Archive for January, 2011

James Malinchak find creative marketing inspiration

Every cloud has a silver lining and the current economic down turn- which started in the West but is having an inevitable worldwide impact- is no exception. Despite feeling anxious about the overall state of the global economy. The marketing bodies have found that marketers remain relatively optimistic about the fortunes of their own companies, and crucially, the prospects for marketers themselves.

How is this possible? Simple. Marketing is now at the very heart of business and is accepted as the competitive differentiator in these challenging times. In short, there is recognition that it will be those organizations that attract and retain professional marketers who will be best placed to ride out and even profit from the economic turbulence.

Why marketing? Surely when budgets are tight, the last thing you need is marketers overspending on ever so-creative but ever-so-ineffective campaigns? In fact, more and more organizations have woken up to the fact that qualified marketers can have a fundamental role not just in the here-and-now, but in the long term success if their business.

After all, marketing is about so much more than advertising or promotion. When times are tough, forward-thinking organizations need professionals adept in anticipating, identifying and then meeting customer and market needs. Never is this more relevant than at times like this, when competition for consumers’ spending becomes fierce. The survivors- the winners -0 will be those organizations able to respond quickly and appropriately to changes in their customers and markets.

In fact, in bracing themselves for challenging times, many marketers are already significantly altering their plans to cope with the rapidly different climate of the recession. They are adapting to the changing needs of their markets and customers; they are using their resources ever more wisely; and they are monitoring their achievements with growing precision.

What all this means is that there has never been a better time to be a professional marketer, for you have a key role to play in guiding companies through the tough times ahead. Being at the very forefront of business means this profession has more and more to offer both those embarking on a new career or those already working their way up the marketing career ladder.

Indeed, marketing is one of the most dynamic, constantly evolving profession. It encompasses a wide range of activities and skills- from number crunching and analysis right through to innovation and creativity. Marketing executives are involved in planning, advertising, promotion, public and media relations, PD, distribution, sponsorship and research- just name a few. And although marketers are found chiefly within the private sector, there are more and more marketing jobs in the public and not-for-profit sectors as the long-term benefits that responsible marketing brings become more evident. Social marketing too is how firmly on the agenda as a cultural force for beneficial global change.

Whilst the responsibilities of the role will course vary, depending on the size of the organization and sector, and whether the focus is on selling a product, service or raising awareness of an issue, what all marketing roles share is being in an exciting, varied and challenging role at the very centre of business.

Not only is marketing an exhilarating profession, it is also an increasingly popular one. Not only are unprecedented numbers of people choosing marketing as their profession of choice, but many millions of others are making marketing decisions as part of their everyday job role. This does not, however, mean that the profession is saturated. Indeed, it is the qualified marketer the situation, decide the best options and implement appropriate strategies to meet the rapid changes that lay ahead of us all.

For anyone in any doubt about the extent of the transformation within the sector, you need look no further how the techniques of marketing have changes hugely in the last 40 years with the spread of radio and then television, faster and more pictorial printing of newspapers and magazines and the growth of digital media.

The introduction of digital media alone has brought an explosion in the number of channels marketers can use. This year is just the 10th anniversary of the launch of Google. Moreover, we have, as marketers in recent years, had to take on board other business issues such as social responsibility, reputation management and increasingly demanding stakeholder communication.

I think, it’s our time for marketers. I would go so far as to say that as marketers, we are now requiring more than any other professional to understand the business and our role in delivering strategic business objective. Do you all agree?

T. Ragulan

http://www.ragulan.wordpress.com

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Correcting the “Disconnect” Between Sales and Marketing in Corporate America

Corporate America has significantly changed over the last 30 years. Excellence and exceptional performance, once the cornerstone of Corporate America, have degenerated in some cases to a complacent mediocrity that just doesn’t seem to care. Maintaining “status quo” has become more important than creating products and programs that address true market needs. One of the symptoms of this affliction is a definitive “disconnect” between marketing and sales.

I recently had a conversation with an HR manager for a large corporation about their prerequisites for personnel in their marketing department. She told me that they take people with graduate degrees in Marketing, Brand Management, etc., to fill these spots. Coming from the “old school”, I immediately challenged this policy. I asked why they didn’t fill the positions with people from their sales group. After all, these are the people that deal with the accounts everyday and know what the customers want and need. Her answer was that sales people “try to do too much” and therefore are never brought into marketing.

How can “trying to do too much” be a bad thing? Where I’m from, those are the people you want to hire. They have initiative, drive, etc. In addition, creativity is not the result of a graduate degree. It is a talent that you either have or not. Period. It cannot be taught.  No amount of schooling can instill this quality.

So what is the relevance of a graduate degree in marketing, brand management, etc? What does it mean in practical terms? It certainly may give someone tools to do research and provide insights into the methodologies of various marketing disciplines. However, it cannot teach creativity and this is the driving force in marketing. Without pure creativity, what do you really have?

THE PROPER ROLES OF SALES & MARKETING

The function of sales is to sell. It is to create solid relationships between the company and the customer, therefore driving a wedge between that customer and the competition. This is accomplished by helping the customer to identify their needs and provide long term solutions that address those needs now and in the future. Only by proving that you are there to create success for the customer do you earn the trust to be considered as a business partner. By doing this you break into their “trust zone”. More than likely, the customer now buys from you rather than you having to sell them.

The salesman that achieves this result is also a good psychologist. They know when to listen, when to talk……when to be aggressive, when to be more passive. It is their job to become the value proposition to the account, the reason the customer buys from that company. The result is a partnership based on trust where all doors of potential are now open – competitive marketing information, free focus group studies, etc. This salesman is now viewed as a trusted business partner by the customer. More than likely, this will be a very profitable and long term relationship due to a job well done

The Importance of Pure Creativity

Marketing can be the crown jewel of an organization or its greatest detriment. Great marketing is driven by exceptional creativity. This results in superior planning and proper utilization of all the tools that contribute to an effective new product campaign. It is absolutely essential to the success of any company. However, the best sales force in the world cannot sell poorly conceived products or programs. Nor should they even try. It is the company’s responsibility to ensure that their marketing department has a truly creative leader and avails itself of every resource available to come up with the best in product and promotional ideas.

Marketing should have a Creative Director or someone heading up an Innovation unit to discover new trends and address them on a continuous basis. My experience has shown me that most of these departments are very complacent, satisfied with the status quo. Not a whole lot of creativity, which should be what drives the entire department. Creativity is the engine that leads and makes necessary the rest of the “marketing train”, i.e., sourcing, packaging, branding, etc. Without this creative funnel being fed, neither marketing nor sales have anything to do. Eventually, this leads to the death of the company.

If this is the case, marketing should be communicating with sales for this “read” on the market, taking the information that sales has discovered and creating products and programs to address these needs. Period. They are trained in the methodologies of advertising and how to properly bring a product to market. However, they can’t do this without creative and new information on the market. If they can’t find it on their own, they should rely on sales to provide this information to them.

Sales and marketing should work together in a synergistic fashion where one function enhances and strengthens the other. They are simply different sides of the same coin. Unfortunately, some marketing departments do not fully utilize the information available to them from sales. This can result in a product or program that wastes company resources as well as not addressing true market needs. Or they may bring in consulting groups to answer questions that could easily be provided by sales.

Think about that. Bringing in a consulting group that has no intimate relationship with your customer base nor any practical experience with your company and how it approaches the industry. In my estimation, this is lunacy. There is a perfect consulting group that knows the customer and how the company is positioned in the industry…….it’s called the sales department. It doesn’t cost anything to use and has much more relevant information to offer marketing.

THE SOLUTION

Attack the market with enthusiasm. Throw heart and soul into using every resource available to become the innovator, the leader……the best. Get excited again. Call on marketing and sales to work together as a team to find the best solutions to every challenge. No exceptions.

New guidelines should be established to create a close knit relationship between these departments. Sales and marketing should have a constant feedback loop going on. In fact, marketing should make it policy to accompany sales on a regular basis with important key accounts calls.

Sales can school marketing on interpretation of customer reactions based on their relationships with them and marketing can train sales to conduct “Focus Group Studies”. This turns the sales person into a virtual marketing department in the field on every call and a consistent source of relevant marketing information. It also strengthens the bond between the two departments and creates a great relationship between the customer and company. Customers become creative partners and appreciate being asked what they need, what they think, etc.

This interaction between the departments also facilitates a mutual understanding of the functions of each to the other. Ideas and consumer insights that sales brings to marketing can then be further refined between the two departments until a consensus is reached that defines the ultimate solution.

This is a simple and elegant process that can be repeated again and again to keep the creative pipeline full of ideas just waiting for implementation. The more it is practiced, the more streamlined the process becomes. It creates a synergistic environment for the “Perfect Storm” of creative execution. Everyone works together, enhancing customer relationships and maintaining a proactive stance that may very well propel the company to the top of their industry.

Creativity Cannot Be Taught

Like any artistic talent, creativity cannot be taught.  One either has it or not.  It is engine that drives all new ideas, the innovative force behind every blockbuster product or program. It is the agent of change that makes all the difference between the “wanna bes” and the real players. Creativity is the key to all potential. It is a precious gift and yields extraordinary results when utililzed properly.

SUMMARY

Therefore, in order to best enhance position in their respective industry, I would encourage any company to look within for answers and remember that graduate degrees in any discipline can only teach book knowledge. They cannot teach pure creativity. Seek out those people with the creative spark, the ones that think “out of the box”. These people are the sources for real growth. They will change your company from a slow moving hulk to a nimble and formidable sales/marketing machine.

Get the sales and marketing departments working together and you will find they are natural companions. Creativity will be greatly enhanced and focused. Once unified, they have the potential to accomplish much more and refine each other in the process. Go back to the “old school” ways and be innovative in all you do.

James Laliberte – Director of Sales & Marketing – Liberty Marketing – (916) 346-4571

Innovation, creativity and finding new solutions to old problems are my strengths. These solutions not only address the present, but are designed to evolve and set the stage for future growth. The goal is to create a steady stream of fresh product/sales strategies that align with corporate objectives, maximize revenues and keep competition off balance.

Using this strategy in tandem with consultative techniques, I have been responsible for products and programs that had industry-wide effect and created very profitable new platforms for growth. I am confident in my ability to achieve similar results for any company.

I have over 25 years of sales & marketing management experience in the consumer and industrial product industries with major companies. I excel at creating innovative sales and marketing strategies that get results. I am available as a consultant should you wish to employ my services to improve your company’s performance.

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3 Devious Chiropractic Marketing Lies

I hope you haven’t bought-into or convinced yourself of any of these little devious chiropractic marketing white-lies. Because, one of the two biggest reasons for chiropractic practice failure is lack of chiropractic marketing systems, these small lies you tell yourself can add up to BIG trouble for your chiropractic practice. So, as I cover these insidious lies, be honest with yourself and ask if you’ve been telling yourself any of these:

Chiropractic Marketing LIE #1: “My budget’s way to small.”

This is a mindset many chiropractors mistakenly possess… that’s built on the idea that your chiropractic marketing is an expense. Really… your chiropractic marketing is NOT an expense. It’s an investment, when done right, that will bring you back more money. Your practice lighting… that’s an expense. Your air conditioning… that’s an expense. Your marketing… that’s an investment.

And, when you see your marketing as an investment… one that brings you a positive ROI (if you’re doing it correctly)… you should realize that the goal is to invest as much as possible. In other words, if every time you invest $1, you make back $2, you should be doing that everyday, all day. If your marketing is NOT bringing you back a positive return on your investment, that’s a sign that you’re simply not using the correct direct response marketing principles in your marketing and advertising efforts. Which leads me to the next Chiropractic Marketing Lie…

Chiropractic Marketing LIE #2: “Marketing doesn’t work for me.”

Of course marketing works. That’s why it’s a billion-dollar industry. The key, though, is that whenever you do advertise or market your practice, that you’re using time-tested, proven direct response marketing principles, and not just following the herd of what other chiropractors are doing.

In fact, let me be completely frank for a second…

Following what the average chiropractor is doing to try and build their practice, will only get you what the average chiropractor is currently getting. And, right now, I have to believe that’s NOT what you want. If you do what the average does, you’ll continue to get what the average gets. And, again, right now that’s very little.

According to Earl Nightingale, anytime you’re in an industry where there aren’t many successful examples, you should do the OPPOSITE of what everybody else in the marketplace is doing. For many chiropractors, using proper direct response marketing principles in their chiropractic marketing efforts is quite a stretch and gets them out of their comfort zone. But, most of the time, remaining in your comfort zone is the exact thing that holds you back. Often, it’s the things you’re most uncomfortable with that are the exact things you should be doing to grow your practice.

Listen:

Not all chiropractic marketing works. In fact, most chiropractic marketing doesn’t work. That’s because it’s not persuasive, not attention-getting, and doesn’t convey any benefits of what sets the typical chiropractor apart. But… BUT… properly done chiropractic marketing that does convey all of those things, will create a steady, consistent stream of new patients and cash flow to you. It will.

Chiropractic Marketing LIE #3: “There’s no time for marketing.”

Marketing your chiropractic practice is the lifeblood of your practice. It’s THE thing that will get you new patients and keep your patients coming back for months and months and months. The marketing of your practice should be viewed similar to the way you view eating for health and wellness. In order for your body to thrive it needs good nutrition and to be fed on a regular basis. You would say, “I don’t have time to eat” or “Eating isn’t important to my body”. We certainly know the outcome of that type of thinking.

Fact of the matter is, the chiropractors who give their marketing the proper amount of time and attention, combined with the proper direct response marketing principles, are the doctors experiencing the greatest practice growth and increase in cash flow. Your takeaway: you absolutely, positively MUST… MUST… give your chiropractic practice marketing the time and attention it deserves and needs.

And, so… there you have it… 3 of the tiny white-lies many chiropractors tell themselves about their chiropractic marketing that holds them back from every experiencing the big consistent growth they long for. Don’t make that same mistake.

Todd Brown, the president of MoreChiroPatients, Inc, is now giving away for FREE his popular Online Videos entitled “The Ultimate Chiropractic Patient Attraction System”. To get instant access to these videos go to: http://www.TheChiropracticDashboard.com/indexdefault2.html

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If you are the market leader, everyone else wants your market share so everyone is your enemy. Your job is to ruthlessly defend your territory. If your enemies are smart, they won’t attack head-on. Instead, they will choose areas of weakness where you haven’t defended yourself and exploit them to their own advantage. Little by little, they will swipe your customers, take your share, disrupt your markets, and watch in amusement as your resources are scattered fighting little distractions here and there. That’s what attackers do.

Now since this post is about market leadership, it’s only fitting that we should start with the basics. Before we talk about what a leader has to do, let’s cover off why market leadership is such a big deal to begin with. After all, if you don’t understand the value of the market leadership position, you won’t appreciate why it’s so important to fight to keep it.

WHY MARKET LEADERSHIP IS IMPORTANT.

The reason market leadership is important is not the revenue (although that is obviously very important). It isn’t the status of being the leader either (although it does help build an ego). The reason that leadership is important is because most customers prefer to buy from leaders. Of course, you’ll always get the fringe-dwellers that as some form of protest support the underdog but, on the whole, most customers prefer to deal with leaders.

So customers create market leaders. They perceive leaders to be better (otherwise why would they be leaders?) and they perceive leaders to be a safer purchase. People are like sheep. If the majority votes you the best, the majority must be right. So they buy from where everyone else buys, thus strengthening the leader’s position.

It is hard for a challenger brand to dislodge a market leader if the leader is actively defending territory. Time and resources have to be deployed to attack over a sustained period of time. Not all challengers are in the position to attack for long periods of time since it takes a significant amount of resources to be able to relentlessly pursue a leader. (It’s fun though.)

But leaders are not invincible. Some get arrogant and complacent, a bit too big for their boots. They get distracted by internal issues like changes to senior management, or fall victim to regulatory interference, and this offers challengers a timely opportunity to strike. Market leaders do slip to challenger position (and it’s a bit of a bumpy ride downwards). If that happens to you, you’ll have to switch strategies to become an attacker yourself.

ADVANTAGES ON THE SIDE OF THE MARKET LEADER.

Amongst the armory enjoyed by the leader are:

Greater resources to apply in defending a market territory.

Often leaders can outgun competitors on all fronts – outspending them in advertising, having bigger and more comprehensive distribution channels, enjoying higher brand profile, and more.

Time to defend.

Since no-one listens to advertising anymore, a challenger’s message can get lost. This gives the leader time to respond. A leader usually hears competitive messages before most of the market does and simply outspends the challenger.

Distribution Channels favor the Market Leader.

Shelf space is a valuable commodity, and the best positions favour the product that sells in the greatest volume. In other words, it favors the market leader. The same is true for distributors and third-party agents that need volume sales to earn commission.

Brand profile favors the Market Leader.

More people buy “known” brands than “unknown” ones since positive branding instills a perception of trust. Brand profile is important since it is the mechanism used by marketers to facilitate the selling process, and the mechanism used by consumers to reduce their purchase risk.

Creation of barriers to market entry favor the Market Leader.

There are numerous ways in which a Market Leader can make it hard for competitors, ranging from the use of legal instruments such as patent protection (common in the pharmaceutical and information technology industries) through creation of market barriers such as exclusive distribution contracts, exclusive supply contracts, restricted access to essential channels, market or government monopoly status or removal of experienced staff from the market.

Using an Existing Customer base favors the Market Leader.

Having a customer base is always a strategic advantage, especially if you are closely connected to them. An established customer has a relationship already with the brand, and has a level of confidence and trust in it that it will not have in an untried brand. Strategies can be deployed to “lock down” an existing customer base, such as contracting which is common in the telecommunication industry.

The size of the customer base favors the Market Leader.

Large customer bases enable you to use the size to your advantage. Size offers critical mass. Cost advantages come with scale, including the opportunity to amortize cost across large numbers. In addition, having a large customer base reduces risk. Those companies that depend on one or two key customers for their survival can find themselves in a risky position if one or both of those customers take their business elsewhere.

STRATEGIES MARKET LEADERS DEPLOY.

• A market leader always plays defense.
• They counter an attack with equal or greater force.
• They defend important markets.
• They remain vigilant in scanning for potential attackers. (This means they must assess the strength of every competitor and consider the support that an attacker might muster from allies.)
• They attack themselves before a competitor has the opportunity to attack them.

Being the leader is the advantageous position. Playing defense is a lot easier than attacking since you have a greater chance of winning. However there are key challenger brand advantages that the leader needs to take into account. These advantages include:

• The sympathy vote.
• The regulatory framework.
• Psychological advantages.
• Challenger Brands are not alone.
• Challenger brand believability.
• Market leader complacency.

To effectively negate a challenger brand’s competitive attacks, a market leader’s important territories need to be identified, defense plans laid, and strategies deployed, such as the creation of moving targets, securing fringes and niches, and pre-emptive strikes to contain competitive damage.

Fiona Mackenzie is a marketing strategist who works with businesses wanting to compete in the bricks-and-mortar world and in the online space. You’ll find her blog at http://www.fionamackenzie.com.au

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How to Find Time to Market Your Small Business

Marketing is essential for small business success

You probably didn’t get into business so that you could spend time marketing. Most small business owners have a passion for the activities of their business. However working with clients is not the only demand on your time. As well as doing what you love there are other tasks that may be less pleasant and/or rewarding: Admin, staff management, recruitment, payroll and, of course, marketing.

Marketing can become a chore – even if you accept the reality that you need to get the word out about your business, marketing itself can be seen as a burden. Let’s face it, when you are presented with tasks you would rather not do, they tend to become relegated in the pecking order. If you have ever found yourself reorganizing your business cards again when more important activities beckon, you will be familiar with this scenario.

Unfortunately, marketing can become one of the relegated activities.

Time is a valuable, finite commodity

However essential, marketing competes with your other business activities and there are only a certain number of hours to devote to your business life. The rest of your life is important too! As far as marketing goes there are two common marketing issues that develop with small businesses:

1. Marketing avoidance – sporadic, infrequent marketing or none at all. There are always other things to do that are more comfortable so maybe I will get to marketing tomorrow

2. Silo marketing – the opposite issue. You dive headlong into a series of unconnected activities. A lot of energy, money and time spent on tools and tactics that may be OK in principal, but are ineffective because they are aimed at the wrong audience or are not in place long enough to yield results.

Both of these approaches may yield some clients, but tend to be frustrating and inconsistent and continue to drive the belief that marketing is a chore.

Allocate time and energy effectively

If you are uncomfortable with marketing today, you probably will be tomorrow. However you can commit to becoming better TODAY, and making marketing more effective, less of a time drain and even fun. Consider the following tips:

• Marketing mindset – marketing is a process rather than an activity. If you believe it is difficult, or that you are bad at it, that will not serve you as you approach marketing tactics. Commit to developing a marketing strategy that you enjoy. Don’t worry if you can’t visualize that right away. Commitment to developing such a strategy is the key point
• Skill development – marketing is a skill which means you can learn it. Commit to developing in this area. For example schedule time to read books, take a course, find a marketing mentor etc.
• Define your ideal client profile – who do you love to work with? Be as specific as you can. What is their business profile? Take the time to figure out the problems you solve for them. This is foundational and will underpin your marketing message – without a clear understanding of this it is tough to focus on the best tactics
• Research and choose tactics – find tactics that are likely to put you in front of your ideal clients. Challenge yourself – choose one or two that are outside your comfort zone and commit to developing the required skills as part of your personal development plan. Choose a few that you will be able to find the time for consistently over time. Most marketing requires some time and consistent application to generate results. Decide to devote that time up front
• Schedule time and write it into your schedule – this time is as important as client meetings. Include it in the schedule and DON’T think of it as time you can reallocate to something else. Early on include time spent developing your marketing skills as well as carrying out marketing activities.
• Stay on Task – it is easy to become distracted by a special offer or by something you would rather be doing. Part of your commitment to developing a successful marketing approach is consistency and application.

Your passion for your business is your key marketing asset, along with your attitude towards getting that word out there. Passion is attractive and weaving that into your marketing message will make delivery of that message much easier. Defining that message and picking tools that you commit to and integrate into you week is the key to ensuring there is always enough time!

Jerry Smith is the co-founder of Marketing Action Club, focusing on small service based businesses and independent professionals who want to grow but struggle to attract quality clients consistently.

Visit http://www.marketingactionclub.com for more resources on how to market your small business effectively

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Seven Common Marketing Problems Solved by Marketing Operations

Corporate marketing groups – especially bandwidth-challenged small-to-mid-sized departments – can be so focused on tactics and fire fighting that they jeopardize their marketing investment. There is a tendency to overreact to events, to tackle symptoms rather than underlying fundamental problems and to jump at the opportunity to please the boss. Many times, this kind of tactical knee jerking may be fatal.

Without great marketing, companies won’t flourish, especially those in highly
competitive markets. Yet the chaotic nature of emerging or dynamic growth
companies and the tendency to place the marketing burden on too few individuals is
a setup for failure. Promising companies may be left in the dust, or at least
handicapped at the starting gate.

Marketing Operations is emerging as an important discipline for improving
performance and measuring ROI in admired technology companies (like Intel, IBM
and Amazon) who have refined and fine-tuned their marketing organization with an
operational focus. Given the demands that these organizations face today, an
innovative approach is central to solving critical issues like results measurement,
bandwidth constraints and creativity limitations, and building value-added
outsourced supplier relationships and effectively managing budget. Many of the
best practices, efficient processes and systems approach from large company
Marketing Operations can and should be applied by emerging companies that are
serious about their marketing investment. Here’s why:

PROBLEM #1

Ill-defined metrics

Today, more than ever, corporate marketing departments need to justify their
existence. The need to measure results is unavoidable. However, the instincts and
skills that make an outbound marketing practitioner great-action-orientation,
verbal and written acuity, persuasiveness, the ability to build strong relationships-
often don’t translate into an ability or willingness to scientifically and objectively
evaluate success. Add in broken systems and the organization’s unwillingness to
pay for marketing evaluation, and it’s no surprise that many marketing departments
are unable to define meaningful success metrics.

SOLUTION

Marketing Operations ensures that the right processes are in place to establish
meaningful metrics at the front-end of marketing process, enabling the
measurement of success at key intervals, and as each program concludes.

PROBLEM #2

Slammed resources

The prevailing attitude of “doing more with less” can leave key people discouraged,
overwhelmed, near burnout, and eventually, circulating their
resumes. The consequences for organizations are costly mistakes, high turnover,
and collapsed programs when key people leave, and missed opportunities to
leverage the “ugly-stepsister-Cinderella-in-waiting” programs that never get off the
ground because of a lack of ownership.

SOLUTION

Marketing Operations addresses these resource limitations by ensuring workload is
effectively allocated, roles are clearly defined, interdependencies are understood,
team members feel satisfied with their jobs and the programs and additional
resources, whether through additional headcount or outsourcing, can be
successfully justified to executive management.

PROBLEM #3

Sketchy institutional memory

Marketing is dependent on accurate information, a historical view into past
successes and failures, and the ability to recognize patterns that link seemingly
unrelated data points. Unfortunately, knowledge in many marketing organizations is
scattered all over the company. It’s in the heads of individual workers, on shelves,
on people’s hard drives, in long forgotten filing systems. When people leave, a big
piece of organizational knowledge goes with them. Information loss is a huge
productivity killer for marketing teams. Lost insight that must be regained or
reacquired wastes previous marketing investments.

SOLUTION

Marketing Operations facilitates knowledge sharing, an enduring repository of
information and greater decision-making based on fact, as opposed to hunch.

PROBLEM #4

Constrained creativity

The best creativity comes from many brains working together in collaboration. A
consequence of the age of the “individual contributor” director is constrained
creativity. When the entire creative burden falls mostly on one outbound marketing
person, the ability to think out of the box can be severely impacted. Creative
synergy results from many minds thinking as one.

SOLUTION

Marketing Operations enables the creative process to benefit from the synergy of
team.

PROBLEM #5

Failed supplier relationships

Most successful companies can point to strong, long-term marketing supplier
relationships as integral to their success. Likewise, a pattern of failed supplier
relationships is often an indicator of marketing department failure, rather than poor
vendor performance. Unfortunately, companies that have had consistently bad
relationships with outsource suppliers often react by seizing control and bringing
everything in house. While this strategy may provides the illusion of control, it lets
marketing managers deflect blame for failures, rather than teaching them how to
manage their outsource suppliers by taking responsibility for the results. In
addition, this strategy won’t scale with the growth of the organization.

SOLUTION

Marketing Operations helps set realistic expectations and mutual accountability
between suppliers and the organization, increasing the effectiveness of outsource
partners by empowering them to act as an extension of the internal team.

PROBLEM #6

Lost discretionary budgets

Use it or lose it. Misuse it and lose it anyway. Many corporate marketing
departments are leaving discretionary budget on the table or allocating it to
the wrong initiatives. This discretionary marketing budget “Catch 22″ occurs
because:

o It’s very time consuming to manage the budget effectively, especially in companies
with broken financial systems

o Each marketing spend-decision creates more work for the one-person or small-
team
marketing department in terms of project management, measurement, supplier
management, etc.

o Doubt persists about the ability to successfully justify the expenditure to
management

o Focus is instinctively on high-visibility marketing activities and C-level executive
“requests” over fiscal management (marketing people are more inclined toward
marketing than finance)

SOLUTION

Marketing Operations facilitates implementing the system support infrastructure
and financial management discipline needed to protect precious marketing budgets.

PROBLEM #7

Narrow marketing mix

Many companies align their fate with the success of too few marketing programs.
Whether it’s lead generation, public relations, trade shows or advertising, the over-
reliance on any one particular program can derail a company-especially if a key
program unexpectedly loses momentum. In the meantime, programs that could
have had strong leverage never get a chance to prove their mettle and are forever
relegated to the “B” list.

SOLUTION

Marketing Operations puts the means in place to launch potentially high-value
marketing programs that would never otherwise get out of the starting gate.

The Bottom Line

In a nutshell, Marketing Operations is an organization’s best bet to:

o Ensure that success can be measured and replicated
o Leverage systems and processes to enable consistently excellent performance

o Encourage great marketing departments to stay together

o Allow the marketing organization to flourish, despite the unexpected, but often
inevitable, loss of a key employee.

Gary M. Katz, APR, is president and CEO of CommPros Group, a Santa-Clara, Calif.- based firm that provides marketing operations services to help companies leverage their marketing investment, plus a variety of outsourced marketing program management services to support lean marketing departments. Gary is a veteran with more than twenty years of experience in the technology industry where he directed corporate marketing, communications, public relations, lead generation and qualification, investor relations, and employee communications programs. He has served as director of communications for ShoreTel, director of corporate marketing for Aplix Corporation, senior manager of corporate communications for Insignia Solutions, and as a director, account supervisor, or preferred subcontractor for more than a dozen leading public relations and marketing communications agencies. A past president of Silicon Valley PRSA, he holds a master’s degree in organization development from the University of San Francisco and a BA degree in public relations from San Jose State University.

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Getting the Budget and Approval You Need for Strategic Marketing

Here is a challenging, but all too common, situation that many nonprofit marketers experience when trying to develop a budget for their marketing plan:

“My organization has been in existence since the 1960s, longer than any other environmental group in the state. But, like many other nonprofits, we have never been good at marketing ourselves, and therefore don’t have the membership base that we should.

As a result, we’re beginning to lose our historical advantage. For example, our state Audubon Society is developing a national audience and now has the funds to market themselves even more effectively. Our state’s Heritage Trust hired a marketing group that has helped them grow exponentially over the last year.

We clearly need professional marketing help. We have a board member with marketing expertise (but, like most board members, he can’t give 100% of his effort to our marketing agenda) and a marketing committee, composed of directors in communications (my boss), development and membership. I do most of our print and online graphic design and web development and outreach, but could be even more effective working with a marketing expert.

While leadership recognizes our need for professional marketing help, they are not moving forward in that direction. My boss agrees 100% but can’t get anywhere either. In the end, while we are stalled marketing-wise, our competitors are moving forward. Help!

I’ve passed on information on nonprofit marketing specialists and asked these specialists to contact our management too. Nothing has made a difference. I want to be more effective but don’t know how to get there. I think my creation of a marketing plan would help, but don’t know where to start. What should I do?”

Here is my advice:

The situation you face is a common one. Every nonprofit organization should be proactively marketing itself to develop and strengthen relationships with members, supporters, donors, volunteers and other stakeholders. Doing so (and I know you know this already) is more than just traditional communications (read that “information dissemination”) and outreach.

True marketing means clearly defining your goals and objectives, the audiences you need to target to reach them, and then the marketing strategies and hands-on tactics that will get your audiences’ attention. The process necessitates talking to your audiences to get to know their perspectives, analyzing what competitor and colleague organizations are doing marketing wise, and more.

Here’s what I’d advise:

o Stop asking marketing firms to call your leadership, and stop passing on firm materials as well. Your intentions are great but at this point it’s clear that this strategy isn’t going to work. As a matter of fact, it’s likely that the leadership is annoyed.

o Build understanding of what marketing is and the value that it will bring to the Council. It’s all too easy for nonprofit managers and board members to nix marketing expenditures when they don’t really understand how vital marketing is to the ongoing health of their organizations. Their reasoning is frequently that program comes first, then vital support functions like fundraising. And I think that’s what’s happening at the Council. It’s up to you (working with your boss) to build the understanding that there is no program without marketing. 

Begin by crafting some concrete case studies that demonstrate the power of marketing on organizational success. Best, if possible, to focus on organizations that your management know (in your geographic or issue area) so that they will identify even more strongly with the stories. 

Review the entire marketing process, beginning with the fact that marketing goals are designed to support organizational goals. Explain what particular training and expertise is required to design the right marketing plan and to implement it successfully.

o Come to the table with a proposal. Work with your boss (you need to be a team on this one) to figure out what needs to be done first and what you need (money, human resources and/or training) to make it happen. Be prepared to distribute a written proposal, with budget figures and a timeline. Whatever the request is, do your homework. 

I suggest that you propose something more tangible than a marketing plan as a first step. Is there a campaign that needs to be launched to a new audience segment? Do you and your boss have the skills (or know where to hire them) to do so? Best to pick a project where you’re confident that you can generate results. After all, you want to use this success to motivate ongoing support and budget for marketing work.

o As you implement your initial marketing project, keep management and board posted on progress. You want them to understand the process (so that they understand the budget and timeframe) and maintain their interest in the project. Remember, it’s up to you (alas) to demonstrate how you can put marketing to work to meet the Council’s goals.

o Serve as an ongoing marketing mentor to the management and board group. 

As you and your boss come across great marketing models or marketing ideas that might be effective for your organization, pass them on with a cover note. When you attend a conference in the field, summarize key content in an email and share it with these folks. They’ll begin to see you as an expert, while you continue to build their understanding of how marketing can make a difference.

o Once you have one or two successful marketing projects under your belt, then it’s time to develop a comprehensive marketing plan, derived from the Council’s organizational goals. 

I’d recommend that you bring in an expert at this point to guide you in creating the plan. This is the critical juncture when experience with multiple nonprofit organizations, facing varied marketing challenges is a must. You have one chance to convince your leadership of the value and process of real marketing. Do it.

The plan development process itself will raise many issues to be worked through with your management and board members. In doing so, you’ll develop their buy-in and their understanding of your focus and efforts.

Beyond that, you and your boss will have a blueprint to guide your focus and your budget and an expert consultant ready to go for implementation.

Nancy E. Schwartz helps nonprofits succeed through effective marketing and communications.

Subscribe to her free e-newsletter “Getting Attention,” at http://www.nancyschwartz.com/getting_attention.html and read her blog at http://www.gettingattention.org for more insights, ideas and great tips on attracting the attention your organization deserves.

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Pokemon - Episode 10: Bulbasaur And The Hidden Village (1/2)

E SPOT PROMO VIDEO

Imagine a cold winter night with sleet beating down on your car as you drive through a mountain range. As you near the edge of a sharp curve you reduce your speed and pump your brakes gently. Suddenly, your car slips and screeches into a skid. You turn hard on your steering wheel to correct but the car goes out of control.

If you’ve ever been to diving school you’ve mostly likely come across many helpful instructions. One of the more counterintuitive instructions you’re bound to receive is about that same icy road. You are instructed to turn your wheel opposite your instincts and steer into the curve. The idea is that turning towards the dangerous skid helps you gain control, traction with your wheels and right your car. Ultimately, the advice is sound and keeps you from over correcting and suffering the dangerous consequences of responding poorly in that driving situation.

But how does learning to drive on a mountain teach you about marketing during a recession? While your business intuition during a recession might lead you to a “common sense” reaction to pull back on marketing expenses you should do the opposite to gain traction and control of your business. Similar to the driving instructions about steering on a slippery slope, one of the most counterintuitive yet powerful principles of marketing during a recession is that you should steer into the curve of the current market with your plans.

Fact is, increasing your marketing spend (or at least maintaining it) during a down marketing can be one of the best decisions you can make. By advancing your marketing plans during a time when all your competitors are reducing spending you are actually taking advantage of the artificial gap created. In other words, if your competitor normally spends $100 on an advertisement and you spend the same, all things being equal, there is no competitive advantage. But, if they pull back to $50 because of the down market and you maintain your spend, you’ve not only gain the advantage of their reduced spending but collectively you’ve also entered more boldly into an overall less competitive market place.

By steering into the curve of the market you take control of your environment and gain more traction than if playing on an even field. When we take a look at many other companies that have taken advantage of the down market by introducing products, brands, elevated their marketing plans and otherwise turned into the curve, you’ll see that success is prevalent after the recession is over. And, regardless of what you may have heard, the recession will end. The question remains, were will you be when it does? Will you be in a better positioned place? Or will you remain in the same equal or less footing as your competitors?

So, what are the rules to Steering into the Curve?

Rule one: make sure you have the right type of business model to begin with.

While you should turn into the market with your marketing plans, you can’t do so if you aren’t well capitalized. What I mean to say is, if you don’t have the business model that supports a marketing spend normally, then it will be more difficult to start developing a better marketing plan. To do so appropriately, consult with a marketing professional who also understand business development, not just ideas. They can help you shift your budget in a proactive way so that you don’t simply increase spending but spend your increase (if needed) smartly.

Rule two: Don’t spend if you don’t spend smart.

Everybody wants your money. Everybody. And that is no different when it comes to marketers. But just because somebody has a marketing service (even if it’s a good marketing service) it doesn’t mean that you need to spend money on it. There are many different marketing channels to create brand awareness, direct marketing response and consumer engagement. But you can’t do it all.

Take a look at all the channels available and line them up along side each other. Figure out the return on investment for each stream, see which channels align with your business, and then determine which you’ll use in an integrated manner. Of course, if you don’t understand how each of those would work, I again recommend getting professional marketing help. Don’t spend unless you know how to spend smart, get educated on how to spend smart, or get help from someone trustworthy who does.

Rule three: Just because they are good ideas doesn’t mean they are good for you.

Let’s go back to the diving analogy. This time though, think about your younger years…when you were first learning how to drive. You probably got a lot of advice from your friends on driving. And, more likely than not, a lot of it was bad advice. Why is that?

Well, it wasn’t because your friends didn’t like you or wanted to cause you harm. Instead, it was probably misplaced judgment, lack of larger perspectives or just plain and simple ignorance at work. All the same, everybody probably thought they had a good idea about how to drive.

Getting back to today, you probably also receive lots of different pieces of advice on how to do things in your business. Suggestions, advice and “secret techniques” on how to improve your business and marketing plans are plentiful. But, just because there are there and some of them are actually good, it doesn’t mean (like when you were younger) you should take that advice. On top of that the sheer number of possible selection offers real confusion on what to do next. You need to be careful though. Good ideas attract business like honey attracts flies. Before you act though, ask yourself tough questions. Is the idea good for your business specifically? Is the idea good right for your company? Just because it is a goof idea does not mean you should do it.

As you consider your business marketing plans make sure you are aware of the Steer into the Curve premise and rules of engagement. It could position you and your company for greater success in this recession market and for the future, once the market turns. Remember what we alluded to earlier: how you handle your marketing plans during an economic downturn is similar to the advice of steering into the curve in driving. It is sound and keeps you from over correcting and suffering the dangerous consequences of responding poorly in that situation.

Copyright Merge Left Marketing LLC 2009

Get more marketing and branding insight with our free article library at http://MergeLeftMarketing.com. Be Distinct. Be clear. Merge Left.

OFT to probe advertising and pricing practices | TopNews United States

Heather Clayton, senior director of the OFT, said, “These studies will ensure that we keep up to date with the latest development and how new pricing and advertising practices are emerging and evolving online.” …

Internet Marketing Indonesia-die or Booming?

Enter your email address:Enter Your Email For DAILY Internet Marketing Strategy. Delivered by FeedBurnerRelated ArticlesJanuary 26, 2010 — Affiliate Marketing Tools

James Malinchak find creative marketing inspiration

Do you know how effective each of your individual marketing tactics is? Many small business owners market in a vacuum. They spend money on brochures, advertisements and web sites with no real way to tie specific results to specific endeavors.

If you are unable to associate leads and sales with the specific marketing efforts that generate them you have no way of knowing what is working as an effective marketing mechanism and what is not.

The money you invest in marketing your company is precious. In order for you to maximize your marketing dollars you need to know the results individual marketing efforts generate. When you know the results of your marketing tactics you can make intelligent decisions about how to better allocate your marketing budget.

For instance, if you concurrently run a direct mail campaign, a search engine advertising campaign and weekly ads in industry periodicals without some method to discern results you will not know which effort generates the lions share of any new business.

If you don’t know that your direct mail campaign yielded 90% of your revenue with a 2% response rate, you are powerless to make the wise decision to reinvest in the direct mail campaign and make changes to or drop entirely the other campaigns. What’s more, if you can figure out how to double the response rate of your mail campaign, you can nearly double the revenue your marketing campaign without spending money on search engine marketing and periodical advertisements.

Measuring your marketing results will help you save money by allowing you to eliminate unproductive marketing tactics and at the same time, will help you make more money by allowing you to reinvest in productive marketing tactics.

Do you have a method for measuring the effect of your marketing?

Here are four tips for gathering the information you need to make wise marketing investment decisions.

Use a Database

Start by designing a database to keep track of individual marketing efforts and the leads and sales they generate. Make sure you include fields to track the dates of your campaigns, campaign descriptions, the number of leads generated and sales made. Once you have a central storage location for this information you will be able to make queries to glean the information you need to make wise marketing decisions.

Ask Questions

When you or your staff speaks with a prospect on the phone make sure you ask how they heard of your business; was it a referral or an ad in the local newspaper? It’s such simple way to gather valuable information many small business owners overlook it.

Be sure to ask your prospects how they heard of your business.

Make It Easy for Your Prospect to Help You

Make it easy for your prospects to properly identify the marketing piece to which they respond. If you have multiple phone lines into your office you can easily accomplish this by assigning a unique phone number to individual marketing efforts. This way, you or a staff member can ask what number your prospect dialed or, if you have the right phone system you can look at the phone to see which line the call is on.

Data Entry Should Be Easy Too

Once you or a staff member have garnered the information you seek from your prospect, make it as easy as possible to have this information to be entered into your database system. If you employ a staff, make certain everyone is up to speed on your latest systems. Training is a must.

Move Your Marketing Forward

The idea is to gather as much information as you can about which marketing mechanisms generate the best (and worst) response, who is responding and why they chose to respond.

Once you have this information you will be better able to think like a future client, cater your marketing material to their needs and generate more leads and sales.

What are some other steps you can take to measure the effect of your marketing efforts?

Jeremy Cohen helps independent professionals and small business owners increase profits with stronger leads and more lucrative sales. Download his free marketing guide at www.MoreLeadsAndSales.com.

Online Advertising

Great Views of Harbour Town

In this article we will look in depth at a relatively new wrinkle in marketing for law firms known as “attorney-client matching services”. First a little background is in order. The legal services market segment is expected to reach $82.5 billion in 2008 according to Euromonitor International a market intelligence firm. In recent history consumers have been finding attorneys through word-of mouth or through the yellow pages. Often the word-of mouth advice does not deliver people to the best possible solution for their particular needs and the yellow pages is certainly not a great place to select a lawyer I am sure you would agree. Additionally, according to the Pew Internet & American Life over four million consumers and small businesses currently search for legal services via the Internet every month with these numbers expected to rise to over seven million by 2007. I think you can see this is a huge market getting larger. It is imperative that attorneys understand this marketplace if for no other reason your potential clients and clients are moving to the Internet and yellow page advertising is a dying marketing for law firms vehicle. Understanding attorney-client matching services is one new way to tap into this Internet marketplace.

What I will not be talking about here is attorney-listing services. Please don’t get confused between attorney-listing services and attorney-client matching services. The two majors in the attorney-listing services arena are Lawyers.com or FindLaw.com that are used by many in marketing for law firms. With attorney marketing one might want to get a minimal listing on one or both of these two major sites. Both do drive a large amount of traffic to their sites for sure (in the millions of visitors per year). If you do get a listing then track your results carefully and see if being in the middle of a pack of listed attorneys actually does produce clients for you. Please don’t spend more on them than the basic listing that will run about $150 or so per month, at least until you can document results with the basic listing. Also, don’t buy your website through either of them, even if after testing you find good results, for many reasons that can be found under the Internet marketing tab on my website. One last note here, you probably don’t want to test most of the lesser attorney-listing competitors like lawinfo.com, lawcore.com or attorneyfind.com is my take, however if you do be sure to track your results. The rest of this article is about attorney-client matching services.

Attorney Marketing Via Five Attorney-Client Matching Players

In the attorney-client matching field there are five competitors for the attorney marketing dollar offering online attorney-client matching services. The first and originator is LegalMatch.com and its newer competitor being CasePost.com as well as a third competitor LegalFish.com. The two big players that offer almost everything in attorney marketing, Lawyers.com and FindLaw.com; have also recently begun to offer a version of attorney-client matching services.

Lets begin with LegalMatch that was established in 1999 and is based in San Francisco. LegalMatch uses a double blind matching system. By double blind they mean the consumer does not see identifying information about who the lawyers are and the lawyer does not see identifying information about who the consumers are although all the cards are put on the table for both to see before any contact is made between them. Through an allocation model LegalMatch makes the decision about which lawyers get the consumer’s information. Consumers can opt into “priority service” for a fee to talk with a LegalMatch staff attorney about their case and work with that attorney in selecting the attorney for their case. LegalMatch does have partnerships with the Utah State Bar Association, ATLA and NACDL. Membership fees for this marketing for law firms vehicle run from $2,500 to $25,000 per year (they will finance the membership fee if desired) depending on practice area and geographic location of the attorney. For example, a PI attorney in Los Angeles would likely be charged more than a family law attorney in Los Angeles, while the family lawyer in Peoria is likely to pay less than the family law attorney in Los Angeles. Their guarantee consists of extending your membership at no fee until your revenues have exceeded the fee you paid them.

Are There Legal Marketing Ethics Issues with Attorney-Client Matching?

A relevant digression here, since this model is not a lawyer referral program, a pre-paid legal service plan, a joint or cooperative advertising or a directory listing service it is not subject to ethics rules around much of marketing for law firms it has been asserted. Recently the Professional Ethics Committee of the Texas State Bar was looking into these practices and that committee received a seven-page letter (May 26, 2006) from the FTC that was agreed to by a unanimous vote of the FTC commission members that this attorney marketing practice is indeed ethical.

Already the states of North Carolina and South Carolina found the practice ethical. The Rhode Island Supreme Court specifically named in an ethics opinion that online matching services are ethical. Finally, the Utah State Bar (a mandatory bar) has retained LegalMatch as their lawyer referral service clearly indicating their thinking about LegalMatch’s ethical nature it seems to me. Naturally you do need to check with your state bar to be sure this is an ethical practice in your state. Now back to the options in the marketplace.

CasePost.com, based in Southern California, was established in 2002 is a second player in this area of marketing for law firms. They operate in a similar fashion as LegalMatch in matching clients with lawyers; however, the directory of attorneys is shown to the consumer immediately. The consumer can decide whether they want to remain anonymous or give their contact information to the attorneys. The consumer is limited to four attorney responses. Thus the consumer determines what attorneys will get their information. In May of 2006 CasePost has made a major expansion as a result of their partnership with HandelOnTheLaw.com that is powered by a successful nationally syndicated radio show on over 120 stations with attorney Bill Handel. This show has been running since 1985. They also have a strategic relationship with LegalZoom.com that began in 2006 that has increased their reach. Like LegalMatch the membership fees for this attorney marketing vehicle are from $2,500 to $25,000 per year (financing is available if desired) depending on practice area and location. Their guarantee to a member is based on a minimum amount of referrals over the year.

LegalFish is a third player in this arena. It entered the marketplace in 2003 and is based in Chicago. It is a bit different than the other two in a few ways. Like the other players the consumer can input their information and post their cases to the site as well give their identifying information or not. In a number of cases LegalFish will contact the posting consumer themselves by telephone or email to delve deeper into the needs of the consumer so they are not totally automated. There is an allocation model used by LegalFish in referring the cases to their members. Another difference is LegalFish charges a monthly fee for this marketing for law firms vehicle ranging from $180 to $750 to members that are non-contingency based practices. For contingency based practices the fee ranges from $1600 to $5000+ monthly only if the client retains the attorney. If LegalFish does not deliver a referral to a member that retains that attorney they don’t charge a fee to that attorney for the month (a form of a guarantee). Creating something of a “shared risk” system. Naturally, with this type of shared risk system, long-term success for both parties is based on LegalFish’s ability to generate new client opportunities and create demand for legal services, and their member attorneys’ ability to convert those referrals to paying clients. Both parties have to “pull their weight”. Finally, LegalFish reports they are particularly committed to serving the solo and small firm market with ten employees or less.

The next player in this marketing for law firms arena is Lawyers.com (mentioned earlier in this article about their directory listing or attorney-listing service) with their new Attorney Match Service. If you go to their homepage what stands out on that homepage is their “Find A Lawyer Quick Search”. This is their free to the consumer attorney-listing service (this is why you might want to test a listing with them and track results). To get to the Attorney Match Service you have to know to click on “Contact Lawyers” navigation tab or notice it up there at the very top of the Lawyers.com home page. Clicking on that takes you to a page where you input your zip code and the practice area you are seeking, however, it also tells you how many lawyers there are listed that “are interested in receiving your request”. You are required to fill in the identifying information with other case information. Once you do that you see the attorneys listed and pick the ones you want to send your request to and wait for their replies. The fee for the attorney member is $495 per year, however, you must have a biographical level listing on lawyers.com to be on the Attorney Match Service and that is $150 and up per month depending on the size of your firm. There is no guarantee for this service.

The final player in this marketing for law firms arena is Thompson’s Findlaw.com (mentioned earlier as an attorney-listing service) with their new attorney-matching website http://www.LegalConnection.com. The FindLaw system is similar to the Lawyers.com system with three steps of #1 Select your legal need; #2 Tell us about your case; and #3 Choose the attorney that’s right for you. It is different from Lawyers.com’s system since they have broken it out of their attorney-listing services completely with its own dedicated website. Their fees generally run from $500 to $1000 per month depending on your practice area and geographic location. They do not have a guarantee. They do report that they do set targets for each geographic area as well as practice combination and then will manage their marketing to get positive results for attorneys.

Well, now we have all the players in this particular niche of marketing for law firms with a lot of information. I think it would be imperative for me to mention one more item. Both Legal Match and CasePost have negative information on the Internet and it needs to be considered. If you go to Google and search just the term LegalMatch and then do the same with CasePost you will be able to find details about the negative information. One location that covers the negative information on LegalMatch with relevant links is at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LegalMatch although that is disputed as not being sufficiently neutral in tone, which is one of Wikipedia’s requirements..

Conclusions and Recommendations on Attorney-Client Matching

Let me list my current thoughts/conclusions in this marketing for law firms niche of attorney-client matching services and from there it is up to you to make your decision:

1. This marketing for law firms vehicle clearly has some merit. This approach can deliver business to you that you would not get otherwise and get it to you now. Yes, you can do better and at least arguably cheaper for yourself through the right Internet attorney marketing strategies (see my website). However, it is not going to happen tomorrow and attorney-client matching can happen tomorrow. You can build your own systems while using these systems and then decide if you want to continue their systems or not. They will always probably get some business you would not have gotten otherwise even if you had your own online systems.

2. Unfortunately you are only “renting” the methods used to get the business you are being sent and don’t “own” the business methods used. If you had the correct Internet marketing for law firms system up you would have a salable asset in those systems and be driving traffic exclusively to you, which is better than this option almost certainly in the long run for most if not all attorneys. Additionally, as a general principle it is not good to be dependent on any one source of referrals as I am sure you know. That said I still think attorney-client matching services are a good option before you have your own Internet marketing systems and/or other marketing systems up. You may even want to continue these services after you have your own systems up. Having your own systems up makes you more secure and now you are at choice about staying with the service or not.

3. Who is this marketing for law firms vehicle for really?

a. Someone who needs more business right now. These systems have a stream of business coming right now and they can send it your way right now. Other attorney marketing systems will take some time to make happen and yield results.
b. Someone who is very, very clear they don’t want to be involved in the marketing process and are willing to pay someone else to do it for them even if it costs them more and they are “renting”. If that is you, then this is probably a good move for you. That said, you still are going to have to “close” the client they send you via email or on the phone so you are going to be involved in marketing at that level, just less marketing. You are never going to get away from that aspect unless you are an associate who does nothing but technical work in someone else’s practice (not that there is anything wrong with that).
c. Someone who is doing some attorney marketing that is not working for them or not working very effectively for them since if you stop what is not working and do this type that is working you may be able to reduce your marketing costs while increasing your revenue stream.
d. Finally, a partner level attorney who has a senior associate that has good people skills that could work this marketing for law firms vehicle and close the referred clients.

4. Who is this type of attorney marketing not for?

a. Someone who won’t attend to the referrals from the matching service most if not nearly every working day.
b. Someone who does not have fair to good “closing skills” or “bedside manner” (Note: you can get some coaching from these firms to improve this aspect if needed and/or see my website for more information on this skill set). You are not the only attorney getting the referral from the match firm so you need to “shine” well enough to get hired. There is still an element of competition involved with maybe 3 to 5 other attorneys who got the same referral.
c. Someone in a geographic area that does not generate a lot of referrals in your practice area. Like a rural area or small town or maybe an estate planner in a low-income area. So you see this marketing for law firms vehicle is not for everyone.

5. The negative information on LegalMatch and CasePost is somewhat troubling to me even though much of it is from the past and has been positively addressed. The negative information of the past on LegalMatch appears to have not troubled the Utah Bar, the Association of Trial Lawyers of America and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. This is reassuring to me.

6. If you were reasonably sure this type of vehicle is for you I would go with LegalMatch first. I am presuming you are willing to work their system diligently and have at least low average “closing” skills (they will work with you to get your closing ratio up if you need some support in that area). Why LegalMatch? They have over 1500 members currently (a good sign I think), over 90 employees and have been in business longer. I figure that gives them an edge in knowledge, results and staying in business over time. Additionally, their “footprint” of bringing business to their members is almost certainly larger since they have more resources to drive business to their site than the others. If for some reason you are uncertain if this type of marketing for law firms is for you then I would go with LegalFish first. Why LegalFish? The LegalFish option would allow you to get into this marketing for law firms arena now with less expense and less risk than LegalMatch or CasePost. Do realize the LegalFish attorney marketing “footprint” is going to be much smaller than either of the other two services so they won’t be sending as large a volume of business your way almost certainly. Do be sure you have in your agreement with LegalFish that they will not charge you for the months they do not send you business. If you had a good experience working the referrals from LegalFish, diligently worked the system almost daily, realized a good return on your investment and you wanted to do more then I would look into LegalMatch next. Either starting with LegalMatch or LegalFish, if you find that you really liked this approach to marketing for law firms there is nothing wrong with belonging to two or even three of the services.

7. If you decide to become a member with LegalMatch, Case Post and/or LegalFish do remember your financial arrangement and term of membership are somewhat to greatly negotiable. Do negotiate a win/win agreement for yourself. Naturally, if you can get references of current members to contact from them in your practice area and in a similar type market to yours so much the better before you sign your agreement.

8. I probably would not go with Lawyers.com at this point. Why? First, no guarantee. Next Lawyers.com does not appear to me to be promoting that part of the site enough. Additionally, I am not sure it is worth the cost of the bio and the fee that together will run at least $2,400 for the year. I suspect this money could be better put to use with one of the “big three”. Lastly, given the consumer has a list of attorneys that could be large (search on the site for your zip code and practice areas and see how large it is for your area) you are going to be in a crowd I fear. Thus it looks like not much business and it seems no way to impact the consumers’ thinking in your direction at the point where they are selecting who to contact. An exception to this thinking is if you already have a bio listing with them (and it is delivering business to you) this add on service might be a useful attorney marketing move given you are only spending $495 more per year. That said keep good records and see if it produces you any business. If not you would stop the service of course.

9. With respect to LegalConnection.com I probably would not go with them at this point. Why? No guarantee. I do see it as an advantage that it is a stand-alone away from the FindLaw.com site. For that reason alone I would favor it over Lawyers.com, however, I don’t see LegalConnection.com or Lawyers.com as being in the same class as the “big three” at this point in time.

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