BWPrice's Marketing U

Stir the Water

In these economic times, my marketing strategy is pretty simple.  It can be described as "stir the water." 

Stirring the water means being active in, hopefully, all the right strategic and tactical ways that have a chance to make the phone ring in the short run.  Yet even if you are not always doing the right thing - let's be honest, sometimes the right thing and the wrong thing are only clear in hindsight - do something.  Make it your focus to make the phone ring sooner rather than later.  

If everyone is pulling together and stirring the water, something good will happen.  On days when the phone is silent, the promise of "something good," while not specific, is enough.

Save Money by Cutting Marketing

Has the title of this post confused you?  You might be thinking "wait a minute ... I thought the author of this blog is a marketer!"  I am.  I'm just grabbing your attention and highlighting a post from Timothy B. Corcoran of Altman Weil, Inc. entitled: Law Firm Leaders - Save Money Now by Cutting Marketing!

If you are a PSF marketer or leader in a PSF, read this post.  It is dead on.  Here are the key paragraphs:

Marketing carries so many different meanings. For lawyers who have enjoyed the luxury of near unlimited demand for legal services for a generation, Marketing is nearly synonymous with high-end administrative support. It’s event planning, brochure writing and writing elegant prose about how wonderful we are. For the rest of the business community, Marketing is about identifying optimal target markets, taking steps to increase visibility and demonstrating expertise in these markets, understanding client concerns and then developing and offering solutions to address these concerns. 

When the expense reduction committee turns its attention to Marketing department, I suggest it’s less impactful in the long run to view Marketing as a collection of fixed and variable expenses and people comprising a cost center. Focus instead on what the firm is doing to articulate its strategy, pursue clients and prospects, enter new markets, replicate financially successful engagements, improve inefficient operations and thus elevate the service posture, and protect and defend its key client relationships. If the red pen you wield in the budget discussion doesn’t directly improve any of these metrics, then what’s the point? You can continue to reduce expenses across the board without regard to what generates revenue, but this won’t buy enough time until client demand returns to previous levels. That train has left the station. Don’t cut “marketing expenses.” Rather, cut the wasteful expenditures and activities which have little impact in generating new revenue.   (emphasis mine)

Read the whole thing.  Great stuff.

The Value of Helping People

Every year we exhibit at a large conference of estate planning attorneys.  Last year, I met a young man from my hometown who just recently graduated with his LLM degree.  He called me a few months later after graduation asking if I knew of anyone he might talk to regarding a job.  I put him in touch with an estate planning attorney friend who was very helpful to him.

I saw the young man again today (I am at the conference again this year) and the young man came up to thank me for helping him.  He has started his own practice with the advice of my friend.  Once he has a  need for the services my firm provides, guess who he will call? 

Moral of the story: You never know where business will come from.  Always be nice.  Always be as helpful as you can and not just for business reasons.  It's just the right thing to do.

For New Marketers, Great Advice on Forming a Marketing Plan

Michelle Golden has great advice on forming a marketing plan.  If you are a new marketer, or even an old one like me who needs occasional reminders of best practices, bookmark her blog, Golden Practices.  You'll learn something.

What Will 2009 Bring?

Everyone I know is reading the tea leaves in hopes of knowing what 2009 will bring for their businesses.  Unfortunately, the tea leaves aren't telling us much.  Right now, fear is the primary motivator for many.  I just returned from a meeting of CPAs and estate planning attorneys.  They related that even though now is a perfect time for their clients to make gifts and engage in other estate planning, business is sluggish because their clients are afraid. 

I have friends with aunts (why is it always aunts?) who have always stashed cash inside old shoes and in freezers.  I bet that they are not alone any more.  After a morning of scanning the headlines, I'm just about ready to find an old pair of tennis shoes and see how many $20 bills they will hold.

However, as I have said before here, fear can be a powerful motivator if we embrace it.  In Men's Health, a former Navy SEAL provides 6 steps to mental strength and they know something about mental strength.  #3 on the list is "Allow Yourself to Fear."

3. Allow Yourself to Fear
Some people become afraid, and they find it overwhelming. When that happens, reach out to family, friends, or colleagues. Fear is a shared experience—you'll get a lot of energy from the people around you. Being okay with being afraid is the first step to overcoming it.

Good advice.  Another piece of good advice as we attempt to read the tea leaves comes from Seth Godin in his post "Lesson Learned From My Biggest Business Mistake."  What was the lesson?

The rules of this new business didn't match the rules of my existing business.

Whatever 2009 brings, I am fairly sure that the rules of our existing businesses will not match the rules of new business.  So I am vowing to allow myself to fear, to use it as a motivator, and to get up above the fog and try to discern where and what the new business will be.  Then, I and my firm will attempt to position and/or reposition ourselves and profit.  What about you?

ABA Launches Social Networking Site

The ABA has launched LegallyMinded, an online social networking site.  Its tag line is "Legal Professionals.  Your Community.  Your Network." 

It allows attorneys to make connections on-line.  Yet, you do not have to be a member of the ABA to join.  Take a few minutes to poke around the site and register.  It looks interesting.

From "About LegallyMinded":

LegallyMinded is an online community serving the legal profession. Our goal is to create an unparalleled resource that gathers law school students, academics, firm administrators, legal support staff, judges, paralegals, attorneys, law librarians and other professionals to contribute, network, and collaborate online.

The community fuses cutting-edge social networking features, top-notch news and articles, and user-generated content. LegallyMinded enables you to:

• Connect with Peers. Expand your professional network using member-matching features to discover like-minded professionals. Find mentors, research employers, or meet new friends.
• Share Knowledge. Exchange ideas, files, and schedules within virtual groups and engage with other members via blogs, wikis, chats, and discussion groups.
• Explore Resources. LegallyMinded editors scour the Internet for the best content on Careers, Education, Practice Management, and Diversity, among other topics.
• Schedule Meetings. Set up meetings with community members using your integrated calendar.
• Voice Your Opinions. Rate and comment on community content.

The site is presented by the American Bar Association, the world's largest voluntary professional association. However, membership to LegallyMinded is free, and you are not required to become an ABA member to participate.

Hat Tip: Larry Bodine's LawMarketing Blog

What is your firm's vision?

Tom Kane at Legal Marketing Blog has a great post entitled "Time to Apply Clear Vision to Your Firm's Direction."  While Tom is speaking directly to attorneys, the same advice applies to accountants, business valuators, etc.  In the post, Tom says:

In planning for the New Year, especially since it is fast approaching, apply vision toward the kind of work and clients you really want to represent; rather than following the traditional approach of taking whatever comes in the door.

It is both a practical and thought-provoking post.  Thanks Tom!

Just Say No to Holiday Cards - ANY Holiday - and Get Personal

Thanksgiving is now behind us as are the few Thanksgiving cards I received at work.  Yet, Christmas now awaits us and the Christmas cards will be streaming in the door at the office soon.  Why?

If you have been even a somewhat regular reader of PSF marketing blogs, you have heard (and possibly heeded) the advice to ditch the company Christmas cards.  I say, yes, ditch the company Christmas cards as well as the company Thanksgiving cards, or any other holiday cards.  The return on the investment is just not there.

We live in a world with a shorter attention span, and, as such, the sentiment and message needs to be targeted and personal.  The hard fact is that at many, if not most, offices the receptionist opens the Christmas card and it's then taped to a doorframe along with all the others.  Only those who are interested will spend the time looking to see who sent them.  So, if you want to spend money on cards and postage to help others create holiday decorations, go ahead.  Your smarter competitors will love you.

If you want something with a chance for more personal meaning (for your clients/referral sources and for you), consider the following:

For influential clients and referral sources (as well as for those people you just plain like):

• Donate money to a charity in their name
• Send a handwritten note of thanks for their business
• Call them during the holiday season to personally wish them a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays

For the rest of your database:

• Continue to send them useful content on a consistent basis throughout the year

While this advice may be late for some since the catalogs for Christmas cards have been published for some time now, if you are about to order Christmas cards for this year - don't.  Instead try the advice above.  If you have other ideas, please share them with us as well.

You Can Get Comfortable Anywhere

We can get comfortable anywhere and comfort zones are dangerous things.  When things are in turmoil is the perfect time to break out of our comfort zones.  What worked in the past may not be working now so people are ready to try new things. 

Break out of your comfort zone personally (do those things that stretch you) and break your firm out of its comfort zone (now might be the time to enter new markets, retool messages, radically change processes).  Use this crazy economic time as the catalyst to be different and change where you need to change - both personally and professionally. 

What can you do differently today to get out of your comfort zone?

Can We Get There From Here?

In these uncertain times, it is easy to get discouraged - possibly paralyzed by fear if we're not careful.  Fear is a powerful emotion and some people are afraid.  If you are afraid (or can see it from here), put it to use - let it motivate you to action.  Find ways to contribute to the top line sooner rather than later.  Finding your relevance within the organization is critical right now.

• If you are a marketing director or on the marketing staff, it is your charge right now to be focused on providing business development support and guidance to the firm.  You have to be focused on those activities that make the phone ring with the right engagements in the short run.  Make yourself relevant by pushing initiatives that will bear fruit (put money in the bank) sooner rather than later.
• If you are a young professional, work hard and long to learn as much as you can.  Look for opportunities to contribute ideas.  Don't stay too focused on each individual project.  Pick your head up and look for synergies between your daily work and the firm's focus.  Support those professionals above you with your ideas and initiative.  Now is the time to make yourself heard.
• If you are a mid-level professional, you have begun to develop client and referral source relationships.  Work those, now more than ever.  Actively look for opportunities to move yourself and the firm forward.  Bring marketing and development ideas to the table.  If you believe in them, push them.
• If you are a senior professional, you have substantial client and referral source contact.  Pick up the phone.  Make at least 3 phone calls a day .  Then look for new people to call.  Do it every day. 

Advice for everyone: stay focused, stay real about the situation, stay optimistic, and stay out-bound.  If you're afraid, let that fear move you to action. 

Monday is coming.  What is your plan of action?