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Personal Injury Retargeting Is Possible Outside Of Google

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Like other businesses, law firms focus much of their online advertising efforts on inbound website traffic and bringing in new visitors or leads. Many of these people arrive at your site because they have a genuine interest or need for your service.

But what happens if they visit your site and like what they see, but then they leave — either because they get distracted, need to use their device for another purpose, or begin to research competing law firms?

For a long time, these lost leads represented one of the biggest challenges to law firms fighting to grow their business online. But in recent years, new practices and technologies have made it possible to “re-recruit” these people, recapturing the leads that got away.

In particular, retargeting and remarketing are effective means of reminding people that they found your firm (and encouraging them to return).

But the practice of retargeting for personal injury attorneys comes with special challenges — so much so that some lawyers assume it isn’t possible or worthwhile.

Below, we explain how personal injury retargeting is not only permissible but also effective and extremely valuable for personal injury law firms looking to compete in a crowded web space.

What Is Personal Injury Retargeting?

Retargeting means displaying banners (or other advertising messages) on third-party websites to users who have already shown interest in your product or service.

It’s accomplished through the use of cookies — not the kind that go over so well on Sesame Street, but the very small text files that websites store on user’s computers through internet browsers like Firefox, Safari, and Chrome. These cookies allow websites and browsers to recognize the user and their preferences as they move around the web.

With retargeting, when visitors leave your site and visit another, the ad blocks on that third-party website will look for cookies to decide which ads they should display. Personal injury retargeting allows your firm to appear in those spaces, but only for users who’ve already shown an interest in you.

Because you’re narrowly targeting a relevant demographic already familiar with your brand, retargeting is an especially cost-effective means of online advertising for attorneys.

Using third-party sites and services to advertise your firm directly to the people most likely to hire you? What’s better than that? You can understand, then, retargeting’s appeal to lawyer.

But is it even allowed? Let’s explore.

The Difference Between Retargeting and Remarketing

Before diving in any further, we want to quickly clarify the distinction between retargeting and remarketing. The two terms are often used interchangeably. Technically, though, “remarketing” refers specifically to the use of email to recapture lost customers.

If you’ve ever added an item to your Amazon shopping cart but then closed the window without making a purchase, you probably got an email later that week reminding you your cart isn’t empty. That’s remarketing in a nutshell.

Some companies and even attorney advertising agencies use these terms more loosely, so it’s helpful to make sure you’re always on the same page. In this article, we focus primarily on retargeting.

The Problem with Personal Injury Retargeting and Google

Many companies use Google’s services to carry out their retargeting efforts. But generally speaking, that’s a no-go for attorneys in the PI market. Why?

Google is concerned about exploiting “the difficulties or struggles of users” in “categories related to personal hardships.” Their definition of hardships includes a wide array of injuries and other health conditions, meaning most PI and/or mass tort firms are ineligible.

(Because criminal charges also qualify as “personal hardships,” criminal defense firms can’t retarget through Google either.)

Given that Google is a leading retargeting and remarketing provider, attorneys sometimes assume it’s the only such provider, or at least the only one worth bothering with. That’s a misconception.

Personal Injury Retargeting Is Possible: Effective Avenues Outside Google

While Google’s Display Network is large, there are many other Demand-Side Platforms (DSPs) outside the Google Network that allow advertisers to purchase display inventory as well.

In other words, while Google may not allow PI lawyers to retarget (or even to serve ads of any kind, depending on their area of practice), there are other vendors who will.

At the end of the day, the user doesn’t know which service you used to retarget your ads. In fact, they’re generally unaware that you’re retargeting at all. So whether you go through Google isn’t important (nor is it even an option for PI practices). Rather, what matters is:

  • Cost-effectiveness
  • Your ability to reach users who showed interest in your firm but didn’t take action the first time
  • Compliance with ethics rules and DSP terms of use
  • Return on investment (i.e. your ability to grow your firm)
  • Outpacing your competitors without blowing your budget

All of these things can be accomplished through digital marketing services whose rules are not as PI-adverse as Google’s.

The Benefits of Personal Injury Retargeting

Retargeting is a great approach for gaining more digital conversions. Not only does it keep you “top of mind” but it also helps to redirect the user back to your website for conversion.

Ultimately, retargeting can be successful in leading users to fill out a contact form or call your firm directly. These are prospective clients who might otherwise contact a competitor because they left your website and then found theirs.

Retargeting is relatively inexpensive, as it is based on the number of website visitors your firm gets each month. The more website sessions you have, the higher the number of people who will be served the retargeted ads.

Let Network Affiliates help you retarget your leads and increase web conversions. Remember: on average, only 3% of users convert their first time on a website! There’s no reason you can’t capture more of the remaining 97% by bringing the back for a second.

(Featured image courtesy of Growthgrind.com)

Attorneys Advertising to Younger Generations Need a Completely Different Playbook

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Between strict bar association rules and the general public’s skepticism toward attorneys as a whole, legal marketing has never been the easiest undertaking. And, as we’ve covered before, reaching Millennials is especially challenging.

So, if you’re running a law firm that advertises on television, we advise you to rethink your talking head strategy— especially if you care about clients under the age of 30.

Here’s why.

Younger generations have grown up surrounded by rapidly evolving technology and the creation of countless new media channels on a semi-regular basis. They are what we call “digital natives” and their understanding of advertising is unlike any other generation before them. They can spot conventional or contrived branding from a mile away, and they don’t like being “sold to.” Instead, Millennials respond to authenticity. They gravitate to service providers who they believe (A) tell the truth and (B) are in it for the right reasons.

Generally speaking, they see talking heads in TV ads as the equivalent of a carnival barker — just another person talking at them in the hopes of getting money. With decades of ardent television viewing behind them, they have grown immune to what was once an effective sales pitch.

So if you want to become the local law firm that your community’s Millennials trust, you need to speak to them from the heart.

Below, we explain why advertising doesn’t work when it’s disingenuous — and how you can revitalize your efforts by earnestly reaching out to Millennials.

If Not a Talking Head, Then What?

When choosing the spokesperson for your law firm, the easiest choice by far is simply to put your senior partner in front of the camera. As is so often the case in life, though, the easy path isn’t necessarily the wisest one.

It was only in 1977 that the U.S. Supreme Court opened television airwaves to attorneys for the first time, and law firms found early success with the old “talking head” strategy. In fact, Network Affiliates’ founder, Norton Frickey, was one of the first attorneys to deploy this strategy on TV; something he then helped other lawyers and law firms do across the country.  And, that’s when Network Affiliates was born.

However, as the legal advertising space has grown more crowded — and viewers have grown overexposed and more cynical — the old playbook has grown tattered and dated.

Today’s attorney advertising demands a more creative approach, and that means your firm’s spokesperson might need to do more than just talk. They need to set a tone, convey a personality, and take part in a story.

Ultimately, you’re looking for inspiring, engaging, and emotionally accessible conversationalists — dynamic and organic personalities who young audiences find themselves drawn to naturally.

There are no limits on what or who that might be: a lawyer, an actor, a client, a community member, a celebrity, or even a character.

In this example, we created an ad that relays a personal injury client’s narrative by way of narration, followed by a brief and personable call to action from a real attorney at the law firm (one of our clients) at the end. While the talking head appears, you can see that he isn’t the “star of the show.” The star here is the client:

The Traits of a Modern, Multifaceted Law Firm Messenger

While there is no “one size fits all” guide to choosing the right messenger for your firm, when it comes to Millennial advertising, there are at least a few traits to keep in mind:

  • Sincere passion for the law firm’s work and the pursuit of justice
  • Outside-the-box creativity
  • Subtle, subject-appropriate sense of humor (or irony)
  • Cool and calm under pressure
  • Reasonable
  • Honest
  • Never “salesy”
  • Is able to talk with the viewer and about the viewer (rather than talking at the viewer about the lawyer)

Whether it’s an on-screen personality or an off-screen narrator, you want to find a law firm messenger who resonates. The ultimate question is whether the viewers connect with the message.

If they do, you have a direct path toward growing your business, and that’s the whole point of legal advertising to begin with.

Millennial Advertising Is All About Authenticity

We talk a lot about authenticity in legal advertising, but what does that really mean?

It isn’t enough merely to adopt the appearance of authenticity. (That wouldn’t be very authentic at all!)

In addition to looking and sounding authentic, there also needs to be some proof in the proverbial pudding.

If your ad prompts a Millennial to visit your website, for instance, he or she needs to find at least two things there:

  • High-quality content that is consistent with the messaging and tone they found in your TV campaign
  • Evidence that your firm is truly the passionate and sincere service provider it purports to be

Toward that second criterion, law firms are increasingly incorporating Community Social Responsibility (CSR) into their practices.

CSR refers to any and all efforts your firm makes to become a better citizen of your community. It might include pro bono service, diverse hiring practices, attorney community service, free resources you make available online, or mentoring in local schools, etc.

We’ve written a guide to CSR in the legal services space, including the very real business benefits it can confer on your firm. Among those myriad benefits: the major selling point CSR becomes when reaching out to Millennials.

Talk to Network Affiliates About How to Market Your Law Firm to Millennial Clients

Now that you know why the talking head strategy isn’t as effective anymore, you can take strategic steps toward a new kind of law firm branding.

Network Affiliates is a team of legal marketing experts determined to keep our clients at the front of the pack. Reach out and ask us how we can help to craft modern legal messaging that gets results for your firm. Call 877.709.0633 or contact us online today.

ATTN: Legal TV Advertisers, Do You Really Know Your Competition?

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We often talk about adopting a mindset of success. It’s probably the single most important step you’ll take in the world of legal advertising and marketing. The most effective legal marketers are those who understand that success is challenging but also entirely attainable.

Inherent in the whole “mindset of success” is having a plan. Once you’ve made the decision to advertise your firm on television and to fund that investment — but before your ad appears on the air — you need to commit yourself to preparation.

You aren’t just running an ad, you see. You’re entering a market. And just as your firm’s founders needed to know a little something about the local law firm scene before hanging their shingle, you need to understand your local/regional television market before putting your own campaign in the mix.

Specifically, you need to know the who, what, when, where, why, and how of your rival law firms’ television advertising campaigns.

This is where a very calculated and data-driven TV advertising strategy comes into play. You’ll need to dig deep to make a lot of decisions about your campaign. Some questions that we usually start with are:

  • Who are you up against?
  • Who do you need to reach?
  • How much are you prepared to spend?

But before you answer any of those questions, you need to know how your competitors are answering them. We call that Competitive Analysis, and it’s an early and integral part of our approach to any legal advertising campaign.

What is a Competitive Analysis?

A competitive analysis doesn’t need to be more complicated than it sounds. At its core, it simply means informing yourself about your market so that you can make the wisest possible decisions concerning your investment.

Still, asking the right questions can make sure your analysis is getting you where you need to be.

When going to work for our clients, for instance, we always research:

  • Who is your competition?
  • What kind of content are they running?
  • When and where are they airing their campaigns?
  • What is their brand message?
  • How much are they spending?
  • What do their results look like?
  • What will it take for you to “steal” an adequate share of voice (SOV) and compete?

By looking at the spends, placement, and messaging among current advertisers, you can quickly visualize what you’ll need to do to make an impact.

If you go in too soft, you won’t gain enough share of voice (SOV) for your investment to pay off. At the same time, you don’t want to over-invest unnecessarily. Through a careful competitive analysis, you can land in the sweet spot and reap the best results.

The Goal Isn’t to Copy Your Competitors

Studying your competitors’ efforts doesn’t mean replicating them. On the contrary, your goal is to stand out.

Most of today’s law firms are advertising ineffectively. They run self-congratulatory messages that fail to resonate with their target audience. That’s certainly true in the PI market, where injury victims are simply more concerned with their own well-being than with a law firm’s impressive résumé.

Indeed, much of the value in a competitive analysis is learning what not to do. By observing the zig, you’ll learn how best to zag.

How to Do a Competitive Market Analysis

If you’ve generally kept yourself tuned into the local television market, you might already have a sense of how local legal service providers are representing themselves on TV. That’s helpful. But we also like to strive for something more precise than a “general impression” of the competitive landscape.

To get that, we recommend that you:

  • Visit competitors’ websites. (What appeals to you there? What doesn’t?)
  • Find a non-attorney friend who’s willing to watch a few commercials (yours and your competitors) and share their honest impressions.
  • Create a notes document on your smartphone. Anytime you see an ad or a marketing maneuver you think reflects well on your competitor, make a quick note of it.
  • The next time you gather feedback from a client, ask about their experiences with other law firms in the area.
  • Become a customer! Submit a question and find out just how quickly and effectively the competition responds to their prospective clients. What kind of follow-up do they provide?
  • Ask yourself whether your competitors are following our advice in this article. Based on their successes and/or shortcomings, do you have an opportunity to outshine them?

Let Network Affiliates Size Up Your Competition

Advertising is all about connecting with your audience in a more effective way than your competitors. We can help you meet that goal. Network Affiliates is a team of legal marketing strategists with years of deep experience, and we are absolutely committed to putting our clients on top. We do it everyday.

Learn more about how we can help. Call (888) 461-1016 or contact us online today.

Things You Can Do to Improve Your Site’s Rankings

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Is your law firm on page 2 of the Google search results? Maybe even further back? Well, you might as well be invisible.

To the overwhelming majority of Google users, the first page is the only page. For that matter, most of them won’t even scroll to the bottom of it.

That’s why getting a top page rank for your law firm is so important. Google search results are the new Yellow Pages, and an increasingly large share of calls and cases are coming directly from search engine traffic.

But getting to the top of Google isn’t a game of luck or chance. There’s a real science to it, and as legal marketing experts, we see ourselves as the scientists.

Specifically, the science is called Search Engine Optimization, or SEO. It’s the process of crafting your website (and its content) to attract visitors from search engines and drive business.

Unfortunately, SEO for law firms isn’t easy. There’s a lot of competition, for one thing, and many of your competitors have been chiseling into the SEO mountain for the better part of a decade.

If you’re a newcomer, it can be hard to wedge your way in. But “hard” isn’t the same thing as “impossible.”

While it’s important to be realistic about how competitive some keywords can be, it’s equally important to be smart and determined. Success comes down to strategy, timing, and mindset.

Below, we’ll share some of our most valuable insights in SEO for lawyers, from long-term content investments to more immediate approaches that can make a meaningful difference sooner than later.

SEO: An All-Important Long-Term Strategy

Organic marketing is the art of enhancing your web presence with excellent, high-quality content that is strategically designed to match the terms users are searching for.

This organic approach is different from paid search (e.g. “Pay-Per-Click advertising”). Both approaches can get you onto page 1. Paid works faster, but it also costs a lot more, and the effect usually only lasts as long as you’re shelling out the money for it. We’ll look more closely at PPC strategies for law firms later in this article.

SEO, meanwhile, takes longer to conquer. Mind you, it isn’t free — you still have to invest in creating honest, high-quality content that both Google and human readers will respond to. That’s much easier said than done, so it’s worth working with experts to achieve.

As an added benefit, the impact of an organic approach can last longer as search engines learn to associate your website with key search terms over time.

Content for a law firm’s SEO strategy can take many forms:

  • Blog articles
  • Practice area webpages
  • White papers
  • Educational videos
  • Social media posts
  • Press releases
  • Infographics
  • Much more

You can ask ten different legal marketing agencies which is their favorite form of organic content and get ten different answers. We believe in a balanced approach.

With any content, what you’re ultimately looking for is engagement and conversion. In other words, you want people to click on your links and share them with friends (engagement), but you also want those people to bring you new cases and even become long-term clients (conversion).

There’s a lot to know about SEO for attorneys, and we’re only scratching the surface in this article. But for now, the most important thing to understand is that organic search is a reliable long-term way to improve your page rank and get off of page 2.

Local SEO Literally Puts You on the Map

As web users are increasingly accessing the internet from their mobile devices, local SEO is becoming more and more important to advertisers. It’s a type of SEO marketing that focuses not only on what people are searching for but also where they’re searching from.

If you use a smartphone or tablet yourself, you’ve probably noticed that your top results tend to be businesses nearby. Law firms are no exception. In fact, local SEO is extra relevant in the legal services industry because your business is inherently local.

The people running legal-related searches within your physical vicinity are exactly the people you want to reach, and it just so happens that there’s now a tool to make that connection directly.

The major players in local SEO include Google, Bing, and  Yelp. Indeed, those services sometimes work from shared databases, so it’s important to target all of them as part of a strategic local search marketing initiative.

The first step in smart local SEO for lawyers is to “claim” every listing that already exists for your firm online. Chances are high that many of these services have already auto-indexed your firm in their databases simply by accessing public records. “Claiming” those entries gives you control over what the public will see when they find them.

From there, you want to add more of these entries — business listing and mini-profiles across a wide network of popular online directories. These profiles will feature your law firm’s name, number, address, important details, photographs, and even calls to action.

All of it matters, and at least in the context of local SEO, more is better. The more relevant listings you have online, the more likely you are to turn up in people’s local searches.

Using Paid Search (PPC) to Compensate for Organic Search in the Short Term

Among the digital approaches to law firm marketing, paid search is usually the most expensive. But as we noted earlier, it’s also the fastest.

In fact, sheer speed to market is the single biggest benefit of using PPC for lawyers.

To run a PPC ad campaign, you will need to use a major service like Google’s AdWords and “bid” for keywords.

Let’s say you want people to find you when they search “Denver personal injury lawyers.” That’s a popular and valuable search term, so you won’t be the only law firm wanting it. Google only displays a limited number of ads within a given set of search results, so you’ll need to compete with those other firms for the space. Ultimately, placement goes to the highest bidders.

Unfortunately, because attorney advertising is so competitive, legal PPC keywords are some of the most expensive out there. But while that might sound dismaying, consider this: it’s expensive because your competitors realize its worth.

Stated differently, PPC works. There’s no faster way to reach those page 1 results, and as we mentioned earlier, that’s the only page that counts.

Network Affiliates: Law Firm SEO Experts

Don’t settle for being a “page 2 law firm” anymore. Start bringing in the business you deserve.

Getting onto that first page means everything, and at Network Affiliates, we’re prepared to get you there. Reach out to our office and ask how we can help improve your page rank. Call 877-461-1016 or contact us online right away.

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Make Your Law Firm’s Message Resonate With Victims

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Even if you could guarantee that every single person in your city saw your ad ten times a day, it wouldn’t mean a thing if those people didn’t connect to the ad.

When legal ads fail to produce a response, the content itself is usually to blame. Unfortunately, most attorney TV commercials fall into that category today, as television viewers grow increasingly sophisticated, cynical, and frustrated by the constant barrage of legal marketing.

You might think the answer is to avoid the TV market altogether, but the numbers are still overwhelmingly on television’s side. In fact, TV advertising for attorneys has increased by 68% in the last eight years alone.  Why? Because it works!

Television remains the single most effective medium for law firms looking to get bigger and better cases. No other media channel rivals the reach and power of TV. Attorneys who advertise on television are able to influence through sight, sound, motion and emotion. It’s a strong brand impression that can solidify your firm’s place in victims – or future victims – consideration phase. For more on modern consumer habits, read this blog.

With all this in mind, the key to you firm’s success isn’t to shun TV; it’s to master it instead.

Law firm branding that (A) stands out and (B) puts clients first will resonate with viewers. And it will grow the firm.

Of course, creating attorney branding that resonates with injured victims is easier said than done. So how can you connect with injured victims through the small screen in their living rooms?

After more than 35 years in this business, we’re sharing some of our most valuable insights below.

Your Perspective Isn’t Your Client’s Perspective.

Perhaps the hardest thing for attorneys to understand is that even though you and your prospective clients are looking at the same case, they have a completely different view of the situation.

Your view: “I am an experienced and talented professional who is ready and able to fight for the justice you truly deserve.”

Their view: “I’ve gone through something terrible, and now I have to deal with this mess… and find a lawyer to help make it right.”

Most law firms’ messaging comes strictly from the first point of view. That’s why legal ads tend to emphasize the attorney’s education, years of experience, personal background, accolades and success record.

But, as impressive as all that might be to your peers, injured people care more about their injuries than your résumé.

Here’s a different kind of ad. We produced this for one of our clients, and it effectively resonated with its target demographic. You’ll notice that it’s all about the victim, not the lawyer:

Who Is Your Law Firm’s Ambassador?

Think about some of the law firm commercials you’ve recently seen on TV (maybe even some of your own). Who was talking to you from the screen?

Nine times out of ten, it was one of the lawyers in the firm — probably a senior partner, or whoever’s last name is on the shingle. For some firms, that works. But it isn’t the only way.

The question isn’t “Who best represents your firm?”

Rather, it’s “Who best connects with your audience?”

Read: How to Identify a Spokesperson for Your Law Firm’s TV Ads

We tell clients to stop thinking of advertisements as sales pitches and to imagine them as stories instead. Viewers don’t care about sales pitches, but they do invest in stories.

The right person to tell your firm’s story should be credible, believable, natural, and client-oriented. That’s what law firm branding strategy is all about.

Do People Believe You?

Imagine that you’ve been invited to appear as the keynote speaker at a major conference. It’s quite an honor, and you’re very excited. But as you approach the podium, an advisor tells you, “Everyone in the room thinks you’re a liar. Good luck.” How might that change what you say (or the way you say it)?

The scenario’s an extreme one, but it’s helpful for understanding the relationship that most TV viewers have with attorney TV commercials.

Did you know, for instance, that many viewers assume that on-screen client testimonials are actually actors who’ve been paid to pretend they won big money in a settlement?

Even if your testimonials are entirely ethical and honest, if the injured victims at home view them cynically, what good are the ads doing you?

That’s why the goal in branding a law firm should always be to speak directly to viewers in a way they will not only notice but also trust.

Take the Jury Approach.

We give our legal marketing clients simple advice: speak to the public like you’d speak to a jury.

That might sound strange. After all, a TV ad is surely doing something different than an opening argument. Then again, isn’t making an argument what it’s all about?

Much like juries, TV viewers want to be convinced by a compelling argument. And as with juries, the most effective arguments come in the form of real stories, told with real human connection.

Think about all the mistakes most attorney advertisers make… would you ever do these things with a jury?

  • Talking about yourself or your law firm’s credentials instead of your client’s pain and suffering
  • Using a lot of generalizations and promises about how your side is better without getting into why
  • Talking at your audience instead of connecting with them
  • Skimping on evidence
  • Leaving your critical visual aids at home and choosing to simply stand there and talk instead

You wouldn’t rush into a jury presentation, and you shouldn’t rush into a TV campaign either. Take time to carefully craft an effective message built on empathy and believability.

Turn to Network Affiliates for Creative Law Firm Branding Strategies

The team at Network Affiliates knows a thing or two about attorney TV advertising. We produced one of the country’s very first lawyer television commercials, and we’ve kept our fingers on the pulse of lawyer branding ever since – continuing a storied history of putting creative new spins on the tried-and-true fundamentals of law firm branding.

The market has never been more crowded, but it’s also never been more lucrative. Now is the time to harness the power of television and take your firm to a higher level of success – and, we can help you do that!

Call our office and ask how we can impact your results (888) 461-1016 or simply contact us online today.

Keep Your Firm Competitive in A Fast-Changing Environment

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Over the last several blogs, we’ve identified the very real evolutions impacting law firms in today’s ultra-competitive legal marketing environment — challenges both internal and external in nature.

Figuring out what you’re up against it is the biggest piece of the puzzle. When trying to tackle a new problem, there is no better place to get started than the root of it.

After all, it’s one thing to realize that things are changing. But isn’t it much more useful to understand how and why they’re changing?

At Network Affiliates, we don’t believe in abstract goals or pie-in-the-sky plans. Rather, all of our attorney advertising strategies are designed to solve the problems we’ve already identified. A solution isn’t a solution unless you know what it’s solving.

Having gotten to the core of law firm’s frustrations in today’s crowded legal space; we now present some of our essential solutions to these ongoing attorney marketing problems.

Make Up Your Mind

Last month, we wrote to you about what it takes to reach the highest levels of success in legal TV advertising. At the top of our list is your firm’s mindset.

The reality is this simple: your firm can be a successful legal advertiser in your market. You just have to commit to doing what it takes to reach that goal — namely, hiring the right people and giving your campaign the time it needs to take root.

Messaging Matters

Most law firms market themselves with the wrong messages. You know what the wrong message is — it’s the “all about me” rhetoric you hear in almost every attorney ad on television. It’s redundant, it’s cliché, and TV viewers tune it right out.

There is nothing we counsel our clients on more than messaging. You need to stand out. You need to be different, creative, and bold. And most importantly, the message needs to focus on your clients!

Self-lauding messaging is the #1 mistake in attorney advertising. Speak to what your clients need to hear instead.

Know Your KPI Baseline

KPI stands for Key Performance Indicators – criteria you can use to actually measure your marketing efforts’ effectiveness. Examples of KPIs include:

  • Cost per lead
  • Cost per case
  • Conversion percentage
  • Overall improvement in your bottom line
  • And many more

When it comes to KPIs, we stress three things above all else:

  • Focus on intake and conversion. Your clearest path to success is attracting new cases to build your client base.
  • Focus on improving the things you’re already doing (rather than spending more on additional, equally ineffective advertising). Too many firms are currently wasting money generating calls/leads that they never properly shepherd into actual cases!
  • Make sure you are clearly defining marketing KPIs before you start making changes. We call it a KPI Baseline. That way, you’ll be able to accurately measure your results down the road.

There is a lot to know about defining marketing KPIs. We invite you to learn more by reading our guide to Creating a KPI Baseline to Grow Your Firm.

Diversify Your Audience

In legal marketing, there are three primary ways to diversify your audience:

  • Complement the way you’re reaching audiences (try a new medium of advertising, new kinds of messaging as described above, etc.)
  • Try targeting new audiences (e.g. Millennials, different ethnic groups, diverse lifestyle demographics, etc.)
  • Broaden your law firm’s practice areas (auto accidents, for instance, are not the only thing worth advertising for in the personal injury universe!)

We find that targeting new audiences (in addition to the ones who are already responding to your ads) is one of the most effective growth strategies in all of attorney advertising.

Referrals

Lawyers often look at case referrals as a professional courtesy or as an ethical obligation when it comes to subject matter outside your usual purview.

Those are all fine ways to think about them, but have you considered making case referrals a part of your business model?

While you must be careful to stay well within the confines of your jurisdictions’ ethics rules (something we always take very seriously at Network Affiliates), there is still a lot you can do in the realm of referrals as a means of attorney marketing.

We encourage our clients to create new networks or strengthen their existing ones. Too many firms let their referral efforts fall by the wayside. Is that true of yours?

Strengthening your referral outreach is an easy way to enhance your existing marketing without spending more money.

Hire the Attorney Advertising Professionals at Network Affiliates

Did you know that Network Affiliates put one of the very first legal commercials on TV? That’s true, and we’ve been blazing trails in attorney advertising ever since.

We believe we can fundamentally change your law firm’s rate of growth. To learn how, we invite you to read our latest white paper, A Legal Advertising Survival Guide for PI Attorneys.

Even better, save yourself time by calling and asking how we can start helping you today. Call 877.709.0633 or contact us online — we’re here to help.

How To Create A KPI Baseline For Your Law Firm

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Increase performance and find “free money” by consistently monitoring your law firm’s key performance indicators

Attorneys continue to report that they are facing a more competitive market each and every year. With mounting influences from both inside (national and global players, Wal-Mart law firms, non-lawyer venture capitalists, tort reform) and outside (driverless cars, new standard safety features, Millennial driving habits) the legal industry, it’s important to know where your firm stands and how that measures over time.

The only way to do that is to create a scorecard that you can compare and contrast month-over-month, year-over-year, etc. This is what we call a Key Performance Indicator (KPI) baseline.

By tracking these specific pieces of data, you can better understand how your firm is performing in a given area or progressing toward a specific objective. This is a necessary first step in turning abstract goals into measurable plans as you cannot measure success without knowing where you started. Furthermore, the metrics empower your firm to make data-driven decisions that can have a dramatic impact on your firm’s bottom line.

Significant and sustainable growth is attainable – even predictable – when there’s a roadmap for getting there. So, if you have not created a KPI baseline for your firm, we encourage you to get started as soon as possible.

Let’s take a closer look at the important Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) you need to include in your baseline

General Marketing KPIs are an evaluation of how all marketing and advertising strategies are working to produce leads and, ultimately, cases.

Because law firms often engage in multi-channel marketing efforts, and the modern customer journey is a non-linear, multi-touchpoint experience, overall marketing KPIs give insight into the success of your cohesive strategy. Is everything working together to give you the lift you need? Are you getting more leads? Are these leads converting into cases? Leveraging KPI data allows you to accurately (and objectively) assess your cost of investment vs. ROI across television advertising, radio, print, outdoor, digital, event sponsorship and more.

  • Cost per Lead (CPL) – measures the effectiveness of your overall marketing and advertising efforts. To calculate, take your total marketing and advertising spend and divide by the number of leads generated over the investment period.

BONUS: TIPS TO HELP INCREASE COST PER LEAD

  • Keep score
  • Monitor your results – consistently!
  • Maintain brand consistency across all adverting and marketing channels
  • Evaluate new marketing channels, adjust budget allocation accordingly
  • Lead-to-client ratio – this can also be referred to as conversion percentage. First, you will need to define what you consider a “lead” – a call, website contact form, email, referral? All of the above? Once “lead” is defined, take the total number, divide by the number of clients within the same timeframe, and get a better understanding of how many leads you need to be generating to open your desired number of cases.

SEE WHAT COULD HAPPEN IF YOU INCRESED YOUR CONVERSION PERCENATGE BY JUST 2%!

  • Cost per Case (CPC) – measures the efficacies of your marketing campaign and conversion. To get this number, take your total marketing spend, divided by opened cases. Remember: cases opened = future cash flow! This is the most important metric.

BONUS: TIPS TO HELP INCREASE COST PER CASE AND CONVERSION

  • Consistently monitor intake
  • Hire intake personnel with client service backgrounds
  • Incent staff for improved metrics/goals met
  • Employ mobile intake for deserving cases
  • Understand conversion happens in office as well
  • Survey past clients
  • Get more reviews

Digital Marketing KPIs measure specific data related to your firm’s website. Here are the ones you should be tracking and what their results will tell you. For a more detailed look at what your top performing web pages are telling you – take a look at this post.

  • Number of unique visits – how well people are finding you
  • Time spent per visit – how well your current content holds visitors’ attention
  • Traffic-to-lead ratio – new contact rate
  • Landing page conversion rate – are your landing pages getting enough traffic and, if so, is the page converting traffic into leads?
  • Mobile traffic conversion – is your site converting visitors to leads on mobile devices as well?
  • Website goal completions – how many visitors are signing up for your newsletter or filling out a contact form?
  • Search engine rankings – how do you compete with rival firms for keywords and phrases on Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.?

It’s never too late to start gathering data and crunching numbers.

We understand this can seem a little overwhelming. If you would like to jump start the process with an evaluation of your website – complete with insight into the digital marketing KPIs listed above – contact us for a free website audit. Or, download this Digital Marketing Glossary to help shorten your learning curve!

Network Affiliates is here to help you achieve your legal marketing goals. Take your law firm to the next level – call 877.709.0633 or contact us online today.

Current Challenges in the Legal Advertising Space – Part 2

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The legal landscape has never been more competitive. Firms are expending more energy than ever on legal marketing and advertising, and it’s all just to stand out from the crowd.

It’s difficult, though, because lawyers aren’t exactly swimming in free time, nor did they sign up for a second career as a marketing professional.

Still, every law firm is a business, and it’s their business plan that paves a path for growth.

Today’s article is the second in a series outlining the current challenges in the legal advertising space. In Part I, we detailed the many internal challenges coming from within lawyers’ own profession.

Now, in Part II, we look at the external factors that are swiftly changing the whole market — especially for personal injury attorneys.

Network Affiliates is a team of legal marketing experts with decades of specific experience in this niche field. We dedicate ourselves to monitoring trends and zealously advancing our clients’ growth.

Below, we identify your firm’s biggest hurdles, and begin to unveil an effective legal marketing strategy — the very strategy we’ve customized for many of our clients to great success.

We believe your marketing needs to reflect the changing dynamics and new realities in PI. Among other things, that means advertising that appeals to Millennials — not always an easy task. In fact, the very nature of all your cases could be on the cusp of change.

Here’s what we mean:

Fewer Accidents, Lighter Injuries, Safer Vehicles

Cars are getting safer. NerdWallet recently profiled seven significant new-car safety features that are likely to improve driver and passenger safety. They include:

  • Backup cameras
  •  Automatic emergency braking (“forward collision prevention”)
  • Automatic parking
  • Lane monitoring / lane departure warnings
  • Alertness monitoring
  • Blind-spot monitoring

Those developments, alongside better airbags and improved automotive body design, might be contributing to a downturn in accident injury claims.

Indeed, auto accidents are on the decline. With the exception of 2015 (a statistical outlier in which auto accidents went up, due in large part to texting and driving), NTSB charts a sharp decline in overall auto accidents in the U.S. over the last decade.

While many of these features have existed for several years, they are only now becoming standard. Accordingly, it’s probably too soon to say whether better car design is directly responsible for making the roads safer, but it’s undoubtedly a part of the bigger picture.

The Rise of Self-Driving Cars

According to the United Services Automobile Association (USAA), many of the industry’s newly standardized safety features are emerging out of the self-driving car movement, which is already rapidly developing in the United States.

Experts predict that 10,000,000 self-driving cars will be in active operation on U.S. roadways by the year 2020. The potential impact of that trend on the Personal Injury market can’t be overstated.

While self-driving cars haven’t yet established a foolproof safety record, the industry does forecast some 30,000 fewer automotive deaths each year — with potentially millions of other injuries either diminished or prevented altogether.

While that’s a very good thing for society, it also means the PI market needs to take proactive action now.

Millennials Are Changing Everything

Millennials have been the brunt of generational jokes for a long time, but soon enough, they’ll dominate your client base. Since they have a very different relationship with cars than the generations before them, that could mean big changes to your firm’s bottom line.

“There’s a lot of evidence that Millennials don’t drive as much — or care as much for cars in general — as previous generations their own age did,” The Washington Post writes in a recent report. “They’re less likely to get driver’s licenses. They tend to take fewer car trips, and when they do, those trips are shorter. They’re also more likely than older generations to get around by alternative means: by foot, by bike, or by transit.”

Similarly, Time has noted a consistent year-to-year decline in the number of young people obtaining state driver’s licenses.

Consider also that Millennials are staying at home with their parents for longer, meaning they’re less reliant on independent transportation. And once they leave the nest, they’re flocking to urban areas, where mass transit and other public transportation options predominate.

They’re using bicycles more than their parents ever did, they care more about “green living,” and they’re waiting later in life to have kids of their own – all factors pointing away from the car as a mainstay of American adulthood in the future. In short, Millennials are speaking a different cultural language, and “transportation” doesn’t necessarily mean the same thing to them as it does to you.

If auto accident litigation is even one of your top five practice areas, this generational divide is something to take seriously.

Moreover, even outside of personal injury, Millennials show widespread skepticism toward traditional attorney marketing, as well as a preference for do-it-yourself online services like LegalZoom.

Knowing how to market to Millennials is an increasingly critical goal. It’s our belief that Millennial outreach and messaging should be a part of almost every marketing strategy for law firms.

Ride Sharing

Uber also occupies a sizeable chunk of the legal horizon, as ride sharing quickly eclipses traditional taxi services.

Coupled with Millennials’ preferences against private auto ownership, ride sharing could change the entire automotive market. Indeed, some experts even predict that Uber-like services will preclude the need for anyone to own a car in the future — we’ll all simply summon the nearest self-driving car with the click of a button (or so the theory goes).

A Future with Fewer Drivers

In the traditional business model, drivers are among the most loyal “customers” in the personal injury “industry.” While no one likes to think in such cynical terms — injuries are not commodities, after all — we do want to encourage lawyers to remember that even the noblest professions must mind their bottom lines.

There are major internal and external forces at work, and the writing on the wall spells “change” for law firms all across the country. These challenges are not insurmountable, and your business is not doomed. But it is wise to start taking strategic action to position yourself as the firm to corner the changing market. We can help you do that.

Network Affiliates: Leaders in Marketing Strategy for Law Firms

Network Affiliates is an industry leader in law firm marketing. We know how to position you against your biggest challenges and produce results. In fact, our agency produced the country’s very first lawyer television commercial. That’s how long we’ve been in the game!

We invite you to learn more about our marketing strategy for law firms by reading our two latest white papers:

  • Tips on Reaching Hispanic Millennials in Your Market
  • A Legal Advertising Survival Guide for PI Attorneys

Be sure to check back for our next article too, where we’ll offer even deeper insight into how you can overcome these and other challenges in today’s legal field.

Or, in the meantime, simply give us a call and ask how we can start helping you today. Call (888) 461-1016 or contact us online.

Current Challenges in the Legal Advertising Space – Part 1

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It’s never been easy to become a lawyer. But these days, even if you passed the bar a few decades ago, just being a lawyer is hard.

Why? Competition is a big part of the picture. More law firms are competing for the same number of clients. And more money is going into legal TV advertising than ever before.

In a world where advertising is simultaneously more important and harder to execute, we think it’s crucial to have a solid strategy to achieve better results.

Network Affiliates has been a part of the attorney TV advertising space for as long as it has existed. We’ve stood as a witness to the shifting trends and mounting challenges, and part of our job is helping our clients sail those winds of change.

In life, the best solutions come from an in-depth understanding of the problem. To that end, we’re using our deep industry knowledge to map out the current challenges facing legal advertisers today.

We begin in this article with the internal challenges facing your firm from within your own industry. Later, Part II will look at the external challenges.

We want you to understand these challenges so that, in turn, you’ll understand how we can help you overcome them. Our goals for your firm are simple:

  • More clients
  • Increased referrals
  • Better cases
  • Increased ROI
  • A reputation as the local leader in your field

Our marketing strategies for law firms are, frankly, very effective at making these goals reality. They work for our clients, and they’ll work for you. But here’s what you’re up against.

Your Competitors Are Probably Outspending You.

Between 2014 and 2015, overall television spending grew from $69.2 billion to $71.1 billion. Forecasters expect that number to hit $81 billion by 2019. That’s less than two years away!

Do you know which industry is driving the biggest portion of that growth? You guessed it! Legal services.

Attorney TV advertising grew six times faster than all other ad spending from 2008 to 2014. And in 2015, it claimed the sixth spot on the Top 20 Broadcast Advertisers chart.

If you do much channel surfing in your all-too-scarce free time, you’ve probably noticed this uptick yourself. Attorney commercials are everywhere. There’s a reason for that: they are mightily effective.

This means you have a real challenge in front of you: your competitors are making significant investments in TV advertising. So how can you outdo them? How do you stand out from the pack?

National Players Are Entering Your Market.

Once upon a time, your biggest competitors were in an office two blocks away. Jurisdictional boundaries meant that law was a local game. But that’s changing.

Huge multistate law firms are aggressively expanding beyond their home states. They have effectively established themselves as national law firms “for the little guy.” And because they invest immense amounts in advertising, they’re able to quickly build a reputation from many miles away.

In addition, the internet has become a “national player” all its own. Millennials are on the cusp of adulthood, and they are a very web-savvy bunch. The internet is their playground. Free online tutorials and do-it-yourself services like LegalZoom are a big threat to local law firms.

Dentons recently announced an all-new, free-to-use Nextlaw Global Referral Network. It’s the latest blow to localized legal services, as it mechanizes lawyer referrals on a global scale.

All of this means your advertising efforts must set you apart not only from your rival across the street but also from all the other options available to your clients in our globally interconnected world.

Consolidation

Last year, Bloomberg Law reported that law firms are consolidating in record numbers in the United States. If you aren’t one of those firms, then your competitors are only growing bigger.

Venture Capitalist Money

According to Law.com, at least 18 major law firms are either considering or actively engaging in ongoing relationships with deep-pocketed venture capitalists.

It’s called litigation investment, and it’s a booming business. Essentially, non-lawyers are getting together and pouring money into blossoming law firms, recouping part of the profits as a return… just like they would in any other capital venture.

If that sounds unethical to you, you might be onto something. Some legal watchdogs expect ethics boards to crack down on the practice. But they haven’t yet, and there’s no way to know whether (or how) that might happen.

In the meantime, these venture capitalists only add to the mega-firm trend.

Law Firms in Local Wal-Marts

It almost sounds too weird to be true, but believe it or not, law firms are opening inside Wal-Marts around the country. We don’t mean that figuratively. You can actually walk into some of these big-box retailers and find a fully functioning law firm sandwiched between the game arcade and the nail salon.

ABA Journal and FindLaw have both profiled once-small law firms that have partnered with their local Wal-Marts to hang a shingle inside their warehouse walls.

While many lawyers look down on the idea, they also need to take it seriously. Wal-Mart has hampered (if not crushed) many a small business in this country. You can imagine that many of your prospective clients might find the idea of a one-stop shop for legal services appealing, especially in the personal injury field.

A Wal-Mart firm enjoys unparalleled visibility — something you’ll need to rival on television.

Tort Reform

There is remarkable political momentum toward tort reform in the United States. Already, many jurisdictions have made it harder than ever to bring these cases in the first place. Even a successful settlement or verdict comes with a smaller profit margin than ever before.

Indeed, of all the challenges we’ve enumerated in this article, tort reform might have already had the most profound impact on your business (especially if you’re practicing med-mal in a state with a pro-reform political climate).

So How Do You Survive?

It isn’t easy. The legal space is getting more crowded, and the competition is dense. There is good news, though. Television is a proven and reliable answer to the problem.

Law firms that make prudent investments in lawyer TV advertising see measurable results. Many tell us it’s the best decision they ever made. To stand out, though, you need the right mindset and a truly strategic approach. We address that approach in further detail in our latest white paper, A Legal Advertising Survival Guide for PI Attorneys.

Network Affiliates is an industry leader in law firm marketing. We know how to position you against your biggest competitors and produce results. In fact, our agency produced one of the country’s very first legal TV commercials. That’s how long we’ve been in the game!

Put our experience on your side. Call (888) 461-1016 or contact us online today.

Becoming a Legal TV Advertiser: What It Takes to Reach That Level of Success

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Many attorneys think getting ahead of their competition can be as simple as running an ad on television. After all, no other medium puts you in such direct and immediate contact with so many potential clients.

We’re here to tell you: there’s nothing “simple” about it.

Just think about the TV ads you’ve seen in your own market. Some of them are great. Most are not. And many are costing attorneys way too much money because they aren’t being produced, packaged, and targeted strategically.

So how do you orchestrate a legal TV advertising campaign that puts your law firm atop all your competitors?

Let’s take a look at real and actionable ways you can get in on the TV game — the right way.

It’s All in Your Head: Why Your Mindset Matters More Than Anything

Television advertising is a commitment and an investment. Decide today that you will take your law firm to the next level. Making that choice, consciously and deliberately, is probably the most important ingredient in the whole recipe.

Because here’s the thing: attorney commercials work. They absolutely work.

Did you know that in 2015, legal advertising ranked #6 in the Top 20 Broadcast Advertisers? That’s an incredible statistic. When you think about every industry, every product, every service, and every advertiser in all of American commerce, law firms are in the top six.

They’re there for a reason, and it isn’t just ego. Television is a powerful, proven engine for law firm growth. In fact, TV advertising for attorneys has grown by 68% in the last eight years alone (even as most other industries’ investment levels stayed flat).

That’s why your mindset matters so much. Your competitors are investing in TV advertising left and right, and they’re getting new clients, better cases, and bigger profits as a result.

It Takes a Little Time: The Attorney TV Advertising Lifecycle

Television’s real power is in the long term and the benefits are too substantial for you to give up on after a few weeks or months. We encourage our television advertising clients to approach this market with the seriousness and patience it deserves.

For instance, imagine a working mother who lives fifteen minutes down the road from your office. She works hard every day, and as a reward, she watches her fair share of TV at night. Every night when she turns on the TV, she sees commercials from multiple law firms. Now, she might not have a lawsuit on her hands today, tomorrow or next week… but she’s exposed to the messaging anyway, and your firm is making an impression. The next time she needs a lawyer; wouldn’t you want your firm to be included in her consideration phase?

Now, envision the tens of thousands of individuals and families in your community that you can also consistently reach through the airwaves. The next time they need a lawyer; wouldn’t you want your firm to be included in their consideration phase?

Once you decide to go after all that TV offers, commit yourself, your firm, your staff, and your budget to at least 16-24 months in support of that decision.

Will It Be the Best Decision You’ve Ever Made?

Most of our legal TV advertising clients will tell you this is the single best investment decision they’ve ever made.

If you approach it earnestly and strategically, there is a reasonable likelihood you will say the very same thing.

While other kinds of marketing can confer many worthwhile benefits, TV advertising remains the clearest available path to measurable law firm growth.

Why Can’t Your Attorney Commercials Be the Most Successful Attorney Commercials?

Ask yourself that question! There’s no good answer, because the truth is your firm can reach that level of success. You just need the right strategy and the right partner to make it happen.

We Are the Pioneers.

At Network Affiliates, we know a thing or two about TV advertising for lawyers because we literally created one of the very first.

When the U.S. Supreme Court allowed law firms to embrace television back in 1977, it was our founder, Norton Frickey, who led the charge. He assembled a team that continues to lead the industry to this very day.

We invite you to learn more about our philosophy on television marketing for law firms, including examples of our work and our Four Golden Rules.

Or, even easier — just give us a call. Ask how we can help. Our expert legal marketing professionals are ready to talk. Dial (888) 461-1016 or contact us online. Let’s grow your business.