I love working successful advertising strategies. My grandson, Willem, loves solving Rubik’s Cubes. I went to college for years. He spent a few hours on Youtube. Now he can solve any Rubik’s Cube in under two minutes. It’s impressive. It strikes me how Willem’s focus on solving his puzzle is similar to what Kirkpatrick Creative does to create balanced law firm advertising strategies for our clients.
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How to Manage Phone Book Advertising – for Efficiency and Productivity!
No two law firms are alike. Each has a specific firm personality, goals and unique advertising challenges. You are you, and that’s what you should market. Most firms offer the same legal services, to slightly different degrees of expertise. But what isn’t the same is the experience of working with the attorneys in your firm.
Clients are interested in doing business with people – so market yourself that way. How do you do that?
All advertising campaigns should deploy a balanced three-prong strategy using:
- Phone Book Advertising
- Traditional Media like television and radio and
- Online and Digital Media
What’s funny is most law firms get their advertising balance out of whack, right out of the gate. When lawyers approach advertising in telephone directories like the Yellow Pages there are two major trains of thought.
- “Print directories are dead. All of my money needs to be poured into other media.”
or
- “My grandfather started running that ad when he opened this firm. We can’t change it. That’s how it’s always been!”
Do either of these perspectives sound balanced to you?
What I’m talking about is a dangerous, “all or nothing” perspective on phone book advertising that is losing a lot of firms a lot of money. This backwards mentality gave way to the famous idiom that’s bounced around our industry for more than a hundred years –
“I know half of my advertising efforts are working, I just don’t know which half.”
When Willem is solving his puzzle, he can’t solve the red side first, then focus on the green – he has to work every side of the cube at once. He has to have a balanced approach.
Shouldn’t you approach your advertising strategy with as much thought as my grandson approaches a toy? Phone directories are still integral to any law firm’s lead generation. But like any advertisement, these listings are only worth as much business as they bring in. You should hold every ad accountable for generating leads and building clients for your firm.
“I know half of my advertising efforts are working, I just don’t know which half.”
Is that a valid perspective, to just willingly shrug off half of your advertising budget, since there’s no way to hold it accountable? I don’t think so. That’s why we base our advertising methods on data-analysis and accountability.
You must strike a media balance to know your advertising efforts and budget are spent wisely. Either the law firm’s advertising department or a hired outside firm must work to solve the unique puzzle of the best advertising strategy.
Over the next few weeks the Kirkpatrick Creative Blog is going to focus on helping you evaluate the efficiency of your phone book ads, and use that information to create a more balanced (cost-effective) advertising strategy for your firm.
Please download our free e-book so you can follow along at your own pace. We will be offering webinars and videos as well as providing infographics and slideshares for you to take to your advertising team.
A balanced approach to advertising is central to your law firm’s success. And phone book advertisement is an important factor in the puzzle. Take control of your advertising today, with data-driven research and accountability!