There have been significant changes in the world of the law of late, as we see more firms ramping up their marketing and business growth activities. The days when cases and clients casually sauntered in through the door thanks to reputation has long gone. The market is much bigger, more competitive and more dynamic than ever before.
Clients expect things to happen on-demand now thanks to the growth of high-speed internet and 24/7 connectivity, and the high street is rapidly being replaced with digital-only services. This also gives rise to the popularity of ‘DIY’ – information is at the end at our fingertips, and people are choosing to save money and represent themselves.
Law firms are now dealing with digital marketing, social media, website development, and sales training, as well as trying to improve productivity, morale, and retention of employees.
Each obstacle also presents us with opportunities, and there is still time to evolve your marketing strategy to stay relevant in the current legal marketplace. While Elite Lawyer Management can give you expert advice, a good marketing strategy involves listening to what your clients want, then coordinating and monitoring all your marketing activities. See our top tips below for some suggestions on how to get your marketing strategy on the right track.
Make sure you have an online presence
People want to know who they are dealing with. Clients are going to check and look for you online, and if you are nowhere to be found, you are going to be missing a trick. It is a captive audience and the perfect opportunity to highlight your up-to-date professional profile.
Blog
Google loves quality content, so a blog should be a part of your marketing strategy. It will set you up as an authority in a specific area of law and, if done correctly, it will also give your SEO (search engine optimization) a boost, bringing your website higher in Google ranking. Your blog posts should be a minimum of 300 words in length -more, if possible, and provide something of value to a reader. It can be about anything -news, opinions, questions, and answers or informing them about a particular process.
Embrace digital marketing
Digital marketing is getting sleeker. The more you analyze the effectiveness of your online activities, the more you can optimize your strategies to improve your conversion. Digital marketing can have a huge impact on finding the right type of work for you.
Whether you are advertising on Twitter, Google, Facebook or LinkedIn, find your core demographic and try it out.
Sadly, just being a good lawyer is no longer enough, going the extra mile can really benefit you and your firm to make sure that you stand out from the crowd.
Although competition is growing, there are still many opportunities out there!
Remember to listen to your clients and get feedback on each case. If you are not providing them with the service that they need or want, they are going to go elsewhere.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/man-in-black-holding-phone-618613.jpg11071600StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-02-28 13:00:512020-02-28 20:43:07Top Marketing Tips For Law Firms
There is a famous quote that says “ Success is when your photos are uploaded on Google instead of Facebook.”
In just a short span of time, to be precise just 4 years, we were able to rank on the first page on Google. When we started Hostingpill there were already players in the market but that never de-motivated us from marching ahead.
As an aspiring entrepreneur, you must have seen many ups and downs in this journey and of course, you must have read the biographies of leading entrepreneurs, but today we wish to share with you our personal views which we think are very much necessary for any entrepreneur to be successful.
1. Humility and teamwork.
Humility is a quality of ‘Quality leaders.’ It does not come to all easily. As a leader, we should learn to be humble from the ‘water’. It does not have pride, stays grounded and whenever it is faces a hurdle, rather than going against it flows in harmony with it.
So also, it is necessary to attribute the success of an organization to the team collectively. This helps in strengthening the bonds and also motivates the employees to do better. It inculcates the sense of ‘we-ness’ in the minds of the employees which contributes to productivity.
2. Learning from experiments
In the words of Thomas Edison, “ I haven’t failed. I have found 10000 ways that don’t work.” Young entrepreneurs need to keep on experimenting with new techniques to ascertain which works and which does not. They never fear failures or setbacks.
Although experiments are vital they are not applied in toto. They are applied in a phased manner to study the effects.
It is only after a detailed study, that the desired changes are implemented.
3. Risk managers
Yet another characteristic of successful entrepreneurs is that they are risk managers.
They know the potential risks associated with business and always take calculated risks.
They believe in only one thing that ‘ Fear is temporary, Regret is forever.’
4. Knowing ‘why’ behind every task.
Dr. Stephen Covey in his book ‘ 7 habits of a highly effective people’ states that one of the habits of successful people is that they always begin with an end in mind.
Just as an athlete knows where he has to reach to finish the race, similarly a successful entrepreneur knows where he wants to heed and what are his ultimate goals.
All his plans are centered around these goals and being aware of his goals beforehand prevents him from drifting apart from his set standards.
By knowing the ‘why’s’ in advance he is in the position to make the most judicious use of the resources.
By knowing the goals in advance he is in a better position to guide his employees.
The employees too can have a clear cut idea of what is expected from them. This reduces the friction between the entrepreneur and the employees.
5. Open to changes.
Successful entrepreneurs are always open to changes. They practice the principle ‘Nothing is permanent, but change’.
They stay abreast of the latest technological changes and keep on changing themselves to stay updated.
To stay updated they constantly need to keep watch on new happenings and also learn new things.
There is a possibility that you may miss a big chance if you are not ready to change and adapt yourself.
Conclusion
Having own business is rewarding and exciting. But business certainly requires more dedication and effort rather than a job.
In a job, you are working for someone else and getting the salary whereas in business you need to motivate yourself to work.
You are the boss. So unless you are a self-disciplined person, it is hard to stay ahead.
With a proper mindset and ability to adapt to the changes, you can strive ahead to become a successful entrepreneur.
About the Author
I’m Chris Wagner, Head of Content @ HostingPill. I regularly write about Hosting, Web servers and WordPress. I have more than 9 years of Industry experience.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/humphrey-muleba-9MoQKZW0nGU-unsplash-1-scaled.jpg17082560Nathan Iveshttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngNathan Ives2020-02-27 16:00:222022-01-26 14:06:115 Characteristics of an Entrepreneur Bound for Success
If you are the kind of manager who likes to have a real hands-on approach with your business and what is taking place inside it, then you probably want to be able to do that no matter where you are. You might be travelling the world or on break, but you still want to be able to look into what is going on in your business and work out how to make the changes you want. Actually, it’s always possible to manage your business from afar, and as long as you are aware of how to do it, you will find that it is easier than you think.
Remote Viewing
One of the best ways to maintain a real hands-on approach even while being nowhere near the office is to use remote viewing, which is a means of taking control of a computer screen from somewhere else. There are many ways of doing this, but the best ones are those that allow you to have a whole overview of what is going on in your systems from a piece of software on your own computer or smartphone. Something like teamviewer might be helpful here – and if you are lucky you can find a teamviewer coupon to help reduce the cost a little.
The Cloud
More and more businesses are using the cloud, often without even really knowing what it is or how it works. In essence, the cloud is just a server that is held externally, and used by you the client from whatever device you happen to be on. It’s actually much simpler than it might seem. If you have ever used Google Docs, or shared files in Dropbox, then you have used a cloud service of some kind. This is obviously very useful if you want to manage your affairs from afar, especially if you have previously shared the right files on the cloud.
Your Smartphone
Your smartphone is likely going to become one of the most important things that you have on you if you are going to want to travel and still be in touch with the business back home. With a smartphone, you can send and receive emails, do some twitter marketing, access a cloud service, and of course take phone calls. It’s a great way to stay in touch, and you will find that it is hard to really go without it these days if you want to manage your business no matter where you might be.
Putting Someone In Charge
Of course, whenever you are away, you will also want to put someone in charge whom you trust with proceedings. You can also then communicate with them directly if you want to get a sense of what is going on in the business, and that is something that you are going to find incredibly useful indeed. With that kind of person on board, managing your business from afar will feel like a much easier thing indeed, and it will help you to have trust in what is going on too.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/woman-using-laptop-computer-inside-vehicle-1346184-scaled.jpg17082560StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-02-27 11:00:322020-02-27 10:14:16Managing Your Business From Afar
No matter the size of your business, you should consider having some form of IT support for your brand. Why is that, though? If it’s just you or you have only a small team, you might be thinking there are very few benefits for this – you could think you can do this yourself.
However, you should not underestimate the advantages of having an expert in this area on hand to help you with any problems. Whether your problems are show-stopping issues or minor hassles, having someone who can resolve them quickly, efficiently and in the best way possible can be a great asset. Here are some reasons why you should have IT support.
Information management
Having proper management of all your digital information is vital if your business is to succeed. You will need to have a proper IT support system to ensure that, if you want to log in or look at sales and orders, you should be able to do this with little fuss. You’ll want to avoid large issues like viruses that lose your files or infect your whole system.
Virus protection
The number of viruses and Trojans, as well as other damaging data, has grown in recent years. Every day, there are attempts by hackers trying to get access to an organization’s IT system to plant ransomware.
If these hackers are successful, then you will have to pay a large sum of money to retrieve your business records. By having the required antivirus programs installed to avoid these types of attacks, then you can ensure that your system won’t be affected.
Security
There will be many details you don’t want hackers to have access to, such as customer addresses, personal details, or even payment information. So, for your online business, these all need to be protected – and your IT support can be useful here.
Using the services of a proactive technical support team and using certified professionals means your IT infrastructure can be monitored around the clock. Issues can be dealt with before they become a problem, so you can eliminate complaints and increase productivity.
Maximize productivity
Small businesses depend on staff to be efficient, so downtime because of technical problems can cause significant productivity losses. Items such as computers, networks, smartphones and other technology will fail – and IT departments can perform these crucial tasks for maintenance and repair, so you can have your employees working again. Your staff will then have the support they need to perform as efficiently as possible.
Integration of technology and updates
New upgrades can be time-consuming and confusing – and IT professionals will help integrate those old and new systems. Without them, then your brand might end up being behind on adopting this new technology.
They will also help to troubleshoot the use of new systems and monitor them to ensure that they’re running well. You can also receive recommendations on what new services you could also use, based on your company’s specific needs.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/monitor-1307227_1280-2.jpg9031280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-02-27 08:00:462020-02-26 23:00:19Five reasons you need IT support for your business
The debate over whether or not LinkedIn is a viable stand-alone CRM system is an often discussed issue in business.
On the one hand, some believe that you need to integrate it with an existing CRM system in order to get the best of both worlds. Others think that the former can provide enough support via its Sales Navigator system.
However, in recent months LinkedIn has announced that there will be some changes to its tool, which could well prove to be beneficial to both sides of the argument.
Will LinkedIn integrate easily to your CRM?
The answer is, a very vague ‘possibly’. At the time of writing, it will only be possible if you have one of two existing systems on the market, so it’s quite limiting.
LinkedIn’s existing Sales Navigator tool only provides a very basic lead management service that takes data from users’ connections, and then helps to make potential account prospects that are based on demographic criteria.
This is great, but it does lack some of the more essential features that businesses need from a professional CRM system, such as forecasting, marketing, calendars, external mail, and monitoring tracking opportunities.
LinkedIn have announced that they’ll launch a CRM Sync function, which will be able to create and add new contacts that aren’t already in an existing business system, but again, only if the CRM is compatible with theirs.
In the meantime, they will continue to work on and develop the Sales Navigator system in order to make it more user-friendly, for those businesses that are still without a fully functioning CRM service.
Will LinkedIn ever fully replace a professional CRM system?
The improvements that the company have made are welcome, but it’s highly unlikely that in the near future it will make any real dent in the need for businesses to invest in high-quality professional CRM systems from independent organizations.
Those who would like to think more about using both an existing system and integrating with LinkedIn need to bear the following pointers in mind. If you do want to integrate, you’ll have to already be using one of two other systems, one of which is operated by Microsoft. Many companies, therefore, will simply choose to stick to their existing service and leave it at that.
The other major factor is the cost. Companies who want to integrate will have to pay a monthly fee to do so, and this can be as much as $135, depending on your level of commitment to it as a business. A free LinkedIn account won’t cut the mustard here!
Many experts believe that there never will truly be a fully integrated LinkedIn and CRM system. There are also business users who report that their levels of spam communication have already risen due to unscrupulous people taking advantage of the messaging tools that already exist on the platform.
If CRM systems are allowed to access more data via LinkedIn, this could open up the pathway for more of the same. In the long run, this will put many businesses and business users off.
The watchword here is to keep an eye on LinkedIn, but stick to investing only in professional stand-alone CRM systems for your business as a means of gaining a better outreach.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/linkedin-400850_1280.png12801280StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2020-02-27 07:00:092020-03-01 09:04:49Is LinkedIn A Viable Stand-Alone CRM System?
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Business Programs
Top Marketing Tips For Law Firms
/in Marketing & Sales, Online Marketing and Website Development/by StrategyDrivenThere have been significant changes in the world of the law of late, as we see more firms ramping up their marketing and business growth activities. The days when cases and clients casually sauntered in through the door thanks to reputation has long gone. The market is much bigger, more competitive and more dynamic than ever before.
Clients expect things to happen on-demand now thanks to the growth of high-speed internet and 24/7 connectivity, and the high street is rapidly being replaced with digital-only services. This also gives rise to the popularity of ‘DIY’ – information is at the end at our fingertips, and people are choosing to save money and represent themselves.
Law firms are now dealing with digital marketing, social media, website development, and sales training, as well as trying to improve productivity, morale, and retention of employees.
Each obstacle also presents us with opportunities, and there is still time to evolve your marketing strategy to stay relevant in the current legal marketplace. While Elite Lawyer Management can give you expert advice, a good marketing strategy involves listening to what your clients want, then coordinating and monitoring all your marketing activities. See our top tips below for some suggestions on how to get your marketing strategy on the right track.
Make sure you have an online presence
People want to know who they are dealing with. Clients are going to check and look for you online, and if you are nowhere to be found, you are going to be missing a trick. It is a captive audience and the perfect opportunity to highlight your up-to-date professional profile.
Blog
Google loves quality content, so a blog should be a part of your marketing strategy. It will set you up as an authority in a specific area of law and, if done correctly, it will also give your SEO (search engine optimization) a boost, bringing your website higher in Google ranking. Your blog posts should be a minimum of 300 words in length -more, if possible, and provide something of value to a reader. It can be about anything -news, opinions, questions, and answers or informing them about a particular process.
Embrace digital marketing
Digital marketing is getting sleeker. The more you analyze the effectiveness of your online activities, the more you can optimize your strategies to improve your conversion. Digital marketing can have a huge impact on finding the right type of work for you.
Whether you are advertising on Twitter, Google, Facebook or LinkedIn, find your core demographic and try it out.
Sadly, just being a good lawyer is no longer enough, going the extra mile can really benefit you and your firm to make sure that you stand out from the crowd.
Although competition is growing, there are still many opportunities out there!
Remember to listen to your clients and get feedback on each case. If you are not providing them with the service that they need or want, they are going to go elsewhere.
5 Characteristics of an Entrepreneur Bound for Success
/in Entrepreneurship/by Chris WagnerIn just a short span of time, to be precise just 4 years, we were able to rank on the first page on Google. When we started Hostingpill there were already players in the market but that never de-motivated us from marching ahead.
As an aspiring entrepreneur, you must have seen many ups and downs in this journey and of course, you must have read the biographies of leading entrepreneurs, but today we wish to share with you our personal views which we think are very much necessary for any entrepreneur to be successful.
1. Humility and teamwork.
Humility is a quality of ‘Quality leaders.’ It does not come to all easily. As a leader, we should learn to be humble from the ‘water’. It does not have pride, stays grounded and whenever it is faces a hurdle, rather than going against it flows in harmony with it.
So also, it is necessary to attribute the success of an organization to the team collectively. This helps in strengthening the bonds and also motivates the employees to do better. It inculcates the sense of ‘we-ness’ in the minds of the employees which contributes to productivity.
2. Learning from experiments
In the words of Thomas Edison, “ I haven’t failed. I have found 10000 ways that don’t work.” Young entrepreneurs need to keep on experimenting with new techniques to ascertain which works and which does not. They never fear failures or setbacks.
Although experiments are vital they are not applied in toto. They are applied in a phased manner to study the effects.
It is only after a detailed study, that the desired changes are implemented.
3. Risk managers
Yet another characteristic of successful entrepreneurs is that they are risk managers.
They know the potential risks associated with business and always take calculated risks.
They believe in only one thing that ‘ Fear is temporary, Regret is forever.’
4. Knowing ‘why’ behind every task.
Dr. Stephen Covey in his book ‘ 7 habits of a highly effective people’ states that one of the habits of successful people is that they always begin with an end in mind.
Just as an athlete knows where he has to reach to finish the race, similarly a successful entrepreneur knows where he wants to heed and what are his ultimate goals.
All his plans are centered around these goals and being aware of his goals beforehand prevents him from drifting apart from his set standards.
By knowing the ‘why’s’ in advance he is in the position to make the most judicious use of the resources.
By knowing the goals in advance he is in a better position to guide his employees.
The employees too can have a clear cut idea of what is expected from them. This reduces the friction between the entrepreneur and the employees.
5. Open to changes.
Successful entrepreneurs are always open to changes. They practice the principle ‘Nothing is permanent, but change’.
They stay abreast of the latest technological changes and keep on changing themselves to stay updated.
To stay updated they constantly need to keep watch on new happenings and also learn new things.
There is a possibility that you may miss a big chance if you are not ready to change and adapt yourself.
Having own business is rewarding and exciting. But business certainly requires more dedication and effort rather than a job.
In a job, you are working for someone else and getting the salary whereas in business you need to motivate yourself to work.
You are the boss. So unless you are a self-disciplined person, it is hard to stay ahead.
With a proper mindset and ability to adapt to the changes, you can strive ahead to become a successful entrepreneur.
About the Author
Managing Your Business From Afar
/in Managing Your Business/by StrategyDrivenRemote Viewing
One of the best ways to maintain a real hands-on approach even while being nowhere near the office is to use remote viewing, which is a means of taking control of a computer screen from somewhere else. There are many ways of doing this, but the best ones are those that allow you to have a whole overview of what is going on in your systems from a piece of software on your own computer or smartphone. Something like teamviewer might be helpful here – and if you are lucky you can find a teamviewer coupon to help reduce the cost a little.
The Cloud
More and more businesses are using the cloud, often without even really knowing what it is or how it works. In essence, the cloud is just a server that is held externally, and used by you the client from whatever device you happen to be on. It’s actually much simpler than it might seem. If you have ever used Google Docs, or shared files in Dropbox, then you have used a cloud service of some kind. This is obviously very useful if you want to manage your affairs from afar, especially if you have previously shared the right files on the cloud.
Your smartphone is likely going to become one of the most important things that you have on you if you are going to want to travel and still be in touch with the business back home. With a smartphone, you can send and receive emails, do some twitter marketing, access a cloud service, and of course take phone calls. It’s a great way to stay in touch, and you will find that it is hard to really go without it these days if you want to manage your business no matter where you might be.
Putting Someone In Charge
Of course, whenever you are away, you will also want to put someone in charge whom you trust with proceedings. You can also then communicate with them directly if you want to get a sense of what is going on in the business, and that is something that you are going to find incredibly useful indeed. With that kind of person on board, managing your business from afar will feel like a much easier thing indeed, and it will help you to have trust in what is going on too.
Five reasons you need IT support for your business
/in Managing Your Business/by StrategyDrivenHowever, you should not underestimate the advantages of having an expert in this area on hand to help you with any problems. Whether your problems are show-stopping issues or minor hassles, having someone who can resolve them quickly, efficiently and in the best way possible can be a great asset. Here are some reasons why you should have IT support.
Information management
Having proper management of all your digital information is vital if your business is to succeed. You will need to have a proper IT support system to ensure that, if you want to log in or look at sales and orders, you should be able to do this with little fuss. You’ll want to avoid large issues like viruses that lose your files or infect your whole system.
Virus protection
The number of viruses and Trojans, as well as other damaging data, has grown in recent years. Every day, there are attempts by hackers trying to get access to an organization’s IT system to plant ransomware.
If these hackers are successful, then you will have to pay a large sum of money to retrieve your business records. By having the required antivirus programs installed to avoid these types of attacks, then you can ensure that your system won’t be affected.
Security
There will be many details you don’t want hackers to have access to, such as customer addresses, personal details, or even payment information. So, for your online business, these all need to be protected – and your IT support can be useful here.
Using the services of a proactive technical support team and using certified professionals means your IT infrastructure can be monitored around the clock. Issues can be dealt with before they become a problem, so you can eliminate complaints and increase productivity.
Maximize productivity
Small businesses depend on staff to be efficient, so downtime because of technical problems can cause significant productivity losses. Items such as computers, networks, smartphones and other technology will fail – and IT departments can perform these crucial tasks for maintenance and repair, so you can have your employees working again. Your staff will then have the support they need to perform as efficiently as possible.
Integration of technology and updates
New upgrades can be time-consuming and confusing – and IT professionals will help integrate those old and new systems. Without them, then your brand might end up being behind on adopting this new technology.
They will also help to troubleshoot the use of new systems and monitor them to ensure that they’re running well. You can also receive recommendations on what new services you could also use, based on your company’s specific needs.
Is LinkedIn A Viable Stand-Alone CRM System?
/in Online Marketing and Website Development/by StrategyDrivenOn the one hand, some believe that you need to integrate it with an existing CRM system in order to get the best of both worlds. Others think that the former can provide enough support via its Sales Navigator system.
However, in recent months LinkedIn has announced that there will be some changes to its tool, which could well prove to be beneficial to both sides of the argument.
Will LinkedIn integrate easily to your CRM?
The answer is, a very vague ‘possibly’. At the time of writing, it will only be possible if you have one of two existing systems on the market, so it’s quite limiting.
LinkedIn’s existing Sales Navigator tool only provides a very basic lead management service that takes data from users’ connections, and then helps to make potential account prospects that are based on demographic criteria.
This is great, but it does lack some of the more essential features that businesses need from a professional CRM system, such as forecasting, marketing, calendars, external mail, and monitoring tracking opportunities.
LinkedIn have announced that they’ll launch a CRM Sync function, which will be able to create and add new contacts that aren’t already in an existing business system, but again, only if the CRM is compatible with theirs.
In the meantime, they will continue to work on and develop the Sales Navigator system in order to make it more user-friendly, for those businesses that are still without a fully functioning CRM service.
Will LinkedIn ever fully replace a professional CRM system?
The improvements that the company have made are welcome, but it’s highly unlikely that in the near future it will make any real dent in the need for businesses to invest in high-quality professional CRM systems from independent organizations.
Those who would like to think more about using both an existing system and integrating with LinkedIn need to bear the following pointers in mind. If you do want to integrate, you’ll have to already be using one of two other systems, one of which is operated by Microsoft. Many companies, therefore, will simply choose to stick to their existing service and leave it at that.
The other major factor is the cost. Companies who want to integrate will have to pay a monthly fee to do so, and this can be as much as $135, depending on your level of commitment to it as a business. A free LinkedIn account won’t cut the mustard here!
Many experts believe that there never will truly be a fully integrated LinkedIn and CRM system. There are also business users who report that their levels of spam communication have already risen due to unscrupulous people taking advantage of the messaging tools that already exist on the platform.
If CRM systems are allowed to access more data via LinkedIn, this could open up the pathway for more of the same. In the long run, this will put many businesses and business users off.
The watchword here is to keep an eye on LinkedIn, but stick to investing only in professional stand-alone CRM systems for your business as a means of gaining a better outreach.