“Everyone knows us.”
I shouldn’t be surprised when I hear this from an attorney at a well established firm that advertises heavily. Yet, I almost always am. Recently, I was told this by two of our licensees. One was thinking that a 30% reduction in their advertising would not be a problem, and the other was saying that they could reallocate a portion of their budget to speculative strategies. A few weeks after the cutback, the first attorney called me to express concern about dropping call numbers. I reminded him about the reduction and he acknowledged that it was the likely cause of the downturn.
I have been told that the typical city/market experiences as much as a 20% annual turnover of population. That 20% each year will not know you based on longevity or past marketing. Even more important is the question as to what happens when a firm lessens its marketing position? Inevitably, a competitor or competitors fill the vacuum that is created. It can give them life where previously they were much less relevant.
Everyone does not know you, even if a lot do. Stay strong and aggressive in your marketing using superior creative and proven strategies. It will keep you on top.
Auto accident data is difficult to come by in a timely fashion. Often what is available is a year old or more. While it would be great to know how many cases one is currently getting out of the total potential “pie”, thus far this is information that eludes us.
One report, however, can provide an idea of how your market stacks up when it comes to overall driver safety. Allstate recently released its “America’s Best Drivers Report™”. The report uses Allstate’s claim data to rank the country’s 200 biggest cities based on frequency of car collisions to identify which cities have the safest drivers.
What is the safest city? Fort Collins, CO. Which city is more likely to have accidents than any other? Washington, DC. How does your city stack up? Click to view the full 2010 report.
As with any data, results can be suggestive but are not necessarily conclusive. The overall business of any individual law firm is the result of many factors, not the least of which is effective marketing. Robust market conditions or soft, it is always best to be the one getting the first call.
Heading into Labor Day Weekend, I was trying to think of something appropriate to post. Then I received a call from a prospective client interested in our TV campaigns for a specialized area, Wage Hour abuse cases.
Unfair labor practices have been around a very long time. However, the suffering economy seems to have led to even more people being taken advantage of. Hourly workers are required to work extra time without being compensated, or they are “promoted” to “management” to bypass overtime requirements. Two current Market Masters-Legal licensees began advertising for these cases earlier this year, with very strong results. One of them told me that bigger companies are paying the fines/penalties whenever they are called to task, but have no intention of stopping what they are doing. The savings outweigh the costs associated with the minority of people that will pursue claims against them. In other words, there is no end to available cases/victims.
We have been advocating diversification in the types of cases being advertised for as a means to further grow practices. Wage Hour abuse is an area that may be worth further exploration for you. Let me know if you would like more information.
Have a safe and happy Labor Day Weekend.
In my very first blog post I described what I believe to be a common marketing mistake that law firms make. That is asking the question “How did you hear about us?” when someone first contacts the firm. I heard from a number of people who agreed, disagreed and/or wanted to know how to acquire this useful information.
To clarify my point, I did not say that one should never ask this question, but only that it should not be among the first ones that are asked. So, when can you do it? One licensee sent me this comment:
“I ask this specific question at the end of the first telephone contact with the client – after Intake has finished the intake and has passed the call through to me for further assessment and making an appointment- and also in my initial meeting with the client when I am signing them up. Not the FIRST question…………And what usually ensues is a bit of a conversation with the new client about the many ways in which he/she has heard about our law firm. Very often, one way they have heard about us is from another person. Of course, they almost always say they are familiar with the TV ads……I find that the clients like being asked that question b/c it shows that I care about what the “thought process” was by which they ended up calling us.”
Excellent.
Establish rapport, cover their problems, make them feel like you will be taking care of them, and then ask the question in an “organic” way. The information you receive in this fashion will be more accurate and valuable than hitting them with it up front.
Which Approach To Lawyer Advertising Is Best?
Dignified or Memorable.
Dignified, by far, has been the approach of choice. Lawyers on camera communicating how much they understand and care about those in need. The belief is that this type of advertising will hit home with people in a way that will make them feel good about the firm and want to do business with them. The problem with most ads in this category, in our opinion, is that they are weak at generating response and are easily forgotten.
There is a minority of attorneys who have chosen to take a more aggressive approach. Hard hitting ads filled with visual and/or audio gimmicks that practically scream at the consumer. Most lawyers would not choose this strategy, and in fact abhor it. While they lack dignity, they are memorable (even if it is for the wrong reasons).
There is a third choice.
Without question, the hardest thing to do is to consistently advertise in a way that is both memorable and dignified. However, we believe it is the only way to maximize response among those currently in need of a lawyer, while building positive equity with the larger segment of the market at any given time that does not yet have the need. Translation – more cases and better cases. With Market Masters-Legal you do not have to choose one or the other. You get both.
Mass Torts.
As one might expect, we get approached on a regular basis by major firms handling various pharmaceutical and product liability cases. They have correctly identified the fact that our network of top TV advertisers around the country represents enormous potential for gathering new cases to refer to them. When it seems warranted, we arrange a conference call for the mass tort firm to present the “opportunity” to any of our clients who may have interest.
In many instances, a blast of mass tort TV ads produces a high volume of calls. Through the screening process, the numbers get reduced. Additional factors lower the numbers even more. Sometimes, all that is left standing are a few accepted cases. So, is it worth it?
I recently received this email:
“This has been an interesting campaign. We received lots of calls that seemed to qualify as a good potential case. Was very happy with the call volume and quality. However, after having people tested we ended up with only two cases that any litigation law firm would take. Had to agree to only a 30% referral fee in order to get that firm to take them. Wasn’t looking good to even get our money back.
Last week we found out that one case got settled with one out of two of the defendants (the client used two denture cream products). That one half of a case settled for $2.4 million. Needless to say, we are all very pleased.
Thanks for holding the conference call MML. ”
We always leave the decision to pursue a particular type of case up to our licensees. For those who opt to go ahead with one, it is not uncommon for it to work out well.
“Inception”
Summer’s blockbuster movie centers on a company hiring a group of people to plant an idea directly into someone’s subconscious mind using a rather invasive technology. Now, maybe (ok, probably) I was the only one in the theater thinking of this, but the whole thing seemed like one big metaphor for advertising. After all, isn’t it the ultimate goal of advertising to motivate people to take a specific action? And doesn’t the best advertising have to work beyond the surface and reach right into the subconscious so that when a need arises, the first thought that comes to mind is the advertised product or service? In the legal category, for one, the answer is a resounding “YES”.
When someone is injured, is a victim, is being mistreated or taken advantage of by the insurance company or is being denied any number of their rights, are they reflexively thinking of your firm first? Is your marketing working at such a level that people think of you even when your ads are not right in front of them? Have you successfully planted the idea in their mind to call you when the need arises?
Commercials that work while someone is watching them are hard enough to find. Ones that also consistently produce results even when not right in front of someone’s eyes are rare. Combined, you have a winning campaign. That is exactly what Market Masters-Legal has been providing to successful law firms for years, and will continue to do so. At least until we master that whole Inception thing :-)
Talk about a former client.
We recently received a call from an attorney who stopped using our program a few years ago. He decided at that time that he was going to scale back his practice so he could build up his real estate business. The call was to thank us. He said he had been meaning to do so for a while. He said that he made a lot of money as the result of using our TV campaign and is still receiving checks from one particular type of case we informed him about (many hundreds of thousands of dollars, and counting). He also wanted me to know that a few months following the conclusion of his TV campaign, he received a call from someone who had remembered him from our TV ads. That case ended up settling for over $900K.
Now, it is very unusual for anyone to leave our program. The few that have left have generally done so for reasons that have nothing to do with our campaigns (retirement, restructuring, partner dissoultions, career changes and, in one case, divorce). Whatever the reason, it is gratifying to hear from them that they were happy and satisfied with what we provided. The above is the latest, but not only, example.
In the case of law firms, references from former clients are invaluable. Ways to best to best capitalize on this diamond mine will be the subject of a future post.
How did you hear about us?
The question seems innocent enough. After all, you want to track your marketing and see what produced a call to the firm. The problem is that it can actually cause more damage than good, and any information it provides is wholly unreliable.
When someone contacts a law firm for the very first time it is usually because they have a problem. “How did you hear about us?” has absolutely nothing to do with what they need or why they called you. It is a self-serving question that they are generally unprepared to answer. Because it is asked, though, people will try to come up with an answer and usually that answer is whatever is the first thing that comes to their mind, true or not. At best, you may get whatever was the very last thing they saw or heard before picking up the phone or coming into the office. For example, they may have been seeing your TV ads for a very long time. Then something happened and they needed a lawyer so they specifically looked you up in the phone book. “How did you hear about us?” is then answered by “in the phone book”.
Numerous studies have been done that show that the answer to “How did you hear about us?” is often inaccurate. Think about how you yourself have responded to that question in the past. Additionally, it just plain sounds unprofessional for a law firm to be asking it of a prospective client. It cheapens the experience.
Stop asking that question. Your clients will appreciate it.
Rick –
www.MarketMastersLegal.com
