January 10 Law Firm 2013 - AttorneySync · AttorneySync - SEO, Web Design & Internet Marketing For...

Image by Pink Sherbet Photography

2013:

Law Firm

Marketing

Plan For

Growth.

January 10

2013This law firm marketing plan will guide you through all of the stages of

reviewing your past performance, positioning your firm for growth and

success, and a tactical approach to maximizing your return in investment.

By: James

Bellefeuille

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pinksherbet/

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AttorneySync - SEO, Web Design & Internet Marketing For Law Firms Nationwide.

2835 N Sheffield, #216 Chicago, IL 60657 (773) 828-8878 or [email protected]

Table of Contents:

1. Review 2012

2. Define your market size

3. SWOT Analysis

4. Porters 5 Forces

5. Market Positioning

6. Define Your Target Market

7. Marketing Goals & Objectives

8. Tactical Digital Marketing Strategy

9. Your Website

10. Inbound Marketing (SEO)

11. Technical SEO

12. Conversion Rate Optimization

13. Paid Advertising (PPC & Display)

14. Social Media

15. Return on Investment (The Bottom Line)

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Review 2012

Most competitive law firms have completed or are finishing law firm marketing plans for 2013. We have developed

this guide to help you complete your law firm marketing plan. If you have questions give us a call at 773-828-8878.

Otherwise, enjoy this document. Happy New Year from AttorneySync!

Review the success of your firm’s online strategy in 2012. It's beneficial to document your thoughts using a notepad as you read this blog.

How did your organization do in 2012?

According to past plans if applicable? Did you meet or exceed your goals? Did you stay

within budget?

What surprised you about 2012? Where could you have prepared more? What would be

one thing you wish you knew in 2012? What would your overall goal be for 2013, pick

just one.

Define your market size

Try to determine the overall market size for your practice. Often you can determine this from public data. For

example over a 12 month running average ending September 30th

, 2012 there were 14,664 Chapter 7 filings in the

State of Minnesota according to the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts. If you were an attorney licensed to practice in

Minnesota and practiced only simple chapter 7 bankruptcies. Your total market would be 14,664 chapter 7

bankruptcies.

Let’s say you are like most firms and only practice in your local area, the Twin Cities of metro area which accounts for about 67% of the MN population. You would be looking at an absolute market size of 9825 chapter 7

bankruptcy cases. If the average fee is $1000 which isn't far from the truth, we can estimate the market to be

valued between $14,664,000 dollars per year.

Since we have now established our market, let’s look at our market share. If were a modest firm we may file 300 bankruptcy cases per year giving us approximately 2% market share and revenue of $300,000.

Take this example and attempt to find the best data available to measure your market size, value and estimated

market share. It also helps to set an estimated marketing budget using these numbers; I recommend 2% - 20% of

your attorney fees should be re-invested into the firm. The larger the firm, the smaller the investment, for this

example I will be using 10% or $30,000. Think about setting a target measurement to achieve in 2013, increasing

revenue, market share, or profit margins.

http://www.uscourts.gov/Statistics/BankruptcyStatistics.aspx

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/average-attorney-fees-chapter-7-bankruptcy.html

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Image by jean-louis zimmermann

SWOT Analysis

A SWOT analysis is a basic 2x2 matrix that allows you to view important characteristics of your firm for better or

worse in a single glance. It helps savvy lawyers evaluate their law firm’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and future threats. It is a great resource to get a 10,000 foot view of your organizations market position and both

immediate and future challenges.

A SWOT analysis has two perspectives, an internal outlook within the organization and external view looking out

into the environment. Strengths and weaknesses should be internal while opportunities and threats should be

observed from the inside looking out.

Strengths

What are some aspects of your law firm that you know have a distinct advantage over your competition? This

could be your firm’s unique value proposition, a lawyer that people ask for by name, a law firm brand that has been developed. It could also be efficient internal processes or procedures. This is something that your firm excels

at where your competition might have difficulty.

o A differentiation that is unique to your firm that is difficult, costly or impossible for competition

to imitate.

o Experienced attorneys that provide real value.

o A unique practice offering.

o A great location.

o Proprietary technology or processes.

o Anything that adds REAL value to your firm.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeanlouis_zimmermann/

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Weaknesses:

I like to look at weaknesses as opportunities for growth. Often a weakness can be leveraged into a conversion

opportunity to be a first mover and make some changes that strengthen the organization. These are challenges

that place the firm at a disadvantage, this could be a Rainmaker retiring, changing the firm name, or possibly low

morale or high turnover of employees. One weakness that many new attorneys face is lack of knowledge in their

legal practice.

o Some weaknesses are tangible and easily addressed. For example, old outdated equipment; lack

of office space, your website is ugly, ineffective, or low search engine visibility.

o Lack of legal knowledge.

o Low morale.

o An undifferentiated law firm brand (John Doe Attorney At Law).

o A damaged reputation.

o Lack of management experience.

o High labor costs.

o A bad location, parking etc.

Opportunities:

Opportunities become apparent when you look for ways to improve your law firm by growing or leveraging your

current resources. For example, as a Chapter 7 bankruptcy attorney you can grow into new market areas, like

foreclosure, loan modifications, credit counseling, judgment removal, tac problem resolutions, another chapter.

o New Practice Types.

o A retiring competitor.

o A new way to promote your business (SEO, Internet, Social Media).

Threats: Law firms face many threats from new competition moving into their territory or major changes in the

law that you practice, such as the new bankruptcy laws of 2005. Most of the time, a threats bark is louder than the

proportional bite, and with some future planning and strategy you can often turn the threat into an opportunity.

o New Competition.

o Cost leader competition.

o Changes in the law.

o Take a moment to draw out your own SWOT analysis two by two and complete it for your firm

for the following year.

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Porters’ 5 Forces + a 6th Force

Porter’s 5 Forces is a lesser known strategy planning tool than the SWOT analysis, however in my opinion is much

more effective towards competitive environments like the practice of law, in fact I would propose the Six Forces

model that builds upon Porter’s work for more law firms with a strong connection to government or practice types

with frequent changes in the law. Porter’s 5 forces consist of two different types of competition; horizontal competition and vertical competition.

Horizontal competition coming from the threat of established competitors in your peer group (think of your

direct competitors with similar resources as your firm), substitute products or services, and the threat of new

competition joining the fray. Vertical competition comes from the bargaining power of clients and suppliers.

Horizontal Competition

Competitive rivalry in your peer group:

Your direct competitors in your peer group those law firms who’s target market closely overlaps your own and are

in direct competition with you on a daily basis can affect your organization through their actions and reactions.

Pricing Wars

The most common way other firms affect their competition is through pricing, we have all seen the law school

class of 2008,2009, and 2010 when faced with horrible job prospects and crushing student loan debt, hang their

own shingle with a cost focus differentiation competing with entrenched firms, more often than not charging

attorney fees that are half that of the established firms.

Pricing wars happen when there is little differentiation between services and low costs to switch between firm,

which is often the case with many high volume practices like bankruptcy. Additionally, many of the larger factory-

firms that crank out simple cases have the ability to cut pricing because of the efficiencies created by the strengths

of lean law firm management.

Another force that causes pricing wars is that an attorney’s time is perishable, every minute spent un-billed is a

minute of billable time that will never happen again, this encourages all firms, especially solos and smaller firms to

cut pricing to keep busy.

The big picture is that there will always be another firm willing to crank out a commoditized legal service for a

lower fee than you. Savvy lawyers, don’t compete on price. They differentiate through offering a unique value proposition for their firm. Learn how to differentiate your firm through developing a law firm brand and unique

value proposition.

http://www.attorneysync.com/blog/brand-lawyer-law-firm/

http://www.attorneysync.com/blog/how-can-a-focused-differentiation-strategy-help-my-firm/

http://www.attorneysync.com/blog/how-can-a-focused-differentiation-strategy-help-my-firm/

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Advertising: Could you use more clients…Of course you could.

Advertising is another trap that attorneys fall into head first. It’s the reason that attorneys are targeted by every snake oil salesman with a new marketing gimmick or strategy. So, could you use more clients? Of course you could,

but at what cost? We all know the firms that built their companies on Television and Radio advertisements with

Tacky ads. Your peer group can cause pain through increased advertising. In fact many of the largest firms rely a lot

on Television advertising to support their firms. There is however an opportunity to develop and entrench yourself

via digital advertising as the fastest growing channel of advertising, especially considering that most firms are slow

to adopt new forms of marketing online.

The trap is that there are many ways to spend your advertising budget, however a dollar spent on a a 30 second

late night spot or daytime television spot and a dollar spent on Adwords or pay for performance marketing

produce different returns on investment, don’t simply copy what your entrenched competitors are doing. Do

something new, run an experimental campaign, track ROI, and then repeat until you have something that is both

profitable and growing your firm. Attempt to develop a “blue ocean strategy” to marketing your firm. That means

go somewhere your competitors are not and build your business from there. Surprisingly, few large firms are using

the internet as effectively as they could; this gives smaller guerrilla like firms an opportunity to carve out new

territory for their law firm’s niche, through better advertising. Don’t fall into the game of I-need-to-spend-more-

and-advertise-next-to-my-biggest-competition, you just don’t have to. Fight smart, not hard.

”Innovation Distinguishes a Leader and a Follower” – Steve Jobs

Innovation and legal practices have rarely gotten along; the legal industry has always been a late adopter of

technology and approach new ideas and ways of doing things with intense skepticism. For example, how many

firms still haven’t gone paperless? Or how many firms still don’t understand the value of a website? We do not want to be the laggards of professionals when it comes to innovation.

Innovative thinking should be at the core of your firm. Many firms when faced with difficult challenges respond by

reducing expenses, or trying to figure out how to stop what they are doing wrong and in the meantime lay off

quality staff and other cost reduction measures that might cost them in the long run, when they should be

attempting to innovate and grow.

When faced with challenges a firm should attempt to innovate and grow. What are some challenges that you face?

What are some innovations that your competition has adopted that are increasing their market share? How can

you incorporate innovation into your firm’s DNA? What are some goals you would like to set to increase innovation

in 2013?

When a competitor innovates a new product, practice type, or how they do business. Take note, as you can often

learn from their mistakes and successes. Don’t wait too long though because you might be left on the sidelines. If

you are looking for an example of innovation, do a quick Google search for alternative fee arrangements, and other

innovative lawyer firms and concepts. I personally like Valorem in Chicago. It’s an interesting a firm to watch as they perfect client service through innovation. A great blog to follow where small competitive firms learn how to

market and compete is The Lawyerist. Check out their Lawyer's LAB.

Threat of new entrants:

http://www.valoremlaw.com/what/index.html

http://lawyeristlab.com/

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Each firm has to evaluate their own exposure to the threat of new entrants into their market and practice. Since

the recession, many firms have decided to add bankruptcy to their practices because of the volume of business

available. This is in line with the expectation that profitable practices attract new competition until the downward

pressure from increase competition has created a perfectly competitive market. Here is a graph of bankruptcy

filings from 2006 – 2011, you will notice that 2010’s market is nearly three times the size of 2006’s market. That means that either all of the experienced bankruptcy firms would have needed to grow to complete this many

filings, or more likely there were a large number of small firms that decided to get into a profitable growing market

to help service the strong demand for bankruptcy attorneys caused by the supply of people interested in

bankruptcy because of the failing economic conditions.

This illustrates that reasons why new entrants enter a practice space. It’s to make money, and for some graduating class years, it’s to survive. I believe it’s safe to say that 2010 was the height of the bankruptcy market and those firms that began to practice bankruptcy law in the past 5 years will most likely return to focus on their core

practices. Bankruptcy was a recession proof practice for many law firms and solos to make a pad their waning

coffers during the recession.

How do you prevent new competitors joining your market?

Differentiation: Creating a unique value proposition and brand should be the mantra of your firm starting in 2013.

We are strong advocates of developing differentiated competitive positions that will allow you to attract new

business without competing on price, because legal services do not need to be treated as a commodity. All lawyers

are NOT created equal. So make it a goal to create a law firm brand and a value proposition to differentiate

yourself from your competitors. What are some ideas you have for your law firm brand? How will you differentiate

your firm from your competition?

http://www.attorneysync.com/?attachment_id=8910

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By Creating barriers to entry

Many law firms are successful in creating barriers to entry. Some lobby their state bar associations to create

barriers to entry for certain practices, or for attorneys from out of state. Often these include capital requirements

such as having a physical staffed bona fide location, licensing, or having an attorney you resides and practices in

the state (I am looking at you Indiana). Entrenched firms can make it difficult for startup firms to compete by

purchasing advertising with all of the advertising distributors in town creating a de facto monopoly.

In fact the attorneys have some of the strongest barriers to entry around including, the LSAT, law school and the

bar exam. Although all of these are great barriers, they do not protect against the threat of substitute services.

Advertising Monopoly.

Salient Brands.

Office Locations.

Government or industry regulations.

Economies of Scale.

Capital Barriers.

Bar Exam.

LSAT.

Law School.

Certifications.

What are some barriers to entry you could develop? What are some that you currently have that have threats

that could remove or lower barriers to entry that you would like to protect?

Threat of substitute services:

There is a growing threat of substitute legal services growing in the Unites States. The threat of substitutes is very

real, some the legal industry face together like legal documentation services, Pro Se legal representation, Legal Aid,

and mediation. Others are specific to your practice, for example in the bankruptcy industry, bankruptcy preparers,

credit counseling, debt consolidation, etc. There are even some practice types that do not require an attorney’s representation.

More often than not substitute products complete a similar or exact function as your legal services. This means

that there is little differentiation between your results and their results, creating what appears to be

a commoditized service. Because a substitute is using non-attorneys to complete many of their services, this

causes law firms facing competition for substitutes to face decreased revenues and prevents profit maximization.

Additionally, if the quality of a substitute is high, this causes law firms to compete on both quality and price. For

example, disability advocates, across the nation are non-attorney firms that have the touch and feel of an

attorney, in many cases their branding and likeness is that of an attorney. For example, many attorneys will be

surprised to discover that Binder & Binder are not an attorney firm, they are a non-attorney firm owned by

attorneys. If it's confusing for an educated attorney in the legal profession, imagine how confusing it is for their

mentally disabled clients. Binder & Binder is a non-attorney disability advocate; There marketing and brand

mislead consumers into believing that they are in fact attorneys, without expressly saying so. This likely causes

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confusion when a disabled person is attempting to choose representation for their disability claim, thus causing

the quality of representation between a disability law firm and a non-attorney advocate to be indistinguishable to

their vulnerable target market.

Finally, when the cost of switching between an attorney and a substitute is low, it’s likely that a client will switch from an attorney to a substitute when made aware of a substitute if an attorney hasn't differentiated their services

or made built a relationship with the client. What are some substitute threats that your firm faces in 2013? What

can you do to defend against them? How can you turn a threat into an opportunity through vertical integration?

Vertical Competition

Bargaining Power of Clients:

The bargaining power of clients depends on the competitive environment your firm faces. Luckily, if you are like

most firms you have limited competition and operate in a local market area. Your customers will most likely also

seek an attorney that they can meet face to face. This limits not only competition but also the bargaining power of

clients. For example, if you are a small town lawyer, you might not be the only attorney in town, but you might be

the only attorney that practices divorce law, thus decreasing the bargaining power of your clients to nearly zero.

Clients can be powerful if there are only a few clients in a single market, with reasonable number of your direct

competitors. They will then have the ability to negotiate attorney fees, as they will make up a greater amount of

your income. Or if you gain a large enough amount of your income from a single client over time it will begin to be

able to influence your fees. It’s always a good idea to have more than a few clients to diversify your income streams to prevent reliance on any one industry, practice type or client. If you do over rely on a single client or

practice type, it might be a good idea to consider diversification, potentially to something that is strong during a

recession.

Another less thought about source of client power is if the client has the ability to build a legal department in-

house, this is not a common scenario, but also a threat that shouldn't be overlooked especially if you rely on a lot

of business from such a client.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers:

The legal industry experiences little pressure from pressure from suppliers as most of our supplies are

commoditized, or readily available; paper, computers, office supplies, storage space, in fact much of these basics

are going electronic further removing power from suppliers. Although there are some suppliers that are often

overlooked as they don’t fit the typical mold of a supplier. Law schools and advertisers hold significant sway over law firms and can introduce supplier pressure.

Law Schools supply a firm’s most valuable asset, its attorneys. In today’s age there is a glutton of fresh young attorneys that have flooded the market allowing first year salaries to plunge 35%. Although, according to The

Association for Legal Career Professionals; BigLaw still pays a Premium around $160,000 to first year graduates,

while the mean salary was $60,000 2011 graduates. For the foreseeable future it appears little pressure will be

coming from law schools or difficulty in finding legal talent, although if you are a small-town-firm this may not

apply to you.

http://lawyerist.com/small-town-jobs-lawyers/

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Advertisers are able to exert pressure on law firms as in a local target market there are typically few advertisers

that own Newspapers, Television, and Outdoor advertising. When there is a market saturated with competition

between firms, nobody wins, but the advertising company. Luckily, the internet is still a very viable and profit rich

option if you are interest in competing using a blue ocean strategy, where your competition isn't causing your

advertising supplier to charge a premium for an advertisement.

The 6th

Force

The Public, Government or Complementors:

The 6th

force was an addition to the original 5 forces model, some agree and others disagree with it’s inclusion. Considering the legal industry, I felt it’s important to include it. It’s most often refereed to as the public or

government influences or "interference". An example would be the 2005 new bankruptcy rules. If your firm is

facing changes in the law that you practice or are very dependent on contested rulings that have a threat of

turning around in 2013 or the future. It’s a good idea to note these changes presented in 2013 by the public or

governments. Also complementors, is kind of a positive after-thought, where there may be people or business

that mutually benefiting your clients. In some cases this is an opportunity to add further value to your attorney-

client relationship by introducing a client to a complementor. Do you have any complementors that you could be

helping add value to your clients?

Criticisms to the 5 Forces Model

It’s obvious to anyone in business that all of these “actors” rarely act alone, and often they can work

together towards mutually beneficial goals.

In the real world uncertainty is high and it’s difficult to guess what your competitors are planning. The legal practice has relatively high barriers to entry however the industry is susceptible to substitutes

and threats of competition from out of state. The 5 forces model assumes value is gained through raising

barriers to entry, which isn't always the case, in fact I would argue that more value is gained through

differentiating your firm from your competition and distancing your firm from legal service

commoditization.

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Market Position

Carving out and defining a unique marketing position to your clients is critical to prospering in a competitive legal

environment. You can take a market position by creating a strong image to your target clients via a strong brand,

marketing campaign, or differentiated services.

Market positioning in the legal industry is paramount as hundreds of thousands of lawyers enforce the perceived

commoditization of the industry through poor differentiation, tacky marketing, and weak delivery of client

services. A blog wouldn't be complete without mentioning how important developing a unique value proposition is

when creating a legal marketing plan. For a test of differentation, take a look at the yellow pages, remove the

firm's name, can you determine if your which firm is which based on their marketing messages?

A unique value proposition is a message that clearly communicates what makes your firm a better fit for their legal

issues than your peers, what additional value do you provide over and beyond legal services that they cannot find

anywhere else? Is it industry experience? Is it the fact that you’re a woman and your firm is staffed by women? Is it that you provide an alternative fee arrangement? Have you created a valued brand based on a solid reputation of

legal work? Competing on cost isn't a differentiation strategy. It’s a lazy attorney’s answer to not wanting to do the heavy lifting of developing a successful law firm, a grasshopper’s approach to preparing for the coming winter, you are not going to make it. Don’t be the grasshopper. This is a photo By bareego of ant eating a grasshopper. Don’t be the grasshopper. Be the ant. Eat your competition for breakfast.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bareego/

http://www.attorneysync.com/?attachment_id=8931

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How to Brand Your Law Firm

If you haven’t branded your firm, let’s get started? The easiest way to differentiate your firm is through branding. Creating a unique identity that allows your target market to relate to your firm through the unique concepts

created that carry your firm’s message.

1. Identify your competition in your peer group – See your Porter’s 5 Forces Model 2. Discover how they position themselves. (Busiest Bankruptcy Firm, Alternative Fee Arrangements, One day

filing, Fight Foreclosures, Compassionate, Finding solutions…)

3. Take a look at your current positioning? Outside of new law firms, most firms have a marketing

positioning message. From an anecdotal perspective the fall into the following most common categories.

o Practice Experienced

o Aggressive

o No Fee Unless You Collect

o Flat organization

o Emphasis on Size, # of Offices, # of attorneys, etc.

o Free Consultation

o Tough

o Customer Service

o Will...uh…Fight…for…something

Boring right? The problem with these positions is that they offer nothing unique to the client. They are the starting

line, the lowest bar, every client should expect their attorney to be experienced, fight for them, communicate well,

be aggressive, and offer a free consultation. Take a look at your competition. Most likely they will use the same

advertising copy as everyone else.

Why would that motivate someone to actually call you? If you are looking at your own marketing messages and

you see that you have nothing that differentiates you to potential clients outside of these over-used adjectives,

your firm has a serious problem.

When comparing your positioning to your competition’s positioning you can see where there may be room to develop a niche branding position. Some of my favorite branding ideas for local attorneys are the following; you

can find noticeably different positioning

Food Truck Law - Imagine the fringe benefits...

Stock Market Loss – “Your Broker Will Pay. We’ll Bet Our Fee On It.” (Stock Market Fraud)

Divorce Attorney for Men – “A partner men can count on.” (Family Law)

Rachel Rodgers – “We help young and women entrepreneurs bring their ambitious business plans to fruition and protect their ideas, ventures and brands.” (Small Biz)

Bicycle Rights Attorney (PI) – “Bike law wizard bringing you info on your rights as a Boston cyclist. Hit, hooked, doored? I've got your back.” (PI)

Aid to Injured Motorcyclists – “Hire Attorneys That Ride.” (PI) Sex Crime Defense - "It's Your Life: Get The Best Defense Possible." (Criminal Law)

https://sites.google.com/site/dermerbehrendt/food-trucks

http://www.stockmarketloss.com/

http://www.cordellcordell.com/

http://rachelrodgerslaw.com/

http://bikesafeboston.com/

http://www.aimncom.com/

http://www.premierdefensegroup.com/

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What all of these firms have in common is a distinct differentiating value proposition that speaks to their target

market, clearly taking a position and making a stand. Chuck Newton of StayViolation.com has collected a small list

of some of the most varied types of niche law practices over the past few years, from wine law to bed bugs law,

you can find them here. There market knows who they are and what they represent. To discover this for your

firm, answer the following questions.

What are you passionate about?

Do you have a hobby that can be related to law?

Is there anything that your firm is capable of doing better than anyone else?

Do you have a firm wide belief that you would like to make public?

What matters to you?

What is the craziest firm marketing concept you can come up with, something that will make you think

“that is so crazy, it just might work?” Are there any emerging practices of law you are interested in?

Create a Unique Value Proposition. A statement that communicates your firm’s key message and the value proposition you provide to your clients to be used for marketing towards your target market on across all

mediums.

Target Market

Many law firms, especially general practitioners that haven’t decided to focus on a niche will say they target

“anyone in need of legal services”… some might even just answer, “Anyone who calls or e-mails me.” This is really

the wrong way to go about marketing, any strategy or targeting is better than no targeting at all. You cannot be

everything to everyone. Choose who you want your client to be, and craft an firm that uniquely caters to their

needs.

Location, Location, Location.

One simple thing most law firms can do is limit their geography, there are of course exceptions to this rule, such as

high profile mesothelioma lawyers who need to market and target anyone suffering from Mesothelioma

symptoms in the US, but for most of us, limiting the geography to a city, county, region, state or metro area is a

wise decision.

Your Clientele

Who have you worked with in the past? It’s possible that if you have received a great deal of business from similar clientele that you might want to begin targeting them. I knew an attorney that did a lot of work for condo

associations, he hadn't thought of branding himself as a condo association lawyer. It would have been a really

great opportunity to target them with a unique marketing message target towards their needs. Sometimes you

already have a niche, and you don’t know it.

http://stayviolation.typepad.com/chucknewton/2010/08/recap-of-niche-law-practices.html

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The Competition

Although, I am an advocate of blazing a new trail, I think it’s astute to take a look at your competition to see if anything they are doing can give you some ideas and at the very least encourage inspiration for you to develop a

unique target market. It’s usually not a great idea to imitate your competition, but you might be able to find a

target market that is being neglected by your competition and focus your efforts there.

“If a man has good corn or wood, or boards, or pigs, to sell, or can make better chairs or knives, crucibles or church organs, than anybody else, you will find a broad hard-beaten road to his house, though it be in the

woods”. —Ralph Waldo Emerson

Your Practice

What legal services do you really have a passion for? Do you want to help people? Create a list of the practice

types and, niches within the practice types that you firm does and next to each category write down the benefits

that you provide for your clients. For Example, a bankruptcy attorney provides guidance to debtors seeking relief

under Federal bankruptcy law. Benefits of the relief are widespread, but include; a fresh start, ending creditor

harassment, possibly keeping your home and car, removing long term debts, more money in your pocket, start

rebuilding your credit, stopping garnishment and bank levees. To get to the greater "Big Picture" meaning it could

mean the ability to save for a child's education, or possibly starting a life with their loved one without debt, or

leaving behind the financial baggage of a failed marriage. The benefits are often overlooked, but are really the

reason why a client contacts your firm. While I would argue that choosing a practice type and a geographic region

is still to general, it gives you a solid foundation to build your target market. It is beneficial to choose a practice

type that doesn't have a niche focused competitor in the local market area. For example, to my knowledge there

are ZERO financial stock market loss focused law firms in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area.

Demographics:

Although this might be more difficult for some practices than others, often the data for your demographic market

already exists. For example, I do a quick search on “Bankruptcy Demographics”, I found a nationwide report form 2011, comparing the data to 2006-2009. These paints a very detailed picture of who the typical consumer

bankruptcy debtor is throughout the United States.

So what does the typical US debtor look like? They are an employed married Caucasian couple between 44-49

years old with some college education. They make around $40,000 per year. They are most likely filing bankruptcy

because of unemployment and credit card debt. If your geographic market has demographics similar to the US,

nationwide reports like this will work for you, on the other hand if your market is different, adjust accordingly.

Common demographic data includes, age, gender, income, ethnicity, marital status, occupation, education, and

language. Also, Google now offers consumer surveys which can receive over 3000 targeted demographic responses

for between $0.10 - $0.50 per response. Depending on how specific of a target market you are seeking. This is a

great example created by Moses & Rooth illustrating how a typical client chooses a specialty lawyer.

http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2012/11/apple_trounced_microsoft_at_mall_of_america_on_black_friday.php

http://www.financiallit.org/PDF/2010_Demographics_Report.pdf

http://www.financiallit.org/PDF/2010_Demographics_Report.pdf

http://www.mosesandrooth.com/Articles/Google-Survey.shtml

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Advanced Target Market Strategies

This is the difference between book smarts and street smarts. Psycho-graphics are difficult to target and even

more difficult to measure. It includes the characteristics, personalities, emotional state and behavior, attitude,

lifestyle, interests, hobbies, etc.

Because these are difficult to measure attorneys with more experience might be able to group their clients into a

handful of psycho-graphic profiles based on these criteria, additionally the target market funnel has been getting

very specific and you don’t want your funnel to be too narrow that you are not getting the volume of cases you’re interested in receiving

Outside of psycho-graphics you can find other ways to narrowly focus on a specific market, such as language,

culture, income, etc. You must be careful that you don't focus too much as you may not have enough volume to

run a practice.

If you break down a target market for example a bankruptcy attorney in IL targeting Polish speaking clients in or

around Chicago.

US Population>IL Population = 12 Million> Ch. 7 Bankruptcies in 2011 = 54,293> People in Chicago that may file

bankruptcy = 11,420> Polish speaking clients that need to file bankruptcy is estimated to be around 300 potential

clients within the city of Chicago, and up to 5,880 in the Chicago metro area estimated within a given year.

Choosing to limit your firm to just one segment of the market is a difficult internal challenge to overcome. A firm

cannot attempt to be all things to all people. Once you narrow your target market, you will be able to choose

marketing distribution channels that will most effectively reach them. Your message will more likely resonate with

this specifically targeted segments of the market; you will have higher return on investment for every marketing

dollar spent by defining your target market early and revisiting it often. If you’re a start-up solo firm or an

established law firm, it never hurts to clearly establish your target market to improve your marketing

Marketing Goals & Objectives

Each firm should develop a set of goals it would like to achieve in 2013. For most firms this comes down to a

financial objective and all other objectives are sub-goals to this driving financial objective. I recommend measuring

success by measuring return on investment. If our hypothetical firm was going to invest $30,000 over the course of

12 months, the targeted return on investment would be around 15/1. Our goal for new revenue from marketing

activities would be around $450,000 in attorney fees. In a sentence our firm’s goal is to produce an ROI of 15/1 turning or $30,000 marketing investment into 1800 billable hours at $250/hour for a total annual revenue of

$450,000, an increase of 50% over the established bankruptcy firm example with an overall revenue of $300,000.

Today attorneys have an opportunity to realize returns on investment previously not thought possibly. More

importantly, tracking your marketing dollars has never been easier. If you don’t currently view your website as a

reliable source for new cases, this is your wake up call. You can track everything. Your marketing objective should

be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. Don't hesitate. Start today.

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Tactical Digital Marketing Strategy

Although search engine marketing isn’t for every law firm, a great majority of firms seeking to grow their business would benefit by investing into a long term digital marketing strategy with a focus on developing great content for

inbound marketing, insuring your website is technical SEO appropriate, that you your firm’s online marketing channels are responsive to accommodate the nearly 10-20% of searchers using mobile devices, and lastly using

social media effectively to keep engaged with your target audience.

Although traditional marketing channels like Print, TV, and Direct Mail, Yellow Book ads, radio and outdoor

advertising still hold value, from a return on investment perspective, for the vast majority of law firms, especially

younger firms, legal Internet marketing is a better way to gaining the best return on investment.

Search Engine Optimization is most commonly associated with legal internet marketing, when it is only one

essential part of a trinity of online advertising; Includes inbound/SEO marketing, Paid Advertising, and Social

Media.

Tactical Strategy Table of Contents

1. Your Website

2. Inbound Marketing (SEO)

3. Technical SEO

4. Conversion Rate Optimization

5. Paid Advertising (PPC & Display)

6. Social Media

7. Return on Investment (The Bottom Line)

Your Website

If your website is more than 3 years old it’s probably a good idea to request a free site audit. Also, if your firm does not currently have a mobile responsive website, you need a site redesign as you may be losing 10-20% of your

monthly visitors to a competitor with a mobile optimized website. Your website is the core of your digital

marketing strategy. It’s essential to have a site that incorporates the best practices of design and SEO such as conversion rate optimization, easy blogging, authorship integration, and social media sharing.

Inbound Content Marketing (SEO)

The purpose of inbound marketing (commonly called SEO) is to attract traffic by producing value for visitors and

potential clients through content. This is in contrast to most marketing which purchases attention, the goal of

inbound marketing is to provide a great visitor experience and give real value to visitors through blogs,

whitepapers, infographics, videos, making your firm easy to be found online through technical SEO best practices.

Inbound marketing is a great fit for small law firms that work with legal services that work with higher attorney

fees per client, which offer knowledge and advice for legal services with long search cycles to generate leads. A

good starting budget for SEO for a small to medium sized firm would be around $1500 per month. Clients seeking

an attorney that fit these demographics are likely to be hired as an attorney that has published evidence of their

experience and practice knowledge. (1, 2) Your firm’s website is the hub from which all digital marketing is

http://www.attorneysync.com/blog/

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oriented, it should be a strong modern website that allows you, your staff and marketing partners to easily update

content and technical items.

Technical SEO - "If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?"

This is less about content and more about how the data is structured, it includes many technical SEO terms like;

content duplication, title tags, keyword targeting, accessibility, site architecture, 301 redirects, iframes, flash, 404

errors, site speed, sitemaps, alt text, canonicalization, link building, descriptive URLs, and meta tags. I am a

professional digital marketer, and even I think this technical jargon sounds like Greek, correction I mean geek. With

that in mind, just because it may be difficult to understand, look at it like a practice of law that you may be

unfamiliar with, you need to consult with someone who does understand the technical jargon to really know your

options. We are talking about your firm and your livelihood.

You’re not the alone in being confused with regards to technical SEO. However, don't believe that simply because it's something that you don't understand that it doesn't affect your firm's bottom line. What is important with

regards to technical SEO is making your content easy to find for visitors, all of these technical aspects have that

comprehensive goal in mind. So, although it may not be easy to understand as an attorney trained to practice law

and not program websites, understanding the benefits of making your content easy to find is obvious. This

post isn't about technical SEO, however I would be doing you a disservice if I didn't include it, because even with

the best content, if your clients are unable to find it, it’s the same as if you had never developed the great content in the first place. If you would like a free site audit give us a call. We would be glad to answer your questions

regarding technical SEO.

Conversion Optimization

Furthermore inbound marketing is more than just developing content as described above, it also includes

conversion optimization, which is the process of increasing the percentage of visitors that complete a specified

action on a website. For most firms, this would be calling the firm or sending an e-mail, but with more advanced

campaigns it could also be downloading a white paper, or visiting a specific page of the law firm’s website. Because of conversion optimization’s position in the lead funnel a 1-2% increase in the conversion rate can often double or

triple the number of clients an attorney retains through legal online marketing. For the record a 1-2% conversion

rate is typical, however it’s not unheard of to receive a 10% conversion rate. Below is a table to illustrate the

importance of conversion rate optimization. Please note the huge increase in revenue for small increases in

conversion rate.

Conversion Rate Example

*For this example we assumed an appointment set and retention rate of 50%.

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Analyze That Data & Improve!

The last part of inbound marketing is Kaizan, or which is Japanese for improvement, but has adopted the meaning

of continuous improvement. It became popular through manufacturing but has been applied to many industries.

Kaizen in inbound marketing refers to tracking all of your campaigns and always trying to improve through

experimenting, and reviewing data. The most important data is how many visitors converted, how many of those

converted visitors made an appointment, and how many of those inbound sourced appointments did your firm

retain. Goals for improvement would be to generate more traffic, improving conversion rates, number of

appointments set, or retention rates.

Paid Advertising

Paid advertising isn't typically thought of with regards to search engine optimization, even though it makes up

likely half of the search engine marketing environment. It is a very important opportunity for any firm to consider

and can add a good deal of revenue to your bottom line, however at a lower margin than inbound marketing. Paid

advertising comes in three categories, paid search, paid display and paid social.

Search

Paid advertising for search is what most attorneys think of when they think of advertising online. If your firm is

looking to source cases from the Internet tomorrow, and gain immediate results a well-managed Google Adwords

campaign is a great tool to implement a focused practice specific strategy in your target market.

With the right strategy, including a defined target market, budget and ROI expectations you can target your

audience in the areas that you practice, set up goal tracking and get an immediate return on investment. However,

PPC is not a replacement for quality organic search engine optimization which is an immeasurably greater value.

For most law firms, a combined strategy that utilizes both SEO and paid search advertising is recommended. We

recommend to really see returns from your paid advertising campaign that you devote at least $1500 per month

towards your campaign. Some practices are so competitive that it will require higher budgets in most markets. You

can attempt to execute an Adwords strategy on your own, or with your in-house marketing team. We do not

recommend this for firms that don’t have an experienced Adwords person on staff, as a lot of your marketing

budget can be used without showing returns if your campaign is set up incorrectly. For many we recommend a

professionally managed Adwords express campaign.

Display

Paid Display advertising is significantly less expensive than paid search marketing but also requires greater

management skill to run a successful campaign, but if done appropriately to targeted audiences can increase your

firm’s caseload significantly. What is makes display advertising different from the more prevalent paid search

advertising is that you can target your advertising in some very creative ways; placements, topics allow you to

target your market through contextual advertising, advertising on specific URLs or on pages that are about a topic

relevant to your audience. My favorite form of display advertising is audience targeting via re-marketing. It has by

far the greatest return in investment of any marketing medium. Often a successful display campaign will use more

than one of these display strategies together. If you are just getting started with display I would recommend

starting with a re-marketing campaign, but be careful not to violate your state’s ethics rules and understand the

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dangers of being overly solicitous, with that said, re-marketing provides the best ROI available from paid

advertising.

Social Paid Advertising

A year ago I would have been skeptical to recommend a paid social media campaign. This is another sophisticated

campaign strategy that isn't for the faint of heart. Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and others are maturing at an

impressive rate. This is generally not a tactic for all firms, however there are specific implementations that could

be beneficial and I only expect this opportunity to grow in the future as the specific targeting options are near

limitless and when implemented correctly could provide a substantial boost to a firms financial objectives.

Social Media

Social Media isn't a new fad and has existed for much longer than many are aware, but previously it was limited to

the oldest and most effective types of social media, which are blogging and e-mail marketing. More recently, social

networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin have taken over the spotlight, however from the perspective of your

typical firm, blogging and e-mail marketing is typically better choice as they require less labor and are widely

adopted and proven to produce a solid return on investment.

Blogging

Blogging is the back bone of an inbound marketing strategy. It allows a law firms to connect to users that often will

use the internet to research legal professionals before making a rational choice. A law firm with a blog is more

likely to receive traffic from long term search results than their less word-wise peers. Law firms that recognize the

benefits of providing high quality content that assists their readers in making an educated choice with regards to

their legal representation benefits from building a credible reputation as a source of knowledge regarding their

practice areas. A good rule of thumb is that if you want to dominate, blog 5 times a day, if you would like to be on

of the best in town, blog 2-3 times a week. If you would like to do the bare minimum to compete, then blog once

or twice a month.

E-mail marketing

E-mail marketing is direct mail for the 21st

century. It’s been a tried and true method for advertisers for over a decade. The benefits of e-mail marketing for law firms far outweigh direct marketing or phone book advertising.

Benefits include the ability to track return on investment attributed to e-mail marketing campaigns. Because of the

required permission to market to clients, consenting marketing list recipients are more likely to convert. E-mail is

the most adopted social media that is used nearly daily by everyone. Law firms considering e-mail marketing as a

strategy for 2013 should familiarize themselves with the CAN-SPAM Act, as a violation can be as costly as $16,000

per offense (read - e-mail). Additionally, attorneys may have greater barriers to ethical e-mail marketing depending

on their local ethics rules regarding solicitation.

Social Networking

Social Network marketing is the newest forms of social media marketing, and with recent growth and adoption of

social networks, demand for tactics and strategies built around Social Media and networks have grown. The most

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common channels for social media marketing are Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Yelp, and YouTube. Social media

marketing like search marketing is all about gaining relevant traffic from curated networks of people interested in

your products or services.

The real draw is the low barriers to entry to effective social media and the viral nature of the social networks that

encourage engagement and spreading of popular content through curation via likes and shares with friends, family

and co-workers. Social network marketing is still in its early years and although it can be very effective it’s a resource intensive strategy that isn't for everyone, or every firm. If you believe you have someone that would be

good at social media networking it might be a good idea to let them run with it. The single rule of thumb would be

the Pareto principle applies, 80% socialization / 20% promotion.

The Bottom Line: ROI Tracking

We recommend that you focus your advertising spend in search engine marketing. With a focus on inbound

content creation and SEO with 50-75% of your budget and paid advertising with 50 – 25% you’re your digital marketing budget. While Social Media is popular it is also a medium that works best for people interested in being

very active and involved. If you have someone on your team that already blogs, or enjoys Twitter or Facebook, it

might be a good idea to recruit them to help with the firm’s social media strategy. However, I exclude both blogging and e-mail marketing; these two strategies should be implemented and practiced regularly by 95% of

firms to capitalize on the already present and proven opportunity.

Where should you spend your 2013 advertising budget? Let the results speak for themselves.

P.S. Save the Trees

It’s time to stop using the most recycled paper in America (Guess what color it is), Yellow book advertising is

obsolete for most firms marketing and if you are currently advertising in the Yellow Pages, Yellow Book or some

other variation of phone book advertising, do yourself a favor. Stop advertising, or at the very least stop

advertising as much and divert some of that advertising spend towards digital media. The small demographics

(rural areas, older people, and low income) that use the phone book to select an attorney are being devoured by

the Internet and inbound marketing. If you do currently get business from the Yellow pages, chart your ROI by

tracking your cases, and asking where they heard about you against the cost of yellow book advertising. I think that

you will discover that your budget would be better spent online.

Jump Start your Digital marketing Plan for 2013

The greatest share of your marketing spend should be focused on inbound SEO marketing and paid search

advertising to maximize your return on investment. If you would like your results to be similar to Mike Becker’s -

Jump start your digital marketing strategy by contacting AttorneySync at 1-(773)-828-8878.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl662Y_lx2Q

http://www.attorneysync.com/case-studies/

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Resources:

1. "Disruptor of the Day: Brian Halligan, Dharmesh Shah & HubSpot – Taking The Hassle Out of Marketing".

Daily Disruption.

2. "What is Inbound Marketing with Brian Whalley". Internet Marketing Podcast. February 21, 2012.

3. http://christmasstockimages.com/free/new_year/slides/happy_new_year_color.htm

http://offers.attorneysync.com/weekly-legal-marketing-ideas/

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