The official name for the conference was The Super Marketing Conference III: Accelerate Your Marketing and took place on May 16, 2013.

Yesterday I attended a great local law marketing conference at Suffolk University. Interestingly, just like at the Legal Marketing Association conference in Las Vegas recently, this conference was jam-packed with information on how to do content marketing. I found it interesting that there was very little talk of paid search advertising. As I have stated, we have seen a tremendous amount of leads come from paid search for law firms, but at the same time, there is nothing like free love from Google and social media sites.

The conference kicked off with a fantastic keynote by Mark Britton of AVVO. I could’ve left after his talk and been satisfied with the conference.

This is what Mark said in a nutshell:

10 Opportunities Lawyers Miss in Online Marketing

#1 You are not strategic enough.

You need to identify your target audience, time you will put in, budget, and what channels you will use, and create a marketing calendar. You can’t afford to blame your haphazard marketing on being too busy and focusing on billable hours.

#2 You’re losing clients to Legal Zoom and Rocket Lawyer.

They are eating lawyers’ lunch in the entry-level market, did $156 million last year, would be 163 on Am Law, and do hundreds of thousands of transactions. Their sales pitch also plays on making you look bad by calling you arrogant and expensive.

#3 Capture leads through inbound marketing and upsell them.

You need to engage in conversations as a real person, identify freebies like e-books, blog posts, and webinars/speaking engagements, and insert your content into the online conversation.

While you certainly don’t need to put prices up for everything you do, adding some limited pricing for some of the more basic needs can help you close deals with customers surfing for a lawyer online. An example is how Cavanaugh Law put pricing on their immigration attorney fees page:

Picture taken from here.

Once you close a deal from a customer online, you can start to upsell them. This is made easier if you use a CRM system like Salesforce or Avvo Ignite because you have the complete customer information, in addition to their lead source and their customer purchase history, and the ability to set reminders to follow up with them in one database.

#4 Leveraging ratings, ranks, and reviews.

Be aware of the many channels by which you get reviewed and take action. Mark says, “Don’t be shy about asking for reviews.”

Law Firm Ratings:

Avvo (Huge), Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, Martindale (Struggling)

Law Firm Rankings:

Washington Top Lawyers, Top Business Lawyers, South Jersey Lawyer list, etc.

Law Firm Reviews:

Google, Bing, Yelp, Lawyer Ratings

Mark said that a lot of lawyers are hoping this trend will pass of being rated and reviewed, but it won’t. Google yourself to see what people are saying about you and set up Google alerts on your brand name. Engage with reviewers to say thank you for positive reviews and/or ask for an offline conversation to show them that you care enough to talk with them about any issue they might have had. Apologizing and offering to help can turn negative reviews into an opportunity to win customers over, so don’t be scared of them. It’s also important to have some negative reviews because if they are all positive, it looks sketchy.

Pick a platform that you are going to send people to from your website – could be your Avvo, Yelp, or Google review list – and be proud to send people there.

In a search for your firm name, it’s almost impossible to not be connected to reviews, as can be seen by a search for Breakstone, White & Gluck (lots of positive stuff – nice work, BWG).

#5 Optimizing websites.

Nine out of 10 times your website is your core web presence (CWP). Therefore it is essential that you do at least the basics of search engine optimization to it, including making more pages for practice areas and blogging, etc. Also optimize for conversions. There are too many boring law firm websites with boring grays, blacks, and browns, and no clear call to action or information about what they do. Your number-one call to action should be how to contact you. And absolutely optimize for mobile using responsive design, as more people will be viewing websites on tablets and mobile phones than on desktops in the very near future.

#6 Optimize your “satellites” for conversion as well.

Your social media profiles, microsites, and other parts of your web presence outside of your main website should also be optimized for conversion. People often complain that they’ve never gotten a sale from social media, but it’s all too common that those profiles don’t have some kind of action item to go along with the free shareable content.

Below is an example of a Twitter description that includes a clear phone number and website link.

#7 Response times.

Insidesales.com in a 2012 study found that after five to 15 minutes, if you don’t respond to leads, the desire to work with you goes to nearly zero. The absolute best way to get back to people is in the first five minutes because there is a 10x decrease in the value of the lead otherwise. I have been saying for years that you should get back to people at least within one hour, but this new study gives an even greater emphasis on response time. Not that anyone can be perfect, but you have to take steps to set the bar higher because you are losing and wasting a lot of money to get web leads if you don’t pick up the pace.

#8 Local optimization.

Local optimization is absolutely critical. Google actually tried to buy Yelp but failed. Some important local sites are as follows: Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yelp, Merchant Circle, Yellow Pages, White Pages, Super Media, and Yellow Book. Pay to get in when necessary.

• Make sure your website is optimized for geographically related keywords.
• Optimize your social profiles for local as well.
• Submit to local directories.
• Make sure your website is optimized for mobile via responsive and you’ll have better luck with mobile SEO.

#9 Google+.

Too many law firms are ignoring Google+, and that’s a bad decision. While it may never take over the reign of Facebook, it is connected to your ability to rank locally and gain Google author authority. Google also biases search results for people that are logged into Google based on Google+ activity, and in the future it may go further than that. Don’t leave it to chance and get serious about Google+ for your law firm.

#10 Tracking and Measuring ROI.

Mark said that if you are not building funnels to track where your leads are coming from, which ones are converting into great sales, and using that information to improve your marketing, you will get crushed by your competition. Mark used an example of his days at Expedia and said that bookings.com started to beat Expedia in terms of analytics and it became a real problem for them. Mark says the exact same type of thing is happening in the law firm marketing space. Some law firms are excelling at tracking and reporting while others are completely lost and barely have the Google analytics tracking code installed. Make sure you are tracking not only your form submissions leads but phone leads, and ideally live chat as well.

After the keynote was a great talk on content marketing and numerous other insightful presentations during the day. I’ll do another recap soon on some of the great points about content marketing, SEO, and video, etc.

Steve Corney, senior digital marketing manager at LexisNexis International, commented: "The study shows that the legal industry is finally recognizing the role and importance of online content in lead generation, alongside traditional offline techniques. The 38% of marketing budgets allocated to online tactics now brings the legal sector slightly above the market average of 36%."*

As the table below illustrates, survey respondents across firms of all sizes do seem to be prioritizing their budget in online investment - reporting to allocate at least 3% of their marketing spend when developing a new website, and a further 1% on sourcing external support for the site once launched:

Firms that responded to the survey perceive their website to be 'very effective' (34%) in helping to build their reputation and awareness of their brand. A disparity, however, lies in the role that their websites play to help generate new work. Here respondents are seemingly more ambivalent, with more than one third (36%) feeling that their website fails to sufficiently support lead generation - though this view was more prevalent among respondents from smaller law practices and firms that had not revamped their website for more than three years. On average, all firms surveyed tended to run their websites for two to three years before considering a re-design.

A quarter of all respondents report taking a formal approach to managing content on their website, with 25% (small, medium and large firms) using a content calendar to schedule regular updates, whilst the majority (66%) have yet to put this structure in place. When asked about the most popular content on their website, lawyer biographies are the most visited pages (85% of respondents), followed by information about practice area/sector expertise (52%) and thought leadership articles, case histories, etc. (50%).

The popularity of such content helps to explain why respondents also ranked online legal directories (61% 'very' and 'somewhat' effective) as the third most effective lead generation tactic, behind their website (74%) and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO, 62%). Adding relevant content about their lawyers, market expertise and thought leadership to online directories provides firms with further SEO benefits beyond their own website and helps to surface their content to a wider online audience to help prove credibility and generate new leads.

Whilst 71% of firms do take time to track how content on their website is used, many recognise that there is room for improvement in this area. Of these firms, only 11% report extensively using the available reporting tools and data to help measure effectiveness and return on investment, whilst 43% make little or no use of the data available.

Derek Benton, director of International Operations at Martindale-Hubbell, commented: "Technology is one of the factors that is changing the competitive landscape in the legal sector. It is positive to see how firms are using relevant content on their own website and third party sites to help produce leads more cost effectively, rather than rely only on offline channels. The challenge for marketers is to use the available reporting tools to monitor engagement and continually measure and improve the impact of online content to deliver the best return on investment."

For the full report click here

By Rimma Kats

July 24, 2012

 

Nowadays, marketers are constantly looking at ways to implement mobile into their efforts to increase engagement and brand awareness. However, many times companies miss the mark by not taking the necessary precautions to ensure their campaign is executed effectively.

Mobile presents marketers with an array of opportunities. Companies who use mobile can drive in-store traffic, increase revenue and reach consumers on a deeper level.

Here are the top do’s and don’ts of mobile marketing.

Do know your customer and plan mobile accordingly. 
It is important for marketers to know who their target audience is and figure out who they are trying to reach.

“Steve Mura, director of digital marketing at MillerCoors, knew that the iPhone would raise the profile of mobile, but it would take the introduction of Android devices to satisfy his ‘guys’ – relatively young males who demand choice,” said Jeff Hasen, chief marketing officer of Hipcricket, New York.

“Steve and his teams spent more aggressively on mobile once he was confident that the Android was in the hands of his customers and a vital part of their day,” he said.

Don’t chase so-called shiny objects while neglecting the products and services in mobile that work.
Companies should stop looking at what the latest trend is and figure out what medium works best for them.

“The objectives are to sell more product, and to drive engagement and loyalty,” Mr. Hasen said. “If you spend only against the newest products, you likely will only move your business backward.”

Do keep it simple.
There is nothing worse than a busy mobile marketing campaign.

Mobile provides less real estate for companies to reach consumers. Therefore, it is important for marketers to keep their message as simple as possible.

“The smaller the screen, the simpler the marketing message should be,” said Simon Buckingham, CEO of Appitalism, New York.

Don't give the consumer too many choices.
Again, marketers must keep their campaign as simple as possible. It is important that marketers find out what their main objective is and go from there.

“Marketers should figure out what your main mobile marketing objective is and focus the campaign on achieving that target,” Mr. Buckingham said.

Do have a simple and clear call-to-action above the fold of the phone screen.  
Making sure the message is visible is key.

“This allows the customer to act quickly and effectively,” said Marci Troutman, CEO of SiteMinis, Atlanta.

Don’t direct a consumer straight to the home page of your mobile site.  
When it comes to mobile marketing, the idea is to guide the customer to an action for that specific promotion. 

“Don’t allow the mobile user to lose track of what actions they are looking for,” Ms. Troutman said. “Maintain their attention and direct them to an easy action.”

Do take the necessary time to understand how mobile would be discovered and used by your audience and what value you can deliver to them.  
Nowadays, marketers are looking at what their competitors are doing or what the latest trend is and replicating that for their own initiatives.

While it might work for some, companies need to make sure they are creating a personalized and relevant experience for users and tailoring it specifically for them.

“Contextual relevancy combined with a simple call-to-action and a great user experience is a recipe for success within mobile marketing,” said Brett Leary, vice president and director of mobile marketing at Digitas, Boston.

Don’t do mobile for mobile's sake.  
While mobile is a hot topic, marketers should not dive-in head first.

“All too often we see still mobile marketing campaigns that either haven't thought about the user and the context they would engage the brand within a campaign and/or neglected to ensure the experience is tailored for the user's mobile device,” Mr. Leary said.

“This results in the brand becoming discouraged about using mobile in future campaigns, because results weren't as expected, or worse – a mobile audience not interested in engaging your brand in future campaigns,” he said.

Do format your marketing emails for mobile. 
Email is the highest-converting referrer and one of the largest sources of traffic.

“When someone clicks on a promotion, the experience should be as seamless as possible,” said Chris Mason, cofounder/CEO of Branding Brand.

Don't send people from a QR code to a non-optimized site. 
There is nothing more frustrating than a well-thought-out campaign that lacks a proper execution.

“If they're scanning the code, they're on their phone,” Mr. Mason said. “You'd be surprised how many QR codes take people to a desktop site.”

Do leverage social. 
Mobile and social go hand-in-hand.

When the two channels are married together, they provide marketers with so many possibilities.

“Mobile campaigns can use social to amplify the message and drive word of mouth exposure,” said Carrie Seifer, vice president of sales at Millennial Media, New York.

“This is becoming a key part of many campaigns,” she said.

Don’t forget about the customer. 
Marketers need to know who there target customer is and reach them.

"We all have mobile devices ourselves, and we know what we do and don’t want to see," Ms. Seifer said. 

"You don’t necessarily need to throw the kitchen sink into every ad," she said. "Focus instead on presenting an ad that consumers will want to see."

Do start thinking about measurement in the early stages of your campaign. 
Mobile advertising, and in particular rich media, allows marketers to tell a detailed story about their brand message's impact.

“By identifying your goals and tying them to key performance indicators in the earliest stage of campaign planning, you can more effectively gauge the success of your mobile advertising,” said Elena Perez, director of marketing at Medialets, New York.

Don't treat mobile as an add-on. 
As the medium that literally travels with users everywhere throughout the day, mobile uniquely serves as a unifying thread that ultimately drives greater value for your entire campaign.

“When you embrace mobile in the early stages of strategy, you can more effectively integrate creative elements that maximize mobile's potential and drive more impact for your broader marketing mix,” Ms. Perez said.

Do target media audiences in highly contextual, quality content.
This is the best environment for advertising in any medium.

“In this case mobile optimized content which can be found mostly on mobile optimized Web sites, but also content focused apps,” said Jim Selden, senior vice president of marketing at Crisp, New York.

Don’t repurpose Web creative or run flat lifeless banners. 
It is important that marketers utilize the unique features and functionality that mobile offer.

“Generally through the use of rich media designed specifically for mobile, to vastly improve metrics based on your advertising objectives,” Mr. Selden said.

Right now, there is a tremendous opportunity to change advertising for the better, whether on mobile or through other digital channels. 

"The opportunity is to toss out the rulebook as we know it and think about the user and the experience first," said Michael Burke, cofounder/president of adtivity at appssavvy.

"What are they doing? When would be the best time to deliver a message and at that time will the user be open to receiving it? In mobile, the channel presents an opportunity that can’t be ignored and that is when the user is most engaged," he said. 

Currently, mobile is headed down the same path as the online world, boxes with ads in them, primarily tiny little banners that often take up valuable real estate, are annoying or clicked by mistake. 

"We can do better as an industry and today is the day to start," Mr. Burke said. 

Do give people a way to unlock more information from traditional media using their mobile device.

Consumers are increasingly turning to their handsets to browse content. Therefore, making sure it is optimized for mobile is critical. 

"This is a fantastic way to connect with loyal or qualified customers when they are on the go and have interest," said Mike Wehrs, CEO of ScanLife.  

At this day and age, consumers expect more from their favorite brands. 

"Give them a clear path to what they want at the time - be very relevant and very focused," Mr. Wehrs said. 

Final Take
Rimma Kats is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York

Associate Editor Rimma Kats covers media, television, research and social networks. Reach her at rimma@mobilemarketer.com.

Relying on social trust is especially prevalent in the under-30 age group. Tens of thousands of searches are conducted every day on social networks for resources and reviews of products, services, and service providers.  

As we know, all things being equal, people buy from people they know, like and trust. By extension, people trust their personal networks to point them in the right direction.  

This long-time phenomenon of asking your friends and colleagues for a referral has simply gone viral and online. Social networks are quickly multiplying the number of connections a person can ask when seeking a referral to a trusted advisor.  

To capitalize on social trust, you need to be active on social networks, engaging with potential clients and referral sources. If you don’t, you’re missing out on a fantastic opportunity to cultivate referrals.