The Role of Meta Descriptions in Your Business

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Meta descriptions often fly under the radar for both consumers and website builders. Google has crippled their authority by excluding them from the ranking process and often simply rewriting the descriptions webmasters created for their pages. Despite all this, meta descriptions can serve a vital role in your webpage’s click-through-rate. While a bland and boring meta description can disappear like hay in a haystack, an interesting description can make a link stand out during a search.

 

What Are Meta Descriptions

For those just joining us, meta descriptions are the small blurbs that appear below the website during a search. They give a brief description of the webpage and often highlight the keywords that appear in the consumer’s search.

Meta Description
The Meta Description for Mockingbird Marketing

 

Writing a Good Meta Description

Good meta descriptions can be the difference between you or your competitor getting a new client. The recommended length of a description falls between 135-160 characters, as longer descriptions get truncated to fit into the snippet provided. Google is also more likely to replace your pre-written description with an automatically generated one of their own, often composed of the first couple lines of the page. Sometimes this is unavoidable but doesn’t mean you should give up. 

A good description is brief and attention-grabbing. It describes the purpose of the page without being a summary. Think of a mixture of a blurb on the back of a book and the way coffee beans are described (it’s never just “dark roast with nutty flavors,” it’s always “an invigorating blend grown in the heart of South America with each bean individually roasted and infused with the spirits of warriors and hints of cocoa”).  Take advantage of the fact that the consumer probably isn’t sure what they want yet. Make them want to see what you have to offer.

 

Writing a Bad Meta Description

A meta description can be bad in more ways than it can be good. It can be boring, misleading, poorly written, and/or vague. This doesn’t guarantee that your page will fail, but it won’t help. Some common mistakes to avoid when writing meta descriptions include:

  • Stuffing in too many keywords
  • Not using any keywords
  • Describing the brand instead of the webpage
  • Copy and pasting similar descriptions for different pages
  • Neglecting rich result optimization
  • Simply not writing meta descriptions

When it comes to your firm’s search results it’s best not to leave things to chance or to Google’s algorithms. Mockingbird Marketing specializes in all areas of SEO for law firms, including designing meta descriptions. Contact us to learn more about how your site could be improved, from the bottom up.

Why Law Stories are Perfect for Content

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Shareable content is the currency of the internet, and creating a viral video, story, or article is the visibility lottery few companies are able to win. Law firms tend to only win in comedic, slapstick way (think of the over-the-top local ads you may have seen on tv). This method may lead to a memorable name for consumers but doesn’t do much for credibility. As any advertiser knows to get people to see and remember the ad is one thing, getting them to purchase the product is another. That’s where it’s important to know your brand.

 

As explained by Greg Jarboe of Search Engine Journal, humor is an easy way to elicit an emotional response from a consumer. The other way to get attention is through drama and sincerity. 

 

The Type of Story You Should Tell

As a law firm, you fight to get people what they deserve every day. If you’re a personal injury lawyer you help people get back on their feet. If you’re an immigration firm you get people working and reconnected with their families. There are few things that get internet users as teary-eyed as family reunions, especially if there was a struggle involved. DUI lawyers can focus on rehabilitation after a mistake. You get it: you stand up for the little man, let the little man help you stand taller. 

 

How to Tell Your Story

Let the focus stay on your client. They are the star, and they’re who you focused on during their case. Have the story be strongly based on a true story, if not fully true. People respond to honest stories and honest struggle.

 

The Story doesn’t Have to be Universally Relatable

A very small percentage of America’s population are dogs with owners who are serving in the military. That doesn’t stop large numbers of people from crying when they watch videos of dogs reacting when their owners return from service. People connect with the feeling of reunion and relief. You, as a law firm, provide at least one of those things every time you win a case.

 

Keep It Simple

Your story has one goal: get people to know what you do and that you care about your clients’ stories. This means that it should follow a basic narrative arc, wrap up nicely, and leave the viewer knowing that your firm resolved the conflict. No need for b-plots or side characters. 

 

Designing a compelling story is the oldest art known to man, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Emotions can be complicated and, occasionally, controversial. Ask clients for their thoughts on if they would like to be featured in one of your stories. You help people every day and it’s time you showed the world the effects of your work.

If you feel like your brand needs help with advertising or digital marketing, contact us and we can discuss your options.

You Need to Improve Your Firm’s Brand Story

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So you have a good business, you treat your clients well, your firm works hard, and yet your presence is barely felt online. You’ve worked on SEO, PPC, and every other acronym your digital marketing team has thrown at you. Maybe you need to improve your brand story, for both you and your clients.

 

The Client’s Story

Unless they’ve been referred by a friend, it’s unlikely that your client will show up at your website without first doing research into their case and other lawyers. This is that client’s story you need to work on. They need to go from not knowing you, recognizing your brand, to trusting you, to converting. 

This process begins with the client researching their problem, which is when you can come in with information. This is why having an informative and accessible blog is essential. If you’re a personal injury firm, maybe your client will find a blog about settlements from trampoline-related injuries when they’re researching how common the injuries they sustained on their friend’s trampoline are. 

Once they decide to take action, they will hopefully have your brand in the back of their heads as they research local law firms. Once the name is familiar, they are more likely to look into your firm. As they’re comparing firms, you need to make sure your personal brand story stands out.

 

Your Brand Story

Remember the three arts of rhetoric: Pathos, Ethos, and Logos. That’s right, we’re going back to High School English. Consider what makes your firm different, what gives it the upper-hand. 

What brought everyone into the firm and why do you do what you do? Pull those pathos strings; get them emotionally involved.  

What makes your lawyers so good? Was it their schooling? Their years of experience? Maybe they clerked for superior court judges in their youth. Show your potential client that you have the knowledge and authority to win the case. You must wow them with your ethos.

Finally, explain why your firm is the practical option. If you’re a personal injury lawyer who only charges a contingency fee, you’re probably more practical for someone trying to repair their life that a lawyer who costs $1,200/hour. If you’re a local business you are easily accessible to anyone nearby and know all the local regulations. You are the logical option, and you need to prove it with logos.

 

What If My Story Isn’t Interesting?

Any story can be interesting if it’s told correctly. Focus on emotions where the details get dry, focus on details when there aren’t many emotions to talk about and talk about your hopes for your brand’s future when there’s not much to say about emotions or details. Every person has some motivation for being where they are, and yours and your clients’ need to align when they find your website. Whatever you do, don’t make up your story. Fabricated details and emotions are easy to sense and can push potential clients away, even if they aren’t quite sure why. People respond to honesty. 

If you need help building your brand story or increasing your brand awareness, contact us and we will help you plan a comprehensive marketing strategy.

Law Firm Branding: Bringing Brand Identity to Life

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If you made a list of all the brands you see in a day, you’d probably be surprised. Brands are everywhere. Your clothes, electronic devices, the apps on your phone, your car, the bus you take to work and the cup or mug that your coffee is in. These are all examples that currently surround me as I sit on my train heading into work.

Brand identities allow individuals to connect with your brand, recognize it and believe in it. It encompasses the visual elements of the brand. This includes items like the brand’s name and logo, typography, colors, and any design elements that help set the brand apart from competitors, especially in the minds of potential clients.

Some of the main elements included in a brand identity are:

Logo:

This is where your brand begins to physically take form. We start brainstorming and sketching ideas using all of the research that we have gathered in order to create a logo that reflects your brand image.

Color Palette:

Users connect with color. Specific colors evoke specific emotions, feelings and experiences. Choosing the right color palette for your brand is important. You want to make sure your brand exudes the correct impression to your audience.

Typography:

Similar to color, typography has meaning for your brand as it portrays the value and overall tone of your brand. There are millions of typefaces to choose from and each one can provide a specific mood. Typography also helps with brand recognition (think of Coca Cola or Disney.)

Brand/Style Guide:

This is where it all comes together. We will put all of your brand identity materials inside a brand/style guide that helps ensure consistency throughout any medium that your brand will touch.

Our Plan For Success

Our next and final step in this series is to outline the path we follow in order to help you and your new brand succeed.

By pulling each of the above elements together in a way that represents and reinforces your firm’s core skills and values, you can create a successful brand identity in the eyes of your prospects and clients.

Law Firm Branding: Crafting Your Brand Image

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Think of your firm’s brand image as the person we want to bring to life. A brand image is crafted from doing research into your current market bases, potential markets, and internal perceptions. We craft the brand image following an intensive research phase. Not only do we want to study the market and users, but we also need to study the law firm and how their employees and clients view the firm’s strengths and weaknesses.

Below is an overview of our process and the steps involved in defining a firm’s brand image.

Research Phase

As a marketing company with the goal of branding a law firm, we have a lot of questions to answer. We want to base your law firm’s brand on actual data and analysis, not just a hunch. We need to dig deep and discover who the market is, where your law firm stands, and how we can engage with that market. What differentiates your firm from other law firms? Where is there opportunity? These are questions we need to answer in the research phase.

Market Research

We want to discover and then define the current community where your law firm is established. We also want to look at potential markets and how to expand your brand into these markets. We want to define and answer:

  • Who is the current market? What are their hobbies, interests, and overall demographics?
  • Who are your current clients? How do they perceive your law firm?
  • What are the needs and desires being considered when your services are sought out?

Company Research

After defining the market, we want to see where your law firm can position themselves for ultimate success. In order to do so, we need to discover who the current brand of the law firm is. This includes:

  • Identifying company values and goals.
  • Assessing internal strengths/weaknesses.
  • Comparing against your competitors.
  • Identifying where your firm can bring the most value for clients.

Unique Selling Proposition

Once the research is done, it’s time to bring together the analysis. We understand your market, your internal perception, and where the competitors stand. With this knowledge, we can define your law firm’s unique selling proposition. This is when we define what actually makes your firm different and how we can position the firm to your potential clients.

Brand Personality

It’s time to start bringing the brand to life! Based on the research, we need to determine the brand personality. This will reflect the brand’s messaging, identity, attitude, and overall how the brand will be perceived from here on out. We take our findings and then select the appropriate archetype that lines up with our completed research.

Selecting an Archetype

Archetypes were created by psychologist Carl Jung, and in marketing, we use them to define how we will create a deep connection between your law firm and its users.

Defining the Brand Image

This is where we tie each of the above items together. We’ve done the research and agreed on a brand personality that will reflect your law firm’s unique selling proposition. This brand image will be laid out in the first part of your branding book to use for marketing purposes. It will define your brand personality, tone, messaging, and brand essence.

Brand Essence

The brand essence is the heart of the brand. Based on the personality defined, it’s time to write out to the world who your law firm really is. We want a finalized version of what makes the brand beat. Here we write out the values, mission statement, and vision statement.

Brand Identity

Our next step is to visually create your brand based on the image we have developed. Once we’ve crafted the heart and soul of your firm, it’s time to bring it to life.

Law Firm Branding: Why Should Your Firm Rebrand

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In an earlier blog post titled, “What Is Branding?” our team member Branden outlines what branding means. Unfortunately, many law firms struggle with branding. In many cases, law firms created a brand years ago and haven’t gotten around to revisiting it since. The result? A dated logo, website, marketing collateral and/or a brand image that doesn’t fit the current agency’s personality.  Either way, there are plenty of reasons to consider branding or rebranding your firm.

1. Are you are getting fewer leads than in the past?

2. Are you are entering a new market?

3. Are you introducing significant new services?

4. Has your firm’s growth slowed or stopped?

5. Have new competitors entered the marketplace?

6. Does your visual brand look tired compared to the competition?

7. Do you struggle to describe how your firm is different?

8. Are you losing a higher percentage of competitive bid situations than in the past?

9. Has your firm changed significantly since you last adjusted your brand?

10. Are you struggling to attract top talent?

11. Have your customers changed significantly?

12. Are you trying to figure out how to take your firm to the next level?

Branding your firm, whether you’re revisiting, repositioning or starting from scratch, is a challenge that many law firms will eventually face. With the right plan and process, your firm can benefit immensely with a brand that will reflect your law firm’s identity for years to come.

Also, be sure to check out our eBook, What is Branding? It explains the basics of branding, what our process looks like here at Mockingbird and why you should invest in branding your law firm.

 

Is Your Tagline as Creative as You Think it is?

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Aggressive. Experienced. Cliché.

We at Mockingbird began to notice a trend in many firms’ taglines, namely, that they focus on the same overused, generalized words and phrases to describe their value to clients. I took a look at a random sample of 50 personal injury attorneys’ taglines across the country from Avvo’s directory, one from each state, and populated the word cloud* you see above.

It’s easy to see which words dominate the personal injury attorney tagline world. More than a quarter of the 50 taglines harp on their experience, 16% brag about how aggresive they will be, and 14% sing praises of the compensation they will earn for their clients. Sure, you’re aggressive in seeking justice for your clients. Sure, you have years of experience. But I shouldn’t be able to take your tagline and paste it into another law firm’s homepage and have it fit like a glove. Do you want potential clients to think you offer services identical to your competitors, approach situations the exact same way, and support them like every “run-of-the-mill” attorney?

No, you don’t.

So don’t use a slogan that makes you sounds just like the rest of them.

The whole point of having a tagline is to differentiate yourself from the competition, but when you sound just like everyone else you’re doing the opposite. What’s the solution?

  • Focus on what makes you different. Ask, “who are we and what makes us different from every other attorney we compete with?” This should be the first question you address when creating a tagline. Are you incredibly fast at responding to inquiries from potential clients? Do you take particular pride in the relationships you build or the settlements you have won? Then encapsulate that sentiment in a concise tagline.
  • Avoid clichés.
    When thinking about how to market yourself and your firm, stay away from broad generalizations. Choose wording and phrases that convey why you’re unique and in an exceptional position to give clients the legal support they need. A general rule of thumb is to shy away from adjectives. More often than not, they end up being too general and don’t convey the distinct advantage clients have to gain by choosing you. Lean more towards nouns and verbs to give your tagline energy and personality.
  • Remember that you’re speaking to real people.
    It goes without saying that whatever event happened that caused an individual to reach out to an attorney was a very trying situation. So think about what your potential clients are looking for. Put yourself in their shoes. They are seeking help. They are likely already under stress from having suffered a personal injury. And now they are looking at eight different firms that all promise aggression, high compensation, and are telling them how experienced they are. Speak to them with language that sets you apart and addresses the concerns and values THEY have.

If you believe that you are different and better positioned to help clients than your competitors, put words to it. Craft an original and honest tagline that sets you apart from the other firms your potential clients could be picking. Identify what you have to offer that is unique, and then don’t shy away from using that to market yourself. Don’t let your voice get drowned out in the crowd.

Need help crafting your own original and impactful tagline? Contact Mockingbird today to learn how we can help build a strong and successful brand for your law firm.

*Extraneous words (e.g. conjunctions such as “for,” “and,” “nor,” “or,” “yet,” and “so”) were removed before creation of the word cloud and similar words (e.g. “experienced” and “experience”) were categorized as the same.