Your Firm's Bottom Line: Increasing Advertising ROI
Happy Labor Day! - the one day most of us will take off from figuring out how to increase productivity and related earnings. But come tomorrow...
This week's topic is all about your firm's bottom line.
We're increasingly approached about the legal marketing services we offer here at BNI and, an often cited question is - how does our primary line of work relate to marketing? At first glance, an odd combination - investigative work and marketing. Pondering it further, an investigator is trained to think analytically and to also be quite creative. We never have 100% foreknowledge of the result of any phone call, info inquiry or face to face situation. So why are some investigators more successful in their field than others? Curiosity is certainly a reason but the main factor for success is that we instinctively understand our audience. We have to. It is that simple. We often have less than a few seconds to give an impression and gain a person's confidence.
So, who better to have on your marketing team than someone who has the ability to quickly assess a successful strategy?
Today, I'd like to offer some tips in selecting a good marketing strategy: (There are 3 ground rules)
1. If you see a wildly successful advertising campaign in a field different from yours, observe it closely. The ideas that can really boost your bottom line ALWAYS come from outside the box.
2. There is only one reason to spend money on marketing - revenue. (Creating a good public image comes from the quality representation your firm gives its clients.)
3. Look at your competitors' marketing and advertising activity - and do the opposite. You have to stand out or you will pump in an endless stream of money into the tried but usually not necessarily true. (If your competitor has a big ad campaign - he/she a- started out with a smaller, unusual strategy and grew to that point or b- they are simply throwing away a lot of money very quickly or c- are unknowningly spending too much for what appears to be a great return.)
For an example of what not to do, (a real tv ad from March, 2008), view below. I'm sure this firm's lawyers are sincere and deliver quality services to their clients, but the oral message and visual delivery do not match. If this ad is working for them, great - but it can be even more successul with a few of the above mentioned tweaks (and some technical ones - i.e., make sure the firm's name is legible against the backdrop, scroll - as opposed to fix - your message continuously along the bottom, and, if you are going to show sample case clips - repeat only one or two scenes; four or five scenarios do not allow the viewer to internalize the critical message point.)
And on a final note, join LinkedIn, the world's largest and growing social/business network. Feel welcome to request the previous Bulletin we ran on LinkedIn, as they have partnered in with LexNex to become the highest-rated online networking tool for lawyers in the world.
In A Down Market; Increase Your Firm's Business, Part II/II
In a recent Wall Street Journal article by Jamie Heller, law firms will experience a flat to 5-6% decline in business this year. Partners are being scrutinized more closely as is outside counsel. Our experience in the field indicates that firms are less inclined to take on personal injury cases unless there are obvious injuries (i.e., fractures). Soft tissue injury cases are becoming a matter of the past as are medical malpractice cases, which are often labor-intensive, with hard to prove relationships between malpractice and injury and prohibitively costly expenses (expert witnesses, reconstructions, research...). Larger firms are cutting "non-producers" within their ranks and solo and small- to medium sized firms are more tightly focusing their advertising budget.
Below are several zero-to-low cost marketing tips that can be implemented immediately and may help to maintain or increase your practice's income status/ client retention:
1. Stay in touch with your clients. Instead of frantic calls to or from your clients when case activity occurs, schedule set, periodic update calls or notices to your clients. If there is no activity, simply have your assistant (digital, human or combination) mail/email a contact information update request to your client. Otherwise, if you know there are upcoming events that will require your client's input, don't upset your entire schedule with 2 minute phone calls here and there. Schedule several hours biweekly with a set list of clients to discuss their matters.
2. Network. Great movie; invaluable concept. LinkedIn recently announced an agreement with the traditional online lawyer directory LexisNexis Martindale Hubbell. LinkedIn is quickly becoming the largest professional networking site in the world. LinkedIn has added a powerful social networking component onto the Martindale site. As of last week, 260,000 lawyers have LinkedIn accounts. Join today.
3. Blog. Use Blogger, Wordpress; any generic application will do but get your firm's business out there. Prospective clients, as the rest of the online world now, wants information. They actively seek it and you need to provide it. Remaining faceless in a society that increasingly demands transparency and data is suicidal for any business. And write your own blog, or assign to someone competent within your firm. There are businesses that will provide fee-based "blogs" but we would firmly advise not to waste your budget on this tactic. Your blog needs to reflect your firm's personality, even if you update it once every two weeks.
4. Identify and target your market. The most attuned attorneys are focusing on niche markets and sniper-shooting their advertising efforts.
We hope these tips help your business; it helps ours!
(We thought we'd start the Monday after this holiday weekend with several good laughs with the above video of 4 brief but hilarious commericals to kick off our two-part marketing series.)
Part I of II/ Marketing Don'ts
Anyone who has been in business for a while has probably learned a few marketing don'ts but it doesn't hurt to repeat them as we all tend to stray from our original advertising goals. This week we'll go over these basic marketing don'ts with a follow up next week of proven advertising do's.
10 Marketing Assumptions That Are Wrong For Your Practice
1. Current and prospective clients know what services I provide; (Generally, clients are aware only of the services that they are seeking. Teach them.)
2. Referral services will send me all of the clients that I need or can service; (No comment necessary to point out the fallacy of this presumption.)
3. My marketing materials don't need my photograph; (Especially in this technological age, people want to place a face to the professional they will contact.)
4. Clients will remember what I tell them, so I don't need to send any follow up correspondence; (Wrong. Regardless of the sophistication level, people hear what they want to hear.)
5. Clients will understand legal jargon; (Wrong again. Read above.)
6. Certain marketing methods are obsolete. (All advertising avenues work; it's your budget and message strength that will determine ROI.)
7. Complicated messages will make clients feel that they need my services more; (KISS - no offense intended.)
8. Graphics are unimportant in visual media placements; generic photos can be used. (Keep it real. Real pics of yourself, your staff, discreet photos of your office...)
9. People expect lawyers to not return phone calls promptly; they know attorneys are busy. (No, they don't and they don't care about any other matter other than their own.)
10. Keeping in touch with clients on a reasonable basis is a waste of time. (It'll also be a waste of money when you have to re-locate your own clients or take an extraordinary block of time to bring them up to speed after months or years of non-contact.)
Basically, it's your firm, your business and as such, you never stop selling yourself.
Luckily, our marketing strategy doesn’t need to be used in the above video but sometimes it’s the simple things that elude us in coming up with an effective yet cost-efficient marketing plan for our business. If you practice personal injury law, we recommend the following visibility heightener to increase word-of-mouth regarding your firm.
Instead of standard business cards, distribute postcards to potential clients (with the suggestion to give them out liberally to friends and family as well) and arrange to have them prominently displayed in participating doctors’ offices, physical therapy and rehab centers.
Not just your typical postcard. This post card should have the firm’s information (of course) but also a To do List in case of an accident. We’ve prepared copy for you:
If you are involved in an accident:
Call 911. Take pictures immediately. Do not admit liability.
The planned topic for this week’s Bulletin, sidewalk (snow/ice) rules and regulations, has instead resulted in an unintended and appreciative nod to Al Gore’s awareness campaign regarding global warming.
Given the editorial opening and our association with our good friend, we introduce our first guest writer ever: Anthony M. Verna, III, Esq. and his concise and insightful explanation of viral marketing. (Our readers may have noticed articles in the past regarding BNI’s marketing tips for the trial law community. Mr. Verna is our expert in patent, copyright, trademark and entertainment law.)
From www.tmcentlawforum.com:
What is a Viral Marketing campaign? Simple, it is a campaign where someone's work is allowed to spread as much as possible (like a virus) so that people become interested in the work and then follow the work to the source. It is, basically, a free sample. It can be listening to 30 seconds of a song and telling friends to go hear the song. It can be one video being passed along so that people then go to the source of the video (a website that hosts that video and others or, for example, a TV show).
In a Viral Marketing campaign, the owner of the copyright in the work(s) has allowed some rights in the copyright(s) to be let go. Generally, it is allowing copies of the work to exist elsewhere and allowing others to distribute the work. All of this is done for no compensation, only to hope that compensation comes down the road in another form.
We all have blogs. Isn't the next step to own your own channel? Done. We recommend the great guys over at magnify.net. Broadcast at will.
Kelly Chang, an LA-based family and divorce lawyer, our featured Clip of the Week focus, has figured out how to leverage YouTube to promote her practice. You Tube is free, easy and ultimately, the success of your marketing effort in this venue depends entirely on you - how you portray yourself and your skills and experience. You do not have this level of control utilizing traditional advertising avenues. Aside from the obvious costs involved, print, tv and radio advertising all require an ad designer; almost always not the client. YouTube allows for consumer-control and provides effective distribution with deep market penetration potential.
Quick ground rules for making a YouTube video:
1. Do NOT hire a film crew. Unnecessary. A good handheld digicam will do- especially one that is HD-enhanced. Canon and Sony are good choices.
2. Flesh out a brief script for yourself. Try not to be rigid; but stick to your main selling points - for your practice and even more importantly, your character.
3. Allow for viewer comments. (It's risky but not as much as looking overly controlling.)
The one thing we would have done differently would have been to insert a scrolling I.D. banner along the bottom of the video. There are tons of video editing apps (such as Video Edit Magic) that you can use: some free; most easy to use. Try cnet.com for well tested suggestions.
Turned into an office and/or family project, advertising your practice on YouTube or similar internet venue, can also be an empowering and loyalty-inspiring group project.
Who Knows About You? Silvana Does! Yellow Pages v. Web Ads
Of course, our newest teammember, Silvana Brucculleri, knows about our Beacon readers; their needs and concerns and the informationally-focused news that we try to provide for the trial law community. Silvana brings real-world investigative fieldwork and research, translated into a digital format, to our valued readers. A short while ago, we realized we needed to expand our staff. After reviewing tons of vid. CVs, conducting in person interviews and carefully sorting through unsolicited, albeit, some interesting, offers, we incidentally and accidently ran into Silvana during a work-related project. We saved the video resumes, letters and amusing Photoshopped headshots we'd amassed for our Best of... release and went gut instinct. Starting with next week's Bulletin, Silvana will be joining us via live video from the field. Welcome to Beacon, Silvana!
On to this week's topic: Yellow Pages v. Internet Ads
The knowledgeable weigh in:
The Yellow Pages Regarding Lex-Nex' David Heardman's negative assessment of Yellow Pages advertising as a viable current marketing avenue, Josh Friedman, Esq, responds: "Although I hate to give away my "secret," I think prediction of the death of the yellow pages is a bit premature. First of all, it's simply not true. In my solo civil rights and employment law practice, and in those of many of my small firm colleagues, the yellow pages is far and away the biggest source of business. Most of my under 30 clients don't even have Internet access, and they are much more comfortable using the phone to identify, research and hire counsel...." davidheardman@lexisnexis.com
The Digital Divide U.S. residential broadband penetration is expected to exceed 50 percent in 2007. By the end of 2007, more than 60 million U.S. households will be connected--around 55 percent--according to market researcher Parks Associates. During 2006, broadband subscriptions grew by more than 20 percent in the U.S. and by the end of the year around 50 million households had fat pipes. Source: CNet. (www.cnet.com)
Unless one has Legal Zoom's advertising budget, the decision between print and digital advertising is an angst-ridden one for most law firms. Much like iPhone's early purchasers, most business owners do not want to be caught out in the cold two months after spending their annual budget in the wrong marketing venue.
We have solid advertising advice for the legal practitioner:
By limiting to, or concentrating your advertising dollars to spend in, the Yellow Pages and other print-based mediums, you are likely to also limit the audience to one that is typically less able to pay your fees.
Certainly one should keep a presence in the print media but the market-saavy recommend that you decrease the print and increase a digital presence as well. That way you stand a better chance of getting a few of the many folks who are increasingly using this medium for their legal resource finding.
You will definitely miss the group from another city who need the services of a local provider. They will use an online resource almost 100% of the time. That is inevitable.
Bottom line: Our experts suggest a 30% print and 70% digital advertising campaign.
Remember to help us usher in Silvana next week as she reports live!
