A recent CNBC story caught my attention.

Millennials as a demographic have been the focus of technology and those companies using tech to attract them.

However, this CNBC story featured analyst, Anthony DiClemente, who made a compelling statement. The growth of Internet phone usage will be strongest among baby boomers.  The story focused on healthcare marketing, but the core message extends to many segments.

In my opinion, this has some pretty important marketing implications.

I think you’d agree that there are two items we rarely leave our homes without. The first is our car keys. The second is our phones.

Mobile phone technology offers us a unique opportunity to reach into the lives of consumers in our target markets. Print media is virtually dying on the vine. Television media has been losing steam for quite some time. We are very rapidly approaching a completely on-demand lifestyle.

Think about it. Many of us have had the ability to DVR or TiVo television shows for years. The primary benefit is convenience.  But the real value for many is that we can skip through commercials, thus avoid them altogether.

Cable companies are beginning to unbundle your services because they realize it’s what clients are demanding.  We want what we want, when we want it.

Even Keurig was able to take advantage a niche for on-demand consumption, although this form of consumption is obviously different.  Some haters would argue their Keurig is more valuable than the article you’re reading.  I’d counter they’re complementary.  (Pause to take another sip between paragraphs.)

Many of the companies I worked with early on were extremely hesitant to jump online as part of their marketing strategy. They viewed the Internet as something the younger kids were using, namely those without enough money to hire them or buy their services.  That mindset is rapidly changing.

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I read the above statement in a recent LinkedIn article.  It’s more relevant than many professionals realize.  The role I take on with many of my clients is that of business coach.  Much of what I do involves client perceptions.  This article deals with a common issue – “How others view your practice.”

Note:  This article appears in the Louisville Bar Association’s Bar Briefs (November Edition, Page 10)

According to the LBA, there were approximately 4,656 licensed attorneys in Jefferson County during the spring of 2016. That equates to only 165 people in our community, per each attorney (Nielsen Company Data, 2016 Jefferson County, KY).  It includes adults and children.  This is a crowded and competitive market.

Many of us are focused on growing respective businesses. That objective requires that we differentiate ourselves in the minds of our target audiences.

One way to do this is by defining your firm’s benefit statement. Simply put, this explains what you have to offer. All too often, many professionals choose to stop there. A more effective approach is to communicate in terms of the problems (the pain points) you could resolve. To iterate the title of this article, “Sell the problem you solve, not y0ur product.”

Luckily for all of us, our clients remind us of these problems every day. Pull out one of your most recent client intake forms. Look specifically for questions your prospective client asked.

Most likely, those questions stemmed from concerns (even fears) that person wants to resolve.

The more easily people make the connection between their problems and you, the person who can resolve them, the closer you are to landing a new client – which, by the way, may be the problem you’re trying to solve for your own practice.

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Marketing Lessons I Learned While Fishing

Growing up, I spent summers with my dad in southern Alabama.  He lived near a swamp formed by the backwaters of the Pea River, outside of New Brockton.  A few times a week, I would dig for worms and head off to catch a few bluegills or bass with a cane pole and Zebco 404.  My typical approach was to bait the hook, adjust the bobber, toss it in and wait, and wait some more.

A few years ago, I went on a fishing trip with my friend, Captain Brad.  We jumped in his boat, found the right spot and spent a few minutes chumming the water with baitfish.  Before you knew it, we were pulling in some large redfish off the Florida flats.

Both of the above techniques worked.  One simply had much better results and produced them more quickly.  This lesson applies to marketing your law practice.  At the risk of overdoing the metaphors, let’s consider a few tips you can use to grow your client base in 2016.

“Why Do Fisherman Chum?” is the title of my article published in the LBA’s Bar Briefs (Feb, page 20) and in the Fayette County Bar Association’ s Bar News.  The article uses fishing examples to help firms consider aspects related to marketing.

Testing the Water

If you’re new to marketing, fishing is a good example.  Most successful outings begin with testing the water.  You need to figure out where the fish are.  A typical fisherman will put multiple lines in the water so he/she can use different lures positioned at various depths.  Once the fish begin biting a certain lure, the fisherman will be able to adjust the other lines.

Law firms should put together plans to test the waters.  Blog posts, videos, articles, social media all provide valuable information in different formats to a target audience.  Certain clients will prefer specific formats or types of information.  You may find clients gather and consume information in a variety of ways.

If you only have one facet to your approach, you may not be presenting your “bait” in the most effective way.  I spent hours sweating on the banks of the swamp with my hook and bobber.

By implementing multiple marketing tools (e.g. website, blog, YouTube channel, social media campaign, etc.), you’ll be able to figure out what works best for your firm and client base.  Chumming the water will produce effective results as long as you’re using quality bait. Read more →

A leak can do tremendous damage before you know it.

The competitive environment for law firms is ever changing. If you’ve ever had a leaking pipe in your house, you understand tremendous damage can be done before you even know there’s a problem. Your competition continues to make moves that may catch you off guard. The damage can be severe if those moves go undetected.

In business, you’re either moving forward or sliding backwards. Standing still is not an option.

Over the past week, I’ve noticed that national, family law firm Cordell & Cordell has launched a new television campaign. Here’s a link to the commercial in the Louisville market (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMNClTsNDfo). If you search YouTube for their firm, you’ll see that they launched their 3^rd YouTube channel approximately 1 week ago. They already have 2 other channels with a ton of videos.

What I found interesting is that their new channel has state-specific “bundles” that appear to be the same videos, simply formatted for the individual states. This is actually an interesting way to rapidly deploy a uniform, marketing campaign. For those of you in Kentucky personal injury, I’d expect Morgan & Morgan to do something similar.

I point this out for several reasons. First and foremost, we’re about to begin the 4^th quarter of the year. If your caseload is down, it’s time to investigate your competition to see if they’ve quietly changed a tactic or implemented new tools to gain market share. Remember the leaky pipe that slowly, quietly does a ton of damage? If you’re not tracking your local competitors, you might miss some tools you could incorporate into your own strategy and combat the competitive attack.

Second, you don’t have to re-invent the wheel. In the case of Cordell & Cordell’s videos, take a look at the ones that seem to have a lot of views. Could you update your videos and/or on-page content to address a similar topic? Put your unique perspective to work and launch some new content. Again, standing still is not an option. You may already be leaking clients, as well as revenue.

Third, remember to cluster or group your content assets. Just having a single page of content on a topic may not be enough. There are always related topics that can be addressed. This is even more important if the topic is a highly competitive area of law. You and your prospective clients may be thinking about the same type of case, but they may use different terms or be focused on a sub-topic issue. By creating content clusters (both in text-based and video-based content), you’ll have a better chance of appearing relevant to the search engines (e.g. Google) and your clients. Oh, and don’t forget to create several internal page links so the content creates a web of informaton.

If your house has a leaky pipe, the sooner you do something about it the better off you’ll be. If your firm is leaking clients and revenue because of a competitor’s new tactic, it could cost you much more.

For more free information and tips to help grow your practice, subscribe to my firm’s Facebook page. If you’re ready to change your marketing tactics, let’s assess your competitive environment and begin implementing a plan to grow your firm’s business. My phone number is (502) 208-9639.

Law Firms Gain a Competitive Advantage by Video Marketing for Rural-Area Clients

This is the article I contributed to the Louisville Bar Association’s May 2015 edition of Bar Briefs.  It provides insights into a counter-intuitive approach to law firm marketing, especially for rural areas.

Sometimes, it’s not what you say, but rather how you say it that’s important. If you’re marketing to a rural area, you should take that a step further. Based on your target audience, you may want to consider how that message is delivered, literally.

Many Louisville-area law firms engage in efforts to market to the surrounding counties. Some are cultivating a statewide approach to generating incremental business. There’s enough data to prove that it’s time some of these firms begin taking a counter-intuitive approach to marketing.

If you do any level of Internet marketing (e.g. website, blog, etc.) it’s time to think about how you provide content, especially if your intent is to reach a broader audience. It’s time to reconsider online video. It’s no longer an expensive attribute or upgrade to your website. Based on the statistics, it may be your best medium.

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