Integrity Marketing

Is There A Pet In Your Office?

Pets in the office are a hallmark of start-up companies, along with shared workspace and music rooms. It seems like a nice idea, and something that brings a warm and homey element to the office. We even know of one company where six employees take turns bringing in their dogs. One day a massive Great Dane is at the front door, and the next a small fluffy rescue dog of indeterminate origin greets visitors.

We love our pets, whether they have four paws, two claws and a beak or fins. And while pets in the office are not always a good fit, we do believe that there are ways that companion animals can fit into your practice.

Here are a few thoughts about pets and estate planning:

Chances are good that many of your clients include a pet in their family. If your state recognizes pet trusts, talk with your clients about their plans for their pets. It’s easy to assume that a family member will take over the care and feeding for an animal, but all too often these beloved family members end up in shelters. Have the discussion – clients will appreciate it.

Speaking of animal shelters, we know from experience that every community has at least one good animal rescue shelter. These organizations are often popular with seniors who enjoy volunteering or serving on boards of directors. Special events and fundraising events run by the shelter could be a great place for your law firm’s name to be seen.

Pets at your office are a mixed bag. While some studies have shown that the presence of a pet in an office can actually lower the level of stress hormones of employees, not everyone loves your dog. And all it takes is one nervous client and one overly enthusiastic dog to turn an appointment into a disaster.

If you chose to have a dog at your office on a regular basis, check with your insurance company to confirm coverage. Make sure that you have the right policy to protect your practice from property damage – that nice antique rug in the conference room – or a dog bite claim.

LAST CALL FOR SPRING MARKETING BOOT CAMP!

If you want to learn how to convert 71% more business from your website, register today for our Spring Legal Marketing Boot camp, where you’ll learn how to make the most out of web leads. Register today for the Spring Legal Marketing Boot Camp – this is your last chance – registration closes today!

Memorial Day

Our offices are closed on Monday, May 30^th for Memorial Day.

This is a very special day for our nation, when we remember the men and women who died while in military service for their country.

A national moment of silence is observed at 3:00 PM local time, and we hope that you will join us in taking a meaningful pause from the many summer events we enjoy this weekend to remember and honor our servicemen and women who gave their lives for our country.

 

Memorial Day Weekend Marks the Beginning Of Summer

By Anneliese Krull

With fresh foods, sunshine and longer days, summer has a flavor all its own. It’s like a breath of fresh air.

A natural way to freshen up your firm’s marketing is through updating the welcome message on your monthly eNewsletter.

Here are a few seasonal suggestions:

Military Holidays. With numerous military holidays in the summer months, recognize those who have and continue to serve and sacrifice for the freedoms we enjoy. Remind those in the armed service about the importance of getting help for VA benefits, as well as steps they can take to protect their families.

Vacation Prep. Summer is a key time for family road trips. Remind your subscribers that if they are taking a vacation (or have a family member taking a vacation), they need to have certain estate planning documents in place. Why? To protect their loved ones should something untoward happen.

Family Gatherings. With Fathers’ Day, Independence Day and weekend barbecues, there are ample opportunities to discuss estate planning and end-of-life issues with children and grandchildren. Encourage your readers to have these conversations and to reach out if they need to update their plans.

By implementing a few of these simple, summer specific eNews intros, you can put a sunny, summer spin on your marketing.

For more great marketing strategies, register for our Spring Legal Marketing Boot Camp. This is a great opportunity to invest in your practice. But, there is only ONE spot left so Register today!

Those Amazing Offers Received by Lawyers

Do you receive offers by mysterious companies promising to put your law firm in front of thousands of decision makers?

Sometimes the offers involve making a video that will be played before waiting areas in airline terminals. Others claim that they will get you into a national business magazine that will seen by large numbers of wealthy decision makers. They’ll write the article, edit it, fact check it and publish it, all for one fee.

A few words to the wise:

If you have to pay for an article, it’s not editorial content. It’s an advertisement. And a single ad, unless you are running it during half-time at the Super Bowl, is not going to have an impact on your marketing.

For more than two decades, we have worked with estate planning and elder law firms nationwide to build their practices. Trust us – if a single ad would do the job, we’d be sure to tell you about it!

Now about those videos…Videos in airline terminals are usually from major national corporations that partner with the airlines and network television. They are called “commercials.”

Instead, we recommend that you consider working with your marketing team – us! – to create a lawyer video that tells your prospective clients who you are and why you believe in the importance of what you do. That one video, appearing regularly on your website, will work for you on a number of different levels, boosting your SEO visibility, building familiarity with prospects and sharing your story.

Ready to get real about boosting your marketing?

Skip the unsolicited offers from companies that don’t know anything about estate planning or elder law firms. Instead, grab that one last spot open at our Spring Legal Marketing Boot Camp! Already busy for June 8- 10^th? Then we recommend speaking with James (877-352-2021 ext. 80) about scheduling a Private Strategic Retreat, where the total focus is on YOU and your practice.

Is Your Estate Planning Practice Ready for Summer?

With Memorial Day right around the corner, this weekend will see the start of a shift into summer mode. People may feel less inclined to dig deep into serious subjects like estate planning and preparation of their wills. They’ve got the beach, or the lake house, or a summer picnic on the mind.

What can your practice do to make sure you’re not left all high and dry this summer?

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Take the lead and start planning a special event for clients and employees for the summer season. A picnic in a local park or a BBQ at a special venue near your office will remind clients that you are thinking of them during the summertime too.

Greetings from Asbury Park. Once upon a time, vacation time meant fun postcards from far away destinations. Today’s version – use your E2 CRM to stay in touch with timely reminders to clients.

Beach Balls and Sand Toys. Summer is definitely all about fun, and what better time to present your clients with a seasonal item? We’re thinking grandchildren and beach toys, although soft-sided coolers and sun umbrellas are fun too. Just make sure whatever you hand out is high quality and branded with your firm’s name and phone number.

Deepen Ties with Clients.  If you play golf or tennis, we don’t have to tell you how an afternoon spent with a client can reveal far more than an hour long appointment. But even if you aren’t a golfer, there are still things you can do. What says summer like a baseball game?

Spring Legal Marketing Boot Camp

If you’re worried about a slow summer, don’t miss out on our Spring Legal Marketing Boot Camp, where we’ll dig into a variety of tools that will boost your practice and your profits!  Register today for our Spring Legal Marketing Boot Camp. There’s only ONE spot open, so register today!

Did You Need Another Reason to Update Your Website to a Mobile Friendly Design?

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know that Google updates its algorithms almost daily. Google doesn’t usually give out too much information about these changes to the general public, until something significant happens, like the first time that Google shifted the search paradigm to give mobile friendly (also known as responsive design) websites the edge for search engine optimization.

We told you about that, and many of you were responsive yourselves, not wanting to lower your visibility to online prospects. But now Google has announced that it has fully rolled out the second version of its mobile friendly update. If your website has been updated and features responsive design, you don’t have to do a thing!

But if your website has not been updated, this should serve as a reminder that you should call James and get your updated design going so that your quality scores and the ability of prospects to find you during searches of the web is not decreased. We can promise you a few things:

It’s painless. Really. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel if you don’t want us to. If your website is more than a few years old and lacks a lot of modern functionality, we will talk with you about it, but this process is not a big deal.

It’s fast. Our team will get you up and running with no down time. Your website will not be down or out.

It’s important. Your website will not receive Google’s boost in ranking signals if you are not providing users with an easy-to-navigate mobile-friendly site.

If you have questions about the process, why it’s important and when you can fit it into your schedule, just call James at 877-352-2021 ext. 80 and he’ll be able to explain it all.

Legal Marketing Boot Camp

Want to dig deeper into boosting your practice and your profits? Register today for our Spring Marketing Boot Camp, June 8-10. There’s only one spot open! Learn how web leads are different than referrals, why they need to be treated differently, and how to convert 71% more business from your website.

Lost In Translation

By Anneliese Krull

Have you ever played the game “telephone”?

Basically, one person whispers something to the person next to him or her and then the phrase is passed along a line until it reaches the last player. He or she then reveals (to everyone’s surprise and laughter) the now nonsensical sentence to the group. This game is hilarious whether you are 7 or 47.

What, you never played?

Then perhaps you have seen the series of old Sprint commercials which involved misunderstandings because of poor cell service like the one about a sick monkey.

What’s my point?

Things get lost in translation. And your marketing strategy is not exempt from this.

How can you keep your strategy clear and effective throughout your firm?

If you come to the Marketing Boot Camp or a Private Strategic Planning Retreat, bring at least one other member of your team. He or she should preferably be the person responsible for implementing your marketing and for client outreach on a daily basis. This will involve them in your marketing objectives while educating them on the why’s and how’s behind the what you are asking them to implement.

As a result, nothing will get lost in translation when it comes to your marketing program.

If you are coming to the Spring Marketing Boot Camp or have already booked your Private Strategic Planning Retreat and would like to avoid “sick monkeys,” please call James at 877-352-2021 ex. 80 to register a team member as well.

Digital Marketing: More Than Just a Website

By Kelly Myers

Many estate planning attorneys believe that a website is a staple of their marketing. Well, they’re not wrong. A website can be the base of your branding, contain credentials, contact information, show off your skills and services and be a go to for potential clients when they are searching to fulfill their needs. Websites, when designed properly and with strategy in mind, are powerful.

To those not familiar with digital marketing and the way it works, a high-quality website may seem like the best and only strategy. While an effective and attractive website is an important feature of marketing, it surely is not the only feature.

It’s time to consider which digital marketing practices will work best for your law firm. Of course, what Integrity Marketing Solutions considers to be crucial strategies are found in the Essential Solution®. This includes website design, blogging, monthly eNews, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and social media.

But what about enhancements that will boost your marketing? IMS offers services such as AdWords, video, custom publications and our very own CRM, which now come with an upgrade option, CLIP^TM, Client Intake Process, our exclusive automated client intake process. To learn more about how CLIP^TM can impact your practice, register here to watch an informational webinar.

Digital marketing is much more than a website and there are endless possibilities to explore for your strategy. IMS wants to share these opportunities with you. Register today for our Spring Legal Marketing Boot Camp. We only have ONE spot open, so register today!

Change and Your Estate Planning Law Firm

How comfortable are you with change?

Most people are not at all comfortable with change. They prefer staying in their old patterns of doing things the same old way, despite the saying we all know: The only crazy people are those who insist on doing things the same way yet expect different results.

No, you’re not crazy. But if you expect anything to change without making changes, you do need to shift your expectations.

The practice of law is now like so many other sectors of our lives – change is fast and constant. Every time you get a new phone, there’s a newer phone right around the corner. Yes, it is hard to keep up. But if you do not keep pace, rest assured that your competitors will.

This is why IMS has been so successful for more than two decades. We have a culture that embraces change, is open to new ways of doing things and sharing that information with our clients. We consider it our role to be your ambassador of change. Our own successful transformation has served us and our clients well. Learn more about our journey in a video that explains how Integrity Marketing Solutions successfully transformed from a traditional agency to a leading digital marketing agency.

New technologies require shifts in how clients come to you and what their experience is when they arrive at your doorstep, whether their entry point is your website or your front door. Remember that they too live in a world where change is constant. While they are reassured by seeing traditional furnishings in a law practice, including your law school diploma, framed professionally to show respect to the document and all it represents, they won’t appreciate your taking notes with a quill pen.

Client expectations are different. Today’s seniors are likely to be Baby Boomers and they have always had a healthy appetite for change. Their adult children and grandchildren are making sure they stay current and they expect the same from you.

How to make sure your practice is current? There’s ONE spot open for our Spring Legal Marketing Boot Camp. This is a great opportunity to invest in your practice’s future. Register today!

Jennifer Goddard Invited to Return to International Digital Marketing Conference

I’m very proud to tell you that I have been invited for a second time to speak at an international digital marketing conference held in Amsterdam on June 22 that brings together industry thought leaders to focus on developments in digital marketing and online search. I’m in great company - other presenters include Google, Twitter, Yext, and Uber.

My presentation will focus on the key values and core beliefs that drive a digital marketing agency and how these differ from traditional marketing agencies. Thanks to conference organizer Peter Buxton for inviting me back. Here’s what he had to say about my presentation last year:

"Jennifer's presentation at the Local Search Today! conference in December 2014 was evaluated by delegates as the best presentation of the event. She made a clear case for the massive changes needed to market goods and services now that the sales funnel has been replaced with a dynamic and fragmented path that demands a far more sophisticated approach to marketing. The delegates came away with both theory and best practices. Jennifer's presentation style is both entertaining and informative. She is a great addition to our programme," he explained.

Legal Marketing CEO to Speak at International Conference on Digital Marketing from Integrity Marketing Solutions on Vimeo.

Here’s the bottom line for law firms and digital marketing: Digital leads require a different response and process than referral-based leads. Too many law firms don't "get" digital, don't respond quickly enough or appropriately to online leads, and then get frustrated that their online efforts don't drive revenue. We can help you change that and dramatically increase your online leads.

Two weeks before I leave for Amsterdam, we are hosting our Legal Marketing Boot Camp. There’s ONE spot left – if you want to boost your practice and want to fully understand how different digital marketing is from traditional marketing, register for Legal Marketing Boot Camp today. Have questions? Call James at 877-352-2021 ext. 80.