Most firms understand they are competing in a crowded marketplace. Yet many continue to send watered-down messaging that makes them blend in rather than stand out. Differentiation comes from having the guts to communicate your firm's authentic value, and to communicate it in a different way. Style is as important as substance. That is how you get noticed. And more importantly, how you get remembered. But just being brave isn't enough. There have been enough Twitter fiascos to prove that. You have to be smart, too. We'll discuss strategies for choosing the right risks to take so you get remembered for the right reasons. For more visit www.righthat.com

1. BRAVERY IN BRANDING
How to put
teeth in your
messaging
without
getting bitten
Legal Marketing Association
Southeast Chapter
May 6, 2014

2. Old paradigm
New paradigm
vs.

3. Read a blog
Read about the
firm on Connect, Legal
OnRamp, LinkedIn
Call a colleague
Do a Google
search

4. ―We’ve gone from being
exposed to about
500 ads a day back in
the 1970’s to as many
as 5,000 a day today.‖
Yankelovich Consumer Research

5. Blogs
Website
Proposals
Firm Ads
Trade
Shows
Umbrellas
Contact
with
Attorneys
Phone
System
Understand
All Your
Touch Points
LinkedIn
Sponsorship
Ads
Media
Twitter
Thought
Leadership
Contact
with
Staff
Bills
and how they all connect
Correspondence

6. Map your firm’s touchpoints
with prospects
Unidentified
Prospects
Second
Meetings
Initial
Meetings
RFP
Responses
Beauty
Contests

7. Mapping your firm’s
touchpoints with prospect
• What are the touch points for each of these
types of encounters?
• What is value-added about each encounter?
• What is the same about each touch point?
• What is different from any other firm?

8. Some practical
and brave ideas

9. Idea 1:
Kill the
passive
voice.
Enemies of
powerful writing
• Representation
• Assistance
• Development
• Implementation
• Utilization
• Requirement
• Concentration

10. Writing in a passive style
adds 30% more words but
not more meaning.

11. Idea 2:
Scrub your
home page.
Don’t misuse
valuable real
estate.

12. Typical law firm home page
ABC Law Is Pleased to Announce the Relocation of
Our Alabama Offices
ABC Law Advises Hester Oil in Relation to the
Development of a New Hydrogen Production Unit
at Georgetown Refinery, Portugal
ABC Law Expands Labor and Employment Practice
ABC Law Grows Health Industry Practice with Addition of
Former FDA Deputy, Joe Biden, to the Firm’s DC Office

13. Stronger home page mix
5 Employment Cases That Should Scare You
Joe Biden, Former FDA Deputy, Joins Firm, Bringing Deep
FDA Regulatory Insight
Should You Have Clarity in a Master Service Agreement?
Done Deal: Advised Hester Oil in $100 Million Financing
for Largest Hydrogen Production Plant in Europe
Limiting the Liability of Heartbleed Damage

15. Idea 3:
Stand out,
don’t blend in

16. Blending in
ABOUT US
Whether large or small, our clients know they can
depend on us to understand their business and
create solutions that address their specific needs.
It is our business to know and understand our
clients, their business, their current needs, and
their future plans.
We focus on building lasting relationships with
clients and gaining a thorough understanding of our
clients' businessesand industries.

17. Standing out
ABOUT US
―Every company has unique challenges – competitive
threats, financing needs, sticky contracting issues—
to name a few. Our job is to help remove some of
the pain. We work diligently to provide companies
frank and straightforward advice. Our style is to
never belabor a legal point for the mere intellectual
challenge or just because we prefer to win. Rather,
we stay hyper focused on…‖

18. Blending in
Our attorneys and advisors have experience in
virtually every area within the legal profession.
Utilizing the multidisciplinary skills of these
attorneys, the firm is able to provide full-service
legal assistance to individuals and businesses in a
full range of industries.
[The firm’s] attorneys handle a diverse range of
mattersin more than 30 areas of practice and
several additional sub-practices.
PRACTICES

19. PRACTICES
Blending in
ABC Law Litigation & Trial group is recognized as one of the most
preeminent in New England and is comprised of some of the most
experienced and successful litigators in the region. We are alumni
of several national firms, a former Massachusetts Supreme Judicial
Court Justice, a former Department of Justice prosecutor, and a
past President of the American Bar Association. We are frequently
sought out by peers, publishers, and audiences for our
knowledge and advice on developments in the law. We have also
been recognized for excellence by national ranking firms such
as Chambers & Partners, Best Lawyers, and Super Lawyers. Our
litigation practice encompasses the full range of disputes.

20. PRACTICES
Standing out
We take the tough cases—
the make or break cases where companies,
careers, and reputations are riding on the
result. True to our roots as trial lawyers, we
relish the courtroom battles. Still, whether
we go to trial, settle, or just make the
problem go away, what matters is obtaining
the best results for our clients.

21. Blending in
[Lawyer’s] practice is concentrated in representing secured
and unsecured creditors, creditors' committees and Chapter 11
debtors. He has extensive experience in bankruptcy litigation
including relief from the automatic stay, adequate assurance
issues, preferential and avoidable transfers, and plan and
disclosure statement approval.
[Lawyer] practices in the area of litigation with a focus on
bankruptcy. She represents businesses in court when
necessary and through alternative dispute resolution where
possible regarding a number of bankruptcy-related issues,
including valuation, adequate protection, lift stay rights,
reorganization objections, non-dischargeability claims, bad faith
filings, assumption of lease and executory contract questions.
BIO

22. BIO
Standing out
Whether she’s working on a $1 billion or a
$10 million deal, [she] is one of those rare
lawyers who can explain in plain English how
complicated tax rules will affect her clients’
business goals. With a steadfast focus on
achieving these goals, she helps execute her
clients’ transactions in the most tax-efficient
manner possible. This is a talent [she] has
nurtured over nearly two decades as a tax
lawyer, navigating everything from
straightforward stock purchases to the most
complicated transactions and structures.

23. Idea 4:
Write for
the
scanning
reader
People don’t read anymore
― ‖– Steve Jobs

24. Short, direct, call to action
Thought leadership Quick links;
buckets should
be flexible

25. What works.
• A hierarchy in copy
• Bolded words in a sentence
• Larger words
• Fewer words
• Sidebars and pull quotes
• Short sentences to break up long thoughts
• Shorter paragraphs

26. 8 = 8 years of formal education
Fog Index:
equates to years
of school you
need to read a
paragraph

27. Gunning Fog Index calculates:
1. Sentence length
2. Number of three syllable words
3. Total number of words
Copy and paste your text into the box below. Make sure you use complete sentences.
CALCULATE

28. Idea 5:
Pull Quotes
Engage and
breakdown walls
of words.

29. The rules.
• Not too long; one sentence is best
• It should be a big thought
• A major trend
• Or a call to action
• Contrast with text

30. Idea 6:
Use the
power of
headlines

31. 1. Energy and Environmental Bulletin: EPA
Proposes New Regulation To Decrease
Amount of Phosphorus and Nitrogen
In Florida’s Freshwater Lakes, Rivers,
Streams, Springs and Canals
Which headline do you prefer?
2. EPA Steps in with New Regs to Improve
Florida’s Freshwater

32. Headlines typically
buried at the end.
―A Momentous Step to Shrink the
Contracting Gender Gap: SBA
Strengthens Women-Owned Small
Business Program‖
―Idaho University Hit with $400,000 in
HIPPA Fines For Sloppy IT Practices‖

35. These ads
stand out, but
is it for the
right reason?

36. Idea 7:
Go out on
a limb

38. Idea 8:
Curate
Content

39. Have a point of view.
• Propose solutions
• Forecast
• Highlight trends
•Create subheads for easy scanning
– What is at risk
– Who is impacted
– What industries
– Action needed

40. Idea 9:
Be
provocative

41. See color as a tool

42. Royalty free Hell

43. Be provocative

45. Meeting Hart-Scott Rodino Threshold For
Non-Reportable Transactions Is Not Always a
Guaranteed Safe Harbor
The Hart-Scott-Rodino (“HSR”) Act contains a requirement that a
transaction that is under the regulatory threshold which is currently $75.9
million is not required to be reported in advance to the Department of
Justice or Federal Trade Commission.
To report, or not to report? That is the question!
Just because a proposed transaction does not have to be reported in
advance to the Department of Justice or the Federal Trade Commission,
because it is under the $75.6 million threshold, you are not out of the
woods. In fact, you should be losing sleep. Here’s why.

46. ―In a crowded marketplace,
fitting in is a failure. In
a busy marketplace, not
standing out is the same as
being invisible.‖
– Seth Godin

47. Elonide Semmes
207 450 0045
esemmes@righthat.com