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DEC 2019 (800)-406-7229 SpotlightBranding.com
THE SECRET TO DOUBLING YOUR REFERRALS Without Spending Another Penny on Advertising
A crisis going on right now in the U.S. is impacting every single law firm in the country, including yours. And it’s not a financial crisis or a crisis of conscience, but something a lot more frustrating: a referral crisis. According to a study conducted by Texas Tech University, law firms are only getting about one- third of the referrals they should be. The study found that, on average, 83% of satisfied clients are willing to make referrals, but of those, only 29% actually do it. actually takes the leap. The other two received excellent service, were happy with your work, and were even willing to refer you but they still didn’t do it . That’s the referral crisis in a nutshell. Every law firm has two-thirds more referrals out there just waiting to be nudged from an idea into reality. Let me say that again. Out of all the clients who are willing to refer you, only 1 in 3
single new person or spending another penny on advertising. All you need to do is stay in touch. If you consistently stay in touch with your current and past clients and remind themwhat you do, that can make a huge impact on your referrals. You need to consistently reach out to them and put your firm’s name and expertise front and center; you’ll increase awareness of your brand and keep your firm top of mind. That will inevitably increase your referrals without impacting your advertising budget. Think of it this way: If you’ve just eaten at a restaurant and had an incredible meal, aren’t you more likely to recommend that restaurant to a friend when they ask where they should go for dinner? Even driving by the restaurant and seeing the sign can have the same effect. The simple truth is, the more recently someone has used or interacted with a business, the more likely they are to recommend that business when it comes up in conversation. I’d say that’s doubly true for law firms because endless situations occur every day where recommending an attorney would be valuable. In the past, law firms relied on holiday and birthday cards to stay in touch with their clients, but, in the hectic, fast-paced, digitally saturated world we live in today, that’s not enough anymore. For our clients, Spotlight Branding uses email newsletters, print newsletters, and regular social media posts to provide the same gentle prod. Along with reminding clients you exist, those methods can also reinforce your
expertise by offering quality, expert content about your practice areas. We also urge our clients to be active in their communities, participating in local events and extending sponsorships in order to make their brand a household name. As icing on the cake, these practices can also increase your repeat business for the same reasons. If a past client is already thinking of you because they’ve just seen your email newsletter land in their inbox, received a Christmas card from your firm, or seen a post from one of your social media accounts, they’ll be a lot more likely to pick up the phone and call you when they need a lawyer in their corner. If you want Spotlight Branding’s help cultivating top-of-mind awareness and closing the referral gap at your firm, visit SpotlightBranding.com/ NL to schedule a consultation. Let’s kick this referral crisis for good. –Marc Cerniglia “THE SIMPLE TRUTH IS, THE MORE RECENTLY SOMEONE HAS USED OR INTERACTEDWITH A BUSINESS, THE MORE LIKELY THEY ARE TO RECOMMEND THAT BUSINESS WHEN IT COMES UP IN CONVERSATION.”
Here at Spotlight Branding, in the course of our work helping law firms successfully market their businesses, we’ve discovered the secret to ratcheting up your referral ratio from one-third to two-thirds (or more) all without meeting a
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ARE YOU WASTING MONEY ON THE WRONG MARKETING? HOW MEASURING YOUR OWN SUCCESS CAN SAVE YOU THOUSANDS
STEP 1: UNDERSTAND WHAT MATTERS Not all data points are created equal. Despite what somemarketers will tell you, an increase in Twitter followers doesn’t translate tomore revenue. The first step tomeasuring your marketing success is deciding what’s worthmeasuring. Focus on statistics that move the needle, like the number of referrals, new clients, and returning clients your efforts generate. STEP 2: DEFINE SUCCESS What does the word “success” mean to you? Consider what your goals are and what achieving themwould look like. Do you need to get a certain number of referrals or new clients per month to feel like your marketing is working? Figure out what matters to you. Then communicate your goals to your vendor. STEP 3: ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY Whether you’re a business owner, marketingmanager, or project lead, you need to accept responsibility for tracking your marketing success. Start making spreadsheets — then use them! This doesn’t mean you have to do all of the marketing yourself, but tracking your own results is empowering and gives your firm independence, letting you see for yourself whether your investments are paying off. Spotlight Branding would love to work with you to identify your marketing goals and keep track of your successes. Visit SpotlightBranding.com/NL today to set up a consultation.
We’re not going to lie; marketing is expensive. Buying pay-per-click advertising, hiring a copywriter to create compelling content, sending out print mailers —all these things cost money. That said, in our experience, the cost of marketing isn’t what frustrates most lawyers. What they hate is worrying they’re spending thousands on the wrong marketing. It’s an understandable concern, but really, you only need to do one thing to ensure you’re not pouring your marketing budget down the drain: Measure your own success . When you employ a third-party vendor like us to do your marketing, it can be tempting to “set it and forget it.” In other words, youmight feel compelled to leave it up to the vendor to keep track of your ROI. Don’t give in to that temptation! No one has a better understanding of your goals and the full scope of your firm’s marketing efforts than you . If you’re ready to take charge of your own marketing destiny and stop wasting your money, take these three steps today.
Sunshine Isaacson & Hecht, LLP in Jericho, New York, serves individuals and businesses across a wide range of practice areas, including family law, personal injury, and oil spills. Earlier this year, the firm reached out to us about our services. When their blog, e-newsletter, and social media service started just under a month later, they immediately began receiving calls. Another attorney they had not spoken to in years contacted them and referred a new case because she saw their newsletter and social media. This is what we tell lawyers all the time: You’re losing business that could be yours simply because you’re not keeping in touch with your contacts! Had they not signed up for our services, it’s likely that another attorney would have referred that case to someone else. CLIENT SUCCESS STORY SUNSHINE ISAACSON & HECHT, LLP
Best of all, it took little effort on their part. We created all of the content for them. All they had to do was look it over and give their approval. With that small effort, Sunshine Isaacson & Hecht, LLP was able to remind everyone on their contact list (over 1,000 people!) who they were and how they could help — and it resulted in business they didn’t expect.
WANT MORE REFERRALS AND BETTER CLIENTS? Visit SpotlightBranding.com/NL to schedule a call!
Don’t believe the naysayers out there; newsletters (both print and digital) work. Sunshine Isaacson & Hecht, LLP is just one example of several clients of ours who receive referrals from their e-newsletter, and it’s all because they’re reminding people they’re still out there to help those in need.
More Referrals. Better Clients. Higher ROI.
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IS YOUR MARKETING GETTING STALE? TRY THESE 3 CUTTING-EDGE STRATEGIES TO REFRESH YOUR CAMPAIGN IN 2020
In just a few weeks, the decade will be over. If a survey of your marketing campaign reveals your strategies are “so 2010s,” why not try out some fresh tactics in the new year? Here at Spotlight Branding, we like to work a step ahead, and our clients have had success with these three cutting- edge techniques. They’ll be all the rage in 2020! GET ON BOARD WITH EMAIL Have you tried email marketing yet? This technology allows law firms to stay in touch with current, past, and potential clients with a single keystroke! You can pack your emails with compelling content that reinforces your expertise, and every email will help increase your brand’s top-of-mind awareness even if it isn’t opened. Best of all, it’s free! CRAFT YOUR IMAGE New studies reveal that people looking for legal help are much more likely to work with a law firm that appears trustworthy, knowledgeable, and approachable. It turns out image can make or break you! Who knew? In the new year, take
time to build a quality brand and reinforce it with regular client interaction.
NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK It’s not enough to just be a great lawyer anymore — you need to have boots on the ground! If you make yourself known around town by going to Chamber of Commerce meetings, sponsoring events, and taking speaking engagements, you’ll meet more potential clients than ever before. As you might have noticed, all of these strategies have been around for years. That’s because they work! Email gets a bad reputation as ineffective, but firms using it well can position themselves ahead of the pack. And, though they may not be as sexy as high-tech solutions, image polishing and networking never went out of style — or stopped bringing in leads. When 2020 comes around, don’t get swept up by flashy new trends. Instead, take the time to figure out what will work for your business and implement it consistently to get results. You, like
many of the law firms we work with, might just find that the time-tested strategies work best.
If you’d like some help putting these marketing tools into action, our team is here for you. Head to SpotlightBranding.com/NL to schedule a consultation for 2020.
FEATURED EPISODE THE VERY BEST EPISODES OF THE LAW FIRM MARKETING MINUTE PODCAST
RESOURCE OF THE MONTH
If you’re looking for more great resources to drive your business forward, take a look at this episode from our industry-leading podcast — The Law Firm Marketing Minute. THE WRONG DATA IS VANITY — LFMM 283 So many attorneys get caught up in their marketing data but fail to realize that a lot of those numbers aren’t actually a good indicator of whether or not their marketing is doing well. This episode dives into that vanity data and discusses what you should be tracking. If you want More Referrals, Better Clients, and Higher ROI on all your marketing, call us today at 800-406-7229 to schedule a consultation!
A FUN WAY TO REWARD YOUR HARDWORKING EMPLOYEES
As a small firm attorney, we recognize you may not have the cash flow to consistently give bonuses and raises to your employees. Bonusly can help! This program allows you and your employees to give micro-bonuses to each other that everyone can accrue to exchange for cash or gift cards for their own personal use! The platform is really simple to use. All you have to do is decide on an allotment each employee receives each month to give out. That number resets every month, and you are only charged any time someone cashes out their balance. You can even take this to the next level by incorporating it into your office culture! Center the bonuses around your firm’s core values, and reward people each time they exemplify one (or just go out of their way to do something great). You can also rename the currency everyone gives out to something that fits your firm!
Listen to this episode and find even more at LawFirmMarketingMinute.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
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800-406-7229 SpotlightBranding.com
THIS ISSUE INSIDE
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How to Thrive in the Referral Crisis
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Are You Wasting Money on the Wrong Marketing?
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Client Success Story
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3 Fresh Marketing Tactics for 2020
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Spotlight Branding’s Industry-Leading Podcast
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What Great Leaders Have in Common
Poor delegation is the Achilles’ heel of most leaders, who often confuse being “involved” with being “essential.” To determine if you’re holding on to work you should delegate out, the Harvard Business Review (HBR) recommends asking this simple question: “If you had to take an unexpected week off work, would your initiatives and priorities advance in your absence?” DELEGATE TO ELEVATE The Secret to Being a Great Leader
to someone who is more skilled than they are. The task will get done faster and at a much higher quality. TIME-SENSITIVE: These tasks need to get done right now but are competing with tasks of a higher priority. Just because it has to get done immediately doesn’t mean you have to be the one to do it. Sure, some tasks only you can accomplish, but these are extremely rare. As the Virgin Group founder Richard Branson warns, needlessly resisting delegation is the path to disaster. “You need to learn to delegate so that you can focus on the big picture,” Branson says. “It’s vital to the success of your business that you learn to hand off those things that you aren’t able to do well.”
If your answer is no or you aren’t sure, then you’re probably too involved. No one person should be the cog that keeps everything in motion, no matter their position in the company. Luckily, HBR has created an audit using the following six T’s to identify which tasks can be delegated. TINY: Small tasks that stack up can undermine the flow of your work. Registering for a conference, putting it on the calendar, and booking the flight are all small tasks someone else can handle.
can input lists into spreadsheets or update key performance indicators for a presentation.
TIME-CONSUMING: These important, complex tasks don’t require you to do the first 80% of the work. Identify what they are, pass them to someone else, and step in for the final 20% to give approval. TEACHABLE: Is there a task only you know how to do? If so, teach someone else to do it, and step in for the last quality check when it’s done.
TEDIOUS: These tasks are straightforward but not the best use of your time. Someone else
TERRIBLE AT: It’s okay to be bad at some things. Great leaders know when to pass tasks off
More Referrals. Better Clients. Higher ROI.
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