Last week I came up with an idea for a small firm’s ad. Small firms have a disadvantage in that the larger firms are much more likely to have name recognition. So when a small firm is going to place a print ad in a publication, they are faced with an additional challenge. They need to answer this question:

Why should you choose us, a small and unfamiliar firm, over a mega-firm that you’ve heard of?

To answer that, small firms need to emphasize the advantages of a small law firm. Maybe they want to show that being small and focused can result in close interaction with the client. They could play up the “relationship angle”.

Conversely, a small firm could show the disadvantages of a larger firm. Either way, if a small firm can show reasons why a client should ignore the larger, better known firms, they’re doing something right.

Back to my ad idea. Explaining why I had a gorilla mask in my office is another story entirely, so I won’t get into that here. This is very rough, but I do like the idea:

Now, I am not delusional enough to believe that small firms would run an ad like this. It’s a little bit (okay a lot) too “out there” for most law firms. But I think the point is valid: just getting your name out there is not enough for small firms. You can’t just say why clients should come to you; you also need to address why clients should not go to the big guys.

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In marketing, stating the obvious can often be beneficial. Sometimes we take facts for granted, and in doing so, lose perspective.

With that said, let me ask a question: What makes legal marketing different from, say, soft drink marketing?

1. Impulse Purchase
When you’re walking down the aisle in the grocery store and see soda, you can easily grab a 2 Liter bottle without even thinking about it. You might not even be thirsty but you realize (at an almost subconscious level) that at some point, you will be. The need for soda is not an immediate one, but since it can be conveniently stored in the refrigerator, the purchase is a no-brainer.

Obviously, this is not the case for legal services. No one thinks “maybe I’ll need to retain an attorney eventually, so I think I’ll look for one now.” Well, almost no one.

2. Tangibility
When you buy your favorite cola, you can see, hold, and taste the product. It’s concrete. You know exactly what you’ve purchased. You can feel the item you’ve spent your money on.

Legal services cannot be touched, making it very difficult to judge value.

3. Ease of Transaction
When you’re looking to buy soda, you know exactly where you can get it. It’s available nearly everywhere. There are soda machines nearly everywhere you look. Every gas station, convenience store, supermarket, office, arena and movie theater has soda. In the vast majority of instances, you can purchase a soda in less than two minutes.

But when you know you need to retain an attorney, where do you go? You first need to identify attorneys that can do the work you need. Then you have to evaluate the attorneys to choose the one you’ll use. Finally you have to contact them. Do you call? Email? Most likely you won’t have purchased the services of an attorney on the same day you decided you needed one.

4. Referral
It’s easy to recommend a brand of soda to someone. Honestly, you don’t even need to say a word. Just take a sip and look like you’re enjoying it, and you’ve given your approval to anyone in eyesight. If it’s a new brand and it’s enjoyable, people will often say “Wow. This is good. Try this.”

But unlike thirst, the need for legal service referrals are rare. Sure, when you’ve used an attorney and a friend is in the same situation, it’s likely that you’ll recommend your attorney. But how often does that happen?

5. Price
You know exactly how much a can of soda costs. You can afford it. You’ve probably got enough change in your pocket right now.
But how much will it cost for your divorce? Even after talking with an attorney you probably don’t know. And is it worth it?

6. Reason for Purchase
This is the big one.
When you are going to buy a soda, it’s a stress-free purchase. Either you’re thirsty, or you’re planning for the future, knowing you’re going to be.
When you need an attorney, it’s because you have a problem. You’re facing something that you cannot take care of by yourself. You’re stressed. Choosing the right attorney can be the difference between relief and absolute disaster.

So what’s my point?
Again, everything I’ve said is absolutely obvious. There’s nothing groundbreaking here. I’ve made no new discoveries. Soda is not legal services.

So, is your approach to marketing leveraging these important differences? Or are you closer to marketing a cola?

Which sounds more familiar:

1. When advertising, my firm:
a) Tries to get our name in front of as many eyes as possible
b) Carefully targets our potential clients

2. We see our clients as:
a) People that buy our services
b) Relationships that are ongoing

I’m not saying one is better than the other. They’re just different.

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This post really isn’t related to legal marketing. But I think the overarching message still can be applied.

Bank of America announced yesterday that it will give $3,000 to their employees that buy hybrid vehicles. The program covers about 20,000 employees who live in or near LA, Boston, and Charlotte, three cities where the bank has the top share of deposits.

And the free publicity has been amazing.

The Boston Metro, a free daily newspaper is running the story on page 3, with nearly a full page dedicated to the news. In it, the Metro quotes Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, who said:

So what they’ve done is make an enormous statement. This is going to have Detroit listening. The whole nation is going to be listening.

So, let’s look at this as a marketing move. I don’t mean to sound cynical, and I’m not saying that Bank of America is offering the $3,000 purely as a marketing stunt. Their motivation isn’t my point.

There are 21,000 workers eligible for the cash. Let’s just say that 10% are going to take BofA up on their offer (yes, I realize that’s not going to happen, but let’s just pretend). So, doing the quick math, that’s 2,100 employees at $3,000 each. The total expense to the bank: $6,300,000.

Now, I understand that six million dollars is nothing to sneeze at. But for a huge, national bank, that is a small expense. In 2002, the bank spent about $160 Million on advertising. I can’t find a current number, but I’d be willing to be that number has increased in the last 4 years.

Look at what the bank is getting for their offer:

• Nationwide Newspaper Coverage: I’ve seen the Boston Globe, Metro, and the Boston Herald, all of which are covering this story. Other papers throughout the country, like the NY Times, are running it as well.
• TV News Coverage: I actually saw this story before the al-Zarqawi story when I got up this morning.
• Government Endorsement: Politicians like the Massachusetts Governer are eager to attach their names to a story like this.
• Goodwill: BofA now enjoys an enhanced public perception from people concerned with the enviroment.
• Employee Loyalty: Who wouldn’t like to work for a company that offers you $3,000 for buying a hybrid car? Even if you have no plan to purchase one, it would feel good to work for a company that offers new, unexpected benefits.
• Recognition as an Innovator: Being one of the first companies to offer this kind of incentive shows that BofA is innovative and willing to try new things.

Compare that to buying an ad.

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Posting will be sporadic at best this week, as I’m trying to launch a new site, while at the same time trying to find a new place to live. With that said, I had a thought this morning that really made me question some of my assumptions about legal marketing.

Many times legal marketing initiatives start from the middle. Someone decides “We should update our brochure and make it more client-focused.” Rather than starting from a problem (we want more clients), this approach already takes for granted that redoing the brochure is the correct path. It’s coming up with a solution for a problem that isn’t clearly defined.

That made me think about something very basic: why do law firms need marketing?

The most obvious answer would be: to get more clients. Right? Makes sense to me.

Why? Why do law firms want more clients?

How would you answer that? Is the answer “so we can make more money?”

So now we’re shifting problems. The problem isn’t “We need more clients.” Instead, it’s “we want more money.” Those are two very different problems.

If all you wanted was to get more clients, you could lower your rates considerably. You could offer to do some work for free. If the only goal is to get more clients, there are many ways to accomplish this. However, most firms aren’t willing to get clients at any cost. Put simply, that wouldn’t make a lot of sense.

Most firms want to make more money.

So what’s my point here?

Many law firms see marketing as an “activity” that needs to be done. But they don’t “do it” with the ultimate goal in mind. How is a brochure going to make a law firm more money? It’s not. It might help someone that is on the fence become more aware of the firm, and because of that, they might eventually become a client. But, you see, the brochure isn’t helping the “we want to make more money” problem. Rather, it’s a good way to attack the “We have some people that could potentially be clients, but they really don’t know much about what they do, and if we can just give them a glossy bunch of text and pictures, they might eventually become clients, but right now we don’t have that” problem.

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I’m back in Boston and have finally recovered from the long week in Montreal at the ALA conference. I’ve organized my notes from the event, and here’s the latest installment.

During the “Ask the Marketing Experts” panel, attendees were encouraged to move from table to table to discuss different marketing topics with the experts (hence the name). But since Larry Bodine was covering Blogs, Web Sites, and Other Technology, I stayed in one place for the entire session.

Here’s how I’m going to present this. I’ll first show the question, followed by Mr. Bodine’s response (beginning with LB:). I’m in no way quoting him verbatim. I’m just going from my notes and expanding upon them. I’ll then add my own notes. So here goes.

Subject 1: Blogs

Q: Why do a blog?

LB:To get clients. Using a blog, individual attorneys are now getting higher rankings than their firms. Since blogs are updated more frequently than regular web sites, search engines are giving them higher rankings. In addition, having a blog on a practice area makes the attorney an expert in their area.

LawFirmBlogging:I think that the higher ranking point is a great one. When you step back, the goal of every marketing effort is to attract clients. With that in mind, we have to ask: How are clients going to find us? Well, one way is through search engines.
I think we need to think of blogs as a completely different animal than law firm web sites. They come in at a different time in the selection process for clients, and that’s a very important difference. Here’s how I like to think of it:

• Step One: I have a problem- In this step, the potential client realizes that he or she has a situation that could require legal help.
• Step Two: Learn more about the problem- Here, they go out to the web to research the issue. And most likely, they’ll go to Google and enter a search term.
• Step Three: Seek advice- In this step, it’s time to find an attorney that can help with the problem.

Where law firm web sites can come into play at step three, blogs can come in at step two. Blogs are seen as an information source; web sites are seen as an advertisement for services. This is an important distinction. If you can get your content in front of the potential client at this step, it is an ENORMOUS advantage.

Q: Is a blog really a good marketing tool?

LB: Yes, if you update it frequently. There’s a blog out there called Patently O, maintained by Dennis Crouch. I talked to him, and found out that he gets over 10,000 visitors per week, and has brought in Fortune 1000 clients and lots of patent work. If you’re able to find a specific niche, add current events and court opinions, you can stay up-to-date. Then a blog can be a great marketing tool.

LawFirmBlogging: I agree with Mr. Bodine here. Yes, blogs can be great for your marketing. But I think you have to do it right. If you’ve got a specific topic and there are few experts already blogging on the subject, that’s a great opportunity.
I also think you need to look at what you’re hoping to accomplish. If your goal is to set yourself up as an expert on your subject, blogging is the best. If your goal is to attract clients directly from your blog, it can be done, but it takes work.

Q: Doesn’t it take a lot of time to manage a blog? Do you need to update it daily?

LB: No. You can do mulitple posts in one day and post date them. In theory, you could do a week’s worth of blogging in an hour, by post dating your entries. For law firms, I think the best way to maintain a blog is to have a blog on a practice area with multiple authors.

As for frequency of posting, no, you don’t have to blog daily. I think posting 2-3 times per week is fine for a practice area blog.

LawFirmBlogging: I think it all depends on the amount of dedication you are willing to give to your blog. I know some legal bloggers that literally spend 2-3 hours each day on their blog, and I know some that put up a post or two a month. Sure, the more you update, the better chance you’ll get a higher ranking, but I think you should focus on quality rather than quantity. I think you should blog as often as you’re comfortable with. Yes, this is a marketing effort, but you really should do it because you’re having fun with it.

Q: Won’t having a blog take away from my site’s content?

LB: No. The best thing to do is to write a short summary on the blog, and link to your firm’s content.

LawFirmBlogging: Agreed. I think you have to think of your blog as a separate venue for your ideas. It’s not a zero-sum game; people aren’t going to say “I’ve got this problem, and there are only two places to go: the firm’s site and this blog. I can only go to one or the other.”

Subject 2: Web Sites

Q: Do you have to ask clients’ permission to list their name on the web site?

LB: I think it’s a good thing to do it. Just shoot them an email and ask. It’s worth it.

LawFirmBlogging: I think the best way to do this is at the beginning of the relationship. I’d adivse firms to have this as an item on their client intake form. That way, you know from the beginning whether or not the client objects to being listen on your site.
In addition (at least for smaller clients), clients love this. It’s a plug for their site, and it shows that you care about them. It shows the client how much you value them, so much so that you’re willing to use them as an example.

Q: How do you convert site visitors into clients?

LB: The best way is to have some kind of interaction on the site. You should have an eNewsletter, or some way to collect information. If you’re able to get a name and phone number, that’s a great way to 1) know who’s visiting your site and 2) you can pick up the phone and ask the subcriber out to lunch.

LawFirmBlogging: Nothing to add here. Opt-in is a great way to get information about the human beings that are visiting your site. Your stats can give you numbers, but opt-in can give you more.

Q: How do you measure new business from the internet?

LB: You have to ask. Ask how they hear about you. Lots of time, they’ll say “well, I know the partner x.” But now and then they’ll say they looked you up on the internet. I do know for a fact that general counsel will come up with a short list. Then they’ll look at your web site. If you have a bad one, you just lost their business. If you have a good one, you stay on the list.

LawFirmBlogging: In addition to having web site/ blog as an item on your client intake form and an opt-in, there are a few tricks that you can use. First, I’d suggest using a different contact email address on your web site. That way, you can know that the person emailing you got your contact info directly from the web site. If you’re fortunate enough to have several phone lines, you could have a separate phone number on the web site as well.

Subject3: Extranets

Q: Are extranets picking up?

LB: Yes, they’re really picking up. Clients want their own extranet, pass-protected to see their documents, their matter, and how much the bill is so far.

It’s huge to manage but clients love it. It’s personalized and customized just for them. I really like it. I can login and see what’s going on. It makes you feel special.

LawFirmBlogging:Sure. I think extranets are great. That’s all.

Q: We’re a small firm. I don’t know if we have the resources. Are there services that do extranets?

LB: Get something that allows you to own all your code. Don’t use a service. Make sure you own the code. You can get a database-driven website for $5000 or less. It’ll include an extranet.

LawFirmBlogging: You can definitely do this. All you need is PHP/MySQL on Apache and someone that knows how to write a little code.

Well, that’s the bulk of the notes I took during Mr. Bodine’s session. I’d like to thank him for the opportunity to present this here.

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I’ve decided to start a little creative project. I’ve decided to create some ads (just for fun) on my “resume blog.” Here are the first two:

If you’ve got any requests, I’d be happy to oblige. This stuff is fun.

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