naAdmin, Author at Network Affiliates

TV advertising still a $71+ billion dollar baby

Posted on February 11, 2016

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!

How to Deliver Your Message to 83.1 Million Millennials

Posted on February 4, 2016

Boomers are so yesterday. Millennials are the biggest living generation in U.S. history. And these savvy consumers, now age 22 to 37, are poised to redefine the economy as we know it. The change is making law firms nervous about how to catch up and market to this often- misunderstood population.

But two things are clear: First, businesses can’t overlook or avoid marketing to millennials, who are becoming serious spenders. This includes both law firms and the attorney advertising agencies that advise professionals on today’s best marketing practices.

Good intending yet deeply flawed humans will always need quality legal consultation, whether they’re 25 or 70. (And as a bonus pass-through marketing strategy, nearly 30% of millennial men and women are living with their parents, who also need lawyers.)

The second revelation is that investing a little time to learn about this generation is worth the effort. There’s real ROI tied to knowing this audience. If your law practice can grasp millennials’ needs, you can win their business.

Here are some key takeaways from market statistics and behavioral research into how Millennials make decisions. These will undoubtedly impact how your law firm begins to market in the future.

Millennials work (and play) online, mostly on mobile devices.
They appreciate access over ownership in the new “sharing” economy.
Millennials expect everything (media, information, purchases, etc.) on demand.
They are socially conscious and widely accepting and expect brands to demonstrate similar values.
Millennials are savvier with technology and “live” in a world in inundated with social, shareable information.

Take these insights—and market with them!

As an attorney advertising agency for more than 30 years, it’s our job to stay up with critical consumer buying trends; hire some really smart millennials to help our clients market smarter; and guide lawyers in new marketing strategies that help attract a new segment of clients, improving ROI.

Not every macro trend we see among millennials applies to every young person interacting with your law firm. Leveraging the insights above, we’ve identified two big themes that could move the needle for attorneys.

Make your money back on mobile

Millennials expect—and get—the actionable information (such as online reviews, social-media commentary, and instance price comparisons) when they want it. This often leads to quick decision-making. Lawyers must consider this when marketing to this group.

Always-on access, one-stop shopping, on-demand knowledge: Call it what you will, but the ability to learn things instantly requires your legal website be as mobile-friendly as possible. It’s not acceptable to have a site that doesn’t render in a readable way for mobile users.

In fact, Google started penalizing sites that weren’t optimized for mobile use by decreasing their ranking – and therefore, their visibility.

Don’t walk. Run to your web developer to make sure you have a fully responsive website. Because if it’s not mobile-ready, prospective clients will move on to a competitor that already embraces their increasingly mobile ecosphere.

Once you see the value in focusing on mobile to reach this new audience, there are a number of simple ways to not only make sure millennials won’t turn you off but to truly engage with younger audiences in modes they prefer.

User Experience

Think of it as being mindful of how easy it is to use your website. On a mobile device, it’s even more imperative to make sure your website is simple to navigate; content is bite-sized at first glance, but can take users deeper when they’re ready; and general layout and features are clean, streamlined and intuitive.

Content

No one—not millennials, not boomers—want to read long stuff on a phone. It strains overtaxed eyes; it’s cumbersome during a busy commute, and it could turn off a prospective client from your firm.

Instead, make those long-form blogs and in-depth case resource pages easier to chew on via mobile phone. Beefy, informative content is helpful for SEO and building a reputation, but try cutting the length of content you “tease” users with, and then give them links and options for reading more—when they’re ready.

Eye candy

There’s no doubt that image-based information is where content is going in the very near future. Millennials like looking at and sharing passive video, photo and infographic content on their phones.

For every new content marketing initiative, think about how video might play a part in helping to personally engage a tech-savvy audience that’s used to plenty of eye candy.

Social media

Millennials expect to share any message through social media that a brand delivers. This is free marketing for law firms! Make sure that any content you provide access to on a mobile device comes with one-tap sharing tools, so this audience can spread the good word about your firm, for your firm.

Likewise, consider getting your message directly to the top-trending social platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where a younger generation might be even more inclined to share your story.

Make authentic, original messages (with some irony, seriously)

This generation is craving authentic, original content that caters to their needs and wants. In fact, they can smell an ad through any device and will download software like Adblock Plus to ensure they never see a pop-up advertisement again. Like their TV, millennials prefer their information consumption without any fixins’.

Creating relevant original content that engages the millennial consumer isn’t impossible for law firms. Just remember to build future messages that are not driven exclusively by sales projections; create content that is truly relevant to the lives of young achievers, and infuse it with a little sarcasm when appropriate.

Millennials just don’t take themselves that seriously—and they don’t expect any brand they interact with to do so either. There is always room for some subtle humor, a shade of irony or some sign that your legal brand takes the law very seriously, but knows how to tread lightly when it comes to perceptions of lawyers.

This direct approach has gone a long way in securing loyal customers in the commercial space. Beer being one fun and ironic example, long-standing brand Pabst Blue Ribbon (PBR) has solidified itself as the ultimate hipster beer to the tune of skyrocketing sales. They appear to have achieved this simply by embracing an existing reputation as the everyman’s brew—and positioning a simple, iconic history that suddenly checked all the right boxes with millennial consumers.

In addition to authenticity and lightheartedness in your messaging, consider all the ways your firm can leverage what it does for the “good of all.” Why? Because research on millennial behavior shows that these globally-minded youngsters are not only more accepting of more types of people and professions, having grown up in a progressive no-bullying, no-hating, no-tolerance-for-discrimination environment, but they actually seek out businesses that are equally socially conscious.

The good news is in many ways attorneys are already positioned as an integral part of society. Your firm’s challenge is to leverage that message in a new one-for-all, all-for-one way that makes an impact with a millennial client.

In a millennial world, where being original or different is the new cool, these insightful young entrepreneurs expect businesses to show their authentic brand personalities in all their glory. And isn’t that the heart of marketing, anyway: to present exactly who you are and how you’re different in the most compelling, engaging and relevant way?

So in many respects, you’re already on the same page. It’s not far-fetched to imagine a millennial dialing up one of your mobile-minded, socially responsible, attorneys for a good old-fashioned consultation.

Have more questions about how to reach millennials with your legal advertising? We have answers! Winning millennial business is just a matter of understanding this group’s habits—and how to engage with them. Call us today to learn more: (888) 461-1016.

What are your top-performing pages telling you?

Posted on January 22, 2016

How to analyze and take advantage of the most popular pieces of your website

Your website’s top-performing pages quickly allow you to see what information users are most drawn to and measure the overall health of your law firm’s content marketing hub. Having access to Google Analytics metrics will help you refine current content marketing practices and better leverage the most compelling information while enhancing poor-performing content so it’s more relevant to prospective clients in the future.

Big-hit pages show your attorneys how a particular website page, such as a recent blog post, is gaining traction, how long users stay on that page, and how quickly users exited that page or left the website altogether.

You can leverage these trends and pinpointed analysis to implement changes in content strategy, from formulating new content ideas around topics from top-performing pages to balancing information your law firm wants users to know with the information they deem most relevant.

Find your top-performing pages in Google Analytics

Good content marketing for law firms starts with identifying critical data curated by Google Analytics. This week we’re providing a guide to finding your most popular pages and what to do with these stats once you have them in hand.

Step 1: Log into your Google account. Go to Google Analytics. If you don’t have an account or are unsure of how to access your Google Analytics account, contact Network Affiliates. We would be happy to walk you through it the first time.

Step 2: From your Google Analytics account, click on the Behavior tab on the left-hand sidebar.

Step 3: You will see a drop-down under the Behavior tab. Click on Site Content, then click on All Pages from that drop-down menu.

Step 4: From here, your screen should populate with your website’s top 10 best-ranking pages, based on the date range you select from the top.

To get a good understanding of truly top-performing pages, consider looking at more than a one-month overview. Try 3-6 months for a broader picture of performance. This way you’ll know that a top performer is not just a random one-off piece of content, such as a holiday blog or big new hire announcement. These could be hot topics one month, but not when you look at them in greater context over a larger period of time.

Step 5: Adjust your date range to reflect data you wish to see. Below we’ve selected June 1, 2015-December 31, 2015. At the bottom of the page, you can choose to look at more content, such as the top 25 performing pages. This will provide a better snapshot of your firm’s strongest content, knowing that typically more generic homepage and about sections are almost always among a website’s top-performing pages.

Google Analytics date range selection — This is in the upper right-hand corner of your analytics screen.

Step 6: Click on a top-performing page that interests you. A good one to start with is the first page in the list that is not considered part of the typical core pages (about us, contact us, featured work, etc.).

page metrics in google analytics — Click for larger image

For example, that first page in our example is a blog post titled “The Best TV Ad Strategy for Your Money.” Once you select that title, it will bring you to a screen that shows metrics specific to that page.

Digging into page metrics

The next part of the process is beginning to analyze data you’ve just mined from your website. Don’t get overwhelmed. Start by looking four key metrics:

Page views: The total number of people who came to a page
Unique Pageviews: How many of the people who came to a page were there for the very first time.
Average Time on Page: Helps convey whether users are actually reading and interacting with content. The longer time on a page, the better chance users are finding the information they want.
Bounce Rate: Shows how many users had only a single interaction with your site. In this case, it would mean the user came to the site from this blog post (probably through an ecrm program or social post) and left without going to another page on your site or having any interaction, such as filling out a contact form or clicking to chat.

What’s worth changing after analysis?

Look at information from the four performance metrics discussed above. If the bounce rate is exceptionally high, for example, look into how users got to this page. If they came via an email campaign and bounced after one interaction, there are a few conversion tactics you can implement to help keep people on the site longer and more engaged:

Contact form: If a user enjoyed the information they read, they may be more willing to fill out a contact form to receive more info. It’s easy to add a form to any website page.

Newsletter signup: If prospective clients see your page content as part of a social post and decide they want to receive more topics, make sure you offer a way to sign up for your law firm’s regular newsletter. Adding a signup option to the bottom of the page is a smart conversion tactic.

Related links: Try adding some related topics as links on the page people like. That way when a user is done reading the initial piece and is still looking for more information, you have it available with no searching required, which could help further interaction with the site.

If you see that users are spending a low average time on certain pages that are often a sign that they’re not finding the information they want. Perhaps you need to tweak content on low-performing pages to say something more relevant.

If average time on page, bounce rate, and exit rate are all too high, ask yourself if your content is truly useful to the end user. Is there something a reader can truly glean from this content? Is the content easy to read and digest? Is it written at the average reading level?

It’s also smart to check design and optimization for both desktop and mobile viewing. For example, if a user is trying to read a piece of content on a mobile device and the site is not truly mobile-friendly that alone could be the reason a prospective client abandons the page. Also, make sure pop-ups or other intrusions are not interrupting the user’s visual experience on each page.

Remember to make small tweaks at a time. Changing too many things all at once will make it hard to keep track of what really moves the needle.

Another thing to consider is whether all forms of traffic are legitimate. Could spam be messing with your numbers?

To view sources of traffic leading to a certain page, click on the Secondary dimension tab, scroll to Acquisition and click on Source/Medium.

From there, look at the Source/Medium to see if what’s listed there looks like legitimate forms of traffic. Per our example below, ecrm (email campaign), Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube are all legit traffic sources.

Page sources — If you think the URL is spam, do not go to that site.

First Class Intake Procedures Lead to Higher Conversion Rates, High Value Cases

Posted on January 5, 2016

How to get the modern client’s attention and hold your team accountable

We know that the journey of today’s client—your prospective legal client—is anything but a straight path. Technology allows consumers to engage with legal brands at many touchpoints across diverse devices and platforms. In this increasingly variable environment you never know when your law firm could get a new lead or sign a new case. Occasionally the traditional case-acquisition model works: A viewer sees your TV commercial, for example, checks out the reputation of your firm and attorneys on the Web and calls your phone number to learn more or seek legal advice.

However that previously linear path is increasingly unpredictable, and consumers are in charge of when, where and how they interact with brands and make decisions. Today’s legal client might see a Facebook comment about your law firm, call a friend for a referral and start the engagement process through your intake center—with very little prior knowledge of what type of law your firm focuses on or what cases your attorneys actually handle. Modern legal advertising strategies require that lawyers are prepared to address consumers’ needs at every possible touchpoint.

One of the biggest mistakes in law firm marketing is focusing a majority of spend too far upfront in the process while neglecting the backend of the sales stream. Firms get very motivated around a new creative advertising campaign, for example, but lose focus around what happens when calls or Internet leads actually begin to come in from their advertising efforts. If you’ve done your job properly by setting up a multifaceted advertising strategy to hit customers at each touchpoint along their self-directed journey, the most significant oversight may be forgetting to have an effective intake program in place to seal the deal.

You’ve spent the time and money to build a legal advertising campaign, and you’ve made every effort to “touch” prospective clients on every screen and platform they typically engage with during a day. Do not overlook the critical importance of intake to convert a lead into a paying case. In fact, there’s a great opportunity in intake, because most firms are not currently focusing energy here. If your office prioritizes strengthening intake strategy you will quickly surpass the competition, without spending more money on more advertising!

For example, if an average net attorney fee is $10,000, converting just 10 new cases a year equals $100,000; 100 new cases could bring in a million dollars. Yes, one million net dollars – without spending more on your advertising. Treat intake like other aspects of your advertising campaign: By simply fine-tuning a methodology that most firms don’t you could be winning more cases. The ROI on tweaking your intake process to convert cases is extraordinary when compared to investing those dollars in additional upfront advertising avenues.

So where do you begin?

Creating an intake agenda for 2016

Law firms cannot begin to build an effective action plan without having some numbers to act on. It’s helpful to conduct an internal audit of your current intake process to develop a baseline for change. Start by asking your attorneys and intake specialists a few directive questions:

What is your firm’s conversion percentage? You MUST know and understand this. Go back three years, month by month. How have things shifted? Are there times of year that are more productive than others?

Record ALL intake calls. What are you communicating? Have your attorneys listened to the intake professionals representing their firm? Are your intake specialists listening to their own calls to see what they can do better? Perhaps you have the wrong person on the phone who conveys the wrong message simply by the tone of his or her voice. Maybe the talking points you’ve created for your intake professionals are not truly representative of your brand. When was the last time you reviewed your script?

What software are you currently using? Do you have tracking tools in place? Do you have adequate technology and practices to track things like cost per lead and average time to signing?

What is your intake culture? Do you empower your professionals with an open-door policy, standards and call protocol, and regular meetings and monitoring? It’s possible that your attorneys are not involved enough in the process—or are perhaps intervening in ways that actually devalue your intake people.

Often the reasons law firms are not signing more cases is actually buried in some of their intake processes rather than in mistakes in their global advertising strategy. Remember, increasing your bottom line could be a matter of tweaking these procedures or better tracking and acting on data you’ve collected through the intake process.

Here are a few ways to begin to take action to elevate intake:

Record all of your intake calls and listen to them. Also make sure you listen to your afterhours message. Walk through the entire intake process, starting with the first phone call through follow-up communication. Try calling several different times over a month to gauge the consistency. Then, ask yourself these questions:

What tone are your intake representatives communicating?
How fast does an intake representative get back to you?
Were you put on gold? If so, for how long?
How would you rate your customer service?

Consider your experience objectively and then start fixing what you deem to be biggest issues.

Monitor your performance.

You cannot improve your intake performance unless you have tools in place to track calls, web leads and statistics around how you’re responding to prospective clients. What tools do you need to properly monitor your customer-service performance and improve response time (for both claimants and referrers)? Are your intake specialists spending time on long calls with claimants that your firm ultimately does not want to sign? Are you assigning too many cases to your intake specialists? Once you have tracking tools in place you can work on making your people and processes more effective, with the intent to covert more calls to cases.

Create a culture.

If people answering your phones and Internet inquires could be the link that converts a lead to a case, shouldn’t you treat them like a personal investment? It’s important to begin to think of intake more like a culture of customer service. Empowering your intake professionals will give them confidence, something you can hear in the tone of their delivery, as well as make them feel part of a bigger team dedicated to case acquisition. Show your intake staff that your attorneys appreciate them by creating a thoughtful and rewarding environment. Include intake staff members in frequent review meetings and maintain an open-door policy so people feel they can make suggestions for improvement. You can also support a healthy intake culture by developing consistent intake procedures and encouraging all communication specialists to follow that protocol.

Take it further.

Make sure the intake process isn’t the part of case acquisition that “drops the ball” along the sales channel. Intake is not just one phone call. It’s part of a larger communication process. In fact, several statistics that demonstrate exactly this: Only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts; 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact. Likewise, web leads followed up on within five minutes are nine times more likely to convert. To ensure that your law firm is beating the competition to the case, you must be faster, more thorough and more persistent. Elevate the entire intake system by setting in place rules for follow-up, along with leveraging leads for future cases.

If your law firm’s multipronged advertising is working, chances are your phone is already ringing. But, remember, that’s not where case acquisition ends—that’s where it starts. Begin to hone your intake strategy to make sure that your legal advertising pays off in more signed cases in 2016. Customers are on an increasingly complex decision-making path. It’s critical that when you have they’re attention, you keep it. Law firms can make or break a case by how they deliver on intake.

Want to convert more cases in 2016? Need more insight on how to improve your law firm’s intake procedures? Network Affiliates has been helping lawyers evolve their advertising, marketing and advertising strategies since 1981. Call (888) 461-1016 today!

Do Not Miss Legal Advertising Exposure by Ignoring User’s “Second Screen”

Posted on December 11, 2015

When TV was the primary marketing engine, viewers saw your law firm’s TV ad and called the number.

Today, if prospective clients are even tuned in, they are probably multitasking on a second screen (often a smartphone).

What does this mean for the future of legal advertising? Well, quite the opposite of the consumer trend: You’ve got to pay attention.

A cultural shift tied directly to emerging digital technology, consumer TV viewing behavior is changing—dramatically. People consume massive amounts of information in small snack-sized bites, at the tips of their fingers, all day long. You might know a little something about this. We’d guess your own attorneys engage in these habits before, after or even at work!

The truth is there’s nothing businesses and brands (advertisers) can do to make the first screen the most dominant again. That ship sailed when traditional TV viewership—through cable, satellite connection or antenna—peaked during the 2009-10 season, according to Nielsen.

There is something law firms can do to get ahead in marketing to potential clients who have increasingly competing interests: Pay attention to trends. For law firms advertising on television, a consumer trend toward higher second-screen consumption means two very important things:

TV viewers are more distracted or tempted by mobile devices, tablets and other second screens. They use them regularly to check email, shop online, play games, engage in social networks and surf the Internet.

Smartphones and tablets are pervasive, with 64% of Americans owning a smartphone of some kind. Tablet use is also approaching a majority. It follows that disruptive technology like Internet-enabled devices will inevitably compete in some capacity with television viewership.

Data from Nielsen shows second screens may be doing a more than distracting people. Second screens may be biting into first-screen viewing as more people stream programs on mobile devices rather than watching them on TV. A combination in more quality Internet-based programming, as well as savvy consumers realizing price-per-use may not add up any more on the first screen, may be to blame for this change.

This idea lines up with Nielsen’s finding that among a younger generation—18-to-34-year-olds—TV viewing alone has fallen by 10 percent. Whatever viewers are using their devices for, we know this behavior requires that any advertising on TV—still considered a highly efficient and effective medium—must be more strategic than ever. If, as an effect of the new consumer “multitasking mindset,” TV is increasingly shifting into the background “lull,” your law firm advertising had better jump off that first screen in a compelling way that will make distracted viewers do what you’ve got to do right now: Pay attention.

Another effect: Viewers can instantly research your law firm online. In just seconds, a person can check the legitimacy of your lawyers and make a snap judgment about your legal team in one quick click to your website. The same viewers might also hit a snag along the way, such as an unfavorable review that happens to show up high on the first page of search results, or a competing firm in the same market that looks too similar to your brand or ranks better than your website or social presence.

If you’re paying attention to this on-demand consumer behavior, it means your brand needs to pay off your law firm’s marketing by looking and sounding consistent on every online platform you engage in, from your website’s blog to your Facebook account. Likewise, it would be smart to start get your ducks in a row in terms of search engine optimization, reputation management and social media if you want to capture those eyeballs up-close, keep them tune in and convert them to paying cases.

In law firm marketing we call this strategy an integrated approach. It’s an overused term that just happens to be right on the money. If viewers are changing how and when they consume information, advertisers must deliver that information with a strategic, consistent presence. If most Americans are doing something on other devices while half-heartedly watching television, wouldn’t it pay to be wherever they might be looking?

Legal advertising is increasingly a balance of presence, precision and provision. To find success with an integrated campaign, attorneys need to be everywhere they can have a brand presence; in the satellite and online spaces we know consumers spend time in most; and in control of experimenting with low-risk tests to fine-tune the art of advertising.

As prospective clients become more distracted and more tempted away from the first screen, yet still powerfully connected to instant decision-making information online, the opportunities to do something original in law firm advertising becomes the ultimate challenge.

If nothing else, you need to task an advertising agency with creating TV spots—and a brand foundation—that articulates your law firm’s distinguishing characteristics and grabs attention. Today’s advertising must be clever, compelling, and more captivating than ever before.

Need more ideas for connecting your TV commercials with users on a second screen? Network Affiliates has expert media strategists to handle all your advertising needs. Call (888) 461-1016 today!

7 Ways Legal Practices Can Beat Bad Reviews

Posted on December 8, 2015

Bad online reviews have the power to affect any law firm. Even if you do a great job and hear mostly positive feedback from past clients, those are not the people who typically post reviews. Disgruntled people are more likely to broadcast the bad news. And unfortunately, even a single ruthless report posted on a large platform like Yelp can have devastating effects.

Bad results, known as negative search engine result pages (SERPs), can turn away prospective clients early in the validation process. An unfavorable review might even lead a person to make a rash, misinformed decision not to choose your law firm. However, there are ways to reduce the impact of unfavorable SERPs. Start with these smart SEO strategies for attorneys:

Start with looking at your branded search page. To judge how bad the damage is, simply search for your lawyer’s or legal practice’s name, since most dissatisfied clients posting bad comments are more than willing to mention the firm name in the post. Then identify and qualify all queries in the SERP in which there are negative results.

Dig into your online reputation. Begin monitoring the most popular places that people post reviews, comments and feedback to mass audiences on the Web, such as YouTube, Vimeo, Yelp, Your Industry News and Yahoo Answers.

Push it down the pipe. The fewer negative results that show up on your branded search page, the better for your law firm’s reputation. Limit your losses by getting these pushed back to page two or three. Begin by cultivating fresh positive reviews by respectfully asking past and current clients to post some constructive comments about your legal services and lawyers.

Then, be selective. Have a strategy for engaging only with the most trusted, ethical and highly ranked online business directory sites and services. First register your law practice. Second encourage clients to leave positive feedback in a professional way. Third, cooperate with reputable websites that may have leeway or authority to help you remove negative results.

Start content marketing. Creating your own positive, highly “shareable” content through a regularly updated blog, for example, can begin to displace the bad content from the first SERP and reposition your practice. To work well, however, attorney content marketing must be authentic, engaging, informative and helpful—never sales-y.

Build your community. Once you’ve started creating some positive news about your legal practice, now you need to share it appropriately via optimized profiles on social platforms: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, for starters, which can climb high in search engines. Start to build an effective online community to proactively spread the good word about your business.

Talk to your customers. If for whatever reason a former client has posted a destructive review of your law office practice or staff, attempt to begin a more positive dialogue. Learn all you can about the issue; try to find a solution or compromise; and upon resolution inquire about the removal of negative feedback.

Overcoming bad reviews in SERP is just a matter of following good SEO practices for law firms: stay informed, stay vigilant—and stay positive.

6 Ways To Improve Cost Per Lead (CPL)

Posted on November 12, 2015

One important key performance indicator (KPI) for the success of any law practice is cost per lead, or CPL. Understanding how much lead generation costs your firm each month can quickly help reign in programs that aren’t delivering strong return on investment and hone your law firm marketing to deliver more clients to your door, without exorbitant costs.

Here are six ways to start improving your CPL today:

Keep score. You can’t truly measure CPL unless you have an effective way of tracking specific leads, attaching them to expenditures and keeping a scorecard of what strategies are winning. Any online lead-gen application today comes with built-in analytics. Make sure you’re comparing data across marketing efforts—or find an expert who can help you interpret the numbers.

Monitor consistently. Whether you think you’ve already landed on a new-case generation tool that works consistently well or you’re trying an entirely new strategy, monitoring these initiatives are critical. Check in regularly. What’s leading to the most new contacts? Which programs are converting at a higher rate? When are spikes occurring?

Maintain brand consistency. That goes for all channels. If you are savvy about law firm digital marketing, you already know that your brand must touch people in a variety of ways—from the Internet, to social spheres, to interpersonal communications. Again, as you experiment with the most effective lead-generation tools, you might think of your legal brand as your “control.” Keep core brand attributes consistent, while tweaking messages for different audiences and platforms under that brand umbrella, so you can measure the value of response.

Change one variable at a time. If you are pursuing multiple lead-generation pathways, try not to change too much at once, or your next step won’t be clear. Instead, pick the low-hanging fruit—for example, the most ineffective new-business developer—and start there. Like any experiment, you need to limit variables to effectively draw conclusions.

Market to your database. We already know that the best—and most cost-effective—leads come from referrals by clients who already know your attorneys or have expressed satisfaction during or after a legal case. Don’t overlook the potential of your database to tighten up CPL. Not sure if you’re leveraging your catalog of past clients effectively? Ask your advertising agency to walk you through the newest customer relationship marketing platforms.

Evaluate new marketing channels. The beauty of law firm marketing these days is it’s driven more than ever by technology. The innate flexibility of tech allows advertising agencies to constantly test new and existing lead-generation applications to help your law practice settle on what works best. We are no longer tied to a few marketing channels, but instead can explore attractive new opportunities as they come online.

If you think leads may be costing you more than they’re worth, give Network Affiliates’ law firm marketing pros a call to investigate your current lead-generation ROI. Call Network Affiliates now at (888) 461-1016!

What’s Your Plan to Cut Through the TV Advertising Clutter in 2016?

Posted on November 5, 2015

As you look to next year’s TV advertising strategy, there are promising new statistics that set the legal industry up for continued success on the airwaves. Television advertising is unprecedented in terms of volume and lawyers continue to thrive on the wide-reaching platform. In fact, it would be impossible for you to significantly grow your practice without this exposure.

A just-released Institute for Legal Reform report confirmed that in absolute dollar terms, legal ads continue to grow as a share of the entire television advertising marketplace. In fact with total annual spend projected at $892 million, legal services ranks No. 6 on the top 20 list of broadcast advertisers. That’s a 68 percent growth in the last eight years alone, outpacing all other ad spending during this time. In terms of local spots, legal services has doubled its share, and quadrupled its share of syndicated TV ads.

What do these numbers mean? Put broadly, TV advertising for lawyers still works. In addition to leveraging the diversity of network, cable, syndicated and spot television, top-advertising lawyers are honing in on more strategic ad buy positions in preferred dayparts and programs.

However with so many savvy legal practices continuing to communicate through the clearly recession-proof airwaves, how does your firm stand out, get ahead and ultimately acquire more cases in such a cluttered space? Get back to basics. Just in that attorney television advertising remains effective, so do many of the tried-and-true principles of strong brands, creative and marketing:

Dig into being different. Your firm isn’t the same as others on the airwaves. Why fall into the trap of mirroring what other attorneys are doing and thinking you’ll somehow stand out? Explore how you can portray your firm’s brand—and message to prospective clients—differently. Stealing creative concepts or simply trying to “shout” the same message louder than the competition won’t deliver the kinds of cases you really want.

Make your message resonate. In the same way that a different message might leave a distinct impression on the television audience, so will a commercial that resonates personally with potential victims. Try to talk to the public the way you would a jury; appeal to viewers through real-life stories; try an unexpected animation or other visually driven ad style to attract new eyeballs; and always make your message more about them—your clients—than your attorneys.

Watch other attorney ads. Competitive analysis is a smart place to start. Record TV commercials being aired by the rest of the legal advertisers in your market, as well as nationally, and have a viewing party with your advertising agency. Are the legal advertisements all the same, with monotonous messages about big money and big-name lawyers? If so, that’s your cue to do something out of the ordinary with your attorney television advertising. The opportunity is ripe to become the talk of the airwaves, and no one talks about commercials they can’t remember.

When they’re on our side statistics can be powerful motivators. Now’s the time to use the most recent reports on the sustained value of TV advertising for lawyers to make a name for your firm.

Need more ideas for turning up your TV advertising? Network Affiliates has in-house creative, production and media planning departments to handle all your TV advertising needs. Call (888) 461-1016 today!

Legal Marketing: Increase Referrals in our Digital World

Posted on October 29, 2015

One of the easiest—and perhaps most overlooked—ways to get new cases is to ramp up your referral strategy. It’s widely accepted that more new business comes from referrals than any other source, with the New York Times reporting that up to 65% may be garnered this way.

In marketing for law firms that means starting to understand how your attorneys can effectively talk to, incent and help satisfied clients share their experiences to bring in new cases. Nielsen has shown that people are four times more likely to “buy” when referred by a friend. Think of those friends—your former clients—as a gold mine waiting to be tapped.

One of the greatest benefits of legal referral-marketing strategy is it doesn’t have to cost a lot and can quickly pay for itself even after a single recommendation. The key is employing proven tactics to build momentum behind your referral campaign. Once rolling, it can take on a life of its own, making your obligation to new business development a lot lighter. Let’s touch on some ways to start prospecting for, communicating with and leveraging your existing clients in the short and long term.

Manage your relationships

One of the quickest ways to activate your database is to launch a focused customer relationship management (CRM) campaign. This legal marketing channel is typically anchored around regular email (eCRM) blasts to the addresses you’ve already collected when people come in for legal advice or contact your firm online.

Automated platforms make referral marketing simple. Remember, though, it’s imperative to make your content relevant and meaningful—not too salesy—and send an appropriate amount of digital communication, as not to inundate clients and turn them off to your attorneys altogether. Share news on an interesting mass tort, a big case with a positive community message or a new refer-a-friend program. Staying connected to prior clients is the only way to remain top of mind when friends ask for a legal referral.

Superior social sharing

Social platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn have exploded in the last few years, and there’s no better way to market your legal brand—the story of your practice, attorneys and successes—than to let former clients share it for you. As Network Affiliates’ social media strategist Emily Frickey touched on recently, the “power of viral” is undeniable: One of every 13 people on Earth is on Facebook, and in just the next 20 minutes, 1 million links will be shared on Facebook alone.

However, legal practices need to encourage people to share. A Texas Tech study showed that 83% of consumers are willing to refer after a positive experience—yet only 29% actually do. That means your office could benefit greatly from working with your advertising agency to design a social strategy now to covert that precious 54%.

Keys to social success include making the content you do produce easy to share with one click; encouraging personal story sharing through simple incentives or charitable campaign tie-ins; and quickly responding to both positive and negative reviews in a helpful and insightful way.

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

Legal Advertising Consultants Give You the Competitive Edge

Posted on October 22, 2015

Think back on the best coach in your life. It doesn’t have to be in sports. It could be any mentor who helped guide you and teach you things that not only applied to baseball or guitar or debate team tactics, but a broader understanding of why caring, commitment and creativity matter—in any activity.

An advertising coach is no different. These people are special, media-focused individuals—within a marketing and advertising agency—who have the right combination of experience, savvy and social skills to guide you along a path to making your firm successful. At Network Affiliates, our expert coaches have more than 439 combined years of industry experience. Our goal? To help you outsmart the competition and make your whole team of lawyers or legal employees shine.

“Coaching is an action, not a title and actions result in successes!” – Byron & Catherine Pulsifer

Download our Legal Marketing Best Practices Guide Now!

With all that experience in mind, here are some of the ways a savvy advertising coach can help you—every time you go to bat.

Leadership. Lawyers have no shortage of ideas, especially when it comes to legal advertising. But that doesn’t mean they’re always good ones or will be most effective in the marketplace. Having an experienced professional who is as knowledgeable about advertising as your attorneys are about law can provide ongoing leadership and direction, facilitating easier decision-making and saving the firm inordinate time, money and resources.

Cohesion. An action-oriented coach rallies the team to dig deep and win, or in some cases learn from a mistake or loss and give it another go. Likewise an advertising coach can help create more cohesion among lawyers with differing opinions, skill levels and playing prowess. Having an advertising consultant who is passionate about the “game” of marketing can lead your law firm to cooperating on more driven and focused advertising messages, strategy and execution.

Accountability. A proficient coach expects players to show up to every practice—on time and ready to work. So does a legal advertising coach. That translates to ensuring your legal TV ads, for example, are produced and disseminated properly—on time and on budget—and continuing to check in to make sure the marketing game plan is working the way it should. On the flipside, if creative misses the mark, your advertising coach should know when to pull the commercial, change the message or try a new formation.

These are just a few ways that having a marketing mentor by your side can help your firm—and your legal advertising—win in the end.

With 30+ years under our belt, Network Affiliates strongly believes in providing first-class coaching and guidance to all of our clients.

Wondering if you’re headed down the right path with your current advertising strategies? Let our advertising consultants help guide you. Give us a call for a FREE, confidential evaluation (888) 461-1016.

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