“If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”
Disruption and Transformation. Commonly and might even be excessively-used buzzwords in this new era, particularly so, in marketing circles. As I see it, a large part of it is as simple as evolving, adapting, pivoting and acting on worthwhile transitions that bring exciting opportunity at an easy, relatively fast pace and there’s more to learn. Marketing change and evolving opportunities, in my mind, have been a mainstay since the Madmen days.
What I’ve learned from working with law firms and professional services is that each of them have their own strengths and are uniquely different, embracing change in a manner that works best for them.
We are evolving to a sharing economy that’s working for us. I’m sharing another quote from an ideator who jumped out of an airplane for a promotional stunt that worked and garnered big business for him and his organization:
“As people’s access to the internet grows we’re seeing the sharing economy boom – I think our obsession of ownership is at a tipping point and the sharing economy is part of the antidote” - Richard Branson, Virgin Group
We’re learning this couldn’t be more true. On a positive note, a sharing economy or the sharing of collaborative information, ideas and reciprocal business exchange have played a large role as it relates to an enhanced client experience journey for law firms and professional services. We live in a sharing economy – the sharing of positive experiences and now responsible for driving client decisions. Word of mouth is the single most important tool in marketing and business development – that will never change. Peer recommendations still drive the most conversions or work rewarded. Working with marketing, notably integrated marketing through campaigns on a consistent basis drives word-of-mouth and those coveted referrals and recommendations.
The Client Experience – The Ultimate Value Maker
Clients and the organizations they work for have embraced change through innovation and naturally, their affinity is to align themselves with firms who do the same ® it’s digital transformation and marketing technology. It has given savvy marketers the full picture of how their audiences are interacting with their brands, so that they can make more informed, data-driven decisions on how and where to communicate. Channels are diverse and wide – strengthening at warp speed.
Now, more than ever is there a better time to continually embrace and activate the new world order of digital as a necessary part of doing business. Upwards of 75% to 90% of business buyers start their purchase decisions online through active engagement and research – a referral and the organic search to a firm’s website. There are 11 times more B2B organizations using marketing automation/technology now more than in 2011, according to Sirius Decisions.
An evolving change is the converging role of marketing and business development in professional services and law firms as they define their markets and specialities that address and understand client needs. With shared revenue goals, the convergence will become more collaborative, closer and with a shared purpose. Be on point with clients for the heartbeat check, as they may move from one firm to another to the next contingent. Performance benchmarks will encompass: brand exposure, campaign viewthroughs (web), level of engagement and the lift in overall opportunity. As firms compete vigorously for corporate clients and expand organic client relationships, use and leverage the data that is now available to us.
With forming trust in relationships being the top priority, using technology-based marketing helps that process to create opportunities. Analytics help develop client connections as it relates to business and audience profiles, web and content.
Let’s consider a few critical elements as part of the marketing journey;
The Brand Experience – Just What Is Your Firm’s Brand?
Now is the best opportunity to make, change and build brands. In assessing brand essence and value proposition of the firm, a culture-based mission for brand status (positioning statement) asks the following; what does my brand embody, client demands/needs, what’s our offering? Digital marketing, through content and other marketing channels informs a specific culture message. Brand spirit, a succinct term used in brand development accompanied with value proposition is quite simply the look and feel of your firm’s voice, content material, language and visuals that represent the true brand, not one-offs.
Being clear and purposeful in your message and communications is an off-shoot of the brand essence.
Then, we share. A sharing economy or share of information has specific powers to motivate:
- Reason to Share -- An Ask to Share -- Easy ways to Share (widget).
Content Marketing Update – Strengthening and Getter Better By the Month
Last September, after writing 9 Essential Truths About Content Marketing and delivering a presentation at TLOMA, more information has come available. High Quality content is about personalizing: expertise, knowledge, opinions and insights. The question arises is how are we differentiating content from journalism or a content piece from an article. There is a difference. Content strategists are emphatic about one key criteria- Content should be clear, relevant and descriptive to be SEO worthy for organic searches and ultimately, be crave-worthy.
What’s crave-worthy in definitive terms?
· Identifying client/customer pain points and their content preferences. Secondly, at different stages of the client service journey – identifying and describing those fears for opportunity. All this, helps propel a firm’s brand.
· High-quality content that evokes curiousity, confirm & alleviate fears, then provides a solution.
· Content that uncovers a mystery.
· Content can be about a rescue story and risk-taking.
· Does the content deal with or address similar challenges?
· To be engaging, does your passion shine through and is enthusiastic or deeply concerned?
· Does it ask real questions?
Content marketing is a long term approach to connect with an audience. Results in content can integrate cross-practice content collaboration for the optimum client experience. Be nimble with needs planning, scheduling social media and content postings. Ensure it’s positioned well in channels and research platform. In appropriate ways this is the return on experience.
Website – It’s a Conduit for Business.
The website is an owned platform but too often it’s neglected. It’s far more than just a directory or announcements. Websites are where high-quality content is housed. Sophisticated buyers go to the internet for research and education, particularly high-complex matter decision-making.
What’s new and evolving in websites? Responsive design, new browsers, robust sidebars, deep-linking across cross-devices for content, bios and better navigation. As a precursor, understand and evaluate which portions of the website they visit. ·
Display specific content to specific audiences.
· Use predictive search tools to capture analytics and make matches quickly.
· Create issue-based or specialized/niche microsites.
· Tabbed menus (related data one tab at a time) and multi-screen : collapsible content, image carousels and navigation.
Google searches will be more intuitive that goes one step further by targeting the most relevant users who have a higher propensity to purchase through browse behaviour, purchase/enquiry behaviour, social data to properly model and predict behaviour.
Consider Reach and Unique Visits: Evaluate how many individuals have viewed your content – typically happens within a 30 day window and allocate budget accordingly.
Consider Viewing and Page Views: how many did they read? What pages are getting the most views?
Always look at engagement levels: bounce rates, real time spent with content are all indicators of how engaged your web traffic is.
Email Technology Innovations and Why It’s Here To Stay:
Sophisticated email platforms are becoming more nuanced and more complex and much better at providing enhanced user experiences. The focus is on identifying unwanted or uninteresting blast messages and getting them out of the users way. Interactive email will take off as we close this decade: to deliver exceptional in-box experiences, The future is: Animated GIF’s (moving images with content) that move – add an element of interest and engagement
Mass blast emails: With inboxes getting too crowded, delivering relevant and personalized content is a must. The aim is send targeted, relevant messages for high quality content.
To read more articles and white papers, refer to www.beachstrategic.com
9 Essential Truths About Contenting Marketing
Intertwining Thought Leadership with Content for Niche Audiences
SmartLawReferrals
Getting Video to Work at its Most Optimal
Hurry Up and Wait
e-Essentials: Engage. Enhance. Entrust. Enact.- Business Development, Communications & Marketing Guide for Law Firms
Rosemary Beach is Principal & Practitioner of Beach Legal and Professional Marketing Services. A strategic marketing and business development consultancy for Canadian law firms and professional services firms. Visit www.beachstrategic.com or email at rosemary@beachstrategic.com