BWPrice's Marketing U

We Are Testing Website Pop-Ups

For professional services firms, content is an important marketing tool.  Articles, white papers, e-books, powerpoint decks, podcasts, etc. can convey expertise.  At Mercer Capital, my firm, we have four e-mail newsletters that contain very useful content for their target markets. They are free, or complimentary, as we say.  Two of those newsletters have fewer subscribers than we would like.  Add to that the marketing engine which is our website - one of the most visited, if not the most visited, sites in our profession.  The question was and is how to use our website to convert visitors into newsletter subscribers?   While we have "subscribe to our newsletters" on every page of the site, that isn't getting the job done. 

We are experimenting with a pop-up.  The pop-up asks the visiter if they have subscribed to our newsletters.  To keep the pop-up from being absolutely annoying, it does not pop on the home page (only on the interior pages) and only appears once as you navigate throughout the site.  While nirvana would be different pop-ups for different sections of the website (a BankWatch newsletter pop-up that appears when visiting our financial services valuation section, a Financial Reporting Valuation Flash newsletter pop-up when visiting our financial reporting valuation section, etc.), that isn't feasible for our site and our budget. Therefore, the pop-up is general in nature and takes the visitor to a landing page which lists all our newsletters.

We launched the pop-up three weeks ago.  So far, we're seeing an uptick in our newsletter subscriptions.  How much of an up-tick is yet to be determined.  I'll report back. 

If this works for us and if your site can support it, it might be something to consider.  It might also be a way to differentiate you from your competition.  As far as I can tell, we're the only firm in our profession with this type of functionality on our website.  Visit our site (www.mercercapital.com) and click to one of the interior pages and tell me what you think. 

Hyphens and Apostrophies Run Amok!

First there was the "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks.  Now there is Apostrophe Abuse.  Visit both for a laugh. 

From the "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks

From Apostrophe Abuse
 

Social Media & Communications Policy for Your Firm

If your firm doesn't have a social media policy, or is in the process of developing one, here is a great resource for you.  Michelle Golden has written "Charting a Firm's Social Media and Communications Policy."  It is not a template for a social media policy but thoughtful advice targeted to those who are uncomfortable with social media.  Read it here at AccountingWeb.

Happy Monday

Here are my girls meeting princess Jasmine at Disney World earlier this year.  The youngest is dressed as Ariel (in her gown rather than her mermaid tail) and the oldest is dressed as Jasmine.  You can tell by the look on her face that she is in heaven. 

Not Your Mother's Sponsorship

As the CMO of a professional services firm, I am often approached on behalf of my firm by event coordinators to sponsor specific events or educational conferences. 

I find it interesting that I am receiving an increasing number of requests from print publications to sponsor webcasts and/or podcasts.  I am also noticing fewer requests from those same folks to purchase ads in their print publications.  In fact, we received such a call re sponsored podcasts yesterday from a well-known print publication in our space. 

This makes sense because these print publications understand that the days of only selling print ads are over.  To remain relevant, and in business, they have to broaden their business model so they are sharing content via the web and pushing it via other platforms (webcasts, teleseminars, podcasts, virtual conferences, etc.).  This has been the norm in the tech field for a long time but for our profession which touches tax, estate planning, accounting, employee benefits, as well as law, this is relatively new.

These opportunities raise issues for this CMO.  My stance on sponsorships has historically been "I will consider it only if we get a spot on the podium."  Why?  Our firm's culture is centered around providing content.  Speaking at the right events before the right audience has proven to be very effective for us because it showcases our expertise.  In addition, we have the marketing back-office to leverage the reach of each speech.

If a sponsorship involves underwriting a cocktail party so our professionals can schmooze, then that's pretty much off the table for us because it's just not a good use of our dollars. 

With increasingly "good" opportunities to share content via these sponsorships and reach even more tightly targeted markets, or challenge is to identify those "best" opportunities.  These sponsorships are typically not cheap.  Because of the dollars invested, the importance of leveraging each opportunity is magnified. 

In addition, it might be time to think about reworking our marketing budget.  Because several of these sponsorships are attractive, and relatively expensive, do we move money from other marketing budget items or just stop doing some things?  The answer is probably "yes" to both. 

The point is that, for us at least, the opportunities to reach ever more targeted markets are evolving.  The good news for us is that the trend is moving towards providing these markets with more relevant content.  Deciding when and how to rework the mix of marketing tools and activities to best position us to take advantage of the evolution will prove interesting.  But that's one of the things that make this job fun!

 

Of 10 Law Firms with Highest Profits Per Partner, Only One Has Blog?

In a post entitled "The State of the Big Firm Blogosphere," authors Beck and Hermann of the Drug and Device Law blog note:

We took a peek at Kevin O'Keefe's recent report on the State of the AmLaw 200 Blogosphere to see whether blogging is catching on at big firms. Kevin reports that 41 percent of the AmLaw 200 now have blogs, which is a 110 percent increase in the last two years. Those numbers speak for themselves....

We next compared the list of firms with blogs to the AmLaw 200 report on profitability. Of the ten firms with the highest profits per partner (we know, we know! everyone criticizes that metric, but the public is still fascinated by it) in the United States, only one has any connection to a blog. And that "connection" is pretty remote.

Kirkland & Ellis, alone among the top ten PPP firms, has a blogging lawyer. But the efforts of that lawyer -- whose work appears at the Sports Law Blog -- just barely count as a "big firm blog." It's true that the blog's founder is a K&E associate, but the blog is now written by five "contributors" -- most of whom appear to be law professors -- and more than a dozen "guest contributors," who generally have no connection with K&E. And, like our own blog, the Sports Law Blog is not "firm branded." It appears to be the product of the collection of folks who publish it, rather than an institutional effort by the firm.

The other top ten PPP firms -- Wachtell, Quinn Emanuel, Boies Schiller, Sullivan & Cromwell, Paul Weiss, Cravath, Simpson Thacher, Cleary, and Schulte Roth --have no apparent affiliation with any blogs at all.

Make of that what you will....

Anyway, perhaps someone with more spare time than we have can look at the list of big firm blogs and draw more scientific conclusions than we have. The data's there for the mining; someone should take a look.

Happy Monday is Back ... and So Am I

Mr. Skinner apparently is not a fan of subtlety.  Originally found via AbovetheLaw.com

Happy Monday

New Words Get New Results

A friend sent this to me today.  After a bit of research, I find that it's been around for a few years at least, although I can't precisely pinpoint its original author or publication date.  If you know, let me know and I'll provide the appropriate credit.  In the meantime, enjoy.

One day, there was a blind man sitting on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet and a sign that read:

"I am blind, please help."

A creative publicist was walking by and stopped to observe. He saw that the blind man had only a few coins in his hat. He dropped in more coins and, without asking for permission, took the sign and rewrote it.

He returned the sign to the blind man and left. That afternoon the publicist returned to the blind man and noticed that his hat was full of bills and coins.

The blind man recognized his footsteps and asked if it was he who had rewritten his sign and wanted to know what he had written on it.

The publicist responded: "Nothing that was not true. I just wrote the message a little differently." He smiled and went on his way.

The new sign read: "Today is Spring and I cannot see it."

Learning what to say changes everything.

Happy Monday

Unplugged

This past weekend, I attempted to unplug.  No e-mail. No blogs.  No facebook.  No twitter.  No internet.  No nothing.

How did I do?  I give myself a B-.  Yet, that B- felt pretty good.

It was nice to mostly get away from the constant flow of information because there is just too much of it. 

I decided to simplify my information intake.  While I am interested in a great many things, I only have the time and energy to put to use certain things.  I found myself being "plugged in" and knowing a little about a lot. It got so that I would take headlines as content (prime example: after seeing a headline about Flutter, I just assumed it was the "next thing" not realizing it was a hoax.  Shame on me (but it is a funny hoax)). 

The economy has forced many of us to simplify our lives by doing more with less.  The same philosophy should be true for information flow.  The internet allows us to find information quickly and cheaply.  It levels the playing field to a certain extent.  Many voices are speaking into the ether.  Some have information that I can use.  Others, not so much.  Just because someone is interesting doesn't mean I have enough time to read them, friend them, or follow them.  Life is about choices so we have to choose wisely how to best use our time.

I encourage everyone to unfriend and unfollow as appropriate and to pare down the information inflow.  Then, unplug at least one day a week. 

For a great read on the folly of too many social media friends and/or people to follow, see Debra Helwig's post "Too Much of a Good Thing" at her blog Service Minded.

Monetize Your Non-Billable Time Per Bruce Allen

Bruce Allen at Marketing Catalyst suggests fee-earners "monetize" their non-billable time.  Key excerpt:

If you have the courage, keep track of any non-billable activity you do while you're at work. Then, at the end of a day look at your list and put a "$" sign next to any activity that can result in new work.

He goes on to explain the three things your list will possibly demonstrate.  It's a smart post and the advice is on target.  Fee-earners have to think past billable activities and begin (if you haven't already) to focus on development - both for the short-term and for the long-term.  Yet doing this can feel dangerous in this down economy when being as billable as humanly possible is perceived as the safe thing to do because the thinking is "if I'm billable and if lay-offs come, they surely wouldn't let me go."

No one is safe in this environment.  I suggest professionals need to be thinking about the short-term as well as the long-term.  This economy will turn around and rain-makers are always the most valued people in the room. 

So, give Bruce's idea a try.  Hopefully your firm will support it or some idea like it.  If not, do it anyway for your own career progression.