Network Affiliates

If you are putting all of your marketing budget and energy into bringing in new clients you are missing out on your most effective audience – your existing clients. They know you, they like you, and they know that you get results for them. That doesn’t mean they are always thinking about you, though. You need to stay fresh on their minds. You do not have to convince them of anything, just remind them that you are there and let them know about services you offer that they may not be aware of or remember.

Network Affiliates’ creative services can help you stay in touch with your clients with a variety of client communication tools so you can mix it up and keep their attention.

Oversized post cards let you say more to your clients, but still get their attention because the message is right there in front of them without having to open anything. They are brief and to the point and lead your client to your website to learn more. They can be used for announcements or they can be educational.

Custom law firm brochures remind your clients of who you are and what you do. They are in line with your firm’s branding so it is not just another brochure that goes straight from the mailbox to the trash can. They will go into your client’s files for quick reference, much like a takeout menu.

Firm video brochures combine the best aspects of direct mail and television advertising. They have the power that only video can deliver and you know unquestionably that they are reaching your target audience. Your client will know that you made a special effort to deliver this important information to them.

Mail inserts are an inexpensive, but effective way to let your clients know about services you offer that they have not yet taken advantage of.

Greeting cards remind them that you are human. You are thoughtful and courteous and you really do take the time to remember them.

Contact the law firm marketing specialists at Network Affiliates today to learn more about effective client communication strategies for law firms.

To be effective your press release must first get published and second it must get your readers’ attention.

In order to get your press release published you must strictly follow submission guidelines. Contact every media outlet you plan to send your press release to for the most current guidelines, including the format in which they prefer to receive it as this may change over time.

Before you begin, you need to think about some questions yourself. Should you be writing a press release at all? Is it news? Why will people want to read about this? Is this useful information? Why and how will it prompt readers to take action (call you)? The answers to these questions should guide your writing. Remember this is news, not an advertisement (even though it really is marketing).

Be timely. Is this relevant today? Does it relate to current events? It doesn’t necessarily have to, but you need to think about why this is news today. It could be as simple as announcing your own event or accomplishment. If you are announcing an accomplishment, ask yourself why anyone should care. Does it do anything for or mean anything to your readers or are you just tooting your own horn?

Your opening will make or break the press release. You must get your readers’ attention with the headline and in the first sentence, so these should get the most of your attention when writing your final draft. Make your point in the first paragraph. Make it an overview that lets them know why they should read on. Save the details for later.

Don’t get fluffy, and leave out the exclamation points. Avoid flowery language, and excessive adjectives, but do use strong adjectives where appropriate. Your press release does not need to be long; it needs to be powerful. If you find yourself padding with unnecessary words for length, maybe you don’t really have anything to say.

Do include the pertinent details – who, what, when, where, and why. You are trying to motivate your readers to take some kind of action, so don’t leave them hanging. Do not assume that they will be so impressed that they will do their own research. Give them the information they need.

Include every contact option you can, and double or triple check to make such it is accurate with no typos. An incredible press release with one wrong digit in the phone number or a typo in your email address may as well not exist. Again, do not expect your audience to be so motivated that they will look up the right phone number if the one you provide does not work for them.

For more tips on writing an effective press release, please contact Network Affiliates today.

When your marketing works potential clients are motivated to pick up the phone. They should be encouraged to call 24/7 so that they do it now while it’s fresh on their mind instead of forgetting or putting it on that never-completed to-do list. If you do not capture and respond to the call, it may as well have never been placed.

Existing clients are more likely to contact you during normal hours of operation, but sometimes they will call as soon as something comes up, from the scene of an accident in the middle of the night, for instance. If you do not respond, those clients will seek help elsewhere.

What goes wrong in call capturing?

First of all, some callers will not leave you a voice mail. Sometimes, voicemail systems fail to record or save the message, but don’t expect your callers to think of that when they never hear back from you, and if you say you didn’t get the message they will think it’s due to incompetence somewhere within your firm or that you are lying.

You have a few options to improve your call capturing.

A live answering service will prompt callers who avoid voicemail to leave a message. Make sure you use a service that will record the numbers of any callers who refuse to leave a message so you can get back with them.

If you are willing to take the calls yourself, you can forward your calls to your cell phone or home phone. If you forward to your home phone make sure that you answer in a professional manner and that anyone in your household who answers the phone is instructed to do the same. This is not a good option for capturing nighttime calls, but it can work well when you must be out of the office during business hours and if you want to take calls personally on the weekends.

At the very least, use caller ID. Check it every morning, or have your assistant check it. Write down every number and check that against your voicemail messages. Make returning calls your first order of business every day. If you can’t do it yourself, assign the task to someone who can at least call and say that the message was received and you will be getting back to them personally this morning or by the end of the day. Make sure you do it. If possible have the person who calls back ask for more information so you can prepare for the call.

Of course, your callers should never, ever get a busy signal. Double up on capturing calls that come in while the line is tied up by forwarding to voicemail and using call waiting ID. Every time you get off the phone, check your voicemail and the caller ID to make sure that you did not miss an important call.

Word of mouth advertising is very powerful, but hard to obtain. It’s hard to create because the advertising must come unsolicited from the consumer. In the past, creating positive word of mouth took tons of time, energy and resources. With the advent of the Internet, however, generating positive word of mouth has become much easier to capture.

An area of the Internet that is growing rapidly is the realm of social media. Within the social media world, there’s a website called Yelp which can help your law firm generate more positive word of mouth. Yelp is a review website where people post reviews about local businesses. These reviews come from the unfiltered minds of your clients.

So now I bet you’re asking, how do these reviews benefit my law firm? It’s really quite simple. People often times take to the Internet to search for a lawyer. If you search for a law firm with a local term, like Denver Personal Injury Lawyer, a map will pop up above the organic search results. In these listings are reviews from websites like Yelp. The more reviews your firm has, the more relevant your listing becomes in the eyes of Google. And if these reviews are positive, those results become more valuable to your potential clients. Unbiased opinions from peers can sometimes be the most powerful endorsements you can receive as a lawyer.

Here is an example of a Yelp page from a lawyer in San Francisco that is getting high marks on Yelp. After reading reviews like that, wouldn’t you want to hire that lawyer if you had some sort of immigration issue to handle?

One thing to keep in mind is that Yelp is not the only website which allows users to post reviews. Google Local allows you to post reviews as well as Bing Local. Those results will go straight to the search engines, which is beneficial to your search engine rankings. Here some other notable examples of review websites:

Citysearch
Insider Pages
Yahoo Local

On top of empowering your clients to post reviews in these spaces, you should also pay attention to what people are saying about your firm on these websites. Spotting a negative review and responding to it could mean the difference between getting a case and not even having a chance at getting a case. Managing your online reputation is important and these websites will help you leverage your positive reputation.

If you have any questions about Yelp or Internet marketing in general, please contact us.

Effective marketing involves more than running a television ad or throwing up a quick website. To bring in new clients and keep your old clients coming back, and to make the most of your marketing dollars, you need a comprehensive marketing strategy.

What does a comprehensive law firm marketing strategy include?

This will vary somewhat depending on what is appropriate for your firm and in keeping with your branding and budget, but there are some basic components that, when used together, work for most firms.

Television ads are still a crucial part of marketing. The key is to have ads that stand out from the competition and a media buy that will put you in front of the right audience.

Direct mail is one of your most cost effective options. It is a great way to keep in touch with your existing clients, staying fresh on their minds and getting referrals. It is another oldie but goodie that should not be pushed aside. Bottom line? Direct mail marketing works.

You absolutely must have a law firm website. It needs to be more than just an online business card. You need informative and interesting content so that potential clients feel that they are already receiving value from you before they even pick up the phone. It lets them know that you know your business and what you can do for them.

These basics are just the beginning and the core of your comprehensive law firm marketing strategy. Timely press releases, choosing the right type of ads, deciding when, how often, and in what way to use direct mail campaigns, and so much more go into developing your marketing strategy.

It may sound overwhelming, but we will help you the way you help your clients deal with difficult situations. Please, contact us today to find out how we do it.

Remember Stella Liebeck? The lady that had the audacity to sue McDonalds for serving coffee that was so hot she had to have skin grafting? Watch the trailer of this movie currently in production....www.hotcoffeethemovie.com/trailer

Strategic marketing is a long-term approach to your marketing plan that makes for more effective and streamlined marketing. It allows you to stay current without having to constantly scramble to get in on today’s hot topics. It means less time and attention spent on marketing for you, and never having to make radical changes midstream.

Strategic marketing also helps you get the most out of your marketing budget, making the best use of every penny. It allows you to buy when prices are their best and avoid expensive marketing emergencies.

Strategic marketing consulting helps you develop your strategic marketing plan. Developing your brand or evaluating and fine tuning your existing brand is an important part of the process, but there is so much more.

We identify your marketing goals. Developing a database marketing strategy is crucial. Generating business from existing clients and referrals is less expensive, more rewarding, and should be included in the plan.

We identify your target audience and how to reach them. That may not be who you think it is.

We also look at what your competition is doing and what we can do to give you the edge. You do not want to follow the same path as they are. You want to stand out, and your marketing needs to work in such a way that it is not just directly vying against another firm.

We look at trends to anticipate changes in your potential clients’ needs and interests. Strategic marketing is about anticipating what the hot topics will be six months from now and planning for them. It also means planning for flexibility, being in a position to respond quickly to changes without changing your entire plan midstream.

With over 25 years of attorney marketing experience, Network Affiliates provides strategic marketing consulting that really works. Contact us today to learn more.