I attended the PM Forum workshop in Manchester last week called - The Professions in a Digital Age, held at the plush offices of Pinsent Masons. There was a nice selection of speakers.
The E Word - Dan Nolan The Secret of Search - Dan explained the various areas of SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) and Social Media. More so around how these two done well, create "Earned Media". Gone are the days when SEO was just something you did to your site, it was something you NEED to do to your site. Social media is still relatively new to the legal sector, so it was refreshing to hear another person talk about this area. Link building has been an intriguing topic to discuss. Link farms are a thing of the past, well they are to Google. You need to have Thought Leadership and Authority Links through to your site. Dan's key areas around SEO were to be creative, know your audience and try a few "stunts" like the Redbull space jump.
Apadmi - Sabine Douglas - Why is there no app for that ?
I visit a lot of law firms, and get asked "do I need an app?". Some firms might construed an app for a mobile optimised site. You need to ask yourself these key questions:
- What would be the purpose of the app?
- User demographic?
- iPhone based or Android ? - a large portion of apps are Apple based.
- Simplicity, too technical and no one will use it.
- Cost - Would you download an app that is 69p or £2.99 ? A bottle of water in London is £1.50. However we question an app that might cost 1.99.
Some apps can cost from 250 to 1000s. Be sure you know the above, otherwise it could be a waste of money.
JMW - Dan Clark - Director of Marketing - Firm Case Studies
Dan gave great insight into the marketing of a law firm.
- Over 700,000 searches per day are made relating to the legal profession, these are made from mobile devices!
- Visitors will on average visit at least 3 sites before making their decision - so first impressions count!
- 35% of searches are now from mobile devices. In 2013 mobile searches over took Desktop searches!
Get the team involved, this echoed around the room. Dan holds monthly blog rotas for each team and department, this helps drive relevant content specific to their client base.
I have included my X-Mind map of the session with all the key areas. Great workshop and look forward to seeing the PM Forum team again soon.
Click here to enlarge image.