Marketing a Personal Injury Practice

First, check out the following article for several interesting perspectives from industry marketers on their preferred personal injury firm marketing tactics.

In 1998, the summer after my first year of law school, I obtained a job working for a plaintiff's advertising firm that focused primarily on generating leads for birth trauma cases. We focused on two key areas: bulk television advertising that was purchased on behalf of affiliate law firms and Web site search engine optimization.

I had first hand experience with how successful both of these tactics can be when used properly and the type of return that targeted marketing can generate. All marketing comes down to one important acronym - ROI (return on investment). Essentially, what you spend to bring in business vs. the financial value of your efforts. The top law firms track all incoming leads and know exactly which marketing activities generate the highest return on their marketing investment.

I will let you in on a little inside secret... for personal injury firms, online marketing can yield a higher return than TV, yellow pages, PR, etc... The reason why even many experts fail to recognize the true potential of online marketing is because most lawyers do not put their online marketing dollars where it counts.

Inevitably, some high priced marketing company with a big brand name will convince law firms to squander $50,000 on a Web site with fancy video and flash animation, and throw them into a Google key word (pay per click) bidding war and get listed in high priced directories, until ROI is so diminished that the law firm either loses faith in online marketing, or continues because other tactics in the marketing mix are covering up a flawed online marketing strategy.

The way to get dramatic returns on your online marketing is to focus on getting your Web site high in organic search results, while being very strategic with pay per click efforts. It is better to not engage in pay per click, than it is to do it incorrectly. With all the buzz about social media and new marketing trends, ORGANIC SEARCH IS STILL KING of ROI and it is the one place where smart can beat spend. To be effective, you have to understand the basics and you have to be plugged into the right resources. You also have to be patient - and many law firms seeking immediate gratification may miss out on huge opportunities.

If I can only give you one tip about achieving organic search success it is that a large firm working with dozens of competing firms, in the same geographic market, cannot possibly look out for everyone's interests. SEO is a dog eat dog game and you want a firm that will put your interests first and put in the time. This is one particular area, where I have the experience and contacts to help blog readers, but there are some business secrets that are too valuable to make public.

If you want access to the secrets of maximizing online marketing ROI for your personal injury practice, e-mail me at jzissu1-litigation@yahoo.com and we can set up a discussion where I can provide additional detail.

Think Marketing is an Expense? Think Again.

You have a proven product or service that is in demand. The recession has caused the demand to diminish by 10%. You reduced your marketing spend by 25%. Your new business is now declining 50%. Marketing is where many business owners and CEOs look to cut costs when the economy slides. If you are cutting marketing by a percentage that is disproportional to the decreased demand for your offering, it is very likely that your marketing program was either ineffective and not optimized to begin with (in which case you need to get a better grasp on your marketing return on investment), or that your organization is making a major strategic mistake that will end up costing clients and revenue.

I have a business colleague named Elliot Stone, who is the CEO of a firm called MedQuest MedQuest, a highly successful litigation support service company. His firm offers Medical Expert Services, Sanction Databases, Record Retrieval and other resources. Elliot deserves mention, because he put his foot on the pedal hard when the economy slowed and others who were similarly situated fell asleep at the wheel.

By increasing his marketing and even bringing on marketing resources when others pulled back, Elliot was able to take advantage of the reduction in noise to deliver his messages and is reaping the rewards in increased customers. This is not about the demand for his services increasing dramatically, rather about outperforming competitors through smart, timely and consistent marketing.

Can't find sufficient money to market? Cut your operating expenses. Want to know how, send me a note at jzissu1-litigation@yahoo.com and I will gladly discuss with you what your organization can do to cut operating costs in order to free up marketing investment dollars. Tip: Recession is a time to trim fat, but trimming productive marketing resources is a one-way ticket to lost marketshare.

Effective Social Network Marketing

According to its Wikipedia definition, social media marketing is "an engagement with online communities to generate exposure, opportunity and sales."

Today, prominent social media sites include Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter and many more 8 figure subscriber sites that are prominent within their geographical or demographical spheres of influence.

The volume of social media Web sites springing up these days is reminiscent of the competing search engines back around 2000. Some of you may remember names like Lycos, Webcrawler, Excite, Altavista, or Infoseek. Many of these engines disappeared rapidly and we will likely see similar results within the social media space.

I think it's Facebook's game to lose at this point though and their subscriber base and growth trend position the company for considerable sustained success. LinkedIn is also highly influential within the business community and may ultimately change the recruitment/job seeking landscape entirely.

Understanding the basics of social networking is critical so you can begin to think of ways your business can leverage these evolving marketing platforms, as competitive marketing differentiators.

Click here for a link of sites around the world:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

Click here for a link of recent Facebook statistics: (pretty astounding)
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics

So, how can you integrate social media into your current strategy?

First, focus on relationship building with relevant contacts, on sites that you are comfortable with. Do not look to navigate, or even understand the entire world of social media - it is far too broad reaching and may be overwhelming, if viewed in its entirety.

There are many influential community members, lawyers and non-lawyers users of sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, who can be great potential sources of new client leads for your law practice. Social media allows you to stay in touch regularly, by posting relevant updates or news about your firm. This way, you are continually reminding contacts of your expertise in the domain, making it more likely that you will be the one they reach out to. While not everyone within your network circle will be interested in an proactively seek out your professional blog, you may still be able to share important information and updates via more personal sites like FaceBook or Twitter. For example, a blurb announcing a a recent $5 Million medical malpractice verdict may attract the attention of your banker, who has a client whose mother was recently misdiagnosed. Alternatively, a LinkedIn profile, higlighting the new organization that you are now affiliated with may cause an old business contact that you did not expect to hear from to inquire into your offering.

Also, social media opens the door to highly targeted marketing to sizeable audiences. Facebook's pay per click marketing tools, for example, enable advertisers to target a subset of its roughly 1/4 Billion user base, by interests, age, location, etc... As with any marketing tactics, you will want to test, measure and optimize to make sure you are achieving the ideal return on your investment.

There is an art to leveraging social networks to promote a product or service and most experts will advise to be very cautious in your approach, so it does not backfire. Tip: Social Media is a two-way communication channel - using it as a one way tool is ineffective and may harm your company's image Getting a contact that you met online through a social network to visit your Web site, or blog takes patience. Leverage your relationships to give your organization a human element and nurture these relationships and you will see the long term dividends.

Lastly, social media is an incredibly powerful tool for exchanging information with both peers and clients, including developments in the law, trial strategies and successes. The field of social media is still in its infancy right now and I would strongly recommend that you first get your feet wet and start taking advantage of some of the networking opportunities offered. Once you understand how to network within your social circles, you will be better positioned to grasp the strength of various opportunities to market outside of it.

The Increasingly Important Web Site

I hope you are enjoying the holiday season. A few days ago, Amazon.com surprised a lot of people (including me) with record holiday sales, despite the economic climate. I think this underscores two very important points. First, consumers are increasingly price sensitive and Amazon has done an excellent job of delivering value at reduced prices. Second, it is compelling evidence that consumers are increasingly embracing technology to conduct business and that the Internet is not only facilitating offline business, but in many instances replacing many aspects of it.

This is why, more than ever, organizations can no longer afford to throw up a Web site that simply touts products and services. Web sites are becoming 2 way streets, that allow companies to interface with customers, through the collection and distribution of information.

At a minimum, ask yourself the following questions:
How does your Web site capture information from your visitors?
Do you have a sufficiently compelling proposition on your Web site to capture incoming leads on your Web site? In other words, what are you offering to visitors in exchange for sharing their contact information (other than your services)?
Does your Web site focus only on the features of your services, or do you clearly communicate benefits and/or savings that your prospects are looking for.
Countless studies have found that emotion plays a large part in the purchasing process. Even the most rational and analytical buyers are influenced. How does your Web site leverage this?
What steps have you taken to ensure that the information you posted is consistent with what your prospects are seeking?
What activities do you engage in to nurture the leads generated via your Web site? Do you have a process for this, or do you follow up arbitrarily?

Tip: Your Web site is becoming an increasingly critical lead generation tool, irrespective of the business you are in and appearance is much less important than function.

If you would like some free tips on ways to improve your Web presence, contact me today at jzissu1-litigation@yahoo.com

Blogging Secrets... Revealed

The list of reasons why bloggers blog is fairly vast and some of the benefits may come as a surprise. When I first heard of blogging, I naively assumed that it was something that self-centered people with too much free time did... and now here I am... hmmm.
OK, should you consider a blog and if so why? My answer is... it depends... so why do bloggers blog?

1) Search Engine Traffic
According to search engine gurus the return on your marketing investment for natural search can blow pay per click away. Blogs promoting your business or law firm can dramatically enhance your search engine position listing. This one should be reason enough for many plaintiff's lawyers looking to cast a wide net for claimants. I managed search engine optimization for a law firm advertising company back in 1999 and had the opportunity to see how powerful of a marketing tool this was, even 10 years ago. Today, with the keyword price inflation of pay per click (particularly for terms such as "Personal Injury" or "Asbestos Litigation" or "insert harmful drug name here" - you get the picture Trial Lawyers...) Should you have a blog for this purpose? The answer is: the bigger your organization is and the more critical search is in your overall marketing mix, the more likely you will need to give blogs serious consideration, as part of your overall strategy.

2) Position Yourself as an Industry Expert
If you write enough about what people want to read, they will come back. If they come back enough, you may find that one day you will actually be seen as an expert in your field. In fact, I think my mother is fairly convinced that I am an industry luminary in the litigation marketing field and sends my blog to all her friends and co-workers, so if you happen see her, please let her keep thinking that I am important...

3) Social networking with a group sharing common interests
This one is fairly straight forward. Chances are you are probably reading this because you have some interest in the litigation world, or in getting some tips on improving your marketing.

4) Cost-effective Promotion
Web sites cost money - blogs are free. They are also very easy to use and do not require a high degree of technological aptitude.

5) Communicate Message to Broad Audience
You publish a post once and the content is there forever for anyone to find. Blogs are also cumulative. The more you post the stronger your blog becomes. 20 posts are 10 times more likely to be found than 2. It is virtually impossible to not see a considerable increase in traffic if you commit to posting on a regular basis.

There are many other reasons for blogging, but these are some of the most common. Remember, Tip: Blogging is highly cost effective, but you need to be persistent to see results. It's not for every organization, but it can make a huge difference in certain organizations. If you would like to know whether a blog is appropriate for your firm, e-mail me at jzissu1-litigation@yahoo.com

Legal Process Outsourcing & Litigation Technology Trends - Interview with Shree Laxman of Law Allies

We have a very special posting lined up for today. I had the opportunity to interview Shree Laxman, the President of Law Allies, which is a client that I have worked with. Law Allies is a leading provider of technology, outsourcing and consulting services, specializing in the claims / litigation domain.

Q. Shree, you have worked with many progressive litigation firms. Can you tell LitigatorEdge readers, what is it that these firms do right technologically?

A. Law Firms, like many other businesses, have to understand the changing paradigm of operations in this day and age. Law firms have to be open 24/7 and attorneys need to have access to cases 24/7 and from anywhere. The thing that most successful law firms do right, is to ensure total control over their information, at all times, ubiquitously.

Q. In your opinion, what are the most critical technology elements for a plaintiff's firm?

A. Access to their information from anywhere anytime is the most critical element for a plaintiff law firm. The firm needs to have a case manager application online, and all documents should be electronic. The system should be able to "talk" to other applications like court calendars, investigation agencies, medical document retrieval systems, etc... This Web capability allows the firm to not only have presence in the immediate state, but anywhere in the US, or beyond.

Q. How about for a defense firm?

A. For a defense firm, billing is a crucial element. The traditional way of billing, which involved sending out a monthly bill, by having the attorney, paralegal and secretary dedicate time to this, is an inefficient and laborious approach to this task. The technology should be able to track in "real time" the tasks that are performed by attorneys and paralegals. Also, there is great competition between defense firms and they need need to be able to showcase their case winnings and statistics to insurance companies and other clients. Currently, many defense firms do not have a good in house library of their cases, because they lack a consolidated case management system.

Q. We hear so much negative publicity about the outsourcing of call centers and how this can adversely impact customer service for large corporations. Is it really possible for a litigation firm to improve its customer service by outsourcing functions? If so, which functions are most outsourceable for litigation firms and how does this work?

A. Outsourcing is often confused with "offshoring". The concept of outsourcing is to concentrate all resources and efforts on core functions, while not getting distracted with expenses and efforts on non-core functions. There is only one universal way of being profitable. Profits equal income minus expenses. By analyzing a firm's operations', non core functions can be identified and optimized and these functions can be outsourced to companies that specialize in these functions. Doing this can considerably increase a firm's revenues while decreasing expenses.

Q. Our blog readers appreciate how important client relationships are. What are some of the technological steps a law firm can take to improve client relationships?

A. In this day and age, access is everything. A firm has to be accessible and operational 24/7. There is no reason for a firm to be fixated by the old age model of 9-5 and confined to a single office location. A client should have access to the firm, its cases and be aware of any changes in status of its cases at all times and from any location.

Q. How can plaintiff's lawyers leverage their internal technology to become better marketers?

A. The evolution of technology in today's world has gone from Web 1.0, which was a pure plain Web site acting like a visiting card to Web 2.0, which is a service and interactive application like online banking, policy and claims handling by insurance companies. A majority of law firms and health care providers still have not embraced a Web 2.0 model and some have not even gotten to the point of Web 1.0. Plaintiff's lawyers can no longer think only in terms of having a Web presence. They need to provide a better service and better access to their clients in order to keep up with the times and with competition. The referral systems need to mature also to take advantage of the collaborative marketing - for example Google referral.


Q. You have been working with some of the most prominent litigation firms in the industry for some time now. What have you learned about working with these firms that you can share with other vendors who wish to partner with litigation firms?

A. The companies need to evolve toward service based models rather than product based models. Across the horizon, even the heavy weights of product companies like Microsoft have made a push toward Office Online and Microsoft MSN Platform. It is just a matter of time before old paradigms of product based sales will be outdated.

Well, many thanks to Shree for his valuable insight. In summary, [Tip:] make sure to keep up with technology trends if you want to keep up with the competition.

For more information on technology and outsourcing solutions that your firm cn leverage or, if you have any specific questions for Shree, please e-mail me at: jzissu1-litigation@yahoo.com.

The Price is Right... Right?

Today we're shifting focus to one of the 4 p's of Marketing - Pricing. In sticking with the recession motif, I wish to point out that a company's pricing strategy becomes even more critical in a down market.
There are few organizations that are not price sensitive these days and considerable power has shifted to the customer / purchaser. When the market tightens, demand drops and competition stiffens. This is why it is absolutely critical to (Tip:) consider a customer centric pricing model, whereby revenue is earned when value is delivered to the client.
Plaintiff's lawyers have a highly customer centric model - most of you do not charge unless claimants win. This makes it very compelling for a client to come to you and creates great disincentive for a claimant to deal directly with the insurance adjuster. However, I predict that 1/3 contingency arrangements on 8 figure verdicts may eventually be history, as the Internet will eventually connect informed claimants directly to the results of the top firms in a particular area of expertise and those firms will have to duke it out for the right to represent that particular client.
Yes, firms compete for clients today, but many claimants select firms from one tv ad or one friend referral. Sophisticated consumers will eventually have access to the type of data that will enable them to make much smarter and more efficient purchasing decisions on the type of firm they select and yes, that $10 Mil. contingency on a $33 Mil. verdict that cost you only $1.5 Mil. in litigation expenses and overhead will become less and less common, as a broader pool of competent plaintiff's lawyers and increased technology will ensure tighter competition.
If you are a defense firm and would like to differentiate yourself and possibly win over a new client, how about putting more skin in the game than your competitors? Consider making a small percentage of your fees contingent on particular agreed upon success metrics or "key performace indicators" - just make sure you do not assume too much risk that is outside of your control.
If you are a vendor, make a note of the companies offering similar products and services. Ask yourself questions such as: how are they different, why is it that they are pricing this way, is it important for me to be better on price, or do I have sufficient competitive differentiators that this is not necessary.
Lastly, always keep an open line of communication with your customers. If your product or service is not priced appropriately, they will typically let you know it.

Strength in Numbers

Why is it that Fortune 500 companies can't seem to get enough of gobbling each other up? Companies merge, the large company now acquires a smaller one, then another, until the company becomes too large and diverse to effectively manage. Before you know it the company is involved in an accounting scandal that the CEO "never knew about", or the company falls to pieces as a result of risky subprime bets. Then, guess what? A white knight swoops in and... yup, you got it - acquires the collapsed business.
While there are many lessons (Do's and Don't Do's) to be learned from the world of mergers and acquisitions, here are a few reasons why companies choose to merge.

- Consolidate redundant functions and cut costs
- Gain tax advantages
- Increasing market power
- Compensating for weakness in key areas

How does this apply to litigation marketing?
Tip: There is strength in numbers.

The same principles that apply to these large companies also make sense for smaller entities. I have seen a perfect example of this in a NY no-fault/PIP firm that has brilliantly combined partner merger activity, superior marketing and client communications, technological efficiency and operational exellence to blow their competition away and gobble up market share. The merger was the catalyst for everything else that followed.

They combined one partner's marketing expertise, with another's client base, another partner brought strong operational capabilities to the table and together they created efficiencies and pooled resources. This in turn allowed the partners to focus on their respective areas of expertise, cut costs, increase marketing spending and it wasn't long after until no firm in the marketplace could keep up and they put much of their competition out of business.

Now, I am not suggesting that mergers, or even joint ventures are for everyone. In the legal field, or even as a legal vendors, getting in bed with the wrong partner can be disastrous. However, it is important to be mindful of the flip side of this coin. Make sure that you do not get so caught up in your business routine, that you ignore opportunities to strengthen your firm's or company's strategic position - your competitors may be doing just that!

Search Engine Basics

Today, search engine marketing is an integral part of many litigation firms' and vendors' marketing strategies. This post will give a basic overview to some who may be less familiar with the topic, rather than attempt to get into the many intricacies involved in managing a succesful program.

Search engine strategies can be divided into 2 simple categories:

(1) Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Simply described, SEO is leveraging the arrangement of words and links contained on your Web site, in order to achieve a higher ranking on a search engine. Over the last 10 years the SEO market has skyrocketed. When I first became involved with marketing in the legal space, back in 1998, SEO was the first marketing tactic I was responsible for managing. Back then, there were only a handful of firms specializing in this. Today there are offshore companies and a number of companies that handle this within a specific business niche. For example, most trial lawyer conference will have several vendors that specialize in SEO, or in online marketing generally.

(2) Search Engine Marketing (SEM) This is actually nothing more than paying to place text advertising on search engines when specific words are inputted into the search engine. Businesses essentially try to outbid each other to place their ads higher on search results and achieve more clickthroughs than the competition. Yes, this pretty much all there is behind the disgustingly brilliant and simple business model that is almost singlehandedly responsible for Google and Yahoo's Billions. Get the entire world to use your search engine and have every business compete for qualified traffic seeking the products and services they are offering online.
Today, there are many firms that handle SEO, SEM and other online marketing and many traditional ad agencies have developed expertise in online mediums.

I can spend days speaking on SEO and SEM, having leveraged both as part of prior business online marketing strategies and understanding the intricacies involved. While I do have to sleep at some point, I will offer one tip with respect to each. However, if you have any particular questions on the subject, I would be happy to provide answers via e-mail.

Tip 1: If SEO is a major source of lead opportunities for your business, do the ROI math and invest the appropriate capital into a firm to stay on top of this for you. Some firms will consider partial incentives based on ranking performance - I would lean toward a win-win arrangement like this.

Tip 2: Studies have shown that there is no such thing as optimal position in SEM. The optimal position is the one that gets you the most leads at the lowest investment. (In other words, traffic that clicks through when you are ad link #1, does not behave any differently that traffic clicking through ad link #5). The difference is it will cost you less to be link #5 and likely get less traffic. If it costs you 1/5 of the price and you get half the traffic, it may be prudent to consider going for link #5, unless your market share strategy dictates otherwise

Referrals: The Biggest Lost Opportunity in Business

Let's face it, there is no such thing as the perfect marketing plan. No matter who you are, what type of business you are in, there is always an opportunity to improve your marketing. With so many different business priorities, there is just not enough time in the day to focus on all the opportunities to promote your business.

Therefore, when we approach a subject as critical as referrals, I will make sure I stress that this tactic is not a "nice to have" but a "must have" in your marketing practices. That said, I would be willing to guess that 90% or more of all businesses do not have a reasonably sound strategy for leveraging client referrals.

How many plaintiff's firms follow up with their personal injury clients by sending an e-mail or letter along the following lines: "Dear Ms. Smith, it was our pleasure assisting you with your case. We wish you a speedy continued recovery.
We hope we were able to exceed your expectations while we represented you. If there is anything we could have done better, please let us know, as we are always looking for ways to improve our practice.
If you were satisfied with our service and performance, we would greatly appreciate your future referrals."

Requesting referrals is a very easy tactic that offers an astounding return on your efforts, but is often forgotten. As a defense lawyer working with a client, how about following up a positive survey response with a follow-up call? "Good afternoon Mike, I wanted to take a minute to thank you for your continued business and the time you took to provide feedback. [My pleasure] Mike I would like to ask you one more thing, do you feel based on our service level that you would feel comfortable recommending our firm to a peer? [yeah, certainly] Would you be comfortable giving me the names and contact information of 2 or 3 peers that you feel may be interested in considering our firm on their next case? [no problem] That's wonderful, thank you so much, and may I refer to the fact that we have worked with you on these particular matters [go for it] Thank you!

And that is how simple and effective referrals can be. It takes a little salesmanship, but if you give it a shot, you will be increasing your business in no time!

Tip: Think about missed referral opportunities in your ordinary course of business and try to leverage them whenever possible