blogs are good at encouraging conversation. When the attorney is an expert on an issue, they’re likely to embrace discussion.

Entertaining Writing- Without style, reading a law firm blog, regardless of the expertise of the author, can be, well, boring. But when you have a writer that can make a sterile subject seem interesting, you’ve got something.

Popularity: 23% [?]

When I was a little kid, my sister and I had a Saturday morning tradition. Our mother would give us each a couple of dollars, and we’d walk about a mile to Mike’s store. Mike’s was a tiny little convenience store with many different kinds of penny candy, and it was very popular with kids.

One day, on our way back home, I opened my little paper bag full of candy and pulled out a Cow Tale. I took a bite and hated it! I was right next to the canal, so I threw the rest in (the candy, not the wrapper!). I then noticed that no less than ten small fish swarmed the cow tale and ate it immediately.

The next Saturday, even though I hated the candy, I bought more cow tales. I went back to the canal to see if I could replicate the results. The answer: fish love cow tales.

What’s my point?

Let’s think about what would happen if my intent was to catch a lot of fish. I’d probably first think about worms, lures, etc. I might even go to the tackle shop and ask. Or turn on the T.V. and catch a fishing show. If it were today rather than when I was a kid, I’d just go online and do the research.

I’m sure I would get a lot of information on what works, what doesn’t, and I’d get lots of suggestions. But it’s safe to say that I wouldn’t end up with Cow Tales.

There’s a lot left to be discovered. Don’t just rely on what has been done in the past. Sometimes you need to throw candy in the canal and see what happens.

Popularity: 15% [?]

A couple of questions to ask yourself:

How do you foster the extraordinary?
Do you really want your firm to be seen as something special?

Which statement is true in your firm:

• We try new things.
• We take risks.
• We fail sometimes, but we learn from our failures.
• We do not take any risks whatsoever…..because we might fail.
• Not only do we not take risks, we repeat the things we know will not work.
• We are so dedicated to maintaining the status quo, that the thought of trying something new is unsettling.
• Please don’t talk to me. The risk of hearing a new idea scares me.

A thought occurred to me today, and I think I may be on to something. Sure, companies of all kinds say they want more business. They’re always trying to attract new clients. But maybe that’s not true.

I think we take for granted the idea that companies want to be innovative and better than the competition. Maybe that’s not the case.

When I think about it, why would you bother trying to put out interesting, though-provoking marketing materials, when you don’t want to be seen as extraordinary? When there’s no motivation to be better, the motivation switches to “let’s not be worse.”

If trying and failing is punished, wouldn’t you rather not try?

Popularity: 12% [?]

This week has been fairly difficult for me to come up with blog posts. I’m doing some insanely monotonous, yet essential work, and it seems to have turned off the creative part of my mind. So, I have to apologize for continuing to point to Seth Godin rather than coming up with anything new.

Today, he has a post entitled “The two things that kill marketing creativity.” From it:

The first is fear.

The fear that you’ll have to implement whatever you dream up.
The fear that you will fail.
The fear that you will do something stupid and be ridiculed by your peers for decades.

Sound familiar?

Picture yourself in a conference room with your marketing committee if you have one. You have something that you really believe in; an idea that will get your firm noticed. It is clever, creative and smart. It stands out. It talks to your clients.

You’re really excited about it and you give a high-energy pitch to the room. And when you’re done?

Crickets.

And you hear the chorus of doubt:

• I think it’s a great idea…..just not for us.
• That’s cute.
• No one has ever done that before. Must be for a reason.
• Maybe some other time. Let’s go with what we’ve done before.
• Interesting idea. Let’s think about it. So, what was I talking about?

One of my favorite quotes of all time was something I read in Sally Hogshead’s “Radical Careering.” It’s great: It has a picture of the ugliest camel you’ve ever seen, and it says “A Camel Is A Horse Designed By Committee.”

It seems as if the committee is a machine that takes in a raw material called “creativity” and outputs something called “safe.”

But to be fair, it’s not the idea of the committee that’s the problem. It’s the fear. Why take a risk when you can compromise and get mediocrity?

Popularity: 8% [?]

You know, Seth Godin is unique in that his writing makes me feel excited, inspired, hopeful, as well as depressed, amateurish, and boring at the same time. It’s because he’s THAT good. In fact, you know that moment when you read something and say “That’s EXACTLY what I was thinking! Why didn’t I write that…” or better, “I never thought of it that way, but it makes total sense now!” And in that moment, when you’re nodding your head while reading…….That’s what should be called the “Godin Nod.” Which would be defined as:

Godin Nod- Involuntary head movement that denotes a moment of clarity as a direct result of reading anything by Seth Godin.

His latest post is entitled “Nobody Knows Anything“, and in it, he really breaks down the idea of marketing to the most basic level. And it could be a little scary to those of us in the marketing professions!

Rather than throwing in my two cents about his idea that “There are two kinds of marketing analysis, both pretty useless”, I’m telling you: go read his post.

You need to read this.

Popularity: 18% [?]