New Marketing Technology Awaits Your Firm

See an intriguing ad for a law firm but no pen and paper on hand? Joseph Mitchell, president of textMyCity, is hoping that soon you'll reach for your cell phone.

TextMyCity, which Mitchell started seven months ago, is part of a new movement pushing for marketing strategies built around technology. Mitchell's service uses text messaging to advertise and spread information, also known as “mobile marketing.” With textMyCity, companies sign up to become members and are issued a tag; when an interested person sees a member company's ad and sends a text message to textMyCity with the tag, the service sends the customer back a text message with contact information.

New Technologies

“People use mobile marketing as a way of engaging with the client to effectively give them instant information,” Mitchell says. “People may not want to communicate with them directly straightaway, but what they might want to do is retain the information for later.”

So far, Mitchell says more than 50 companies have joined textMyCity, which charges clients a monthly fee and a five-cent charge per text. Just two of his clients are law firms, though he is “in discussions with a few more.”

Many legal marketers predict that law firms ' which, they say, are notoriously resistant to new technology ' will be slow to pick up on mobile marketing. Still, text messaging is just one of several new marketing tools available and, depending on how tech-savvy they are, many law firms are taking notice.

Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel overhauled its entire Web site, in part to increase its chances of being found during a Google search by a potential client. This technique is known as “search engine optimization.”

“Most people in business to make money do care about being found by Google,” says Jason Lisi, founder and owner of Legal Internet Solutions Inc., the company Obermayer Rebmann hired to manage the retooling of its Web site.

To make a Web site “popular” on Google and thus more easily found, Lisi says that a firm's important information must be in text form ' no Flash graphics. When other sites link to the company's site, it improves its chances of being found, he says, so he works on that as well.

Size Matters

The size of a firm often determines how willing it is to embrace new marketing technology.

The appeal of the Internet when it comes to legal marketing is undeniable, says Micah Buchdahl, a Philadelphia legal marketing consultant. He noted that, unlike traditional legal marketing techniques, which usually involve printed brochures and annual mailings, the Web easily allows for information to be sent out and changed at a moment's notice.

Although he usually works with large to midsize firms, Buchdahl says that when working with a small plaintiffs firm, he has started using certain Web sites to promote the firm, including the online marketplace Craigslist, professional networking site LinkedIn, and social networking sites MySpace and Facebook.

For firms willing to move beyond the Web, some see mobile marketing as the next big thing.

Scott Delacourt, legal counsel for the Mobile Marketing Association and a partner at Wiley Rein in Washington, DC, says that while he hasn't seen many firms take advantage of text messaging, as a marketing tool it has potential.

“A lot of law firms do regular [e-mail] alerts to their existing client base, and the mobile space is very adaptable to that,” Delacourt says. He adds that if a firm ever needed to communicate breaking news, for example, text messaging would be the best way to reach clients at all hours.

Ethics Concerns

Some worry that using technology that reaches clients beyond the workplace opens the door to ethnical concerns. Buchdahl warns that while using mobile marketing to send relevant information to current clients is OK, buying a list of cell phone numbers and mass distributing a marketing message “would likely land you in hot water.”

Mitchell says he believes textMyCity avoids such issues since the service isn't for random solicitation. Instead, he says it aims to give consumers an easy way to access information when they see an ad or promotion for a company ' or law firm ' in which they're interested.

“We're just commercializing habits put into place by [television] shows that do text voting, like 'Dancing with the Stars,'” he says.

One of textMyCity's legal clients, Peter Rosenzweig of Marks & Rosenzweig in Philadelphia, first heard about the service through a fellow Philadelphia attorney ' Danny Cevallos ' who not only subscribes to textMyCity, but represents the company as well.

Rosenzweig says his firm was drawn to the service's potential to reach clients when they aren't at a computer. The firm plans to advertise its textMyCity code on its new Web site.

“You constantly have to make yourself noticeable and visible to the public, and this is just another way to do it,” he says.

Praise from the few firms using mobile marketing aside, Jennifer Smuts, current president of the Legal Marketing Association's Metro Philadelphia chapter and marketing director at Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz in Wilmington, DE, says it might take the rest of the legal community longer to embrace such a radical departure from traditional marketing tools.

“I don't know any firms that don't use e-mail or have a Web site of some sort.” Smuts says. She adds, though, “that as far as getting savvy with regards to Web 2.0 and networking, we still have a ways to go.”

See an intriguing ad for a law firm but no pen and paper on hand? Joseph Mitchell, president of textMyCity, is hoping that soon you'll reach for your cell phone.

TextMyCity, which Mitchell started seven months ago, is part of a new movement pushing for marketing strategies built around technology. Mitchell's service uses text messaging to advertise and spread information, also known as “mobile marketing.” With textMyCity, companies sign up to become members and are issued a tag; when an interested person sees a member company's ad and sends a text message to textMyCity with the tag, the service sends the customer back a text message with contact information.

New Technologies

“People use mobile marketing as a way of engaging with the client to effectively give them instant information,” Mitchell says. “People may not want to communicate with them directly straightaway, but what they might want to do is retain the information for later.”

So far, Mitchell says more than 50 companies have joined textMyCity, which charges clients a monthly fee and a five-cent charge per text. Just two of his clients are law firms, though he is “in discussions with a few more.”

Many legal marketers predict that law firms ' which, they say, are notoriously resistant to new technology ' will be slow to pick up on mobile marketing. Still, text messaging is just one of several new marketing tools available and, depending on how tech-savvy they are, many law firms are taking notice.

Obermayer Rebmann Maxwell & Hippel overhauled its entire Web site, in part to increase its chances of being found during a Google search by a potential client. This technique is known as “search engine optimization.”

“Most people in business to make money do care about being found by Google,” says Jason Lisi, founder and owner of Legal Internet Solutions Inc., the company Obermayer Rebmann hired to manage the retooling of its Web site.

To make a Web site “popular” on Google and thus more easily found, Lisi says that a firm's important information must be in text form ' no Flash graphics. When other sites link to the company's site, it improves its chances of being found, he says, so he works on that as well.

Size Matters

The size of a firm often determines how willing it is to embrace new marketing technology.

The appeal of the Internet when it comes to legal marketing is undeniable, says Micah Buchdahl, a Philadelphia legal marketing consultant. He noted that, unlike traditional legal marketing techniques, which usually involve printed brochures and annual mailings, the Web easily allows for information to be sent out and changed at a moment's notice.

Although he usually works with large to midsize firms, Buchdahl says that when working with a small plaintiffs firm, he has started using certain Web sites to promote the firm, including the online marketplace Craigslist, professional networking site LinkedIn, and social networking sites MySpace and Facebook.

For firms willing to move beyond the Web, some see mobile marketing as the next big thing.

Scott Delacourt, legal counsel for the Mobile Marketing Association and a partner at Wiley Rein in Washington, DC, says that while he hasn't seen many firms take advantage of text messaging, as a marketing tool it has potential.

“A lot of law firms do regular [e-mail] alerts to their existing client base, and the mobile space is very adaptable to that,” Delacourt says. He adds that if a firm ever needed to communicate breaking news, for example, text messaging would be the best way to reach clients at all hours.

Ethics Concerns

Some worry that using technology that reaches clients beyond the workplace opens the door to ethnical concerns. Buchdahl warns that while using mobile marketing to send relevant information to current clients is OK, buying a list of cell phone numbers and mass distributing a marketing message “would likely land you in hot water.”

Mitchell says he believes textMyCity avoids such issues since the service isn't for random solicitation. Instead, he says it aims to give consumers an easy way to access information when they see an ad or promotion for a company ' or law firm ' in which they're interested.

“We're just commercializing habits put into place by [television] shows that do text voting, like 'Dancing with the Stars,'” he says.

One of textMyCity's legal clients, Peter Rosenzweig of Marks & Rosenzweig in Philadelphia, first heard about the service through a fellow Philadelphia attorney ' Danny Cevallos ' who not only subscribes to textMyCity, but represents the company as well.

Rosenzweig says his firm was drawn to the service's potential to reach clients when they aren't at a computer. The firm plans to advertise its textMyCity code on its new Web site.

“You constantly have to make yourself noticeable and visible to the public, and this is just another way to do it,” he says.

Praise from the few firms using mobile marketing aside, Jennifer Smuts, current president of the Legal Marketing Association's Metro Philadelphia chapter and marketing director at Connolly Bove Lodge & Hutz in Wilmington, DE, says it might take the rest of the legal community longer to embrace such a radical departure from traditional marketing tools.

“I don't know any firms that don't use e-mail or have a Web site of some sort.” Smuts says. She adds, though, “that as far as getting savvy with regards to Web 2.0 and networking, we still have a ways to go.”