Grow My Law Firm

8 steps to a better law firm website

I'm currently working with a client on a website redesign, and I want to be able to provide guidance to the developers about where my client wants to be as far as look and feel, so I'm looking at law firm websites. Fortunately, Google offers a large preview of a site's home page when you hover over search results, so that makes it easier, but I'm noticing some not-so-good commonalities among many law firm sites.

It's time for a little tough love.

1) Law firm sites are overwhelmingly blue.
Why blue? It symbolizes trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, and intelligence. However, if all your competitors also have blue websites, isn't that a bit confusing for a prospect who is shopping for a new attorney? If you want to stand out, try another color. Almost anything will be better than blue to differentiate your firm. Don't settle for blending in with the pack. Your phone will ring when you make an impression.

2) Don't settle for poor content  
I'm seeing a lot of us, we, our... me, me, me... Unfortunately, nobody cares about you. They only care about what they can get from you. Whoever is writing the copy for these websites doesn't understand basic marketing principles. It's not about you, it's about your clients. Clients only care about how you can benefit them. For example, you're not selling wills, you're selling the peace of mind that one's family will be cared for if something really bad happens. If you want your website to bring in business, get over your ego and start using language that your prospects want to hear. If you can't step away and be objective about what your clients want and get, (your market position,) hire a marketer who can distinguish that on your behalf and is good at writing copy.

3) Over-used cliché images
Scales of justice, gavels, columns, law books, courtrooms, and conference rooms don't appeal to clients. Clients want to see themselves on your website. They want to know that the people you represent are just like them, so they will feel comfortable. Clients don't care about cliché legal images, so stop trying to impress them, and make your website relatable.

4) Beware of your own image on the home page
Again, get over yourself, and think about what your clients need. What will make them pick up the phone? Yes, you are likely your brand, but at this point, people need to know what they will get if they hire you. Your smiling mug is usually not enough to make the phone ring. Sorry to bruise your ego.

5) It's just too busy
Your home page doesn't have to contain everything you know about your area of practice. Think "less is more" here, and draw your visitors in. A home page that has a lot of text to read and lots to look at only confuses your visitors because they don't know what they are supposed to focus on. Remove their ambiguity by making a few key points that pull them into the site.

6) Stay away from art of your city's skyline
This idea was once fresh, but it's not anymore. Look at your competitors' sites. Chances are that at least a couple of them use this art. Don't be a me-too. Make your design original. Be distinctive.

7) Be wary of font errors
Basic design 101 dictates that no more than 3 complimentary fonts be used on a page, but don't go crazy here. Again, less is more.  Also, san serif fonts, like Ariel, are a lot easier to read online, so skip the serif fonts, like Times New Roman. They make a reader work harder, and the last thing you want to do is tire your prospective clients.

8) Don't ignore design consistency
Most websites have a home page look and an interior page look that remains consistent across all interior pages. Headlines and fonts should be carried consistently across all pages. Although your visitors may not necessarily notice a subtle shift in such things as style, size of a headline, or color of text, they will sense that something is off and feel uneasy. You want to foster a sense of confidence and trust in prospective clients, not unease. 

What other mistakes do you see law firms make with their websites?

 

- Christine Pilch

How to buy TV advertising, and what all those sales promo numbers really mean

If you want the skinny on buying TV advertising, here's a crash course from someone who sold and bought a lot of TV advertising over my career. I sold advertising for the local ABC affiliate for several years back in the 90s, and then I spent many hundreds of thousands of dollars annually while acting in my capacity as marketing director for an employer, as well as overseeing media purchases on behalf of many clients within my own business. I've seen all the tricks and tactics to make you spend your money with a particular station.

Stations seem to have finally realized that an average business owner doesn't understand technical numbers like ratings points. They understand plain English numbers in the thousands, so the marketing pieces I'm seeing lately reflects this. Ratings are more technical. Although they're not hard to grasp, the average business owner isn't expected to understand them. Agencies generally buy on ratings and subsequently use these projections/promises of delivery to make sure they receive what they paid for. If you're interested in the definition please check the glossary below. But for now, let's discuss common TV sales tactics.

Household numbers: One of the most common tricks to make poor ratings numbers look better is to use households numbers instead of popular buying demos, like adults 25-54. Think about your clients. It is unlikely that reaching a large number of households would be helpful to you. Household numbers includes people of all ages, from newborn to elderly, people in all income brackets, people living in apartments, etc. If you've done your positioning work, you know exactly who buys your services. They are the only people you should be targeting with your advertising dollars. If a station is using household numbers in its promotional pieces, your clients are likely not watching its programming.

Packages: TV sales people love to sell packages that include a couple spots in key, effective areas and lots of spots at times where there is very little viewership. They try to fool you into thinking you're getting a great deal because of the frequency with which your ad runs. Again, think of your positioning. Are your key prospects watching TV at 3AM, 10:30AM, or 2:30PM? Are they watching during the daytime on the weekends? Probably not. Your target prospects are probably listening to news as they get ready for work in the morning and make dinner in the evening, however, so a $1,500 package that includes just 2 or 3 news spots and many spots in other areas may be a waste of your money.

Commissions: Sales people are paid on commission, so it's to their advantage to convince you to spend as much of your budget with them as possible. Many media sales people are honest and will try to find a good fit to advertise your service on their station. Some are not. The best insurance you have is your position statement. Don't buy an area that doesn't have a lot of viewers who are likely to buy your services. Ask for cost per thousand numbers of your chosen demos when looking at proposals, so you can evaluate bang for your buck among areas. Don't waste your money.

Glossary:

Ratings point: One ratings point is 1 percent of all TVs in a market whether on or off. 

Share: A share is a percentage of TVs on at the time.

Book: Nielsen puts out ratings books 4 times per year. Some markets are metered, which means that some homes have boxes sitting atop their TVs that record what station the TV is displaying through the day. Most markets are calculated by diary, however. This method relies on people writing down what they watch at any given time. Although this is the most accurate information available about programming popularity, as you can imagine, it is very flawed.

Projection: A projection is a mathematical equation of ratings from a particular book against viewing levels from another book. For example, TV viewership is traditionally up in the winter vs. the summer in New England, so if you're placing an annual buy, you may ask for projections that include numbers based on the latest ratings book adjusted for seasonal viewing levels.

Don't be fooled into buying advertising that won't work. Go back to basics and judge every advertising opportunity against your positioning. Spend your money wisely.

 - Christine Pilch

Photo credit: William Hook

Friday Favorites: 3.25.11

Here are 5 of my favorite or most helpful things I read on the web this week:

1. 7 Tools That Monitor Your Children on Facebook - Facebook can be a dangerous place for kids and a great concern for parents, but these tools can help provide piece of mind.
2. QR Codes: Game Changer or Passing Fad? - I believe that QR codes have tremendous potential to be a powerful component of marketing. This article explains what they are and how they can be used.
3. 5 Mobile App Trends You Can’t Ignore - This article is about using mobile apps for enhanced productivity.
4. How to Use Facebook Social Plugins on Your Website - Although I believe it's a bad idea to integrate Facebook and your blog comments because Facebook is too fickle to allow it control over something so important, this article is good for showing you how you can integrate Facebook into your site or blog.
5. Why Women Rule The Internet - This article is full of statistics about the significance of women for eCommerce, social networking sites, and even, surprisingly, gaming. If you're not optimizing your site for women, you just might be sorry.

 Well, that's it for this week!

- Christine Pilch

Facebook Page & Place Merge Disaster - Don't Do it!

My friend, Chris Kieff took the following message I sent to him and used it as a blog post, and I thought that was a really good idea.

My client, a law firm, had a Facebook Page with a year’s worth of content, including about 4 dozen videos and posts from 4 blogs, as well as updates.

I added a Facebook Place for the main office a few weeks ago, and when I went to the Page last week, I was prompted by Facebook to merge the Page and Place, since they looked similar. “Merge” seemed reasonable to me, so I clicked okay.

Within a day or two, all subscribers were moved to the Place, and the Page was deleted, along with all content. Now, when I type the firm’s vanity URL, I return to my Facebook Home Page. The firm’s Page has vanished.

“Merge” means combine, not replace. I believe it is incredibly irresponsible for Facebook to encourage users to do something that erases valuable content. Much of the firm’s advertising includes a Vanity URL that goes nowhere now. This “merge” is deceitful, and it is frustrating that Facebook provides no channel to rectify the situation.

This is not an inconvenience or bug. This is a major issue, and people must be aware that when Facebook says, “merge,” they actually mean, “replace.” Don’t do it unless you are willing to sacrifice your vanity URL and all your Page content.

- Christine Pilch

 

When your own employees sabotage your company's brand

I know I've said it many times before, but I have to repeat it again: your brand isn't your logo or stationery, although they may be physical representations of it. Your brand is the way you are perceived. It's about how people feel when they hear your name or see any physical element of it. It is built entirely from one's experience with your product or service and is the sum total of all touch points that they have ever been exposed to.

So, have you thought about the potential damage your employees can inflict on that brand?

One of the most critical elements of any brand is in setting up expectations of behavior. Think of Wal-Mart. You expect to be greeted in a friendly manner by a smiling someone at the door. Consider McDonalds. You expect those fries to be perfectly cooked and piping hot. Think of the receptionist at your doctor's office. You expect her to be helpful and polite.

But what if the Wal-Mart greeter scowls, the fries are brown and cold, and the receptionist is rude? In an instant, your expectations aren't met, and you feel uncomfortable or perhaps a bit cheated or angry. Your experience doesn't match the perception that you have created about that product of service, and the brand begins to erode in your mind.

Now think about your own business. Are all of your employees on the same page? Do they all deliver a consistent experience to your clients at every touch point?

Your employees are your brand's champions or the undoing of it. They must always present a professional, tactful, classy front. Clients are affected by their tone, attitude, and even the way employees dress, so be careful of who is on your front-line. For example, your accounting person may be terrific with numbers, but if his people skills are poor, he shouldn't handle clients' inquiries. Even if an employee is having a bad day, that's not an excuse to inflict a rotten attitude on the public.

Also consider how toxic a bad attitude is internally. Can one bad apple spoil the whole bunch? I have seen a few organizations that were turned into glum, depressing places by people who made it their mission in life to spread their own misery. If you've got such an employee on your staff, think about addressing him or removing her.

Your brand and your reputation are wrapped up very tightly together. Make sure you protect them by employing the right people.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
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Glamour magazine's "real woman" photo - a lesson in positioning

Glamour magazine's September 2009 issue ran a nude photo of a model that caught the attention of millions of women...not because of it's racy nature, but because she doesn't have a flat belly. Instantly, millions of women saw someone who looked just like them. It struck a chord, and the praise started flowing.

Hooray! Finally, a real woman appeared in a magazine looking beautiful. Finally, millions of women saw themselves in a magazine and maybe felt a little less disappointed the next time they looked in the mirror.

This is what positioning is all about. Positioning is identifying your target audience, determining what they want, and giving it to them by becoming a reflection of what they want. Perhaps indeliberately, Glamour magazine learned a valuable lesson about what their readers relate to, how they view themselves and what they want. The question now is, "Does Glamour have the guts to seize this golden opportunity?"

The photo was small and buried on page 194, so it is unlikely that Glamour intended this as a turning point, redefining the direction of their magazine. It is unlikely that they will get rid of the airbrushed, half-starved, 6 ft. models that grace their covers and content, replacing them with "real women."

But perhaps the women's magazine world will now take notice and recognize that the general female population doesn't relate to the fashion world's definition of beauty. Perhaps, when presented with an alternative, they would actually gravitate toward something familiar and comforting, something that makes them feel good about themselves rather than inadequate and second-rate.

Glamour magazine learned that there is a market segment that is hungry for something that they can relate to. They learned this segment's position without expensive research and focus groups. They now know what "real women" want.

Now who will give America's "real women" what we want?

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
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Turbo Tax nails their position and branding

We're right smack in the middle of Turbo Tax's season, and boy, do they ever understand their own branding. They have positioned their product as the premiere do-it-yourself tax software and created various versions to accommodate personal needs. What really impressed me lately though is the tagline that they've been using in their advertising:

Choose easy.

I am not sure if that tagline is new or if I've just noticed it, but those two words do exactly what a tagline should do, nail down the customer benefit. Here, Turbo Tax captures the essence of one of their primary customer benefits, making it easier to do your taxes. You know what you get, your taxes done as easy as possible. What a relief! That is a powerful motivator to buy their product.

TurboTax has a very small window to make their money, and they have pulled out all the stops to make the most of their season. I haven't seen a mis-step yet. Whoever is guiding their brand strategy is right on the money.


by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
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Marketing & branding = windows and mirrors

My colleague and Twitter friend, Gabriel Rossi, branding specialist in Brazil, recently tweeted something that hit the nail right on the head: "Marketing & Branding = Windows & Mirrors." I was impressed by this spot-on analogy. Marketing is indeed a window into your product or service, and good branding is a mirror of what your target clients want you to be.

It all goes back to basics, your position. If you have identified who your ideal clients are, what they get from you, why your firm is the best provider, and what value they perceive from your product or service, you are in a position to craft marketing messages that are appealing to those particular people. You can explain the benefits they receive and how their pain will be alleviated. Those are very powerful attention grabbers and one of the best means of piquing enough curiosity to have them want to know more.

Think of marketing as an education process that warms up your prospects to prime them for a sale. Effective marketing provides the right information to turn individuals into a warm prospects. It is the processes of pre-selling and gives them a window into what they get.

A strong brand then acts as a mirror, reflecting themselves back to those target prospects - their desires satisfied, their pain soothed. They see a fresher, better, happier, more satisfied "me," one that they identify with and desire.

Marketing & Branding = Windows & Mirrors. - So true.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
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Branding from the inside out - the importance of consistency

Your brand is precious, and it should be voraciously protected. But what happens when your own staff and employees give out conflicting brand messages? How can you get everyone on the same page and delivering the same messages to prospects and clients?

Getting all your internal resources on the same brand page starts with going back to your position statement. Does everyone in your organization understand who your target customers are, what they get from your company, and why your company is the best source for those customers to obtain their professional services? Does everyone clearly and succinctly deliver a consistent brand message? Is the information that prospects and clients receive the same every time?

The onus of brand enforcement ultimately lies with you, the business owner. Either you accept the responsibility of "brand cop," or you delegate it to someone within your organization. One of the most important functions of your brand cop is the training of all staff. Even if every new employee is handed a copy of your position statement upon hire, it is unreasonable to expect them to automatically understand and assimilate it into their daily actions.

All staff should be trained and fully understand your position in the market, why your company is unique, what value you bring to your service, and how your clients expect and deserve to be treated in every interaction. Remember that your brand is the way people feel about your service and company. If they have a certain expectation, and that expectation is not met, your brand becomes a lie and you lose their trust.

It's a good idea to have regular followup refresher training to make sure that everybody remains on the same page as well. Perhaps an annual meeting would suffice.



by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
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13 reasons to continue marketing in a recession

Finally, yesterday it was announced that America is officially in a recession and has been for a year. After we all cried a collective, "Duh!" it is time to ponder, has anything really changed for you personally since that news struck? Are you in better or worse shape today than you were yesterday?

For most service business owners, the news didn't really change anything. However, this might be a good time to consider how best to retain the business you have and perhaps even grow. I can tell you with absolute certainty that one of the quickest ways to lose business is to stop reminding people about your services. Stop marketing, and you will fade away.

Why should you keep marketing during the recession?

1. To retain market share
2. Because your competitors will probably slow down or stop
3. To remind your clients that you're there
4. To educate prospects about how you can help them
5. To demonstrate stability
6. To prove your expertise
7. To maintain a positive public demeanor
8. To demonstrate your value
9. To offer free industry tips
10. To touch inactive clients who may have upcoming needs
11. Because incredible deals on media time and space can be negotiated now
12. To solidify your market position
13. To make your clients feel appreciated

One final parting thought, since this blog is about positioning and branding, it is important to stress that your marketing messages must be on-target, to the right people, and about something that they want. Remember that they don't care about you and what you have to offer.

To be successful, your marketing messages have to be about what your clients and prospects get. Don't talk about quality, value or service and expect that to be a successful campaign. Find your niche, differentiate yourself, and create messages that appeal to a specific audience.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
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When your ad agency doesn't understand branding

"Branding," is a popular buzzword that is often misused by people who don't understand what it actually is. It's not surprising that many business owners don't quite understand what their brand is, but it's a sad day indeed when an advertising agency doesn't get it. Unfortunately, that happens pretty often.

I recently saw this ad for an advertising agency's "branding service," and I just shook my head. This agency wants your business, and they may have a talented graphic designer who can make your materials look attractive, but this ad isn't actually about branding, so if they don't get it, how can they help you?

Your brand is the sum total of your clients' and prospects' experiences with your service. It's what they feel when they hear your name or see your logo. The physical aspects named in the ad are elements of your brand, but they are not the brand itself.

This blog is full of posts about what a waste of money it is to change your phyical look and expect that your brand will change. By themselves, a new logo, stationery package, and all the rest of the items listed in the ad to the left will rebrand your business about as successfully as changing the carpeting and window dressings in your office would.

The only way a company can rebrand is to change its clients' experience. You must change the way your clients feel they are treated in every interaction with your company. You must establish a different or higher expectation and uphold it in all client touchpoints.

Once you have made your core rebranding commitment, repositioned your company, created a position and value statement, and all stakeholders are onboard and trained, only then can you successfully change the graphics that represent your company to appeal to the target clients identified in your positioning.

If you change your logo and other associated graphic materials before repositioning your company, who will those graphics appeal to? Only the egos of your company's partners and administration.

Please don't be fooled into thinking that a new graphic look will change your brand. If someone tells you differently, you might want to go shopping for a new marketing/advertising company.


by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
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Back to basics - how to maximize ad dollars in a tough economy

I am hearing many tales of woe from businesses lately. There is a prevalent sense of fear and doom that is causing even the most successful companies to tighten their belts and brace themselves for worsening market conditions. 

When someone comes to me and asks what they should be doing to bring in more business, I suggest that their first action should be a review of their current marketing and how successful it is right now, not how it performed in the past. If current marketing activities aren't paying off, it's time to stop the bleeding and reassess.

• Who are your optimal, target clients?

• What do they get from your service?

• Why should they retain your company instead of another?

The answers to these questions lend insight into your market position. They help you to determine how you are uniquely qualified to fulfill a particular client need and create your distinction in a crowded marketplace. This will also help you find ways to add value to your service that will further separate you from the pack of competitors.

After this positioning work is done, you can create fresh marketing messages that will attract the attention of the right targeted audience because they will address something that those people value. You will be able to rise above all the clutter and all the noise because, just as we are all very adept at filtering out what doesn't interest us, we are also acutely attuned to messages about things that do interest us. When you offer a solution to a problem, relief of some pain point or gratify some need, people will listen.

If you're frustrated by the return on your advertising investments lately, maybe it's time to reevaluate your target prospects to determine how you can uniquely fulfill their needs. This can give you the tools you need to create marketing messages that work and maximize your precious advetising dollars right now.

by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com
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A depressed economy is the perfect time to make a deal

Many businesses are watching profits dwindle while expenses continue to grow. There is, however, a bright spot on the horizon for those who make a commitment to continuing to spend money on advertising. There are incredible deals to be had if you're not afraid to bargain.

Keep in mind that the economy is an equal opportunity oppressor, so your local media are likely as strapped and scared as you are about the future. I am hearing from my media contacts that T&E budgets have dried up, and there is lots of space that can be had on the cheap.

It's time to sit down across the table from your media reps one by one and negotiate. They have excess time and space, so you can make an offer to fill that at a discounted rate. If you have a current buy in place, and they won't budge on the rate, it is a reasonable alternative to request upgrades. Ask if your morning news spot can run in evening news. Request that an evening news spot run in prime. Ask for upgraded placement of print ads too. How about spot color for the black and white price? Remember that you're now the loyal client who hasn't deserted them when times were tough. This is relationship-building time.

I had lunch with the General Sales Manager of a local TV affiliate last week. I didn't have any new business to spin her way, and I didn't want her to use any of her dwindling T&E budget, so we agreed to split the check as friends. We enjoyed each other's company, caught up, and strengthened our relationship. It was an investment in the future.

There are fantastic advertising deals available now if you're willing to continue to invest in your marketing. Remember however, that a me-me-me message without any client benefit and value-added will simply waste your money. Go back to your positioning and invest wisely.


by: Christine Pilch
Christine@GrowMyCo.com

Repositioning – changing the way your market perceives you

Do you understand the position that you own in your market? This is what makes people think of you and what they associate you with. Of course, it's unreasonable to expect everyone in your market to be familiar with you, but it is a good idea to make sure that the general perception of your target prospects is in line with what you actually have to offer and what you do.

Al Reis and Jack Trout wrote one of the most impactful marketing books in history, "Positioning: The Battle for the Mind." They say that the purpose of positioning is to not to, "…create something new and different, but to manipulate what's already in the mind, to retie the connections that already exist." Therefore, it is reasonable to claim that your market position may be recrafted.

Let's say for instance that you are an attorney who loves estate planning and wants to concentrate your practice on it, but the market's perception is that you handle residential real estate. This is probably due to a significant amount of work you've done in that area and/or a relationship with referral sources that send this business your way.

The good news is that people recognize you as a lawyer. The bad news is that their perception is not what you want; so that serves as an obstacle to incoming estate planning work.

You can recraft your prospects' perception of the kind of law you practice through your marketing. You can reposition yourself and form a revised brand that reshapes the public's perception of you. To do this you will have to answer three basic questions:

• Who are your target clients?
• What will they get from your estate planning services?
• Why are you uniquely qualified to handle this for them?

Defining who, what and why provides the groundwork necessary to determine the differentiators that make you unique and desirable. They also provide a baseline from which you can establish the value-added advantages that can tip the scales in your favor when a prospect compares you against a competitor.

When you use your positioning work to craft new marketing messages, you will have the advantage of speaking to precisely the right target audience about something that interests them, and they will understand why they should call you. The messages will be so on-target that you will effectively re-position and rebrand yourself.

by: Christine Pilch

Moving past marketing mistakes

You know that feeling you get when a client doesn't follow your advice? Ultimately he is paying for it, but he is not obligated to take it, so you keep your professional cool but discretely shake your head. You know that in this particular venture he is destined to fail. But he trusts his own instincts, or decides to take a shortcut, or save money instead of following your advice.

We sometimes find ourselves in a similar circumstance at Grow My Law Firm.

One of our challenges is in making clients recognize some of the marketing mistakes they have made in the past. Often this comes in the form of a personal attachment to a company name or logo that they feel they have made a significant investment in.

A lot of the work we do at Grow My Law Firm is repositioning. Law firms come to us for help when something is just not quite clicking any more. Business may be down, leads may have slowed, or they may just not be growing at the rate that they want.

In order for us to determine why their problem is occurring, we need to dig into the demographics and psychographics of their current client base to determine who their best clients are and why they come to that firm or practice. When we understand their ideal clients we know what appeals to them, and we can craft messages that they will be attracted to. Sometimes that best begins with a name change.

Consider these two fictitious law firms:

Dale, Jones & Murphy

Family Legal Services

What kind of law does Dale, Jones & Murphy practice? What kind of law does Family Legal Services practice? Dale, Jones & Murphy will likely have to spend a lot more money to brand themselves as they want to be perceived than Family Legal Services will. See the power of the right name for your professional service firm? It is important for prospects to be able to instantly identify the potential for you to solve their problems. Someone seeking assistance with a custody dispute will look at Family Legal Services and know, yes, that's what I need.

Your logo is also part of your brand, as a physical manifestation of it. As such, a good logo will appeal to your prospects. It should represent you as they want you to be. Unfortunately we find that often logos were developed before positioning work was done, so they appeal only to the egos of the firm's partners, which don't necessarily coincide with what appeals to their prospects.

After we do the firm's positioning, it is sometimes apparent that a name and/or logo change are in order. But this is a tough nut for some firms to swallow. They often have an emotional investment in their current name and logo, and despite the fact that these changes are significant steps in overcoming the problems that caused the firm to seek out Grow My Law Firm, it's difficult to let go of the past or admit to making a mistake.

At this time, we encourage our clients to consider the goal, getting more business. Would they rather keep a name that nobody relates to or a logo that the senior partner's son designed, or is there more value in making changes that will facilitate more of the right clients coming through the door? At this time, we learn just how serious that firm is about growing their company. After all, they pay us for our advice, but they're not obligated to take it. And if they don't take it, then what are they paying for?


by: Christine Pilch

When is it time to bring in a legal marketing expert?

Especially here in the Northeast, the good ole Yankee mentality is pervasive. "Why should I pay somebody to do my law firm’s marketing when I can just do myself?" Well, that’s a good question; and only you can decide:

• Can you make more money practicing law than doing marketing?
• Do you enjoy practicing law more than marketing?
• Is your expertise in marketing or law?
• What is the most efficient use of your time?
• What daily activities bring the biggest payoff? Legal work or marketing planning and execution?
• Are you willing to commit a significant amount of time to keeping abreast of contemporary marketing techniques, tactics and their application strategies?

Without the guidance of a legal marketing professional, do-it-yourself marketing is akin to the people that you shake your head about who have undertaken do-it-yourself legal work. They probably researched online, maybe bought some software, and they feel confident that they’re protecting themselves. But you know better.

Such is most do-it-yourself lawyer marketing. A successful marketing strategy starts with determining your niche and the differentiators that make you unique in your market. It then flows into developing graphics that appeal to the prospects targeted in your positioning work, including the differentiators that your prospects find valuable, and their structured and consistent use in all marketing messages. This is highly specialized work that requires the significant knowledge and discipline acquired by someone who has concentrated their career on it.

Successful marketing is an investment in your practice, not a cost, because it comes back to you in new business. If business is down, and you’ve been handling your own marketing, there is a good chance that your legal practice could greatly benefit from the focus provided by the right professional marketing assistance.

by: Christine Pilch

Persistence pays in legal marketing – staying the course

An advertising man named Thomas Smith wrote the following in 1885:

The first time a man looks at an advertisement, he does not see it.
The second time, he does not notice it.
The third time, he is conscious of its existence.
The fourth time, he faintly remembers having seen it before.
The fifth time, he reads it.
The sixth time, he turns up his nose at it.
The seventh time, he reads it through and says, 'Oh brother!'
The eighth time, he says, here's that confounded thing again!
The ninth time, he wonders if it amounts to anything.
The tenth time, he asks his neighbor if he has tried it.
The eleventh time, he wonders how the advertiser makes it pay.
The twelfth time, he thinks it must be a good thing.
The thirteenth time, he thinks it might be worth something.
The fourteenth time, he remembers wanting such a thing a long time.
The fifteenth time, he is tantalized because he cannot afford to buy it.
The sixteenth time, he thinks he will buy it someday.
The seventeenth time, he makes a memorandum to buy it.
The eighteenth time, he swears at his poverty.
The nineteenth time, he counts his money carefully.
The twentieth time he sees the ad, he buys what it is offered.

This begs the question, do you stick with your marketing campaign long enough for it to work, or do you abandon it if you don’t see quick results? Now I’m not talking about the most common approach; “Goodness, revenue is down, so we’ve got to run an ad. Let’s call (insert media here) and come up with something quick.” This knee-jerk reaction to a problem long in the making rarely enjoys much success.

I’m talking about a marketing plan that targets the right clients with the right message at the right time. I’m talking about a plan that grew out of solid positioning.

If you’ve done your positioning, you already know who you should be talking to, what they get from your legal services and why your firm is uniquely qualified to provide it. You know your distinction and you know the niche that you fit into in your market. You know what your desired clients need from a lawyer and what pain you can soothe. You know that people will be blind to advertising messages that talk about you, your legal service, your years in practice, your new offices and the quality of your quality work.

So if your marketing is directed at specifically targeted clients about something that they want or need, or a problem that they need resolved, does it make sense to abandon it prematurely? Is it may be more likely that they haven’t heard or read your message the 20 times that Thomas Smith said people need to take action?

We wrote a book that explains how you can position your law firm called, “The Definitive Insider’s Guide to Growing Your Practice Through Innovative Brand Strategies.” If you would like to receive a complimentary copy, please drop us an email.

by: Chrstine Pilch

The importance of submitting well-written articles for publishing

I recently had lunch with an old friend who happens to be the editor of a business publication. He wasn’t in a very good mood because he had spent his morning editing rewriting articles that were submitted by guest authors.

He didn’t try to hide his frustration. The submitted work was full of punctuation and grammatical errors. He fixed tense and voice shifts within paragraphs and even sentences. He dealt with off-topic ramblings and poorly constructed arguments.

I asked, “Why would anybody submit something that was substandard?” He responded that it is common for him to have to do this for many people’s work. They mustn’t know that they are poor writers.

I have ghost written and edited hundreds of articles for clients, and my friend is right, much of what is submitted to me from lawyers as a final draft isn’t anywhere near acceptable. But when it goes to a publication, it is nearly perfect as a result of my polish.

Are you a strong writer? If your work appears in print radically different than you submitted it, chances are you should be working with your own editor prior to submission. Actually, you just damage your relationship with an editor if you force him to go through a time consuming process of rewriting your work. As a result, your work won’t be readily welcomed in the future because you're disrespecting the editor's time.

Being published is a very cost-effective method of niche legal marketing. It is a means of positioning yourself as an expert, and anything coming from an expert should be as flawless as possible. That means that you might have to pay somebody a few hundred dollars to edit your work, but this investment should pay off in prestige, enhanced reputation and in successfully positioning yourself as the go-to authority in your area of practice.

Christine Pilch

The danger of a disconnected internal and external brand

What happens when every external impression of your law firm is consistent yet unsupported with what actually happens inside the walls of your office? This brand disconnect is very dangerous because it makes your brand a lie, and people don’t like that.

To explain, let’s first go back to basics. Your brand is the way your clients and prospects feel about you. It’s entirely about their perception of you, not the other way around. Your brand is a reflection of their sum total experiences with your firm.

Your external brand is supported by many elements including your logo, promotional materials, advertising, website, blog, eZine, newsletter, wearables and giveaways items. Every physical impression should be controlled by corporate identification guidelines so the public is fed a steady stream of consistency. All marketing messages should be designed around a common theme with consistent client promises. That sets up an expectation for the way clients expect to be treated and the way they expect to feel.

Now let’s consider your law firm. Let’s hypothesize that you are diligent about creating consistent external impressions, and the position that your firm wants to own in the market is that of providing extraordinary customer service that outranks the competitions’. Your marketing promises such things as minimal telephone on-hold times, wait times for appointments never to exceed 10 minutes and a guarantee that you will return documents within a week or your clients will receive a 10% discount off the work.

Now, you know that you don’t want to be passing along a 10% discount, so you always return client docs within a week, but what if you regularly leave your clients waiting in reception for 15 or 20 minutes? What if your receptionist doesn’t generally leave clients on hold for long periods of time but she is unfriendly and impatient?

Your brand should be consistently communicated internally and externally in everything that represents your law firm, in everything that can form an impression about the firm tangibly and intangibly. From employment policies and practices to office decorum, to dress code and company culture, your brand is at stake in every interaction and client touch point. The external elements of your brand, including your logo, colors, stationery, website, brochures, advertising and other marketing materials communicate your brand visually and verbally, but they must be supported internal as well in the way your clients are treated so they feel supported by the brand.

If you fall down on the promises that your brand makes, the brand becomes a lie, and everyone who experiences this disconnect will talk about it. This will undermine your future efforts to secure the positive brand that you want and instead build a brand that is quite different from what you intended. Remember that your brand represents your clients’ experiences with your firm and all its touch points. So if what you say and what you do aren’t synched, the public will form its own impression of your law firm. Your brand represents how your clients actually feel, not what you say.

by: Christine Pilch

Stop wasting your precious advertising dollars by constantly re-inventing the wheel

Due diligence in marketing includes, at the very least, creating a position statement before attempting any marketing activity. Why a position statement? Attempting anything without one provides results equivalent to “Ready, Fire, Aim.”

Using target shooting as an analogy, positioning is equivalent to Ready and Aim in the shot sequence. It’s all the preparation and information needed before executing the shot, or writing, designing and preparing the ad before buying and placing it with the media.

It’s all about knowing what you’re shooting at that counts.

A target provides a specific spot to aim at along with parameters to calculate results – a bulls-eye.

Alternately, let’s say you go to the range with no targets. (Placing an ad and speaking to no one) What’s the point of shooting if you have nothing to aim at? Unless you improvise a target, you won’t have any point of reference. Unfortunately, this is how a lot of small business owners approach their advertising – with no clearly defined target. They “wing it” and make it up as they go.

Too often, I see small law firm advertising consisting of a list of practice areas, names of partners, a logo and an expectation that this will cause the phone to ring.

Your position statement has to be created before any marketing communication can begin because it is your “rule book” for all subsequent efforts. Once created, it becomes a summary of all of the answers to all of the key questions and background information any marketing professional would need prior to creating any communication materials. It defines your target audience, what they get and describes your differentiation. It not only provides you with a target to aim at, it’s your virtual bulls-eye for all your future marketing and advertising efforts.

Positioning, whether done formally or informally, is ultimately the single-most important key to any company’s long-term success. Without a position statement, every time any marketing or advertising materials are attempted, your firm will be re-inventing the wheel and wasting precious advertising dollars.

by: Dennis Kunkler

Taglines – forget obscure and find a unique client benefit instead

I recently ran into a lawyer who was all excited about his firm’s new tagline. When he told me what it was, I asked, “What does that mean?”

He spent the next five minutes explaining what the new tagline meant to him. Apparently, the firm had hired a local advertising agency and spent a good deal of money to develop a “brand,” and this tagline was one of the components received.

Without getting into details about the fact that you don’t just develop a brand; it is the way people feel about you and their impression about your firm, I was concerned about the need for this attorney to spend all this time explaining his firm’s new tagline. An effective tagline conveys an obvious client benefit. If it needs explanation, it’s not going to work because prospects won’t get it.

Consider our own tagline for Grow My Law Firm; Miracle Growth for your Practice. No explanation necessary here. You instantly know what you’ll get when you hire us.

A good tagline evolves out of your unique selling proposition, which expresses your differentiator and benefit to your clients. It’s not about you at all, but about what your clients get, because that’s all they care about and what attracts them to your law firm.

So getting back to the attorney whose firm just settled on a new, obscure tagline. When I asked him if he thought that his potential clients would understand what he just explained to me, he enthusiastically replied, “Oh yes, we have a whole advertising campaign being designed to explain it.”

I walked away shaking my head. The only thing that tagline is going to effectively do is line the pockets of the agency that created it, through continued work, in a quest to explain something that must be obvious to prospects to be effective.

This marketing error could have resulted from one of two possibilities:

1. The law firm went into the project with a predetermined set of ideas and put itself in the position of marketing expert rather than deferring to those who really are the experts. Or;
2. The advertising agency doesn’t clearly understand positioning and branding, so they don’t know that client benefits and relief of clients’ pain are the only things that sell legal services.

I’ve seen both of the above scenarios many times, so it’s anybody’s guess what really caused this marketing mistake. It is however unfortunate that so much money and time is being wasted on legal marketing for this firm that has such little possibility for success.

Can you afford this kind of misfire with your legal marketing?

by: Christine Pilch

Stop wasting your precious advertising dollars by communicating the wrong message

How can you possibly communicate the wrong message? Easy, by not clearly understanding who you’re communicating with, what they get from the transaction and why they would contract you over any of your competitors.

If your advertising is merely stating what you do – such as a list of practice areas along with your firm’s name, you might as well save your money and walk the streets wearing a sandwich board. WHY would anyone choose to hire you as a result of a lame listing or a stupid sign? Do you make your important choices that way? Your prospect wants to know, why you?

Let me take you through an abbreviated positioning process. To begin, we need to focus our attention. The very first step is to consider WHO you want to talk to. You want to be talking to some-one, not every-one. When you talk to everyone – you talk to no-one. Visualize your messages as if you are communicating to a specific individual.

Choose ONE key practice area that you want to focus on. If there are other practice areas that you do not want to exclude, repeat this exercise for each area and create separate messages and advertising for each area of practice.

Once you choose a specific area – let’s pick Family Law for illustration purposes - you can now imagine the specific person or couple that you’re speaking to. If your experience is in Family Law, you already know exactly what’s important to them and what they want and need. You know how to talk to them about the things that are important to them. That is exactly the same tone and rapport your advertising will take.

Next, understand exactly what they GET from you. They don’t get documents or “x” number of hours of your time – they get “piece-of-mind” in knowing their affairs are in order in case something happens to them. They gain the “security” of knowing their assets are protected. They “feel relieved” of no longer being at financial risk. Understand the emotional experience.

Finally, you need to define what makes you and your firm different and the advantage you offer over your competitors. You have to be able to concisely answer, “WHY YOU?” in ways that are important to them.

There you have it - a basic position statement. As long as your advertising speaks to the right people about the things that are important to them, and is clear about what they get and why they should hire only you, you will never communicate the wrong message again.

by: Dennis Kunkler

Stop wasting your precious advertising dollars by talking to the wrong audience

This happens more often than you realize. How many times have you read, listened to or saw an ad that initially looked interesting, and then shortly after you realized the product or service was not even remotely of any interest you?

For some reason the ad attracted YOU, but you were not the intended audience. What a waste of your time and their money. For some reason, they were able to attract you and draw you in – even for a short while – only to lose your attention. I wonder if they even attracted the right audience.

A worst scenario would be if it was your ad and no one paid any attention to it. Does your ad just blend into the din of advertising noise that we’ve all learned to tune out? I’m not talking about you recognizing your own ad in the clutter, anyone can do that. I mean, does your ad attract your intended prospect with something that is of interest to them and engage them to find out more information or remember you or your firm for a specific reason that is meaningful to them?

If not, I’ll wager to say you’re not talking to the right audience. And, perhaps even more accurately, your ad may have no audience at all. You may be just talking to yourself.

If that happens, you need positioning. It doesn’t sound like a sexy advertising term, but it’s the only one you need to understand before communicating anything about your firm. When you do your positioning homework – and it’s not that difficult an assignment – you will never talk to the wrong audience again - ever.

Seriously, once you do your positioning homework, you will know exactly who you are talking to. You will have defined exactly what they get from retaining you. And, you will have clearly stated why your firm is the only firm that delivers what you do in the way you do it.

In real estate they say, “location, location, location!” is the key to an excellent purchase. At Grow My Law Firm, we emphatically say, “position, position, position!”

by: Dennis Kunkler

Finding your practice niche – branding yourself

Everybody knows what a niche is, but do you know how to apply this marketing principle to your legal practice to help brand yourself and become a more successful lawyer?

Niche marketing involves determining what area(s) of practice you want to specialize in. If you’ve been a practicing attorney for a few years or more, it is likely that the market has helped determine this for you. Analyze your current and past business.

• What practice area is bringing in the most money?
• What brings you the most satisfaction?
• What areas of practice do you like the best?
• How are you perceived in your market?

The final question above will require the most soul searching. If people simply think of you as “a lawyer,” you’ve got some work to do because you aren’t perceived as distinctive. You’re just one of a bunch of lawyers in the phonebook, and you don’t offer anything that sets you apart and creates value for potential clients. You haven’t given anybody a reason to hire you because you haven’t positioned yourself.

But what if you happen to be perceived as an estate planning expert? Your reputation would precede you in your encounters with prospects. They would know what you could do for them, and you wouldn’t have to sell yourself so much. You see, marketing is the process of educating and pre-selling yourself to prospective clients. By positioning yourself as an estate planning expert, you gain instant credibility.

People like to deal with professionals that they perceive to be one of the best at what they do. When you position yourself, thereby establishing a legal niche for your practice, you build a brand surrounding a certain perception and create an expectation among your prospects. When they need what you have to offer, the choice to call you will become obvious.

by: Christine Pilch

Bad marketing advice – brainstorming taglines - yikes!

I recently read some of the worst marketing advice ever. A marketing professional was discussing tagline creation, and he suggested brainstorming with friends and family. Oh boy! Here comes, “Great service since 1952.” This advice is like telling your clients to consult with their friends and family about how to handle a discrimination dispute.

The best taglines are simple and short. They aren’t random quips that sound cool, and they aren’t about what you offer or what you can do. They nail down the main benefit that your clients receive when they hire you. They help brand your firm, so why would you want to give that responsibility to people who don’t understand branding?

Developing a tagline starts with positioning. First you nail down:

• Who your target clients are
• What they get
• And how you are uniquely qualified to handle it for them

While determining the demographics of your clients, you should also be analyzing their psychographics. These include attributes that lend insight into your clients’ personalities, values, attitudes, interests and lifestyles. With this information, you can make judgments about what is most important to your clients and how you can solve their problems. Remember, that is all they care about. They don’t care about you or what you have to offer. They only care about what they can get from you.

Once you have all that work done, then you can start whittling down the list until you arrive at the primary benefit that is most attractive to your clients. This is the point that becomes your tagline.

You’re going to use your tagline for many, many years. It is an obvious reflection of the greatest benefit that your clients receive when they hire you. Isn’t your tagline too important to chance that your friends and family might come up with something that is okay? Wouldn’t you rather be absolutely certain that you are properly stating what you most want you clients to know and has the greatest potential of appealing to them?

So, if you ever hear someone propose that you could brainstorm with friends and family members about potential taglines, run away from him as fast as you can. If his advice is that poor, you probably understand more about positioning than he does.

by: Christine Pilch

Rebranding - how can I change my firm’s brand?

Remember that your brand is entirely about the way your clients feel about you, so if you want to rebrand your firm, you must change your clients’ experience. That’s the ONLY way you can rebrand your firm. Simply designing a new logo and stationery package won’t do it. In fact, that will just come off as shallow.

Rebranding is a process that requires a deep understanding of:

1. Who your clients are
2. What they get from you, and
3. Why yours is the best firm to solve their problems.

This is called positioning. It includes learning some very specific things about your clients, like their demographics and the psychographics that make them chose you instead of your competitors. These facts help you understand why you have the business you do and helps specify your niche.

Only after you really understand your current clients can you either go after more just like them or decide to attract a new kind of client. If a change is what you want, then you can start a rebranding process that includes repackaging your firm as attractive to the newly defined client.

For example, if your firm handles mostly employment work, and you decide that you would like to start a PI practice, those are very different target clients, who are attracted to very different messages. It is possible to position your firm to be attractive to both, but the separate PI marketing strategy and messages will have to be crafted with care to not appear distasteful to the established employment clients.

If you decide that you want more of the same client base that you currently have, and you still want to rebrand your firm, you have to change your clients’ experience with you. This will usually include addressing some shortcoming discovered in your positioning phase. You fix that deficiency, and you change your clients’ experience, thus rebranding your firm.

by: Christine Pilch

Beware overzealous advertising sales representatives

Unless money is no object, it’s always advisable to be careful about where your spend your advertising dollars. Unfortunately, it’s easy to be misled by media sales reps who live on commissions and are more concerned about their own best interests than yours.

No matter what market I’m in, I constantly see misplaced and misfired legal advertising. Recently, I saw a TV ad that featured two female attorneys, so I Googled and discovered that they were the whole firm. It’s debatable whether the two of them can bring in enough business to justify the expense of talking to a quarter million people, most of whom have closer proximity to competing firms.

Had these women done their positioning, they would have known specifically where most of their business comes from and what is unique about their firm that makes them a more attractive choice than their competition. They would know the message that they have to give the audience to make business come back to them. They wouldn’t have been swayed by the TV sales representative when he or she walked through the door because they would have known that their small practice needs a very targeted message to a specific group of people rather than a broad, throw-it-at-the-wall and hope-that-something-sticks approach.

But what really sank my heart was the message. The :15 ad listed their areas of practice and the name of their firm, accompanied by their photo. There was absolutely no, “What’s in it for me?” message in the ad. They didn’t hit the three essential touch points that grab interest:

1. This is for me
2. I get/want/need what they’re offering
3. I’m going to call them because…

Since they hadn’t done their positioning, they didn’t know what elements to add to their message to have the greatest possibility of success, and the sales rep and whoever wrote the script didn’t ask the right questions.

Sadly, those two women wasted their money all because an overzealous sales person walked through the door with a good pitch, and these women didn’t know better.

It’s not just TV. I regularly hear misfired radio ads and see off-target print ads too. And many legal websites also contain copy that’s all ‘me, me, me’ instead of directed at you, addressing what you get and letting you know how you can benefit by choosing that firm.

The lesson is to be cautious when purchasing media and writing copy. Salespeople have to eat, so theirs is almost always the best product you can possibly buy, whether or not it actually falls in-line with your positioning. The best way to be sure that you’re making prudent and fiscally responsible choices is to know who your clients are, what they get from you and why yours is the best choice for that kind of legal work – your position.

by: Christine Pilch

Smarter marketing – what’s all this talk about brands? We don’t sell widgets.

If 80% of what you do at your firm is pretty much the same as your competitors are doing, that’s called running a business or practice. However the 20% that you may do different can be called strategy. The strategy that allows you to bring in your desired client, by definition, is the way you intend to achieve your goal.

In a competitive environment, the goal is to attract clients that prefer your firm over the competition. So, your strategy is the way you are going to create an advantage - in the eyes of your clients - over your competitors.

The way to achieve an advantage is by differentiation. In other words, doing something that is perceived to be different, of more value, an advantage, or to provide a unique status over your competitors, causing your clients to prefer you.

It is important to note here that your clients make choices based on his or her own perceptions of the differences between options available – not yours. Therefore, your competitive strategy will be the idea or concept that is designed to let your prospective clients know about your advantage over your competitors.

A brand exists in the mind of the consumer. It’s the anticipation of a unique and well-defined experience - a certain, unique, perceived benefit obtained solely through retaining your services.

Your brand only becomes a brand when that perceived anticipation exists. If the anticipation you create is both unique and attractive, you have a strong brand. Just because your name or logo may be recognizable doesn’t make it a strong brand. The brand has to represent a particular meaning and perceived anticipation to your intended audience.

For instance, as cheesy as they may appear, the ads for The Law Offices of Mark E. Salamone are effective. They’ve managed to embed their unique brand in the minds of millions of people with their ubiquitous ads starring Robert Vaughn and more recently, William Shatner. The basic message is that when you, the average Joe, need to take on a tough adversary, you’ll remember, “We Mean Business!” That’s been accomplished by consistently delivering their unique brand promise. This is called a brand strategy – it’s a firm’s commitment or promise to its specific clients.

“But, wait,” as they say on TV. The brand strategy is also your differentiation - the competitive strategy itself!

That’s it! Your Brand = Your Differentiation = Your Competitive Strategy.

THIS is that 20% that you can do differently to gain a huge advantage for your firm. This is why the strategy is the brand. Or to put it another way – the brand strategy is the translation of the competitive strategy – into a defined promise to your client.

Creating a brand for your firm means developing and putting into practice a way to convey your benefits to your clients, thus, providing focus and direction to all your marketing communications.

by: Dennis Kunkler

Specifying your niche

Remember the old adage, jack of all trades and master of none? Well that’s how you’ll be perceived if you do a little of everything but don’t build a reputation as being really good at something specific. Consider this scenario...

When Joe and Mary closed on their first home you gave them your standard, “…now that you’re homeowners, and you have this valuable asset, do you have a will?” speech. This wise couple decided to take you advice, and shortly thereafter you drafted their Will, Health Care Proxies, Durable Powers of Attorney and Homestead Declaration.

A few years later, Mary is involved in a terrible auto accident that renders her without brain function, so Joe finds himself in a quandary. Should he honor his wife’s wishes and end her life support or maintain her life until the time comes to deliver the unborn child that she is carrying?

Unfortunately, the couple never had this important discussion because you didn’t think to bring it up when discussing their documents. You used a common, standard template.

Being the best lawyer you can be means picking specific related areas of the law that intrigue you, and committing yourself to be a perpetual student of those areas. Once you’ve done that, you have identified a niche and you can communicate why you’re the best choice for clients in need of those services. Only then, can you market yourself as an expert offering something of perceived value to potential clients.

by: Christine Pilch