Control Market Perception or It Will Control You

By: David M. Freedman |  7/12/2006

The LMA Chicago July 2006 luncheon program featured a presentation by Jeffrey Morgan, titled "Strategic Media: Planning and Buying." Morgan is a principal of Greenfield/Belser Ltd., a premier brand-design and marketing firm serving the legal and professional services industries.

For commercial law firms, "advertising is a tool to communicate your brand," said Morgan, based in Greenfield/Belser's Southern California office. According to Morgan, it's not like some consumer advertising that is designed to motivate you to buy something today. It's designed to establish your brand in consumers' minds so that next time they need legal services, they will remember your name, understand your market position and associate your firm with quality. "The goal is to get the brand into long-term memory so buyers will be familiar with it."

Today, about 90 percent of law firms with 50 or more attorneys advertise. Fifteen years ago, only 30 percent of those firms advertised. But still, there are few true ad campaigns, Morgan said, referring to strategically planned, sustained advertising programs whose return on investment can be measured.

Morgan listed several reasons why law firms advertise, but here are the two most compelling reasons:

• Competition. There are other firms that are very good at what you do—and they're advertising.

• Advertising lets you control the delivery of your message—in contrast to public relations, where you're less in control of the message (but where your message often earns more credibility). "Unless you take control of market perception, market perception controls you," Morgan warned.

Most corporate counsel generally believe that at a certain level, quality of service is similar from one firm to another. The best way to differentiate your firm is by the way you deliver the service.

The most popular media in which to advertise for law firms are:

• Legal trades. The reason why most of Greenfield/Belser's clients advertise in the legal trades is so that their own lawyers will see the ads—the objective is to build a positive image within the firm.

• Industry trades. You must customize ads for each trade publication.

• Business publications. Harvard Business Review, for example, reaches a very influential audience. (The full-page ad rate is $40,000.)

• Local newspapers (more popular with plaintiff's firms.)

• Online. This is the fastest-growing ad medium for law firms. These ads can be very effective, especially for recruiting purposes. Ad formats include banner ads and sidebars.

• Broadcast, especially drive-time radio. Radio can "cut through the clutter" of print advertising. Radio tends to be more effective in small and midsize markets than in larger markets.

• Captive ads, including video ads in elevators. For example, the law firm, Womble Carlyle (wcsr.com), placed elevator ads in their competitors' office buildings in Charlotte.

• Environmental ads, including airport dioramas. They're expensive; require a longer commitment and a longer lead time.

Strategic planning of an ad campaign includes the following steps:

• Set goals and objectives.

• Identify your target audiences.

• Identify the media that reach those audiences.

• Plan the timing and frequency of your ads.

• Create a budget.

• Establish methods of tracking and measuring responses to the ads and calculating return on investment (a hot topic).

Morgan's presentation covered the first four of those steps fairly comprehensively, but given only an hour to discuss this expansive topic, he did not have time to cover the last two items listed above.

Objectives for an advertising campaign might include:

• Building name recognition, brand awareness.

• Attracting attendees to a seminar.

• Attracting law students to on-campus interviews.

• Generating prospective client leads (difficult for commercial law firms; plaintiff firms are more successful at this.)

• Creating awareness of new service offerings.

• Publicizing a cause (e.g., diversity).

• Increasing your firm's name awareness among buyers of services of all types in Fortune 500 companies.

• Selling a specific service in one geographical region or industry.

As far as identifying target audiences, the selection of outside counsel is typically done by groups of people, not an individual. Therefore, the media that reach that audience might be diverse.

When you identify your target audiences, select media that reach those audiences. Where do they go for their news about the industry or services like yours? If you're not sure, ask them. Ask which newspapers and magazines they read and where they spend time on the Web. Be prepared for some surprises. "New media sources appear every year. Clients will often be reading their hot new industry newsletters, magazines or blogs long before you've heard of them," Morgan says.

Here are some resources that will help you select the appropriate media outlets in which to advertise:

• SRDS (srds.com) has the world's largest database of advertising rates and other information about media outlets that sell advertising, including circulation and audience profiles.

• BPA Worldwide (bpaw.com) verifies audience data (circulation, listenership, viewers, etc.) of media outlets in 20 countries. It breaks down circulation figures into categories, such as paid subscriptions, membership benefits (LMA's Strategies newsletter), complimentary (e.g., to libraries and media), controlled (InsideCounsel), bonuses (e.g., trade shows), etc.

• Audit Bureau of Circulations (abcaccess.com) audits print circulation and online activity, along with other readership information. ABC also provides summaries of media kits (which is convenient because most media kits have way too much information, Morgan said.) And it alerts you to "distribution opportunities," such as enclosing your literature in poly bags along with magazines.

• Media directories, such as Bacon's (bacons.com) and Burrelle's (burrellesluce.com), feature information about the editorial content, policies and staff, as well as advertising contacts. They also provide clipping services and analysis of media campaigns.

Morgan warned that you should be careful regarding international publications, because many other countries have different ad rate structures.

Conclusion

According to a satisfaction survey conducted by LMA Chicago after the presentation, a majority of attendees thought Morgan did a good job of covering the fundamentals of advertising for law firms. A few felt the presentation was too elementary and some were disappointed that time ran out before Morgan had a chance to talk about return on investment, which is a hot topic in all marketing circles.

David M. Freedman is a Chicago-based financial and legal journalist and media relations consultant. He is a coauthor of the handbook How to Get Quoted and Featured in the Media (The GET GOOD PRESS Series for Lawyers, Eminent Publishing, Chicago, 2006. www.empub.com.) He is also a member of LMA Chicago's Public Relations Committee. David can be reached at df@empub.com.

This article was originally published on the Legal Marketing Association Chicago (LMA Chicago) Web site at www.lmachicago.org.