Creating a Tsunami of Publicity
Author, lawyer and über-publicist Richard Levick told an audience of accountants and law marketers how to create a "tsunami of publicity" at the 11th Annual SuperConference sponsored today by the Alliance of Professional Associations and the PM Forum in Chicago.
- You must break through the clutter. 25,181 new products have been introduced in 1998 and it's too much for people to absorb. People see an average of 86,500 TV commercials a day. Running a single print advertisement, as many professional firms do, is simply inadequate.
- Be the first to do something and this will break you out of the clutter. For example, who flew over the Atlantic Ocean second? No one remembers. Everyone remembers Charles Lindbergh, who was first.
- "You've just removed yourself from the marketing committee" is what you should tell lawyers who, when considering a novel marketing idea, ask if whether there is a precedent for any other firm is doing it.
- You are not entitled to say you have a brand until people tattoo their logo on their arms, as owners of Harley Davidson motorcycles do.
- People buy based on emotion. They explain their buying choice with rationale, but a feeling is what made them buy. Law firms have it backwards: they are selling based on rationale.
- Don't promote all your services evenly. Law firms do this, making sure each practice gets its equal space, and it's a mistake. In contrast, grocery stores put the most-needed items -- eggs and milk -- at the back of the store, and force customers to walk past a lot of products to get to it. Candy is strategically displayed at eye level for kids.
- Optimize your Web site by commenting on top news stories. If Condoleeza Rice is on the front page and the evening news, publish an item that refers to her. This way, people searching on Google for the top story will find your professional firm Web site.
- Spend more on marketing. The typical professional firm spends a scant 3% of gross revenue, and most spend only 1.5%. In contrast, major plaintiff personal injury firms spend six times as much. Corporations spend up to 15% of revenue on marketing.
- Talk about what's going to happen next. Levick does this in a free e-newsletter called Next Alert. "Next Alert, an e-mail newsletter, combs all media - from industry reports and trade publications to consumer blogs - spotting the crucial legal, business, and media trends affecting multiple industries throughout the world." He garnered 30,000 subscribers for it in only 5 weeks.
Add it all up, and you've got a tsunami of publicity.
