Internet Online Search Marketing for Law Firms

How Solicitors Can Generate Client Referrals Through Online Networking

Networking, we're all familiar with the principal perhaps even if we don't engage in it.

Networking is not just about turning up at chamber of commerce lunches and passing around business cards.

Networking is about creating a professional network for yourself, for reasons of lead generation, service fulfilment or service procurement.

Now Internet marketing is all fabulous but fundamentally 'there's nothing new under the sun'.

By that I mean that any effective Internet marketing technique is a web version of a traditional marketing activity (typically).

• Email marketing replaces the traditional newsletter
• E-Shots replace the traditional mailing campaigns
• Online advertising replaces traditional print advertising
• and social networking sites replace traditional networking practice

Now when I talk about social networking for businesses at speaking and training events the initial reaction I see in people faces is 'You mean like MySpace and Facebook? Isn't that for kids?'.

My answer to that is it’s for everyone; it's just that kids were smart enough to see the benefits and not hesitate to start using it.

Now unfortunately, in business and particularly in the traditional industry of legal services things happen much lower.

However this is due to the people in the industry rather than the industry itself.

We've got varying degrees of clients of different levels of Internet savvy. Now their all obviously much more Internet savvy since they've been working with us but even the one's that struggle with the detail only really concern themselves with the equation of Investment vs. Return.

The idea of networking online and the fact that some people have it in their heads that online networking is only for kids, I'd draw your attention to sites like Ecademy and LinkedIn.

These are two online networking websites aimed specifically at the business community. Their features and tools are designed to facilitate the interconnections that exist between people and businesses.

These sites can even map your network so you can see how much of a small world it really is. I think it was the founder of the BNI or BRE organisation that said you're only 6 connections away from anyone you could want to meet.

This means that all those people you met at chamber of commerce events etc could have known someone who knew someone who could have been the biggest client you ever took on but they never knew who you were.

Even if you're the owner of a magic circle firm and you're reading this, they may have known of you because of your brand awareness in the marketplace but they may have just chosen another firm out of convenience.

Using sites like LinkedIn means if you were trying to get into a particular company you could search your network to find the person closest to them and then by way of a series of introductions, got yourself right in front of the very person you wanted.

The best bit about this approach is that they'll be far more receptive to you due to the close contact who introduced you.

In addition to that you will have been able to do your homework on that person first.

Get started today but visiting by LinkedIn profile:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisconey

Labels: ecademy, generating client referrals, linkedin, social networking

posted by Chris Coney BSc at 14:31