Siri is Apple’s new personal assistant and major feature of the new iPhone 4S. She (yes, I will continue to refer to her as a “she”) is already the most talked-about feature of the new phone as users begin to understand her potential.

There is a long list of things Siri will become invaluable for, however the initial novelty of having a digital personal assistant has not been lost on the comics. For example, Conan has created a version of Apple’s commercial with the painfully true tagline of “we know how you’re really gonna use Siri”, Mashable has a list of absurd questions, and the STSS blog is also quickly becoming popular.

Natural Language = Personality

Part of the reason she has captured so much attention is because of her personality that comes through in her responses. This is more than just speech recognition and better than those horrible features of previous technology where you had to speak in tech language with only certain words it understood. Siri uses natural language where you speak in normal sentences and her responses include things like “It looks like rain!” rather than a plain robotic “Rain: yes”.

In most cases, she understands what you mean, not just what you say. For those of us of a certain generation, she is all too reminiscent of R2D2, C3PO and HAL. As a matter of fact, when you ask her to “open the pod bay doors”, she gets quite annoyed.

What Siri Does

She is built in to the keyboard so the iPhone 4S supports dictation in any app that has a keyboard and she’s amazingly accurate. At the moment, she is mostly tied to all of the built-in apps on the iPhone 4S such as the phone, maps, weather, messages, emails, etc. This demo video shows what the interaction is like for a few of the most popular functions:

• Wake me up. Avoid those tedious seconds it takes to click over to the clock and scroll through the alarm settings. Siri will figure it all out by just commanding “Wake me up in an hour”.
• Send a Tweet. Since Twitter is now a built-in function, you can teach her to Tweet.
• Where am I? She integrates with the maps app, so will help with addresses and turn-by-turn directions.
• Send a text to my sister. Siri can read and send text messages. She will also learn who “mom” or “sister” are after you use those phrases the first time and assign titles.
• Call me Karin. Siri uses your name in her responses, so it only makes sense that you can teach her how to pronounce it.
• Remind me when I come back here. She definitely understands “here” — your current GPS coordinates. This is amazing when combined with reminders so that she will remind you of a certain thing when you are at a certain location. For example, by telling her where the grocery store is, you can have her remind you to buy milk once you arrive.
• Schedule a lunch meeting with John on Tuesday. Siri knows who’s your address book and what is scheduled on your calendar, so she will schedule, remind, and let you know about conflicts.

Did I mention she’s hilarious?

Conan has nailed it with his fake commercial. What most of us all love about her right now is what makes us love any of our friends at first: the hilarious banter. I do not mean to take away from her functionality or potential for greatness, but in my humble opinion this is what makes her really great and another true example of what makes Apple different. I’m curious, how do you expect to use Siri in your law practices?

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/noblearc/6263215604/)

Getting Things Done with Siri for iPhone is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

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Finding a creative website that is entirely unique and something that has never been seen before, is rare if not impossible. Typically a website will stand out from the crowd if it has a few compelling features, but upon examination they are not so much different than the less interesting sites. So how do you avoid the boring template look and achieve something interesting, creative, and memorable?

1: Be Inspired

Creativity is not magic or an inborn trait, it is borrowed brilliance. Hugh McLeod explains that “creative thought begins with copying, that you build new ideas out of existing ideas, and that originality is a perception and not a reality”. Great innovations happen by remixing (as suggested in this gorgeous video, Everything is a Remix); small improvements and changes to existing products and thoughts that morph into something better. Let’s be clear that I am not, under any circumstances, suggesting that you plagiarize other websites. However, understanding your competition, conducting research, and learning the fundamentals about the current market are critical first steps to standing out from that crowd with a creative website.

2: Be emotional

A well designed and creative website should grab attention by breaking through the clutter of all of the other websites that are indistinguishable. The first impression should also visually and emotionally communicate the relevant message. This is almost never accomplished with generic stock imagery. However, not all stock images are the same. The most compelling part of my most popular website is its use of inexpensive but stunning stock images that grab the viewer’s attention and connect with them emotionally.

3: Know Your Visitor’s Motivation

What is your unique selling point and the problem you can solve for your client? Know whom you are talking to, so you can send them the right message. You would not use the same imagery for a group of retirees as you would for a group of Silicon Valley investors. When your audience feels connected to you they will say things like you “totally get them”, that you “just clicked”, and you will know that your creative website has locked into their motivations.

4: Have A Clear Path

Once you have determined your main selling point, define a clear path for your visitors and make it easy for them to accomplish their goals. Ensure that your call to action grabs the attention of your potential customer and helps them to easily follow through your predetermined steps. Your call to action is typically a button (to indicate action), and should use a strong, contrasting color .

When developing your creative website, consider how your pages can be different than your competition’s. Using a few of these critical methods can help your message to stand out and your brand to be more memorable.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mhumphrey/94598808/)

4 Keys to a Creative Website is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

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Your brand involves more than just creating a logo and it is commonly defined as your customer’s experience. A brand is what your customers think of you and a reflection of everything you do: the way you send emails, your website, your Tweets, how you describe your business, and the logo on your business cards. It’s a complex mixture of feelings and personalities that make your customers love your work.

Your Customers and Your Brand

If you want to find out why your customers work with you, ask them. You might be surprised at whether their answers match what you think. After all, branding is a complicated set of feelings and experiences. So you would be remiss in not enquiring about your customer’s reactions to your services . Once you identify what gives your firm an edge, build your brand around it.

Your Competition’s Brand

Your branding is also important when you are being compared with your competition. Whether you spend time thinking about your brand, you are being compared with firms who have. They may be larger and better funded with a marketing department that has developed branding guidelines. Your branding budget may not compare, but maybe that is part of your strategy and charm. This should be communicated through your branding initiatives.

Define Your Brand Now

You already have a brand, it was created the moment you started your business. If you are an established firm, your branding has been defined and hopefully your customers have a consistent experience from initial contact to project closing. If you are just started your firm, now is the time to think about your brand. It will not get any cleaner, easier, or less expensive to spend time on this and your business may suffer without it. The idea is to build a strong base to launch your business that creates enough work that you will not have time to address your branding later.

This does not have to involve a great expense of designing logos and marketing materials but should be a part of your business plan. Before you pitch your firm to potential clients, you must define your unique offering and how you will surpass your client’s expectations. These are the essential elements of your brand. Once these are established it will be easier to create your marketing materials, Powerpoint presentations, website content, and everything else that will be consistent manifestations of your brand.

Spending time thinking abut your branding is a valuable exercise that can reveal and redefine your business to be best positionedto set your firm apart. It is never just the logo or tagline and should always consider the overall customer experience you want to offer.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vissago/2142584703/)

A Brand Is Not Just A Logo is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

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Promotion is one of the infamous “4 Ps” of marketing (product, price, promotion, place) that is often confused for the only function of marketing. Within a firm’s “Promotion Mix” there are five methods to consider, only one of which is advertising. A promotion strategy should include a combination of the five methods to maximize the benefits of each of the strategies.

Advertising

Benefits: Advertising reaches a large audience and builds awareness for a relatively smaller cost per person. If your goal is to broadcast a message to a wide group of less targeted recipients, this is the best promotion method. It typically involves mass communication via newspapers, magazines, banner ads, etc.

Limitations: There is less control of who receives the message in this method, and measuring the outcomes can be more difficult. Also, the message is considered less personal because it is paid for by a sponsor.

Strategies for law firms: If your firm is new use advertising as a promotion method to announce the firm. Advertising could also be effective if your firm is involved in a well-publicized issue, or in general if you have a large-scale message or offer.

Personal selling

Benefits: Personal selling is person-to-person communication where interaction occurs so that the salesperson has the chance to inform, persuade, and customize the offer for each buyer. This results in a better relationship between the your firm and client so is usually more effective. These promotions typically involve a high level of consumer attention and customized messages such as introductory discounts.

Limitations: Personal selling takes more time and effort than the other methods of promotion and therefore is more costly per client. So it is more effective than the other elements, yet less efficient.

Strategies for law firms: Personal selling should be the main method of promotion that most law firms employ. The ability to relate to clients and advocate individual solutions for their needs directly correlates with the benefits of personal selling.

Sales promotions

Benefits: Sales promotions are defined as incentives to encourage a purchase such as coupons or temporary price reductions. They should always be used as a short-term strategy and only to influence behavior, not the perceptions of potential clients.

Limitations: Sales promotions can temporarily increase the flow of traffic to your firm, but should always be used as a temporary promotion strategy to avoid stockpiling and so it does not lower the brand perception.

Strategies for law firms: The most relevant methods of sales promotions that a law firm might use would be special prices (temporary reduction of a regular price) or promotion at trade shows. Otherwise thi sis normally a promotion method used by retail companies.

Public relations

Benefits: Publicity is similar to advertising in that it broadcasts to a wide audience yet is less personal. However since it is not paid for by the firm publicity is received as unbiased reports from journalists and generally is perceived as having more credibility. Most social media would fit into this category.

Limitations: Publicity can be difficult to manage since a firm cannot always control what people write or say, which is a common issue in social media where negative opinions can quickly gain traction if left unattended.

Strategies for law firms: Press releases, sponsorship (event, club or team, or other type of public activity), and social media are all methods of public relations.

Direct marketing

Benefits: Using a direct marketing strategy as your promotion method can combine the effects of advertising with targeted messages. Sending personalized materials to a named person in a targeted group can garner a greater response rate than generic advertising. Direct marketing allows a firm to consistently provide messages to support its brand.

Limitations: Promotions via direct marketing are better than generic ads, however not as good as personal selling. Additionally, acquiring a great database of target clients may be difficult or impossible which would reduce overall success.

Strategies for law firms: Email marketing and mass mailings are the most common methods of direct marketing. Email marketing provides a number of benefits over printed material by being lower in cost and offering detailed campaign tracking.

Determining which promotion method to use

To determine the best combination of promotion tools, consider your available resources (budget), target market size, and customer information needs. Your promotion mix should be a combination of the above methods. While advertising is generally seen as the most obvious answer because it is so prevalent, depending on your target audience and overall marketing goals it may not be appropriate for your firm. Also, personal selling is often overlooked as a promotion method when most firms should be employing this as their most effective promotion tool.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/carolbrowne/2847937438/)

Law Firm Promotion is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

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The Oxford Comma (aka the serial comma) has recently come into question when Oxford presented a branding style guide for Oxford University advising against using the Oxford comma. However, in an argument (seemingly with itself) Oxford published an official statement in favor of the Oxford comma in all cases (to clarify, the new rule was only for the P.R. Department and the University still stands behind the rule). The news has been surprising, confusing, and generally displeasing for most of the grammar police.

The Oxford Comma

In case you have forgotten what the Oxford comma is, this Salon article explains that:

The serial comma is one of the sanest punctuation usages in the written language. It gives each element of a series its own distinct place in it, instead of lumping the last two together in one hasty breath. Think about it — when you bake, you gather up your eggs, butter, sugar, and flour; you don’t treat sugar and flour as a pair. That would be crazy.

The internet has exploded with the controversy (sort of). Twitter user @blurryyellow argued “Are you people insane? The Oxford comma is what separates us from the animals.” and the image below became viral on Tumblr:

Even Stephen Colbert chimed in during his interview with Vampire Weekend quoting the Elements of Style and saying that the flag is “red, white, and blue. Not red, whiteandblue”.

The Double Space

Also in the world of puctuation, over on The Facebook a few of us have been having a spirited argument about a few of life’s most important things, namely double spacing after periods. Can we all just take a moment to recognize this issue and please stop? For some of us it is more than a pet peeve, it creates problems in website code that have to be fixed. So while you may be enjoying your afternoon I am finding and replacing double spaces with single spaces, which I am sure you can agree is not a vision of nirvana.

I agree with this Slate article that says “Typing two spaces after a period is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong.” The practice was born as a necessity when we used typewriters but is now obsolete. Take notice of the well formulated arguments in the comments of this article such as “I like the way it looks.” or “I don’t have to change.” or “That’s what my typing teacher taught me.”. In comparison to the opinion of Good Design:

Using a single space means that you understand that technology has changed since the decades ago when you first used to type. A single space means you realize not everything your teachers taught you in high school still holds true. A single space means you have respect for the journalists and designers who are working hard to take those extra spaces out of the drafts you’re sending us.

The argument for continuing to use the double space has nothing to do with whether it is the right thing to do but that it is just a force of habit.

A Few Final Issues

I would like to include my frustration with ellipses. To clarify, an ellipses is always and only three dots and has a space on either side. Finally, there is the issue of the dash, both en dash and em dash. Take a few minutes to figure them out because if you use a dash to separate thoughts you are probably using the wrong one. Now if people would just stop saying “cut and paste” when they mean “copy and paste” I would really be thrilled.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrisinplymouth/3777814347/)

The Oxford Comma and Other Punctuation Issues is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

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A great law firm website requires a lot of details to be successful. Using a checklist is one way to ensure that you get these things right. Although you may have an awesome idea for a website, before you start into the development of the project it is important to map out all the steps and plan for all the important details.

Determine Your Market

• Create a clear understanding of your website’s users
• Create a list of URLs of your competitors
• Determine the strengths and weaknesses of their websites
• Define your firm’s Unique Selling Proposition

Set Your Goals

• Align the goals of your business with this website and make sure your client’s needs are met. Do they need to reach you urgently or are you persuading them of your expertise?
• Decide on a method for defining and measuring success

Name Your Website

• Choose a domain name and hosting. Consider potential misspelling issues and also purchase those domain names.
• Name your pages or major sections such as Contact, Services, etc.

Design Your Website

• Use whitespace, harmonious colors, and web safe fonts
• Find compelling images that correspond with your branding
• Check the loading time of your pages
• Check the depth of your pages (how many clicks does it take to reach any page?)
• Check your browser compatibility
• Check for broken links
• Optimize your footer area with links, copyright, disclaimers, and contact info

Include sticky content

• Create a call to action on every page, no dead ends
• Use a writing style that suits your target audience
• Break text into small easily read chunks separated with headings and images for easier scanning
• Include an “about” page and testimonials to identify yourself and appear more human
• Make your contact information easy to find

Measure and Update

• Setup Google Analytics to monitor and measure your traffic
• Update your site regularly, use and curate interesting content
• Create an ongoing method of marketing and encouraging visitors to your website (writing blog posts, videos, cross promotion with other websites, social media, newsletters, etc.)

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/benhutchison/5678812629/)

Checklist for Creating a Great Law Firm Website is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

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Gmail and Google Calendar have recently been enhanced which you may have missed if you were busy getting familiar with the bigger news from that camp about Google+. In this redesign Google says it is working on integrating Gmail more with Google+. Until we all decide to reverse the email spiral, at least we have a nicer looking Gmail.

Preview the new Gmail Themes

Eventually the new design will become standard, but to get the new interface now simply sign into Gmail, go to Mail Settings, then Themes and you’ll see two new themes, “Preview” and “Preview (dense).” As you can see below, Gmail has a new cleaner, updated design with more whitespace, better fonts, and overall design similar to the recent Google Calendar redesign.

Why it Changed

Google has generally not been considered a company that considers design principles in their products. While Google has often been applauded for the simplicity in the main search page and superior performance, its other products such as Gmail have not been considered beautiful designs. Detractors have even gone so far as to suggest that Google has succeeded despite its bad design. Compare the new design to Google’s original homepage:

However, it seems that Google has finally recognized the value of a pleasant user experience. Google explains that the new design is focused on three key design principles:

• Focus: With the design changes in the coming weeks and months, we’re bringing forward the stuff that matters to you and getting all the other clutter out of your way.
• Elasticity: The new design will soon allow you to seamlessly transition from your desktop computer to your mobile phone to your tablet, while keeping a consistent visual experience. We aim to bring you this flexibility without sacrificing style or usefulness.
• Effortlessness: Our design philosophy is to combine power with simplicity. We want to keep our look simple and clean. But behind the seemingly simple design, the changes use new technologies to make sure you have all the power of the web behind you.

What Google Did Right

Throughout the design community, most reactions to the new Gmail interface suggest that it is long overdue but have been generally positive and welcome. The new design features better, more obvious navigation with a large red Compose button instead of the previous gray one, and sharper edges throughout. While the current color scheme is predominantly red and gray Google says there are more colors on the way because, as usual, it plans to introduce all the new evolving changes in phases over the next weeks and months.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kiuz/2911924363/)

Gmail Gets a Facelift is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

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How about we all agree to stop talking about the fold of a webpage? Are you asking yourself how to get your web page to fold? Wondering if we are all making fancy internet paper airplanes and you have been left out? Don’t worry. It is, in fact, not possible to get a webpage to fold. The concept is an old design term rooted in print (as most are) that refers to the fold of a newspaper and that information found “above the fold” being the most critical message to convey.

/> This concept has led many a website to cram in all of their messages to this mythical space (which has previously been defined as above the 600px mark) which results in a jumble of ideas, text, images and content jumping out at the user not unlike walking through the demo booths at the state fair.

Where is that magical scroll bar?

On a website, the fold typically means the area that appears before a viewer needs to start scrolling. Believe it or not, users do know how to scroll. Your page layout is important—and yes, the information at the top will be noticed first and needs to grab the user’s attention. But then your user will still click or scroll through the rest of your website’s content.

If everything of exceptional quality is pushed on the reader at the beginning, once they start exploring and the rest of the site isn’t of the same calibre, they’re going to be let down. Keep them intrigued enough to remain on the site and actually seek out new information, and find out more about your firm. Let’s not get stuck on an invisible line above which everything needs to be crammed.

The fold and changing technology

With the recent boom in web-capable (and mostly mobile) devices, the definition and functionality of the fold is quickly becoming obsolete. We can no longer assume our websites are being accessed from a traditional desktop monitor, a mobile phone, or an iPad screen in portrait orientation. Each of these screens would have a fold at a completely different part of the page. It is much more important to test your design on various devices and try to find a mid-ground on your layout.

Okay, don’t forget it completely

Along with the fascinating article on eye tracking, Jakob Nielsen has also done some research on this idea of the fold and scrolling. In 1997, he found that only 10% of web users would scroll a page to see content that was not visible in the initial display. But this was way back when the internet was brand new. He has since updated his advice to allow for scrolling. However it is important to note that his eye tracking surveys show that web users spent 80% of their time looking at the information—yes, above the fold.

The key here is not to focus too much on the “fold” itself, but rather attempt to keep your core message within a “safe zone” while maintaining a quality design overall. Use the top part of your website to lead the user in to your site and make them want to read on. If the page is designed properly then they will have no problem scrolling on to find the rest of your content. Regardless, you should let your designer worry about where things are positioned on the page. That’s their job. Your job is simply to tell them what’s important for you on this page and let them recommend the best way to lead the user to it.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dominiquegodbout/5575123270/)

Forget About The Fold is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

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Have you noticed the increasing nostalgia for all things retro? Showing up in concert with the most modern technology like the iPhone there are ringtones that harken back to the good old 1980s rotary dialed phone, and camera apps that make photos into something from a 1970s Instamatic. Also, letterpress stationery and fountain pens are some of the most coveted methods of unique communication. And then there is Etsy, the site where micro businesses sell unique handmade items.

What’s the common thread?

Where is this all coming from? On one hand it looks like the backlash of the Industrial Revolution and the revolt of over-processed and generic products. On the other hand it is a boon for small businesses. As the consumer continues to search for unique products to support their individuality they return to quality technology from the past: like artisan bread and hand-pressed stationery. There is a aesthetic quality in these items that is lost in mass production.

So what?

As a part of small law, you have the advantage over the mass-produced larger firm with its annual reports and corporate contributors dictating the messaging. While the internet has made the world a smaller place, it has also allowed for small businesses to have a reach outside of what was previously prohibitive. This creates benefits for the business and the consumer as consumers are able to seek and purchase unique items and small businesses are able to have a global reach.

Your service is like cupcakes

Your personal relationship with your clients contains the allure of cupcakes from scratch: the authenticity can be smelled from a mile away. Consider the attraction to unique and individual products and how you can tailor your business realistically to be more personal and different for each client. Create a unique experience for your clients that shows your individuality, like your handwriting on letterpress with a fountain pen. By creating personalized experiences you develop something that is timeless and will keep you in business for decades in the future, as retro as it may seem.

(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/therefore/4374599734/)

Retro Resurgence with Old, Unique Technology is a post from the law firm marketing blog, Lawyerist.com

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Selecting an appropriate website color palette is important since it increases readability, makes the navigation clearer and should include contrast that spurs emotions.  More importantly, color theory studies have shown that effectively leveraging the attention that is drawn by unique color can dramatically affect your conversion rates. Before implementing this concept into your website you [...]

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Use Color Theory to Increase Website Conversions is a post from the law practice blog: Lawyerist