Blog – Page 4

When Google Searches Find Trouble

Google is the search engine. Like Kleenex means tissue, to search, you Google.

But Google is problematic as a marketing tool for these reasons:

Google Ads can be expensive. Each click on a Google-sponsored ad can cost the advertiser as much as $30.
Many internet searchers are avoiding Google ads. They have figured out that the ads are purchased. As a result, a sector of affluent and experienced searchers are spurning the ads.
It can be quite difficult to move up organically in the Google search, especially for smaller businesses that are dominated by a few firms, practices or businesses that have deep pockets for merchandising.

Even Google Maps can be your friend or your enemy. Legitimate businesses are invited to turn in their address so that they can be found on Google Maps. And if you’ve successfully used Google Maps, the fact that it works (when it does) is pretty remarkable.

But, illegitimate businesses also exploit Google Maps and try to stay one step ahead of Google’s search engine algorithms and its too small staff for finding scams. These scammers are bilking consumers out of millions of dollars. This scheme is delineated in the following article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/business/fake-online-locksmiths-may-be-out-to-pick-your-pocket-too.html?_r=0

Essentially, these non-local businesses (typically locksmiths, carpet cleaners, security systems) position themselves through chicanery to be at the top of the Google listings, often purchasing ads as well. But these businesses are called “lead gens”, as they are essentially call centers with no local presence, sometimes even disguising this through fake Photo-shopped images of what looks like legitimate businesses and using the Wiki aspects of Google maps to present themselves with real looking buildings (again, fake, fake, fake).

Even worse, these call centers send out ill-trained local people to “come to your aid” where they try to get as much money as possible from you, sometimes three to four times what you were quoted or what was advertised.

We encourage you to check out the Better Business Bureau ratings and of course reviews of friends to make sure you don’t get caught in this trap.

And we also encourage you to be patient as we try to tread the G0ogle waters.

We do know this. Adding content to social media and blogs can only help.

Making the Case for Marketing: What Attorneys should be Doing to Market Themselves

We have several types of attorneys and law firms as current and past clients.

The marketing of the services of lawyers is a fairly new innovation. In the old days, a person graduated law school, joined a firm or hung out their shingle and that was the nature of their marketing.

In the past 30 years, certain types of legal work lent themselves to some directed marketing, because these specializations depended on getting the message out to potential clients and because of need for volume.

Now, the legal world is undergoing significant changes, because:

Law school graduates aren’t necessarily getting work that requires passage of the bar.
There is still an oversupply of lawyers in certain urban and suburban areas.
The growth of corporate law firms has stalled in many sectors.

So now is the time for all attorneys to consider how they market themselves. Some marketing and public relations activities that are well-suited for lawyers:

Consistent social media postings on a whole host of issues. Having an authentic voice on Facebook, Linkedin and Twitter, and even Instagram and Snapchat allows clients, potential clients and colleagues to feel like they know you and understand your point of view and your strengths.
Revisit your website and honestly assess how accurate a portrayal of your legal services the website provides. Is the website easy to navigate? Is it up to date? Do the images seem dated?
Create regular blogs on your website on a wide range of topics from legal issues to the intricacies of the type of clients you have to local legal issues. Some examples of these would be articles about the Detroit bankruptcy, articles about legal issues facing automobile dealerships or articles about changes in tax law, employment law and discussions of how same sex marriage laws will have an impact on Social Security. Your blog offers you a way to show what you know without overtly advertising.
Colleague referrals and networking are invaluable. Make yourself reach out to colleagues within your own firm to brainstorm who you can both serve clients so that all of their legal needs are met under one roof. Reach out to possible mentors and those who can provide ideas for leads and networking, too.
Speaking at local, regional and national legal seminars and conferences, and offering podcasts or articles or materials afterwards is a worthy activity.
Publish in bar journals and trade publications, always under your byline. These articles can then be listed on your bio page or attorney page on your website and be hotlinked to them.
Maintain a strong presence in relevant publications like business magazines and journals, trade publications, community magazines and papers and daily and weekly publications.
Consider producing traditional advertising including billboards, radio and TV, as well as internet advertising, including select Youtube programming.
Create client newsletters celebrating your successes that demonstrate the breadth and depth of your practice.
Revisit any of the old fashioned collateral that is part of your practice from binders and brochures to stationery and bills.

We can and have helped our legal clients choose which of these marketing techniques is a good fit for them and helped develop effective marketing materials for all of their legal needs.

How MLK Day Came to Be: A Story of Marketing and Meaning

For those of you home today or whose kids were home today, Martin Luther King Jr. Day seems like it’s been around for a while.

But it’s official day as a national holiday is just 30 years old. How did this day gain more traction than Columbus Day and approach President’s Day in terms of its stature as a national holiday?

It’s a story of concerted marketing and strong feelings. But it was never a “sure thing”, especially in the early days.

After King’s assassination, there were various disparate calls for some sort of special day, but these efforts were neither unified nor successful. Some traction occurred beginning in 1979. There was a bill sent to Congress by Michigan’s Representative John Conyers. In addition, Stevie Wonder wrote and produced a song, which became a video called “Happy Birthday”. (Some of us still remember it!) It was quite catchy: an upbeat birthday message to Martin Luther King, but also a veiled criticism of the lack of the day in his honor.

You can watch a live video from 1980 here:

Amazingly, it was during Republican President Ronald Reagan’s term that the day was again on the table. Reagan’s advisers urged him to consider supporting the day as a way to curry favor with African American voters, from whom he had very little voter support. And so, in the November of 1983, a bill originally sponsored by Indiana Representative Katie Hall was signed into law. This did not sway the votes of many African American voters in the 1984 election, but Reagan was reelected handily anyway.

The law stated that Martin Luther King’s birthday was to be a national holiday, celebrated on the third week of January, beginning in January of 1986. Government offices would be closed. Banks and Wall Street as well as most schools followed.

MLK Day was and is a federal holiday. So this allowed states and municipalities to make their own decisions as to whether to adopt the day as a state or municipal holiday, another paid day off.

An original holdout against adopting the day was Arizona. The state received much adverse publicity, including this Saturday Night Live report from a very young and irreverent “field reporter” Chris Rock who appeared on Weekend Update, then hosted by Kevin Nealon to scold the state. You can watch the video here:

Arizona’s actions spurred a boycott and a threat to not hold the Super Bowl there, so Arizona relented. Slowly, all 50 states not only recognized the day, but included it as a state paid time off holiday.

Happy Birthday, Dr. King, and for those of you who are off, enjoy the day.

Analogy for the Week: Snow Plows and Marketing Plans

We have a friend who supplements his income plowing driveways in the wintertime.

I discussed his financing with him once. He stated that he prefers to have customers who hire him “for the season”. They pay a certain amount for the year and he promises to plow their driveways every time it snows. When the winter is rough, he may be around far more times than if the winter is mild. Either way, the cost is the same.

It stands to reasons that this retainer fee has benefits and drawbacks for the “plower” and the “residents”.

The snow plow owner may in fact have very high costs, both labor and supplies, in colder, snowier years. Residents, on the other hand, may feel like they are not getting a good deal in warmer winters, when they are paying the same amount, but aren’t requiring the same amount of service.

The snow plow owner is aware of these nuances. For him, the most important thing is for the homeowner to feel like they are “covered” for snow removal and not feel like they have to call every time the skies darken. Furthermore, for his small business model, it’s much easier to collect a seasonal or monthly check as opposed to trying to chase down his fees for snow removal on a “per event” basis.

We struggle with the same issues as a small, but growing marketing company. For some of our larger clients, it makes perfect sense for us to be “on retainer” all the time, knowing that there are regular tasks that we do like social media posting, blog writing, website management and updating, press releases and being a part of the fabric of these businesses. These companies would probably spend too much precious time (as would we) if we treated each service as an a la carte item, billing separately, and keeping track of what could be quite onerous paperwork. Of course, the onus is on us, the marketing professionals, to make sure our fees represent what we spend in time and staffing on the client.

However, not everybody needs monthly attention. Some people truly have “term limited” projects, like a website that needs to built or refurbished, an event that needs to be marketed and managed, flyers, email marketing or press releases that need doing.

We try very hard to spend our clients’ dollars efficiently and fairly. Although we understand the snow plow model, not all weather patterns are the same, not all driveways are the same, and no two clients’ needs are alike.

The Multi-Pronged Marketing of Downton Abbey

photo from pbs.org

Downton Abbey, the British period drama focusing on the era between the Titanic and the beginning of World War II, began its sixth season here in the U.S. last night. The wildly successful series, which started on ITV in the UK, subsequently crossed the pond to PBS. During its five previous seasons, the show has entertained millions and also made interesting inroads through tried and true as well as innovative marketing tactics.

Here’s a sampling of some of Downton Abbey’s smart marketing:

The Downton Times: an advertising supplement was included in Sunday’s New York Times; in fact it actually was wrapped around the front page. The four page “paper” included a scone recipe from Mrs. Patmore’s kitchen and news about the latest spat between the Dowager Countess and her cousin Isobel Crawley.
PBS has rearranged its fundraising timing to coincide with the most popular episodes of the show, currently the most popular scripted show in PBS history.
Two weeks ago, there were live viewings of the first episode, including one at Macomb Community College. I attended and it was an absolute delight: audience members dressed as maids and flappers. It was essentially watching a movie but with a group of rabid fans. It’s the exact opposite of watching on a smart phone. How fitting that a show about trying to manage the changing times finds a retro way to enjoy the show!
The New York Times also has interactive components in its online version, adjacent to reviews or news of Downton Abbey, including quizzes.
The show already has been shown in the UK, but there appears to be a gentlemen’s agreement and spoilers have been well hidden, letting the American audiences enjoy the unfolding drama without knowing the plot twists.
Including some cast members known to American audiences like Elizabeth McGovern and Maggie Smith didn’t hurt at all. Maggie Smith has been a fan favorite, with her biting one-liners, including last night’s “Doesn’t it get cold on the moral high ground?” Even her critiques of American society were well-received in the U.S.
HGTV a la PBS. Anybody who enjoys the innumerable house and design shows on HGTV could enjoy salivating over the house and grounds of Highclere Castle, one of supporting actors of the series.
PBS channel on Apple TV and other viewing platforms which is similar to HBO Go, but with no subscription fee, has had multiple Downton-related programming including interviews, architectural tours of the castle and discussions of the etiquette, decor and mores of the time.
Timing truly matters. PBS locked down the Sunday evening spot for Downton and never wavered from it. Viewers could count on the series’ timing (or seeing a repeat). This used to be how TV schedules worked. Now, major reshuffling appears to be the norm.
Social Media Savvy: The cast and creators regularly tweeted and posted on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram and Pinterest, including making some fun at their own expense. The Twitter feed during the Golden Globes when Downton Abby won best mini-series was high traffic indeed, outpacing the Super Bowl and the Royal Wedding.

Our Resolutions

We’ve pooled what we want to improve about ourselves, our lives, our relationships and our work and distilled in into these simple resolutions:

We will exercise our bodies and our minds more. For some of us, we regularly exercise (and swear by the endorphins). But we can also feel those IQ points dropping off after too much time on HGTV or watching reality tv or just surfing endlessly on screens. So, we want to lift more weight, take more steps and turn more pages.
Multi-task more when we have to and not at all when we shouldn’t. We pride ourselves on answering an email, posting a blog and ordering our coffee at same time. Aren’t we competent? We are less sanguine about checking our email during family time. It’s hard but we are going to try to disconnect and reconnect at the same time.
We are going to call when it is more efficient and kinder than emailing, but we are going to email or text when we know the recipient prefers it. In life and in business, we have to think about the listener or receiver (not us), and not about what works best for the talker or sender.
We will make to-do-lists and stick to them. And we’ll put them away too.
We will make dinner more often and eat out less. Or at least profess that as our resolution.
We’re going to make our clients and our families each feel like they are our highest priority without putting ourselves third. Hmmm.
We’re going to make time to enjoy the year, because if we don’t, another year will pass.
We’re going to try a new alcoholic beverage this year, just because. (See #7).
We’re going to upgrade all our security software (this is real, not at all ironic.)
We’re going to send hand-written thank you notes and make our kids do the same.

Email Marketing: What, Why and When?

If you’re like us, your email box is flooded with email from people who aren’t your friends. Just today, I received email from the President of my daughter’s university, several political candidates, two non-profit advocacy groups, the DIA, several clothing stores, Einstein’s Bagels, and businesses associated with apps that I use like Map My Walk.

Here’s what’s interesting about that list: I can rattle off who sent me an email and for many, if not all, what some of the content was (a coupon, an upcoming exhibit, a petition to sign, new security measures at the university, etc.) The upshot: the email was delivered, I received it, it had a pretty good chance of being read by me and I may have even taken action (I did use the Einstein’s coupon over the weekend).

The lesson is that email, in many circumstances, is still a valid and useful tool for contacting your clients and customers.

What are the best uses of email marketing?

Specials, sales or timely information. It is far cheaper to design and deliver an email coupon or flyer than using traditional mail. Constant Contact and Mail Chimp are popular email marketing platforms and there are many more.
A tool to bring people to your website. We have a client who writes a regular blog, but was feeling that not enough of her colleagues and clients were reading the blog. A short newsletter with some upcoming speaking dates and the first few paragraphs of the latest blogs (with a “click here to read the entire article” hotlink) hit the spot. Now that the newsletter is designed and she likes the template, it’s easy to replicate in the future.
A holiday greeting with absolutely no marketing gimmick whatsoever.
A message for a certain sector of your population. You can divide up your email list into all sorts of segments. So a dentist that treats adults and children may want to send out dental information about new sealant procedures in a different form to the parents of kids as opposed to the adult patients. Attorneys can divide up their client contacts by industry or the type of legal work they receive.

Why email marketing? It’s cost effective, in full color, you get immediate response regarding the viability of your email list, and you can be sure it’s delivered, unlike Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Linkedin posts.

When should you email? Whenever you feel best. If you’re marketing an event, consider how much lead time people will need, send out a first email, then a second reminder. Email marketing platforms allow you to schedule the date and the time. Don’t send out the email before 7:00 a.m. or after 9:30 p.m. as people will just resent it.

Try to amass data about your email marketing. How much of your email is opened? What time and date did you send it out? Do you notice a correlation between time and open rate? Is there a connection between content and the open rate?

If you really want to be proactive, contact the clients, customers or patients whose email addresses bounced back. Tell them that you had information for them about whatever (a special, the new insurance policy, your latest blog) and the email bounced. Tell them they are important to you and you want to make sure they stay informed. Just calling to follow up on a missed email is a great activity to connect with customers whose loyalty to you could be tenuous if untended.

Email marketing is one of many ways to reach your customers. Sometimes it feels old school compared to other social media platforms, but it is actually more dependable and equally as cost-effective.

Getting to Know You…

Are you singing the song from “The King and I” after reading the title of this blog?

We are too!

But we really want to talk about one of the best parts of our business, when we take on a new client and are in the “getting to know you” phase. This time is like that monogamous dating after the blind date or set-up. Now we know we are going to have a business relationship and we are on our best behavior, while getting to really understand what drives each of us.

Perhaps because we really are people persons (or is it people people?), this phase is fascinating, stimulating and brings out our creativity.

Why we like it:

We learn about you and your business or practice.
We learn about your dreams and aspirations, how you hope to grow.
We learn about your challenges, what the obstacles to growth are, who your perceived competition is.
We meet all of the members of your team and figure out how the pieces of the puzzle fit together (and sometimes where the “misfits” are).
We develop a cohesive, coherent marketing plan with you in mind.

Why our clients like this phase:

They have already committed to doing SOMETHING about marketing and just making that decision takes a load off their mind.
Our clients like telling us their story and taking time to reflect on success and challenges, as well as setting goals.
This process often brings renewed energy to a business or practice.
Our clients enjoy helping to craft a plan, after feeling like marketing wasn’t being attended to, or was being attended to inadequately in the past.

Getting to know you, getting to know all about you: it’s a great element of taking on new clients.

Thanksgiving Traditions that Need No Marketing

We’re getting nostalgic as Thanksgiving day approaches. We can’t wait for the following:

Making ourselves crazy over the cooking of the turkeys, even if we admit that we don’t even care that much about the turkey. In fact, it’s all about the stuffing.
Watching the Detroit Lions, even if they lose…again.
All of those casseroles: broccoli-cheeze whiz, green beans and Durkee onions, the artichoke dip, the sweet potatoes and marshmallows, even the jello molds that show our age.
More desserts than we can possibly eat, but we will try.
The trytophan coma that comes over us after the complete pig we make of ourselves when we can barely keep our eyes open 30 minutes past dinner.
The alcohol that comes out after the kids go somewhere else, anywhere else, we can’t believe there’s no school on Friday….
The annoying relative. We can’t believe she is in our family, but we would have no stories if she wasn’t at the table.
The kids’ misspelled place cards and turkey decorations. Can there really be too many turkey hands?
The parades on TV or in person. We still have a picture in our phone of the Spiderman balloon getting stuck on a building at the Macy’s parade.
Making a plan to either hit the mall or avoid the mall on Black Friday. Please don’t steal our idea of pedicures that day instead. Shhhh!
Turkey leftovers: turkey hash, turkey soup, turkey chili, turkey tetrazini, turkey salad…
Having to make a second broccoli casserole because Aunt Marge made it this year and took the leftovers home and everyone was outraged at your house.

Happy Thanksgiving. May the traditions in your home bring you joy or fodder for survival stories afterwards!

Am I Allowed to Use That Photo?

It’s a great question and sometimes you will get conflicting answers.

If you are looking for an image to add to your blog or website, you have two major things to determine:

Is the image appropriate?
Are you allowed to use the image legally?

The answer to both questions is of equal importance, because if you use an image without permission, you, as the owner of your site, are liable for copyright infringement. And don’t think you won’t be discovered. Big image providers use sophisticated search engines to regularly look for their images, and their equally sophisticated legal department will send you a cease and desist order and a hefty bill (think $1,000 for one image!)

It used to be easy to find free to use images. Microsoft Word was a terrific partner in this process. One need only insert a picture in a document and MS Word would offer all sorts of images: icons, photos and even videos. These images were free to use in any form. But Microsoft Word abandoned their clip art library in December 2014, as it had grown unwieldy and expensive. The original MS Word had 6 clip art pieces but by 2014, there were 100,000.

So now what?

Now you are relegated to searching for and ascertaining the legality of images yourself. There are a few free image sources out there. Some are clunkier than others. Popular ones include Wikimedia Commons, flickr, Pixabay and openclipart. Each of these sites allows you to download images for commercial use. You have to read the fine print. Not every image is “in the public domain”. Some require attribution. Others cannot be modified in any way (like cropped, shrunk or enlarged).

Another source for images is the ubiquitous Google images. You can sort images (in the search button on the right) by usage rights and further by “free for reuse”. But just because Google images “says” an image is indeed free for public use, you still have to do your due diligence. We suggest you click on the image and find its source.

Major caveat: If Google has offered an image as free, and you use it incorrectly, Google will not be sued; you will.

You can also purchase images from a variety of stock image purveyors. We find a lot of very good stuff. You do have to sift through some weird stuff, too. We love the sites that have collected the most outlandish stock photos everywhere. Check out these weird stock photos!

Of course, sometimes we can’t find exactly what we need. Then we have to turn to our cadre of skilled graphic designers and photographers to create the perfect image. This is a more expensive option, but for big things (logos, website headers, press releases, brochures), it makes financial sense.

Searching for and finding the perfect image is work, but well worth it when your copy is paired with an evocative, attractive image that enhances your brand.