Law Firm Marketing Consultant : 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

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."

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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.

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When I first saw the law firm advertisement in American Lawyer magazine I had the following impressions:

1. Omigod! A law firm has used Dr. Evil from the the Austin Powers film series in an ad!  How much did they have to pay to get comedy actor Mike Myers? Wait a minute...why would a law firm want to depict themselves as finger-biting terrorists who want to take over the world?  Where is his cat Mr. Bigglesworth and his side-kick Mini-Me?
 

2. Then I looked closer and noticed that a creepy alien worm had wriggled under the man's skin.  Omigod! A hideous larva has slithered subcutaneously next to his brain, just like in horror movies.  Why would a law firm want to depict itself as a writhing invasive creature? What's the branding message?

3. Then I pulled away and notice that the bulging blue blood vessel resembled the filament in a light bulb. The man's head shape resembled a light bulb, kind of. Maybe the image was meant to suggest the "light bulb" that goes on in cartoons when a person has an idea.   So how does that connect with the firm's tagline, "Consider it solved"?  It appears to me that this man needs treatment at a varicose vein clinic.

Ahh those wacky Finns.  It was an ad for Borenium & Kemppinen, attorneys at law in Helsinki and cities called "Espoo" and "Tempere."  Established in 1911, B&K lost its mind in 2008 and is one of the largest law firms in Finland.  For more bizarre images I recommend you visit their website.  The flash video features flying insects hovering around Dr. Evil's head.

I am not making this up.

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I found the post  Brought To You By A Large Firm With Offices Everywhere on Patrick Lamb's blog, In Search of Perfect Client Service.  A lawyer based in Chicago, he asks the question: do you remember the name of the law firms that advertise on National Public Radio?  He doesn't, and neither do I.

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The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled today that it is ethical for lawyers to advertise in Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers listings -- striking a blow for lawyer's freedom of speech.

Visit http://tinyurl.com/5xpufk to read the 22-page ruling.

The ruling vacates the notoritious Opinon 39 of the committee on Attorney Advertising, which ruled in ruled in July 2006 that advertising by lawyers with designation “Super Lawyers” or “Best Lawyers” is prohibited as a form of unethical comparative advertising that is also likely to create an unjustified expectation about the results the lawyer can achieve. See “Super Lawyers” and “Best Lawyers” Designations Banned in New Jersey.

The high court ruling reverses on of the most asinine ethics rulings ever issued by the troglodyte Committee on Attorney Advertising. As I stated on July 23, 2006, this committee should be disbanded, or given the duty of counting toothpicks in a box or rolling string into balls.

The Supreme Court backed the findings of a Special Master who reported on June 18, 2008 that “advertising by attorneys [is] a form of commercial speech protected by the First Amendment and may not be subjected to blanket suppression.”

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I asked my networks the following question: "I’m advising a law firm that is spending a ton of money on TV advertising (they do some plaintiff PI work, but also have a billable-hour business practice.) Which is a better marketing medium: TV or the Web? Give me your opinion."

Experts from the LawMarketing Listserv and other forums answered, coming from the fields of law firm marketing, advertising, web development, public relations and marketing strategy across North America.  A majority favored spending marketing dollars on the Web because of its ability to target clients and measure results.  TV was recommended for global law firms with mammoth budgets.

The analyses came from Steve Matthews, Art Italo, Frank Feather, James Archer, Mitch Talenfeld, Carrie McCray, Lisa Dutton, Dan Wallace, Thomas VanHaaren, Gerald A. Riskin, Heather M. Milligan, Dale H. Tincher, Andrew Havens, Rich Klein, Cecilia Alers and Bob Weiss.

For the details of their responses, please visit the Lawmarketing Portal at www.lawmarketing.com.

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From the Buffalo News "Business Today" section:

An all-female Buffalo law firm is getting a mix of cheers and boos for a series of ads that tout its woman power. “Ever Argue with a Woman?” reads the headline of one of the ads for Schroder Joseph & Associates LLP.

“Labor Pains? Talk to us. (We’re women . . . We get it),” states another in the series of ads for the firm that specializes in corporate labor and employment law.

“They’re meant to be a little edgy and funny. If anything, we’re poking fun at ourselves a bit,” said Ginger Schroder, the firm’s lead partner. “We never intended to engender a national debate on gender stereotypes.”

In recent weeks, the marketing strategy has been the subject of Internet debate on the American Bar Association’s Web site, as well as adrants.com, a site with an advertising industry following.

The main criticism of the ads, which play up the firm’s feminine strengths, is that they perpetuate sexual stereotyping.

• “Great, next they’ll sell us on female surgeons because they sew better,” reads a post on adrants.com.  
• A comment on the ABA Web site said, “Men Work Harder and Don’t Take Time Off For Childbirth” or “How Many Women Play Pro Football . . . Women Are Weak,” are two of the proposed male-centric ads.
• “Sexism is sexism and humor is just a veil to excuse it,” the ABA site comment concludes.
• “I suspect that what gnaws at those who find this particular ad campaign troubling is that at the core of any stereotype, you often find a kernel of truth,” reads a positive post on the ABA site. “That is what makes the ads effective, and, well, pretty darn funny.”

Schroder said she’s completely surprised by the recent online debate. The ads, which have been appearing in Buffalo-area publications for over a year, have never attracted any local criticism.

The ads have appeared in Business First, Western New York Heritage, Buffalo Spree and national legal journals since spring 2007. In addition to the “labor pains” and “argue with a woman,” the campaign also taps themes tied to sexual harassment and maternal instincts.

A Buffalo attorney who served on the New York State Bar Association’s task force to establish lawyer ad guidelines that went into effect in 2007 said he’s “a little uncomfortable” with the tone of the Schroder Joseph ads.

“I have a standing concern about any ad content that goes beyond the basics of education and experience,” said Edward C. Cosgrove. “Anything cutesy and catchy makes me a little uncomfortable.”

“I recently saw an ad for a downstate firm that suggested the male lawyers had an edge because of their masculinity, that they were brawlers in the courtroom,” Cosgrove said. “That struck me as crossing the line.”

A State Bar spokesman said the Buffalo law firm’s ad have not resulted in any formal action against the firm tied to its year-old advertising guidelines. Those rules were put in place to govern misleading and inappropriate attorney ads, with particular focus on embellished testimonials, silly nicknames and inaccurate fee information.

Schroder Joseph employs four female attorneys and an all-woman support staff at its Ellicott Street offices.  Their have a house cat named Orion.

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The half-page ad looks like a solicitation for plaintiffs in a class-action against a pharmaceutical company. (Click here to see it full-size.) The bright yellow advertisement on page 41 of Chicago Lawyer magazine poses the following:

You may have mergeritis if you suffer from:

• a rash of new conflicts that jeopardize your client relationships
• queasiness about an overnight 20% increase to your billing rate
• numbness from feeling like an employee rather than an entrepreneur
• a sense of detachment from new partners based in distant offices
• aching for a firm that’s a better fit for you and your clients

Nowhere did the clever ad reveal that it was an ad to attract laterals to Chicago's 100-lawyer Ungaretti & Harris. "But it's broader than that," said Director of Marketing Mark C. Karkazis, who joined the firm one year ago. "There's been so much in the press lately about law firm mergers and they question the viability of mid-sized firms. We wanted to make statement in prominent way that our practices are busier than ever."

See the rest of the story on the LawMarketing Portal.

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On the LawMarketing Listserv, there is currently a lively discussion on promoting a law firm via print advertising vs. Yellow Pages vs. the Web.  [Visit www.lawmarketing.biz to join the discussion.]  Dale Tincher of ConsultWebs offered an intelligent and detailed response to my initial comment:

Sure, you can make the the print ad better by including a person's name and number to contact, and can include a call to action (like requesting a white paper or survey), and this will produce something to measure.  You can also target trade association magazines and publications that clients read to aim at a specific market.  But I submit that websites, e-newsletters and direct mail letters are more effective at generating direct response.

Can you remember any particular law firm ad?  Probably not.  Perhaps you remember the Orrick "O" campaign, which has cost untold millions, but all I remember is the "O," not whether they're a good law firm. I also remember the ad with the picture a grizzly bear cuddling a human infant, but I don't remember which law firm ran it.

To which Dale Tincher responded:

I agree with Larry that (properly designed and SEO’d) websites, newsletters and direct mail letters are more effective than general advertising - - and the ROI can be measured.  We have several clients who closely track their marketing efforts and have achieved impressive results from the web.  Several of our clients receive 8 to 1 returns on the money they invest in the Internet.  Some others receive more.  One client, a serious injury firm that targets a region, receives a 90 to 1 return.  One of our clients, Ken Hardison, a 7-figure annual advertiser, receives an 8 to 1 return on his investment and says that the Internet gives him a higher ROI and higher quality clients than any of his other marketing methods which include TV, Yellow Pages, print and many others.  

Larry often talks about the ineffectiveness of Yellow Pages.  Hardison & Associates and several of our clients invested heavily in Yellow Page directories in past years.  Virtually all of them have ceased or dramatically reduced their Yellow Page advertising since the return dropped to less than a 2 to 1 return.  (It is surprising to me that many firms do not measure their ROI on marketing investments.)  Please see Mr. Hardison’s video discussion on our Website.  He states this information and other statistics in his video: http://www.consultwebs.com/clientcomments.htm Please also see my video where I reference client case results generated from the Internet – www.consultwebs.com.  

I believe that Internet marketing is increasingly effective for many reasons. Some of them include:

• Prospective clients start looking for a solution when they need help.  They probably tuned out most general advertising prior to their need, especially warm, fuzzy ads.  If you have a website that is search engine optimized well and is compelling, they will find your firm and contact you when they have the need – 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
• Advertisers are obtaining results from the Internet.  Internet advertising and effectiveness are increasing while most advertising is decreasing.  Please see our article, “Internet Advertising Rises While Traditional Advertising Shrinks” -  http://www.consultwebs.com/internet_advertising_growth_article.htm.  Heavily visited websites that relate to your practice areas can be good places to place your advertising.  An additional benefit is that the incoming link can help your rankings;
• Consumers are growing more comfortable shopping online for goods and services.  Amazon stock rose nicely in late December (20%) while most retailers’ stocks dipped - http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4337972a28.html.   Comscore stated that online holiday shopping rose 19% over last year http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=1987 while traditional storefront retailers discounted heavily and still had modest gains http://blogs.wsj.com/holidaysales/.  
• The Internet investment you make today will pay dividends for years to come if done properly, unlike traditional advertising such as one-time ads or spots,

I recommend that you be cautious about investing in legal directories.   While some work fairly well, most are ineffective for a variety of reasons.

TV has worked well in the past for some of our clients.  However, the way people view TV is changing – a fact that must be considered when planning TV advertising.Deloitte Touche's recently released, "State of the Media Democracy Survey" contains some interesting information - http://www.deloitte.com/dtt/article/0,1002,cid%253D182990,00.html.  The survey includes the following comments: 

• TV content and TV-like content have the opportunity to dominate the future 
• 69% of Americans consider their computer more entertaining than their TV, BUT . . .
• 58% also wish to easily connect their home TV to the Internet so they can download content or view anything at all they have on their PC (up 9 points from our 1st edition of the survey) 
• Over one-third of all consumers are watching TV shows online (a 15 point increase from our 1st edition)

I hope this is helpful.

Dale H. Tincher,CEO -  dtincher@consultwebs.com
Consultwebs.com - Web Marketing & Design www.consultwebs.com
Consulting - NCBA - http://www.ncbar.org/membership/smolo/technologyassistance.aspx
Phone 800-872-6590; Fax 800-515-3549

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In an informal survey of Philadelphia firms by Delaware Valley Law Firm Marketing Group shows that more firms are eliminating or scaling back their Martindale-Hubbell's directory listing. Delaware Valley Group founder Stacy West Clark said the cost of the listings -- firms pay by the word or "unit" -- was causing firms "enormous pain."

An article on Law.com reported that the following firms were the latest to drop out:

• Dechert
• Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young
• Saul Ewing
• White & Williams
• Flaster Greenberg

This comes on the heels of pullouts by megafirms Baker & McKenzie, Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld; and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal.  See More Firms Opt out of Martindale-Hubbell.

In November 2007 LexisNexis® announced "a top-to-bottom Transformation of Martindale-Hubbell," changing it from a legal directory to an online destination for sophisticated buyers of legal services.

"Although firms realize general counsel may be using Martindale-Hubbell to find outside counsel, cost-benefit analyses just aren't convincing marketers at some of the area's largest firms," the Law.com article says. 

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