Integrity Marketing

Keeping Up Appearances

You wouldn’t let your reception area get shabby and run-down. Clients walking into an unattractive, outdated waiting area will wonder if they should let you handle their estate planning. High end clients will walk out the door if they don’t think your practice is up to snuff. The same thing goes for your website, which is your public face to the entire world. Failing to keep up appearances–in this case, not keeping your website up-to-date in design and functionality–could have some serious consequences for your online success.

Look and feel. Websites look different than they did three or four years ago. The emphasis is on a horizontal layout with a lot of graphics and videos that are the shining stars of today’s website. It’s a clean, modern look that looks great on phones, tablets and desktops.

Responsive design. We are always amazed when we visit an attorney website on our phone and find that the numbers aren’t big enough to read or the entire first screen is dominated by a page that isn’t sized correctly. There are two reasons to update your website if you have not already done so: Google is ignoring you because you failed to listen when responsive design, that is, websites designed for smart phones, became a priority and because your website visitors who live 24/7 with their phones are not going to tolerate a website that is not phone-friendly.

Photos and videos. We live in a highly visual age, where people are tuned in to photos, videos, images and graphics. Infographics are a huge part of how millennials communicate. And Baby Boomers are now using reading glasses, so they love to see an abundance of photos.

Make it easy to connect with you. Shorter attention spans and intense competition means that your website has to be as easy as possible for visitors to connect with you. That may mean a “Click to Call” link, your phone number in larger, bolder typeface than the rest of the content or a one-click email address. Skip the long forms that ask for a lot of information.

Good content. “Make yourself useful” isn’t just a good reminder for children. It’s also a good rule for websites. Provide checklists, up-to-date information and relevant links to websites that your visitors can use.

If your website has not been updated in recent memory, chances are you are in need of a refresh! Submit a support ticket or call James at 877-352-2021 ext 80.

Football Analytics

By Anneliese Krull

When you receive your monthly analytics report, it can often be daunting. What exactly do the numbers and categories mean? Need the rundown? Here is play-by-play coverage based on a very American sport: football. So grab some chips as we review the analytics report playbook.

Touchdown: Worth six (possibly seven) points, touchdowns are the ultimate goal of any football team. Every strategic action or play called is ultimately designed to provide an opportunity for this event. How does this translate? Your goals for your firm and your analytics are conversions, i.e., consultation requests. Why? These ultimately translate to clients and income. When viewing your monthly analytics, remember that consultation requests may also come in via phone depending on the client.

Three-point conversion: Sometimes you will be unable to get a consultation immediately. Instead, a person may fill out a contact us form, register for a workshop or subscribe to your eNewsletter or blog digest. These are valuable goal completions for putting you ahead of your competition.

Time of Possession: In football, you want to control the game. Often this is measured by how many minutes you are on offense. Similarly, the average session duration shows how much pull your website has and the opportunities available for conversions.

Turnover percentage: Like the turnover percentage, the bounce rate should be low. In general, these numbers both show potential missed opportunities.

Page views per session: Consider the number of sessions, amount of new users and page views per session to be first down completions. Although these may not be conversions in and of themselves, they are what set you up for conversions. As long as you have these, you are still in the game.

In football, many factors contribute to a team’s win. In the same way, every part of your marketing should work together to set you up for success. Our Essential Solutionâ is a proven playbook, providing ample opportunities for these conversions.

Still, many clients benefit from strategic planning retreats with their firm. At these retreats, your team is analyzed and a strategy is customized for your firm. Call James at 877-352-2021 ext. 80 to schedule one of these retreats for your firm.

Why Not All Leads Are Equal

The person who contacts your estate planning law practice from your website is different than the person who calls your office because their CPA gave her your name. Shouldn’t all clients be treated the same way, with great courtesy, respect and care? Yes, but the referral lead is different and requires a different level of care.

Response times matter. People who submit a contact us form from your web page need to hear back from you or someone in your office as soon as humanly possible. We know attorneys who will call people back during the weekend because they know that by Monday morning, the opportunity to reach someone who filled out a form on Saturday will be gone. People who fill out Contact Us forms expect to get an email confirming that their request has been received. How soon they receive a phone call from a person is often the difference between a new client and a lost lead.

Information gathering. While you may be able to call a regular referrer to get some information about the lead, an online referral is a blank slate. Does your E2-CRM include intake forms that are automatically sent once a Contact Us form is filled out? That would save your team considerable time and demonstrate that your office runs like a well-oiled machine.

Introduce yourself and your staff. Online leads don’t know you or your team. Treat them like new friends arriving at your house for a party. When they arrive at your office, make sure that they are not kept waiting too long, and make an extra point of introducing them to team members. They need to be made to feel like they are part of a caring professional practice.

When do you qualify them? This is the toughest part about online leads. Some practices have a conversation during the first phone call, when they explain the costs for different types of services. Others ask that intake forms be filled out first, then have a conversation about what the family needs and provide an estimate of costs. Others feel that these are matters best handled during a face-to-face meeting. What your office does will depend on the socioeconomics of your market, how many appointments you have during the course of a week, and what is profitable for your practice.

Why Not All Leads Are Equal

The person who contacts your estate planning law practice from your website is different than the person who calls your office because their CPA gave her your name. Shouldn’t all clients be treated the same way, with great courtesy, respect and care? Yes, but the referral lead is different and requires a different level of care.

Response times matter. People who submit a contact us form from your web page need to hear back from you or someone in your office as soon as humanly possible. We know attorneys who will call people back during the weekend because they know that by Monday morning, the opportunity to reach someone who filled out a form on Saturday will be gone. People who fill out Contact Us forms expect to get an email confirming that their request has been received. How soon they receive a phone call from a person is often the difference between a new client and a lost lead.

Information gathering. While you may be able to call a regular referrer to get some information about the lead, an online referral is a blank slate. Does your E2-CRM include intake forms that are automatically sent once a Contact Us form is filled out? That would save your team considerable time and demonstrate that your office runs like a well-oiled machine.

Introduce yourself and your staff. Online leads don’t know you or your team. Treat them like new friends arriving at your house for a party. When they arrive at your office, make sure that they are not kept waiting too long, and make an extra point of introducing them to team members. They need to be made to feel like they are part of a caring professional practice.

When do you qualify them? This is the toughest part about online leads. Some practices have a conversation during the first phone call, when they explain the costs for different types of services. Others ask that intake forms be filled out first, then have a conversation about what the family needs and provide an estimate of costs. Others feel that these are matters best handled during a face-to-face meeting. What your office does will depend on the socioeconomics of your market, how many appointments you have during the course of a week, and what is profitable for your practice.

Where you tell the story of YOU: your website profile page

It is not easy to prepare your own profile or biography. If you are modest, you are not good at telling the world why you are so good at what you do. If you are uncomfortable writing about yourself, it will be the one task that gets pushed to the side because you have other things that are more important to do. And if you are a shameless self-promoter, you may get the facts right but the tone might turn readers off.

That’s why our team encourages clients to prepare a professional profile that is written to engage and reassure readers, while at the same time conveying key information.

To help get you started, here’s what you need to keep in mind when preparing your profile for the “About …” Page:

Tell your story. If you were motivated to become an estate planning attorney because someone in your family needed help and you didn’t think they were treated right, share that. The same if you were inspired by an Elder Law clinic that you did while a law student. Let the visitors to your page know who you are, what makes you tick.

Remember your target audience. While some visitors to your website will be lawyers and other professionals, most will be laypeople who may not recognize organizational acronyms or credentials that you and your colleagues use on a daily basis. They may not know what NAELA means, or what a CELA is. Like any good reporter, write in a way that someone who knows nothing about estate planning or elder law will be able to understand.

Skip the hyperbole. Avoid using over-the-top terms and expressions. People tend to be skeptical when the language becomes overly boastful. The same applies to flowery or overly dramatic language. Keep it straightforward, and steer clear of too much colorful language.

Keep first things first. Your accomplishments may fill three pages, but your readers will likely only skim the first page. Make sure that the most important things are in the first paragraph, in case they only read that.

Build in connections. People look for commonalities when they speak, meet and read profiles on websites. That’s why in addition to college and law school information, you want to include any outside activities. Are you involved in local charitable groups? Volunteer with the local Girl Scouts? Include all of these to give readers a chance to connect with you in a meaningful way.

Real Websites versus “Brochure-ware”

Today’s website has to work as hard as you do to generate new clients, enhance your SEO and educate prospects 24/7. If it’s just a bit of what we call “brochure-ware,” that is, a series of web pages with no energy or engagement, then your estate planning practice is missing out. Today’s website should be bringing you leads on a regular basis. If it’s not, ask yourself these questions:

Is it mobile friendly? Responsive design became standard when Google announced that sites that were not responsively designed, i.e., were not designed to work well on mobile device, would lose ground to those that are. If your website is not mobile friendly, submit a support ticket. We need to address this for you, and we need to do it fast.

Do you have any videos or animation on your website? No, you don’t need to become a movie studio or become Walt Disney. But you do need to realize that today’s legal services consumer expects your website to have good production values. That is, it needs to look like a contemporary website. Visit any website from companies or professional services firms in any area and we are sure you will find videos, infographics and animation. This is necessary to keep current and stay ahead of your competition.

When was the last time you updated your content? If your website is going to pull its weight when it comes to SEO, it needs fresh content on a regular basis. That means everything from new content, which is often a blog post, to making sure that your photos, bios and pages are up to date.

Are visitors engaging with you? Are you engaging with them? Here’s the paradox of websites for attorneys: we want to tell them all about your accolades, awards and accomplishments. But remember that the website is only partially about you. It’s also about your visitors. It must pose questions and provide answers to their problems. It has to make visitors feel comfortable with you, feel like you will be able to solve their problems, and make it easy for them to contact you.

If you aren’t sure if your website is making the grade, call James at 877-352-2021 ext 80 and find out how your website can reach its full potential.

Before You Go to Another Breakfast Meeting, Read This

Business groups that exist purely for the purpose of networking can be very productive or a complete waste of time—or somewhere in the middle. We encourage attorneys to be cautious about groups that demand a certain number of leads per meeting or risk being fined. However, there are many good groups that can become great referral sources. Finding the right one requires going to the meetings and accurately assessing the members.

Do they meet at a convenient location? There are people who will drive 45 minutes to a meeting if the leads are good. If your time is already tight, this may not be a good fit. If the room is filled with quality professionals, it may be worthwhile.

Do they meet regularly? Scattershot meetings or meetings that are re-scheduled often will not work. You can’t build a relationship if you don’t meet on a regular basis. Weekly may be too time consuming for you. Monthly may not be enough time to really know people.

Who is in the group? Check them out on LinkedIn to see if these are quality professionals who you would want to be associated with.

How organized are they? A group that does not have a website, Facebook Group or LinkedIn group may be out of touch with today’s market. Another way to measure the proficiency level of the group: how do they communicate with each other and what is the quality of the communications?

How many members do they have? A larger group will give you more opportunities to meet more people, unfortunately you might not get to know everyone well. But if there are 15 members or less, it’s less likely that it will be a productive group.

Define in very specific terms exactly what is needed to make the group worthwhile. Consider how many clients you would need to get to have a good ROI. Remember that the cost of networking groups is not only in fees, but in time. Do you need six clients in six months? Twelve clients in six months? If your measure of success is clear, you will know in a relatively short period of time whether or not to continue.

We Wish Anneliese Krull Good Luck!!

Effective September 23^rd, 2016, Anneliese Krull will have completed her internship with the Integrity Marketing Solutions team.

After beginning her internship with IMS in September 2015, Anneliese has become a great asset to the company. Her commitment and enthusiasm to work towards a solution modeled the ideals Integrity Marketing upholds. She always began each day with a smile - ready to put in her best effort. Her hard-working spirit and kind demeanor will certainly be missed by both the IMS team and IMS clients!

Anneliese will be moving to Branson, Missouri to continue pursuing her passion in videography. She has been a joy to work with and the IMS team wishes her well as she moves forward in her career.

If you are a current client of Anneliese, rest assured that an Account Manager will be reaching out to you to conclude your on-boarding process.

Love it or Hate it, You Need to Do This

Estate planning lawyers in general seem to be more comfortable than most with speaking in public, although their skill levels vary. That may be because attorneys who go into this particular practice area are usually “people-persons,” that is, they are social people and enjoy sharing information and, honestly, putting on a little bit of a performance when they speak.

Being a speaker makes you the credible authority, a leader. After all, you are in the front of the room, they are in the audience. But speaking takes time, so you want to make sure that the time you invest in scheduling a program, preparing to speak and actually speaking is worth your time.

Here are some questions to ask before you agree to speak:

• Are you addressing a built-in crowd, like at a conference or an awards luncheon?
• Who will be in the audience?
• If it is not a built-in crowd, how are people being invited and who is inviting them?
• How many are expected to attend?
• Is this a first-time event? If it is an annual event, your contact should be able to give you very good insight on how many will attend.
• Will you be provided with a list of attendees before or after the event so that you can follow up with them?
• Are there other speakers, and if so, who are they? You will want to know if there will be other estate planning or elder lawyers speaking.
• What are the other speaker’s topics?
• Who is sponsoring the event and are they going to speak? When are they scheduled to speak: before or after you?
• How is the event being promoted?

Your time is valuable, so you want to be sure that the time you take to speak will be productive. Don’t be afraid of first-time events; often by taking the risk of being a speaker at a first run, you gain an inside track that will lead to your being invited for subsequent years.

Is There A Difference Between a Salesperson and a Professor?

We see a profound difference in professional services that sell, versus those that educate. Those who sell are focused on price points, razzle dazzle, high volume and thin profit margins. Compare that to those who educate: they focus their marketing efforts on helping clients understand what estate planning means, how it can help them achieve specific goals, and why it is important to do.

While we’re not judging, and we understand that there is a place for both kinds of professional services, we do believe that for estate planning attorneys, educating clients creates a far better, longer-lasting relationship based on mutual respect and value. A client who is looking for a quick and inexpensive will is generally not the client who is going to come back to your practice in four years for a revision, even if they really do need it.

How do you educate your clients?

Blogging. Our Essential Solution™ law practices are heavily vested in educating clients through providing them with weekly (if not daily) blog posts that educate non-lawyers about the ins and outs of estate planning and elder law. We know from more than twenty years of experience that this is an excellent marketing method.

Lawyer Videos. People do still read, but we live in a culture that loves to watch videos. We produce a lot of lawyer videos because our clients understand the power of video on their websites. Visitors are engaged and will be more at ease when they meet you in person, having met you already on your website.

eNewsletters. By bringing useful news and important information to your clients and prospects on a regular basis, you have the opportunity to enhance your position as an educator. Knowing that they are going to learn about new developments in estate law from you in a timely manner puts your client’s minds at ease. They may not like the changes, but they DO like feeling like you are looking out for them. Sent on a regular basis, the eNewsletter will keep you top-of-mind, increasing the likelihood that when a problem arises, your office gets the phone call and the appointment.

Talking to the press. We hope that you are already on local reporter’s short lists when it comes to being a source for estate planning issues. If not, you can put yourself there. Connect through LinkedIn, start following the right reporters on Twitter and when you are reading the local papers, online or in print, make a note of the reporter who covers estate planning and/or personal finance matters. Stay in touch with changes to the law, comments when the next celebrity dies without a will, and build a relationship with the reporter. When you are the source in a newspaper article, you become the ultimate educator!