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 6 Intake Mistakes You Can Fix Today to Be More Profitable!

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Intake is low-hanging fruit for lawyers. However, far too many attorneys focus efforts and marketing dollars on generating more leads, rather than finding the people and implementing the processes that can truly convert those leads to cases. Law firms that master an intake process garner more cases and more ROI in the long term.

It’s not necessarily that lawyers are ignoring intake altogether. There’s typically some process in place to handle calls that come in from referrals, advertising or other marketing campaigns. But often these procedures are out of date, tracked poorly, and don’t receive a lot of buy-in from busy attorneys. Often a single office manager is tasked with trying to handle too much, and intake consistency and quality get overlooked.

If you are second-guessing your intake program it’s probably worth acting on your hunch. Lacking an established protocol could be one reason your firm is lacking revenue—and possibly a stronger caseload. One recent example shows just how many firms are making major intake mistakes. Stephen Fairley, CEO of The Rainmaker Institute, asked his staff to “secret shop” 126 National Trial Law firms who were registered for an upcoming NTL summit, all high-caliber personal injury, workers compensation, medical malpractice, mass tort or criminal defense attorneys who are invested in the legal industry.

Fairley’s callers pretended to be a car accident client who was referred to the firm by a doctor treating the caller’s back pain. Some of the discoveries are jaw dropping:

  • 70% of intake people did not ask the caller for any contact information before completing the call
  • 52% of the firms never called back, even after properly collecting contact information and promising to follow up
  • 31% of the firms never even identified the law practice by name
  • 71% of law firms put the caller on hold for more than two minutes
  • 33% of law offices misspelled their own website URL when asked to provide it, including one so botched it led the caller to a competitor’s site

These are some obvious intake mistakes—not collecting information, following up or considering callers’ needs—that can be fixed by lawyers who start to realize how much they may leaving on the table. Let’s address a few more common intake mistakes that you can start to improve on today.

MISTAKE: Not dedicating an intake professional to handle calls.

The secret shopper test also revealed too many people answering calls with a distinctly annoyed tone that left a bad impression, such as “you’re taking me away from something more important” or “your call is not valuable to us.”

FIX: Empower an intake person or team with the right tools, technology and direction to begin seeing (and valuing) leads as potential cases. Which existing specialists are converting the most calls to cases? Do you need to consider hiring, firing or re-training?

 

MISTAKE: Sounding like you’re too busy to care.

Following up on the previous mistake, tone of voice is a huge barrier during intake for lawyers. Being short, rude or too quick to turn “unqualified” cases away is extremely off-putting and could quickly cost your firm a lucrative client.

FIX: Work toward finding a consistent tone of voice that conveys compassion and caring. (Or at least fake it ‘till you make it.) In fact, studies show that the simple act of smiling can improve a person’s mood, something that could certainly impact verbal delivery over the phone. Writing and employing some simple scripts that put the caller first—for example, asking if the prospective caller is OK first—can go a long way.

 

MISTAKE: Not collecting any (or appropriate) information from callers.

Remember that astounding 70% figure from above? How could any law firm build a viable database or convert a lead without ever being able to contact or market to the callers who are referred to them or find them through advertising?

FIX: First things first, asking immediately for a caller’s name and number will ensure you can reconnect in the event that you are cut off. This also creates a more personal interaction since you can address the caller by his or her first name. After that, it’s every law firm’s call about how much information to collect—what’s appropriate enough for follow-up but doesn’t overstep in such a way that a prospective client feels like a statistic rather than a person. In addition to a phone number, it’s common practice to ask for an email address and preferences for receiving communication via text or email.

 

MISTAKE: Not listening in on intake calls.

Being unwilling to take a hard look at intake to see which people and processes are working is the definition of doing the same thing and expecting different results. That scenario never works. The only way to know for sure whether or not your intake system is functioning at a high level is to truly listen in on the messages your firm is communicating each time the phone rings.

FIX: Start recording your firm’s incoming calls. There are some very simple yet sophisticated call-recording programs available today that can help you begin to review, monitor and learn from your intake calls. These systems can help you not only uncover flaws in how they are communicating but track statistics about call volume, time of day, length of calls and other key metrics that will hone how you market over the phone.

 

MISTAKE: Not paying attention to the small details.

 A lot of little intake mistakes can add up very quickly to an undesirable impression of what your lawyers might be like to work with. Don’t give an anonymous caller the chance to rule out your law firm before you’ve even had a chance to meet in person.

FIX: Create an action plan for intake specialists that lists things to avoid during that critical first-impression session on phone. For example, institute a one-minute rule: If a caller is left on hold past one minute, a live person must at least re-acknowledge the waiting caller’s existence or ask for a number to return the call. Similarly, have a cheat sheet readably available with your firm’s accurate website URL and other key details. Also consider quicker ways to disseminate information correctly, such as asking for an email address and including all relevant firm details in an email that goes out immediately following the call.

 

MISTAKE: Not following up fast enough—or at all.

Statistics have shown that anywhere from 30% to 50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first. And, depending on your average case fee, a 2% increase in conversion could lead to $500,000 in revenue! There is simply no reason for not following up with a caller that leaves a message.

FIX: Again, put a system in place for exactly how these intake follow-up procedures should work, especially for after-hours calls. If you can commit to returning a call within 24 hours of someone leaving a message at the office, say so in your voice mail message. Better yet, consider a two-prong approach by sending a recognition email or text (if you have the caller’s information) to acknowledge that you have received the message and the appropriate attorney will be in touch soon.

When in doubt about, we can’t stress enough the importance of simply writing and following a script—at least until your intake folks get the tone of communication down pat. Having a clear, consistent way to talk to your prospective clients can carry you farther than you might think.

These are the things that keep us up at night! When you join the Network Affiliates family you get a team of highly skilled creative thinkers, all under one roof, who spend their days helping attorneys with every aspect of legal marketing, from creative and production to intake and online efforts. We work together to provide every client a customized marketing strategy that just works. Call us today at (888) 461-1016 to learn more.

Here’s How Attorney Email Marketing Works!

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Now’s the time to get ahead of the curve!

As much as social media is the talk of the town, the reality is people overwhelmingly use email to communicate effectively and get business done. In a highly people-driven industry such as law, email marketing is one of the most personal and direct methods for reaching past, current and prospective clients.

In fact Salesforce Marketing Cloud’s State of Marketing Report from 2015, which surveyed over 5,000 marketers in realms such as social, email and mobile, feedback and statistics about the power of email were overwhelmingly positive.

A majority of participants—73%—said marketing is core to their business, and nearly the same number—74%—believe that email efforts already produce ROI or will create real returns in the future. In its 2014 State of Marketing report, Exact Target found an even higher number: 88% of marketers said email marketing was bringing them positive ROI.

Likewise, the Direct Marketing Association’s research concluded that email marketing for businesses in the U.S. yields a dramatic 4,300% average return on investment. EmailExpert’s numbers showed that for every $1 spent on email marketing, there was an average $44.25 ROI. And in a recent ranking by Gigaom Research, marketers consistently rated email as the most effective tactic for four key business-development areas: awareness, acquisition, conversion and retention.

These findings may be surprising, as this more “traditional” form of digital marketing is increasingly overshadowed by sexier social platforms. However it’s clear that email is not only alive and well, finding a new niche among emerging social and mobile communication platforms, but can thrive as a healthy slice of any integrated legal marketing mix.

That said, strategies around attorney email marketing have changed dramatically since we heard those first iconic words, “You’ve got mail!” Today law firms need to take into account:

  • Staffing or outsourcing professionals to write engaging email content
  • Quality control through third-party email dissemination and management tools, such as Constant Contact or MailChimp
  • Analyses on KPIs such as open and conversion rates that measure the success of email campaigns
  • Accurate optimization and responsive design to allow for effective viewing of email on mobile devices
  • Best practices for email and database marketing, including personalization, segmentation and content series strategies

Email optimization for mobile

One of the most important trends in content consumption is the pervasive daily use of mobile devices. Put simply, more people are accessing more content on more handheld devices than ever before. In fact, in the first quarter of 2014, more email was opened on iPhones than all desktops combined.

With this kind of mobile demand, comes an absolute requirement that each segment of your law firm’s content—especially custom email messages—render immediately and properly on a smaller screen. One survey from email channel expert BlueHornet revealed the real problem: Over 70% of people will simply delete an email if it doesn’t open properly. Users now look at email applications as scanning tools screening for good content, and they can swipe lawyers and brands away in an instant.

Fixing readability issues should be a serious directive for attorney email marketing in 2016, because you can’t tie ROI to content that’s never been viewed. Law firms that haven’t shifted to a digital platform (both web and email) with responsive design—coding that makes content render properly on every device—should consider making adaptable content a priority.

 

Effective email open-rate strategies

Just as we know users won’t open an email that doesn’t display or load easily, increasingly distracted Americans who are already inundated with content will also ignore emails that don’t catch their attention in approximately three to four seconds. Yes, attention spans are disturbingly short. So even if your email template is super slick and responsive, if the subject line or headline doesn’t compel viewers to read, learn or act more, your legal email is as dead as a delete.

There are plenty of online resources available to help you write better attention-grabbing headlines to encourage a higher email open rate, but in general delivering an intentional variety of short messages (about 50 characters or five to seven words) is most effective. Using non-spamy/salesy phrases, compelling questions, deadline-driven words, calls to action and commands, lists and tips, and multimedia links are also successful open-rate strategies.

Personalization and localization are also becoming very important for boosting email open rates. Stats from Experian showed promotional emails that were personalized, for example with someone’s name, had a 29% higher unique open rate and 41% higher unique click rates than generic email messages. Picture those well-timed emails you get from a favorite clothing brand, for example, offering a discount on your birthday or with a personalized welcome note after joining a loyalty program. This kind of email personalization can be adapted appropriately for the lifecycle of legal client.

Likewise localizing your email campaigns by adding a city name in your recipients’ subject line is also increasingly effective. Leverage your database information to segment and market to specific clients in specific areas. Tangentially, this could also help prospective clients associate your law firm as a local or regional expert in a particular area of law.

 

Acting on email metrics

Possibly the most important strategy of all in attorney email marketing in 2016 is regularly monitoring and mining the data you’re capture through your email efforts—and making adjustments as needed. Tracking and learning from key indicators including the big three in email—click-through, click-to-open and conversion rates—will help you hone your e-campaign to precision. Nearly every third-party email tool and template comes with analytics baked right in. You just need someone to help you read the recipe and possibly tweak the ingredients of your emails.

The beauty of digital marketing initiatives like email is they can be easily modified when they aren’t working. This allows law firms to test-market different messages and approaches in both content and design, without spending much money. That said, too much experimenting could turn off clients, so once you settle on some solid strategies use them as a baseline to maintain brand consistency going forward.

Need more insight on how to improve your database-driven email marketing? Currently representing over 90 law firms around the country, Network Affiliates has the answers attorneys are looking for. We are here to provide a free and confidential evaluation of your current legal advertising and marketing strategies: (888) 461-1016

New Attorney TV Advertising Campaign: Claim Number

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Although the medium has changed quite a bit in the last few years, television is still the most powerful and far reaching advertising vehicle around. Broadcast commercials cast a wide net, drawing in viewers and giving them a sense of who you are – and if they can trust you.

Attorney TV advertising is a long-term strategy; an investment in your firm and in staying top-of-mind, should someone ever need you.

We all know insurance companies do a tremendous job of marketing themselves as an institution you can trust if anything ever happens. However, the cold reality is, insurance companies are rarely the fun, friendly, caring neighbors they want us to think they are. In “Claim number”, Network Affiliates’ latest creative campaign, we shed a light on that cold world, showing how insurance companies are more likely to treat an injured victim like a number or statistic, rather than a human being going through a life changing event.

Through emotional performances, stunning art direction and production value that rivals any national commercial, “Claim Number” is sure to draw attention, engage your audience and portray your firm as one someone can trust when they need help.

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At Network Affiliates, we take a unique and individualized approach to advertising your law firm. A spot that worked great in one market may not perform as well in another market. That’s why we offer a vast array of broadcast solutions. Call us today for access to our full commercial library as well as a FREE, CONFIDENTAL evaluation of your current marketing efforts – (888) 461-1016!

New Law Firm Television Advertising Campaign: Storyteller

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Data across the board proves that broadcast and cable are still the most valuable medium for lawyers. In fact, attorney TV advertising grew six times faster than all other ad spending from 2008 to 2014. Furthermore, just last year legal services took home the sixth spot on the Top 20 list of broadcast advertisers.

When a law firm doesn’t necessarily have the time or resources to invest in a fully customized testimonial campaign, one alternative is to leverage the power of storytelling in an encapsulated version; combining the power of a 30-second testimonial and the intimacy of placing the viewer in the victim’s shoes. By exploring an effective way to share “testimonial style” stories in a dramatized fashion, capitalizing on exceptional production value, and our country’s love of sports, this makes for a truly unique and focused legal TV advertising campaign.

“Storyteller” is dramatic. It’s disarming, it’s attention grabbing, and it will most definitely stand out in the crowded airwaves.

It doesn’t have to be expensive to look expensive. At Network Affiliates, we own all of our own equipment; we have a fully-equipped in-house production stage, several on-site editing suites and a seriously talented team that has worked all over the world. Call us today (888) 461-1016!

Just Another Day: A New Legal Advertising Campaign

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In the legal advertising landscape it’s harder than ever to create messaging or creative that stands out, grabs attention and separates you from the rest of the competition.

“Just Another Day” is not just another talking head TV commercial.  It’s dramatic, entertaining, engaging and most importantly memorable. It will keep people guessing, and in the end, leave them breathless – which will absolutely help separate your firm from the rest of the legal noise in your market.

It’s no surprise that consumers most easily relate to people and issues they can identify with. Reaching clients through smart, diverse, authentic advertising, coupled with unparalleled production quality, gives you the chance to connect on a deep and emotional level.  At Network Affiliates, we strive to keep raising the bar – giving our clients the best opportunities to create something unforgettable.

Is your TV presence and approach made up of right stuff? Network Affiliates’ broadcast advertising experts have been in legal advertising and marketing since 1981. We know media, we know messaging and we know what it takes to keep your case load full in today’s marketplace. Call us today!

How to tell if you need new website content

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Any highly competitive business needs to stay relevant to customers. In a digitally driven world, the best way to do that is to keep your website fresh, informative and engaging. Otherwise, when prospective clients are comparing the content of local law firms, you might just be, well, “out.”

Content marketing demands proactive steps based on best practices—and it starts with a stable website foundation. New content can lead to better search rankings and more conversions. Those show up in dollar signs. You may not need to overhaul your firm’s entire website, but if your content is more than a year old, it may need to be refreshed.

Here are 10 ways to know if your website needs new content:

  1. Is the content outdated?

Search engines have algorithms made to find content that’s current and the most relevant to terms people search for. Old, stale and generic content is doing you no favors when it comes to getting found on the web. Sophisticated search engines will bypass a legal website if it’s not updated or pertinent to people’s needs.

That means it’s not acceptable to cite statistics from five years ago; not update your site with news about your latest cases; not to have a recurring blog showing your lawyers are thought leaders, and not to have an ongoing dialogue with consumers through social and professional platforms.

  1. Does your website still reflect your core brand attributes?

Have things changed since writing your law firm’s website copy? Or are you offering new services in a particular sector or mass tort, for example, or have you shifted your approach to customer service in some way?

If so, your website navigation—the page hierarchy outline that leads users through your website in the most intuitive way—probably needs to change. Inevitably this will lead to shifts in content and tone. Remember, if you’re not telling the real story about who you are as a law firm and positioning your attorneys as approachable authorities, you’re not going to generate the right lead from your website.

  1. Is your copy too light, general or sparsely spread?

There was a trend a decade ago when websites were written to appease the search engines. They were intentionally “tight” on copy yet disproportionally loaded with keywords and location identifiers.

As a legal marketing and advertising firm, we’re all for clean, intelligent website design, but if there’s no original copy to back up your law firm’s brand, people will see right through the fluff—or leave your site immediately for lack of substance.

Luckily “light” is not in anymore. Global online search statistics show that people are increasingly interested in deeper, richer content. Therefore stuffing websites with top-searched keywords is no longer rewarded by search engines the way it once was. In fact, long-form content—1,200 words-plus in an appropriate format—is winning in every category.

  1. How many authors has your website had over the years?

Let’s say you hired a professional copywriter to create content for your original website.

Good idea!

But then you added to and tweaked copy over time with unqualified in-house help.

Bad idea.

There’s a good chance the “tone” of your content is now muddled with different voices, and perhaps some typos and inaccuracies to boot. This mixing of writing styles can undermine your brand consistency and confuse readers—not something most lawyers want when they know they’re being heavily vetted online.

Rewriting content with a consistent tone could be one of the smartest steps you take. Assuming, like most niche businesses, that your law firm doesn’t have (or plan to staff) copywriters, employing a professional writer who knows your legal brand and approach to business is well worth the investment.

  1. Are you ready for a redesign anyway?

If you’re considering a redesign to modernize the look and feel of your website or are moving to a universal content management platform in the near future, this is an ideal time to think about fresh content and content marketing strategies that will integrate with social and professional networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn.

A redesign typically means a new design and navigation, which affects how content is allocated on your website. Cut-and-paste is not a smart option, however. Redesign phase is the right time to reorganize and rewrite your content in ways that will help people learn more from it, digest it quicker, engage with it more meaningfully and share it easier with friends.

  1. Do you just need more interactive elements?

Are you happy with the look of your website and even how it’s performing in keywords rankings, but know it’s time to amp up search engine optimization (SEO) through more engaging, interactive content?

There are plenty of ways to amplify existing written content. For example, you can add a blog, videos, social network links, e-newsletter feeds and long-form content, without changing out everything.

That said, visual assets like videos should not take over your website. Think of these engaging elements as assets to enhance core written content rather than replace it.

  1. Are your analytics telling a different story?

Do you “like” your content but Google Analytics reports that other people aren’t finding it, reading it, sharing it with others, or engaging with your lawyers online?

There some very helpful statistics such as bounce rates and high-performance pages that can tell you which pieces of content are most relevant and compelling to users. This information can help tremendously as you consider the smartest page-by-page content updates to keep people on your site longer—and how to convert them to clients.

  1. Do you need different distribution channels?

Sometimes what’s off isn’t the content, but it’s distribution.

Modern content marketing strategy for law firms should always consider leveraging each piece of content at least four different ways. A compelling blog could shout out with a quick Twitter feed, then be repurposed in a more shareable format on Facebook, then become the base of an infographic sent in an email and so on.

Content that’s not marketed and distributed properly is like a personal diary. Who knows how, if and when anyone else will ever unlock it?

  1. Do you have the right mix of media?

Law firms are more sophisticated about content marketing by turning words in the digital sphere into more interactive media experiences.

That requires thinking like a journalist about how to best tell your law firm’s story through a mix of original posts, complemented by photography, infographics, and video. We’re not thinking in “silos”, but rather in multi-media layers to explain (and show) what brands do best.

  1. Is your content converting?

One of the most important pieces of information you can understand about your current content—and future content marketing strategies—is whether or not your content is actually converting to paying clients.

Are people filling out online forms for more information? Are they using online chat options to take the next step in the decision-making process? Are they sharing content with friends who could become future clients?

Ask your marketing or advertising team to help you read the metrics on how well your content coverts. If it’s not leading to ROI, it’s time for a change.

At Network Affiliates, we specialize in knowing not only what lawyers need to say and where to say it. Have questions about your law firm’s content marketing strategy? Call or click today for a free, confidential evaluation of your current efforts: (888) 461-1016.

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Referrals Belong In Your Marketing Mix

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Boosting referrals has always been a significant part of attorney marketing strategies. It remains so today. In fact, last year professional services organizations cited this initiative among their top marketing priorities.

Humans have a primal need to earn the praise and respect of others—and so do companies. But how we’ve gone about securing those good words, we’re learning, may have been too limiting. Referral marketing is bigger than combing the database and asking for recommendations. Referrals now play into a wholly integrated media strategy, including the ever-changing role of attorney television advertising.

Referrals three ways

First let’s clarify what constitutes a referral in today’s digitally centered environment. The answer may be surprising. New research from Hinge Marketing, dissected in a recent report called Referral Marketing for Professional Services Firms, shows that over 81% of 532 firms interviewed, including legal services, have received a referral from someone who wasn’t even a client.

This telling statistic immediately counters the idea that attorneys can only garner positive feedback, reviews and references from clients they’ve represented, won a significant case for or even know personally, for example. In fact, there are now three commonly accepted referral categories based on very different parameters:

Experience: The most traditional form, experience-based referrals are the ones that you are mostly likely already chasing—clients who can adequately recommend your firm based on an experience of working directly with your lawyers in the past.

Expertise: This is a recommendation based on a firm’s implied ability to handle a specific case type or area of expertise. So a person that might know of you as the “car crash attorneys,” even without direct or extensive knowledge of your results or reputation, may still refer your lawyers based on this general brand knowledge.

Reputation: This referral form is more common in law than many realize. An organization that has never worked directly with your law firm can still speak highly of your attorneys’ capabilities, based on your reputation in the marketplace alone.

What this insight tells us is that many professional service organizations may be selling themselves short by not taking a wider view of referrals—both seeking them out and advertising around them. In fact, focusing too tightly on tracking down clients for comment could be limiting the potential of your referral marketing campaign.

Instead, consider extended associations and “non-clients” as untapped resources, and start to uncover and leverage what all kinds of people and other organizations have to say about the important work you do as lawyers.

Ramping up your online reputation

Before you can run with your new referral-marketing program, however, it’s important to make sure you’ve put in place all the tools possible to ensure potential referrers don’t rule you out before they even have the chance to refer your law firm. The golden ticket? Making sure people get to and “past” your website.

The Referral Marketing for Professional Services Firms research found that 51.9% of respondents “ruled out referrals before speaking with the firm in question.” And the issues most mentioned were directly related to a company’s lackluster online presence. Almost 30% cited an unimpressive website for turning the other cheek. About 23% were turned off by poor-quality content, and another nearly 16% stopped cold when they couldn’t even find the firm in an initial search.

None of this information is surprising since previous research has shown that some 80% of buyers head directly to a corporate website to evaluate an organization first. If your law firm’s web presence is apathetic at best, earning those extra-credit reputation-based referrals is out of the question. Ramp up your referral marketing efforts by getting your website—everything from design upgrades to intuitive usability to compelling content—in order first.

A dynamic duo: Referrals and TV advertising

Attorney television advertising remains a crucial part of the marketing mix for professional practices around the country. This far-reaching visual advertising combined with a strong web presence and database or referral marketing plan will keep your firm squarely in front of past contacts—and potential cases.

Once you start to look with a wider perspective at what may be deemed a referral in the first place, as well as how to ensure you continue to get acclaim going forward, what you need to do from a media and marketing standpoint may start to crystalize before your eyes.

Look the part: If you’re indeed getting referrals without a referrer even talking to a lawyer at your firm, let alone trusting you with a legal case, where are these people coming from and what’s making them believe in you? The Hinge Marketing report showed the top type—expertise-based referrals—came from channels that might not even be on your radar:

  • Speaking engagements (30%)
  • Articles or blog posts (20%)
  • Social media interactions (17%)

What do these results convey? While TV remains a prime resource for spreading the brand gossip far and wide, interpersonal communications, social-media engagement and thought-leadership-style content must support the bigger message you’re putting out there.

Lawyers have to look the part—on both first and second screens—not to mention in-person at reputation-building sessions such as keynotes, round tables and conventions. Referral marketing has become a sophisticated engine: all the parts must look the part to create a cohesive, believable, trustworthy brand.

Leverage your luck: Now comes the fun part. What do you do with all these new referrals from new referral avenues? Smart attorneys are leveraging recommendations in cutting-edge TV advertising. You’ve probably heard of the customer journey and the customer experience. Now pair that with first-hand client feedback, or a person’s overall impression of your firm based on a specific area of expertise or reputation in the industry. Why not leverage these realizations in your advertising campaign?

Just as you are now thinking out of the box about referrals, your attorney television advertising campaign should project the same perspective. Instead of recycling conventional “talking-head” client commercials, delivering canned-sounding recommendations, be creative. (Or at least let your legal marketing and advertising agency have some fun.) You’ve been given new tools—three types of referrals. Now let the legal marketing experts develop a campaign that conveys that client experience (or potential experience) in a fresh and memorable way.

Want to take advantage of more referral opportunities and leverage the people who already support you? We can help. Call us today! (888) 461-1016

Attorney TV Advertising is Generating Leads in an Entirely New Way – Online

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You say: “TV isn’t working”

We say: “Have you looked at your website traffic?”

 

If you think your television ads aren’t moving the needle it might be time to look at your law firm’s digital marketing data. Even if TV isn’t making your phone ring off the hook, it doesn’t mean this effort has failed. These days, most people don’t just call up and say, “I saw your ad on TV and I have a case!” This means your television spot may be generating leads in an entirely new way—online.

 

To support the notion that TV advertising is still driving new business, only in new ways, let’s consider an insightful 2015 study by the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB). The bureau compared web traffic to TV advertising for 125 diverse brands. The companies spent a combined $30 billion in annual TV advertising and all pulled in 100,000 or more unique website visitors each month.

 

Of these successful brands, a huge majority—82%—showed a direct correlation between TV advertising spend and website traffic. The analysis looked at both sides—increased and decreased TV ad spending. A 22% average increase in TV spending equated to a 24% increase in website visitors. For the 10% average decrease in TV spending, there was a striking 9% drop in website visitors.

 

The pattern is undeniable: There is a clear correlation between website traffic and TV advertising.

 

The takeaway? Broadcast advertising appears to be calling viewers to take further action online, driving and pacing law firm digital marketing efforts. But rather than people simply garnering general awareness about a law firm or calling an 800 number repeated in a legal TV ad, viewers called to action on the first screen are taking a different path to legal advice via a second screen. Fractured by the sheer number of digital platforms at their fingertips, consumers are increasingly going directly online to learn more.

Television is “activating” digital

Lawyers understand that TV is still the most effective effective medium. In fact, attorneys invested an estimated $648 million last year in TV advertising, and legal services ranked No. 6 in the list of top 20 local broadcast categories. What most law practices want to better understand is how broadcast campaigns can work to drive better engagement online.

If TV is no longer about broad brand awareness designed to reach the masses, today it’s about leveraging commercial messaging to incite people to do more research and take qualified action through digital marketing channels. Think about it – how do you use Google and the internet when it comes to obtaining more information about a product or service?

The web-based part of things can be a little elusive. As consumers become habituated to the anonymity that the Internet provides, and because they can hide behind the screen, they are often more willing to take action undercover, such as posting a scathing online review without their real name.

A prospective client that doesn’t know your law firm might take a similar covert approach, catching your commercial during the nightly news and instantly checking your legitimacy by researching your attorneys, cases, practice areas and reviews through an easily accessible second screen—laptop, tablet or smartphone.

Your job as an intelligent marketer is simply to be there when prospective clients knock at your digital storefront—your website—or engage through some other digital extension, such as a blog, social, networking site or email campaign. Media strategy is no longer a linear equation, and every brand, including businesses in traditional industries like law, are tasked with being available at every consumer “touchpoint.”

But how are lawyers expected to be everywhere and everything to everyone? They’re not. Smart law firm digital marketing in 2016 is about rethinking how TV activates digital and how digital data activates marketing tactics. That means starting to read your website reports in a way that draws links between your TV commercial and your website’s traffic and performance.

 

Here are 10 questions that might help you rethink the connections between your presence on TV and the Internet:

 

  • When you launch a new TV campaign or new creative assets are you seeing an increase in traffic to your website?
  • When you tweak your call to action on a television commercial what’s happening on your website?
  • Is there any online chatter about your television spot?
  • When viewers land on your website does it look and sound cohesive with your TV spot?
  • Which pages of your website are performing best?
  • Where are users engaging most with your brand on your website or online?
  • How many different ways (touchpoints) could a person potentially interact with your legal brand?
  • Do you truly know your core customer’s decision-making “journey” to investing in your law practice?
  • If a person never sees your TV commercial, what you think is his or her first impression of your website?
  • How would you rank the consistency (look and tone) of your brand across all platforms?

If you think of TV as the great “activator” of your message, what you’re saying and presenting visually online is just as, if not more, important. Why? Because the digital space is increasingly where you can capture your audience’s attention and keep it long enough to convert them to a paying client. After all, the user has come to your website intentionally, perhaps through a search query or email initiation. This is your chance to really tell your story and engage a captive audience. However, don’t forget that your competitors are just “next door” on the Web, and it only takes one click to go to another attorney’s digital storefront. If your website is not informative, useable and engaging, potential clients can go somewhere else with a click of a button.

As you think about the links between TV and digital initiatives, and ultimately how they work best together, remember these best practices:

Don’t “silo” your advertising efforts. Instead, look at how everything is working together.

Learn what’s driving digital. Consider how your TV advertising creative is driving website traffic.

Create quality, consistency and clarity. If clients are viewing your TV ads, they are most likely also holding or in close proximity to a smart phone or tablet. Therefore branding and messaging must be of the same quality and message consistency to paint a clear picture for your target customers.

Track your customer journey. Use online analytics to understand where your clients are coming from and what they’re doing online.

Don’t forget conversion. Once people land on your website, what are you doing to convert them to clients?

Wondering if your TV and digital efforts are working well together? Find out what Network Affiliates can do for your law firm marketing this year. Speak with one of our experts for a free, confidential marketing evaluation. What are you waiting for? Call us today at (888) 461-1016.

Who’s driving your analytics dashboard?

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Read about the most reliable platforms for digesting digital marketing data

Digital marketing dashboards come with a lot of buttons and switches these days. Lawyers need to know what to turn on to turn up the integration of data into smart marketing plans.

Most of you have most likely heard of, if not interacted with, Google Analytics, currently the most reputable and widely used platform. This is the free data-mining application that Google gives anyone with a website access to, like you.

But there are other analytic engines. For example, Facebook and other networking platforms can reveal beneficial, complementary information about how your digital marketing efforts are working—and what you can do better in the future. The key is understanding what Internet analytics even mean to your law practice—and, once you get it, how to take advantage of the most useful data sets.

So let’s start at Data Trailhead. It’s a crowded place, this Internet, but everyone enters cyberspace from said sign and leaves a trail of crumbs behind that can teach lawyers a lot about what people do when they visit your website, and maybe why they only stayed for a few seconds. Prospective clients leave footprints on contact forms they only fill out half way before exiting your site and the keywords they type in a search engine to find your website or social profile along their pathway.

Each recorded action says a lot about how users feel about a particular website, what they’re really looking for, and whether or not they’re likely to come back. Not only can this data trail help law firms improve the quality of their websites, but also it can help marketers decipher what drives a potential client’s decision-making process. All of these markings are part of a trail of data that users leave behind for marketing scientists to interpret and leverage for ROI.

Really it’s quite fun to access and analyze free information that can make our legal clients smarter, but you have to look closely and carefully, uncovering each print and the meaning behind each digital tailing. All of the information attorneys need to act on is readily available, but to decode it you’ll need the right analytics tools.

Choosing an analytics platform

There are plenty of analytics tools circulating in cyberspace, and some may be landing on your screen regularly. Each one boasts slightly different features and marginally distinctive purposes. To choose the most appropriate analytics machine, first evaluate business needs and goals to see how your priorities match up with various platforms. For example, one tool may do a particular data extraction really well, but does that platform give you what you need when looking globally at your website performance? Start with these questions:

  • What do you want to achieve through analytics?
  • What data does your firm deem most meaningful to measure?
  • What features do you already know are important to you?
  • How many employees will be using the analytics software and how tech-savvy are they?
  • How much technical support will you need?
  • How much customization do you require in your tool?
  • Will you need to import data from other sources?
  • What is your budget for an analytics tool?

 

If you don’t know the answers to these questions, that’s OK. An agency like Network Affiliates that specifically handles digital marketing for lawyers can walk you through each one to help you select the best platform for your practice’s particular needs and aspirations. At the bare minimum, most attorney websites can get away with an analytics engine that will collect the following information:

  • How many people are visiting your website
  • Where those visitors are coming from
  • Who those people are and what they’re doing there
  • What’s driving traffic to and from your website
  • What visitors are searching for within your site
  • Which website pages perform best and worst
  • Which pages get the most clicks
  • Which parts of your web presence need improvement
  • What elements your top-performing content contains
  • Which online campaigns are driving the most traffic and highest conversion rates

Start with two tools: traffic & social

As we mentioned there are a number of good analytics tools out there, but we’ll cover a couple that may be especially helpful to lawyers. Google Analytics and Facebook Insights are both relatively easy to set up and manage. The first measures website traffic and all those key performance indicators related to people coming to your site. The second strictly tracks social-media metrics which, when used properly in conjunction with website analytics, have the potential to give you an advantage over the competition.

Google Analytics

Designed to integrate into any website, Google Analytics is a free web-based application that tracks and analyzes visitors in real time and measures the ROI of your digital marketing campaigns. It also helps lawyers evaluate online visitors, learning what they like and don’t like, and see new ways to encourage visitors to return more often. To assist people just learning the platform, Analytics Academy offers a helpful selection of video lessons from experts to help you get up and running. The baseline Google Analytics is free, but Analytics Premium comes with a fee.

Key features:

  • Google AdWords integration
  • Internal traffic filters, so your stats are only affected by your customers
  • In-depth geographic data on incoming traffic
  • Navigation summary detailing how users move around your website
  • Page-by-page breakdown of your bounce rate
  • Analysis of keywords used to find your site
  • Visitor loyalty tracking
  • Easy PDF or email reports for sharing stats with business partners
  • Future goal setting assistance
  • Completely customizable dashboard

 

Facebook Insights

For obvious reasons, lawyers may choose to forego some social spheres. But most law firms maintain some presence on this leading social platform via a Facebook business page. As soon as you start an account, you will have access to Facebook Insights. This analytics tool can help you grasp what your Facebook “fans” are interested in, measure the engagement on each post, and help you communicate more effectively with your social media network. The best bonus? It’s free.

 

Key features:

  • Daily tracking of page-visit numbers
  • Evaluates most popular posts and post reach
  • Measures “eyeballs” through numbers on likes, shares and comments
  • Culls stats on where “likes” come from and what’s driving them
  • Sorts posts using different parameters of engagement
  • Keeps tabs on negative feedback
  • Stats tracked on all posted videos
  • Mobile apps available for on-the-go management

 

Analyzing the data

Once you’ve successfully selected, set up and started to see the potential of your analytics platforms, it’s time to really do something with the data. And for that you may need a skilled analytics professional to assist you in making the numbers actionable. It can be overwhelming sorting through the intelligence and deciding what to prioritize focusing on first. Sometimes KPIs from different platforms don’t match up. It’s important to have a digital marketing expert in your corner when things are not clear. Likewise, it’s important to make sure you understand how multiple platforms can work in tandem to help direct a future digital marketing strategy.

The point is to make good use of your new insights and not to let the statistics frustrate you. In the big world of big data, sometimes the best decision you can make is to secure some sage advice.

If you’re looking for a digital marketing agency for lawyers, you’ve come to the right place. We’re here to leverage all the freebies that technology has to offer. And we’re here to make it as simple as possible. Call today for a free and confidential digital marketing evaluation. 1-888-461-1016

 

TV advertising still a $71+ billion dollar baby

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With so much focus on how advertising is evolving online, it’s easy to overlook tried-and-true TV advertising for attorneys. Especially in an election year, where the competition for airtime and consumer eyeballs is tight. For some, it may be a foregone conclusion to spend marketing dollars elsewhere.

Wrong.

We hate to break it to you, but this is the exact opposite mindset attorneys should be cultivating. Spending on TV advertising overall grew from $69.2 billion in 2014 to $71.1 billion in 2015.  It’s predicted to hit $81 billion by 2019. This form of advertising is not going away anytime soon. In fact, lawyers looking for a steady stream of new cases will find it next to impossible without TV advertising.

Data across the board proves that broadcast and cable TV is still the most valuable medium for lawyers. It introduces law practices and helps attorneys draw in new clients via television’s broad, diverse viewership. Remarkably, law firm TV advertising grew six times faster than all other ad spending from 2008 to 2014. In fact, just last year legal services took home the sixth spot on the Top 20 list of broadcast advertisers. The message is if you don’t want to lose market share, you need to be on TV. End of story.

Almost.

While Internet advertising has stripped some revenue from traditional TV, it may be surprising to learn that the effect of new online marketing channels has not been as damaging as one might expect. For attorneys, this makes sense because digital campaign efforts complement rather than replace TV advertising.

Another outlet that’s adding to an overwhelming media mix is online video. It remains to be seen how online TV, a growing sector of consumers who are cutting the cord, will play into lawyers’ TV advertising strategy. But the point is television in all its tangential forms is a rich and visually engaging format that continues to catch the attention of new clients each day.

 

So what does law firm TV advertising look like in 2016?

It’s more targeted than ever before. The most successful law firms are drilling down to hone where and when they place their messages on network, cable, syndicated and spot television.

Law firm TV advertising specialists at Network Affiliates have accurate data-aggregation tools to track, monitor and compare ads in the legal space. Such detailed competitive analysis’ help law firms take a proactive approach and see the effect of targeted advertising in realized ROI.

Let’s review some of the most important tactics for competing in the TV advertising for attorneys space today:

Production: Nothing says “we cut corners” and undermines your marketing message like a poorly produced TV commercial. And given the technology that production artists have, there are few excuses for sacrificing quality. With video in general—think YouTube—taking over Google-ing eyes and market share, law firms that are in it to win it must amp up the quality and sophistication of their TV ad production.

Even though TV is a visual medium, fine-tuning the graphic quality of your commercial is not enough when you’re stacked against heavy competition. Your advertising team should be paying attention to every detail—props, sound, editing, screens—not to mention unusual visual elements that will ensure your lawyers stand out among a crowd of talking heads.

Messaging: If only there was a magic potion that could make every trite law firm commercial jump off the screen. Alas, creativity is the only real secret sauce for making your legal message matter to the masses.  If you remember to keep your message simple and focus on brand attributes that set your firm apart, combined with some clever creative, you can craft something truly enchanting.

Remember, TV is not like middle school. In broadcast advertising, it’s all about not fitting in. We’re not saying you need to take it to puppy-monkey-baby level, but the goal is to set your law firm apart and addresses the needs of prospective clients. What promise can you deliver on better than any other attorney? What if you started focusing on not just getting bigger cases, but better ones? The answer will guide your creative process in creating a commercial that is compelling, actionable, relatable and, most importantly, memorable.

Approach: TV advertising for attorneys is no longer a one-and-done broadcast spot. You can’t make a great commercial and then rest on your laurels while the calls come in. Why? Because at some point the phone will stop ringing. A legal advertising expert can coach you through the most intelligent approach to marketing your law firm now and in the future. The marketing landscape is multifarious, and to compete effectively lawyers must employ a highly integrated strategy. That means all the parts—broadcast, digital, content, social, etc.—will work better together. It’s the sum of these seemingly disparate parts that will eventually move the needle.

When consumers see your legal brand on TV, engage with your firm through your website, talk to an attorney on the phone, and review chatter on social media, your message must be cohesive. What you do—and do best—doesn’t change. Your message may morph per platform, but your essential brand must ring true on every channel. People must see you everywhere as authentic, believable, and trustworthy.  A well-done TV commercial is just prize-winning creative. But you only win if you can see it as springboard for an integrated campaign of marketing messages.

Is your TV presence and approach made up of right stuff? Network Affiliates’ broadcast advertising experts have been in legal advertising and marketing since 1981. We know media, we know messaging and we know what it takes to keep your case load full in today’s marketplace. Call us today at (888) 461-1016 for a FREE and CONFIDENTIAL evaluation of your current media and marketing strategies!