Marketing Basics - Where Do I Start?
It’s important to understand marketing before you start marketing or getting someone else to market for your firm.
We’re going to get into the very basics and work our way through the different concepts of marketing.
What is marketing?
Marketing is the progression of a prospect on the journey from unaware to a promoter.
These are the steps the prospect will take on their journey:
- Aware - when they first discover you/your firm and that there is a solution to their problem
- Engage - they can engage by going to your website, calling you, etc.
- Subscribe - subscribe to your email list or a different offer you have out there
- Convert - they become a customer by exchanging value. That could be paying for the initial consultation or it could be they give you their contact information in exchange for knowledge (like a workshop)
- Excite - get them excited about the promise you’re giving them
- Ascend - once their happy with you and what you can provide them they ascend to the next step. They will now purchase other products or services you offer
- Advocate - since they are happy with your service they will now tell other people who also need that service about you
- Promote - they are not only telling people about you, they are now actively trying to get you more business because they are so happy and excited about the service you gave them
These steps are sequential, so you can’t do them all at once.
Let’s delve deeper into the concept of awareness. There are 3 types:
- Problem aware - becoming aware of their problem
- Solution aware - becoming aware that there is a solution to their problem.
- Company aware - becoming aware that there’s somebody who has that solution
So, you’re job is to make them aware that they have a problem, that there is a solution, and that you provide that solution.
There are 2 ways to make them aware:
- Response marketing - when you market to someone who is actively looking for a solution or the company that has that solution for their problem
- Interruption-based marketing - when you market to someone who doesn’t know they have a problem or isn’t looking for a solution
Who should you be marketing to?
You want to first market to all the people that it will be most effective with. There are different audiences you can market to and some will be more effective.
There is:
Warm Traffic - people that know about you already, they’re familiar with your name
Cold Traffic - people that have never heard of you
Warm traffic is going to be more effective and you want to start with what’s easiest.
You also want to first market to the people that are already company aware.
Clients giving referrals will be the best place to start because they are warm traffic and are already company aware.
When people come to you through a referral, they are starting at the Convert stage (you still have to engage them) because they were referred to you by someone they trust.
Referrals are important to start with, but you can’t rely on them. They are unpredictable - you don’t how many you’ll get or how often.
Now you want to deal with the people that are aware of their problem and are actively looking for a solution or someone with the solution. This is when you will use response marketing.
The number of leads will be based on how many people are actively searching for the solution that you have. Certain areas of practice will have an easier or harder time with this.
How do you get referrals?
Past clients. Find out if they were happy with their experience and would be willing to spread your name. You can gamify it liking having giveaways. They are the best source because they will generally associate with the type of people who can be your clients.
Other law firm owners. Most law firm owners will not be in the specific niche you’re practicing, so if you let the ones that are nearby know you’re there and which area you practice, then they will send you any clients that they were unable to help.
Friends and family. This isn’t the best option because they can’t tell people from experience about your work, but they can speak to people about your character.
Now you want to use response marketing for the people that are already problem or solution aware.
You can do this with Google Ads, so that when someone asks is searching for the solution you offer, your law firm will come up.
Lastly, you can use interruption based marketing to reach the people that aren’t even aware of the problem. From there you’ll make them problem, solution, and company aware and continue moving them along the journey.
When you’re dealing with interruption marketing, you need to have a message that captures people’s attention, reels them in.
Be Strategic About Marketing
Resources
Workshop
https://www.profitwithlaw.com/workshop
Episode 10
https://www.profitwithlaw.com/blog/010
DigitalMarketer
https://www.digitalmarketer.com/
Episode 11
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Author
Moshe Amsel
Author
Moshe Amsel the host of the Profit with Law podcast is not an attorney. As the owner of a successful accounting firm DreamBuilder Financial and Law Firm Growth coaching organization Profit with Law, Moshe has proven that there are better and different ways for a law firm to do business and be successful.
