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Cindy Speaker

“We’ve Reached A Tipping Point”

I picked up the New York Times the other day and on the front page there was an article entitled “Internet Giants Vie to Snap Up Web Ad Firms.”  It talked about the race among industry power players like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL to acquire small Internet advertising companies. 

NYT writer Miguel Helft states that “underlying the deals…is a transformation of the advertising world away from traditional media like television, radio and print.”  It is directly after that statement that chief executive of 360i, Bryan Wiener, makes the profound revelation that “we’ve reached a tipping point.”

How does this relate to the legal industry, and more specifically PI law?  How much time do you have?  LOL  The fact is the writing is on the wall.  Traditional mass media is experiencing diminished results with each passing month.  Replacing it in power and pervasiveness are targeted efforts to capture the vast niche audiences that turn to the Internet to assess credibility and make purchase decisions.

Bottomline:  it’s time to reallocate some of your traditional mass media advertising resources to the web.  Many opportunities exist in this arena so study it and choose your venues carefully.  Just don’t wait too long. 

Intentional Dreaming

Last week I attended a conference in Phoenix and the keynote speaker was Michael Gerber.  Michael is the author of the E-Myth Revisited and what he talks about in that book is that we need to create systems for our businesses.  His concept is to grow a business as if we plan to franchise it.  It’s a great book if you haven’t read it.

But in this post I want to bring you up to speed on his latest endeavor.  He calls it “The Dreaming Room.”  Michael holds weekend conferences where he works with his attendees to make sure they are dreaming big enough.  I have to say that he is full of energy and enthusiasm and truly inspiring even though he is now 70 years old.

Here’s why I wanted to share it.  He talked about rekindling that entrepreneurial spirit and embracing the idea of being “stunningly original.”  Isn’t that awesome?  So often we become complacent in our comfort zones and become employees and worker bees in our own businesses.  But that is not where an entreprenuer finds fulfillment.

An entrepreneur is not afraid to live in the unknown.  The pain and discontent of not knowing how to do what you feel you want to do is not a bad thing.  As a matter of fact, Michael describes it as a gift.  He talks about “infinite climbing” and awakening the entrepreneur and creator within you.

I believe that each of us has the potential to go far beyond our comfort zones and as Michael states, doing so requires intentional dreaming.  We need to get away from the day to day grind regularly and have time to plan and dream so that we are able to create and innovate.

If you want to learn more about Michael’s new project you can do so by going to:  http://www.inthedreamingroom.com/index.html

In the meantime, be sure to set aside time regularly to dream.

A Marketing Lesson From The Virginia Tech Tragedy

Business Week arrived in my mailbox today and as I perused the table of contents I was drawn to an article entitled “Buying Clicks To A Tragedy.”  At first I thought it appalling but as I read it, I started to think about the practical application to our industry.

The fact is that there is an “ever-growing chunk of total revenues coming from the Web.”  Because of that, news outlets now “scramble their online marketing staffers as quickly as they do reporters when a big story hits.” 

And what does that tell us?  It tells us that once again, traditional mass media advertising is being replaced by the web.  The newspapers of the world have been forced to quickly adapt and embrace the web because their more traditional print medium is no longer as effective as it once was.  Don’t get me wrong.  There are millions of people that read newspapers.  They are not going away – at least not yet.  However, the web is becoming increasingly important.

And now the application to the PI industry.  This story immediately made me think of the biggest PI firms in the country.  When a relevant story hits, or a drug is recalled or a local catastrophe occurs, our ranks are so trained to call their advertising agency and scramble to run a series of TV spots.  That is if their advertising agency doesn’t call them first.  But how much of our time and resources are allocated to the web.

The Business Week article stated “At the risk of sounding crass, these do become marketing events for these news sites.”  When the Virginia Tech tragedy occurred the business operations of the New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and Time magazine bought ads on either Google or Yahoo so that anytime someone searched the phrase “Virginia shooting,” their links would pop up prominently on the right-hand side of the page.  That strategy is called pay per click advertising, and I’ve found it to be very effective when properly researched and placed. 

So let me ask you this.  How are you embracing and utilizing Web 2.0?  However that might be, I suggest that you step it up a few notches.  If you want to talk about it, give me a call at 610-692-2950. 

Where Have All The Viewers Gone?

USA Today had an article in yesterday’s paper that talked about the continuing decline in viewership for television.  But the statement that really grabbed me was this one:

• “Still other observers worry the shortfall may mark a tipping point as networks lose share to the Internet, cable and other media.”

The writing is on the wall.  Traditional mass media is becoming less and less effective.  Why?  Because decisions are no longer primarily made as a result of advertising.  They are made as a result of word of mouth networks.  That’s why I continue to work with attorneys to build systems that lead to a consistent stream of referrals.

I had lunch in a little tea house yesterday called Arianna’s and the friend that I was with relayed a story about a previous experience she had with one of the owners at the establishment.  It seems that her grandchild had accompanied her to lunch.  The child ordered milk with her meal and they were out of milk.  So, they sent someone to the store to buy her milk.  Now that’s extraordinary customer service and it’s great marketing!

How many times do you think that story will get told?  I assure you, the answer is many.  Arianna’s is getting talked about because they were perceptive enough to recognize an opportunity to stand out and creatively seize it.  The result?  Great word of mouth!

Let me ask you something.  Do you think anybody is talking about your yellow page ads?  I doubt it.  When your prospects talk about you they are most likely not talking about your advertising – they are talking about their experience with you.

That’s why it’s so important to create memorable experiences. 

So to answer the question we started out with – where have all the viewers gone?  They’ve gone to look for authentic and genuine companies that focus on customer service and creating experiences worthy of being talked about in a positive way.

Man On The Street Interviews

In 2002 I conducted a series of market research studies to determine how auto accident prospects would be most likely to find and choose a law firm.  In this short 2 minute video you will discover the answer to that question in 2002.  In the near future, my team will be conducting this informal research again and I can almost guarantee you that the answers will be quite different.  As a matter of fact, the 2002 most common response is my least favorite advertising strategy for PI attorneys in 2007.

Man On The Street Interviews

Designing An Experience Your Clients Will Talk About

I was speaking to a group a few months back and I remember asking them if they think their clients are talking about their yellow page ads?  There were quite a few chuckles.  Why?  Because, it sounds ridiculous.  Let’s face it…nobody is talking about your yellow page ads.  They’re just not memorable and that is not what gets you noticed.  That’s why I continually encourage attorneys to reallocate some of the traditional mass media advertising dollars to technology and relationship driven marketing strategies.

One way to get noticed and make an impact is to create a system whereby your team designs memorable client experiences.   In this audio session I will discuss some strategies to help you build that kind of system for your firm.

Web 2.0 – Is This Relevant To PI Attorneys?

Absolutely.  My best advice to you is to find a way to embrace Web 2.0 as soon as possible.  It is changing the way we acquire and nurture clients and you need to understand that before your competitors do. 

The average PI client is about 35 years old.  Do you really think they are looking for a lawyer in the yellow pages?  Probably not.  Instead they are becoming increasingly sophisticated web users that demand a significant and credible web presence from their vendors of choice.

A basic website is no longer sufficient.  We now need to concern ourselves with understanding blogs and podcasts, rss feeds and social bookmarking, online video and tags. 

We must have an online visibility that breeds confidence.  That means showing up in Google, Squidoo, Digg, Technorati, Del.icio.us, Zoom, and My Space – just to name a few.

 By the way, here’s my Squidoo site.  It’s fun and it’s free!  http://www.squidoo.com/cindyspeaker/

The choices are truly endless.  That’s why the pursuit of greater online visibility and credibility requires study and research.  Focus your efforts in the right area.  Web 2.0 efforts are inexpensive but labor intensive.

Mobile Marketing for Law Firms?

We’ve been hearing for quite some time now that in the near future, ads will be a common occurrence on cell phones.  I don’t know about you, but I have resisted believing that such a thing could really happen.  After all, who is going to stand for being charged to receive intrusive sales pitches on their cell phone?  Well, it seems that advertisers are already making headway in this effort that has been aptly referred to as ”mobile marketing.”

First of all, 75% of the United States has cell phones.  That equates to about 225 million people.  Google’s CEO Eric Schmidt predicts that we will soon see free cell phones, with the cost of a service plan subsidized entirely by ads.  As a matter of fact there is apparently already a Google-branded phone in the works.

An existing business model for “SugarMama” provides some insight as to how the near future may look.  The Virgin Mobile service provides 4 million users – mostly teenagers – with up to 75 minutes of free airtime a month if they watch ads and answer questions to prove they paid attention.  Since its launch in May, SugarMama has been used more than 2 million times, and it’s gaining about 1,000 new users a day.  It has also attracted advertisers such as Pepsi, Sony Pictures, and the U.S. Navy, which gives the small mobile operator a welcome stream of nonvoice revenue.

Just imagine the power that will go to the early adopters of mobile marketing in the soon to be golden age of cell phone innovation! 

Client Satisfaction

Research shows that the first 90 seconds of your clients perception of you and your firm will have more to do with their overall client satisfaction than anything that occurs after that initial point of contact….ever!

This whole area of first impressions deserves more of our attention than it generally receives.  You see, the fact of the matter is that your law firm is not judged primarily on the merits of your work but on the emotional connection that occurs during that first point of contact.   

In most cases, you as the attorney are not the one making those all important first impressions.  Instead it is your receptionist and intake operators.  Therefore, it is important that they are carefully trained to create the kind of emotional connections that your clients crave?  This is a hot topic in law firms around the country and because of that, last week my staff and I did a team training teleseminar entitled “Are You A Customer Service Hero?” 

We posited that your clients are in need of heroes.  Not superstars, but knowledgeable, caring listeners that are available to help them navigate what can be one of the most difficult times in their life.  

Are your front line people customer service heroes?  One way to assess this is to call our office about conducting a series of ghost calls.  We will help you evaluate what is transpiring during new case calls and then, if desired, work with your team to ensure proper training and implementation.  You can reach us at 610-692-3217.  Or email us at cindy@cindyspeaker.com.