Nadya's blog

Baudelaire Quarantine Tips

Nadya — Fri, 24 Apr 2020 19:24:51 +0000

Baudelaire Quarantine Tips

Quarantining is different for everyone - stressful, daunting, boring, peaceful, fun, you name it. It’s been an adjustment for all. While many of us would be happy to stroll through city streets and hang out with friends, the safest thing to do right now is to stay at home to stop the spread of COVID-19.

We’ve been quarantined for over a month, so it’s likely that you found great ways to spend your time and add normalcy to your life. Maybe you decided to reread some of your childhood books or read them to your kids. One great series that can be fun for you and your kids is Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. It’s a 13 book series about three Baudelaire orphans - Violet, Klaus, and Sunny - who try to escape the clutches of Count Olaf, as he tries to capture their fortune. The books are thought provoking, exciting, and hilariously sarcastic. An added bonus is that there’s a Netflix series that definitely does the books justice.

As I’ve been reading the books and watching the series, I picked up on a few quarantine tips that the Baudelaire children can offer:

Use what you have

As the name suggests, Violet, Klaus, and Sunny always find themselves in a never-ending series of unfortunate events. They’re essentially quarantined in a new place in each book. They have a hard time escaping from these places, like Olaf’s filthy house, or the Caligari Carnival, which is located in the middle of the Hinterlands and full of hungry lions.

Since the Baudelaires don’t have their own possessions or the means to get what they need, they are great at using what they already have. Violet finds clever ways to make inventions out of their limited resources. For example, she makes a bungee rope out of materials in a hospital closet to help them escape from a burning hospital, and she makes a rope out of ties to help her climb down an elevator shaft.

Likewise, try to use what you have to keep yourself fed and happy! There are many recipes online for creating delicious meals out of pantry items. If you have pasta, canned tomatoes, canned anchovies, garlic, and olive oil, you can make Pasta Puttanesca, which the Baudelaires actually make for Count Olaf and his troupe. Besides using food you have, clean your house and you’ll certainly find items that you don't need to go out to buy. For instance, you’ll find cleaning supplies that you bought years ago and forgot you had or games that were gifted to you and you never played. Check out streaming channels that you’re already paying for to find new shows or movies to watch.

Pick up a new hobby

Because the Baudelaires find themselves in unusual settings, they have to go with the flow and learn the ins and outs of their current living situation. They have to learn how to work at a lumber mill, navigate a submarine, and prepare meals.

In their case, it is a matter of life or death that causes the Baudelaires to acquire new skills. In your instance, you have more time, flexibility, and the internet to help you with a new hobby. For example, there are coloring books, painting kits, online workouts, board games, trivia games, virtual museum visits, virtual performances, and so much more at your disposal.

Do your research

The Baudelaires always find comfort in a library. Although they are far from comfortable in every book, they immediately feel better when they find a library. Some libraries are large, some are small, but everyone has at least one book lying around. Read more during the quarantine!

In the Baudelaire case, they use the libraries to figure out Olaf’s plans and to research more about the secret organization VFD and their parents’ backgrounds. In your case, you can keep up with changes in your current area of law, brush up on interesting cases that could help you become a better lawyer, or dive into another area of law. Besides researching law itself, you can do more research into the business aspect of your company, and learn more about streamlining your practice.

Fun fact - the Baudelaires have to research nuptial law. Olaf tries becoming Violet’s husband in order to steal their fortune, but luckily, that plan fails. Although we don’t generate nuptial law leads, we do generate Social Security disability, employment law, personal injury, and workers’ compensation leads. If you would like to learn more about them as a part of your research during the quarantine, please feel free to contact us at 617.800.0089!

Nadya Fri, 04/24/2020 - 15:24

Little Prince, Big Ideas

Nadya — Fri, 21 Feb 2020 19:44:37 +0000

Little Prince, Big Ideas

Welcome to the third edition of Fable Friday! Today, we’ll take a look at the 1943 French classic The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. In this novella, a narrator describes the differences between adults and grown ups. The narrator then grows up to be a pilot, and his plane crashes in the Sahara. As he tries to fix his plane, he meets the little prince, who comes from planet B612. He tells the narrator about his travels to different planets, including Earth. This is a delightful book that can be enjoyed by kids and adults; I’m sure if you reread it now you’ll notice themes that you missed when you were little. Just like the prince traveled, let’s travel to three themes that are applicable in your life and in your firm.

It’s all about perspective

The narrator makes an illustration when he is six years old that he thinks adults will find frightening. To his dismay, they don’t. “What’s scary about a hat?” they say. However, the narrator doesn’t draw a hat; instead, he draws a boa constrictor digesting an elephant. When he meets the little prince, unlike the adults who don’t understand his drawing, the little prince quickly sees the boa and elephant. The little prince also asks the narrator to draw a sheep. He tries several times without success, until he draws a box with three holes. The little prince is delighted - the sheep is inside this box.

This book is all about perspective and how children view the world differently from adults. Children have imagination that many adults grow out of. It’s children, such as the little prince, who can use their imagination to see beauty in seemingly dull drawings, find wells in a desert, and see laughter among stars. While you may not be drawing sheep for your clients, it’s important for you to be able to see events from different perspectives. For instance, you might be used to seeing a case from an attorney’s perspective, but that’s not how your clients see it. To them, their case is something unique, and not just a case number in your CRM. By viewing the case from their perspective, you’ll be able to be more empathetic and understanding towards your clients.

Plus, by thinking outside of the box (or inside the creative box, in this situation) you can frequently come up with solutions that you don’t see right away. The narrator thinks that he can only get out of the desert by fixing his plane. However, he discovers that by working on the plane, listening to the prince, and seeing with the heart instead of the eyes, a well can appear and the plane can be fixed. Likewise, by viewing your work from different angles and focusing on aspects that may appear unimportant, you’ll be more likely to come up with great solutions.

Take care of your baobabs

The little prince describes his daily routine on his planet. He must pick out the unwanted seeds of baobab trees. If he’s unable to root them when they’re little, the baobabs quickly take over the tiny planet.

The lesson here is quite simple - take care of an issue before it becomes catastrophic. Work on your tasks a little each day so that they don’t grow into a giant baobab that you’ll have difficulty tackling. Likewise, people have their strengths and weaknesses. Perhaps you’re great at speaking with claimants, but not as good about keeping track of your lead results. Instead of waiting for the lack of lead results to grow into a giant baobab, try to update a few lead results each day. Different softwares can ease the pain of updating results, such as eLuminate! Slowly, but surely, you’ll become more comfortable with this task, and this will help your firm succeed in the long run.

Don’t turn into one of the adults from the other six planets

The little prince visits six tiny planets and one irrational adult inhabits each planet. For instance, one planet has a king who issues orders to no one. Since he has no subjects, he commands the sun to set. Another planet has a narcissistic man who wants praise for being the most admirable person on his planet, even though no one else lives on this planet. A third planet has a businessman who is only concerned about counting and categorizing stars that he owns.

Each adult is narrow-minded, and such narrow-mindedness could be a downfall at your firm. If you’re overly concerned about establishing authority over your paralegals, your paralegals will lose respect for you and will likely perform worse. If you also create tasks for your paralegals just for the sake of establishing your credibility, your paralegals will have time taken away from actually important tasks. If you get caught up in just the numbers of your business, you will miss that each case involves real people.

The Little Prince covers many themes including friendship, loss, loneliness, and beauty. Consider rereading it so you can have some thoughtful discussions, along with considerations for how to run your firm. Take care of your firm just like the little prince takes care of the rose on his planet and the fox he meets on Earth!

Nadya Fri, 02/21/2020 - 14:44

Phantom Tollbooth, Real Law Firm

Nadya — Fri, 14 Feb 2020 19:35:46 +0000

Phantom Tollbooth, Real Law Firm

Welcome to the second edition of Fable Friday! Today we’ll take a closer look at the 1961 classic Phantom Tollbooth, by Norton Juster, with illustrations by Jules Feiffer. Although many of you probably read this when you were kids, I was delighted to read it this year thanks to a wonderful recommendation from a friend. In the novel, a young boy Milo receives a magic tollbooth. He drives through it and appears in the Kingdom of Wisdom. With the help of two companions, a watchdog Tock and a braggart Humbug, he goes on an adventure to help the troubled kingdom.

This is a wonderful book that I highly recommend rereading to ensure that you’re applying the lessons you learned from the Kingdom of Wisdom to your life and to your practice. To help you get started on that journey, let’s take a look at two cities that Milo visits: Dictionopolis and Digitopolis.

Dictionopolis

Dictionopolis is a city dedicated to words, ruled by King Azaz the Unabridged. It has an orchard, where words are grown on trees, and a Word Market, where all of the words can be purchased and sold. Some words are more common than others, and other words are reserved for special occasions. During a banquet, the people of this city eat their words.

As Milo navigates himself through this word-filled city, he learns lessons that can be helpful as you consider your communication with your leads and clients.

First, be clear and concise. Milo is overwhelmed when he walks through the Word Market, and says to Tock that he never knew words could be so confusing. Tock cleverly replies that they’re only confusing “when you use a lot to say a little.” This is especially important for your leads. Your Social Security disability claimants are likely just starting out their search for benefits and don’t understand how the application process works. Break it down for them in clear steps so they can follow along. While doing this, avoid using legal jargon that only you and your colleagues would understand. Use some of the more common words that Milo would find in the Word Market.

Second, while being clear and concise, remember that you still need to get your intended message across. In Dictionopolis, Milo meets the Which, not to be confused with a witch, Faintly Macabre. She used to be in charge of deciding which words could be used at what occasions in Dictionopolis, but as she got hungry with power, she banned almost all of the words. Make sure to provide claimants with information they need. When they ask you questions, give them answers. Ensure that your clients know where to go, whether it’s yourself or your paralegals, when they are looking for information about their case.

Third, as you determine how to best craft your message, make sure your ideas are fully cooked. In Dictionopolis, people eat their own words. You don’t want to regret what you say to your clients or your paralegals. In the city they also eat half-baked ideas, such as “The Earth is flat.” While they are sweet, they cause indigestion. Likewise, double check the information that you provide to your claimants, whether it’s on your website, in your emails, or in your conversations with them.

Digitopolis

The second capital of the kingdom is Digitopolis, ruled by the Mathemagician. This is a city dedicated to numbers. The people in Digitopolis mine for numbers instead of gems. They eat negatively, meaning that they start eating when they’re full, and by the time they’re done eating, they’re hungry.

Milo is certainly surprised by what he sees in Digitopolis, and this city can provide you with tips for your law firm, just like Dictionopolis did.

First, Digitopolis cares about numbers, and you should too! While it’s important to choose your words wisely and have great communication with your claimants, you need to remember that your law firm is a business. The Mathemagician is great at solving number problems and the whole city is good at being as precise as possible. Try to keep that in mind as you calculate key metrics to ensure that your business is prospering. For example, it’s important to know your contact rate, your desired rate, and your signed rate of leads. It’s even more important to then calculate your cost per case to determine if your marketing channels are providing you with cost effective cases.

Second, focus on calculating the most important metrics. Milo meets the Dodecahedron, a man with 12 faces. The Dodecahedron tells ridiculous math problems to Milo, and when Milo points out that they’re silly, the Dodecahedron says, “as long as the answer is right, who cares if the question is wrong?” You should definitely care if the question is wrong. If it’s a question that you don’t need answered, then you might measure metrics that aren’t important. Or, if you don’t understand the question, you might measure the wrong metrics. Focus on the key metrics that you need, be it your cost per case, your dwell time, or your newsletter open rate. By staying focused you’ll be able to better analyze your metrics to make any necessary adjustments.

Third, remember that there’s an infinite number of ways to do everything. The Mathemagician teaches Milo about infinity, and Milo tries to reach infinity by climbing a staircase, as infinity is said to be at the top. Of course Milo doesn’t reach it. In your practice, while you improve your processes, follow ups, and interactions with claimants, there will always be infinite other things that can be improved. That’s not a problem - make improvements where you can, keep learning new tactics, and remember that you can’t do everything.

Milo visits a plethora of other places in the Kingdom of Wisdom, but (spoiler alert) the kingdom’s prosperity is only restored once Milo is able to rescue princesses Rhyme and Reason. Rhyme and Reason once proclaimed that both letters and numbers are equally important, and that is very true of your practice as well. Take care of your communication along with your business calculations to watch your law firm prosper. And if you’re ever in doubt, always look to Rhyme and Reason!

Nadya Fri, 02/14/2020 - 14:35

Aesop’s Fables and Legal Leads

Nadya — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 19:16:48 +0000

Aesop’s Fables and Legal Leads

Happy Fable Friday! On this first Friday of February, we’ll take you on a trip down memory lane so you can look back at some fables that you grew up with. Although Aesop lived in ancient Greece around 620 - 564 BCE, his fables are timeless, as the lessons are applicable today. They can even teach you a thing or two about your legal leads! Let’s take a look at three fables today.

The Hare & the Tortoise

Everyone knows this one, especially if you’re preparing for a race. The Hare mocks the Tortoise for being slow, but the Tortoise challenges the Hare to a race. The Hare runs quickly and decides to take a nap. While the Tortoise continues slowly but steadily, he surpasses the Hare’s sleeping spot. The Hare springs up, but the Tortoise has already won the race.

The lesson here is quite simple - slow and steady wins the race. How does this apply to your leads? Although you want to contact the leads as soon as possible upon receiving them, as the Hare would do, keep in mind that the lead follow up is a lengthier process. You cannot simply take a nap after a couple of initial call attempts. The Tortoise would suggest that lead follow up could take up to three weeks, for a total of 10-15 outbound call attempts. This may take some time, but you’ll see that with the Tortoise’s approach, you’ll be converting more leads, and therefore more cash for your firm, in the long run.

The Fox & the Crow

The Fox sees the Crow sitting on a branch with a piece of cheese in her beak. The Fox starts complimenting the Crow, saying how she has beautiful feathers, splendid wings, and probably a lovely voice. If she could sing, the Fox would hail her Queen of Birds. The Crow, who is flattered, opens her beak to sing (quite terribly), and drops her cheese. The Fox happily scurries away with his cheesy breakfast.

The lesson here can be summarized in two words - stay humble. Undoubtedly, you are an expert in your legal field. You graduated from a top law school, worked at some of the biggest law firms, or have the best winning percentage of any of your colleagues. You know your field very well and you should be proud! Definitely let your claimants know about your credentials and any awards to establish your credibility.

With that said, just because you’re a legal expert, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re an expert on all fronts of running a law firm. Listen to experts who can provide you with business advice, such as marketing tools or web development tools for your firm, to help your firm grow and increase cash flow. Otherwise, you’ll be left with your legal knowledge, but possibly a firm that’s not operating as profitably as it can be.

The Lion, the Bear, & the Fox

The Bear catches a baby goat and the Lion leaps for the same prey. The Lion and the Bear fight each other profusely and are too weak to continue battling. Meanwhile, the Fox seizes the baby goat and walks away with its prize.

A few lessons can be taken away here. First, do not fight for the same lead. When choosing a lead generation service, consider one that sends you exclusive leads. Second, promote teamwork in your firm. For instance, if you have multiple intake staff, make sure leads are evenly distributed amongst them. Encourage them to help each other with any questions about a potential case. Explain that the goal is to convert as many qualified leads as possible together, so that the company as a whole can succeed. Even the Lion and the Bear come to this conclusion – “How much better it would have been… to have shared in a friendly spirit,” they say.

Aesop wrote 725 fables, so there are definitely more to read and discuss. As you follow up with your leads and grow your firm, keep Aesop’s lessons in mind!

Nadya Fri, 02/07/2020 - 14:16

Don’t Be The Grinch Of Your Office

Nadya — Fri, 20 Dec 2019 19:23:55 +0000

Don’t Be The Grinch Of Your Office

The holidays are finally here! We are just days away from Christmas, Hanukkah, and the New Year. Everyone is buzzing with holiday cheer, gifts are exchanged, cards are mailed out, and everyone’s attending holiday events here and there. The holidays make most of us cheerful and put us almost in a different dimension - a suspension of disbelief, a break from the regular routine.

It’s fun to enjoy the season, but there’s always that one person who’s the Grinch. He or she gets annoyed by the holiday music, doesn’t help with decorations, doesn’t want to get presents for anyone, and ends up bumming out all of the people around. If you’re the office Grinch, there’s still time to make sure your heart grows three sizes before 2020!

Here are some things to keep in mind for the rest of 2019 to ensure you’re not the office Grinch:

Allow your employees to have more flexibility

During the holidays, people go to great lengths to see their family and friends. Sometimes, it’s their only opportunity to have everyone together. People have family traditions, a lot of travel is involved, and it can be stressful to coordinate gifts.

Therefore, try to eliminate some of that stress from your paralegals by giving them more flexibility. It’s likely that your potential clients or existing clients will want to enjoy the holidays as well, so their follow up might not be as critical as it is at other times during the year. Additionally, you want to ensure that your office continues to be a pleasant place to work at.

Therefore, let your paralegals take time off so they can see their friends or relatives. If you don’t want everything to shut down for a week, allow employees to work from home. This will make it easier for those who want to travel, but can still work for you remotely. Likewise, consider giving employees flexible hours. This can help them buy any gifts or attend holiday events. Your paralegals will be happy to have some of the holiday stress taken away by your kindness!

Decorate your office

If you haven’t already, decorate your office! Consider putting up lights and other decorations that bring out the festiveness of the season but that stay away from more religious motifs. Your paralegals’ spirits will be automatically lifted if they enter an office that’s glowing with lights and paper snowflakes, especially during the winter months when nights are long. You can even keep the lights up in January, to make those winter nights shorter!

Have a holiday party

Throw a holiday party to allow your workers to relax, mingle, and strengthen their relationships with each other! They’ve worked so hard for you for a whole year, and they want to stay festive. Just like many families have holiday traditions, you can start holiday traditions in your office as well. Your employees will look forward to those holiday traditions all year long!

This can help your firm feel more united and will ensure that everyone’s part of the same team. Not everyone celebrates holidays or has the opportunity to see their friends or family during the holidays. Therefore, your party can also provide a festive outlet and community for those who may not have as many fun plans during the season.

If you didn’t have a holiday party yet, it’s not too late. Many offices have holiday parties in January. It’s usually cheaper if you’re renting a venue and it might be easier to coordinate with your employees. Most employees are busy in December but are free again in January, so there may be a higher chance of attendance if you host the party then. Plus, January sometimes seems like a bummer month after the festiveness of December, so this party can raise your workers’ spirits!

Volunteer

The holidays often remind us of our community and giving back. Therefore, volunteer at a local organization, or a cause that’s related to your area of law. For instance, if your community has a toy drive, consider donating toys, helping the charity wrap them, and deliver them.

Or, suppose you’re a Social Security disability attorney. Consider donating or volunteering at organizations that serve people with disabilities, such as the Epilepsy Foundation or the National Federation of the Blind.

Volunteering will help your community, make you and your employees happy, and can help you network with the organization. Afterwards, you might see that organization sending referrals your way.

Instead of being an office Grinch, encourage your employees to feel happy and festive this holiday season. Just remember what Cindy Lou Who said - “No matter how different a Who may appear, he will always be welcomed with holiday cheer.” Happy Holidays!

Nadya Fri, 12/20/2019 - 14:23

Boost Your Firm’s Newsletter Engagement, Part 2: Design and Content

Nadya — Tue, 05 Nov 2019 19:32:26 +0000

Boost Your Firm’s Newsletter Engagement, Part 2: Design and Content

Last week, we gave you quick tips for increasing your newsletter engagement. Today, we wanted to focus on the content of your newsletter – what are you writing to clients and how does it look? These tips may require extra time on your end to write the best legal newsletter. However, your clients are hoping for high quality content from you, so it makes sense for you to invest time in creating that.

As we mentioned last time, if you’re still not sure why you should start a legal newsletter and how to track its success, check out our blogs. Once that’s all set, here are some ideas to help you brainstorm.

Design Tips

The first thing that catches your clients’ eyes is how your newsletter looks. Before they even begin reading it, if it doesn’t look great, they likely won’t continue reading it. Therefore, spend some time improving your newsletter design.

Make sure it contains your firm’s branding and contact information. You want your clients to easily see whom this newsletter is coming from. Since you likely had them opt in to your newsletter, once they see your firm’s logo, they’ll likely proceed to read it.

In terms of the actual layout, remember that less is more! It’s easy to get carried away with design and all of the awesome images and design tricks you can add it. However, that will just be distracting.

Instead, pick a template that has inviting colors and looks sleek and organized. Keep your template consistent as you send out multiple newsletters. Make it easily editable so that you can clone this design and just edit the content and some images for future newsletters. This will make your newsletter creating work easier. Additionally, your readers will recognize the newsletter and will be more likely to engage with it.

People love seeing images, so definitely add images to your newsletter. However, remember the golden rule of “less is more.” If you have too many images, there’s a greater chance for formatting issues to arise, for a long load time, and for the newsletter to go to spam. To prevent this, figure out where you can include just a few images that will liven your design without negatively impacting your load time. Organize your template in a way that the text is actual text, and not a part of the image. This will make your image space smaller and the text load a lot faster.

When you think about formatting the writing, divide your newsletter into shorter paragraphs. If you’re switching topics, add headers to your paragraphs or include lists. This type of formatting is easier to read and skim, especially if someone is on his or her phone.

Speaking of phones, it’s so important to make your newsletter mobile friendly. This will likely take more time, but it’s worth it. Most of your readers will be reading the newsletter on their phones. If it takes too long to load or if the formatting prevents your readers from receiving your content, they’ll be less likely to engage with it.

When you play around with fonts, consider using web safe fonts and colors. These are fonts and colors that will stay consistent throughout different browsers, emails, and so on. There are plenty of great fonts that are web safe and they’ll help ensure that your readers are actually able to read what you wrote.

Content Tips

As you think about what to write to your clients, consider the goal of your newsletter. Remember, it’s different from a mass email. Mass emails are usually sent to prospective clients with the goal of attracting them to your firm. A newsletter is a way for you to stay connected with your clients, build a stronger relationship with them, and always keep your firm in the back of their minds.

In general, you want to provide content that’s relevant and engaging to your audience. This will vary depending on your different client lists, but here are some overarching topics to think about.

First, consider creating a newsletter with frequently asked questions. Many of your clients will ask you the same questions and probably more than once. Therefore, create a newsletter full of FAQs. You can send this newsletter periodically when you have a surplus of new clients, when you want to send reminders to existing clients, or when your answers to the questions change.

Many legal newsletters include case stories. If you want to describe a case, make sure you don’t bore your clients with case details. They’re not lawyers, so they probably don’t care about the nitty-gritty details that you’re passionate about. Instead, break the case down in a way that’s easy to communicate in plain English to your clientele.

If you find yourself confused about why you’re writing about a specific case, take a step back to consider the big picture. You want to write about a case because that allows you to use an issue in a case to describe broader issues that affect your clients. Think about the practical issues that might affect their lives, and present them with that information. However, don’t be too salesy. You’re educating your clients to demonstrate your expertise, not selling to them.

In a similar fashion, keep your clients updated with law in the news, especially if it affects them. If there are changes in the law or new laws, describe the legalities, what clients should do if they’re affected, and how they can collect evidence.

You also want to keep clients updated with happenings at your firm, both professionally and personally. Include any changes that happened, such as new paralegals that you hired. That way, if a new paralegal is reaching out to a client, he or she will already be familiar with the paralegal. If someone in your firm has exciting personal news that they’re willing to share, such as a marriage or birth of a child, people loving hearing about that. If you’re volunteering, describe how you’re giving back to the community. If your firm is large and your clients might not be familiar with your CEO, send a letter from your CEO. This will help your clients get a sense of community from your firm.

If the newsletter is coming from you personally, humanize yourself just like you would humanize your law firm. To do this, share something you found interesting that you think your clients will enjoy as well. Share a legal joke, a seasonal joke, or a cartoon.

There are many other newsletter tips that can help increase your engagement, but these should give you a head start. While you’re editing your newsletter, if you find yourself wishing you had more Social Security disability, personal injury, workers’ compensation, or employment law cases, contact us at 617.800.0089!

Nadya Tue, 11/05/2019 - 14:32

Boost Your Firm’s Newsletter Engagement, Part 1: Quick Fixes

Nadya — Tue, 29 Oct 2019 20:41:56 +0000

Boost Your Firm’s Newsletter Engagement, Part 1: Quick Fixes

As witches fly on brooms through the night skies and ghosts hover over the ground, we’ve got one thing on our minds – your legal newsletters. Although this is the perfect time to be scary, you don’t want to scare your visitors away from your newsletters. Instead, here are three quick tips to BOOst your engagement. Let Halloween leave you with a treat not a trick this time!

If you’re not writing a legal newsletter yet, we highly recommend starting one. Check out why you should start a newsletter and the metrics to track to determine whether or not it’s successful. Once your newsletter is live and you have a good grasp on how it’s performing, use our tips below to increase its success.

Who’s the email from?

You’ve probably noticed that when you get newsletters from big brands, their “from” email address contains something like “no-reply.” You should have the opposite of this. You’re writing a newsletter to engage your clients and continue building a relationship with them. A relationship is a two way street. Therefore, your newsletter and interactions with clients should be personal.

One easy way to do this is to make your “from” address a real contact at your firm, such as an attorney who’s mentioned on your website or a paralegal who’s available to answer clients’ questions if they reply back. Make sure that the email is set up in such a way that if someone responds, their email won’t be missed, and the aforementioned attorney or paralegal can respond timely. No one wants to be ghosted!

Segment your newsletter for different audiences

Although pumpkins and black cats are both common occurrences around Halloween, you might want to eat a pumpkin and stay away from a black cat. Just like pumpkins and black cats are different, so are your clients. It’s easy to send one newsletter to everyone; however, your newsletter recipients are on your lists for different reasons and you have different goals for them.

Send separate newsletters to different lists, based on your desired outcome. For example, if you practice multiple areas of law, different content will be applicable for your Social Security disability clients and your personal injury clients. By segmenting your newsletters, you’ll have a chance to better target your audience, and get higher newsletter engagement.

Don’t end up in spam

It’s very easy to end up in spam, especially with Google’s “promotion” folder. If your newsletters are ending up in spam, no matter how good they are, no one will read them.

To avoid this, have clients opt-in to your newsletters. That way, they’ll know they’re on your list to receive newsletters and will be happy to get something from you. Think about it this way – if you want people to come to your Halloween party, make sure you’re inviting them and letting them know to come, instead of having them guess that you’re hosting a party. Have those clients add your “from” email to their list of safe senders, so your emails aren’t being blocked.

Also, periodically update your contact sheet to ensure that you’re sending your newsletters to the correct clients. Lastly, test your newsletters before you send them to see how “spammy” they are. The online service you use for this will likely tell you how you can make your newsletter not go to spam, so that will certainly help you make necessary changes.

Newsletters are a great way to stay in touch with your clients, provide them with relevant information, and ensure that you’re in the back of their minds. There are many suggestions for improving newsletters, but consider also our email marketing tips for attorneys. The tips mentioned in this blog are quick fixes, but stay tuned for more on improving your newsletter content to increase your engagement.

Nadya Tue, 10/29/2019 - 16:41

Send Your Paralegals to Conferences Too!

Nadya — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 21:01:16 +0000

Send Your Paralegals to Conferences Too!

Perhaps you just attended a legal conference. That’s great! There are many benefits of attending legal conferences, like fulfilling your CLE requirements, meeting accomplished attorneys, and seeing a new city.

As you excitedly return to your office, consider that your paralegals might want to attend conferences as well. Just as there are many conferences geared towards attorneys, there are many conferences for paralegals. If you’re attending conferences, you should definitely send your paralegal to a conference too.

Your paralegals will grow professionally

Paralegals who attend conferences can gain similar benefits that you find at attorney conferences. They’ll have a chance to continue their education, develop professionally, and network with other paralegals. As a result, you’ll have a smarter workforce when your paralegals return to your office.

Although conferences can be expensive and a lot of educational material is available online, conferences provide quality material, whereas the internet is full of clutter. It’s harder to figure out what materials on the internet are meaningful. Also, many conferences provide break out sessions, so your paralegals will be able to test out ideas before bringing them back to the office.

They’ll improve your legal technology and marketing

As I mentioned in my previous blog, it’s important for law firms to stay on top of legal technology. In an ideal world, you would be very familiar with any legal softwares you’re using, such as those for lead and case management, billing, document generating, and more. However, most likely your paralegals are the ones that do the hands on work in those softwares. Therefore, your paralegals are the ones who should learn from exhibitors about innovative technology. They can bring their new marketing and technological advances back to your firm to implement more efficient practices.

Besides seeing new legal technology, your paralegals can also meet with representatives from software or marketing companies you’re already using. This will allow the paralegals to catch up with your account managers for a detailed look at their account. If you let exhibitors know ahead of time that someone from your firm will be at a conference, they’ll be more than happy to meet with you. Likewise, your paralegals can ask any questions they have about the service or software and watch live demos. Although these are frequently conducted online via screen shares, nothing beats an in person demonstration.

After your paralegals meet with account managers or obtain information for new softwares, they will return with new ideas to implement for your business. While you’re busy attending hearings, your paralegals will be ready to test out new software, better customize your existing case management software to streamline intakes, use more automation to make your firm more efficient, and more.

Your paralegals will be happy and your business will grow

Most importantly, your paralegals will return from conferences as happy individuals. The daily grind tires everyone. Therefore, they’ll be excited for a change of pace and likely inspired by the presentations.

Additionally, your paralegals will see the bigger picture here; if you’re letting your paralegals grow professionally and individually by attending conferences, they’ll see that you’re investing in them. They’ll feel more support from you, respect you more as an employer, and will invest more in your law firm.

This means that your paralegals will be happy employees. In return, they’ll be more likely to stick around your law firm longer. In that case, not only will you have higher employee retention rates, you’ll also have dedicated employees who are constantly striving to improve their skills and your law firm. Additionally, if you need to recruit more paralegals, you’ll be able to say that conferences are a part of the benefits that your firm offers.

Besides sticking around longer, happy employees means happy customers. If your paralegals are happy working for you, their demeanor with your clients will be better. They’ll also invest more in your firm, meaning that they’ll be able to work more efficiently, speak with more clients, and therefore increase your return.

This brings a Sir Richard Branson quote to mind: “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.” Show your paralegals how meaningful they are to you and allow them to thrive. They’ll be happier and your business will be more profitable. Sounds like a win-win situation!

Nadya Tue, 10/22/2019 - 17:01

Benefits of Attending Legal Conferences

Nadya — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 17:05:30 +0000

Benefits of Attending Legal Conferences

A week away from the office while you still continue to improve your law firm? That sounds like a great idea and that perfectly describes a legal conference. There are many legal conferences held throughout the country that focus on specific areas of law, business development, technology in law, and more. Here are some reasons why you should attend a legal conference.

Further your legal education

You went to law school, you interned at a law firm, and now you’ve been a successful lawyer for several years. Your experience is certainly valuable and makes you a better lawyer. However, conferences are great for furthering your education and constructing your identity as a lawyer. Conferences allow you to gain more information in your field of law and become a better lawyer. Laws and best practices change constantly, so it’s important to stay up to date.

Many states require that attorneys meet a mandatory continuing legal education (CLE) requirement. Conferences allow you to meet CLE requirements on a variety of presentation topics. Therefore, you can find topics that are better suited for your goals and objectives.

As you progress your education, you can meet with experts in very specific fields. You have the opportunity to learn from these experts by attending conference sessions, or by meeting with them in person and talking to them about your issue. Besides experts in your area of law, you can meet experts on other topics that can help your firm grow. For example, many legal conferences attract experts in legal marketing or technology.

As you speak with other attorneys, listen to presentations, and check out exhibitors, you’ll notice legal trends. They’ll allow you to see how others are running their practices and if you can adopt any of their techniques to improve your law firm.

Stay updated with legal technology

Law schools and lawyers usually educate themselves on substantive law, case law, and regulations. As technology continually impacts our everyday lives, it’s vital for lawyers to educate themselves on legal technology, cyber security, and so on. Many older law firms will refuse to adopt new and innovative ways to run their firms. The closet with your stacks of client documents worked for years, so why stop now?

However, that’s not a good approach towards improving your firm. By educating yourself on legal technology, such as an online case management system, you can help your firm deliver its services more efficiently and ethically. Not only will this make your life easier, but it will likely help increase your return on investment.

To be technologically competent, you can consider attending future law conferences. These conferences focus on the use of technology in your practice and are catered towards firms of all sizes.

Alternatively, pay attention to exhibitors at legal conferences. Many of them offer softwares for case management, billing, document generating, and more. Other exhibitors provide marketing tools for law firms, like legal lead generation (such as eGen). Although you might want to focus on just providing the best legal services you can offer, always remember that your law firm is a business. Therefore, it’s essential that you stay updated with the business side of your firm in order to get ahead of others.

Networking opportunities

Any conference will provide you with an opportunity to network. You’ll have a chance to speak with other lawyers and experts. As a result, you’ll be able to meet mentors or provide your expertise to younger lawyers who need guidance. Conferences can help you determine who the big players are in your field. By speaking with them, you can see if any of their practices can help accelerate your law firm.

Besides learning from other attorneys or experts, conferences are great for obtaining referrals. Referrals are an important part of your business as they help you acquire clients for a very low rate. It’s likely that claimants come to you for help in areas of law that you do not practice. You’ll meet lawyers who experience the same problem. Interact with these lawyers to create a referral program, so you can send claimants to each other’s firms. This is a great way to promote your firm in a very cost effective manner.

They're fun

While conferences have many sessions, networking, and exhibitors, remember that they’re also fun! They’re a great way for you to change your pace for a week. You’re still working, since you’re learning new things and determining ways to keep your firm ahead of the game. However, a conference allows you to visit a new city, so it’s a great combination of work and play. Many conferences also offer fun social events, such as cocktail parties, or opportunities to explore the city in your free time. Exhibitors usually have fun swag and great giveaways, like gift cards or cash prizes.

Let’s go!

Most of the time, you’ll find yourself stuck in the bubble that is your law firm. Regardless of your firm size, you created that bubble and it’s easy to forget what happens outside of it. By pausing to look beyond your bubble, you’ll be able to improve your law firm. Therefore, attend legal conferences to gain more knowledge about your area of law, pick up best practices, stay up to date with legal technology, and network with your peers.

Conferences can certainly get overwhelming, so plan ahead to make the most out of them. When you return from a conference, create actionable steps to take what you learned and apply it to your firm.

eGenerationMarketing usually attends the NOSSCR conferences and we were just in New Orleans this September. If you missed us there but want to discuss our legal leads for Social Security disability, personal injury, workers’ compensation, or employment law, give us a call at 617.800.0089. Otherwise, we’ll see you at NOSSCR in Chicago in May of 2020!

Nadya Tue, 10/22/2019 - 13:05

Create an Editorial Calendar For Your Firm

Nadya — Mon, 30 Sep 2019 21:17:52 +0000

Create an Editorial Calendar For Your Firm

As you create and expand your content, consider creating an editorial calendar. An editorial calendar is a planning document that will outline what content and when you will deliver it. It can help your firm oversee your marketing strategy by providing a centralized spot to see when/what content is being created and if it’s achieving your firm’s goals.

Why is an editorial calendar important? It will help your blogs, articles, website updates, and so on to stay organized. Your content will be more likely to get published on time, without awkward lapses during busy times in your schedule. Read our tips below for starting your editorial calendar.

Create an overall goal for your content

This should be high-level thinking. What are you trying to do with your websites? Perhaps you want to educate readers on all of the areas of law you work in, so they know more about your firm. Or, you want to provide resources for your readers in your areas of expertise. Alternatively, maybe you want to make sure your content is optimized so that your sites rank highly.

Generate ideas to achieve your goal

Once you figure out your overarching goal, think of content ideas to achieve your goal. One important factor is to avoid boring content. After all, you want your readers to actually read your content, stay on your page, and go through some call to action, such as contacting you.

To do this, speak with different departments in your firm to find new perspectives. Think outside the box when you write. After you post blogs, figure out what’s working and not working by analyzing which articles get many visitors and which get high bounce rates.

Readers like to know that your content is being updated, and one way to do this is to notify them of any updates in your firm, industry events, and holidays. Write about conferences you attended, any new awards you received or cases you settled, or any changes that happened at the firm.

If you need some suggestions, we’re happy to help. Read our blogs for specific suggestions for Social Security disability, personal injury, and employment law content.

Fill in your calendar

Figure out when and what you will post in a given time frame, such as a quarter. Add the due dates for all of your content.

Make sure your posting schedule is consistent. This will help ensure that you have a consistent online presence, you are relevant in the industry, and your SEO rankings are high.

Make the calendar clear so your team members know what they need to do. It should be easy to follow so each member knows what he/she is writing and when, along with what else is happing in your content world. This will be especially helpful if you hire freelance writers who will require extra communication.

Speaking of communication, your calendar should make it clear what team members are working with each other. For example, if you have one writer writing about an interesting case, he/she should know which editor will review the work and which graphic designer will provide any images.

It’s fine if you don’t have all of your ideas generated yet. It’s hard to come up with all ideas at once! Filling in an editorial calendar will help you have a general outline and due dates and you can fill in the specifics as the quarter continues.

Implement your calendar

Remember that after compiling it, you’ll also need to implement it. Stick to your calendar and track your results to determine which pieces of content are helping you and which ones need to be fixed. An editorial calendar isn’t just for new content - it can also serve to help you clean up your old content.

Your editorial calendar does not have to be set in stone. As you analyze your results and figure out what works and doesn’t work, you should revisit your calendar to adjust due dates or content ideas. This is another great perk of the calendar. Since it’s centralized, any affected individuals will be easily made aware of the changes and can continue to produce appropriate content.

It’s completely up to you how robust your editorial calendar is. If you already have a calendar system in your firm, perhaps adding a separate section or color for the editorial content will accomplish your goals. If you want something more robust that allows collaboration with team members, integration, and uploading your content as back ups, there are many editorial calendar softwares that are available and they range in prices.

Whichever route you go, commit to putting together your editorial calendar and implementing improvements as time goes on. Your employees will be happy that your goals, deadlines, and assignments are outlined. Your readers will thank you as well because you will have stronger and more consistent content that will help them stay engaged and educated.

Nadya Mon, 09/30/2019 - 17:17