<b><I>Marketing Tech:</I></b> Five Digital Marketing Trends That Affect You

The key to your digital marketing is in your hand. Mobile phone usage now accounts for 51% of all time spent on digital media. And smartphones and tablets combined equal 69% of all time spent on digital media, according to comScore.

Today's digital marketing is happening on mobile devices. Viewing law firm marketing through this mobile lens makes decisions easier concerning SEO, content marketing, social media, podcasting, webinars, email outreach, blogging, video and downloadable content.

1. The Mobile Web

The average person spends two hours and 51 minutes per day on a mobile device, and 35% of smartphone users check their phones more than 50 times per day, according to AdWeek. This means that your most visible marketing initiative, your website, will be seen primarily on a 2½-inch by 5½-inch screen.

Check your site now on your cell phone. Does your website look like a giant document crushed down to an unreadable, tiny display? Worse yet, does it display a boring, boilerplate listing of practices, profiles and addresses?

The optimum approach is to create a mobile moment for visitors. For a large-firm example, see Sidley.com, which has a 2:25-minute video intro, another about pro bono, and a story about its China practice. For a small-firm example, see www.Manzurilaw.com, a four-woman firm with a cannabis practice. Marketing by educating, the site explains the new California recreational marijuana law, marijuana crimes and cannabis businesses licenses.

Having a quick loading time is essential. Most mobile site visits are abandoned if it takes longer than three seconds to load, according to DoubleClick. However the average mobile web page is 2.5 MB, which takes 12 seconds to display. Smart marketers create mobile pages that are a tiny 1,000 bytes, optimize images for mobile and reduce Java-Script.

If your firm has a significant content marketing plan, you may want to look into Google's Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), which involves special HTML coding for mobile phones, mobile JavaScript and a unique content delivery network. See http://selnd.com/2jXdr7d.

2. SEO and Content Marketing

Seventy-two percent of marketers say that relevant content creation is the most effective SEO tactic, and I'm one of them. The goal of SEO is to get your website to rank high in search results. The way to achieve this is with content.

Yet many law firms fall prey to SEO weasels, who claim quick results from on-site optimization and off-site link-building tactics. They use obsolete practices like sending press releases with the website address, violating Google rules by using content farms, getting devalued links from directories, contriving link trading offers, and fabricating performance reports. That's why the only time I hear lawyers talk about SEO is when they complain that it isn't working or that it costs too much.

Smart law firms get SEO results by building their web content organically — by uploading abundant, comprehensive answers to client questions. A good example is http://www.shouselaw.com, the site of California criminal defense attorneys whose website has a Crimes A-Z library, and a list of crimes by Code section. The site has 4,650 pages indexed by Google. It generates bountiful business for the law firm.

Blogging is another highly effective approach. Fifty-three percent of marketers say blog content creation is their top inbound marketing priority, according to Hubspot. And it's true that the more you blog, the more clients you get. Seventy percent of firms that post two to three blogs per week say they have acquired customers from their blogs. Put another way, firms that published 16-plus blog posts per month got 4.5 times more leads than companies that published 0-4 posts per month.

Kinerk, Schmidt & Sethi, a five-lawyer personal injury firm in Tucson, AZ, has a frequently updated blog covering everything from the Equifax data breach to fixing potholes at http://www.azinjurylaw.com/blog. The firm also has 2,240 pages on its website indexed by Google. As a result, the firm appears on the first page of Google search results for “Insurance Bad Faith Claims in Tucson,” one of its key practice areas.

A vibrant blog will increase a law firm's visibility, bolster its reputation and communicate the firm's expertise. Business-to-business buyers want content with input from thought leaders, and they'll read three to five pieces of content before contacting your firm. A current blog is the best way to deliver.

3. Social Media

Many law firms have social marketing initiatives. These same firms also waste money in other ways, on charity event tables, advertising in college sports programs, and buying ads in the yellow pages. It's also true that mobile users waste a lot of time on Facebook. However, social media ranks at the bottom of “most valued content created by law firms,” according to the Greentarget and Zeughauser Group survey of in-house corporate counsel. Only 4% of corporate clients pay attention to law firm tweets and Facebook updates. If you need to be convinced, read Jayne Navarre's manifesto, “Law Firm Social Media Is a Waste of Time, and Here's Why.”

4. Webinars and Podcasting

I'm a big fan of webinars, which are the digital equivalent of lunch-and-learn programs. They are excellent vehicles to gather email addresses from engaged attendees. But it's a technology that's been around since the 1990s, and webinars don't display well on little mobile screens. Only 13.5% of high-growth businesses have a significant investment in conducting webinars, according to the Hinge Research Institute.

The hot new trend is podcasting. One in four Americans has listened to at least one podcast in the past month, according to Edison Research — up from 21% a year earlier. 69% of monthly listeners say they tune in on a mobile device, subscribing to one to five podcasts.

Part of the reason is that traditional radio is losing its audience, especially now that it is a toxic mix of advertising and classic rock. Today's listeners want on-demand content while driving or exercising. It's easy to play a podcast over a car's speakers or earbuds.

I personally enjoy the New York Times podcast, “The Daily,” to catch up on local politics in a podcast by reporters from the local newspaper. The best podcasts are not one-person broadcasts — instead they are regular shows that present an interview or a conversation.

Another advantage of podcasts is that they don't require a lot of production to create a high-quality recording. All an attorney needs is a studio microphone and Camtasia software. For inspiration, search for podcasts on iTunes or Google Play.

5. Email Marketing

Sixty-three percent of B2B marketers say that email is the top channel for producing revenue gains in digital marketing, according to Demandwave. Research from Hinge and TEKsystems also bears this out. Most marketers use mass email blasts to stay in touch with clients and prospects. Mobile fits into this initiative nicely: Two-thirds of emails are read on either smartphones or tablets, according to Marketing Land.

Law firms should invite website visitors to give their email addresses in exchange for informative email updates. The idea is to start a relationship and nurture it, because a visitor may not be ready today to retain the firm. To get that email address, offer something useful in exchange. The best option is a downloadable e-book. People like educational e-books, and in fact, 61% of books now sold on Amazon.com are in that category.

An e-book can be a concise, highly designed, 10-page PDF document. As an example, in exchange for an email address, Attorneygrossman.com offers a 23-page e-book, “Does Every Divorce Need a Shark?” Bellevue trialattorney.com offers a 1,000-word e-book “7 Things You Need to Know Before You Choose a Personal Injury Attorney.”

Writing “drip” email campaigns is an art form. They begin with a friendly introduction, proceed with messages containing practical information, and gradually ramp up with stronger calls to action.

To turn a website into a business development machine, law firms can use marketing automation systems like Marketo, Salesforce and Infusionsoft to automatically send a series of pre-written messages.

Next Steps

Mobile commerce comprises 30% of all U.S. ecommerce, according to Internet Retailer. Capturing a piece of that business involves a mobile-friendly website, content building, frequent blogging, podcasting and email relationship-building. After you've contacted your ride via Uber and have answered your texts, take a minute to explore the web as your clients do. When they find your firm on their cell phone, make the visit worth their while.

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Larry Bodine is the Senior Legal Marketing Strategist for Law Lytics–Legal Marketing Suite, and is a member of Marketing the Law Firm's Board of Editors. Reach him at [email protected].