Barbara Walters Price

Make It Easy

During a recent speaking engagement to a group of business valuation professionals, I was asked about e-mail addresses on websites and the resulting spam if those addresses are hot linked. 

The questioner asked me if it was acceptable to "disguise" the addresses (i.e., priceb at mercercapital.com) on their website because that is what they had done.  The reason was because when they were hot linked from the website, firm employees got too much spam.

My answer to the question -- get a better spam filter.

My philosophy is make it easy for people to contact you.  That means hot link your professionals' e-mail addresses, put individual contact information on your professionals' CVs, and put your firm's phone number on your home page.  

Have an e-mail address and put your e-mail address on your business card. I saw my first business card in a long while that did not list an e-mail address.  I was frankly stunned.  An e-mail address is as important and vital as a phone number in today's world.  

Also, make sure that your website appears first on Google when a user googles your firm name.  I am irked when I google a firm and that firm's website does not appear on the first page of results.  It happens far too often.

Are you making it hard for people to contact you or are you making it easy?  Making it easy is easy to do so why aren't we all doing it?

PSF Salespeople :: How To Make It Work

Great post today from Ford Harding entitled "The Care & Feeding of Clueless Business Developers."  If your firm has dedicated salespeople, this is a great information.  While our firm doesn't operate under this model, it was still a worthwhile read.

ROI Measurement for Webinars

Vickie Sullivan's blog, Tips, Trends, and Tirades for Compelling Experts, pointed to a webinar ROI worksheet created by RallyPoint Webinars.

Webinars are a proven tool for many professionals and professional service firms.  I have checked out the ROI worksheet and found it pretty useful.  It's a decent way to think about and attempt to measure ROI.  You can click here to get the worksheet along with two whitepapers if you want them: "7 Keys to Running a Glitch-Free Webinar," and "Expand Reach, Grow Revenue: The Business Case for Lead Generation Webinars."

Marketing Directors or Business Development Coaches or Both?

Larry Bodine had recent post entitled "Law Firms Spend Less on Branding, More on Business Development."  The post summarizes an article of the same name by branding expert Leigh George.

Spending more money on business development than traditional branding makes perfect sense.  Right now, the majority of our marketing and development dollars need to be spent to make the phone ring sooner rather than later, especially since sales cycles have lengthened.

An example in the post caught my eye:

Green & Seifter Attorneys, PLLC, a 30-lawyer firm in Syracuse, New York, has shifted dollars away from print advertising and reallocated those funds to a business development consultant who works with a handful of attorneys one-on-one and with another ten in monthly group meetings. Not only is the program a success, having already paid for itself in new business, but it’s paying dividends. Kathleen Ryan, director of marketing and public relations at the firm, has seen “an increase in confidence and in traditional business development techniques like articles, referral development, [and] speaking engagements.”  (emphasis mine)

I am happy that the attorneys at this law firm are finding this program a success.  However, I'm struck that it took a consultant to create confidence in "traditional business development techniques like articles, referral development [and] speaking engagements." 

Part of my job and the job of many CMOs is to work with our professionals to secure articles and speaking engagements and support other business development efforts.  I am not, however, a business development consultant.  I just wonder how many dollars could be saved on consultants if marketing directors with the right capabilities stepped up and were allowed and trusted to work with professionals one-on-one in such a manner. 

I mean no disrespect to Ms. Ryan because I feel certain that she does a great job.  Often, too much credence is given to the opinions of an outsider while the opinions and experience of those inside the firm are discounted.  I have experience being the one who has had her opinions discounted or dismissed in favor of "marketing professionals" so I know how that feels.

I also do not intend to demean the work of consultants.  Like many firms, we have worked with consultants who were exemplary and helped us a great deal. 

However, if there is sufficient trust in the capabilities of the insider and the right skill set, a consultant will not be needed.  I know this can work.  Our firm decided to develop a strategic plan without a consultant and we accomplished it.  It was successful because:

• the CEO and management of the firm were committed to it

• we knew it had to happen to aid our growth and deal with succession issues - so failure was not an option

It seems if there is that level of commitment and a marketing director or other professional with the right skill set and drive, an in-house effort could be successful.

The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

If you haven't watched this video, stop right now and watch.

Two New Articles Added

Two articles have been added to the "Complimentary Articles" section of this blog.  The first was published in June of 2008 (yep, I'm behind) and it is entitled "How to Develop & Manage a Niche."  The second was published this month and is entitled "Social Media: What Is It & Should You Care?."

Both articles are addressed to business appraisers.  Other professional advisors to business can certainly benefit as well.

They were both published in CCH's Business Valuation Alert newsletter.  Hope you enjoy them.  You can find them in the "Complimentary Articles" section of this website.

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!

 

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.

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.