Marketing,Brand Awareness,Public Relations » Marketing Tips

New Websites Launched by Legal Marketing Agency Incorporate Digital Asset Optimization to Increase Competitive Internet Presence

admin — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 13:10:23 +0000

Palm Beach County, FL – It’s no secret that law firms who are successful in marketing themselves need an Internet presence, but recently, it’s become increasingly important to offer site visitors more than just basic content to maintain your place on the web and convert clicks to clients.

To be found on the web and have an effective Internet presence, firms need to do more than the basic search engine optimization—the time has come for digital asset optimization (DAO). With “digital asset” additions to their sites such as blogs, videos, online photo galleries and more, attorneys and law firms can compete on the web—regardless of the firm’s size.

“By focusing only on traditional Search Engine Optimization, law firms are missing opportunities to be found on the web,” said BARD Marketing president John Sailer. “Streaming videos, blogs, photos, press releases and other online content are being searched for, and most websites don’t account for these other media types. Remember, YouTube recently overtook Yahoo to become the second largest search engine behind Google. This trend is only going to grow.”

BARD Marketing recently launched a number of websites for leading law firms that feature these digital elements, which increase the effectiveness and usefulness of each site to the user. The sites include: Alpizar Law – Palm Bay, Florida; Edward M. Ricci, P.A. – West Palm Beach, Florida; and the Suskauer Law Firm – West Palm Beach, Florida.

Alpizar Law, a personal injury and insurance bad faith firm in Palm Bay, Florida, caters to a bilingual clientele, and providing only limited information in Spanish isn’t an option. To address this need, BARD Marketing created a mirror site to their English website, www.alpizarlaw.com, in Spanish. The Spanish site utilizes the same web address and offers the same depth of information and content. As importantly, both the English language site and the Spanish language site offer custom created streaming videos to provide answers to common legal questions in video form.

Edward M. Ricci, P.A. launched a new site, located at www.edriccilaw.com that incorporates a Safety & Justice Blog that provides timely information to consumers on current topics, legislation and news in personal injury cases that affect the audience.

For the Suskauer Law Firm, a prominent criminal defense firm in West Palm Beach Florida, BARD developed a new website www.suskauerlaw.com, with the YouTube generation in mind. The site features several multimedia capabilities, to support television, radio and print media coverage rather than just being a repository for page after page of copy.

BARD Marketing offers integrated marketing and advertising services, including website development. All services are designed to complement one another and form a structure of synchronous marketing efforts that collectively increase leads for law firms. BARD offers a no-cost, no-obligation review of current sites and promotional materials, and can share innovative strategic concepts, during this review.

To schedule your free consultation, call 561-637-2575. For more information about the services provide by Beyond All Reasonable Doubt (BARD) Marketing, please visit wwwbardmarketing.com.

Signature Line: An Overlooked, Virtually Free Marketing Tool

admin — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:40:26 +0000

Once my clients truly understand that marketing is about relationships, we start talking about how those relationships are created and maintained to determine appropriate marketing tactics for their businesses and personal styles. But no matter what kind of business my clients are in, they all have the same excellent relationship marketing tool at their fingertips: Their e-mail messages.

E-mail messages are the most frequently overlooked (and virtually free) marketing tools available to entrepreneurs. No, I’m not talking about electronic mail campaigns, or spamming, but using the messages you send out every day to your clients and colleagues as a subtle marketing tool. You can do this by adding more information to your signature line in all your e-mail.

How many times have you received a message from people who aren’t using a company domain name in their e-mail address, so you’re not sure who Bill or Sally @Hotmail.com is? Or what if you’re in that position yourself? Many low cost Web hosts will forward e-mail received to you@yourdomain.com, but don’t provide an e-mail address from your domain name. So how do you look professional when you’re dealing with a $35 a month Web site and free Internet e-mail? You use an annotated signature line.

Most e-mail programs allow users to create an individual signature line that is appended to all outgoing messages. If you’re not using one, you are missing an effective and virtually free way to market your business. And as an added bonus, your marketing message can be seen where paid advertising is forbidden such as on electronic bulletin boards, giving you a competitive edge is such circumstances.

So why bother to annotate your signature line? Here are some good reasons:

1. Annotating your signature line makes it easy for your clients to find your contact information when they want t o buy again. Sure you may have given them a business card, but what if business cards are lost or misfiled? Creating a situation in which your client has to look in the Yellow Pages for your phone number may be risky, especially if a competitor has a more compelling marketing message.

2. Annotating your signature line reminds and makes it easy for your clients to visit your web site. Of course that’s assuming you want your customers to visit your Web site. And why wouldn’t you? Your Web site is a great visibility tool that builds your relationship with your customers.

3. Annotating your signature line identifies the origin of your messages so that if they get forwarded, people who are interested in what you have to say or offer can find you easily. Evan if you know for sure that your customers have your address, your fax number or understand the full range of your products or services, that information does not forward with your e-mail unless you put it there. So if one of your loyal customers forwards an e-mail from you to a colleague and your contact information is not included, you’ve just closed the door to a new business opportunity that your customer opened for you by forwarding your message.

4. Annotating your signature line can be a gentle way to remind customers of upcoming events (”Sale end Friday, Dec 27th” or “Don’t miss our open house on Jan 17″) to buy again (”Call today for a free quote”), to promote a new product or service (”Ask me how our new widget will save you money”), to encourage forwarding and referrals (”Forward this newsletter to anyone you thing will find it valuable”) or to call for feedback (”If you like working with us, tell your friends. If you don’t, tell us and we’ll make it right”).

So what should you include in an annotated signature line? At the very least, your e-mail signature should include you full name, title, company name, web site link, plus you phone and fax numbers. Also consider a direct access phone line (if different than the company phone number), cell phone number, company tag line or motto, an offer, a reminder to buy, last call for a special deal, teaser for the future products or services, or even an inspirational quote, if it reinforces your marketing message.

It doesn’t have to be fancy to get read. You can make simple borders around your key messages or information by using your title key (~), a dash (-), and underline (_) or even a series of asterisks (*). Bottom line: Every professional needs a standard signature line in all business correspondence. Because that is exactly what e-mail is professional correspondence. Of course, we use it so casually and so frequently that it hardly seems like something professional at all. But bear in mind that all correspondence between you and your customers is an opportunity to enhance you business relationship, even if that communication happens only in cyberspace.

Legal Marketing Agency Offers Tips for Law Firms on Development of 2009 Marketing Budgets – Advises Against Cutting Corners

admin — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:21:19 +0000

With the uncertainty of the economy, legal marketing agency Beyond All Reasonable Doubt Marketing is advising law firms to take a serious look at their budgets. While marketing, advertising and public relations dollars frequently are cut to reduce expenses, marketing experts agree that a down economy is actually the time when marketing efforts should remain in place, and if anything, be enhanced.

“When other law firms reduce their spending and cut their marketing, they have less presence in the marketplace,” explains BARD Marketing founder and president, John Sailer. “This means the time is ripe for a savvy law firm to grab market share – to reach the audience that is still there but who is hearing from fewer of your competitors.”

When planning your law firm’s budget, you should start by identifying how much you want to spend. While there are no hard and fast rules across the different types and sizes of law firms, it makes sense to budget your marketing as a percentage of expected revenue. Several studies have pegged overall law firm marketing budgets to be between 2 percent and 3 percent, with leading firms spending 5 percent or more.

Second, prioritize your initiatives by looking at both costs and expected benefits. This is easy if you tracked your efforts in past years. Remember that some of the lower cost initiatives may bring strong value while some of the higher cost initiatives may bring very little value. With this said, it is imperative to track outcome of every initiative.

BARD Marketing is experienced in budgeting and planning for short- and long-term marketing and advertising plans, and enables law firms to achieve and track ROI for their marketing activities. For more information or to request a report on Yellow Page Advertising Costs and Effectiveness, please visit www.bardmarketing.

Don’t be Crunched by the Credit Crunch – Upgrade Your Marketing!

admin — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 17:03:48 +0000

Are you going to let the “Credit Crunch” crunch you? Even though the present negative press and media coverage is enough to make you pack up and head for the hills – don’t! Or, burying your head in the sand isn’t going to help either – you need to take some positive action!

In ignorance, many companies pull the plug on their marketing budgets when times get tough – but that is very short sighted. Why is your business in decline? It’s because you have less clients, or your current clients are spending less.

So what is the solution?

Yes, you need more clients or encourage those you work with to spend more with you. As a marketing company, we often have people come to us when they are in trouble. Through months or possibly years of neglect of their sales pipeline, they have reached difficultly where their cash flow dries up, and their forward forecasts will no longer gain them credit with their bankers. That’s such an awful place to reach! So, please learn from other’s mistakes and concentrate your efforts on sales and marketing.

So – how’s your sales pipeline?

Have you dedicated sufficient man hours or staff to ensure that new business will continue to flow your way? It’s highly recommended to introduce new practices in the current climate and here are a few suggestions to get you going:

Re-educate your sales staff to the new demands of business under the Credit Crunch i.e. you are going to have to negotiate harder than before and deliver more

Re-evaluate your current spend on marketing and where possible increase it

Adapt new methods of lead generation and find new sources

Network with increased intensity amongst your clients, prospects, collaborators, partners, suppliers and competitors

Rekindle your relationship with current clients and ensure you are getting your share of business if other suppliers are involved

Tighten your credit control to ensure constant cash flow

Take fewer financial risks than before, and if possible, increase the level of deposits on orders to spread your risk or costs (if applicable)

Introduce something new (Product or service) to make sure your visibility levels remain high with current and potential clients

Automate your sales pipeline using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system like www.salesforce.com – so you never ever miss another lead or opportunity, and you can track your sales pipeline accurately

Ensure that you confirm at least 30% of this quarter’s pipeline – more if possible

Ensure you are using the internet to your advantage using Search Engine Optimisation, Web 2 practices such as blogging, and raise your presence in social networking and book-marking sites such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook etc

Solid Brand Construction in 4 Easy Steps

admin — Tue, 06 Nov 2007 19:13:48 +0000

What is branding?

Branding is a set of qualities and characteristics that are associated with a person, product, company, or organization. Successful brands rarely have negative associations; brands with negative associations are rarely successful.

What does branding have to do with you?

In a word: everything. We all have a personal brand (whether or not we are aware of it) that either works for us, or against us.

In this regard, the first step in personal brand construction is to develop brand awareness.

This first step is also crucial because it forces you to see yourself as others do. Being aware of what you are subtly and unconsciously conveying to people is the key to controlling the magnetism of your personal brand. It’s also a changing mechanism for altering any negative perceptions that people may have of you.

What do people say are your most positive qualities? What first impressions do people normally have of you? What frequent comments do people make about you? How are you often described as a worker? What remarks or criticisms do people consistently have about your work?

Present these questions to people who are willing to give you honest answers.

Once you receive the answers to these questions, you will have taken a courageous first step in getting in tune with your brand awareness. Once you’ve completed this first step you will also be able to truthfully identify the benefits you are able to offer others.

William Bridges, author of Creating You & Co. and Jobshift, says employers pay for results and what you can produce for them. And those who are succeeding are the ones who know what they have to offer and what they are capable of doing better than some of their competitors.

Once you’ve developed brand awareness, the second step is to evaluate your brand viability.

Brand viability is the process of identifying a list of qualities and characteristics that will enable you to succeed in your professional endeavors. For example, if you are a salesperson, communication skills would have to be at the top of your list. Other qualities might be persuasiveness and resilience.

If you already possess the qualities that you listed, great. If not, don’t fret. You will simply have to cultivate them. If the qualities needed are just not within your reach such as being punctual (and you are always late) or dealing with stressful situations (and you have a quick temper), you should look at the other qualities in your list and determine if they are strong enough to compensate for the qualities you may lack, or re-evaluate your career choice.

The qualities that you list are going to be what you use to attract and retain loyalty from customers or favoritism from employers – but they have to be sincere and tangible. Sincerity is an emotion that you can not underscore – or fake for too long. We analyze information based on data, but most decisions are emotionally driven.

Effective branding engenders trust and loyalty. It will help you get a job, save your job, or win jobs that you bid on.

Step number three is to position your brand.

What is positioning? Al Ries and Jack Trout , who are the foremost authorities on Positioning, stated in their book, Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind, “Positioning is not what you do to yourself. Positioning is what you do to the mind of the prospect. That is, you position yourself in the mind of the prospect.”

In other words, how do you want people to perceive you? You’ve already identified the qualities you’d like to be associated with, but now it’s time for you to do something that will cause you to be perceived in that way.

It’s through consistent actions that brands are built.

Consistency (repetition over a long period of time) is what gives people faith in your abilities. It creates expectations.

A track record that shows what you are capable of is far more credible than telling someone what you are capable of. One fuels credibility, the other invites skepticism.

You can not establish a brand without first positioning it. Seek opportunities to position your brand once you’ve defined it.

The forth and final step of constructing a solid brand is to manage your brand.

Effective brand management consists of striking a balance between what your brand can deliver and the promises that it makes to your target market (employers/clients).

Do you know who your target market is? Do you know what they really desire? The key is to cater to them and their desires while fulfilling needs. Once you work hard to establish a brand that will earn you that reputation, your brand will yield profits for you in a multitude of ways.

Top 10 Excuses Why Marketing Is Not For You

admin — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 10:00:34 +0000

As a marketing coach, I’ve probably heard every excuse in the book why people can’t market their businesses. You wouldn’t believe some of the whoppers people tell when they’re trying to justify their failure to attract clients.

Now don’t get me wrong; it’s not that failing to attract clients makes one a bad person. Not at all. It’s just that when I hear the following excuses I feel compelled to call ‘em as I see ‘em: Baloney!

If you have the mistaken notion that any of these lame excuses are the reason that your business isn’t successful, get a clue. These are just EXCUSES for people who fail, not reasons not to succeed (a subtle, yet important, difference).

1. “I’m too honest to market.” OK, this little gem is at the top of my list because it is both a lie AND an insult! I am a marketer by trade, and I am honest, so I know for a fact that marketing is not a dishonest process or practice, nor does it have to be dishonest to be effective. What’s dishonest is when you overstate your results, or if you truly don’t believe that your product or service is worth what you charge, or if you deliberately intend to defraud people. In that case, the problem is with you, not marketing, so stop insulting the rest of us.

2. “I’m too modest to market myself.” Listen up, princess, every word out of your mouth doesn’t have to be about YOU. Think about what your clients want, need and actually get, and that’ll keep the conversation going for as long as you need it to go. Hey, if you’re not comfortable saying great things about yourself, start saying great things about what your clients get out of working with you. Or better yet, let them say it for you in the form of testimonials. But don’t think that you have to be the subject of every fascinating conversation you have with prospects.

3. “I’m too shy to market myself.” As a highly sensitive person myself, you’d think I’d have more sympathy for this excuse, but I don’t. If you want to be successful, know right now that it may not always be comfortable, and you have to be willing to do what it takes to succeed, even if that means going outside your comfort zone. Shyness is a habit that can be overcome with practice, so join Toastmasters, or see a therapist if that’s what it is going to take, but get over yourself. I promise you will be glad you did.

4. “I’m too creative to market myself.” This excuse is really lame! Marketing is a very creative process, and since you have literally thousands of options when structuring your marketing plans, creativity is an asset, not a liability. Unless you’re one of those I-am-a-self-indulgent-whiner-who-refuses-to-accept-any-responsibility-for-my-actions-and-masks-that-character-flaw-with-claims-of-misunderstood-or-excessive-creativity kinds of people, in which case I say, grow up, and while you’re at it, think up a more creative excuse.

5. “I don’t have enough time to market my business.” OK, this excuse sounds good at first, but in reality it doesn’t wash. Either you are already marketing but not acknowledging your marketing activities as such, or your business is so busy that you don’t need to market at all, which makes this excuse unnecessary. So if you haven’t got all the business you want but you don’t have time to market, you need to reevaluate how you’re spending your time, and make some tough decisions about when you are going to do what you need to do to get those clients.

6. “I don’t have enough money to market my business.” Again, you get points for trying, but this is still just an excuse, because good marketing isn’t about money, it’s about relationships. You can start very modestly with your marketing plans, and spend nothing but your time. And let me tell you, if you can’t get some traction spending 40 hours a week trying to build your business relationships, maybe you should rethink your decision to be an entrepreneur.

7. “I have no personal network to market to.” Oh please, you’ve got to have a better excuse than this! If you truly have no family, no friends, no colleagues, no acquaintances or no former co-workers, then start meeting some. I don’t care if you’ve been on a desert island for the past 20 years, you can always meet people through networking meetings, trade associations, classes, social clubs, or at the gym! Just pick up the phone and call the people you want to know, get out there and mingle, and your personal network will grow quickly.

8. “My product or service is too hard to explain to people.” Fine. Quit explaining what you do, and start talking about what your customers GET from working with you. Do you help your customers get thinner, smarter, married, fitter, their first home, or what? Seriously, nobody cares about what you do, really; people care about what they get. Get it?

9. “My product or service is so good that it should sell itself.” Sure, that’s probably true if your product is a talking monkey, or your clients are all telepaths, but other than that, it’s going to take a little effort on your part, bucko, so start creating some momentum in the marketplace and you’ll find that your product needs less and less of your efforts to sell, until one day it almost seems like it DOES sell itself!

10. “My niche is too narrow and I can’t find my customers.” Hogwash. What this usually means is that you haven’t yet defined your customer, because you can’t find what you haven’t identified (and don’t give me that you’ll-know-them-when-you-see-them line). Start with a matrix of situation and need to identify that client. For example, let’s say you’re a financial planner, and you think your clients are “people who want to get their financial affairs in order.” Think instead about who needs to get their financial affairs in order, and you’ll probably come up with something like “married couples with children who have $X in assets and need to protect those assets with planning.” And you can certainly find those people, can’t you?

So we’ve blasted all these lousy excuses, but we haven’t yet addressed the biggest excuse of all: fear. Most of the time I’ve found that the more excuses my clients offer for not moving forward with their businesses, the more fearful they are.

Hey, I understand, and I’ve been there myself. But what it comes down to is this: Are you more afraid of succeeding (or failing) than you are of going back to work for that idiot boss you always end up working for? If the answer is that you’re more afraid of facing the personal responsibility of entrepreneurship than of any garbage your boss could throw at you, then good-bye entrepreneur, and hello wage-slave.

But if you think that the worst possible scenario is working for some moron again, and that you’ll happily work like a dog if that’s what it takes just so you don’t have to slink back into that stinking office with your tail between your legs, good for you. It’s time to forget about excuses, and start figuring out how to make this whole self-employed thing work for you.

The first thing to understand is that fear is OK. Yes, we’ve all been fearful (and yes, I include myself in that “we” statement). It can be scary picking up the phone. It can be scary going to a sales meeting.

But at the end of the day, isn’t your product or service of value to someone? Aren’t people glad (or going to be glad) that you’ve solved a problem for them? So stop worrying and fearing the marketing process, and remember this: Marketing is really nothing more than the process of developing relationships, and you, my friend, can do that in your sleep.

Veronika (Ronnie) Noize, the Marketing Coach, is a successful Vancouver, WA-based entrepreneur, author, speaker, and Certified Professional Coach. Through coaching, classes and workshops, Ronnie helps small businesses attract more clients. For free marketing resources including articles and valuable marketing tools, visit her web site at http://www.sohomarketingguru.com/

Public Relations or Advertising: Which is Best for Your Business?

admin — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 22:31:57 +0000

On Tuesday night, I caught a couple minutes of my favorite television show – The Big Idea. Hosted by Donny Deutsch, a long-time advertising executive, The Big Idea is an excellent source for getting daily advice from a wide range of entrepreneurs.

Tuesday’s topic was how to make your company a household name. Included on the panel were professionals from the public relations and advertising industries.

Donny is always eager to create a little controversy (one reason why the show is so entertaining), so I wasn’t surprised when he presented the following question to his guests:

If you’re a business owner on a limited budget and you could pick only one area to concentrate on, would you focus on advertising or public relations?

Without hesitation, I blurted out my response.

Ask this question to a random set of business owners and it’s likely many will tell you there’s little difference between the two. But the truth is these industries are completely different, especially when it comes to print.

While advertising requires payment for space in a publication, effective public relations results in free exposure (assuming you don’t hire an agency) for your product or service.

What’s more, readers realize you’re trying to sell them something when your information is presented in an advertisement. As a result, they’re naturally cautious. With public relations, you get a third-party endorsement from the media – a factor that boosts your credibility.

An issue some people have with public relations is that you have limited control over the way the media portrays your company, but I think that’s a risk worth taking.

If you’ve read to this point, my answer to Donny’s question is pretty obvious. But there’s one big reason why I believe in public relations … and it has the potential to impact your business on a grand scale.

You can multiply your message with public relations.

Here’s what I mean: When you’re featured or your product/service is mentioned in some type of print media, there’s a strong possibility your news will be seen by more than just that publication’s audience.

Most media these days have an online presence. Thanks to social bookmarking sites such as Digg, StumbleUpon and reddit, information – including news articles – is shared more than any other time in history. Regardless of your industry, social media makes it possible for you to reach a global audience without spending big bucks.

Also, the popularity of blogging has turned anyone with Internet access and an opinion into a reporter. Underestimating the blogging community’s publicity power is a huge mistake.

And, remember, writers and editors don’t just read their own publications. Fresh news comes from many sources, including competing publications. This is one reason why you sometimes see similar features in multiple publications.

So now that you know public relations is a cost-effective tool for your business, how do you use it?

As a regular contributor to several publications, here are my suggestions:

Learn which writers cover your industry. This task is as simple as studying the publications you want coverage in and watching to see who writes about topics related to your industry.

Volunteer yourself as a source. As a writer, it’s not easy finding qualified sources for articles. Once you learn the writers covering your industry, contact them and offer to answer questions for future articles.

Request editorial calendars. Most trade journals determine themes for future issues months in advance. Editorial calendars are a great way to find out planned topics so you can offer your knowledge or, in some cases, submit your own article.

Send out press releases. I don’t think enough companies send out press releases. Newsworthy events happen all the time. You just might not realize it because you’re too close to daily operations. Start asking yourself the following question: Would what we’re doing today interest someone outside of our company?

Pitch article ideas to writers/editors. This is a challenging task for many people, but it’s worth the effort. When you pitch an idea, grab the writer/editor’s attention by describing why your topic is unique. Also, explain why it will benefit the publication’s readers.

Small Business Marketing: – Enjoy Clear Direction & Peace of Mind

admin — Mon, 16 Oct 2006 09:24:02 +0000

The return on investment for the engagement of MJH Group for Small business marketing is based on the following;

Business Growth

• Increased sales and profit from effective strategy and campaign outcomes

Marketing Strategy

• The insight and direction provided by our strategic recommendations

• Provision of a documented strategic marketing plan which acts as the blue print for the successful marketing of your business

• Allowing you to proceed with confidence

• A planned and structured approach to marketing success

Campaign Outcomes

• Effective communication of your brand and offer

• Generate awareness in the market to achieve

• New customer acquisition

• A greater share of wallet from existing customers

• Increased sales and business growth

Commercialisation

• Assess the viability of new products or services

• Develop and implement strategies for the introduction or relaunch of products and services to provide commercial success

Direct Bottom Line Savings

• Direct Bottom Line Savings due to effective marketing management

• Measuring the ROI of promotions and campaigns to determine effectiveness

• Customer focus reducing the risk of ineffective promotion or campaigns

• Redirection of marketing investment into areas with the greatest return

Effective Brand Management

• Long term business growth through the ongoing and positive development of your brand in the marketplace

Effective Positioning

• Identifying the positioning strategy and building a strong market position to insulate against competition and the threat of new entrants

• Maintaining the desired position of your business in the market place

Communication

• Effective communication via regular meetings and easy to follow project plans to ensure you are kept informed and up to date on the progress of activities throughout the life of the program

Peace of Mind

• Experienced marketing professionals providing peace of mind that the marketing program is taken care of: you have one less thing to worry about

• MJH Group is transparent in our selection of clients to ensure no conflict of interest during engagements

• A marketing resource dedicated to the growth and development of your business.

For more details visit our site:

http://www.marketinganswers.com.au/