Spotlight Branding - October 2020

Spotlight Branding - October 2020

OCT 2020 (800) 406-7229 SpotlightBranding.com

THE 3 SCARIEST MARKETING MISTAKES YOU CAN MAKE THIS HALLOWEEN, WATCH OUT FOR THESE EXPENSIVE BOOGEYMEN

“WITH THE RIGHT MARKETING STRATEGY, YOU CAN KEEP THE ZOMBIE, THE VAMPIRE, AND THE SUPERVILLAIN AT BAY.”

THE VAMPIRE: Overvaluing Search Engine Marketing Is there anything scarier than throwing money down the drain? I don’t think so, especially not to law firm owners. But that’s exactly what you’ll end up doing if you fall victim to the money-sucking vampire of search engine marketing. Say it with me: SEO is not the Holy Grail. A lot of marketing companies won’t tell you this, but the scary truth is that not everyone can win the SEO game, and playing it can cause more harm than good. It can lead you to prioritize the wrong things. If you spend all of your time catering to bots and algorithms, for example, you’ll miss out on connecting with potential clients. And if you focus entirely on traffic, you might miss the fact that you’re driving that traffic to a website that’s too weak to convert leads. The truth is that SEO is a constant uphill battle, and if you don’t invest a lot of time and energy into it, you’ll end up flushing your funds away. THE SUPERVILLAIN: Making Yourself the Hero of Your Marketing Messages Think about the latest superhero movie you watched. At center stage, there was the hero or heroine. They were doing the flashy work, fighting the bad guys, and getting the accolades. But they weren’t

Halloween is almost here! This is always a fun time of year, packed with ghosts, ghouls, and gargoyles. That said, don’t let the spooktacular holiday fun distract you from your business. Plenty of boogeymen lurk in the dark reaches of the marketing universe just waiting to jump out and grab your firm. This Halloween, watch out for these three scary marketing mistakes: the zombie, the vampire, and the supervillain. THE ZOMBIE: Failing to Engage Enough With Your Existing Network If you shuffle straight ahead toward growth without paying attention to the existing clients surrounding you, you’ll live to regret it. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Staying in touch with your network is the key to increasing your referrals. According to one study, 83% of satisfied clients are willing to make referrals for their law firms, but of those, only 29% actually do it. Why? Because if you don’t stay in touch and make sure your firm is top of mind, 2 out of 3 clients will forget about you and turn to someone else. Terrifying, right? To bring in more referrals, ramp up your contact with your existing network. You can do this by emailing, calling, or, heck, even sending out a print newsletter like the one you’re holding right now. To read more about these strategies, turn to Page 2.

alone on screen, were they? Every hero has a guide or a best friend helping them along the way. To market successfully, that’s the dynamic you need to strike between your firm and your clients. Your firm isn’t the hero. You’re the Yoda to your client, Luke Skywalker, the Nick Fury to their Avengers. No one hires a lawyer because of who the lawyer is — they hire a lawyer because of what the lawyer can do for them. They want support and guidance on their journey. In other words, your clients need to see themselves as the hero. When they visit your website, they need to see the person they are or want to be, not a photo of your face. If you make the mistake of centering your marketing on yourself rather than your clients’ wants and needs, a scary thing will happen: They won’t realize that you’re the right lawyer for them, and they’ll pass you over for the next guy. That’s what makes this mistake a supervillain. To learn more about the concept, check out the book Building a Story Brand by Donald Miller. This Halloween, keep these three marketing mistakes in mind. With the right marketing strategy, you can keep the zombie, the vampire, and the supervillain at bay. –Marc Cerniglia

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STAY IN TOUCH, GET MORE REFERRALS THE EASIEST WAY TO INCREASE YOUR BOTTOM LINE

On Page 1 of this newsletter, Marc told you about “The Zombie,” one of the marketing mistakes that could come out to haunt you this Halloween. We could have left it at that, but honestly, failing to stay in touch with your network is such a big deal (and such a common problem) that it deserves more than a paragraph of space.

referral comes up. As it is right now, 83% of people are willing to make referrals to their lawyers but only 29% actually do it. Why? Because the law firm they worked with isn’t doing the legwork to stay top of mind — even though it’s easy . That doesn’t have to be you. Here are just a few of the endless ways you can keep in touch:

care about your clients. The best way to do it is by establishing a system. Keep a running list of the people in your network — it can be 100 people or 1,000 — and go through it systematically, calling or emailing 10% of the list each month. These strategies work. Consider this newsletter that you’re reading right now. For the last few minutes, you’ve been enjoying Spotlight Branding content. Now, imagine that tomorrow, another lawyer you know mentions that they’re having a marketing issue — who do you think is going to pop right into your mind? That’s right, we are! Staying in touch works, and you can use it to your advantage. The options we outlined above are easy to do on your own, but if you want the referrals without spending the time, we can help you implement them. Visit SpotlightBranding. com/NL today to learn more.

• Weekly emails • An email newsletter • A print newsletter • Social media posts • Regular blog posts • Consistent videos • Podcast episodes • Holiday cards • Birthday cards • Personal phone calls

The idea is simple: The more often you remind your network of who you are and what you do, the more likely they are to think of your firm when the opportunity for a

That last one might seem a bit intimidating, but it’s actually an excellent way to keep your firm top of mind and show that you truly

CLIENT SUCCESS STORY TYLER DAHL: ESTATE PLANNING

Tyler Dahl is an estate planning attorney with a special focus on helping business owners incorporate their business assets into their estate plan. Based in Sacramento, California, Tyler started the Law Offices of Tyler Q. Dahl five years ago and initially relied on directories and SEO to drive his business forward. After spending a lot of money on results that usually ended with frustration, Tyler turned to Spotlight Branding. We redesigned his website, began posting on social media, wrote blogs, and started sending an e-newsletter. Not long after the e-newsletter started, Tyler began receiving several requests from clients he had worked with in the past asking for additional business law services. These past clients needed his expertise but had simply put it on the backburner until Tyler’s email showed up in their inbox and reminded them it needed to be done.

Even more, Tyler began receiving inquiries from other contacts asking for assistance in other areas of business law— something they didn’t knowTyler could do until he started staying top of mind with them. In addition to the business law requests, Tyler has also seen an increase in people asking him to build their estate plans. In all instances, Tyler traces this increase in business directly to his work with us. Tyler is a great example of the power of referrals and staying top of mind. You don’t realize it, but it’s easy for people to forget who you are and all the ways you can help them. If you’re frustrated like Tyler was with the leads being generated by SEO and legal directories, tap into the contacts you’ve generated during your time as an attorney and get the business you’re missing out on simply because people have forgotten all the ways you can help them!

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

More Referrals. Better Clients. Higher ROI.

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KICK INBOX CLUTTER TO THE CURB MARC’S TOP TIPS FOR ORGANIZING YOUR EMAILS

If looking at your email inbox makes you feel overwhelmed and anxious, then you’re in the same boat as most of the lawyers we work with. Good email management is an underrated skill, but it can free your mind up for more important pursuits. However, if you’ve never tried to come up with a system of organization for your inbox, it’s difficult to know where to start. That’s where Marc comes in. Our CEO gets a boatload of emails. As a digital marketing company, the majority of our communications come over the web. So, in order to manage that digital flow over the years, Marc has come up with two simple strategies that make the process of managing emails simple. STRATEGY NO. 1: Set a designated time to check your email. When your email inbox is open all day long, it becomes a distraction. So, instead of letting it monopolize your time with constant notifications, close the window while you’re working on your to-do list. Then, set designated times throughout the day to open your inbox and deal with all of the messages at once. As Marc puts it, “No one who emails you is expecting you to get back to them within an hour. If something is truly urgent, they’ll call.” Try out this strategy and watch your productivity soar.

STRATEGY NO. 2: Separate your inbox from your to-do list. When you open new emails with requests for assistance inside and then let them sit in your inbox until you complete those requests, you’re turning your inbox into a to-do list — which is not what it’s designed to be. See, email platforms aren’t task managers. They don’t allow you to set due dates or effectively prioritize things. So, instead of using your inbox as a to-do list, invest in some task management software (if you don’t have it already). Once you do that, if you get an email about a task that will take more than five minutes, you can transfer that task into your task management system. This will help you keep your priorities straight, and make you feel less scattered. To learn more about a task management system we recommend, check out the “Resource of the Month” section below.

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

RESOURCE OF THE MONTH

MONDAY.COM HELPS YOU GET THINGS DONE GET ORGANIZED WITH MONDAY.COM

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.” ‘WHY LOOPS ARE BETTER THAN FUNNELS’ – LFMM 326 Most marketing strategies revolve around creating a funnel to nurture leads along. There’s one big problem, though: Funnels end. However, if you create a marketing loop, leads stay in your system much longer and can lead to better conversion. 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!

If your way of organizing your tasks is a pile of sticky notes all over your desk or a barely legible notepad full of loosely connected thoughts, it’s time for an upgrade! But even if your organizational skills are a little more advanced than that, Monday.com could very well make your life even easier. Some of the country’s biggest companies, like Uber, Costco, and Hulu, use this software. It allows you to automate your everyday tasks so you have a clear reminder and nothing falls through the cracks. Even more, Monday.com allows you to collaborate with your employees so you can assign tasks in real time and see what stage they’re in with their work.

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

If you’re interested in learning more, just go to Monday.com.

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THIS ISSUE INSIDE 1

The 3 Scariest Marketing Mistakes You Can Make

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The Easiest Way to Increase Your Bottom Line

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Client Success Story

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Feeling Overwhelmed by Emails? Try These Decluttering Strategies

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Spotlight Branding’s Industry-Leading Podcast

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Join a Professional Association and See Your Business Grow

LEARN AND GROW WITH A PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION YOU’RE NOT ALONE

EDUCATION AND RESOURCES Google is great for a quick answer, but when you need to learn something more nuanced, a simple internet search won’t cut it. Professional associations offer tailored, more in-depth help and resources like industry-specific training and webinars, how-to guides, and coaching. From peer advice and education to scholarly studies and reviews, associations act as a library of information for your industry. NETWORKING AND MENTORSHIP Why reinvent the wheel when you can adapt it with a mentor? Associations connect you to leaders who have stood where you are standing and succeeded. You can learn a lot from their failures, wisdom, and guidance. You can also connect with peers in your position and bounce ideas off of them. You won’t have to worry about competitors “stealing” your processes, and

Business is competitive by nature. If competitors didn’t push our favorite brands to be better, they may not even exist. Our technology options would be limited without Apple’s ingenuity. Shipping options would be limited without UPS or FedEx. And access to our favorite athletic gear would be more limited if no one was pushing the top brands like Nike to innovate. Competition fuels our greatest inventions, but behind every great leader or business is a core network of like-minded people and innovators supporting them. Professional associations connect business leaders to fellow innovators in their industry without competition from local rivals. These organizations offer many benefits and little risk to business leaders looking to grow. If you haven’t yet joined a professional association, these three benefits just might get you to change your mind.

you have an honest, go-to support team to help you refine them before presenting them to your team. PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT AND GROWTH A business is only as good as the leader managing it, and all business leaders have room for improvement. An association can give you the tools to get there. And as you continue to learn, you’ll discover personal and professional areas that can be further refined. This personal development only makes you and your business stronger. Are you still not convinced you should join an association? Think of it this way: Your competitors could be growing through their involvement in an association while you remain stagnant. Push forward and connect with your peers today.

More Referrals. Better Clients. Higher ROI.

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