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Category: TV Advertising

The Three Keys to Successful Legal Commercials

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In an aggressively competitive atmosphere like the legal industry, attorneys need to leverage everything in their power to stand out from the pack. And a TV commercial—made by a third party laser-focused on production—is still one of the most dominant and far-reaching forms of paid media to do just that.

Reaching a big, broad audience, however, is not enough these days. To distinguish your law firm, your message must be the opposite: narrow and differentiated. Your strategy must be precise and data-driven. And your TV advertising must be thoughtfully and consistently integrated with other attentively supported marketing platforms.

Today top-quality TV production is not just about attorneys looking good on the screen. That’s no longer enough to make an impact, to stand out or to be remembered. Pushing through crowded airwaves, contemporary TV commercial production requires:

  • a careful balance of smart, singular creative
  • pinpointed, long-term strategy
  • scheduled, multi-platform integration

Staying top of mind is, well, just a little more complicated these days. To get a better handle on how much TV production has changed, it’s helpful to break it down into three tactics.

Creative: Make sure your TV commercial is different—in the right ways.

We’re all familiar with “talking head” TV commercials. The stiff and staged client testimonials. The overly dramatic reenactments set to disjointed music. Over time, response tracking has shown that these types of legal commercials just don’t work. You can’t get away with cutting corners when it comes to television advertising.

The most effective creative starts with a strong, individualized message, backed up with high-quality sound, talent and editing. While there are plenty of “magic bullets” waiting to come to fruition, uncovering a creative message that will help your law firm stand out on screen starts with knowing who you are.

  • Can you articulate your top three points of differentiation as a legal team?
  • What makes your firm the most unique choice in your legal market?
  • Going head-to-head with the competition, why would a client choose you?
  • Speaking of those clients, what are your three biggest audience “buckets”?

Knowing your audience and capitalizing on exclusive brand attributes is the fastest path to standing out in a space cluttered with noise. How you get there can take many exciting forms, and that’s why it pays to work with a qualified creative team.

Your next commercial could be a clever spot that’s uncharacteristically funny and catches viewers off guard—in a memorable way. Or a real-life incident cinematically slowed down to an emotional moment that connects with an audience, lingering and linking undeniably back to your law firm’s brand.

A smart, savvy TV production team will only help craft a message that emphasizes your distinct legal brand, but will make sure that message is designed for TV, with the right actors, music, lighting and editing features to ensure your firm looks and sounds “different,” in the right ways.

Strategy: Determine where and when to place your quality TV commercial

Once you’ve nailed brilliant creative and produced a high-quality TV commercial, don’t let a beautiful commercial woo you into overlooking where and when to place the spot to reach the largest and most targeted audiences.

Again, this is not an effort law firms can tackle alone. Placing commercials on TV today requires serious strategy—mostly likely more than your office has on its radar. It’s best left to legal media-buying experts who know your specialized industry, competition and market, not to mention helpful ways to bring added value to a TV campaign—and giving you more bang for your buck.

Here are just a few of the ways the best legal TV commercials end up being viewed by the right audiences, at the right time.

  • Top media teams research the tastes and habits of your specific client base and build a media plan to match them
  • Expert media buyers help your firm determine appropriate levels of spending and whether to focus commercials around certain events, seasons or other factors related to your legal brand
  • Dedicated TV media consultants have access to industry research, data and tools that can uncover everything from how a competitor’s commercial performed in the same market, to what airtime slots will best suit your business and maximize your ad dollars

Integration: Ensure a consistent, complementary message across platforms

One of the biggest changes in producing effective quality TV commercials is integrating them properly with other marketing channels, using each avenue to strategically reinforce your brand. Attorneys can’t just create an A+ ad and send it into the netherworld.

Today everything is connected. People have more touch points than ever. It’s all on 24/7. And because of that, clients often aren’t even aware of where they’ve interacted with different legal brands.

Ask that question on your next client survey. Most people won’t be able to pinpoint where they remember encountering your brand, but if you are running your advertising campaign effectively, it won’t matter. Because the same message you have on TV will extend in some tangential way to your website, and coordinate with your latest email blast, and orchestrate aptly with your social media presence.

We call this critical integration “multi-platform.” That means your “paid” media (primarily TV, radio and print advertising, developed by a third-party) complement messaging and campaigns you run through your “owned” media (marketing delivered on digital channels that your law firm creates, owns and controls). To ensure these platforms are working synergistically, you’ll need to address questions like these:

  • How does your TV creative translate to your legal website, social media and other owned media?
  • Does the look and feel of your commercial creative match your owned media properties?
  • Does your larger umbrella brand positioning appear consistently in your law firm’s digital and physical assets?

Like most things in law, TV production is digested best when broken down to its most fundamental elements. While the complexity of creating effective advertising has increased, your stress as an attorney doesn’t have to. Making your mark on TV (and beyond) takes one part dynamic creative, one part smart strategy and one part intelligent integration. It all adds up, and it’s all within reach.

Worst, and Best, Legal TV Ads: Watch Now

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Today we’ve lined up two spots that Network Affiliates has produced for our clients. We’d like you to take a look at these and then jot down a two-column list of what elements were effective and ineffective in these commercials.

As you watch the videos, consider the following questions:

  1. What was my gut reaction? Did I feel the message was amateur, cheesy, condescending, complex, etc.?
  2. How clear was the overall message?
  3. Could I remember the name or phone number of the law firm?
  4. What sounds and images stuck in my mind the most?
  5. What were a few things that made certain firms stand out from the rest?
First up is this commercial we produced for the Mani, Ellis & Layne Called “Shattered.” Nearly a year in the making, “Shattered” is a testament to where a big idea can take lawyers who are willing to do the due diligence. After you view it, jot down a short list of what you liked (or didn’t like) about the ad, and why you think it was (or wasn’t) effective.

 

Shattered:

Next, take a look at this commercial we produced for Brown & Crouppen. We think you’ll see that this is a legal ad that works for a variety of reasons. Again, after you view it, jot down a short list of what you liked (or didn’t like) about the ad, and why you think it was (or wasn’t) effective.

 

Brown & Crouppen Spot:

Done watching? Before we give you our reasoning, see if you can pinpoint the No. 1 reason why these two ads have been so successful in today’s marketplace.

Here’s our take:

“I think the biggest thing missing from [typical legal ads] is a story. Most are centered around the lawyer or law firm: how good they are, their experience, the results they get, their awards. Rarely do legal ads engage viewers with emotion and storytelling. . . Of course the law firm is the answer, but we don’t spend 30 seconds saying that. There are enough lawyers talking to the camera, standing in front of bookcases. What resonates and becomes memorable are commercials that engage the viewer on an emotional level.”

– Jeff Feierstein, Vice President Production Services for Network Affiliates.

Thinking about your next commercial? See how Network Affiliates can help you can take it to the next level.

 

Don’t Take A Back Seat to the Quality Ads that Surround You!

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think big about your law firm's brand and tv spotsLawyers know TV commercials still capture more eyeballs than ads sent through any other medium on the planet.

The key to effective advertising on screen, however, is to make your message national caliber—one that rings a little louder, differently or more authentically.

It sounds simple, but when your law firm’s ad follows a heavily branded, visually tempting eye-catcher from let’s say Coca-Cola or another corporate giant, what you have to say needs to be even more distinct.

You can’t afford to get drowned out by a big-bucks spot that happens to precede or follow your commercial. There’s only so much prime time—and you need a premier spot to capture your audience’s attention.

Advertising messaging—and all marketing messaging, for that matter—has always been about “how” you do law differently (not what services you offer). Capturing that brand message in 60 seconds or less is a challenge.

But having a team of legal marketing and advertising experts on your side can quickly help you toss out the generics, distill your message to its essence and frame it effectively enough to compete with national ads book ending your commercial.

When developing a new TV spot or re-shaping an existing message for a visually based medium, it’s helpful to include a few key ingredients. Start by asking these questions; the answers will stir up a recipe for success.

  1. Are you saying what every other law firm is saying? Be honest.
  2. What is one distinguishing attribute (brand message) your firm can hang its hat on?
  3. Are you simplifying your message for TV or overloading viewers with information they can’t digest quick enough?
  4. Are you actually getting what you’re asking for with a clear and effective call to action?
  5. Is your production quality crisp—taking into account think like ideal lighting, high-quality voice over, impeccable grain, interesting graphics and optimal editing?

If you’re creative light bulb just flashed, that’s good news. You either have already one or just realized you need to find a full-service TV production partner that can help your firm craft a competitive legal advertisement from start to finish. It’s worth every dime—and it doesn’t have to take every one of them.

Remember, when you’re going back-to-back with national ads, it’s not the time to take a backseat.

We would be happy to evaluate your advertising, confidentially and constructively. Please just give us a call. Network Affiliates has been in this lawyer marketing game since 1981. We currently represent over 90 Law Firms around the country.

What do you have to loose? We feel the value of the case you are trying to get is everything.

Broad, Targeted TV Campaigns Produce Different Results

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targeted or shotgun tv advertising strategiesThere is no one size fits all approach to advertising on TV. There are many factors that go into creating a strategic advertising plan for a law firm. Demographics, budget, competition, product, etc., are all things that help determine how an effective campaign is built.

With that being said, there are still two common schools of thought when it comes to planning a media campaign: the targeted approach vs. the shotgun approach.

Target Shooting – You Want a Specific Case

The targeted approach is better for advertisers that are looking for a very specific type of case or have a limited budget and thus want to focus on attracting a certain type of case. Target shooting requires the firm to specifically identify what type of case they would like to attract.

A creative team develops this and produces ads to attract this specific type of client. Once the creative is produced, the media buy is centered on specific programs and/or networks that have high viewership with the particular type of client the law firm is looking to attract.

For example, motorcycle campaigns are very targeted campaigns that focus on trying to bring in cases involving motorcycle accidents. Specific creative is produced and media is placed on networks and programs where motorcycle riders are most likely to be watching.

Shotgun Approach – You Handle a Variety of Cases

A firm using a shotgun approach is targeting a variety of cases specifically related to PI, or domestic law or criminal law, etc. The shotgun approach is more likely to be used by firms that have a larger budget and have the ability to refer cases out if the law firm can’t handle certain kinds of cases.

The shotgun approach is likely to be more expensive since the firm is looking to try and take in as many cases as possible and target as many people as possible. As such, the creative messages for a shotgun approach are often more general and cover broad areas of a firm’s practice.

Law firms using the shotgun approach need to be disciplined during intake and truly understand which cases will benefit the firm the most. An extensive referral network is also beneficial for law firms employing the shotgun approach, as many cases will likely come through the door that the firm can’t handle.

What Approach is Your Law Firm Using?

Is your law firm using a targeted campaign when it should be taking a more broad approach to the marketplace? Or, is your firm struggling to make noise in the market with a shotgun approach and you’re beginning to think a targeted approach might make more sense? Either way, it is important to know where your firm stands and use an approach that will be most effective for your business.