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Category: Conversion, Lead Generation

The Rise of Emotional Advertising

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Why Feeling is Believing for Your Audience

In today’s competitive legal landscape, connecting with potential clients isn’t just about presenting your credentials or listing your practice areas. It’s about forming a bond. Emotional advertising—ads that make people laugh, cry, or feel a sense of trust—has become a powerful way for law firms to create meaningful connections with their audience.

Why Emotional Ads Work for Law Firms

  • Think about what makes someone choose a lawyer. It’s often not just about expertise—it’s about trust, empathy, and connection. Emotional advertising taps into these feelings, making potential clients feel seen and understood. Rather than just sharing information, these commercials create a relationship before they ever call your firm.
  • Research shows that emotional commercials consistently outperform rational ones. A recent study revealed that emotion-driven commercials can lead to an 8.2% increase in consumer actions. For law firms, this could mean more calls, leads, and ultimately, clients.

The Power of Storytelling in Legal Advertising

  • Law firms have a unique opportunity to use storytelling to connect with their audience. Behind every case is a human story, and sharing these narratives in an authentic way can be incredibly impactful. Emotional commercials allow law firms to showcase their values, their commitment to justice, and their understanding of their clients’ challenges.

Crafting Emotional Commercials for Your Firm

How can your law firm tap into the power of emotion in advertising? Here are some steps to get started:

  1. Highlight Real Client Stories: Share anonymized stories of past clients who found justice or closure through your firm. These testimonials create an emotional connection and show your dedication.
  2. Step Outside Your Comfort Zone: Your main competition as a law firm isn’t other law firms. It’s the insurance industry, and their marketing typically includes a healthy dose of advertainment. Yes, personal injury law is a serious business, but in the age of constant exposure to entertainment and product placement through social media, the bar is pretty high if you want to resonate with a younger audience.
  3. Focus on Your Brand Values: What does your firm stand for? Trust, justice, advocacy? Weave these values into your advertising narrative to make a deeper impression.

Personal injury law is a deeply personal industry. Clients aren’t just hiring a service; they’re putting their trust in someone to guide them through some of life’s most challenging moments. Emotional advertising helps convey that your firm understands and cares about their struggles. This connection can turn listeners into loyal clients.

Audiences crave authenticity and connection. Next time you hear a commercial that makes you feel something, remember… it’s not a coincidence. It’s a strategic approach designed to build trust and foster a connection. For law firms, this isn’t just effective—it’s essential. Feeling is believing, and in legal advertising, it’s also the path to success.

Tips to Unlocking Consistent Lead Generation for Your Firm

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Supercharge Your Lead Generation with Targeted Marketing Strategies

Generating a consistent stream of quality leads can be one of the biggest challenges law firms face. One month, you’re busy. The next, not so much.

If your firm is struggling with:

  • Unpredictable lead metrics that disrupts your plans for growth
  • A lack of qualified leads aligned with your ideal case types
  • Marketing efforts that don’t appear to be delivering results

…We’re here to help. Network Affiliates can help you transform these challenges into opportunities with our innovative and strategic marketing solutions

Where to Begin in Attracting Consistent, High-Quality Leads:

  1. Strategic Marketing Tailored to Your Goals:
    A comprehensive marketing strategy ensures your firm targets the right audience at the right time. From traditional to streaming media, we align your efforts with the cases you want.
  2. Creative That Captures Attention:
    Great creative is more than just eye-catching—it tells your firm’s story and builds trust. Network Affiliates crafts bespoke advertising campaigns that resonate with your target audiences, ensuring your messages stand out. Our creative team ideates high-quality visuals and compelling narratives that capture attention and drive engagement.
  3. Data-Driven Insights:
    With data guiding every strategy, we fine-tune your campaigns to deliver consistent, high-quality leads. Know what works, optimize what doesn’t, and focus on strategies that bring results.
  4. Personalized Engagement:
    Know your audience! Who is your ideal demographic? What’s important to them? How do they speak, where do they live and what are they watching? The more you know about your market and the types of cases you want, the better you will be able to keep your firm top-of-mind for prospects, ensuring you’re the first call they make when they need legal help.

Why This Matters: In today’s competitive market, it’s not just about getting leads—it’s about getting the right leads. A combination of targeted strategy and compelling creative ensures you consistently generate cases that align with your expertise and goals.

Is Your Firm Struggling to Gain Share?

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Stand Out and Thrive: Strategies for Your Law Firm’s Success

In today’s crowded legal market, standing out is essential—but it’s not always easy. If you’re facing the challenges of:

  • Struggling to attract quality leads
  • Frustrated that your efforts aren’t translating into new cases
  • Eager to build a recognizable, trustworthy brand
  • Concerned about competing with firms with bigger budgets
  • Worried about your firm becoming invisible, forgotten or predictable

…you’re not alone. These challenges are real, but they’re not insurmountable.

Here Are Some Solutions to Help Your Firm Shine:

  1. Define Your Brand and Unique Value:
    Highlight what sets your firm apart. Whether it’s your personalized service, client-focused approach, or niche expertise, your message should resonate with the clients you want to attract.
  2. Leverage Client Testimonials: Potential clients trust the experiences of others. Showcase client success stories through video, case studies, and online reviews.
  3. Focus on Quality, Not Quantity:
    Competing with larger firms doesn’t mean outspending them. A hyper-focused and targeted marketing and media strategy (including traditional and streaming media) ensures your efforts are cost-effective and attract high-value leads.
  4. Leverage Thought Leadership:
    Establish trust and authority by sharing insights through blogs, webinars, or social media. Clients are more likely to choose a firm that showcases expertise and a commitment to helping others.
  5. Enhance Client Experience:
    Make your firm more accessible with tools like AI-powered chatbots for instant support or automated follow-ups to engage with leads. Positive interactions build trust and keep your firm top-of-mind. Immediate response is exceptionally important.
  6. Stay Consistent Across Channels:
    Build a recognizable presence by maintaining consistency in your branding, messaging, and tone across any media you utilize to engage with and capture prospects.
  7. Be Community-Focused: Engaging with your local community through sponsorships, events, or pro bono work enhances your reputation and humanizes your brand. Clients want to work with firms that care.

Why It Matters: Competition is fierce, but by implementing these strategies, your firm can establish a distinct identity, build trust, and attract the clients you want to serve. And remember… potential clients don’t just want a lawyer—they want a firm they can trust.

Marketing Solutions Should Be an Investment, not an Expense!

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One of the greatest challenges of running a thriving, successful law firm is finding the right resources to help you grow your brand and your revenue. When it comes to marketing your firm, finding true partners on an a la carte basis can be overwhelming, time consuming and expensive. At Network Affiliates we take pride in being a priceless ally to your firm, using our vast network, resources, and focused expertise to promote and elevate your brand as we help you grow your market share and your bottom line.

Network Affiliates offers dozens of in-house marketing and production services, providing you with key branding, networking, and advertising essentials for your firm.

  • Market Exclusivity
  • Peer To Peer Networking & Collaboration
  • Brand Building
    • Brand Videos & Growth Strategies
  • Creative Concepting
    • Strategy, Scripting, Custom Campaigns & Access to Our Customizable Creative Collection
  • Video / Audio Production & Post-Production
  • Traditional Media Strategy, Planning & Buying
    • Broadcast, Cable, Radio & Outdoor
  • Digital Media Strategy, Planning & Buying
    • Streaming Television / Audio & Sequential Retargeting Strategies
  • eCRM / Database Marketing Campaigns
    • Develop, Design & Distribution
  • KPI Tracking & Analysis
  • On-Hold Messaging
  • Graphic Design & Development
  • Facilitation Of Market Specific Pro-Athlete Relationships
    • Sponsorships & Partnerships
  • Detailed Competitive Analysis & Reporting
  • Client Profile Reports
  • On-Camera & Media Performance Coaching

To learn more about how Network Affiliates’ services can make your life easier and more profitable, give us a call at 800-525-3332 and ask for Tammy Kehe, or go to netaff.com.

The Power of Peer-to-Peer Networking and Collaboration for Lawyers

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In the legal profession, success often hinges on strategy, knowledge sharing, and building strong connections. While attending conferences and seminars can offer valuable opportunities to meet and expand your connections, the significance of peer-to-peer networking and collaboration goes beyond simple encounters. It is critical that you constantly continue to foster professional relationships. A strategically crafted network will:

  • Expand Your Knowledge Base:
    Peer-to-peer networking allows lawyers to tap into a collective pool of knowledge, experience, and insights.
  • Nurturing Referral Relationships:
    Establishing strong connections with trusted colleagues who practice in complementary areas of law not only helps with client referrals but also provides access to a diverse range of legal expertise.
  • Sharing Best Practices:
    One idea or solution can have ripple effects across multiple cases and practices, potentially rippling through the legal industry as a whole. Peer-to-peer collaboration allows lawyers to share best practices, innovative approaches, and strategic insights that have proven successful in similar situations.
  • Mentoring and Support:
    Younger or less experienced lawyers can seek guidance and support from seasoned practitioners, benefitting from their wisdom, professional judgment, and real-world experiences.

How Network Affiliates can help: At Network Affiliates, we represent a select group of lawyers dedicated to excellence and collaboration. Belonging to our exclusive network offers several exceptional advantages for expanding your network.

Do You Value Your Clients? Why It Matters and How to Demonstrate It.

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In today’s crowded landscape of lawyers and law firms readily available to everyday consumers, the question of whether you truly value your clients has never been more pertinent. The answer is not just a reflection of your company’s ideology; it’s a crucial factor that can influence client satisfaction, loyalty, and overall business success.

Considerations in going the extra mile:

Elevated Expectations:

  • In an age of heightened connectivity and digital interactions, clients expect more than just transactions. They seek meaningful connections, personalized experiences, and a sense of being genuinely valued by the businesses they engage with.

Power of Reputation:

  • Word-of-mouth travels at the speed of social media. Clients who feel valued are more likely to become brand advocates, contributing to positive online reviews, referrals, and an enhanced reputation that attracts new clients.

Competitive Edge:

  • In a competitive market, where choices abound, client value can be a differentiator. Businesses that go the extra mile to demonstrate their appreciation for their clients stand out, creating a competitive edge that fosters customer retention.

Building Long-Term Relationships:

  • The longevity of client relationships is crucial. Valuing clients establishes a foundation for long-term partnerships, leading to repeat business, sustained revenue, and a client base that evolves into a community.

Appreciating your clients in 2024:

Personalized Experiences:

  • Tailor your interactions to the unique needs and preferences of each client. Utilize data and analytics to understand their preferences, ensuring that your communications and services are genuinely personalized. For example, when communicating with a client, reference conversations you’ve had, things you’ve learned about them on a personal level and remember your audience. Consider your “voice” and language in your communications.

Active Listening:

  • Actively listen to your clients. Whether through surveys, feedback forms, or direct conversations, understanding their concerns and desires is a fundamental step in demonstrating that their voices are heard and valued.

Timely and Transparent Communication:

  • Keep clients informed about relevant updates, changes, or advancements. Communication builds trust and reinforces the notion that you consider clients as partners in their journey with your firm.

Exceptional Customer Service:

  • Deliver customer service that exceeds expectations. Train your team to be empathetic, responsive, and solution oriented. A positive customer service experience can leave a lasting impression on clients.

Value-Added Content and Resources:

  • Provide valuable content, resources, and insights that go beyond your core products or services. This could include educational content, referrals and other  tools that empower clients and demonstrate your commitment to their success.

Regular Check-Ins:

  • Schedule regular check-ins to inquire about your clients’ satisfaction and address any concerns. These proactive conversations show that you are invested in their well-being and are continuously striving to enhance their experience. If they need something you can’t provide, consider taking a few minutes to brainstorm and find additional resources.

Recognition and Acknowledgment:

  • Publicly acknowledge and recognize your clients for their contributions, achievements, or milestones. This not only showcases your appreciation but also amplifies their success, reinforcing a positive partnership.

Valuing your clients is not just a business strategy; it’s a cultural shift that aligns with the expectations of the modern client in 2024. By embracing personalized experiences, transparent communication, and initiatives that go beyond the transactional, businesses can demonstrate their commitment to client value, fostering lasting relationships and sustainable success.

Reinforcing Your Brand Series #4 – A Local Focus

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The campaigns in our vast creative collection are not meant to be used instead of campaigns unique to your firm, but to compliment and reinforce your brand and your messaging with the highest production value in your market. It’s your secret weapon and competitive advantage, so use it! Unique custom production opportunities are priceless!

  • Talking about your local connections builds trust and familiarity with your audience. If they feel like they already have an ally, they are more likely to choose you when they need help.
  • Your firm becomes more relevant to them. Audiences may not understand that there are state laws at play. An “I’m Local – living and working in this community every day” approach gives you the chance to tell them that you have a deep and personal knowledge of the state laws, the people, and what’s at risk when they’ve been injured.
  • Local-centric campaigns also give you an advantage when going up against out-of-state or out-of-market firms. They are a great opportunity to reinforce that your audience is more than a number…
  • And, locally focused commercials give you an opportunity to show audiences you provide personalized care and one-of-a-kind service and take pride in protecting and representing the people in your community every day. 

Let Network Affiliates help you stand out and stand up for your market. To learn more about how we can help elevate your brand and leverage all the things that make your firm unique, give us a call at  800-525-3332 and ask for Tammy Kehe!

Network Affiliates… where collaboration and creativity redefine legal advertising.

Live Your Brand Promise

– by Tammy Kehe

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What’s your brand promise? First of all, your brand isn’t your firm name, your logo, or even your business’s specialty. Brands are perceptions that live in the hearts and minds of people. They’re about the emotional and psychological connection a person experiences with you, your law firm and the service you provide. What’s more, the apex of successful brand building isn’t just to be well known or recognizable…it’s to be respected, trusted, and even loved.

Which brings us to defining your firm’s brand promise. What’s your firm’s “because”? What makes your brand better, special, and the best choice for representation in your market’s legal landscape?

When people talk about your business behind closed doors, what are they saying? What do you hope they say? Imagine a former client is referring your firm to a friend or family member. They might say: “You should call them because they were there for me every step of the way and you can trust them.”

When your employees, clients, neighbors, friends, referral sources, and other thought leaders talk about your law firm, they need something differentiating, elevating, compelling, and honest to say about the relationships and experiences had by those who work with you—that’s your brand promise.

If you’d like to know how Network Affiliates can help you get the most out of your brand and your brand promise, we’d love to hear from you. Call us today at 888-461-1016, or let us know you’re interested online, and we’ll get in touch with you.

Focus on Your Intake and Conversion!

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For lawyers, the great thing about legal marketing is you can hire an expert to handle it for you. A team of professionals can give your firm’s branding and advertising the strategy, time, and attention it needs to generate results.

But there’s one thing your marketing team can’t quite do for you: turn those calls into cases.

In fact, legal marketing is mostly about attracting potential clients to your firm. We call it lead generation, and – with how competitive the legal marketing landscape is – that’s usually the hardest part.

So, why do so many of these leads get lost in the shuffle?

Sadly, the answer boils down to procedure. Law firms are so focused on the law part of their practice; they tend to neglect the central gear that keeps the whole business in motion: client intake and conversion.

Last month, we identified lacking intake procedures as one of the four most common mistakes in legal marketing. Today, we will take a closer look at how and why this happens… and what you can do to solve the problem in your firm.

You Need Well-Trained, Highly-Dedicated Intake Staff

So much of the breakdown in the intake process comes down to basic training issues.

Unless your practice is very new or very small, your lawyers probably don’t answer the phone themselves. Most mid-to-large-size law firms have a support staff responsible for screening calls, fielding online inquiries that come in through the website, and getting prospective clients set up for a consultation.

It’s easy to think of that as “administrative work” — the kind of task you’d find in any professional assistant’s job description. You might assume, then, that no training is required for anyone who has worked as a paralegal or legal assistant of any kind before.

But intake and conversion are sales and marketing disciplines, not administrative tasks.

Your firm needs to make expert intake a core part of training for every member of the law firm staff who might be involved in answering calls, arranging consultations, or following up on prospects.

We recommend recording all intake calls and listening back to analyze the conversation. How could you improve? At what point during those calls do you seem to “make the sale” or lose the lead?

Never Fail to Follow Up

If a prospective client calls you but doesn’t convert in that first call (or gets put on hold indefinitely), there’s a good chance they’ll never call again.

Are your intake professionals following up on leads? How often do they call back? Are they creating a dialogue?

Consider this statistic: only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts, but 80% of sales are made between the fifth and twelfth contacts.

Intake? There’s an App for That.

When it comes to intake and conversion, technology is your friend.

Software exists that will track each incoming lead, how they found the firm, how many times you’ve made contact (when and through which method), and how much time has passed since first/most recent contact.

With the right analytics tools in place, you can also monitor the cost per lead. After all, lead generation isn’t free, so you want to keep an eye on those costs and make sure you’re doing all you can to capitalize on each prospect.

Speaking of technology, we strongly urge law firms to install a text-to-contact feature on their websites (especially the mobile versions of sites). Research shows that Millennials, as well as the Hispanic population, prefer to communicate by text — especially in the early stages, when they aren’t yet sold on hiring you.

A Little More Conversion Goes a Long, Long Way

We aren’t even necessarily talking about huge gains in your conversion rate here. But even small gains in the rate can mean substantial gains in profit.

For example, if your average net fee is $10,000, converting just ten new cases a year translates to an additional $100,000 for the firm. Furthermore, 100 cases = $1 million! And that’s all without spending one extra dime on your marketing efforts, but making simple and efficient improvements to your existing intake process.

In fact, a few years ago, we put together a hypothetical scenario in which a law firm increased its conversions by just 2%, and then we did the math. Check out the astounding difference a tiny uptick can make.

Stop Letting Hard-Earned Leads Go to Waste! Talk to Our Experts Today.

At Network Affiliates, we specialize in evolving law firms’ marketing efforts so that they actually land bigger and better cases. Contact our legal marketing experts and simply ask how you can improve lead generation, intake, and client conversion. We have a lot of ideas, and we’re happy to chat. Just call 877.709.0633 or contact us online.

There Is More to Lead Tracking for Law Firms Than Meets the Eye

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There are many ways to market a law firm, and the best approach combines more than one. Whatever channels you use, it is imperative that you track the leads coming in through each.

Lead tracking is the science of determining how your potential clients find you — and how many people each advertising method is sending your way.

Furthermore, attribution is then assigning credit to marketing touchpoints that a customer was exposed to prior to their purchase or conversion.

Need help understanding other marketing definitions? Download our digital marketing glossary here.

By comparing leads from television to, say, leads from your website, you can begin to get a sense of what’s working and what’s not. But caution! Things aren’t always what they seem.

The tricky thing about lead tracking and attribution for law firms is that your clients don’t always travel a straight path to your front door. Personal injury clients, for instance, are likely to hop around from one source to the next before landing in a case file on your desk. We call that path The Client Journey, and it’s typically a circuitous one.

But with all that hopping around, how are you supposed to measure your success in advertising? Where are your calls and cases really coming from?

Extreme Vetting: The Attorney-Prospective Client Relationship

We encourage all of our clients to assign a unique track line to every advertising asset. When an injured person views your TV ad, for instance, they should see a different phone number than the one they find on your website.

That way, whenever a particular phone line rings, you know exactly how the person got that number — in theory.

There’s just one problem with that theory, though: the modern customer journey is not linear. Everything leads to the internet.

Customers tend to vet service providers extensively before making first contact — especially when it comes to legal service providers (and personal injury lawyers in particular).

Your prospective clients simply have so many options available to them that it wouldn’t make sense to contact you without doing their due diligence first. After all, they can access tremendous amounts of information about local attorneys in a mere moment on Google, and they’re well aware of that power.

Accordingly, even if a client first learns about you from a highway billboard or a local broadcast commercial, they’ll likely visit your website as a next step. Then, when they finally contact you, they’ll either use the online form or the phone number on your website.

We often hear from law firms who are dismayed that their TV track lines are showing relatively few contacts. But the truth is that many of your online track lines actually belong to television or other advertising assets, because that’s where they first discovered you.

The Big Picture Is Made Up of More Than One Kind of Screen

Since many of your leads are coming to you as a result of multiple advertising assets, it’s critical that they all complement each other, working together as a cohesive whole — a complete user experience.

Everything needs to be stable, ready, and working well for the ease of the users (who in this case are usually accident victims or the family members of accident victims).

For example, if a car accident victim – or one of their relatives – sees your commercial on TV while in the hospital room and then visits your website on their mobile phone while still in the hospital bed; your site must be mobile-responsive, fast-loading, and informative.

They’re coming to you for help, so your website should be ready to educate, inform, and lead them to the next step on their journey: making contact.

Law Firm Synergy and The Client Journey

Think of your prospective clients as digitally empowered people. Thirty years ago, they would have picked up a landline phone with a long, curly cord and dialed a 1-800 number they found in one of two places: the phone book or on the commercial they caught (in real time).

Today, there’s no counting all the ways they might have found you, nor all the information they might have gathered about you along the way.

Take a look at this video which aptly demonstrates just how unpredictable and nonlinear the modern Client Journey can be.

https://digourideas.wistia.com/medias/ngl9u2n94x?embedType=async&videoFoam=true&videoWidth=640

In a world where accidents can happen at any moment, and the victims might look literally anywhere for an attorney to help them, your law firm’s challenge is to be anywhere and everywhere.

So just as a multimedia company like Disney or Universal might look to promote itself across film and television and theme parks and the internet all at once, you should adopt a similarly synergetic view of your legal marketing initiatives.

Be sure that wherever a client’s journey starts, you’re part of the path.

Talk to Network Affiliates About Lead Tracking and Call Tracking for Law Firms

Raw data is less important than how you read that data and what you decide to do with it. Don’t make faulty assumptions about your legal marketing assets because you’re misconstruing your call tracking or lead tracking metrics.

Reach out to our team at Network Affiliates and learn how your law firm can take full advantage of the modern Client Journey.

Call us at 877.709.0633 or simply use our easy online contact form today.