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Direct mail in lawyer advertising is
probably for everyone - large, medium, small or solo – end of story.
Of course,
you will have to check the ethical guidelines of your state bar before you
proceed for sure. You can hardly go wrong with lawyer advertising using
direct mail. You certainly want to keep a direct mail marketing campaign
going to your client base on a regular basis.
Advantages of
Direct Mail Marketing
The biggest advantage of direct mail
attorney advertising is you can target your message to those most
likely to engage your legal services. Other great benefits of direct mail
marketing are:
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You can easily
personalize direct mail
-
Attorney
advertising by direct mail can be as long as necessary to have your
story well told
-
You can
easily measure the results with direct mail marketing
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You can
"test" before you "invest"
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You can control
what goes out almost 100%
Can you tell I like this vehicle in
lawyer advertising - especially for solo, small and medium firms? If you
wed direct mail marketing with strategic relationships and "educational"
marketing, you can get even better responses.
Think about direct mail to referral
sources here - not just to your prospects and your client base. You
would want to engage professionals to support you in this attorney
marketing process like copywriters, graphic artists, photographers,
printers and maybe list brokers so you have effective results.
Lawyer
advertising covers many, many areas for sure. Here are some "bottom
line" thoughts on those not covered earlier.
Lawyer Advertising
in Newspapers
Attorney advertising in the newspaper
include display ads and classified ads. Zoned editions in
your city are available so you don't have to buy the whole region if you
are buying larger display ads - thus mitigating the high cost of larger
newspaper ads.
Small display ads can be of value
in lawyer advertising if the message is much like a billboard – short
and sweet, directing someone perhaps to your website for more information.
Having professionals (not the newspaper) write and design your
attorney advertising copy is often the better option in this medium.
Classified ads are very useful
since usually only people looking for help or information are reading
them. These people are prime prospects - keep the ad short. Drive them to
a website, to a recorded message, or to call for an article with your
classified ads.
In general
you want to avoid using large display ads especially in larger city
general circulation newspapers. It is better to find smaller newspapers in
larger cities that are targeted to your market if you plan to use
newspaper ads. If you are in a small city you have more flexibility and
your daily/weekly newspaper may be a good idea.
Attorney
Advertising in Magazines
With lawyer advertising in magazines, you
have consumer oriented magazines and trade oriented
magazines. You also have national magazines that have regional
advertising, so you can place ads in them for your area. You could then
use these ads in a "reprint" manner for years after you run the
ad.
Like radio,
you can target your market easily… so zeroing in on your market
is the name of the game in lawyer marketing with magazine ads. Magazines
also allow for the credibility of the magazine to "rub off" on
you if you advertise in it. Again be sure to use direct response copy
in magazine ads.
Attorney Marketing
with Billboards
Billboards are a "reminder medium"
for the most part in lawyer advertising. That means they usually remind
folks of your TV, Radio, Yellow Page, Internet search engine and print
ads. Then, when they go to the yellow pages or search engine, they look up
your firm name.
Never buy billboard ads without having other
media for law firm advertising since that would be wasting your money.
If you use billboards use from six to ten words on the billboard for the
major copy, otherwise it is too long. Not a great medium for attorney
marketing for the most part.
Expect to
spend from $700 to $2500 per month on each billboard (almost always
negotiable so don't pay sticker price on most billboards). There is a
minimum contract period that is probably negotiable.
Good Lawyer
Resources About Attorney Marketing
One could write books on the subject of
advertising. In fact let me recommend two.
Both are from the best-selling marketing
series of all-time and I am partial to it since I am a Certified Guerrilla
Marketing™ Coach.
The first book is Guerrilla Marketing Attack For Attorneys by Jay Conrad Levinson in collaboration with RW
Lynch Company, Inc.
The second book is The Guerrilla Marketing Handbook by Jay Conrad Levinson and Seth Godin.
Both will give you in-depth information
on lawyer advertising in particular and advertising in general.
There is another very effective approach
to legal marketing, which is Latino law firm marketing. Keep reading to learn how
Latino
law firm marketing or ethnic marketing can
help you increase your income and reduce your work hours.
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