Integrity Marketing

Video Marketing Statistics Speak for Themselves

Posted by Roslyn Drotar, Personal Account Manager / Strategic Planning
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

The statistics for video marketing are powerful.  83.3% of United States internet audiences viewed online video in May of 2011 according to comScore May 2011 U.S. Online Video Rankings.  That equals 5.6 billion views in one month!  Those are big numbers!  And Reelseo.com reports streaming video ads for the Superbowl are predicted to reach the figure of $55 clicks per minute (CPM).  Verizon says they have 71 million video ads on their network of which 1% of their CPM would bring in a whopping $39,000 for one single 30 second commercial.  If that number increases to 3 Million, it will bring in $165,000 for one single half second streaming video ad.  Again, big numbers!

So what can we say about video for small business?  You can’t deny that video is becoming a more and more effective and relevant way to connect with people (aka your potential clients and referral sources).  People just naturally want to do business with people they like and watching video is second only to meeting you face to face.  You’re already bringing a warmer lead to the table if you’ve already connected with them through video.   Psst...if you’re not interested in being in video yourself, we have the perfect solution…our ETV’s.  They're educational tools to show the value of what you do.  If you don’t know how to do something, you can bet there’s a “how to” video on You Tube.  Video is a great way to educate people on what you do. 

Bottom line is that the numbers are there.  The people are out there viewing video, are you?

My KAPS Unique Process

Posted by Kyle E. Krull, Esq., President
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

Apparently, our IMS team fields one ongoing question outside the marketing arena. It goes something like this: “Okay, I know Kyle is the President of IMS and, is a full-time estate planning attorney, so what is his process for converting prospects into clients?”

Well, for those of you attending the first afternoon of The IMS Marketing Fast Track conference  in Kansas City we'll be talking about my K²APS Unique Process.

Are you fishing for perch, trout, or swordfish? Unless you know Your Right Client, then your marketing and your conversion process will be disappointing at best… or a failure at worst. I will be teaching you four (4) steps you can implement right now to Finding Your Right Client:

• Self-Evaluation (Know Thyself)
• Marketing & Branding (Let The Marketplace Know You)
• Choosing & Nurturing Referral Relationships (Pick A Date Fit For A Mate)
• Client Intake Processes (K.I.S.S.)

Once you get a steady stream of Your Right Client, then how do you consistently deliver high-touch, personal service to these clients, maintain profitability and protect your own quality of life? I will be teaching my process, to include the following principles:

• The Initial Consultation (Art Meets Science)
• Visual Aids (A Picture Is Worth….)
• Drafting & Document Execution (The Easy Part)
• Follow-Up for Referrals (How To Find & Mine Veins Of Gold)

We end with The Consultative Sales Process, because if you drop the ball when you are face-to-face with pre-qualified prospects, then all of your marketing will have been wasted. As I teach you my process, I will walk you through it, step-by-step, and explain the who, what, when, where, how, why and so what throughout.

Teaching Point: If you want to take your estate planning and/or elder law practice to the next level of marketing and prospect converting, then make plans to attend The IMS Marketing Fast Track in Kansas City.   When you do, be ready to roll up your shirtsleeves and get down to work, as every session will be one to help you have a more profitable and enjoyable practice.

Your Blog & YOU!

Posted by Kyle E. Krull, Esq., President
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

As you, our gentle readers already know, I not only am the co-founder and president of Integrity Marketing Solutions, but I also am a full-time estate planning attorney.

I start with this reminder, because my marketing lot is cast with The ESSENTIAL Solution®, available only from Integrity Marketing Solutions. In other words, I eat my own cooking.

I edit each of the blogs exclusively for members of the IMS “attorney family” to use just as they are, revise to suit and even as springboards to take the blogs in a completely different direction. The bottom line, however, is that each blog is sheetmusic that can be played as you wish.

But, Kyle, what if another competitive estate planning and/or elder law attorney in my local area joins the elite IMS attorney family? What then? Will my marketing be diminished by this competitor using the The ESSENTIAL Solution® blog, too?

I can understand and appreciate that concern. On the other hand, I choose to look at all of life through the lens of abundance rather than scarcity. In fact, I would love to enjoy and engage in conversation with you (perhaps over a nice cabernet) about how this one choice makes all the difference.

That noted, I, too, have a local “competitor” who uses The ESSENTIAL Solution®.

His name is Dan Dorsch and his office/home is exactly 5.6 miles from my office/home according to Mapquest.

Not only do Dan and I not consider one another “competitors,” but we frequently exchange ideas over the phone, email or coffee regarding what is working in our practices (and what isn’t working). Dan is a brilliant attorney and I regard him as a good friend. I wish Dan nothing but success in his practice.

Nevertheless, if you are concerned about posting identical blogs as a competitor, then here are a few tips from my experience having posted more than 350 blogs:

1. Change the Title. One of the easiest ways to distinguish your blog post from another is to come up with a different title. I edit the five (5) weekly blogs on Thursdays for Jennifer to distribute to our IMS family on Fridays and then return to them over a cup of coffee on Saturday mornings to re-edit just a tad.
2. Change the Lead Sentence or Even the Lead Paragraph. After the title, the reader will quickly skim the opening “hook” in the blog to see if it may be worth reading. This is an easy way to tweak your blog by rewording or refocusing the content.
3.  Upload Photographs. Face it, we are a visual culture. Post photos of you, your family, or hobbies to put a little warmth and human touch to your blog posts. Don’t overdue it, however.
4. Shuffle the Blog Posting Schedule. You are not stuck with posting the five (5) blogs in the order received from Jennifer on Friday. Go ahead and “shuffle” the order.

 As you can see, it is easy to take your blogs and make them YOU!

Teaching Point: In the end, I believe that God knows who my next client will be, as well as yours. I appreciate that not everyone shares my perspective. That’s okay. Nevertheless, I have found that this perspective has help keep my blood pressure nice and low over the years, as it has given me confidence in my present and a hope for the future independent of the economic outlook. If we can help you have a more profitable and enjoyable estate planning and/or elder law practice, then we would warmly welcome you into our IMS attorney family, too.

Video Marketing or Die?

Posted by, Roslyn Drotar, Personal  Account Manager
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

Did you hear the latest from CES 2012?  Some of the keynote speakers at this global event included Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, President and CEO of Intel, Paul Otellini and President of You Tube, Robert Kyncle.  At the event Kyncle made an audacious statement that “Very soon 90% of all web traffic will be video.”   No that’s a pretty huge number that should definitely get your marketing ears perked.

Kyncle went on further to say “…in the next 10 years 75% of all new channels will be internet channels.”  Again, huge and bold statement and one we shouldn’t ignore.  Then a week later Reuters launched their own You Tube channel dedicated towards global news (http://www.youtube.com/user/ReutersTV).

And there is more news buzzing around video and its powerful punch.  Google has recently increased the size of video thumbnails by 45%!   And did you know that Facebook now offers custom Facebook tabs just for video marketers to edit and manage fan pages?   

So let’s talk a little about your marketing plan and ask not IF you see video in it, but WHEN you see incorporating video into it.  Because the way we see it, if you don't you’re taking a risk.  FACT:  this is a part of the industry that is exploding.  We now have words like “social video” and recent reports that people are watching videos 30% longer when they view them on their tablets. 

So we at IMS want you to be aware of the impact that video is having and to let  you know that when you’re ready for video we can help.  We know that it works!  So make sure you've got it in your plan, as a goal for your company.  Of course, you can call us anytime you’re ready for "scene one, take one, action!   And just in case you haven’t heard, if you’re not ready to be a star in front of the camera, you can always order our ETV’s that will give you just as much traction and rankings on Google.

Integrated Marketing – The Guinea Pig’s Perspective

Posted by Kyle E. Krull, Esq., President
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

Does practicing estate planning and/or elder law consume much of your working hours? How about your “non-working” hours, you know, the ones before 8 a.m. and after 5 p.m.? I thought so.

Our chosen field of law practice is more than a jealous mistress.

How is your marketing working for you? You know, the stuff you do to make sure the appointment book stays full. Oh, it isn’t.

Would you like to fill that white space on your appointment calendar with folks who are prequalified and motivated to work with you? What if I said you could turn that around with an investment of about an one hour per week? There, I’ve got your attention.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Kyle “the Guinea Pig” Krull, grand tester of every component of The Essential Solution®, available only from Integrity Marketing Solutions.

In addition to being the president and co-founder of Integrity Marketing, I am an estate planning attorney just like you. I spend roughly an hour on my law firm marketing, aside from my “personal marketing” at chamber of commerce and other networking events. (I enjoy that social time away from my office/home and, therefore, really don’t regard it as “work.”) That marketing hour consists of “re-editing” and then posting the blogs I edit for our attorney subscribers to The Essential Solution®. That’s it. One hour.

What about the rest of my marketing? Well, the “system” runs itself and, like a firestorm, feeds off itself with the “oxygen” I provide it in the form of new prospects, new referral sources and new satisfied clients. I provide this “oxygen” out of habit, so it is simply part of our “protocol.”

Here’s how I create that “oxygen” for the firestorm.

1. I order 254 hardcopy newsletters per month, mailing on average 155 per month to my top clients and referral sources through our turnkey mailing service. I use the rest as handout material for initial meetings with prospects and new referral source, as well as at speaking engagements.
2. In keeping with the ethics guidelines, I added every new prospect, client and referral source to my e-newsletter. Currently, my e-newsletter distribution list is 1,891, with a “bounce” rate of below 1 percent. That’s a clean and current list!
3. I blog every weekday, without fail. As I type this, I have post 371 blog entries.

The “fire” that burns the “oxygen” is my website: www.kylekrull.com. Thanks to our web design, development and maintenance team at Integrity Marketing, my website is state-of-the-art by any measure. Visit for yourself and see how this polished, professional website is content rich, leverages video, is mobile user friendly (note the “QR Code” on the welcome page), and, at nearly every turn, encourages the visitor to take engage and take action.

There you have it. One hour. Aside from my blogging, the rest of the marketing system can be as automatic as you like.

However, you will need to invest in your marketing… and that means “dollars” in terms of your marketing budget and upfront “time” in terms of collaborating with our marketing team while they get everything created and working for you.

So, when would you like to start filling those white spaces on your calendar?

Teaching Point: Borrowing from an old proverb, the best time to have begun seriously marketing your practice was the day it opened. [But they didn’t teach us that in law school, right?] However, the second best time is right now. If you want a turnkey marketing system that will help you not only survive, but thrive, in the current economic climate, then you need to check out The Essential Solution®.

Five Reasons to Attend Our Spring Workshop (and make 2012 your best year ever)!

Posted by Roslyn Drotar, Personal Account Manager / Strategic Planning
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

 I would absolutely love to see all our Essentials Solutions clients in Kansas City in March.  It’s going to be three powerful days of conversations revolving around marketing your practice.  If you haven’t signed up yet, below are five reasons to register today:

1. Learn all about converting your prospects into clients at a higher fee.  You’ll find out how to increase you’re closing ratio and how to engage with your prospects using a no-high-pressure-sales approach.  Kyle Krull will personally explain how to get the check without “selling.”  If you have ever had the opportunity to listen to Kyle speak, you know it’s a special treat!  His insight will be just what you need to make 2012 your best year ever!
2.  See what’s working and how your marketing performance checks out in comparison using benchmarks to help you quantify where you are.  Find out what’s working and what’s not working in the everyday estate planning practice.   The information learned in this session is bound to give you the push you need to make 2012 your best year ever!
3. Find out how to make money with Facebook, Twitter, Google + and You Tube.  You CAN make money; come learn how.  Focusing in on your social media will inevitably help you to make 2012 you best year ever!
4. Collaboration with colleagues is powerful!  Come meet with your peers and the IMS team.  We love talking with you and learning about your practice, but nothing compares to talking one-on-one and meeting face-to-face.  Conversations you have with your colleagues provides powerful insight.  Meet with the IMS team and your colleagues to make 2012 your best year ever!
5. Take time away from your practice and focus 100% of your time for three whole workdays on your marketing.  Intentional time spent just on your marketing will give you traction and make a difference in your bottom line in 2012 (and will help to make it your best year ever).

Sign up at http://www.estateplanningpartners.com/FastTrack  and join us March 14-16 for some powerful marketing insight.   Did I mention that this is just what you need to make 2012 your best year ever?

Your Perfect Blend of Blog Content

Posted by Roslyn Drotar, Personal Account Manager / Strategic Planning
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

When it comes to your blog content there are so many complexities that we use to blend it and make it work for your Google ranking.   If fact, feel free to call us your blog content sommelier!  We’re trained and knowledgeable professionals that specialize in matching your content with your law practice.  Much like your sommelier matches your wine with your food. 

There are many factors we consider when coming up with the perfect blend.  We put thought into the text and the links contained within the text to help manipulate and increase your rankings.   When it comes to your links, it’s not necessarily that they are there and that the more you have the better your ranking.  Those links are more than that.  They can’t just lead anywhere.  It's anchor text that sends a very strong signal to the search engines but it needs to be precise wording and that’s more challenging than it appears.  For you to benefit from it, it must be “natural.”  Having natural links in your content is difficult and important to your search engine optimization.  They should also come from different domains as well as be diverse for the best benefit.  And did you know that link placement also is taken into consideration by Google and Bing?

All the text contained within your blog content is strategically placed as well.  The search engines are crawling along, evaluating your text as to whether its rank-worthy or not. 

So you're ranking well because of the variables and dynamic content.  So it’s not just that you're posting, but it’s also WHAT you're posting.  This content is also right in line with your branding and relevant to your practice area.  It’s why we constantly check in and bring it to your attention in your marketing reports.  We look at your blog and social media.

So much like a sommelier chooses the perfectly blended wine for your meal, Integrity Marketing Solutions chooses the perfectly blended blog content for your law practice!        

 

IMS Meets Simba Yellow Pages

Posted by Jennifer Campbell Goddard, CEO
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

By now, you may have heard the buzz that Integrity Marketing has acquired the market research firm, Simba Yellow Pages. If you have not been active in the yellow pages publishing industry, you may never have heard of Simba … but suffice to say that Simba has been setting the gold-standard in reliable market research and analysis for the past 25 years. Over the past several years, their focus has necessarily expanded beyond phone book publishing to embrace the local search industry. If you think about it a minute, your yellow page phone book was the first “search engine,” specializing in providing local results!

The new division will be called IMS Local Search Authority, with Dave Goddard, Simba’s editor and lead analyst, joining our team as “the voice of authority in the local search market.”

Why did we do it?

Why did IMS decide to purchase Simba Yellow Pages? In a nut shell, it just made sense. I literally ran into Dave Goddard in October 2008, when the two of us were running the Hartford Marathon. With more than 8,000 people in the race, it must have been kismet that we met within five minutes of the starting line … and have been running together ever since! When I first learned that Dave did market research in the yellow pages industry, I thought phone books and wondered who was still interested. But as the months and years passed, I came to realize that Dave’s specialty is really not so much about phone books, but rather local search. And local search is about bringing buyers and sellers together at the point of purchase. When that concept finally got through to my little brain, bells started ringing – ding! ding! ding! We have a winner!

IMS has always focused our internet marketing strategies on helping our clients dominate local search. It has always been our goal to attract qualified buyers (clients) and bring them together with appropriate sellers (estate planning attorneys) at the point of sale (your office).

The more I learned about Local Search, the more I realized that a market research firm would be the perfect adjunct to our core marketing business.

Last November I accompanied David to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he was a keynote speaker at a worldwide conference on local search. While we were there, the president of MarketResearch.com, Simba’s parent company, flew in from London to meet with us. Over the course of nine long (and sometimes painful) hours of negotiation, we finally struck a tentative deal for him to spin off Simba Yellow Pages and sell it to Integrity Marketing. We inked the deal on December 31^st, and are now the proud owners of a Simba Yellow Pages … which we are re-branding as IMS Local Search Authority.

What does this mean for you?

First off, don’t worry. Your IMS marketing team remains intact, with you – the estate planning / elder law attorney – and your practice as the primary focus.

It does mean, however, that we now can bring solid, reliable market research – including trend analysis and forecasts – to guide your internet and search engine marketing efforts. It means we will have instant access to the types of proprietary research that “the big boys” like Google, Bing, AT&T and Yellow Book are using to drive their strategic planning. The benefit will be huge. Your competitive advantage – as an IMS client – will be unbeatable. And it ensures IMS remains the preeminent leader providing you the most effective marketing at the best value.

Read the Press Release

Making Your Marketing A Success!

Roslyn Drotar, Personal Account Manager / Strategic Marketing
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

Are you taking time away from the daily demands of your practice and marketing?  And when you do, are you energized and excited about it?  Excited to start working on the goals and begin your action plan?  If not, here are a few fun things to do to help inspire you and keep you focused:

• Make sure you're in a place where you are comfortable and feel free to open up.  Be that your office, the local coffee shop, a day in your home office, or next to the fire with your iPad or laptop.  There is truly something psychological about your environment that does wonders for your creativity and inspiration.  So, if you're having a hard time, surround yourself with a place that inspires you.
• Give yourself permission to make adjustments, but stay focused.  It's okay to make changes as you plug along with your goals and actions.  In fact there are times when roadblocks come up and you take a difference course.  But remember to keep your vision.  Focus on the end results, and make sure you get there.  You may need to take another route, but make sure that you end up with the results you want.  It's okay to take a different course, but don't let that be an excuse for not making it to your destination.
• Share your plans with your team.  Make them public and open for others to hold you accountable.  There's also something very empowering about voicing your intentions and goals.  Build a foundation of trust in your practice, then hold each other accountable.   
• Make it simple.  Don't clutter up your plan with difficult time lines and elaborate delegation tracking plans, financial calculations, etc.  Just keep to the basics.  What (you will do), Who (will do it) and When (will it be done).  That's it.  Figure out the top five goals, assign the task at hand, who will do it and when it will get done.  Revisit and hold people accountable. 

If course, we are always here for you.  We want to help make your marketing a success.  We want to hear from you when you need us for web design, SEO, newsletters and e-newsletters, blog content and video services.  We can help you in several ways so please don't hesitate to pick up the phone and call anytime 877-352-2021.  We look forward to hearing from you!  Together let's make 2012 your most successful year yet!

Free Webinar: Anatomy of a Website Design

Jim Collins wrote that Good is the Enemy of Great. To the extent that "good" becomes "good enough," and lulls us into a false sense of security -- I believe he is right. And it was with this in mind that we undertook the re-design of Kyle Krull's website! For those of you who do not know him, Kyle Krull is an estate planning attorney, just like you. He also happens to be the President of Integrity Marketing Solutions.

We launched a new website for him two years ago. That website has achieved some remarkable results for him: Page One Google rankings for all his key search terms, and high-volume traffic sending a steady stream of new clients to his office. It was good. Very good.

But it was also two years old, the equivalent of several lifetimes in "internet years."

Join us for a free webinar next weekand get the Grand Tour to find out what's new, what's old, and what might work for you!

Title:     The Grand Tour of What's New in Kyle's Website
Date:    Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Time:   12:00 PM - 1:00 PM CST

After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/288403162