August 27, 2012

1. PR AND SOCIAL MEDIA FOR
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE FIRMS
Roger Royse
Royse Law Firm, PC
1717 Embarcadero Road
Palo Alto, CA 94303
E-mail: rroyse@rroyselaw.com
www.rroyselaw.com
www.rogerroyse.com
Skype: roger.royse August 27, 2012

2. FIRM STRATEGY
A. Branding
B. Marketing Tools
C. Referrals
D. Transparency
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3. A. BRANDING
• Establish your brand
- Price
- Size
- Practice areas/Specialties offered
- Geography/Industry
- Expertise/Experience
- Client list
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4. BRANDING CONT’D…
• Strong brands ensure client retention
and acquisition
- Consumers want to be assured of
making the right decision
• Messages must be true, meaningful
and differentiable
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5. B. MARKETING TOOLS
Every lawyer and law firm has a different
“core” marketing focus.
1. Inbound Marketing
2. Firm Website
3. Social Media
4. Budget
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6. 1. INBOUND MARKETING
• Networking Events
- TO BUILD A RELATIONSHIP with potential
referral sources
- NOT just to get new clients
• Speaking Engagements
- Get the attendees contact information
- Have a follow up strategy (e.g., offer
consultation, monthly newsletter, etc.)
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7. INBOUND MARKETING CONT’D…
• Blogs/Articles/Newsletters
- 51% of Internet users in the U.S. (over 91 million
people) read blogs
- Discuss cutting edge topics and current events
(e.g., tax issues in cloud computing)
- Publish blog posts constantly (2 to 4 times per week)
- Register your blog in directories and promote
constantly
• Videos
- Content, Content, Content
- Professionalism
- Focus on target audience
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8. INBOUND MARKETING CONT’D…
• Press Releases
- Google loves press releases
o Considers them an authoritative source
o Ranks them high for search results
- Good way to show firm success without promising
o Avoids ethical issues
• What do you write about in your press releases?
- Commentary on current news events
- Legal decisions that potentially affect your community
- Results of a poll or a survey you conduct among clients
- Firm news such as new associates, awards, community
involvement, etc.
• Publish at least one press release per month for most attorneys
- More if you are a new practice
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9. 2. FIRM WEBSITE
• Integrate website with all marketing outlets
- Use it as a publishing platform for your social media
sites and attorney-generated content
• The more geographically dispersed your client
base, the more your website matters
- Less face-to-face meetings
• Client testimonials
- Ethical issues arise because these are testimonials
that you control
- Encourage positive feedback to be posted by
others on your social media sites
• Use of Wordpress and Turnkey Solutions
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10. FIRM WEBSITE CONT’D…
For an example, check out the
Royse Law Firm Website
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11. 3. SOCIAL MEDIA
• Using Social Media
- Create a profile/page for the firm
- Load with engaging content
(research, articles, photos, videos, etc.)
- Share info: lawyer speaking
events, publications, legal news, firm news
- Update and engage visitors often
- Link all social media and inbound marketing
(e.g., blog) o each other
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12. SOCIAL MEDIA CONT’D…
• Social Media Sites
- Facebook
- Twitter
- Linkedin
- Twitter
• Lawyer Social Networks
- Martindale-Hubbell Connected
- Legally Minded
- Hubstreet
- JD Supra
- Lawyers.com
- Avvo
- Justia
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13. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (“SEO”)
• Tag keywords in all of your online content
and link back to your website
- Google AdWords (or Twitter hashtags)
• List your company in as many directories as
possible
• Analytics
- Monitor visitor activity
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14. SOCIAL MEDIA SITES
• Remember that social media is “social” – embrace its interactive
nature
Buddy Media’s “Best Practices Guide for Twitter”
- Tweet 4x/day or less
- Use fewer than 100 characters per Tweet
- Add links to Tweets to get higher Retweet rates
o Tweets containing links get 86% higher Retweet rates
- Make sure the links are clickable by including a space before the
URL
- Tweet on the weekends – engagement rates are 17% higher then
- Engage with followers during “busy” hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Include hashtags in your Tweet, but no more than 2 per Tweet
- Add links to images
- Use the word “Retweet” as a call to action to your followers to
share
o 12x higher Retweet rates
• Think about this data while using all social media sites
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15. 4. BUDGET
What is your budget?
How much are you willing to allocate to social
media and marketing?
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16. C. REFERRALS
• Equally important marketing outlet
• Longer-term strategy
• Types of Referral Sources
- Current clients
- Former clients
- Lawyers
- Associations/Social Clubs
- Lawyers.com
- Family
• Ask for referrals in your social media and
marketing outlets
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17. D. TRANSPARENCY
• Link together all marketing outlets
- According to HubSpot, firms that publish
blog content to social media sites
generate 50% more leads than firms that
don’t.
• Monitor ROI and focus on what works for
your firm
• Follow up with potential, current, and past
clients
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19. PALO ALTO LOS ANGELES SAN FRANCISCO
1717 Embarcadero Road 11150 Santa Monica Blvd., 135 Main Street,
Palo Alto, CA 94303 Suite 1200 12th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90025 San Francisco, CA 94105
www.rroyselaw.com
www.rogerroyse.com
E-mail: rroyse@rroyselaw.com
Skype: roger.royse
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