Podcast Ep. 23: Bob Ambrogi on Legal Technology, Blogging and Social Media

 

Bob is a lawyer and media consultant and former editor-in-chief of the National Law Journal. He was one of the pioneers in legal blogging. He founded the popular law sites blog 15 years ago and is one of the leading voices on legal technology, social media, and the internet. In addition to practicing law, Bob co-hosts the award-winning Lawyer2Lawyer podcast, the longest-running legal podcast. Bob has won many awards for his excellence in legal journalism, the most recent being the prestigious Yankee Quill Award For Journalism. Blog: Law Sites | Twitter: @bobambrogi

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Shownotes

Legal tech is a rapidly changing field with a growing number of legal technology startups offering innovative products and services. Lawyers that see problems or gaps in tech are starting their own companies leading to a new democratization of web technology. Law firms can now choose to work with a large variety of viable products from both big and small tech companies. In the last few years, the legal research sector has also grown with companies like Judicata and Casetext offering new resources to lawyers. These innovations have all made it a fascinating time to be involved with legal tech.

How are firms responding and adapting to new marketing technologies?

Firms are beginning to understand the power of data in marketing. To quote Peter Druker, “What gets measure, gets managed.”

Even though legal marketing has been traditionally relationship driven, a lot of marketing is also based on instinct, and increasingly, data, which is why firms are starting to evolve their marketing strategies as new technology becomes available. This is true for solo and small firms as well as large firms. 

Marketing analytics can help law firms be more efficient with their marketing budget and yield more meaningful results. We’re seeing more services like Lex Machina which provide legal analytics and competitive intelligence for firms for any number of reasons including legal marketing, making analysis and decision-making more fact based and data driven.

Marketing advice for new companies that provide legal services and products

Knowing your audience and listening to your audience is the key for legal tech startups. Just because you think you have a good idea, doesn’t mean it’s going to be one that has practical implications.

The most successful startups are the ones where the executives talk to people all the time. It’s essential to go to legal tech or bar conferences whether you exhibit or not. Relationships still matter in the legal industry. Speaking with your audience isn’t just for networking opportunities; you’ll be able to ask what your audience wants and tailor your products to their needs.

How can lawyers maintain an energy and passion for consistent blogging?

Perfect is the enemy of good. Blogs don’t need to be overworked, they just need to be posted.

The two hardest parts about blogging are coming up with the ideas and finding time to write them down.

Establish a writing routine. Track topics and favorites sites on RSS aggregators like Feedly. Keeping up to date with industry news can help you generate your own blog topics.

On lawyers using social media

Be yourself on social media and figure out how you want to use it. Lawyers should make social part of their daily routines and get comfortable with it.

As with blogging and creating podcasts, it’s important for lawyers to develop their own voice through social media.