Author : Scott White

So you are looking for just the right branding agency? The trick is to understand what branding is and how it will work for your business first Branding is not a logo, ad, direct mail piece or website It is much more than making a pretty picture or graphic

Branding and specifically brand identity is the soul of your company It is everything you believe in and strive for as an organization It is how you want to be perceived by your customers, prospects, employees and anyone else interested in your firm

The first thing you need to do is establish a brand identity A good example of a great brand identity is Volvo and their safety identity If you ask ten people on the street what they think of when they think of Volvo you will probably get 8 answers with safety in it What happens when you ask 10 people that know your company?

Now let us say that you have chosen an appropriate identity, what is next? You need to develop strategies and tactics that leverage your new brand platform The biggest problem most companies make is developing strategies and tactics that are unrelated and they end up wasting valuable budget dollars Wasting money is a big mistake when it comes to branding

If you cannot develop your own strategies and tactics now is the time to look for a branding agency This is complicated as every ad agency; graphic design company and marketing company say they do branding This is not the case You need to look for signs of what their real motivation is

If they seem to be recommending TV, radio or any type of media buying they are probably an ad agency If they are recommending a lot of graphic changes like logo, website etc they are probably a graphic design firm A true branding agency assesses the situation and develops long term integrated strategies that leverage the brand identity

Research is always recommended especially if none has been done recently Why companies do not go out and talk to customers and prospects is beyond belief There is so much information you can learn by doing simple research A good branding agency will conduct this research in house Outsourcing the telemarketing aspect if necessary is fine as long as the survey design is done by the branding agency

The last thing to consider is the internal branding required A real branding agency will point this out upfront

Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru a leading branding agency. and market research firm located in Boston, Massachusetts. As a branding company we specialize in strategy and creative.

Syndication Source: Article Mind

Source:The Branding Agency Profile

Author : Stephen Fairley

As a lawyer in small or solo law practice, you face many marketing challenges, no doubt Over and over again, small firms say their biggest obstacle is finding their real target audience By setting goals and following a few guidelines you will be able to overcome that obstacle and begin to see immediate results; increasing the quality and quantity of clients and building a continual revenue stream

Get Smart is not only the name of a popular TV show and motion picture; it is also very good legal marketing advice What do we mean by getting smart? Get busy and start to set S M A R T goals S M A R T goals are those which are:

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Realistic

Timed

There is no more important goal on which you can focus your legal marketing energy than in identifying your ideal target market (ITM) How do you know who to target? The following is a list of proven action steps to help you begin targeting your ideal client

1 Interview current and former clients Whenever possible, ask them probing questions such as: Why did they hire you instead of your competitors? If applicable, ask why they continue to work with your firm Find out which of your services have been most helpful and how they helped Ask what they like most about working with you An important law firm marketing strategy you don’t want to skip: Ask how you can improve your services and implement worthwhile suggestions

2 Cast a wide net; don’t underestimate just how many people you have access to Make a list of friends, family members, relatives, colleagues and business associates Then, ask what kind of people or companies they have access to and which they would refer you to Many legal professionals forget to canvass the people they know and, consequently, miss out on business because they did not practice this important rule of law firm marketing

3 You don’t have to spend a lot of time or money when you conduct a basic market search Start by simply asking prospective clients if there is a need and how they are currently meeting that need

4 Marketing for lawyers can be as simple as using your local resources For example, contact your local bar association; get the names and geographical locations of all attorneys and their areas of practice Send out a letter of introduction and invite them to lunch

5 Locate your base of operations in a geographical area that matches your likely prospects; tastes and requirements For example, if you want to practice business law, choose an office in a busy office district If you are targeting blue-collar workers, set up shop in an industrial area

6 Cut down the amount of time you spend on the road If you will be spending a good deal of time at the courthouse, rent office space no more than a 30-minute drive during rush hour The less time, money and energy you put into commuting, the more you can focus on legal marketing techniques

7 Speak to a cross-section of lawyers and ask them what types of practice areas are over and under represented

8 Take a close look at your successful competitors What markets have they been targeting? Determine, as best you can, how successful they have been using their current law firm marketing techniques

Set aside a little time each day to focus on one or more of the above items Marketing your law firm takes time Using these strategies will be time well-spent; that’s a guarantee!

Stephen Fairley is CEO of LawFirmMarketingStrategies.com and The Rainmaker Institute, the nation’s largest law firm marketing company that specializes in helping small law firms. Attorneys visit http://www.LawFirmMarketingStrategies.com to claim your FREE marketing CD ‘7 Keys to a 7 Figure Law Practice’.

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Source:Law Firm Marketing Action Steps to Identify your Ideal Target Audience

Indianapolis – INDIANAPOLIS – Williams Randall Marketing and the Indiana Office of Tourism Development brought home a GOLD award from Marketing Sherpa’s annual Email Summit in Miami, Fla., last Thursday, Jan. 21. The GOLD honor was achieved in the Best Email Newsletter for Marketing Purposes category against 175 competitors.

Source:Local Marketing Agency Takes Top Award in National E-mail Competition (dBusinessNews.com)

ATLANTA, GA–(Marketwire – 01/29/10) – Atlanta Ford , Sandy Springs Ford is dominating the Atlanta Ford dealers in vehicle sales results. In the past year, Sandy Springs Ford car sales are up 60% and CSI (consumer satisfaction index) scores are through the roof. The GM responsible for this incredible feat had this to say about the cause of their success: “Since changing our internet service …

Source:Ford Dealer Posts 60% Sales Increase in 2009, Credits Online Marketing (Marketwire via Yahoo! Finance)

Author : Ray Johnson

When most people think of a website for selling products they imagine a site like Amazon A mega site where you can buy thousands of items They imagine a site with lots of products so that no matter what someone is looking for they can find it on the site, and of course buy it If you think this is the most effective site for selling your product, you are dead wrong

Countless internet marketing experts have tested over and over to determine what kind of website is the most effective in selling a product What they have found is that far and away the most effective website for internet marketers to sell products is a one page sales letter type of website These are commonly referred to as mini-sites

In reality, the mini-site generally has more than one page In addition to the sales page, there is usually a thank you page, a download page and possibly a payment page But for practical purposes you can think of the mini-site as a one page sales letter

Selling in this manner is called direct marketing It has been done for years, well before there was ever an internet I am sure you have seen many times, sales letter you receive in the mail They are usually many pages long They have headlines and bullet points, often a moving story about someone and many glowing testimonials from satisfied and enthusiastic customers

Many of those direct marketing letters were very effective Some of them you had to read all the way through just to satisfy your curiosity Those letters really created an urge to buy

Those direct marketing letters are the basis for the one page mini-site Instead of sending it through the mail you post it on the internet Instead of mailing it to a target list, you solicit targeted traffic Why are sales letters still around and why do internet marketers use that format to market their products Plain and simple, it is because it still works It not only works, but is the most effective way to sell a product

Sites that sell a myriad of products are not as effective because it presents the potential customer with too many choices The more choices a consumer has, the less likely he or she will make a buying decision The one page mini-site has one purpose only, to sell one product The consumer has only two choices, to buy or not to buy This simplicity is what makes it so effective

The one page mini-site is the most efficient, best producing type of site to use as an internet marketer Whether you are selling ebooks, audio courses, videos or even physical products, a mini-site is your best bet Mini-sites will be a large part of your internet success

To get great FREE tips and knowledge to build your online business, talk with Ray Johnson – Google.com No.1 Ranked Information Marketer:

http://www.ray-johnson.co.uk

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Source:The Best Type Of Website Of Sell Your Product

SEO Contract in Context fills a gap in the market for legal advice for small businesses using the internet for marketing. The current choices are either to consult specialist lawyers at hourly rates in excess of £250 per hour, buy a contract template, or do nothing. Most small businesses currently opt to do nothing, and do not take any independent advice at all when commissioning websites, or …

Source:SEO Contract in Context Product – A Radical Alternative to Traditional Legal Services for Business on the Internet (PRWeb via Yahoo! News)

Author : James Copper

It is no wonder that marketers have a grim determination about them They need all the staying power they can get because marketing is a slow, incremental effort that takes a long time to produce results Seasoned marketers know that they must follow a sequence and give it their all at every step of the way or their marketing efforts will be diluted This article aims to take you through the steps that must be taken if a marketing effort is going to be successful

1 Definite goals Any marketing drive must have a clear objective If this is lacking it is likely that the whole campaign will veer off course at some point These goals must be defined and accepted by everyone involved in the marketing They more closely defined they are, the greater the chances of success There must also be a time limit attached A closely defined goal is this for example: to increase sales of Product A by 20 in six months

2 Customer is king It is important to analyze the market niche or segment, in other the words the potential customers for your product or service This is where all marketing efforts are directed in a welltargeted campaign If the marketer does not know everything about them then the marketing effort will be misdirected, resources wasted and sales diminished Marketers tirelessly identify and analyze potential customers

3 Create a plan and a budget and stick to it Marketers spend a lot of time in planning and budget meetings, rightly so Without a concrete plan it is easy to miscalculate the amount of money needed for a marketing effort and then to overstep the budget once the campaign is under way Marketers need to tenaciously stick to the agreed plan and budget and work tirelessly to get the most for the marketing dollar at every level of the diversified marketing drive To run out of money in the middle of a marketing drive is fatal

4 Hire the right people Great marketers take care not to rush into hiring They get the right people at all costs and this takes precision and patience They use headhunters and screen the best candidates remorselessly Paradoxically, the more particular the marketer is about his marketing staff, the better the quality of marketer he will attract

5 Try, and try again Marketers are not afraid of small failures in their marketing drives In fact they relish them For instance, they will conduct split testing to prove that sales copy or an advertising medium or a promotional method is not good enough This requires discipline and an acceptance that in order to find the best way to market a product or service you have to prove what the incorrect way is to market them as well

6 Stay with it Now there is a goal, a target market, a budget and testing has been done Now the marketer really has to show his mettle No matter what the shortterm results might be in terms of sales, the marketer must stick by his plan As a rule of thumb a marketing promotion can be said to be a failure if in three months there has been no appreciable effect This is a long time in marketing terms and the marketer must have the staying power to last three months before making any alterations to the marketing plan Call it patience or call it staying power, marketer needs it in abundance

James Copper is a writer for http://www.marketinglinx.com where you can get help with marketing

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Source:Staying Power Is 99 Of Marketing Success

Author : Stephen Fairley

Despite your very best legal marketing efforts, your firm may fail to reach its potential if you forget one important principle: POSITIONING (Communicating Your Benefits) This principle deserves a prominent place in any law firm marketing plan

We are all familiar with the saying, “The lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client” It would be equally foolish, in law firm marketing, to not learn about and understand your competition How can you possibly use legal marketing to your best advantage if you don’t know what (and whom) you are up against? The importance of understanding your competition can not be overemphasized Do the work now to learn about them or run the risk of underestimating them and learning via losing a big prospect later

A crucial component of marketing for attorneys is to understand positioning The first step to achieving positioning requires knowing and understanding your competition; specifically:

Names of law firms

Names of their partners

Which services they do and do not provide

How much they charge (per hour, any retainer size)

Who they target with their legal marketing efforts

Approximate annual revenues

Which law firm marketing techniques they use to find clients

Growth strategies

If this seems like a great deal of work, remember how absolutely imperative having this information is to your law firm’s marketing success

Other things you will need to know:

How they position themselves in the marketplace (elite, cheapest, biggest, highly-specialized, bi-lingual)

Their relative strengths and weaknesses

Do they have a reputation for settling out of court or litigate everything

Their win-loss record (if applicable)

Legal marketing does consist of a number of components; this is one that definitely deserves your time and attention By studying and learning from your top competitors (especially the successful ones) you will reap many benefits For instance, your research may reveal untapped areas in the current market or discovering benefits they don’t (or can’t) provide which your firm can By studying others’ law firm marketing techniques, you may find ways that you can better market your own firm; including ways to creatively package your services

You will want to fully assess and understand their strengths and weaknesses Remember, every company and every person has them; even you It is just as important to know your own strengths and weaknesses as it is your competitors The goal is to build your business around your natural strengths, while developing, delegating or outsourcing areas that are weak

An important rule of legal marketing to keep in mind: Do not be intimidated by your competitors’ strengths; you can always find ways to use their strengths against them For example:

If they’re bigger, you are smaller and specialized

If they offer numerous services, you specialize in two areas and focus capturing a larger market share in those areas

If they have beautiful, expensive offices, you charge less due to lower overhead

If they have several associates, your client’s receive the expertise of working directly with a partner without being double billed

Your law firm’s marketing efforts will be amply rewarded when you find creative ways to use your competitor’s strengths against them

Stephen Fairley is CEO of LawFirmMarketingStrategies.com and The Rainmaker Institute, the nation’s largest law firm marketing company that specializes in helping small law firms. Attorneys visit http://www.LawFirmMarketingStrategies.com to claim your FREE marketing CD ‘7 Keys to a 7 Figure Law Practice’.

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Source:Successful Law Firm Marketing Requires Knowing and Understanding Your Competition