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.

It’s Not Just About The Numbers…

Few in the PI industry study the numbers like I do, but I can tell you that marketing your PI firm is not just a numbers game.  It’s a process…a process that requires planning, execution, measurement, systemization, feedback and continual improvement.  Are you committed to the process? 

 

If you’re a PI attorney looking to grow your practice to the next level, you have a number of options, all of which will yield differing degrees of success or lack thereof.

 

The option that I see most commonly is to simply increase advertising.  Why is that the most common choice?  Because it’s the fastest and easiest. 

 

If attracting new case calls was the only goal of the marketing process, then advertising might be the best option.  But attracting and acquiring new calls are simply step one and two.  When we move to step three of the marketing plan, advertising falls short.  You see, step three is to grow relationships.  And that leads to step four which is to retain customers (clients) and generate a consistent stream of referrals.

 

I believe that your numbers are the foundation for gauging the effectiveness of each element of your marketing program.  But marketing is not just a numbers game.  Marketing is all about building relationships and that is a process.