Integrity Marketing

social media: blogging and facebook and twitter, oh my!

posted by kyle e. krull, esq.

i am onsite at integrity marketing hq today. as i look out the french doors to the pasture, lake and woods, i am reminded of how blessed we are to have worked together for more than 15 years. jennifer has been giving me a hands-on demonstration of current marketing technology, to include the place for social media. wow! for example, ims now has its own intranet, blog, facebook and twitter account. indeed, i am learning to "tweet" as i type this.  ;D  jennifer is using "tweetbeep" and "google alerts" and is explaining to me why these are vital practice development tools. internet marketing has progressed far beyond having a website presence.

the days of relying solely on hanging out a shingle, and the concept of "if you build it, they will come," are gone ... and so are the attorneys who relied upon that. in the words of peter frampton, do you feel like i do? as a baby boomer, i was born into the estate planning field on the heels of the dinosaurs who had a hang-out-a-shingle mentality. well, like the literal dinosaurs, those dinosaurs are now gone (retired). i'm the "sandwich generation" of estate planning attorneys.

regardless how much i would like to ignore these new technologies, they are here and if i want to stay here, i will learn to use them to my advantage. and even though my lovely 80-year-old widowed client may not be on facebook, the entrepreneurial business owner likely is. for the long-term success of my practice, i need to be talking to both types of prospects, and i need to meet them where they "live" per se ... and i need cost-effective ways to stay in touch with them, nurture those relationships, and enjoy the harvest of downstream referrals.

unfortunately, not everyone can come out to ims hq and get a full day of one-on-one training with jennifer. the next best thing, however, will be our online client workshop at 12 noon (central) on August 25, "leveraging internet technologies." joining us will be your colleagues from the front lines, jerry reif of saginaw, michigan and lizette sundvick of las vegas, nevada. these successful attorneys, practicing in very different markets, will share their perceptions of how the practice has changed and why they are now embracing those changes in their own practice development efforts. 

stay tuned to this blog, or follow us on twitter (http://www.twitter.com/integritymarket) for the latest updates and registration details.

If You Fail to Establish Trust, You Will Fail

I stumbled across an article today about Trust, written by blogger Donal Daly on the Sales 2.0 Network. Because I work with trusts and estates attorneys, I was intrigued. Attorneys say that time is their stock in trade, but in reality it is trust. If an attorney cannot establish trust, he will not have a successful practice. It really is that simple.

Marketing a trusts and estates or elder law practice is not about explaining federal estate taxes, how a revocable living trust works, or the intricacies of a Grantor Retained Annuity Trust. It's about establishing trust and building relationships.

As Daly wrote: In these difficult times (which unfortunately will be with us for quite a while yet), progression in business demands uncommon levels of trust. My recent observations would suggest that buyers are more nervous than ever before. 

From my own observations, I concur. Buyers today are looking for the red flag of warning. They don't want to be duped by another "trusted advisor." Daly describes it this way:

Many consultants and business advisors ... extol the virtues of becoming a ‘trusted advisor’ to your customer.  The value of the Trusted Advisor has itself become questioned.  What happens if your trusted advisor is called Bernie Madoff?  You end up asking yourself “How did that happen?”  “What other trusted relationships do I have that I should question?”

As a marketing strategist consulting with attorney clients, my focus is primarily on marketing communications. Here are five things that I think every marketing communication must have in order, not only to build trust, but to avoid undermining it and sending out "red flags" to clients and prospective clients:

• Client-Focus: Marketing communications should focus on client needs, not attorney expertise, capabilities, or services. And certainly not on legal documents.

• Relevancy: This is a corollary to client-focus. Messages should be targeted and relevant to the intended audience. In today's digital world, there is no excuse for sending "blanket" messages that don't connect with your audience.
• Honesty: Consumers today have a very high level of sophistication, especially when it comes to marketing. Avoid puffery or trickery. Most people know that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Your marketing messages should ring true with sincerity and honesty, leave the huckstering to late-night infomercials.
• Professionalism: All of your marketing materials should carefully and tastefully designed to enhance your professional image. Technology makes it possible to easily and cheaply create a lot of very bad marketing materials. Worse yet, you can easily and cheaply deliver them to thousands of people at once. "Cheap and easy" are not words you want people to use when describing you, your practice or your website.
• Consistency: Consistency is one of the hallmarks of trustworthiness. We know we can trust people who are consistent. You can display consistency in your marketing messages. Your messages should be visually consistent (think branding), they should be editorially consistent, and they should be consistently delivered. For example, if you want clients to be focused on your value rather than your fees, then offering a $200 discount coupon is inconsistent with your brand. If you want to distinguish your firm as providing excellence in estate planning, then a slap-dash website design is inconsistent. And, if you say you are sending out a monthly newsletter, but it only arrives twice a year ... or if your monthly newsletter suddenly stops arriving at all ... your marketing messages are inconsistent. These kinds of marketing mistakes undermine trust.

As Daly concluded: If you fail to establish trust you will fail. Put yourself on the line. Remember, action is the only language of trust. Deliver more than you expect to receive.  You might be surprised at the return.

How to Sabotage Your Marketing

I had an experience this weekend while riding horses that reminded me of marketing ... well, actually, it reminded me of marketing failures. Here is a lesson in how to sabotage your marketing efforts.

It was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, and I decided to go for a ride with my big horse: 17 hands and 1,500 lbs of temperament. (For purposes of our lesson, let's liken this to a seemingly profitable marketing opportunity, such as a hosted client appreciation workshop with 50 of your top referral source's best clients. Considering the potential up and down sides of this opportunity, I think it likens very well to 17 hands and 1,500 lbs of temperament!)

The first thing I did was try to tack and saddle two horses at the same time, so my fiance could ride, too. (Read: juggling too many things at once, not giving the 1,500-lb temperamental opportunity my full attention!) Then, I tried to turn a third horse out of the barn, and in so doing, I managed to knock the barn gate off its hinges, whilst having the reins of the 17-hand, temperamental horse in my hand. This startled the temperamental horse. (This is not unlike arriving late to the client appreciation workshop, not terribly late, but late enough that your top referral source now has sweaty palms.)

I helped my fiance get onto the steady-eddie horse and sent them off across the field. Then, I climbed up on the step ladder (remember, this horse is 17-hands tall!), slipped my left foot into the stirrup and ... the saddle slid a bit. I recalled that this temperamental horse is also a professional bloater, and realized (too late) that he had been holding his breath while I cinched the girth. I swung my leg up and over his back and settled into the saddle ... sort of cock-eyed, if you will. (To continue our marketing analogy, this is the part where the overhead projector fails to light up.) Seated way-up-there, I thought to myself, "This is not good."

(Okay, isn't this just what you think when the overhead projector fails to light up?)

So, I decided to dis-mount and start over. I put my weight back onto my left foot, swung my right foot out of the stirrup and ... the saddle slid again. This time, down the side of my 17-hand, 1,500-lb temperamental horse. I fell off. Into the step ladder. Which crashed into the 17-hand, 1,500 lb temperamental horse.

Who began to buck.

Across the field.

With a saddle (and stirrups) dangling from his belly.

I had visions of hooves stuck into stirrups and my BELOVED 17-hand, 1,500 lb temperamental horse breaking his beautiful neck. (Arghhh!)

"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" I cried.

My  horse ran into a fence. He bucked 20 more feet. He snorted. He screamed. He stopped.

Finally. He stood stock-still, saddle dangling from his belly. No broken neck, no tangled hooves, no harm done.

I crawled up underneath my beloved 17-hand, 1,500 lb temperamental horse and removed the offending saddle. Whew!

In the world of horses, we call this a good day, because

• There is nothing wrong with the saddle. 

• There also is nothing with the horse. He was fine standing there while I got on. He was fine until I got off. His hysterical bucking reaction was "normal" for a horse that just got slammed into by a step ladder and with a saddle hanging from his belly. Right?

• The horse calmed down. (Yay! Horse!) He stood calmly while I crawled underneath him to remove the saddle. (Again, Yay! Horse!)

• Everyone is still alive and (relatively) unscathed.

What does this mean for marketing?

FOCUS on the important stuff

That's it. Just FOCUS on what's important. When you have a 17-hand, 1,500-lb, temperamental marketing opportunity, recognize that and give it the time and attention it deserves. And if, for some reason, everything falls apart and the opportunity goes bucking off across the field, dragging a saddle from its belly ... don't blame the opportunity. And ... don't just stand there. Holler WHOA! Crawl under the danged thing and FIX it!

Live to ride another day.

Can Twitter Help Build Your Law Practice?

What are some good strategies for deploying social media to boost your practice? I think the most important, and effective, is to use social media very similarly to the way you would use personal networking. Think of social media as the gateway to massive, ongoing personal networking opportunities ... leveraging your time and talent by reaching more people, more quickly, and by "archiving" your most poignant comments for all to read (unlike the time you made a great point in a conversation with one person at the local bar association lunch-n-learn).

 

If you are skeptical about the usefulness of social media, consider this demographic data about Twitter users, just in from Anderson Analytics (reported in Advertising Age today):

Twitterers
This is the super-user group. Twitterers are more interested than the others in many subjects but skew particularly high in all news categories, restaurants, sports, politics, personal finance and religion. They also especially like pop culture, with music, movies, TV and reading, ranking higher than average. And their buying habits mirror that. They're more likely to buy books, movies, shoes and cosmetics online than the other groups.

Twitterers are also entrepreneurial. They are more likely than others to use the service to promote their blogs or businesses. How do they keep going? Coffee, apparently. Some 31% buy coffee online, far above the average 21% of other social networkers.

The added emphasis is mine -- Twitterers are interested in personal finance, and they tend to be entrepreneurial. Sounds like a target-rich environment.

A Caveat About Social Media: You won't get very far with just a few 140-character "tweets" or a facebook page. You will need a compelling, impressing, engaging and relevant website, optimized to attract and convert your "friends and followers" into clients and referral sources. Then, you'll need an off-line strategy to build those contacts into profitable, win-win-win relationships.

Here is the link to the Advertising Age article: What Your Favorite Social Network Says About You (July 8, 2009) http://www.relk.info/db7a12

Recession Means Opportunity for Savvy Marketers

Your estate or elder law practice can survive a bit of benign neglect during good times, but the current economy places greater demands on your marketing skills. A recession is nothing if not unforgiving. Mistakes today are not easily overcome. Now is not the time to lose your focus. Remember, the economy WILL recover. But relationships that you allow to fall away now may never be recovered, or only at great cost. Maintaining relationships with your clients and key referral sources and building your brand integrity in the marketplace is imperative to a swift recovery.

In This Environment of Change, Build Client Relationships
The best-kept secret about the recession? It is rife with opportunity. Did you know that more fortunes were made during the Great Depression than at any other time in our history? Those who keep their heads and invest wisely can see great results today, too.

Don't let budget worries now undermine your practice development efforts. If money is tight, give us a call and let us brainstorm with you about ways to stretch your budget. We have many options that can relieve your current budget constraints, while still maintaining your valuable relationships and building your brand today for a quick recovery later. This way, you'll not only stay profitable now, but you will be ready to “hit the ground running” when times are better.

The three biggest opportunities you have right now, are:

1. Build trust-based relationships with your clients, many of whom came to you through a financial advisor relationship that they may have since abandoned. As clients are switching advisor relationships, you have an opportunity to step in as the trusted advisor to keep. This can help you build relationships (and referrals) with their new advisors, AND protect you from having your clients stolen away by these same new advisors who might otherwise be less friendly toward you.
   
   Strategy: Build client relationships with your newsletter. If you cannot afford to mail monthly to all of your clients, then implement a blended approach. Mail quarterly, email monthly. Or mail monthly to your top clients. Let your clients choose whether they want email or snail mail. Court your clients now. Do NOT let those relationships turn cold. Using your SELECT newsletter, you can minimize your time investment, and yet maximize your personalization. Include your own articles, write directly to your clients. Make it really WORK for you.

2. Go directly to niche markets and target consumers, bypassing the financial advisor relationship altogether. Witness the marketing campaign recently launched by Charles Schwab. Schwab is capitalizing on the fact that many people are dissatisfied with their financial advisors, encouraging to "take the reins" on their own investments. Times of change, uncertainty and transition are OPPORTUNITIES that you did not have before. Step in NOW to take advantage of these “loose prospects” in the marketplace!
   
   Strategy: Implement a consumer marketing strategy. Identify your niche markets and optimize your website to attract them. Utilize keywords to improve your search engine ranking. Add valuable and compelling content to keep visitors on your site. Include interactive components that allow you to capture leads and then drip-market to them. An e-newsletter is a MUST. Targeted web content, webinars, even recorded teleconferences and white papers are all good ways to start capturing leads and turning your website into a marketing workhorse. Remember that your website must attract visitors, retain visitors, and capture lead (contact) information.  Then you must have a method in place to drip-market to your leads and convert them into clients.
   
   Caveat: Don't be the last to adapt to recession-induced changes in consumer behavior! Be aware that consumer habits that are changing now, likely will NOT go back to the way they were before. Folks who are dumping their financial advisors and going online to do their own research, or working with discount brokers like Charles Schwab are highly unlikely to EVER go back to their financial advisor relationship. Once bitten, twice shy. You need to position yourself NOW to market directly to consumers.
    

3. Team-up with quality financial advisors. Even the best financial advisors are challenged right now by the melt-down in the financial services industry. This is a great time to build (or re-build) quality relationships, bring new marketing ideas, and help your best referral sources thrive.
   
   Strategy: Focus on select referral relationships. There are always a few stand-outs in any industry, and you likely know which financial advisors qualify. Focus on them. Send them your newsletter (preferably to their home) and your e-newsletter (to their office). Bring fresh ideas to them. Keep them close. Use your SELECT customization options to write directly to them. Add content to your website that will help them sell estate planning concepts. Have us build a webinar on your website, give your top financial advisors a password and let them use your webinar in their offices to sell your services.

There are many marketing strategies to help you do this, even with a constrained budget. For as little as $299 a year, you can add topic-specific, engaging content to your website that will drive traffic to your site, improve your search engine rankings, and help you reach your target markets.

Here is an example: http://www.estateplanningpartners.com/IMS_Content_Modules.htm

To learn more about website content modules, or other recession-savvy, budget-friendly marketing strategies, call us at 1-877-352-2021. Ask for James. We are more than happy to brainstorm with you and come up with the best marketing solutions for YOUR practice NOW.

SEO Secrets Revealed

FREE WEBINAR ON-DEMAND
INTERNET MARKETING & WEBSITE OPTIMIZATION

What makes an effective website work? Why does one website languish unnoticed on the internet, while another jumps to page one on Google and regularly generates qualified leads -- and new clients -- for the law firm? Learn how Search Engine Optimization (SEO) really works, what web browsers want when they visit your site, and how to optimize your website for maximum returns. In this webinar, you will learn about website and search engine optimization, key factors that give your website credibility, how to measure web marketing results, and the four key components of your site that will boost your rankings with Google, Yahoo! and all the major search engines.

 Register & Watch this Webinar Now

Optimization Gets Client on Google's Page One

We recently received a phone call from long-time client Noreen Murphy in Winchester, MA. Noreen wanted to get serious about her website and internet marketing. Though she was generally pleased with the appearance of her website, and frequently received compliments on it from both clients and referral sources ... and occasionally even new cases ... she wanted to focus her marketing and boost her search engine ranking.

We recommended our Level 2 Website Optimization package for Noreen's site. With this level of service, we work with the client to determine the primary key phrases and content organization that will work best to optimize their site for their practice development goals. Once we determined Noreen's primary key phrases, we then expanded that to a master keyword list, which is a broad list of the key words and phrases we wanted to be sure to incorporate into the site content, structural headlines, page titles and descriptions and navigational links. Noreen then wrote and submitted substantial new copy to complete the newly-targeted content areas. (We also can assist you in adding new content, see our Web Content Modules.)

We re-organized and re-designed the site according to the new optimization plan. Additionally, we created site maps, got the site listed with the search engines' local business directories, added an online subscribe form for her e-newsletter, and submitted the new site for indexing.

We saw some changes almost immediately, others will take months to impact search engine rankings, with Google being the slowest to respond. However, Noreen's site has already made it to page one in the organic rankings on both Yahoo! and Bing for her identified key phrases. Additionally, hers is the first site listed, at the top of the Google Search Engine Results Page, on the Google Maps when you search for either Estate Planning Attorney Winchester MA or Elder Law Attorney Winchester Ma.

"No one can guarantee first page rankings on a search engine, not even the search engines themselves." (Seth Rowland, TechnoLawyer, June 30, 2009)  But proper targeting and optimization can greatly improve your online visibility and there is no better way to acquire clients passively than to rank highly on the search engine results page for relevant search times.

For more information about website and search engine optimization, call James at 1-877-352-2021, ext. 0. He will be happy to consult with you about the level of service best suited to your needs.

NEW WEBSITE

I am so excited to announce the launch of our new Integrity Marketing Solutions website at http://www.estateplanningpartners.com.

Top Ten Reasons to visit the site:

1. "Meet" Kyle and me in cyber-person through our new online video.
2. Use this COUPON CODE (INTRO102008) to save 15% off any online purchase of one of our full-color, scripted PowerPoint workshops, valid through October 31. (just enter the coupon code in the shopping cart when you place your order.)
3. Get great MARKETING TIPS right on the home page -- click REFRESH to view a new tip!
4. Request FREE SAMPLES of the new SELECT newsletter.
5. Sign Up for our FREE monthly e-newsletter chock-full of Marketing Tips.
6. JOIN our FREE Estate Planning Partners practice-development Listserv.
7. Watch a FREE 30-minute online training video on Developing Professional Referrals.
8. Watch a FREE online training video on Marketing to Business Owners.
9. READ about the EXTREME MARKETING MAKE-OVER success stories of your colleagues!
10. Find a WEALTH of RESOURCES to help make your estate planning practice more profitable & enjoyable!

Two Strategies to Recession-Proof Your Practice

Whatever else may be said about the economy, the environment, and the uncertain estate tax, this is certainly an interesting time for estate planning professionals! You can convert these interesting times into profitable ones by employing the two most powerful marketing and practice development strategies for this decade: Collaboration Between Financial and Legal Professionals and Marketing to Business Owners.

In fact, combine these two strategies for a one-two punch that will recession-proof your practice now and ensure profitability long into the future.

Join us for the Estate Planning at Work(tm) workshop in Kansas City on April 24 & 25 -- and learn how to reach the lucrative, growing business-owner market. And, we will give you a jump-start on building those profitable collaborative relationships by waiving the registration fee for your referral source. That's right, we believe in the old saying of "put your money where your mouth is." So, when we say you need to be building collaborative relationships, we back it with our own money. Bring a key referral source with you to this workshop for free ... or choose to split the registration fee between you and each pay half.

The Large & Growing Market of Business Owners

When defining your ideal clients and targeting your niche markets, do not overlook family business owners. Did you know that 90 percent of all businesses are family-owned or family-controlled? And, family businesses come in all shapes and sizes. From agriculture, to services, to technology and manufacturing, family businesses generate 50 percent of the US Gross National Product and pay half of all wages! And don’t assume these are all small, "mom and pop" shops. To the contrary, one-third of the Fortune 500 are family businesses!

The business-owner market is not only large, but it is growing. The changing global economy has created a groundswell as displaced workers become successful entrepreneurs.  Further, members of this large and growing demographic face a variety of unique estate planning challenges.

What Are the Opportunities?

At any given time, 40 percent of these businesses are in the process of transferring ownership because the founder is retiring, disabled, or has deceased. Sadly, two-thirds of these transfers fail, and the businesses with them. Of the one-third that survive this initial transfer, only half will survive to the next generation.

You, and your advisory team, could change that outcome with comprehensive estate planning that resolves conflicts between family members, ensures liquidity to keep the business afloat, provides income to a surviving spouse, and outlines an organized (and adequately funded) business succession plan.

Reaching Business Owners

Prime candidates for the "Millionaire Next Door" title, business owners clearly represent a highly lucrative marketing opportunity ... but reaching them requires a creative strategy. Typical consumer strategies will never attract the busy, bottom-line-oriented, success-driven business owner. However, with corporate dollars often available to solve their unique challenges, cracking the code is well worth your effort.

Build Collaborative Teams

Additionally, during this intense two-day workshop we give you powerful tools and strategies to build collaborative alliances with key financial advisors. Together, you can capitalize on established business relationships. Remember that most financial advisors currently handle only a portion of the business owners’ financial needs. Estate planning opens the door to all of their many & varied financial needs. Invite a key advisor to come with you, and you both will leave with profit-building strategies, and a solid alliance forged that will ensure your mutual success.

Register online now:
http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/netcart.asp?MerchantID=68963&ProductID=4038675

But hurry, as space is limited. IMS practice development workshops are conducted in an intimate setting with plenty of one-on-one time to really work on YOUR success strategies and challenges. This is a team-building opportunity unlike any other, so don't hesitate. Register today!

For more information, call James at 1-877-352-2021, ext. 0
Or download the conference brochure: http://www.estateplanningpartners.com/estate_planning_at_work.htm

July Quill & Column Newsletter Online

The July issue of Quill & Column Marketing Newsletter is available online now.

Click Here to read online.

Another High-End Branding Solution with SELECT® Newsletters! When Peter Casey contacted us about his marketing, he wanted to differentiate himself and his (estate planning & elder law) practice in the marketplace. Peter is a member of the National Association of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) and the Georgia Elder Care Network. These are all things you can learn about him from his website.  But there is something very special about Peter that you might have missed, before we created his SELECT newsletter: When he is not practicing law, you can find Peter in the NorthGeorgia Mountains fly-fishing for trout!  READ MORE ONLINE

Marketing Workshop Sept. 17 & 18, Kansas City
MARKETING WITH INTEGRITY - How to Profit without Losing IT! We know you have many opportunities to learn more about legal strategies, and sometimes you can “piggy-back” some marketing education before or after those workshops. But what good will it do for you to learn the latest and greatest legal strategy for serving say, mid-tier clients, if you do not have a reasonably steady stream of mid-tier clients scheduling appointments with you? The answer is it will do you no good at all. The world’s greatest document system, or the world’s most comprehensive legal education – neither of them will do you any good at all unless you have a system in place to acquire new clients. This workshop is unlike any other you may be considering for your practice development. READ MORE ONLINE

Are You Missing Half the market? Traditional marketing for estate attorneys focuses on building strong alliances with allied professionals to build a stream of referrals. This is a time-proven strategy. Learning to do this exceptionally well -- better than your peers -- is key to practice development success. However, there is another aspect of marketing that should be catching your attention. If not, you are effectively cutting yourself out of approximately half of the estate planning market. Consider the single largest, fastest-growing sector of the financial market: The Mass Affluent, defined as those with investable assets between $100,000 and $1 million. Investable assets include savings, checking, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, mutual funds and real estate other than a primary dwelling; excludes primary home and qualified retirement accounts. This large, and rapidly growing market sector is important to your estate planning practice for a number of reasons, including the fact that they have significant estate planning needs, are sophisticated consumers who demand integrity in their advisors, and they have liquid assets with which to pay for your services (remember, we are talking about up to $1 million in investable assets, exclusive of retirement plans and primary residences). READ MORE ONLINE

SAVVY MARKETERS PRACTICE NICHE CRAFT Differentiating yourself in the marketplace is a challenge every estate attorney faces. One that is becoming increasingly vital to your future financial health. And estate attorneys are not the only ones facing this challenge. Recently, Advertising Age, the leading journal for marketers & advertising professionals, addressed the growing necessity of carefully targeted messages in an article entitled, Today's Niche Marketing is All About Narrow, Not Small.

They say the market is mandating messages that appeal to consumers' self-interests:

"The evolution of our mature marketplace, along with the technology that allows consumers to be in control, has created a seismic shift from one-size-fits-all mass markets to millions of markets of self-interest." (June 4, 2007)

The key concept for us to take from that statement is the idea of Markets of Self-Interest. READ MORE ONLINE

Join Us at The Southern California Tax & Estate Planning Forum Join us Thursday through Saturday at the Manchester Grand Hyatt hotel in sunny San Diego for the 27th Annual Southern California Tax & Estate Planning Forum. James and Jennifer will be manning the Integrity Marketing Solutions booth with samples of all of marketing materials, including those you see highlighted in this newsletter. We look forward to seeing you there! READ MORE ONLINE