Integrity Marketing

Outbound Marketing Basics for Estate Planning Law Firms

Considered the poor cousin of marketing in the digital age, we believe that outbound marketing still has a role to play for estate planning law firms. Outbound marketing, for clarity, refers to any marketing activity where the company or law firm actively sends out a message, as opposed to inbound, where prospects find a website or chose to engage with a social media platform.

Here’s what we consider productive outbound marketing: eNews, blog digests delivered by email, well-designed direct mail and traditional print or broadcast ads.

Here’s the difference between what most people consider outbound marketing and what we consider outbound marketing: If the information takes an educational and targeted approach, positioning the law firm as an authoritative and credible source of information, that’s outbound marketing worth doing.

If the outbound marketing is purely sales, then it’s not appropriate for estate planning or Elder Law firms. Our entire platform is based around providing our clients with effective strategic marketing tools and the insights into how the business of an estate planning law firm works. Any marketing tool that does not complement this overall approach is simply not worth doing.

Should your firm consider traditional outbound marketing, like a direct mail campaign? It depends.

There are markets where a personalized letter to a targeted group can be effective, but remember that no single “silver bullet” does the entire job of reaching prospects. If the same person who receives a direct mail letter has also visited your website or found you on social media, they are more apt to pick up the phone or fill out a form. They have greater familiarity with your name, or feel that they have a connection (especially if they’ve watched a few lawyer videos on your website).

Asking people to trust you with their estate planning documents requires creating a high degree of comfort and trust. The unspoken question from prospects is this: “Will this firm do the right thing by me, or will they make things more complicated than they need to be?” Building trust often takes more than one set of tools.

No matter how sophisticated your marketing gets, keep in mind that marketing is ultimately about reaching out to potential clients with a message that connects. Whether that is an outbound message, delivered via an eNews, a hard copy letter or a personal connection that occurs when a client is reading an attorney’s biography, the personal message of caring, competence and concern is at the heart of marketing success.

Plan Now for Fall Law Firm Marketing

October may be the last thing on your mind right now, but right now is the best time to plan for your fall law firm marketing activities. This is a great time to map out a social media schedule, get ready for a full plate of community events and revisit the activities you mean to do every year that typically fall by the wayside. Here’s a checklist to help you focus:

Social media campaigns work better with more strategic planning. Start with August, when you can address both back to school for kids and grandchildren and freshman college students who need a health care proxy. September will be too late for these themes. Always work far in advance so you don’t miss trends. You can always add a post.

Professional groups you keep meaning to join or get active with. So you’ve been a member of the local bar association for years, but never went to a single committee meeting. Go online, check the group’s calendar, and add meetings to your calendar now. You can’t network with people you don’t know.

Community organizations with a high profile. Notice how some organizations have a far higher profile than others? Their activities always seem to get more coverage than similar charities. If you are not already involved (or overextended) with non-profit groups, summer is a great time to connect. Call a board member—make sure they are someone you want to meet anyway—and ask if you can talk with them about the organization.

Punch up the news section of your website. Haven’t updated your blog or news and events section of your website since May? Visitors to your site will wonder what kind of practice would permit such a public part of their website to languish. Check out the latest Blog Support emails from IMS, or take a few minutes and surf the web for articles that are relevant to seniors and members of your target market. There’s certainly no lack of news in the estate planning area.

Always wanted to write for publication, but never did? Take advantage of a little free time now to come up with ideas for articles that you could write, for the local bar association newsletter or a local business publication. Think about what you see in your practice—check your E2-CRM to see what kind of problems your clients face. Are you seeing a lot of issues about transferring the family home to a second generation? Or maybe your clients are grappling with selecting executors because they don’t think their kids will do a good job of handling their estate? Look for trends, in legal topics or family issues, to get the creative juices flowing.

Law Firm Digital Marketing Do-It-Yourself: Not Always a Great Notion

So you’ve mastered LinkedIn and you’re on Facebook every morning, checking in before you start your work day. You’re thinking, hey I can do my own digital marketing. Yes, you can, but should you? There are pros and cons to DIY digital marketing for the estate planning and Elder Law attorney, and before you travel down this path, let’s consider how wise it is for you and your practice.

No one understands my practice like me. That’s true—to some extent. No one sits at your side of the desk and sees the work flow, cash flow and employee performance, for better or worse, than you do. But your practice is not unlike many other estate planning law firms. IMS account executives work with estate planning law firms across the country, and have done so for many years. We know the challenges that this practice area faces, whether your office is three people or thirty or sixty. We may even have insights about problems that you haven’t even faced yet, based on the stage of your practice.

No one understands my clients and prospects like me. We beg to differ there. This is what IMS does, every day, all day long: help estate planning attorneys like you reach clients and prospects to bring them past the obstacles of time, money and fear and into your office to tackle their estate planning. We have spent decades on this, and we bring a mastery of digital marketing to your practice. So, that’s not a reason to do digital yourself.

I kind of understand the whole SEO thing. Here’s where non-digital marketing professionals get themselves into trouble, sometimes serious trouble. We’ve seen programmers who understand what to put in source code and decide they are ready to become SEO experts—before getting black-hatted out of the game completely, along with their short term clients. We say short term because once you’ve been banned by Google for black hat SEO, you don’t go back for more! SEO has become an extremely technical and complex area of digital marketing. It’s not for do-it-yourselfers. Not if you want to stay on the right path and achieve real results.

Practicing law and profitability. This one is so obvious but we’ve seen enough instances of it being ignored so we have to mention it. Your time is better spent practicing law and taking outstanding care of your clients than dabbling in digital marketing. IMS clients are a smart group of entrepreneurial attorneys. They understand the value and importance of marketing, which is why they work with us. However, they are also really good attorneys who understand that practicing law is their bread and butter.

We’re always up for a conversation. If you’ve got questions or suggestions about digital marketing, we’d love to hear from you. Call James at 877-352-2021 ext. 80 or submit a support ticket. We’re all ears!

Are You Sabotaging Your Own Law Firm Marketing?

If you are sabotaging your own law firm marketing efforts, you won’t be the first to do so. After all, you are busy giving clients the best possible service. Add management duties to the mix, and there’s only so many hours in a day, right? The cycle starts when marketing takes a back seat. You plan on attacking marketing tasks when you have more free time, but having more free time means you don’t have new clients coming in the door. So then you pump up marketing—but then you aren’t devoting enough time to clients. We’ve seen this before. A few pointers that we hope will keep you on the right track:

Email lists are never finalized. There was an expression about media lists and direct mail lists back in the day—the list is out of date the moment it’s finalized. Delaying an email blast because the list is not finished is one of the biggest obstacles to getting email newsletters out. There’s always another name you need to add, or a list that someone needs to research to make sure the emails are good. The biggest reason we hear: there aren’t enough names on the list. That may be—but the one thing we hate to see is a campaign that never launches because the list is small.

Marketing by committee requires an attorney who will move the process along. We love it when law firms have partners who are ready, willing and able to roll up their sleeves and dig into marketing materials. But often there’s one person who ends up being the bottleneck. He means to review everything, he has worthwhile input, but he’s also running the firm, or gets busy with a time-sensitive matter. The entire train comes to a halt, and it takes extra energy to get it going again.

The fourth down is the hardest one. Everything from large projects to simple posts can get hung up at the very last part of the project, when it’s time for a sign-off. The decision maker is reluctant to move forward because they want to be certain that everything is perfect. They don’t start distribution of an email newsletter, or keep delaying because they are waiting for inspiration to strike, in between client work.

At IMS, we believe that holding ourselves and our clients to the highest standards of marketing is a good thing. But we also know that delaying marketing efforts is like delaying having a will prepared: sooner or later, you’re going to regret not doing it sooner!

Never Miss an Opportunity: Reinforce Law Firm Messages and Marketing

When you think of marketing materials, your first thought is probably your website, followed by social media posts, e-Newsletters, print ads and direct mail. But there’s a host of marketing tools that you use every single day and probably don’t think of as marketing tools. That means a lot of missed opportunities to communicate key messages and branding. Here’s what you might be missing:

Email signature block. How many emails do you send every single day? Every single one of them is an opportunity to send a message, demonstrating consistency, organizational cohesiveness and branding. Everyone in your office, from the receptionist to the founding partner, should be using a professionally-designed email signature block that includes the firm logo, a symbol (if you use one) and your tagline as well as all contact information. Depending upon your jurisdiction, you may include badges from lawyer rating organizations like Martindale, Super Lawyers and Avvo. If a new employee is still using a personal email address because their email hasn’t been set up yet, take care of that within a week of the employee’s arrival.

Stationery that aligns with digital marketing. Of course you have business cards, letterhead, envelopes and return address labels. But have you looked at them in concert with your digital marketing? If your printed materials are all old-school traditional and your digital marketing is cutting edge, you’ve got a branding war within your own brand! IMS can help—we have very talented graphic designers who can bring your printed materials up to speed so they complement your digital marketing.

Incomplete information creates obstacles. You spent a lot of time making your website shine. Don’t neglect putting your website address on everything, from printed materials to email signature blocks to the small note cards you attach to documents. If your firm uses custom-printed sticky notes or memo pads, the website address should be on them as well. Think of it in the same way you do your telephone number: it should appear everywhere the firm name appears.

Consistency counts. Every office has an eagle-eyed individual who seems to have a gift for spotting typos. Let that person be in charge of making sure that every single instance of the firm’s name and all of the relevant contact information is correct. If you’re not sure, submit a support ticket and we’ll take a look.

Mid-Year Check Up on Law Firm Digital Marketing

If your estate planning and Elder Law firm is like most, you have added social media campaigns to complement your website and other marketing efforts. You add a post to LinkedIn when you speak at a conference, published an article or are mentioned in the local newspaper. You use Twitter to share news items that you think your clients needs to know about. You post judiciously on Facebook, knowing that a wider audience of friends, family, colleagues and their connections, requires a careful balance of professional and personal news.

Summer, and this week in particular, when so many people are on vacation, is an ideal time to examine how all of your social media efforts are working with your website.

Ask your IMS account manager for a one-on-one marketing review. Submit a support ticket and let’s get a closer look at your social media campaigns and see how they are working on their own and as part of your overall marketing efforts. Do they align with your website? Are they sending a clear message to your constituents, or are they speaking with another voice, sending a mixed message?

No strategic plan for social? Free styling may work great on the dance floor but not on social media. Consider how much time it takes to generate posts every week. That’s not time you want to squander. Define your goals – increasing the number of views or likes, boosting traffic to your law firm website, or getting a series of specific messages out on social media—or all three? Once you have done an analysis of how your social media campaigns are performing, compare that with your firm’s strategic goals.

Email campaigns and social media. Digital marketing works best when it all works together. If you are using the E2-CRM, your IMS account manager will be able to get a complete view of what each digital platform is contributing to your overall marketing.

Don’t forget your website. We have more than a few clients who are so jazzed about their social media that they have to be reminded every now and again that their websites are the foundation of their digital marketing. Set up an appointment with your account manager to spend some time on the analytics of your website. Is it generating conversions? Are people visiting a few pages and then picking up the phone? Let’s find out what’s been working in the last six months and if necessary, tweak the site to enhance its performance.

Add Fireworks to Law Firm Marketing Budgets for a Bigger Bang

Marketing budgets vary by sector, and nowhere is that difference more evident than in law firm vs. consumer packaged goods marketing budgets. One survey showed that consumer packaged goods devote 24% of their total company budget on marketing. That number includes national companies who spend millions on television, print ads and promotions. By comparison, law firms spend about 2-4% of gross revenues on marketing.

Law firms don’t necessarily need to spend nearly a quarter of their revenue on marketing, but the difference in spending is a dramatic one, and is worth a closer look. Product companies think of their marketing as an integral part of doing business. In the face of massive competition, the on-going battle for shelf space in retail brick and mortar stores and top-of-mind consumer awareness, they have no choice.

Competition among law firms and online legal services and the rise of legal marketing has transformed the legal services sector. It is no longer sufficient to be a highly skilled and caring practitioner, just as being the tastiest sirloin alone does not sell a steak. You know what’s coming next: the sizzle.

Does your budget have room for sizzle? Digital marketing means that legal marketers can do more with limited resources, but there comes a point where budget size has a negative impact on results. Try running a law firm without billing software. It can be done, but the cost in time and staff resources becomes a losing proposition.

Where are law firms spending their marketing budgets?

• Website development and maintenance
• Marketing software—E2-CRM, CLIP^SM
• Social media—your time, staff time or outside agency
• Creative—branding, graphic design
• Digital advertising—AdWords, Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns
• SEO—Search Engine Optimization
• Print advertising
• Public relations
• Special events
• Promotional imprinted items
• Collateral materials (brochures, client materials binders/folders)
• Stationary, labels, business cards

When conducting a mid-year review of the law firm’s financial performance, look at the budget for marketing in relation to the firm’s six month revenues. It won’t be 24%, but if it’s too low, perhaps it’s time to consider what opportunities are being missed. Go back three or four years and be sure to compare apples to apples. Is there a connection between your marketing spend and the firm’s performance? What events occurred that spurred more income for the firm?

Mid-Year Marketing Checkup: Make Your Law Firm Marketing Roar

Gardeners know that their tools need to be in tip-top condition if they are to get the job done. Neglect regular cleaning, and your favorite garden tool will become rusted. The same thinking applies to marketing tools. Mid-year is the perfect time to take a look at your website, E2-CRM, email campaigns, social platforms and all of your marketing efforts to ensure peak performance.

E2-CRM is not a static process. When was the last time new contacts were brought into your E2-CRM? The most robust performance we see from E2-CRMs come from firms where contacts are growing in number practically every day. Configured correctly, every time your office speaks with a new prospect, those records are being populated. The more information in the E2-CRM, the more results it will yield. If you’ve got less than 100 contacts in your E2-CRM, something is not right. Please submit a support ticket so that we can review your database and work with you to fix this. There may be some sticking points in the office’s process that you may not be aware of—we can help!

Websites look different now than four years ago. You tell your clients their wills need to be updated. The same holds true for your website. Great content can overcome out-dated design, but only for so long. Besides, if you’ve got great content, why not give it the support of a contemporary design? And if you are among the holdouts who have never moved to responsive design website, summer would be an excellent time to get that done.

Graphic identity and branding: time for a review? IMS does digital and design for estate planning and Elder Law firms. Our skilled designers craft logos, create brochures, design letterhead, envelopes, business cards and any printed materials that the law firm needs. Everything we design for clients, from websites to print materials, aligns with your branding and our knowledge of this area of the law and your practice.

Crunch the numbers to look backwards and plan forward. Mid-year is the time to look at two sets of data: marketing and money. Dig into your business books and see how the first half of the year went. Next, review your marketing, starting with analytics and, using the E2-CRM, see how many new clients came in, where they came from, what categories they fall into and what if any trends can you see developing in your market. Based on the past six months, make a plan for going forward.

Email Campaigns That Generate Conversions

What makes one email campaign a soaring success, while the other sinks like a lead balloon? Two things: Content and Call to Action. The content has to be something that hits a nerve to estate planning prospects who are getting your emails. There also has to be an “ask”—a request that the recipient do something. Together, strong content and a persuasive Call to Action (CTA) can ramp up your email marketing campaigns so they deliver.

Let’s start with content. If there’s one thing you know as an estate planning attorney, people love to procrastinate about having their estate plans done. In some strange way, they do believe that not having a will might protect them from the inevitable. Or they’d just rather not think about dying and their own mortality. That’s a BIG obstacle to overcome, but you do it—and we do it too—every day. How?

First, make sure that your content has an element of time. Some of it arises naturally. The end of the year is a busy time for some estate planning practices, especially when big tax law changes are coming in the next calendar year. If many seniors in your community are snow birds and leave town in the winter, encourage them to get their wills up-to-date before they leave town. If you want to move readers to action, you have to create a sense of urgency. You want the recipient to feel like they must respond and they need to come see you to resolve a problem before it is too late.

Once you’ve told them why they need to act, the next step is to tell them what to do.

Any kind of digital communication that does not have a Call to Action, also known as CTA, is like a sales pitch that never asks for the sale. You’d be surprised at how many digital messages we see that never get around to asking us to do anything. For estate planning and Elder Law attorneys, the ask is pretty simple. You want visitors to fill out a contact us form, pick up the phone or send you comments.

An old saying—“Those who don’t ask, don’t get.”

One final point: we train our email recipients how to respond to us, just as we train our employees. If you send out one email a year, don’t expect too much to take place. But if you are sending out a monthly email blast with content that raises relevant issues and you ask your recipients to respond in a timely manner, sooner or later the content of your email is going to be read by someone who is facing the exact issue in your content. And if you ask them, nicely and repeatedly, they will respond!

Now Appearing, Live and In Person: You!

While there may be some areas where lawyers can be chained to their desks, estate planning and Elder Law practices are not like that. Your practice is deeply personal, and your clients want to know who you are, which is why lawyer videos are so important to your websites. But what about maintaining long-term relationships with clients who have met you once or maybe twice in the last decade?

Make sure your clients don’t forget you by meeting them face-to-face in live settings on a regular basis. How do you make that happen?

Client Appreciation Events–Target your event to your client base. Are they all snowbirds who head south for the winter? If so, plan an event for when they return in the springtime. If your clients spend their summer weekends at the lake house, then don’t plan an event for a Friday night. How to find out what your client base is up to? Take a survey, using your E2-CRM. Once you have an idea of when your event will attract the most people, come up with something clever and unexpected. Another night at a restaurant might not appeal to clients who would go there anyway. But a night with a well-known local chef giving a cooking lesson could be a winner. Two extra notes: make it an annual event and tie in with a local not-for-profit.

Maintenance programs are good for your clients and good for you. If you only meet with a client once when they are forty and then never see them again, chances are good that their estate plan is going to be out of date when their family reads the will. That’s why some practices institute a maintenance program to ensure that clients return on a regular basis. Their legal documents don’t go stale, and neither does your relationship.

If they add value, workshops can work. Legal consumers are more sophisticated than they were ten or twenty years ago, so you can’t expect to do a “same old” workshop and draw people who are looking for a free lunch (or breakfast pastries). If your market is saturated with estate planning attorneys running workshops, yours will need to stand out to succeed. Don’t do a one-time only workshop and expect it to impact your practice. An on-going series of workshops will be more productive, combined with the E2-CRM to gather information and conduct follow up.

Attending community events is great—being part of the event is even better. If time allows, being a part of a community organization and involved with the planning is a two-fer opportunity. Not only do all of the organizers and volunteers get to meet you, but you may be able to contribute by presenting or moderating a program.