[00:00:00] Speaker A: And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Welcome to Biz Talk. I'm your host, Emily Galindo. And today we are diving into one of the most competitive industries, law. In a crowded legal market, many firms struggle to stand out even when they're offering excellent services.
Joining me is Marilyn Jenkins, a digital growth strategist and founder of Law Marketing Zone. Marilyn has been building strategic digital marketing plans since the early 90s, helping law firms scale with paid ads, SEO, and Google business profiles. Her strategies have led to incredible success with some clients surpassing seven figure revenues and achieving over 14x ROI. Marilyn, those are impressive numbers. Thank you so much for joining us with your expertise today.
[00:00:51] Speaker C: Thank you. I'm excited to be here.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Very good. I mean, let's start with something I think that all of the law firms that are going to be watching today, or any law firm can, can relate to, and that is that it is a blend.
It's a very competitive market, obviously, but often we have to blend. Struggling with communication, with their unique value in a crowded marketplace. How do we convey all of those things?
So why is that the case? Why do so many law firms struggle to stand out even though they graduated top of their class, they've done all of these things or provide a great service?
How is, what's the struggle in communicating that to their potential clients?
[00:01:31] Speaker C: I think a lot of it has to do with law. For the law school training. It's, it's precise, it's very professional. It's the recommendation, their degrees and that sort of thing. So they get on that as opposed to their message and being approachable. And so I think softening the message, becoming that law firm that people know and trust is what would be the difference.
[00:01:57] Speaker B: I couldn't agree more. I've consulted in my previous career with lots of lawyers and they do tend to hang a lot on the degree and where they went to law school and those types of things. But as it turns out, they don't teach business in law school.
[00:02:13] Speaker C: That's right. That's right. It's all about credentials. And when you're, when your messaging starts with that, it just doesn't resonate with, with every, an everyday person.
[00:02:21] Speaker B: So. And that would be, would you consider that the biggest mistake they make is just constantly leading with those, those statistics instead of being a, what, warm? More. More of a warm personality?
[00:02:33] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, okay, so we know you're an attorney, but what can you do for me?
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Right.
[00:02:37] Speaker C: It's the same message everybody else has is what's in it for me? What can you do for me? How can you help me? And by leading from a point of perhaps education, I think the FAQs on your website is a huge way of starting your videos, you know, and do a video for each FAQ and make yourself let people hear your voice, Let people understand who you are, that you are approachable and you're knowledgeable and how you can help them.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: Okay, so if law firms have always hung their hats on credentials and have a hard time communicating it, what would you say for them to identify? What's the first thing that they need to identify in order to create that unique value? Like, how do they even look at that internally to know what is the unique thing that they offer?
[00:03:20] Speaker C: So who is your best client? Who is the one client you want more of?
Okay, what do you do for those people? And explain it. And we're getting more and more of this when it comes to really English language questions and answers. When we're thinking about the AI and searches and people asking questions and getting answers. So if you answer questions, ask the question, answer questions like a normal person speaks before you tell your credentials, then what you're doing is you're explaining to that potential new client how you can help them. That makes sense and resonates with them.
[00:03:55] Speaker B: Okay, so I like that question, that leading. I mean, pick your best client. That's who you want more of.
[00:04:01] Speaker C: Right?
[00:04:01] Speaker B: And then start from there. And so give us an example of like a client that you've worked with that has struggled with some of this, that, and, and you were able to help them get to that messaging and transform it into a, an inviting marketing solution.
[00:04:16] Speaker C: Well, we had a, have a estate planning attorney. And the problem was, is everything was about her accomplishments and everything on her website, but not about what she could do for people. And estate planning right now is amazing because you've got, you know, the sandwich generation on Facebook, you've got the older, you know, they're taking care of their, their parents and all of this. So it's a great time to be out there and explain these things. So what we did is we got together with her and helped her make a series of 10 videos all at one time. So it was batch creation that we could use over time. And for ads, that was literally an interview type situation.
So someone behind the camera would ask her a question. This is with an iPhone, by the way. Simple, simple.
Ask her a question which is one of her FAQs, what's the top 10 questions you get asked by all your, your clients or potential new clients? And so she would restate the question and answer the question in a very conversational tone, looking at her camera, talking to the person through the camera, not talking to the camera. And those worked phenomenally. And that made a massive difference in the types of traffic she was getting or the type of contact forms and leads that she was getting through her ads and her website.
[00:05:26] Speaker B: Those are wonderful. I mean, in terms of being able to see the showcasing the personality of the attorney. What would you say to attorneys watching right now that would say, I spent, you know, four years and $100,000 on my education. I'm not going to give away that advice for free on two social media platforms?
[00:05:47] Speaker C: Okay, then you can answer questions so it doesn't have to be all the details. Here's a fill in the blank form. But if someone wants to know why would I need a living trust as opposed to just a will?
Well, I can Google that answer. But if you're my local attorney, I would like to hear it from you. Because when I go to Google or Bing or anything and and search or even chat GPT and say who's a good estate planning attorney near me? They're going to look close to me. And if you've got videos answering my questions without giving me anything for free, hello. But you could always have a lead magnet like a checklist or something like that that would encourage me to reach out to you to actually fulfill it. That's the way you want to go about it.
[00:06:31] Speaker B: Would you say that showcasing those types of videos is more of a creative marketing solution or do you think it serves better in directional marketing? Right? Directional marketing being like somebody's going out looking for an estate planning attorney near me to your previous example, or do you think that they are more effective in maybe creating interest in educating the public to want to use estate planning attorneys? Like maybe some people don't even know that they need it.
[00:06:56] Speaker C: I think both right now with where we're moving in with search and AI and how those things are working, AI search results on Google, when someone says do I need an estate planning attorney? And it comes up your closest to them, you may be in there if you've got those videos. And then of course the text on the page that says exactly the same thing, you can use these for two education through your social media education on your website under resources as well as for ads if you wanted to do that. So these same videos that Batching content. These same videos can have multiple uses.
[00:07:33] Speaker B: And this may be getting a little too technical for our audience. But because I happen to be a digital marketing nerd and I love this topic, could you let our audience know from your expertise about the SEO because SEO side of the planting like a YouTube educational video on your website and how that can maybe help on the Google performance?
[00:07:54] Speaker C: Absolutely. So everything's connected, right? Your Google business profile, if You've got a YouTube channel and your website, you want to make sure everything is linked together and you share the same information out there.
And whenever Google looks for. So say you ask that question and I ask the question and there's an estate planning attorney just down the street from me. Google and Google's AI is going to look at their website, the Google business profile and their YouTube channel to see if they are reputable enough to be in that AI search results.
And then they. You have a good opportunity of being in there and being linked at that point. Otherwise you may be in the general search results results as well for that. So it helps on all fronts. The nice thing about it is if you put that video on your website, you should have the English question, okay. The natural language question and a summary of the answer with the video on the same page that where you're feeding all the engines at the same time.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: That is a wonderful piece of advice.
To be able to have the title and a fully well done description makes a huge difference in the performance of what the video and the performance on Google will do.
Also, do you have any advice on on still photos and the titling of what those should be? Should it be photo one when I upload it to my website?
[00:09:17] Speaker C: No. And I hate it when people you see the images as image14945jpg. That says nothing.
The easiest, the best thing to do is to rename your image to what it's talking about. And that should be a keyword that you want to rank for. And then of course the alt text on your and that's if somebody hovers their mouse over the the image a little text will show up and you want that to be a keyword as well. And you want to do the same thing for that image to be put on your Google business profile. And hopefully you took the image with your camera with location services turned on. So the latitude and longitude shows your office or somewhere near your office. So that's relevant in that particular area.
[00:10:01] Speaker B: Marilyn, you have already given them so many secrets away today. And our audience appreciates that. If people wanted to actually work with you and learn more from you. How could they get ahold of you?
[00:10:12] Speaker C: The easiest way is to go to lawmarketingzone.com and you can book a call with me there, a 15 minute call. And we can just chat and see what your goals are and how we can help you reach them.
[00:10:22] Speaker B: Wonderful. Well, if you'll stick around with us, we have more questions for you. So we'll be right back. And up next, Marilyn shares why so many lawyers are afraid of marketing and how to overcome that fear with confidence. So we'll be right back.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: We are just getting started. Stick around and we'll be right back with more lessons, insights and behind the scenes stories from the people driving real business forward. You're watching Biz Talk only on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward.
[00:10:59] Speaker B: Welcome back to Biz Talk. Want more of what you're watching? Stay connected to Biz Talk and every NOW Media TV favorite live or on demand anytime you like. Download the free Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and unlock non stop bilingual programming in English and Spanish on the move. You can also catch the podcast version right from our website at www.nowmedia.tv. from business and news to lifestyle and culture and beyond, NOW Media TV is a streaming around the clock. Ready whenever you are.
Welcome back. I'm here with Marilyn Jenkins. And now we're digging into something many attorneys struggle with the fear of marketing themselves. For some, it feels unprofessional or uncomfortable, but Maryland has strategies to make it authentic and empowering. So thank you, Marilyn, for staying with us and answering some more questions about how to help lawyers communicate that authentic voice for our viewers.
[00:11:53] Speaker C: Absolutely. I'm happy to be here.
[00:11:55] Speaker B: So, Marilyn, why do so many attorneys make it or think that marketing is uncomfortable or it's promoting themselves or what's their hang up with that?
[00:12:07] Speaker C: Some states have some interesting rules when it comes to the Bar association for advertising. And so they misconstrue those and make them word very broad. The other thing is what I've heard is that some feel like they're giving an opinion and talking about what you do is not giving an opinion on a case.
So it's like any business can give their, you know, discuss what they do. And that's simply all you're doing is discussing what you do. When you sit down with a potential new client, what do you talk to them about.
You're going to talk generally about what you do and how you can help them. That's all we're doing. That's what's going to make you known and make people know, like, and trust you.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: So, Marilyn, I would love to dive a little bit into, I know that you're, I mean, there's different laws in different places, but in the general sense, talk a little bit more about what they think they're hearing versus what they're actually saying and how we can bridge the gap. Because I've heard lawyers use, have some concerns about the ethics of self promotion and things like that, but that's not really what, at least here in Texas, it's not what the law actually says. There's just some, some guidance around the ethics of it also. Could you dive a little bit more deeper into that?
[00:13:19] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, you're right. It's just it. People think it. Think too much into it for the most part. Most bar associations say you can't say I'm the best, I'm the number one and a. You can never guarantee a case. Right. You can't guarantee outcomes of a case. So you don't have to say those things. There's no reason for any attorney to say those things. It's not like I'm, you know, the number one restaurant in, in Dallas. Right. So just simply talk about what you do.
And if you've got a number of cases that you could say, I've, I've had a 1500 criminal cases dismissed and you can back that up, that's not an outrageous claim.
But you don't want to make outrageous claims. You want to simply discuss what you do. And if you don't tell us what you do, we don't really know. I mean, do you think people understand, like if you did ads for a, say, a family law firm?
They don't always. The public doesn't always see that as child support, child custody, alimony, power, any of those things. But if you advertise in certain parts of the country, a divorce attorney, we can get all of those things underneath that. So sometimes it's a colloquialism. So just talk about what you do. It's not an opinion. You're not making bragging rights. You're just simply saying what you do and explaining to your potential new customer what you do and do.
[00:14:41] Speaker B: You advise your clients to not brag, but report. Right. About their success rates or report on the outcomes of specific cases. I mean, not specific, but like in terms of. We do really well with father's rights or, you know, exactly those types of things.
[00:15:01] Speaker C: And it's like, with. Yeah, exactly. It's like with workers comp and personal injury. You see it all the time on personal. Personal injury, you know, $1.5 million for this accident and they never give the details of the accident. But if I'm looking for a personal injury or maybe a workers comp attorney, and I know, I feel like I have a case, I want to know that you have performed for other people. I may not be able to talk to those people because it's just part of the case is not going to be out there. But if I know that. Okay, he's got, you know, a hundred reviews on, on Google and she's got, you know, she's saying she's done all of these different cases and it's just, just the settlement alerts, those kinds of things, just results. I'm going to find a lot more confidence in reaching out to that attorney.
[00:15:46] Speaker B: Absolutely. That's how you build the trust that you were referencing earlier. Right. Is that you showcase that you've been successful before and that's. I might be able to trust that you can do that again for me.
[00:15:56] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: So one of the questions I had for you was, do you. Do you think that they think. Do you believe that lawyers think that it's awkward to market when you're working with them in video or writing these things about them and bragging? Do you feel like that's their feeling, is that it's awkward?
[00:16:15] Speaker C: Yes, a lot of them do, absolutely. And I think it's across the board with people. You're either comfortable in front of the camera or not. But yeah, I think that's a big part of it. It's like my job is to represent you and go to court, not to sit here camera. And it's just weird. I mean, it's. You got to get it through your. Your brain that you're not talking to a camera. Talk to that next person that needs you and you're sharing how you can help them and it's as simple as that. And everybody's going to be awkward in the beginning. It's just how it is. You just have to keep doing it. You know, if I went back and looked at some of the first videos I did a few years ago, I'm sure it cringe, but that's just the way it is. You just got to keep going and keep practicing and just stay on brand, stay on your message and just get it out there what you and how you can help people?
[00:17:02] Speaker B: Yeah. Is that part of the process? I mean, and yes, to be. I mean, I'm on camera right now, so are you. But we could all go back and go, this is. That was. I was still learning and feel very awkward.
But do you think, are those some of the questions that you help them realign with their messaging is why did you get into this field? Why are you doing this? Who are we trying to help? I mean, people who would hire you, I'd assume are doing it. I mean, people go into law because they love what they do. They love the law, but they don't love sales.
Right.
[00:17:35] Speaker C: And so what we do is we help them with scripts. And you would never want them to sit here and read the script. Okay. But it's their messaging. So if you can help them get their head around the messaging and how to get that out, it makes it so much easier because I think one of the biggest problems is when you say, okay, can you send me a 15 second video telling me what you do now? It's a, it's a whole thought process. It needs to go through planning and staging and it's like, no, no, no, let's just do this. And so we'll send like say six or eight scripts of different things we would like from them and they can actually record them all one morning, or they can choose two or three to do and make it pretty simple. But we can help them with scripting as well.
Okay.
[00:18:18] Speaker B: And when you are having them do those videos, do your clients typically like for you to be on the camera or on another computer watching them and helping them and providing coaching, feedback, or do they do the video, send it to you, and then you provide feedback and have them do it again? How does that work?
[00:18:33] Speaker C: Yeah, most of them, what we'll do is we'll have a zoom call and we'll just chat about it. And if they want to speak, do the video right there, then we can slice out their half and make that their own video. Right.
And then I've got the client that would do that will use their iPhone. They'll set it up and they will do it and send it to me and say, is this what you had in mind?
And it's perfect. You know, we can do the, the intro, the outro, or any of the, the gosh, what's the word for the text over the phone number? That sort of thing. So we can. We do the full video editing in house and. But yeah, I mean, just make it simple. It's. It's kind of like it needs to be organic. Let's make it comfortable for you. Are you comfortable with me coming on here and asking you questions and then just cutting out your half of the zoom? And we use that and we can have you for that. For YouTube ads, your website, any of that kind of stuff, or if you prefer to do it yourself and we do a little bit of back and forth, that's fine as well. The fact that you're doing it is a massive step forward because most of your competition is not doing it.
[00:19:32] Speaker B: That right there is, I think, huge and key for our audience to pay attention to is that it, while it may feel awkward and it may feel braggy and all the things, but everybody's feeling that way. So if you can get out of that, you're going to make yourself immediately stand out because not. No, not a lot are doing it right.
[00:19:48] Speaker C: That's right.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: Give me a story of your most awkward client that you were able to get to the, to the other side of it and be really proud and see amazing results from that.
[00:20:00] Speaker C: I would say I'm going to go back to the estate planning. It was, it was interesting that this attorney just could not seem to string together a sentence. She kept second guessing everything she was saying until we made it a conversation. And I totally understand that because you, you don't want to sound like an idiot and you should just sound like yourself. But she couldn't get the words out in that she wanted to say and she didn't feel like she. It was, it was flowing well. So when we made it a conversation, it was so smooth, it worked so well and it was so relatable.
[00:20:34] Speaker B: And so that's. And what about the results? What kind of impact did that make on the business?
[00:20:39] Speaker C: More traffic through the Google business profile and more clicks on our website.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: Okay. And so is she reporting?
[00:20:45] Speaker C: Definitely, yeah. We made, we also used it for meta ads, so Facebook and Instagram and it improved her results all around.
[00:20:54] Speaker B: That's. I mean, and that's the job, right? That's what they hire you to do.
[00:20:58] Speaker C: That's the point.
[00:20:59] Speaker B: Yeah. Right. And so if we've got other viewers who would like to have those similar results, how can they get ahold of you?
[00:21:06] Speaker C: You can reach
[email protected] you can see the services we provide and you can fill out that form right there and book a 15 minute call with me. We can talk about what your goals are and see how we can help you do that.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: Wonderful. And stick with us because we are going to have Marilyn answering More questions coming up, how to build trust with your clients before they ever step into your office. We'll be right back.
[00:21:29] Speaker A: We are just getting started. Stick around. And we'll be right back with more lessons, insights and behind the scenes stories from the people driving real business forward. You're watching Biz Talk only on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: Welcome back to Biz Talk. I'm continuing my conversation with Marilyn Jenkins of the Law Marketing Zone. And this time we are focusing on building trust before the first consultation. Because in law, credibility is everything and clients often decide who to call based on the trust they feel before the first meeting. So thank you, Marilyn, for talking with us about this topic. I couldn't agree more.
That would you say that credibility and trust is the reason people's websites get clicked on or the phone call happens from the potential client before they even pick up the phone?
[00:22:27] Speaker C: Absolutely. And I would even back up one step further. If someone's searching for something like think the last time you were you're shopping for something, you googled it, right?
So when the when they are shopping for something, divorce attorney near me, workers comp attorney near me, something like that, they're going to look at the Google business profile and the map and that's where they're going to make their first calls from. So you want to make sure you've done everything you can to rank in that map, pack in the keywords and the services that you want to that you start, that you provide.
[00:22:58] Speaker B: And so what would you say is the most important thing to get that right or at least start building in that direction?
[00:23:04] Speaker C: The most important thing is that the name is exact, the actual legal name of your business. And the second is your category. If you have lawyer and law firm, yawn. Everybody that's a lawyer is a lawyer in a law firm. But if you are a divorce attorney, if you are a personal injury attorney, if you be specific, you can choose multiple categories. When you set up your Google business profile, put them in priority order. The cases that you want, everyone you choose tells Google where you should show up in the searches. And you want to make sure you choose that.
[00:23:39] Speaker B: What would you and how important are the reviews in getting them?
[00:23:44] Speaker C: The reviews are, reviews are incredibly important. And the fact that you reply to each one of those. So whether it's a good review or a bad review, you should reply to all of them. Now if you're like me, I'm going to go straight to a one star review and see how you replied. Because if you replied professionally there, then I know that you care about your future clients because you care that something, someone had a bad day and a bad review could be, I had a bad day and I left her a bad review. One of your staff had a bad day, maybe it had nothing to do with your business and I was never in there and I just left a review on something that made a mistake.
Reply Leave a reply Future clients are going to read those and see how you react, how you act towards reviews, good and bad. So it's super important to have reviews and to put it in your processes for your team that every time you finish a case or even every time you had a good consultation, ask that person for a review. And you need a process that asks them for a review three times over a certain period of time. Because the first time something's going to happen, they're going to get busy. Second time, maybe busy, the third time they're going to go, yeah, oh, I got to do that.
So not everybody's going to give you a review, but you want to be keep asking and have it in part of your business process that you do that.
[00:24:58] Speaker B: That is so, I mean it is so crucial, the information you just bestowed. Because yes, nobody, we do need to ask multiple times. I did have a recent legal, you know, interaction with an attorney and I was extremely pleased. I even wrote an email to them and expressed how pleased I was. And believe it or not, they did not ask me to give a Google review. They missed an opportunity, I would have done it, but they didn't ask.
[00:25:21] Speaker C: You got to make it simple too. I mean as simple as a QR code at the front desk. You know, they could take a picture, jump straight to the review page, make it easy, make it part of your process.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: It's important when it comes to building like, you know, consistent trust across all platforms. And you mentioned the Google Page or Google Business Profile back. It used to be called Google, but the Google Business Profile is key. That's where people go. There are other platforms though that people have been firms have been listed on or they have tried marketing solutions with. How important is brand reputation management and making sure that all of them are consistent and clean.
[00:26:02] Speaker C: Well, everywhere you're listed online, you need to have the exact same name, address and phone number. Okay. They call out their nap, right? So if Your address is 123 Main Street, Suite 200, you need to spell the word Suite exactly the same on every listing, right. Did you put a pound sign or did you use ste or did you spell the word suite out? But those need to be consistent everywhere because Google and the AIs are looking for consistency and that builds your reputation within the search. Right. So you want to make sure that you have that. And yeah, keep everything normal everywhere, exactly the same everywhere. So it all points back. It's good to have reviews around the web so you can have like on AVO and Yelp and Facebook, have a few reviews scattered around with the majority of them on Google. That would be the best way to do that.
[00:26:54] Speaker B: How many times have you had clients come to you where there are different phone numbers on different platforms and some of them don't even go to the firm anymore?
[00:27:03] Speaker C: And those types of situations, almost everyone has a problem. We run a, we run a listings report, an app report for everybody that comes through and, and we can highlight exactly what's different. Is it the street address? Is it an old phone number? Is it a abbreviated, this thing? And. Or maybe the name of the. The company was wrong. You know, so you've got something like Deborah Jenkins Law Firm or the law offices of Deborah Jenkins or something like that. What is your official name? How did you register it? That's how it should be listed everywhere. And years ago you could actually have on your Google business profile, which used to be Google my business, you know, Jenkins Law Office, when I was officially Marilyn Jenkins Law Firm LLC or something like that.
So now it needs to be official, it needs to be the real one. So I would say get a report ran that shows you where you're missing spots and go through and fix those.
Set up a spreadsheet and have it like one of your office people does, two a week. Just get everything up to date. If anything changes then now you've got that as a process. Go through that spreadsheet and update them again.
It needs to be updated. It's your reputation and how Google, the search engines and the AI engines will see that you're reputable because you have the same information everywhere.
[00:28:25] Speaker B: I was going to ask Law Office of Deborah Jenkins or the Deborah Jenkins Law Firm.
Does it really make that big of a difference when communicating to a customer that you're credible and trustworthy?
[00:28:40] Speaker C: I think it does. I mean, it's confusing, Confusing marketing. I mean, how did you register your LLC or your inc. Whatever it is, you know, your professional llc? How are you registered? If you're registered one way, why would you say it another way? And I have had clients that did that and they would buy a domain that would be like Jenkins Law Firm. And that's not the name of the business.
So it's, it needs to be what the name of your business is. And you know, if you're branded under a, a brand name, that's fabulous. Everything needs to follow that.
[00:29:14] Speaker B: I couldn't agree with you more. I mean, from this, like, we've had other experts talking about the psychology of the messaging that while it doesn't seem like it would be a big deal, but there's something in the brain that we do that makes us. It breaks down the credibility of it being different in different areas and we just don't choose them. Because you're like, I'm, I'm. If I'm confused, you're confused. It makes me confused.
[00:29:37] Speaker C: Right.
[00:29:37] Speaker B: And now I don't know if you can.
[00:29:38] Speaker C: Well, the confused mind always says no. Exactly.
[00:29:41] Speaker B: Absolutely. So what would you say is the worst case of things being out of trustworthy, out of credibility? The case that you've had in terms of a client that you've taken on that you could share with us, obviously keeping their information private, but like, where everything is just so out of whack that you. Sometimes in my career I've looked at people and gone, how are you still in business?
But do you have one of those that you've been able to repair?
[00:30:08] Speaker C: Yeah, some of those had like literally the wrong hours showing they were closed on Tuesday when they were open Monday through Friday. I mean, it was ridiculous. Having the pin in the wrong place on the address, that was something. So if someone does gets directions, they're two blocks away when they think they're at your office. So the directions button on your Google business profile is a massive, massive thing for people to be clicking on. So you want to make sure that your pen is in the right place.
But that, that's the biggest thing is making sure. And also now you've got the opportunity for services and products. So you want to make sure you fill those out. So if you're say a divorce attorney, you can have services listing child custody, alimony, prenups, any of, any of the things that you do that each one of those can be literally that two or three word in each service. So you're giving Google more things to, to search by or let them know the searches you're in there but review to make sure everything is up to date. Again, the silliness of having some somehow maybe a unfortunate, you know, maybe a bad hire or someone that left your Office went in and said you're closed on Tuesday, that's going to hurt you. How many attorneys are closed on Tuesday? They're not. They're not. So get that fixed.
People can suggest edits to Google business profile. So it's not a bad idea to pick one day a week to go and double check that nothing's changed this week. If something changed, you should have got a notification. There should have been a suggested change and you should have been notified. But making sure everything is up to date is the first and most important thing to do right now.
[00:31:42] Speaker B: Okay. I mean that because you have given us a ton of actionable things that our viewers can do to make sure that they are building that trust and credibility. But making sure you would say which is more important, replying to reviews on your Google page or making sure that everything is consistent across all platforms? Which one's most impactful to the business?
[00:32:05] Speaker C: First, your categories. Second, your reviews.
[00:32:08] Speaker B: Okay. And replying to reviews, I couldn't. We screamed that from the mountaintops. Please reply to reviews is your biggest recommendation. I couldn't agree with you more. And if I think would you agree or what do you why people don't do this? Is it because it's monotonous and they don't think it's important or do you think it's just, it's too much distraction on the business?
[00:32:32] Speaker C: I think it's, I think it's uncomfortable asking for something in return. Okay, I gave you a service, you pay me for it. Now I'm asking for more.
It's a review. You review things on Amazon, you review restaurants.
It takes five minutes for them to review you. So. But the easy, the thing is to make it easy for them. Whether it's on an email or even a postcard with a QR code or a QR code at your front desk, take them directly to that pop up window where they choose the number of stars and then type it in. Make it super, super simple. No, don't make them go to Google, search for you, find you, choose the write a review button. No, make it super simple. Ask multiple times and you'll get a lot more reviews than you expect.
[00:33:14] Speaker B: Wonderful advice. Thank you so much for that and if you will hang out with me one more time, we'll be right back. Next, Marilyn reveals how lawyers can show up online with true authority and confidence.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: We are just getting started. Stick around and we'll be right back with more lessons, insights and behind the scenes stories from the people driving real business forward. You're watching Biz Talk only on NOW Media Television.
And we're back. I'm Emily Galindo, and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media Television. Let's dive back into the conversations that move business forward.
[00:33:49] Speaker B: Welcome back to Biz Talk. Don't miss a second of this show or any of your NOW Media TV favorites, streaming live and on demand whenever and wherever you want. Grab the Now Media TV app on Roku or iOS and enjoy instant access of our lineup and bilingual programming in both English and Spanish. And if you prefer podcasts, listen to Biz Talk anytime on the Now Media TV website at www.nowmedia.tv covering business, breaking news, lifestyle, culture, and more. Now Media TV is available 24 7, so the stories you care about are always within reach.
As we close out today's episode, I'm joined once more by Marilyn Jenkins to discuss a topic that's critical in today's world. Showing up online with authority and confidence. Because in 2025, your digital presence can make or break your credibility.
So, Marilyn, the challenge that many law firms have is websites and social media that fail to reflect their true expertise. Why do so many law firms websites and social media platforms fail to inspire your confidence?
[00:34:54] Speaker C: I think some of them get tied up with the design of being fabulous. Right. As opposed to being informative and helpful. Yes. We want to know what you look like, what you sound like. We want to know your phone numbers in the top right corner so I can touch it on my phone and there's a form I can fill out. But I also want to know how you can help me and what you've done in the past. So there's some elements that should always be on your homepage. And then of course, I really believe when it comes to video, there should be an intro video on the homepage. You don't need the, you know, the top bar that has them pulled, the logo, the address, and then the, the click to call phone number on the top right. That's perfect. But the next above the fold, this huge, big photo gallery, no one wants that. No one wants to see that on your phone or on your computer. You want something that's important, that's informative. What do you do? How can you help me and how can I get in touch with you?
That would be the most important, I would think, at the, at the top of a website.
[00:35:52] Speaker B: Absolutely like that. Yes. We could end the show right there as the number one point, but we've got lots more to talk about. So how do you help lawyers show up as leaders in their field? Through online branding, coming up with that.
[00:36:06] Speaker C: Content and making sure it's all across their social medias that it's on their website and then that same content. Now the Google Business profile, Google my business didn't have as many photos and videos on it, but the Google Business profile does.
So you also have posts on your Google Business profile which you didn't have before. Now they're only on there for, I think they've changed it now and they age off in six months. But every one of these videos and maybe short articles that you talk about how you help people, what you do, I'm not telling you to give them a step by step DIY instruction, but your authority videos we've been talking about, those should be posts on your Google Business profile, those should be on your social media and they should be on your website. You want everywhere that you can be found online to show your authority and the confidence in how you can help me if I have a problem. So when I go look for you, no matter where I find you, I can see that you care. You have authority and you have the experience to help me and you've helped others. I think it's as simple as that. So looking at just have big banners on your website or on your social media is not it.
But I want to know that you also are more human. You know, maybe on your Facebook you can have some posts about someone in the office had a birthday or you did a charity event. All of those things also give me confidence that you care about your community.
So those are the types of things I would certainly recommend.
[00:37:30] Speaker B: Yes, we've had other branding specialists come on talking about the authenticity and how marketing is transitioning into that and showing that human side of your firm.
What would you say, how does consistency and constant content, you know, how does that play a role in being seen as an authority?
[00:37:51] Speaker C: It's massive, especially when it comes to your Google Business profile showing up the map pack. So we one of our SEO services, we do two articles a week for all of our clients and they are put out twice a week. So you're getting constant content on your website and your Google Business profile.
So we had one client that decided they needed to review every single thing and critique three or four times before the articles went up.
So ranking didn't improve. Slightly improved. All the things we're doing, we're getting slight improvement. Suddenly we get like 10 or 12 articles approved all at once. So we get those published the way we wanted them. Within three weeks we had a 20 set, 20 position rise in the rankings of the top six keywords this person used.
So consistent content is what makes the difference. You're putting out more detail, more educational stuff. And this is educational SEO. It's not opinions, it's not talking about cases. It's talking about what is. What do I do? It's education.
But the more content you put out, the more the search engines know what searches you should show up for. And so that's important. You can put those also as articles on LinkedIn. You can put them as posts on Facebook or Instagram and then link them back to your blog to finish reading them. It's super important that you have consistent content across the board because I'll bet your competition isn't doing it.
[00:39:20] Speaker B: I was gonna say, I mean consistently. I mean, posting helps in your SEO performance, to your point that you just made, and as well as I think it goes to our earlier point about being credible and trustworthy. If you haven't posted since 2023, are you still in business? Might be a question your potential prospects might think. Right.
[00:39:41] Speaker C: I saw one the other day. Their, their most recent post was like 2022. Seriously?
[00:39:46] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:39:47] Speaker C: Like, okay.
Do you.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: Well, what would you say to viewers who, you know, maybe know this information? They know that consistency is key and it's content.
Have you ever run across people who think that they can do it Right? I scroll social media all the time. How hard can it be to just post on a semi regular basis whenever I think of it? What has been your experience with working with clients when they have that mindset and what kind of performance do they have?
[00:40:18] Speaker C: Well, my question is, why aren't you doing it?
I'm looking at your Facebook post and you've done one in six months. But you can.
So obviously you're busy practicing law, which you should be because you're an attorney.
I wouldn't do my own divorce if I needed one. I'm going to hire the professional to do it. So the thing is, is that hire someone to do it for you. It's so important that you are found that you have an authority and you show confidence that people know what you can do for them before they pick up the phone. And it's so important you need to do it. And if that means outsourcing it to get it done and get it done consistently, consistency is the key, then outsource it.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: And we want to outsource it to somebody like an expert like yourself who can. I mean, you just said you move somebody 20 places up.
Translate that for our viewers of moving 20 places from the second page to the front page. Like what kind of impact do you think that would make or do you know on the business and the firm in terms of a bottom line?
[00:41:18] Speaker C: What happens is when you look at your Google business profile and you take your number one search, we have ways of saying, okay, search this one and find out how far down they they go. Page one is three spaces now, four years ago it was seven, so it's much smaller now. And in some locations there's an ad in there, but it'll say sponsored. So what we could find out is, okay, on this particular keyword, where do you rank in the Google Map pack? That's called the map pack. That is free placement. That is free placement. So all of the Google Business profile is free. So what we want to do is we look and see where you are and then we focus on this keyword. And when we got this content out over the course of three weeks, she went from position 28 to position 8.
Now 8 is not page one, but in three weeks she went from oblivion to closer to the top. What ended up happening is more clicks to her website. She had more clicks on directions and phone calls. So people were searching and they did go past page one. Now imagine what she would have had she been on page one.
She would have gotten those calls before anybody else.
[00:42:25] Speaker B: And she. And she can be on page one by working with you. Right, doing that consistent more content as you mentioned. So in the next three weeks she could be in those three positions to be getting those calls. Right.
And I'm also by the way Google upset with that, that we went from seven to three because I do expand. I would like more options to be able to view the reviews and things like that.
But we have to work within their rules. Right.
And you are the expert who knows those rules because it is consistently changing. So talk to me a little bit about that and what you guys do to stay on top of Google's constantly transitioning rule making of their algorithm.
[00:43:07] Speaker C: Absolutely. Well, we are in touch. We're part of the Google Advisory program. So we get all the updates when things happen.
Like in June when the big algorithm change came through, there was a period of about eight to 10 weeks that we made no major changes to any Google Business profile when it comes to categories or address update or pin drop, any of those kind of things. We do posts, but nothing that was those big three because anybody that was doing those were automatically nationwide thrown into re verification based on this new algorithm that came out. It was a good 10 week settlement before it all kind of settled out. And that was all Google. It wasn't anybody doing anything, any shenanigans with their Google business profile. It was the update. So when that update was, as we say, settled down, it was literally just another update to fix a broken piece.
Now things are working better.
So it's those things we, we stay on the cutting edge of that. We're also building out and had started last January in working with the AI and AEO and making sure that we are positioning our clients to be found in the AI summaries as well as in the answer engine optimization. You'll think of those as Siri and hey, hello Google and that sort of thing. So those are the things that we're working with as well for our clients and expanded reporting so you can see more thoroughly what your presence looks like and how it's improving on a monthly basis.
[00:44:34] Speaker B: And those are all such crucial things. I mean this goes back to your point of you wouldn't do your own divorce so you won't, you know, you want to hire an attorney. Those are the things that people I don't know if they know exist and do not have the time to stay up on are not going to get those communications from Google to preemptively know them or have the ability to rectify some of those situations and nor do they have the time. And so having somebody with an expertise as yourself is crucial in continuing to be able to show up as an authority and get that business that you're looking for from the front.
So thank you for sharing all of that with our viewers today. So if people, what kind of. Let's. Before I get you to that, tell me your ideal law firm, the type, the size, the what is your favorite kind of person to work with that you know that you can make the biggest impact on.
[00:45:26] Speaker C: Ideally a law firm that has a team or two attorneys or more. With two attorneys or more, you have that front desk people that can take and handle the leads that we're generating. So the one thing that we did is we brought in a full service bilingual call center.
So if you don't have that intake that can handle the leads that we have coming in, we can manage those and only send you qualified cases.
So that's one of the things. But my ideal client would be any business to consumer law firm with two attorneys, with a staff. And I don't mean you have to have 15 people, but you want to have someone that will follow up with the leads and understands the point of following up with leads as they come in getting those phones answered. The Better business bureau says 68% of calls coming to small businesses go unanswered. You could double your business by answering the phone. So we do that for you.
[00:46:16] Speaker B: Oh, that's an infuriating statistic that I hope our viewers heard because I know that to be true, that it's just a matter of answering the phone. And that's how some most of business gets done. So, Marilyn, if people, you will answer your phone. So if people call you, how can they get ahold of you to help with this stuff?
[00:46:34] Speaker C: The quickest way to reach me
[email protected] and book a call with me. We'll spend 15 minutes on the phone, talk about your goals, what you're looking for, where you are now, and then I'll do some research on your business, come back with the strategy call, and let's see what the plan is to get you ranking as quickly as possible or leads flowing as quickly as possible to grow your business.
[00:46:55] Speaker B: It's lawmarketingzone.com Marilyn, thank you so much for joining us today.
You've given us a ton of expert advice. So appreciate you being here.
[00:47:07] Speaker C: This is my pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.
[00:47:11] Speaker B: Today you showed us, Marilyn showed us how law firms can stand out, overcome fear of marketing, build trust from before the first consultation, and show up online with authority. So to our viewers, remember, in a crowded market, it's not enough to be good. You have to be seen, trusted, and remembered. I'm Emily Galindo and this is Biz Talk on NOW Media tv. Until next time, keep learning, keep growing, and keep building the business you want. Have a great one.
