BWPrice's Marketing U

Rory Sutherland: Life lessons from an ad man (TED Talks)

Posts Not To Be Missed

• FAQ Pages for Accountants or Lawyers? (Golden Practices - Michelle Golden)
• The Power of Space (or, Time to Stop Playing Whac-a-Mole) (Service Minded - Debra Helwig)
• The Social Net is Just Working a Bigger Room (Marketing Catalyst - Bruce Allen)
• Keep Your Web Site Fresh (Legal Marketing Blog - Tom Kane)
• For small PSFs, teaming and joint venturing could help ride out a recession ( - Expertise MarketplaceSuzanne Lowe)
• 25 Very Smart Business Women to Follow on Twitter (MarCom Writer Blog - Dianna Huff)

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

If you haven't watched this video, stop right now and watch.

Two New Articles Added

Two articles have been added to the "Complimentary Articles" section of this blog.  The first was published in June of 2008 (yep, I'm behind) and it is entitled "How to Develop & Manage a Niche."  The second was published this month and is entitled "Social Media: What Is It & Should You Care?."

Both articles are addressed to business appraisers.  Other professional advisors to business can certainly benefit as well.

They were both published in CCH's Business Valuation Alert newsletter.  Hope you enjoy them.  You can find them in the "Complimentary Articles" section of this website.

Should My Firm Tweet?

I have a problem with professional service firms tweeting versus the individuals in them tweeting - via Twitter, of course.  I follow a PR gal from a big PSF firm and she tweets for the firm, not for herself.  So, the tweets are mini press releases.

A young analyst talked to me about creating a "Mercer Capital page" and tweeting as a firm, rather than as a person.  How can the result for a PSF be anything but mostly boring mini press releases?  There are alternatives, I suppose.  "The firm," via you, could tweet about its inner workings - the personalities and politics that every firm deals with.  However, while a great many followers would be gained, that alternative will result in your unemployment and possibly legal troubles.  Bad idea. 

If we, as a firm, tweet, we'll do it strategically via one or two professionals who are passionate about what they do. There are really only 4 steps to get started: 1) get buy-in from firm management.  2) give the individuals guidelines.  This is vitally important.  3) help them find people to follow, and 4) then let them tweet as themselves, sharing information about their professional passions.  Of course, we will follow their tweets.

But we may not pursue that strategy at all.  There are opportunity costs to everything we do and tweeting done well takes time.  Not to mention the unsettled argument about whether it creates business opportunities or is just a fad.  I won't weigh in on that.  I also won't use Twitter for mini press releases.

Any decent PSF marketing director works to understand what their people are passionate about and calculates the opportunity costs of every marketing venture.  I do not believe our firm has lost anything by not tweeting.  I may be wrong but am comforted by knowing that we don't hang our hat on only one marketing tactic or channel.  Visit our website to learn more about all we do and get a flavor of our marketing philosophy.  If we begin to tweet, I will let you know.  And if you know of any PSFs that tweet and do it well, send me a note so I can follow them. 

Social Media & Communications Policy for Your Firm

If your firm doesn't have a social media policy, or is in the process of developing one, here is a great resource for you.  Michelle Golden has written "Charting a Firm's Social Media and Communications Policy."  It is not a template for a social media policy but thoughtful advice targeted to those who are uncomfortable with social media.  Read it here at AccountingWeb.

Unplugged

This past weekend, I attempted to unplug.  No e-mail. No blogs.  No facebook.  No twitter.  No internet.  No nothing.

How did I do?  I give myself a B-.  Yet, that B- felt pretty good.

It was nice to mostly get away from the constant flow of information because there is just too much of it. 

I decided to simplify my information intake.  While I am interested in a great many things, I only have the time and energy to put to use certain things.  I found myself being "plugged in" and knowing a little about a lot. It got so that I would take headlines as content (prime example: after seeing a headline about Flutter, I just assumed it was the "next thing" not realizing it was a hoax.  Shame on me (but it is a funny hoax)). 

The economy has forced many of us to simplify our lives by doing more with less.  The same philosophy should be true for information flow.  The internet allows us to find information quickly and cheaply.  It levels the playing field to a certain extent.  Many voices are speaking into the ether.  Some have information that I can use.  Others, not so much.  Just because someone is interesting doesn't mean I have enough time to read them, friend them, or follow them.  Life is about choices so we have to choose wisely how to best use our time.

I encourage everyone to unfriend and unfollow as appropriate and to pare down the information inflow.  Then, unplug at least one day a week. 

For a great read on the folly of too many social media friends and/or people to follow, see Debra Helwig's post "Too Much of a Good Thing" at her blog Service Minded.

New Tweeter

My friend Debra Helwig is now tweeting on Twitter.  Per her bio (and it's all true): Writer. Thinker. Bridge builder for professional services marketers. Connecting people and ideas, that's my game.

You can follow her here.

Top 10 Mistakes of LinkedIn Users

Christine Pilch, a co-owner at Grow My Company and Marketing Director at Bacon Wilson PC, Attorneys at Law wrote a short article entitled "Top Ten Mistakes People Make on LinkedIn" for Legal Marketing Technology. 

Oops.  I see that I commit at least half of the mistakes.  Read the article while I go and clean up my LinkedIn profile, which you can access here.

ABA Launches Social Networking Site

The ABA has launched LegallyMinded, an online social networking site.  Its tag line is "Legal Professionals.  Your Community.  Your Network." 

It allows attorneys to make connections on-line.  Yet, you do not have to be a member of the ABA to join.  Take a few minutes to poke around the site and register.  It looks interesting.

From "About LegallyMinded":

LegallyMinded is an online community serving the legal profession. Our goal is to create an unparalleled resource that gathers law school students, academics, firm administrators, legal support staff, judges, paralegals, attorneys, law librarians and other professionals to contribute, network, and collaborate online.

The community fuses cutting-edge social networking features, top-notch news and articles, and user-generated content. LegallyMinded enables you to:

• Connect with Peers. Expand your professional network using member-matching features to discover like-minded professionals. Find mentors, research employers, or meet new friends.
• Share Knowledge. Exchange ideas, files, and schedules within virtual groups and engage with other members via blogs, wikis, chats, and discussion groups.
• Explore Resources. LegallyMinded editors scour the Internet for the best content on Careers, Education, Practice Management, and Diversity, among other topics.
• Schedule Meetings. Set up meetings with community members using your integrated calendar.
• Voice Your Opinions. Rate and comment on community content.

The site is presented by the American Bar Association, the world's largest voluntary professional association. However, membership to LegallyMinded is free, and you are not required to become an ABA member to participate.

Hat Tip: Larry Bodine's LawMarketing Blog