Using Transitions As Marketing Opportunities
Take full marketing advantage of new hires, promotions, appointments to prestigious positions, firm start-up, mergers, acquisitions and other changes....
Find more legal marketing tips on my website www.terry-graham.com.
Using Transitions As Marketing Opportunities
By Terry Graham, M.A.
Most attorneys and law firms today are seeking ways to increase their visibility. Since it can take a prospect at least eight communications to even notice you, you should take advantage of every opportunity to reach out to prospects and referral sources.
In the legal profession, transitions -- including new hires, promotions, appointments to prestigious positions, firm start-ups, mergers, acquisitions, relocations and name changes -- offer excellent marketing opportunities.
Outside activities such as involvement in trade and professional associations, charities, nonprofits and community organizations can also create transitions.
RECOGNIZING TRANSITIONS AS MARKETING OPPORTUNITIES
By their very nature, transitions are news as the old gives way to the new. That means they are newsworthy.
Some firms fail to recognize the potential promotional value of a transition. A quick look at "news" appearing in local mainstream, business and legal publications and on websites and blogs, shows that seemingly minor events can make the cut. Hiring first-year associates or name changes per se aren't as interesting as hiring a high powered partner from your competitor, but by including information about your practice emphasis and your firm in announcing even small changes, you achieve important marketing goals.
If your firm is not hiring or making newsworthy transitions, it is possible to create transition news. While working with one mid-size firm, I noted four distinct practice areas, each informally led by a senior partner. Over a period of six months, the firm formally appointed these partners as department directors (with little impact on internal operations), creating four newsworthy transitions that we announced via news releases, advertisements, and mailings.
Some firms simply fail to exploit transitions, usually claiming they were "too busy", a major marketing failure easily remedied by hiring a marketing/pr consultant for the project.
NEWS RELEASES
Today, many publications and news-driven websites get the majority of their content from news releases sent to them by a business or public relations professional. (A news release is a written account of news, produced and distributed to select media and key contacts that reach your target markets.) News releases highlighting a transition should be timely, and include a brief description of the firm's practice emphasis and contact information. A well written news release will often be published as is, with a long cyberspace lifespan, so do it right! Remember, your "news" is competing for free space with hundreds of other items, so you cannot count on it being used as you'd like. Send your news releases via email in an editable format, i.e., a text -- not .pdf file format.
Photos Draw Attention
Statistics prove that an attractive photo can improve the news release's chance of being published and read, so if the transition involves people, include a recent professional, studio-quality (not passport!) photo (.jpg). A photo can jog memories, resulting in reconnecting with important contacts from your past. It also helps educate people who know you, but were unaware of your profession.
Your Media & Distribution List
Send the transition release to all relevant publications and organizations, paying attention to deadlines. Usually I work with clients to develop a media list tailored to their practice, including neighborhood, local, regional and, when appropriate, national newspapers and magazines, business journals, bar associations and relevant trade/professional associations, websites, blogs, and so on. Some firms pay to use a far larger distribution lists.
Don't forget law school and other alumni association publications, including prep schools, or media in cities in which the transitioner grew up.
In addition to a tailored media list, remember to announce and/or update the attorney's transition on networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. If the transition changes contact information (firm affiliation, email address, etc.), take the time to update other web listings including the membership record listing on the State Bar of California's website (www.calbar.org).
ANNOUNCEMENTS & MAILINGS
The standard legal tombstone, a display ad, has evolved into a communication that not only announces transitions, but provides important branding information about the firm and its practice. Typically, legal newspapers run the ad for five consecutive days. To save money, firms can announce several transitions at a time -- for example, naming associates who have been promoted to partner in the past few months
The tombstone ad design is often used for a formal printed mailing to clients, prospects and referral sources. Make sure envelopes are imprinted with a return address. While some prefer to hand-address envelopes, research shows that mailing labels do not significantly affect readership.
Depending upon your location and practice, you may want to purchase contact lists from bar associations. Most sole practitioners can easily send out 500 to 1,000 announcements if they take the time to consider their goals. Average cost per mailing can be $1.50 - $2.25 including design, printing and postage. Remember to discreetly mark the outside of the envelope to conform to California State Bar Rules of Professional Conduct, Rule 1-400 Advertising & Solicitation.
ADVERTISING STRATEGIES
Advertisements in marketing jargon refer to paid messages over which the advertiser (attorney, law firm) has strict design and content control. These messages can appear in mass media (print, broadcast, and websites), legal publications, targeted professional and trade publications, and virtually any place that will accept your money in exchange for buying time or space. Frequency, i.e., the number of times/days the ad runs and Reach, that is, how many people are exposed to it, can affect price. Better ad placement (prominence on the page/website or for broadcast media, hour of the day) may incur extra costs.
If you decide to advertise your transition, base your media placement decisions upon marketing goals, not prestige. Does your practice rely heavily on referrals from local attorneys? If so, select a legal publication. If you have a corporate practice,consider business journals and other publications read by business executives. Attorneys with consumer-oriented practices (family, personal injury, bankruptcy, trusts and estates law, etc.) may select mass media or highly targeted publications such as neighborhood newspapers or church bulletins. Just make sure your transition advertisements include key information that helps prospects and referral sources decide to contact you.
CHANGING FIRMS
Today, transitions for some attorneys involve a sudden departure from a firm, by choice or not. Be assertive regarding communicating with clients via a just-the-facts, non-promotional letter or email informing them that they may continue to work with you in your new position/firm, stay with your former firm, or select entirely new counsel.
After being fired over a personality conflict, a client of mine sent a carefully drafted letter to his clients presenting them with these three options. His former firm threatened to sue him for interference with business relationships. We referred his ex-boss to California's State Bar Ethics Hotline, which supported the letter, stating that it was the attorney's professional obligation to inform his clients of this change, which affected their arrangement. Make sure that the day after you leave a firm, your web presence provides updated contact information, and that your former firm updates its website immediately.
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Terry Graham, M.A., is a legal marketing and public relations consultant based in Marin County, California. She can be reached at 415/686-8442 or tg@terry-graham.com. Check out her website at www.terry-graham.com
© 2010 Terry Graham. This article may be copied and distributed as is with no changes, and with proper attribution to the author, including copyright and contact information.
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