Stefanie Marrone Consulting/The Social Media Butterfly

08/21/2023

In a crowded market such as law, being great at what you do isn’t always enough.

While expertise and skills are essential, the power of visibility cannot be underestimated. If you’re not known, even the most refined skills can get overlooked in the crowd. It’s a simple truth: being seen often equates to being valued and recognized in saturated markets.

It’s crucial for lawyers and law firms to understand the importance of self-promotion, not just for vanity but for verifiable business growth. Let’s dive into why and how legal professionals should champion their own visibility.

In a crowded market such as law, being great at what you do isn't always enough. While expertise and skills are essential, the power of visibility cannot be underestimated. If you’re not known, even the most refined skills can get overlooked in the crowd. It's a simple truth: being seen often equa...

08/16/2023

Discovering what clients truly desire from their outside counsel should be a priority for law firms. Attending in-house counsel events has revealed that clients want transparency, responsiveness, cost-efficiency and a keen understanding of their business.

Yet, many firms still fall short of these expectations.

To foster long-term client loyalty and satisfaction, law firms must adopt a holistic, client-centric approach in every interaction.

From the initial greeting to precise billing and communication practices, every touchpoint is an opportunity to solidify the attorney-client relationship.

Dive into this article for insights from client-focused panels on refining and strengthening your firm's approach: https://www.socialmediabutterflyblog.com/2023/08/what-clients-really-want-from-their-outside-counsel/

Discovering what clients truly want from their outside counsel is a priority for thriving law firms. Attending in-house counsel events has revealed that clients yearn for transparency, responsiveness, cost-efficiency, and a keen understanding of their business. Yet, many firms still fall short of th...

05/17/2023

Everyone should be thinking about how to use artificial intelligence tools to streamline processes and make certain tasks more efficient.

Join me and Jason Thomas next Wednesday at 1pm for a webinar to learn more about how to effectively use AI tools such as ChatGPT and others at your law firm or professional services firm: https://bit.ly/3McaPw0!

02/23/2023

Here's an easy and quick social media content idea: Turn your tribute ads into social media posts.

It's another way to let your audience know about the great things you are doing for the community at large AND get more value from your sponsorships, which cost law firms and other organizations so much money each year.

Simply resize your ad for the social media channel, write accompanying copy on why you are proud to support the cause, tag the organization and the person being honored, use a few strategic hashtags and voila!

It's a win win for everyone involved - especially for those of us who have spent years creating tribute ads that few people ever see!

Build this type of content into your social media strategy and watch your engagement increase. Clients, referrals, employees and recruits like content that demonstrates an organization's commitment to doing good things for the world.

What do you think of this idea?

01/17/2023

Here are some holidays and observances you can incorporate into your social media calendar for the month of January.

There are literally thousands of holidays, special events and observances each month from which to choose.

Which ones will you add to your social media calendar?

01/12/2023

The most successful marketing today is human to human - not business to business - even if you are marketing to businesses you should think about how to be more human, relatable and use storytelling in your marketing efforts.

Do you agree? Sign up for my emails for more tips like this!

https://bit.ly/3hnq7Al

01/08/2023

LinkedIn Tip: Don’t put your name, title, company name or anything else on your LinkedIn profile in all caps.

It’s essentially the equivalent of yelling at someone.

I see people make this mistake every day thinking using all caps helps them stand out. It doesn’t. At least not in the right way.

It’s not the norm to use all caps on LinkedIn. It’s not how we speak to others via email or in real life. It’s not an effective personal branding strategy.

If you want to use caps in a LinkedIn post to highlight a point or break up a section, use it very sparingly as again, it can seem like you are shouting.

So resist the urge to use the all caps key and if you already have it selected, change it right away.

What are some of your LinkedIn pet peeves? Add them in the comments below (just not in all caps 🤣).

01/06/2023

Content creation doesn't have to be hard. Here's a helpful checklist you can use when you are creating your next piece of content - whether it's a blog post, a social media post, a video, an article - whatever it is - for your company or yourself. Here are some things to think about before you hit "post."

- Is it client focused/helpful vs. promotional?
- Does it have a compelling headline and intro paragraph?
- Short paragraphs?
- Bullet points and headings for readability?
- Helpful inbound and outbound links?
- Relevant images, screenshots or videos?
- SEO-optimized content? (use keywords)
- Visually arresting social media image?
- Compelling social media copy?
- Hashtag research for social post?
- Social strategy - post in relevant groups?
- Accompanying email marketing promotion?
- PR push - send to reporters, bloggers, influencers etc.

What do you think of these tips?

01/02/2023

Here’s a quick but important housekeeping tip for the new year - make sure to update the copyright year on the bottom of your web site, blog and emails to 2023.

Even if you outsource the services to a third-party, make sure they’re on top of it.

Some of this is automated through major service providers, but it’s never a bad idea to make sure that the change went into effect.

I recently saw a prominent organization in the legal industry send out an email with a copyright of 2020 on it. Yikes 😬 don’t be them.

Also, if you still write checks, that two can be turned into a three pretty easily 🤣

Will you be checking on this today?

12/28/2022

Make 2023 the year you invest in your LinkedIn profile and your team's LinkedIn profiles. Provide training and assistance for them on how to effectively use LinkedIn for personal branding and business development. It's well worth the expense! I know someone who can help with this...

12/02/2022

Do you really need a booth at your next trade show? Make sure you have the right people staffing it if so - but maybe it makes more sense to do a different kind of sponsorship or just attend the conference? And maybe you don't need to spend a ton of money on tchochkes (giveaway items) for your booth? Is it really bringing you ROI?

11/28/2022

The end of the year is approaching but you shouldn't take a break from marketing yourself and your business. In fact, there is so much opportunity to stand out as others take time off 🙋🏼‍♀️

And if you are taking some time off, here are some things you can do with your downtime to continue to develop your marketing and business development efforts.

Even if you have enough clients now, don't pull back on marketing when things are going well as anything can happen.

Also, marketing can help you stay top of mind with the media, help you build your brand, obtain speaking engagements, board appointments, article writing opportunities - and so much more.

Here are some ideas:

✅ Create a personal marketing plan with only 3 to 5 to-do's so you can actually accomplish them (I have a template if you need one)

✅ Reconnect with former clients and top referral sources

✅ Research industry conferences and sponsorships

✅ Write a client alert, a blog post or an article - co-author with a colleague, referral source or a client if it seems too daunting to do it alone

✅ Set up Google Alerts for top clients and prospects - info is always power. Make sure to set one up for yourself too.

✅ Update your web site bio using keywords for SEO - if you don't say you do it - people think you don't.

✅ Create a LinkedIn strategic plan, which includes updating your LinkedIn profile with keywords and all of the sections, sending 5 connection requests per week, commenting on VIP connections' posts, sharing a post and writing a post yourself, learning how the LinkedIn algorithm works and learning how to use hashtags.

✅ Research your competitors' marketing activities - what inspiration can you get from them and what can you do better than them?

✅ Update practice area/industry descriptions and matter lists - people are googling your firm every day - if you don't say you do it, they may not think you do.

✅ Look at the analytics of past blogs, emails and client alerts - this helps you create stronger content

✅ Clean up and add new contacts to your email list and create a plan for an email newsletter

✅ Research volunteer opportunities for an industry or bar association committee, social cause and alumni associations - this is a great way to network.

Remember, it's great time to focus on your business development and branding efforts especially since many of your competitors and peers may not be - use that to your advantage!

Which of these will you try?

Join me for a free webinar on November 30 on LinkedIn company page best practices - register below.