Your audience is more important than your attorneys. We realize that’s a little blunt, but without a clear understanding of your existing clientele, attorney marketing is futile.
Continue reading “Legal Marketing 101: How to Identify a Target Audience and See Real Results”
Data across the board proves that broadcast and cable are still the most valuable medium for lawyers. In fact, attorney TV advertising grew six times faster than all other ad spending from 2008 to 2014. Furthermore, just last year legal services took home the sixth spot on the Top 20 list of broadcast advertisers.
When a law firm doesn’t necessarily have the time or resources to invest in a fully customized testimonial campaign, one alternative is to leverage the power of storytelling in an encapsulated version; combining the power of a 30-second testimonial and the intimacy of placing the viewer in the victim’s shoes. By exploring an effective way to share “testimonial style” stories in a dramatized fashion, capitalizing on exceptional production value, and our country’s love of sports, this makes for a truly unique and focused legal TV advertising campaign.
“Storyteller” is dramatic. It’s disarming, it’s attention grabbing, and it will most definitely stand out in the crowded airwaves.
It doesn’t have to be expensive to look expensive. At Network Affiliates, we own all of our own equipment; we have a fully-equipped in-house production stage, several on-site editing suites and a seriously talented team that has worked all over the world. Call us today (888) 461-1016!
In the legal advertising landscape it’s harder than ever to create messaging or creative that stands out, grabs attention and separates you from the rest of the competition.
“Just Another Day” is not just another talking head TV commercial. It’s dramatic, entertaining, engaging and most importantly memorable. It will keep people guessing, and in the end, leave them breathless – which will absolutely help separate your firm from the rest of the legal noise in your market.
It’s no surprise that consumers most easily relate to people and issues they can identify with. Reaching clients through smart, diverse, authentic advertising, coupled with unparalleled production quality, gives you the chance to connect on a deep and emotional level. At Network Affiliates, we strive to keep raising the bar – giving our clients the best opportunities to create something unforgettable.
Is your TV presence and approach made up of right stuff? Network Affiliates’ broadcast advertising experts have been in legal advertising and marketing since 1981. We know media, we know messaging and we know what it takes to keep your case load full in today’s marketplace. Call us today!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Overcoming bad reviews in SERP is just a matter of following good SEO practices for law firms: stay informed, stay vigilant—and stay positive.
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!
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.
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.
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
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.
Think of brands that stick in your mind most. There’s a good chance they’re ubiquitous names like Apple or Coca-Cola.
Clearly, these brands have big bucks to spend to create top-of-mind awareness (TOMA), but that doesn’t mean lawyers can’t do the same—for less. For example, social media marketing for lawyers is an avenue that is both cheap—and effective.
Being the turn-to attorney for a specific niche like personal injury or mass tort in your market is not about advertising one great idea and hoping it sticks in folks’ minds next time they need legal advice; it’s about reaching out regularly through a multi-pronged marketing approach.
Sure, a compelling creative message can jumpstart any legal advertising campaign, but what will really keep your law firm top-of-mind is consistency and repetition.
Here are some cornerstones of multi-media, multi-faceted marketing that will start creating TOMA for your law firm.
There’s no substitute for TV advertising. It still has the broadest reach with long-lasting visual impact.
However, even if you don’t have a Google-size media budget, marketing through this medium can still prove effective.
Your advertising agency can help you maximize your media budget with cost-effective creative, ad buys and channel placement.
A direct-to-door print campaign is still a solid strategy to support your global advertising efforts and offers a different, more tangible way to “touch” your audience.
However to work well direct mail needs to target past clients who can refer friends and family or zip codes and audiences proven to open and read mail regularly.
A strong call to action is also key to a results-driven direct-mail campaign.
This beast of a medium encompasses many prongs of the multi-pronged marketing strategy. There are so many touch points that work so well in today’s increasingly digital world. After all, during a typical day we interact with our screens often more than real people.
Key components of interactive include an email campaign, or eCRM (customer relationship management); content marketing; PPC/digital display and social media.
It’s worth calling out some ways that social media marketing for lawyers can work to stay top-of-mind, simply by engaging with followers and online communities.
Learn more with this five-step presentation by Network’s own Emily Frickey. (Or you can check out the slides that go along with this presentation from SlideShare here!)
In the legal industry, face-to-face networking is still paramount to building client relationships, trust and referrals. Therefore in-person networking will work to boost an existing marketing strategy.
Your lawyers will stay top-of-mind if they’re out in the community meeting people, attending conferences and sharing their expertise through speaking engagements.
Don’t get so caught up in ease of the Internet or the all-encompassing reach of TV that you forget the value of gaining new business by getting out on the streets.
To have a constant presence as the go-to law firm for representing the average person, you have to communicate with the average person—broadly, regularly and reliably. Get on TV. Get in their hands. Get to their social network. Get out of the office.
Wondering if you’re heading down the right path with your multi-pronged advertising initiatives? Let’s us help you stay top of mind. Give us a call for a complimentary consultation (888) 461-1016.
It makes sense that database marketing—or digital campaigns targeting the email addresses of people who have already worked with or have shown interest in your law firm—works well: it’s effective and inexpensive.
Over 90% of the planet’s more than 2.5 billion email users check their inbox at least daily. That alone gives you a strong open-rate opportunity. Plus, database marketing for lawyers is downright cheap. You’ve already surveyed your clients for feedback and current contact information. It costs next to nothing to maintain those relationships by reaching out once or twice a month with a short email message, or even weekly if you have the bandwidth and something relevant to say.
However, to recognize true ROI, attorney email marketing has to convert “readers” to cases, right? Your database is invaluable because when tapped correctly it’s a steady source of referrals, and law firms know better than any professional that direct referrals typically lead to the most qualified cases.
Email marketing campaigns have become more sophisticated. Just staying top of mind by keeping in touch with past clients, it not enough. The legal industry must build on the special kind of relationships that only lawyers have with their clients. The most lucrative email marketing for law firms use quality, “sharable” content that’s highly relevant, informative and downright interesting to past clients, which means you can’t just slap it together.
Use video. Be compelling. Start by sprinkling in one video a quarter in your attorney email marketing. It’s one more way to quickly engage your database while adding variety and freshness to your campaign (and website, where you can showcase it later).
Pay a pro. Content is king. Lawyers are typically too busy to write compelling content. Hire a writer who knows law or knows how to interview your attorneys to tell a story your database wants to hear.
Survey the competition. Stay ahead of the curve. Have your marketing agency gather competing legal email blasts, blogs and digital content examples that your team finds helpful and pertinent. Reinvent that style, tone and approach to suit your own firm and clientele.
Make it mobile. And, make it responsive. Increasingly your database members, like the rest of the world, are opening and reading email blasts on their smartphones. Be sure to check that your campaign is fully optimized for easy reading on the fly. Not sure if your email template and/or website is responsive? Call me to find out (303) 817-7313!
Need more insight on how to improve your database marketing?
We would be happy to do a FREE and confidential evaluation of your advertising. Network Affiliates has been in the legal marketing game since 1981, currently representing over 90 Law Firms around the country. Contact us to see if your market is available.