Spotlight Branding - April 2020

Spotlight Branding - April 2020

APR. 2020 (800)-406-7229 SpotlightBranding.com

DON’T STOP FEEDING THE BEAST Why You Need to Create More Content, Fast

If you’ve been reading this newsletter for a while, you know just how important content is to growing your business. This isn’t some big discovery I made: Every good lawyer knows that content has value, whether it’s in the form of social media posts, podcasts, blogs, emails, or videos. Consistent, relevant content is how you keep your brand and services top of mind and build up your expertise. But are you putting out enough content? In my experience, the answer is a big fat “no.” In fact, most lawyers I see aren’t even coming close. How is that possible? Well, think about the environment we live in. Everywhere you go, no matter what you’re doing, your smartphone connects you to a bottomless pool of information. Just think about it. In the past, when you were sitting at the doctor’s office waiting your turn, you were stuck with nothing to do but flip through the outdated People magazines on the waiting room coffee table. Now, you can pull out your phone and do just about anything. You can scroll through social media, watch a video, listen to a podcast, or (and here’s the kicker) look up a good lawyer. Do you want to be educated? Do you want to be entertained? It’s up to you.

viable because we’re living in the golden age of content consumption! Our appetite for content is bottomless, and we plow through a mountain of it every day. That’s why I’m 100% sure your practice isn’t putting enough social media posts, blogs, podcasts, and videos out into the digital universe — it’s pretty much impossible to fully satisfy the beast. That said, you can feed it, and the more you feed it, the more leads and referral sources you’ll touch. On Pg. 2 of this newsletter, I’ll show you how to turn one piece of content into 35 or more pieces in just a few easy steps. When it comes to picking that first piece of content and multiplying it out across platforms and formats, remember the golden rule of content creation: It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be good enough. Now, I’m not saying you should put out volumes of bad content. That won’t do anything but make you look bad. What I’m saying is you shouldn’t spend days or weeks agonizing over a particular post or article, trying to make it the best it can possibly be. Instead, churn out a post that’s good enough and spend that extra time on creating more posts or leveraging the one you just finished to reach more people. ROI. Honestly, in the world we live in right now, I don’t think ROI is the end all, be all of content anymore — we consume endlessly and erratically, and that makes it impossible to draw a straight line connecting the dots from the creation of content to the conversion of a lead. In my experience, a lot of the benefits Apart from perfectionism, another thing that slows down content creation is worrying about

of consistent, high-volume content are untraceable. For example, someone might read a post on your blog, then refer a friend to your firm without even telling that friend how they found you. That’s a big point in favor of creating more content that won’t show up in your ROI. I truly believe there is no such thing as too much content right now. There’s no point where someone is going to look at how much you’re putting out and say, “Stop! I can’t take it!” But you can reach a point where you’re making every smart move you can — at least until the next opportunity comes along. If you need help spotting those opportunities or just want an expert to assess your content and spot the holes, my team and I can help. Send us a message at SpotlightBranding.com/ NL to schedule a free consultation. –Marc Cerniglia “WHEN IT COMES TO PICKING THAT FIRST PIECE OF CONTENT AND MULTIPLYING IT OUT ACROSS PLATFORMS AND FORMATS, REMEMBER THE GOLDEN RULE OF CONTENT CREATION: IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE PERFECT. IT JUST HAS TO BE GOOD ENOUGH.”

Netflix, Disney Plus, and the 50 other streaming services trying to make it right now are

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Pull two quotes from the blog and turn them into graphics to share on Instagram. Publish those graphics on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Record the blog as a podcast and post the recording to your website. If you don’t have a regular podcast, you can just post this as an audio recording.

As we discussed on Pg. 1, amping up your content creation is the key to staying top of mind with potential clients in this age of consumption. Once you realize that, the next step is to actually do it — but how? Well, it’s easier than you might think. In just 10 steps, you can turn one piece of content into more than 35 compelling pieces. Try this following example and see for yourself! SEND YOUR CONTENT CREATION THROUGH THE ROOF HOW TO TURN 1 PIECE OF CONTENT INTO 35-PLUS PIECES

STEP 4 STEP 5 STEP 6 STEP 7 STEP 8 STEP 9 STEP 10

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Share the full podcast on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn as well. Don’t forget your teaser!

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Pull two 10-second clips of audio from the podcast to use as teasers, then share those on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

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Record the blog as a video and post it on your website.

STEP 1 STEP 2

Start with a blog posted to your website.

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Repeat steps 7 and 8 with the video.

Share your blog on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Don’t forget to include an interesting teaser to draw people in. Try to touch on pain points, the benefits the reader will get, or a surprising fact the blog covers.

Where the single piece of content you started with might have reached just a handful of people, by leveraging it across social media platforms and communication styles, you can touch hundreds, even thousands, of potential clients. For an extra boost, you can follow all of these steps on your personal social media accounts as well. Feel free to modify this guide to fit your business, but if you’re still struggling with creating or multiplying content, our team can help. Visit SpotlightBranding.com/NL to reach out!

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STEP 3

Reshare the blog two more times on each platform with different teasers. You can do this over a period of days, weeks, or months —whatever works for you.

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CLIENT SUCCESS STORY TREMBLY LAW FIRM: BUSINESS LAW

Brett Trembly is a business attorney fromMiami, Florida. If you’ve followed Spotlight Branding for some time, you’ve likely seen his name or even heard fromhim. That’s because Brett is one of our greatest success stories, and we want him to share his experience any chance he gets.

networking, and building his contact list. He then used his blogs, videos, social media, e-newsletter, and the website we created for him to create several touch points eachmonth to remind business owners throughout the Miami area that Brett was out there and he could help them. Now, Brett’s marketing system, which focuses on referrals rather than Google, is a well-oiledmachine. He receives requests for business on almost every newsletter that goes out eachmonth, and he constantly receives comments on the various areas his content has appeared online. There isn’t even enough space to tell you how much Brett and his firmhave grown over the past few years since working with Spotlight Branding, so you’ll just have to wait and find out next month!

When Brett first set out to build his firm in Miami, he was a true solo, starting from scratch. He had

no network, had no resources, and was trying to do everything himself. He worked tirelessly to network and build a list of contacts to generate solid referral sources.

WANT MORE REFERRALS AND BETTER CLIENTS? Visit SpotlightBranding.com/NL to schedule a call!

When he started working with Spotlight Branding, Brett didn’t just sit back and wait around for things to happen—he kept pushing forward,

More Referrals. Better Clients. Higher ROI.

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COULD SWITCHING TO FLAT-FEE PRICING WIN YOU MORE CLIENTS? WHY YOU SHOULD CONSIDER DITCHING HOURLY BILLING

Most lawyers charge their clients by the hour, but in the last few years, we’ve seen a movement away from that model and toward flat-fee pricing. On the surface, it seems nuts — why would a lawyer set themselves up to lose money if they end up working overtime? But after a closer look, we’ve found there’s a huge potential benefit for flat-free pricing that’s often overlooked.

HOW TO DO IT WITHOUT LOSING MONEY

Lawyers avoid flat-fee pricing because they worry that they’ll set their prices too low, then start hemorrhagingmoney if a case takes longer than they expected. That’s a valid concern, but you can assuage it by doing two things: choosing your prices carefully, and creating a tiered pricing structure. When you pick your fee, look over your past cases and choose a price that’s in the sweet spot — base it on cases where you’ve had prices that were higher or lower. Then, take the time to create a tiered structure with different prices for cases of various types and complexities, and find the sweet spot at each level. Whatever pricing model you choose, our team can help develop a marketing plan that’s right for you. To learn more about your options, head to SpotlightBranding.com/NL.

THE ARGUMENT FOR FLAT-FEE PRICING

Going the flat-fee route aligns your interests with the interests of your clients. The hard truth is that the hourly billingmodel pits the lawyer against the client financially. Nomatter howmuch integrity you have or howmuch you care about your clients, your firmmakes moremoney the longer a case takes, and your client loses money at that same pace. This never fails to make clients a bit suspicious of their lawyers and anxious about their cases. Just think about the last time you had a plumber at your house who charged by the hour. Didn’t you feel the urgency to get themout of there mounting with every passingminute? The flat-fee pricingmodel will keep your clients from feeling that same way about you. Plus, saying, “This is the price, and we’ll get it done nomatter how long it takes without charging you a cent more,” is a great selling proposition. People want to pay for results.

FEATURED EPISODE THE VERY BEST EPISODES OF THE LAW FIRM MARKETING MINUTE PODCAST

RESOURCE OF THE MONTH

HAVE YOU REQUESTED OUR BOOK YET? GRAB YOUR FREE COPY TODAY! In last month’s newsletter, we had an article telling you all about our new book, The Ultimate Solo Lawyer’s Guide toMore Referrals and Better Clients. We’ve had several people request their free copy, and we are extremely grateful for all of the interest shown so far.

If you’re looking for more great resources to drive your business forward, take a look at this episode from our industry-leading podcast – The Law Firm Marketing Minute.

“THE SEO GOLD RUSH” – LFMM 294

If you haven’t requested your copy yet, there’s still time! Just go to SpotlightBranding.com/free-book/ and fill out the short form. This book is perfect for readers of this newsletter. It covers the power of referrals, how branding differs frommarketing, and (of course) why Google isn’t going to be the best source of new clients for your firm. Additionally, this book challenges a lot of preconceived notions many attorneys have about marketing. So, if you’ve been feeling frustrated about your current marketing strategy or you don’t fully understand what your marketing should be doing for you, request your copy of our book!

How is SEO like the gold rush of 1849? There are actually several similarities, none of which are encouraging.

If you want More Referrals, Better Clients, and Higher ROI on all your marketing, call us today at 800-406-7229 to schedule a consultation!

Listen to this episode and find even more at LawFirmMarketingMinute.com and subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

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THIS ISSUE INSIDE

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Are You Creating Enough Content? (Our Money Is on No) How to Quickly Turn 1 Piece of Content Into 35-Plus Pieces Client Success Story

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Should You Stop Charging by the Hour?

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Spotlight Branding’s Industry-Leading Podcast

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The Most Important Question You Can Ask

‘START WITH WHY’ And Better Business Will Follow

Figuring out your “why” is a process of discovery, not invention. In order to discover it, you can turn to three key strategies.

“There are only two ways to influence human behavior: You can manipulate it, or you can inspire it.” –Simon Sinek

It can often be hard to clearly articulate what you do for a living. That means it can be difficult to explain your vision to potential clients and customers, which then makes it harder to convince them to purchase your product or services. In Start With Why author Simon Sinek illustrates the importance of explaining to others why you do the business you do rather than explaining what you do or how you do it. Sinek argues that when people start figuring out the “why” in what they do, it inspires action from others in a way that discussing the “what” can’t. Talking about the “why” engages emotions; analyzing the “what” is purely logical. When you try to sell something to people based on “what,” you rely on specific manipulations like price and product details. But if you help people understand why you do what you do by revealing the real purpose and intention behind your reasons, you build a sense of trust. This trust leads to loyalty, and loyalty means that person comes back to do business with you and also refers your business to others. This is how businesses grow!

• Look backward at the original motivation for starting your business. What specific problem were you trying to solve, and why was it important to you to solve it? • Look outward by asking those around you why they spend time with you or why a customer buys from you. You can learn why people are drawn to you and your business this way.

• Look inward by identifying a bigger vision that you wish to contribute to. What do you believe in? What really matters to you?

Start With Why teaches readers how to go about discovering their “why,” then instructs them on how to effectively use that information to help their business. It also helps them unleash their business’s vast potential that has remained untapped until now.

More Referrals. Better Clients. Higher ROI.

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