Integrity Marketing

Get Specific With Your Marketing Goals

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

When you set goals for your marketing, make them specific!  Instead of saying “I’m going to build my eNewsletter list to 1,200 people just like Kyle Krull” say “I’m going to add 25 people per week to my eNewsletter list.”   

Then share your goal with everyone in your firm.  Let your receptionist, legal assistant, funding coordinator, associate attorney (aka - everyone in the firm) know.   Have them help you meet your goals by keeping track of new referral sources, prospects and retained clients.  It all adds up and with help that goal is attainable!

Have fun with it.  Offer an incentive to the team for helping you reach your goal.  Give the person that adds the most to your Enewsletter list a Starbucks or iTunes gift card.  Turn it into a fun game!  The person with the most by the end of the week gets "Free Lunch Friday!"  You’d be surprised how much people want to help and how many email addresses come through your office.   They can be exported from your database or LinkedIn account.  Or have a team member look over the Personal Information Forms and pick up the phone and mention opting into your newsletter to keep up with the latest and greatest in the estate planning arena to all your respective referral sources.

Another example would be “I’m going to schedule 1 hour on my calendar every Friday afternoon to post my blog content for the week” rather than “I’m going to start blogging.”  If you just throw your goals out there without being specific and without sharing them with people who will hold you accountable, they will more than likely never happen.  Be S.M.A.R.T with your goals...ALWAYS.  Don’t underestimate that!  Attainable and specific goals have a better success rate.  So always be .... Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely with them!

When talking with our clients that have the most success with their marketing it’s the ones that pull their team together, share their S.M.A.R.T goals and then implement a plan of attack that thrive and succeed.  They have their team to hold them accountable, and help make things happen!  Being specific also helps make them do-able, realistic and less overwhelming.  

What You Didn't Learn In Law School

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

So, you took Con Law, Crim Law, Civ Pro, Torts, Evidence, yada, yada, yada.

I have heard law school described, as follows:

1. They scare you to death as a 1L;
2. They work you to death as a 2L; and
3. They bore you to death as a 3L.

Was that your experience? Well, it pretty well sums up mine.   I didn’t enjoy law school.   In fact, my motto by the end of my second year was “if Gilbert’s don’t make it, then I don’t take it.”

Throughout my law school experience, however, there was not a single course, seminar or chalk talk about marketing. Not one.

Why?

I really don’t know. Regardless, do you have the luxury of time to become a marketing expert right now? Can you really afford to hire your own marketing staff, pay their salary, their withholding, their health insurance, their retirement and even their vacation days? I didn’t think so.

No, what you need are pre-qualified, motivated prospects coming through your door and writing checks to pay your fees, right? Lather, rinse, repeat.

Well, I have good news for you. Integrity Marketing Solutions IS your marketing solution.

As an Essential Solution® attorney, you have:

• A state-of-the-art website;
• A beautiful, full-color hard copy newsletter;
• A beautiful, full-color animated e-newsletter;
• Five (5) professionally-written blog posts delivered to your inbox every week for posting the following week; and
• The entire IMS team committed to your success, personal and professional.

Each of these components (and others) has been proven effective in my practice and in the practices of hundreds of attorneys in nearly every jurisdiction. However, the marketing “magic” of The Essential Solution® is how it combines each of these proven components into an integrated system through which the activity of each component multiplies the others.

Since you have The Essential Solution®, wouldn’t it be great to spend face-to-face training time with the marketing experts behind this powerhouse marketing system so you can maximize its benefits in your unique practice?

Well, I have more good news for you. You can!

Come spent 2 ½ days of Fast Track training March 14 - 16 at the IMS Spring Conference in Kansas City.  Each session is specifically designed with one purpose in mind… to fill your firm calendar with check-writing clients. Here is some of what you will learn:

• How To Find Your Right Client
• How To Deliver High-Touch, Personal Service To Your Clients, While Maintaining Profitability And Protecting Your Quality of Life
• Using A Consultative Sales Process So You Can Always “Be In The Moment”
• Comparing Your Own Marketing “Diagnostics” To The Best Practices Of Your Fellow ESSENTIAL Solution® attorneys (all “numbers” are confidential)
• The Why And How Of Video Marketing & Branding
• What’s Working In The Marketplace Right Now, From Workshops To Websites
• Leveraging Social Media
• Local Search: Art & Science
• Understanding Google… Staying Ahead Of The Herd!

Teaching Point: You already own The Essential Solution®. Come learn how to make this comprehensive marketing system work for you.

Ideas For Your LinkedIn Profile

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

How long has it been since we helped you set up your LinkedIn profile?  If it’s been more than 6 months or a year, I recommend you update your profile.  If we set it up recently, I recommend you go in and beef it up a little.  Think of your LinkedIn profile as a living resume that you want to keep updated because people are always looking at it.  It’s easy and below are some tips to help get started:

• When you log into your LinkedIn account you might be pleasantly surprised by their Improve Your Profile Tool. It takes you through a series of questions and walks you through adding to and improving your profile.  Approaching it this way may just be all that you need to do.  It's easy, so give it a try and just click the link and follow the prompts.
• Have a friend, colleague or your assistant look over your profile and make sure it’s focused and updated.  Sometimes it’s a good idea to get a second opinion.  Have them make sure it flows and you're promoting yourself well.  We tend to have a hard time tooting our own horn so make sure your strengths and talents shine!
• Include all of the companies you worked for prior to your present practice, as well as make sure your education and awards are all there.  This is the most important area for a professional.
• Continue to give your valuable blog content to your LinkedIn connections.  The information provided is specific to your estate planning practice.  It keeps you top of mind with your network and keeps your profile constantly updated with blog feeds.  Often times connections log into LinkedIn specifically looking for information from those they respect and admire in their network community.  You're giving them what they want! 
• Ask for references.  Think of the top five people that you work with the most and ask them first.  Sometimes the best way to get a reference is to give one first.  They’ll probably be more than happy to do the same for you.

Updating your profile is relatively easy and I can’t stress enough the importance of having an updated online resume for your colleagues to review and admire! 

A Fun Approach to Blogging!

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

Our team at Integrity Marketing Solutions is always pushing the blog posting.  I know I must say the word “blog” a thousand times a day.  And sometimes I swear I can literally hear the person on the other end of the end of the phone roll their eyes.  We were even thinking “Let’s stop calling it blogging and start calling it ‘indexing your website and increasing SEO’.”  Does that sound less painful?   It's so important so make it fun!

We have some clients that are stellar bloggers!  They blog fives days a week, sometimes more.  They often post twice a day and they give it personal flair and pizzaz!  Your clients respect you and what you do.  And people also want to like the people they do business with.  Showing a personal side to your blogging does that for you. 

I recently asked some of our top bloggers what their approach to blogging is.  What they do that makes it works for them?  Every one of them says that they do all of their posting for the week on a Friday or a Monday morning.  They sit down in front of their computer and cut and paste, and then personalize their posts.  All of their blogging is complete within about an hour.  Here's the best part about it….they all liked doing it and find it fun. 

So what can you do to make blogging fun?  Here are some suggestions:

• Do it during a time of the day that works best for you.  Make it a time that you can just sit in front of the computer, with your cup of coffee (if it’s in the morning) or your iced mocha (if in the afternoon) and make it intentional blogging time!  Put it on your calendar.  Make an appointment every Monday from 8:00 – 9:00 am to get your blogging done.  Sets the tone for a great marketing vibe for the rest of your week!
• Add your own personal flair.  People respect you for what you do and generally want to like the people they do business with.  Let them know you personally.  Share your thoughts and give them a view of you personally.  Let them know your hobbies and maybe share something exciting you did over the weekend through your social media.  It doesn’t need to be more than that, but let them see the human side of you.  Snap some photos from your smart phone and upload them.  Once you get the hang of that it can get addicting and fun!  It’s kind of a brag board.
• Come up with your own topic, research it and create your own post.   Go through your week and then at the end reflect back on it and post about a common theme that was in your conversations with your prospects.  Maybe they had a common concern that was a roadblock for them that you can help offer some guidance. 
• Another good idea is to get your team involved.  I was talking with a client the other day that is going to have his associate blog as well as his funding coordinator! 

Our clients that are enjoying their blogging and making it their own are doing very well with their rankings.  They are getting traction from it.  So, if you're not having fun with it, or you're not blogging five days out of the work week, please pick up the phone and call me.  Dana and I can help!  Your blogging is important to your marketing and we will stop at nothing to get it implemented into your practice!  You can always reach me at 877-352-2021 x 88.  Happy Blogging to you all!

Estate Planning Marketing: Situation Awareness

Posted by Kyle E. Krull, Esq.
President, Integrity Marketing Solutions

In the military we called it “situation awareness.”

Simply put, it means being aware of what’s going on around you and how it affects you, so you can then take action to effect a favorable outcome. In the military, effective situation awareness can mean the difference between life and death, mission success or mission failure. It’s a big deal.

What does this have to do with marketing your estate planning and/or elder law practice?

Everything.

For example, do you know what your competition is up to? Which three attorneys in your legal community would you regard as top-flight practitioners and thought leaders in this arena? Have you checked them out to see what they are saying about themselves… and what others are saying about them?

Now, try this little exercise:

1. Put your prospective client hat on and run some searches on the various search engines for your community and “estate planning” and/or “elder law.” Do these attorneys show up and, if so, how high?
2. Click on their website. Is it “user friendly” and inviting? How do these attorneys describe their services and approach?
3. Are they blogging? What is their Avvo.com ranking? Are they listed on Lawyers.com and Martindale.com? What is their peer ranking? Do you see any client testimonials?

These are just a few exercises for starters. Go ahead and use your own imagination and creativity to get to know your competition forwards and backwards. And, since no one has a lock on all of the great marketing ideas, you may just pick up a pointer or two.

Now that’s what I call effective “situation awareness.” Go get’em, Tiger!

Teaching Point: As an ESSENTIAL Solution® attorney you have a marketing system that uniquely positions you to dominate your market. That noted, the most important component of The ESSENTIAL Solution® is YOU. Come to the IMS Spring Conference and get on the fast track to learning how to leverage this marketing system to have an ever more profitable and enjoyable estate planning and/or elder law practice.

You Can't Sharpen the Saw While You're Still Cutting

"Sharpening the Saw is the single most powerful investment we can ever make in life -- investment in ourselves, in the only instrument we have with which to deal with life and contribute."

These powerful words from Steven R. Covey ring true for each of us as business leaders in our own firms. As we wrestle with the challenges of running a business, we simply run out of time and energy to effectively lead. Covey recognized this, and admonishes us to QUIT CUTTING long enough to Sharpen the Saw. Yes, you have to stop cutting and walk away from the job in order to re-sharpen the very blade that gets the work done.

I encourage each and every one of our Essentials Clients to break away from your office and join us March 14-16 at the Spring Fast Track Workshop.

Come to grow your practice.

Come to achieve these Five Goals:

1. Sharpen the Saw -- You have to take yourself out of your practice to work on your practice. Block out 2-1/2 days to re-focus your mind and your energy on marketing and practice growth.
2. Set Reasonable, But Challenging Goals -- Armed with our Benchmark Data, and your own marketing performance reports, let us help you set SMART Goals for 2012. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely.
3. Learn From the Successes of Your Colleagues -- then, stand on their shoulders! Yes, we are going to reveal the Secret to Their Success, so you can not only get similar results ... but stand on their shoulders and achieve even more!
4. Keep Up With Fast-Paced Change -- Technology is pushing rapid, almost daily change in marketing. If you are making business decisions about your marketing based on last year's information, you are setting yourself up for disappointment and loss. The pace of change is mind-boggling, and how do you tell the fads from the revolutions? Come and refresh your knowledge with the newest information.
5. Make More Money with Less Effort -- This is our ultimate goal for every one of you! This was the standard we held for ourselves as we evaluated each topic and session to include in the workshop: This session must include vital information that will help our clients make more money with less effort? 

Those of you who come will generate tremendous opportunity and growth for your practice in 2012. Sure, your saw may go silent for a few days ... but when you return to your office on Monday, you will be amazed at the difference a sharper blade makes!

Follow this link to register online.

Watch this webinar for a Sneak Peek Preview.

Estate Planning is About People, Right?

Posted by Kyle E. Krull, Esq.
President, Integrity Marketing Solutions

You have heard the ads.

LegalZoom.com can prepare your estate plan for darn near free and, if offered in your jurisdiction, they’ll even throw in free counsel from a real lawyer. Such a deal. Oh, did I mention that LegalZoom.com had a law professor review their Wills? His verdict: Them puppies are “airtight.”

It’s a pretty good sales pitch, yes?

Is LegalZoom.com to blame for hawking legal documents over the internet? No, we in the estate planning and/or elder law legal community are to blame.

Here are the twin problems, as I see them. And, in both instances the estate planning community has painted itself into a corner.

On the one hand, for decades some estate planning attorneys have programmed prospective clients to believe estate planning is all about estate tax planning. So, what happens when the estate tax planning “straw man” self-combusts and prospective clients see ever increasing estate tax exemptions or even the end of the death tax itself?

Question: How many of your clients over the past two years identified minimizing estate taxation as their top priority?

On the other hand, other estate planning and/or elder law attorneys have conditioned prospective clients to believe that it’s all about the documents. That, my friend, converted traditional estate planning from a personal process to be experienced into an impersonal commodity to be purchased.

As a result, in the microchip/internet age prospective clients started “shopping” for the cheapest stack of documents they could buy. After all, they were just looking for one of them there “living trusts” and its supporting cast. How does it feel going head-to-head with LegalZoom.com?

Given the reality of these twin problems, is there any solution, Kyle? Do you have any good news for me and my practice?

Yes.

With a tip of the hat to Linus and Charlie Brown in their famous exchange during the classic Peanuts special, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”: “Isn’t there anyone who knows what estate planning is all about?"

I do, Charlie Brown.”

It’s all about people…and their problems.

And, given the nature of people (all of us included), there are myriad “people problems” to anticipate, plan for and plan around. Once people understand that “they” may have a problem, then “they” are more likely to be motivated to make appropriate estate plans.

Enter The ESSENTIAL Solution® only available from Integrity Marketing Solutions. It’s a comprehensive marketing system, tested and proven effective in my own law practice. Every component of system is “people problem” focused. You will not find our content delving into the depths of estate tax intricacies or detailing the inner workings of various legal documents from powers of attorney to wills to living trusts to GRATs and beyond.

No, that is for you to explore and explain… when you have a prospective client warming the consultation room seat across from you. And, don’t be afraid to educate them, as long as you motivate them. The art and science of estate planning and/or elder law is the application of law to facts. But it’s a tender balance, my friend.

Shhhhh. Listen: People will not do what they don’t understand.

I have developed a unique process to help prospective clients discover the true meaning of estate planning. In fact, I will be teaching this unique process at the “The IMS Marketing Fast Track” Conference in Kansas City (and only ESSENTIAL Solution® attorneys are eligible to learn it). I will walk you through my unique process, step-by-step, and explain the who, what, when, where, how, why and so what throughout.

Teaching Point: Stop scaring prospective clients through marketing ploys featuring the toothless Abominable “Estate Tax” Snowman (think “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”) and stop selling “documents” (let the DIY crowd go online, since they wouldn’t appreciate the value of your wise counsel anyway)… and start having the more profitable and enjoyable estate planning and/or elder law practice you’ve always wanted.

Register for the Spring Conference
Download Full Agenda

Social Media Cheat Sheet

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

The professional legal community is expanding more and more into online marketing and engaging in social media.  To give insight to some of the different social media platforms, along with their pros and cons, I wanted to share a cheat sheet I came across from Flowtown.  Unfortunately it's general and doesn’t include Linked In for professional marketers, which is crucial, so I included my own Pros and Cons.

The top three medias include Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.  If you're an Essentials Solution client, your Twitter and Facebook are integrated into your online marketing program (as well as the valuable Linked In).  And as you also know we offer video and YouTube integration with custom channels. Your also (hopefully) know how successful video + YouTube is for those clients who utilize these services.  Make sure you check out our latest blog from James Campbell about video blogging.

The Pros and Cons:

Twitter:  A microblogging service that enables users to send text based posts.  Pros – ability to provide clients with valuable information about your knowledge and the services you provide.  Cons – Must provide valuable content (no spam).  Has a large follower drop off.

Facebook:  The largest social network.  Pros – Great for brand exposure and customer relations.  Cons – Not SEO friendly (however, Google Plus is so stay tuned for more information from us about Google Plus).

You Tube:  A video sharing website most popular for user generated content, video clips and video blogging.  Pros – Google loves (and owns) YouTube. A properly optimized video is the best way to reach Google's Page One in your market. YouTube also is the best venue to build your brand through video blogging and educational tutorials.  Cons – Traffic is difficult to redirect back to primary site.

I also included the following for Linked In:

Linked In:  The largest online professional services network.  Pros – Excellent for professional networking and generating referral relationships.  Cons – An outdated profile can be as bad as sending an outdated resume.  You need to consistently update your online profile.

Get familiar with the different lingo for each social media too (retweets, likes, views, sharing).

We can’t wait to talk to you all more about your online marketing at our Spring Workshop in March.  For the first time ever online marketing dollars are projected to beat the combined newspaper and magazine print ads.  We have a lot to share with you and hope you can make it there to get the latest and greatest and make 2012 your best year ever!

Social Media for Lawyers...Mea Culpa

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

Are your ears burning?

Every Tuesday morning we have a firm-wide Integrity Marketing Solutions “Team Huddle.” In addition to individual and departmental reports, we discuss work-in-process and who among our Essential Solution® attorneys are knocking the proverbial “cover off the ball” with their marketing results. Note: We are really big on what we call results-based marketing.

In other words, “how’s it working for you” the Essential Solution® attorney?

This past Tuesday the conversation amongst the team members pivoted toward the latest Social Media success stories. My ears perked up, especially when the topic of leveraging Facebook came up. “Facebook?” 

Several of our Essential Solution® attorneys have created a marketing firestorm for themselves by doing everything our team is telling them to do. For example, this whole “like” business on Facebook? I thought it was a throwback to middle school crushes. Nope. Getting folks to “like” you and you “liking” back creates a powerful Google buzz.

In fact, one full morning of our upcoming Fast Track Conference will be led by our CEO Jennifer Campbell Goddard and devoted to evaluating the “track position” (okay, the Conference has an auto racing theme) of each Essential Solution® attorney (the numbers will remain confidential between attendees). Another session will teach you everything you need to know about the latest developments in the ever-evolving world of Social Media. In fact, it is titled “Social Media for Lawyers: Your $trategy.”

And Facebook is just one component of Social Media. Add to that Twitter, LinkedIn and You Tube and you have all of the elements necessary to dominate your market. So, how do you do that?

Well, for starters, if you are an attorney who already is invested in “results-based” marketing via The Essential Solution®, then you are eligible to enroll in the Spring Conference. Then, at the Conference you will learn from our experts how to move from knowing to doing to dominating your market.

Visit our website for the full agenda, or to register online.

And hurry, because early registration discounts will save you some $$ through Feb. 15th.

Question: Are you coachable?

Enough mea culpa. I am coachable and this “guinea pig” is ready to learn. Come join me in Kansas City!

Teaching Point: The Essential Solution® is a comprehensive marketing system, tested and proven effective in my own law practice, it’s only available through Integrity Marketing Solutions. Every component of the system is designed to work in synch with all of the other components to help you have an ever more profitable and enjoyable estate planning and/or elder law practice.

Effective Relationship Management

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

Your referral sources are important to your practice.  You know that.  What are you doing to build your referral sources and solidify those relationships?  You have to be doing something.  You know that too.  But are you?  How much time do you contribute each week to your referring relationships?  How much time per month?  If you're consistent, great!  But if not, aren’t the people who refer business to you the most important people to your business?  So you have to stay connected to them.

First, reach out.  Go through your database and pick out your top ten existing referral sources.  Pick up the phone and invite them to a face-to-face coffee or lunch.  Meet with one per month and share with them how you’re doing.  Check in and see how they’re doing and talk a little business and a little pleasure. 

As for new relationships, have you done a Google search for professionals in your area lately?  Pick up the phone and call any new professionals you’d like to work with and invite them to coffee and get to know them and their business.  Then follow up and connect with them through Linked In, Twitter and Facebook.  Always add new referral sources to your newsletter and e-newsletter list.

Always try to bring in conversations about more than just business.  Ask questions about them.  Where they went to college?  Their favorite team?  Recent travels?  Set yourself out from the others they network with and find out who they are.  Connect on both a personal and professional level.  You won’t set yourself out from others if you're not different and have the usual conversation and talk shop.  Do something to make them remember you.

Then follow up like a fanatic.  Be present in their daily business by sending newsletters and e-newsletters.  Connect with them through their social media and make it through their newsfeed for the day!  Always build your numbers and make sure they increase in both your relationship management database and your online connections, as well as with your newsletter lists. You've got to stay connected consistently.

Of course if we can help in any way, please pick up the phone and give us a call.  We want to help you make 2012 your best year ever!