Legal Marketing

Book Publishing Trends

Reading Books in the Digital Age Subsequent to Amazon, Google and the Long Tail. Article by Terje Hillesund, Associate Professor at the University of Stavanger, Norway, First Monday, Vol. 12, No. 9 (September, 2007).

"In the last decades, the book industry has changed and is now characterised by two (or three) opposite tendencies: Many publishing firms are united in large multinational corporations, commercialisation has increased and bookstores are concentrated in large chains, marketing the popular. At the same time, the Internet has come to constitute an immense book market, and recently Google Book Search has demonstrated the power of the Web in book content discovery and display. Search engines and online bookstores disclose and make available books no longer in stock in ordinary bookstore chains; as a result, niche markets flourish and the total sales of obscure books have grown considerably. As a binary underflow, the electronic book slowly seems to be gathering new strength.

In this article [the author presents] literature that analyses current transformations, and ... will critically examine John B. Thompson's analysis of the digitalisation of the book as presented in Books in the Digital Age from 2005. Only two years have passed, yet events already confirm [the author's] view that Thompson got most of it wrong."

Note: First Monday is an online peer-reviewed journal. Highlighting provided by Ruth Balkin.

                                          

August, 2007: Vol. 22, No. 8 - selections

CONFERENCE NEWS: Ruth G. Balkin attended the 100th annual conference of the American Association of Law Libraries in New Orleans in July. Look for more information on the programs, exhibitors, etc. in future newsletters and on our blog.

WHAT'S NEW: From Rhode Island Press: Legal information buyer's guide & reference manual, 2007 ed. by Kendall Svengalis (1 vol., $145; www.rilawpress.com). From West: Model agreements: M&A (2 vols., looseleaf, $250; www.west.thomson.com). From ISBS: Why lawyers should surf: inspiration for lawyers at work and play (1 vol., $20); Identity theft (1 vol., $39.95)(www.isbs.com).

Off the Shelf - monthly selections

Off the Shelf is a monthly bulletin on the latest news in the legal information industry and at BALKIN Information Services. We will be posting selections from this electronic newsletter. If you have comments, would like to subscribe, or contribute content, please send an e-mail to: [email protected]

Off the Shelf has been written, edited and published by Ruth G. Balkin and Susan Rubinstein, partners, Balkin Information Services, since 1968.

The Daily Record on Business Development

The Daily Record, Rochester's daily legal and business newspaper, has had several articles on business development, notably:

In the Beginning: Networking 101: Can you hear me now?, by Langston D. McFadden, Daily Record columnist (published September 4, 2007).

Law firms and legal depts. head offshore to cut costs, by Dick Dahl, Dolan Media Newswires (published August 31, 2007).

Taking good care of referral sources, Dolan Media Newswires (published August 29, 2007).

The author advises attorneys to be "proactive in cultivating ... referral relationships."  Take  referral sources to lunch. Ask them what they think of your practice and "how it serves the people they send."  Keep it simple: " We appreciate your business and thank you for trusting us to work with your clients." Ask what you can do to serve your clients better. Ask open-ended questions, such as "What are a couple of things you'd suggest I do?"

Link to The Daily Record's website for more information. If you have a subscription to the newspaper, you can view archives.

Selling and Communications Skills for Lawyers

Selling and Communications Skills for Lawyers: A Fresh Approach to Marketing Your Practice, by Joey Asher (published by ALM Publishing, Book #ALM17; softcover, one volume, 275 pages; c2005. ISBN: 978-1-58852-123-1, $29.95; www.lawcatalog.com).

Former lawyer, Joey Asher, has written a how-to guide to marketing your law practice. Although it is geared towards attorneys, many of these ideas can be incorporated into your own marketing plan.

Asher starts out by assuming that the reader (the attorney) is a competent specialist in his field. Clients will also assume this. They are more interested in what you can do for them. How can you help their business grow? Do you understand their business? In his world, word of mouth is no longer enough to guarantee growth. You must actively search out new clients and contacts. Networking is a must.

Different strategies are outlined by section. Asher uses his own experience as well as other attorneys to explain how to strike up conversations, how to talk to other business owners, what to do with business cards (collect them more than hand yours out), what to say on an airplane and an elevator. "And here's a simple rule of thumb, the Five-Foot Rule: "Thou shalt say hello to anyone who is within five feet of you."

He explores the fear of sounding like a salesman or as he dubs it, "call reluctance," and how to cold-call. What some business people feel are tried and true methods for selling - writing articles and giving seminars - are also examined.

One of the more interesting and useful chapters describes how to break down a presentation by limiting the amount of facts and ideas and how to put yourself into the listener's place. He repeatedly emphasizes that clients are interested in how much you understand their business and how you can help them grow.

The book is nicely laid out in sections that are highlighted in bold and a larger font. These make for easier reading. Although this book is really geared to attorneys in medium to large law firms, some of the marketing tips may be useful for other consultants.

Book review written by Susan Rubinstein, Partner, Balkin Information Services. Susan can be reached at 585-482-1506 or [email protected].