Lawyers.com Editor in Chief : Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog : Law firm marketing, legal marketing, attorney marketing, business development, sales training, practice development, training, marketing consultant, legal consultant, individual lawyer coaching, business development, client team, practice development, business development, law firm coach

Lawyer Horace Hunter, who blogs about cases he’s worked on at Richmond Criminal Defense News, has been charged with misconduct by the Virginia State Bar. His crime? He is blogging to get new business.

The case is scheduled for a hearing today. This is the stupidest waste of time by a legal organization that I've seen in a long time. The Virginia State Bar has been taken over by troglodytes, Luddites or the Amish -- it's hard to tell. This incident makes it painfully clear that the Bar should stay out of areas where it has no knowledge, such as the Internet.

You have to love Hunter, a criminal defense lawyer in Richmond. According to the charge, the Bar demanded Hunter run a disclaimer "to ensure that Respondent's discussion of the case results on his website does not mislead the public." Hunter responded, "This Week in Richmond Criminal Defense is not an advertisement, it is a blog."

That gave the Bar a hissy fit, and they threw the ethics rulebook against him, citing Rules 1.6, 7.1, 7.2 and 7.5. Renu Mago Brennan, Assistant Bar Counsel, signed the charge. I hereby award her the Poindexter Pointy-Headed Cassandra Trophy of the Year. It appears the Bar has no serious matters to pursue, and has time on its hands to hassle bloggers.

LexBlog’s Kevin O’Keefe says that new reports about the ethics case, not the actions of the State Bar, that could have a chilling effect on lawyer-bloggers who do a service to the profession by making the law more accessible to consumers and businesspeople.

“There there is no record of disciplinary action against Virginia attorneys regarding blogging dating back to 1999,” O’Keefe wrote in a separate Real Lawyers Have Blogs post. “Not a big risk here with lawyers who blog.”

Eric Rogell, a marketing, social media and sales consultant, offered six secrets for effective TV, online, radio or print advertising. He addressed the marketing summit of PILMMA, a national trial lawyer marketing organization meeting in Las Vegas.

"The little things that you don't see coming are the things that get you. Have you been bitten by a mosquito? Yes. Have you been bitten by an elephant? No. You saw the elephant coming," he said.

1. Use targeted instead of broad advertising. Don't cast a wide net and try to reach everyone possible. If you target everyone, you get no one. Of course, this means you will need more than one ad.

2. Send potential clients to a targeted page. You'll get more business if visitors come to a web page for motorcycle riders, for example, than if the page is designed for all drivers. Don't worry what the page looks like, worry about what traffic it pulls in. Let go of how pretty the page is and focus on how effective it is. Drive visitors to a site that gives them nothing but what they want.

3. Think like a fish. Don't think like a fisherman. Don't think like a lawyer, instead think like a client. Study your target client's activities, habits and concerns. If there is no problem, there is no sale. Make your ad all about your potential clients. Think about your perfect client, for example someone who's been injured at work, and focus on what their typical day is like, what pressure they're under and what they are doing for money. This makes it easier to write an ad and focus on a reader's pain points.

 4. Offer Value, namely, information. When people have a problem, they are search for the solution and not the solution provider. They want information, so your advertising should be educational, not salesy.  For example, no one will give you your email address in an online form unless they get something of value. Lawyers should present themselves as an expert who provides information and an advocate who looks out for their clients' best interests. Don't say "Find out if you have a case," instead say, "Click here to download your free report."

5. Build a database. It should include potential clients, current clients and past clients -- a list of people you can sell to. It takes 8 "touches" from you before a person buys your services, and a mailing list allows you to make many touches. It also allows you to cross-sell new services to your clients.

6. Offer proof. Lawyers must have a "unique selling proposition" that explains why a person should hire you. You must explain why you are different from other lawyers. Offering a free consultation is not enough. Instead of saying you have "lawyers," say you have "local lawyers who fight for your rights and protect your liberties." Listing case histories, displaying FAQ files about client problems and featuring testimonials are very effective.

It’s easy to be critical of lawyer TV commercials. But when done right TV advertising can actually alert the public to unknown dangers. For example, a new lawyer advertising campaign by the personal injury firm Douglas & London of New York warns viewers about the bladder cancer risks of taking the diabetes drug Actos.

“There are many doctors giving Actos prescriptions and patients taking Actos who do not know that there are possible serious side effects,” said John Heller, Producer/Director with iCreative Network of Palm Beach Gardens, FL, which produced the commercial. “It will also bring many cost-effective leads to the law firm with the goal of generating new clients.”

“Just putting TV commercials on air and hoping for results is not cost effective,” he added. “But creating a media buying plan will give the advertiser in-depth analytics of viewer behavior. TV analytics have finally caught up with the Internet. Direct response media buyers in particular do not need to wait for the caller information their advertising generates. Media buying plans can now be adjusted quickly to focus on viewer trends,” Heller said.

“The Actos commercial will run on 13 channels that will produce caller-to-lead results. Additional information can be gathered to give insights into who is calling, from where and at what time. This information is very valuable for the personal injury lawyer marketing on television,” he said.

FDA findings show that the prescription drug Actos increased the risk of bladder cancer 40% in men who have taken it for over a year. “This is a very dramatic finding -- a fact that most people with diabetes are unaware of. Without personal injury lawyer marketing on television, both doctors and patients would have a harder time learning the facts. Not only are there thousands of diabetes patients now taking the drug without understanding the risk there are also many doctors who do not understand the risks in writing prescriptions for Actos,” he said.

iCreative Network has produced more than 300 PI spots over the past six years in several states. 

Lawyer Advertising, Produced by iCreative Network

You won't see AmLaw 100 law firms using this technique, but then the vast majority of lawyers practice in small firms with 10 or fewer lawyers.  These general practitioners and PI lawyers will be happy to see that the South Carolina and North Carolina state bars are giving the green light to Groupon-style “daily deal” discounts for law firm marketing.

If state bars are issuing ethics opinions about discount coupons for legal services, then it's clear that this is a trend in legal marketing.

It started when a South Carolina lawyer wanted to use “daily deal” websites that offer products and services at discounted rates to market her preparation of wills. Visitors to the website can buy a voucher that can be redeemed for a discounted legal service. The proceeds of the purchase are split between the website offering the voucher and the law firm. The state bar said in Ethics Advisory Opinion 11-05:

"The use of “daily deal” websites to sell vouchers to be redeemed for discounted legal services does not violate the Rule 5.4(a) prohibition on sharing of legal fees, but the attorney is cautioned that the use of such websites must be in compliance with [advertising] Rules 7.1 and 7.2 and could lead to violations of several other rules if logistical issues are not appropriately addressed."

Now the NC Proposed 2011 Formal Ethics Opinion 10 states, "a lawyer may advertise on a website that offers daily discounts to consumers where the website company’s compensation is a percentage of the amount paid to the lawyer if certain disclosures are made and certain conditions are satisfied."

Stephanie Kimbro of the Virtual Law Practice blog simplifies the basic rules laid out in this opinion:

1) Don’t mislead your prospective clients (it has to actually be a discount from your regular fees offered).

2) Disclose the method and remind prospective clients not to act hastily in making decisions about their legal representation.

3) Remind them that there may be some reason why you can’t go through with the discount because of conflict of interest, jurisdiction conflict.

4) Still follow trust accounting rules even if the funds go to the website service first as prepaid fees.

5) If you put a time limit on the discount and the client lets it expire, you can’t go back and charge your regular fee for the same service. You have to return any advance payment on the service or if the client agrees to the higher price, add that advance payment to the revised cost;

6) The legal work provided must still be competent. So if the services exceed what the discount included, you still have the obligation to provide full, competent services to complete the matter for them.

Follow @LarryBodine "Mass over-distribution of Yellow Pages has degraded our environment and blighted our neighborhoods," said San Francisco Board of Supervisors President David Chiu, the lead sponsor of a law banning the unsolicited distribution of Yellow Pages.

For years I've been annoyed with the dumping of various yellow pages on my lawn, like so much trash. The delivery people don't even both to hang it on my door knob.  I use Google instead as does the rest of the world, and I use the yellow pages only for seat cushions and door stops.

For years I've advised lawyers not to advertise in the money-wasting yellow pages. I think the San Francisco mayor and the Board did lawyers a favor, by demonstrating that the yellow pages are considered to be composting matter. Under the law, which won't go into effect for a year, companies cannot leave the directories at the front doors of residences and businesses without prior permission.

Overall U.S. yellow pages revenue declined 11.8% in 2010.  The industry’s revenue slide continued in 2010 as the transition from print to digital products continued, according to Simba Information. This marks another year of continuous, multiyear double-digit losses in revenue from the major publishers.

National yellow pages spending is projected to decline an additional 12% to $1.47 billion in 2011. Simba believes that the current environmental challenges are a “ticking time bomb” threatening the industry with increased government-imposed controls and “do not deliver” lists scattered around the 50 states.

As I wrote in 2007:

Cancel that #*$%! expensive yellow pages ad.  This was the clear advice I gave to attendees at our conference "Developing Your Personal Marketing Plan" in Chicago.  I repeated the advice at the Chicago Bar Association technology conference.  You now have permission to save yourself a small fortune.

Fewer people are reading the Yellow Pages every day. It's last century's marketing. Instead, they are using the Web to find attorneys. Take the money you save and plow it into your online presence.  People now use Google to look up phone numbers, addresses and law firms.

Ask yourself -- when was the last time you personally opened that thick, hard-to-read yellow directory?  It's been a long time, hasn't it? There are multiple yellow page directories anyway -- which one did you use?

By advertising in the yellow pages, you are doing what thousands of other lawyers are doing.  You are simply making yourself more like the competition, not distinguishing yourself. There's no way to break from the clutter -- there are hundreds of lawyer yellow page listings.

Besides, most yellow pages ads are written by their salesmen.  That's why they all look the same. Save your budget while you still can. Get out now.

Always on the leading edge, the law firm of Goulston & Storrs in Boston has once again shown its tech-savviness by putting a QR code into an ad about the firm. (Scroll down to the bottom right corner.) You can use a smart phone app to scan it, and the code will lead you to the firm's "What's News" web page. Kudos to Director of Business Development Beth Cuzzone, an early adopter of several kinds of cool technology.

From JusticeNewsFlash.com:

Facebook has clinched the top place for online advertising as the social media giant has captured 23 percent of all Internet display ads, resulting in 297 billion ad impressions, which is higher than the total of all display ads on Google, Microsoft, Fox and Yahoo sites combined.

The astounding numbers, wallet-friendly prices and Facebook’s ability to target specific audiences have catapulted Facebook to the number 1 position for display ads. Yahoo came in second with 140 billion display ad impressions, followed by Microsoft at 64 billion and Fox Interactive Media at 48 billion. Google came in last at 35 billion ad impressions, according to the ComScore third quarter report.

So what sets Facebook apart from the other Internet publishing sites? Three things: socializing, price and Facebook’s ability to target its audiences. People spend an average of 700 billion minutes a month on the social networking site, and with over 500 million active users, the potential consumer impressions can be tremendous.

“Facebook’s increasing share of the display ad market probably resulted from the company’s fast-growing audience size, an increase in the number of ads per page that Facebook delivers and an increase in the amount of time that users spend on its website. The more people in your social network that are online, the more value it creates to you as a user, the more you are likely to engage and contribute,” stated comScore’s Andrew Lipsman.

Facebook online display ads sell at a big discount when compared to sites like Yahoo and Microsoft. The CPM (cost per thousand impressions) for Facebook’s U.S. display ads runs at about $1, compared to a $3 CPM for display ads on U.S. Yahoo sites. The discounted pricing is appealing for people who are looking to make a big impression on a small budget.

Facebook also has a unique feature that allows the social network to target the exact demographic they are looking for. The age, sex and interests all factor into what ads will appear on user’s Facebook pages, which ensures your ad will be seen by the right audience.

Facebook is an ideal place for law firms who are looking to get more “bang for their advertising buck.” Not only can your law firm save a little bit of cash while still achieving a high dollar audience reach. But, remember, keep the ads engaging and “worth the look” for consumers; generation Y are heavy users of Facebook and your attorney’s potential clients.

There among the articles discussing the newest plays on Broadway and the deep thoughts of intellectuals in a recent New Yorker magazine was, yes, a full-page ad from Bingham.  It depicted a flock of flying manta rays, crocodiles, ostriches and geese winging their way across an empty sky.

The ad promoted, "Diversity elevates everyone's talents" and highlighted bingham.com.

"Bingham’s target audience is high-level decision-makers in global financial services organizations and Fortune 100 executives. The New Yorker premium brand was appealing to us, and the response has been outstanding," said senior public relations manager Claire M. Papanastasiou.

Here's a link to an item chronicling the firm's  journey from a 200-lawyer regional firm to a 1,100-lawyer global enterprise, www.bingham.com/Page.aspx?PageID=4

Why pick the readership of the New Yorker as opposed to another magazine?

"Bingham always aspires to lead the legal industry in adopting creative and strategic approaches to advertising. In addition to The New Yorker, we advertise in other national and global publications — both the print and online versions. We are constantly looking at high-visibility publications that provide a "pop." The New Yorker is well known for its cutting-edge, award-winning editorial and intellectual audience. The publication carries advertising from top-tier global businesses and B2B advertisers, and it made great sense for us to be in that same space," she said.

Why promote diversity, as opposed to the firm's size, worldwide reach or results?

"The ad aspires to capture a theme in one frame and with minimal words. At Bingham, our commitment to diversity and inclusion is all about harmonizing and harnessing talents, abilities, strengths no matter what the differences, and in many instances, history and previous tensions," she said. "We believe that the ad achieves this message in allegorical form, while reaffirming the global Bingham brand."

Don Easdon, the firm's creative director, designed the ad.  The in-house marketing and branding teams did the internal and internal testing. No ad agency was used.

"Our clients and internal constituents have reacted very favorably to the “Flock” ad, commenting on the power of integrated practice teams as well as the benefits of a broader diversity program," she said.

A giant nutrition label grabs your eye at the Minnesota airport. It's not for an energy drink or pack of lunch meat, its an advertisement for a "100% Lean Law Firm.  Newbreedlaw.com."

As a general counsel or client executive, I'd like what I see: 0g fat. Equally divided among six key practice areas. Putting clients first: 100%.  And my favorite: Obnoxious lawyer schtick: 0%.

It's the innovative new ad campaign by Halleland Lewis Niland & Johnson. The airport ads are so clever it makes people stop in their tracks and pull out their cell phone cameras.

Marketing genius Dustin Sanick, of the ad agency Kohnstamm Communications Inc. in St. Paul, explained: "The campaign highlights the specific practice groups and how their client-focused approach along with their applied business practicality maximize their clients' business results.  The ad doesn't bloat the groups, but keeps them 'lean" for their clients."

It's  smart marketing approach, because most law firms promote all their dozens of practice groups, and as a result doesn't promote any of them at all.  By targeting six practices, the firm has created a comprehensible idea for clients to wrap their minds around.

It helps that the firm was founded as recently as 1996, and thus is not burdened with hundreds of years of stultifying tradition.

The firm's unconventional website states, "A look around our firm will tell you a great deal about the way our people work. All attorneys have offices of equal size. We’ve invested heavily in the quality and efficiency of our common and meeting spaces. We focus not on hierarchy, but teamwork — because you get better results that way."

Partner Keith Halleland sums it up, "What could be harder than creating a brand around a law firm?  But Kohnstamm's relentless PR efforts have truly helped take us to a whole level of business."

The idea of guerilla marketing is to insert your promotion in a clever way that buyers least expect.  Most often, guerilla marketing is fun.  Here's a law firm marketing idea: foam marketing.

ROM is the regional airport code for Rome. It's an airfare in a European-style coffee.

From the PSFK blog: This newest invasion, neatly packaged as a guerilla marketing innovation, is called CoffeeMedia, a way for advertisers to have their catchy slogans tapped out in chocolate powder and broadcast to an unsuspecting audience - in this case customers enjoying the relative solace of a quiet cafe.

The very reason that non-traditional marketing is effective - it places ads in locations we wouldn’t normally expect, often creating a memorable experience that will be talked about later on - also points to why it can be so problematic. In its quest to seek out consumers anywhere and everywhere they might be and capture their attention in the process, this guerilla mindset loudly proclaims everything to be fair game, even if it means treading on or crossing the fine line that separates our public and private space.

When anything goes, all press is good press and proof of a successful campaign. But this attitudes seems to view customers as expendable - “you win some, you lose some” - when these are the very relationships you’re trying to foster. With that being said, is the intrusion on our milk froth really that important?

Sure, we’ve already gladly given away our to-go coffee cups and sleeves, but we’re not paying for those things anyway, we’re spending money for what’s inside, so doesn’t that somehow entitle us to have our beverages commercial-free or at the very least collect rent on the supposedly valuable real estate? Charge us a dollar less and see how many more of your messages we’re willing to collectively sip. Until then, leave our suds alone, unless of course your tag line comes in a low fat version.