Page 1
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
2007 Leigh Dance
The reproduction, modification, or distribution by whatever means of the whole or any part of this presentation
(including, without limitation, all images, logos, graphs, charts and
quotes) is strictly forbidden without specific written permission from the
author.
Page 2
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Cutting Edge Marketing Strategies
of US FirmsWhat’s Hot & What’s
NotLeigh Dance
ELD Project Marketing Int’l, Inc.
PSMG London - 10 Nov. 1999
Page 3
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Today’s Talk• Branding• Sales Training• Sales
Coaching• Client
Competitions• Proposal Prep
• Collateral• Electronic
media• Targeting• Database
marketing• Advertising
Page 4
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Elements of Success Today:
• More creative and aggressive marketing• Client feedback and client research• More direct/intimate messages and
delivery methods• Measurement of results• 2-step focus: marketing then sales• Find something unique. Clue: it has
nothing to do with how smart the professionals are
Page 5
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Branding - Today’s Buzzword:
• Everyone talks, few do it well• Need help from experts• Start by branding the firm• Taglines - help identify what you stand
for• Examples:
Womble Carlyle; Fenwick & West; Goodman & Carr ; Crosslin, Slaten & O’Connor
Page 6
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Branding - Today’s Buzzword:
WOMBLE CARLYLE:• A bulldog named Winston - huge hit• Winston playing Twister, eating ice cream• www.wcsr.com - Winston wanders around
barking• Brochure: “Come. Stay.” Photos of lawyers
with their friends-- their real dogs. Puns abound
• Lawyers look like real people, fun. All communications draw attention.
Page 7
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Branding - Today’s Buzzword:
FENWICK & WEST:• Carefully targeted advertising & industry
sponsorships as well as internet marketing: firm gained rep as nation’s leading Internet firm
• 240 lawyers, 59 partners - #171 among firms, #132 in revenues, #32 in profits per partner
• “Bring more value because we get in in a very deep way” -- you can hardly tell lawyers apart from clients -- Clients pay a premium to use them
Page 8
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Branding - Today’s Buzzword:
FENWICK & WEST:• Only law firm ever in Fortune as “100
Best Places to Work”• Print advertising has generated cold
calls: “Will you take me public?”• Regular media stories about their wins
for clients: Smart Money story - Autoweb
Page 9
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Branding - Today’s Buzzword:
GOODMAN & CARR:• Sassy, for US audience - HARD WORKING
LAWYou got a problem with that?
• Launched brand at ABA meeting in Toronto• Limos to meetings, hats and give-aways• Award-winning advertising that shows
results• Research showed same campaign did NOT
fly in Canada
Page 10
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Branding - Today’s Buzzword:
Crosslin, Slaten & O’Connor:• Unique niche representing pest control industry• Bug Law: “We are the Bug Lawyers” brochure• Ads: “Some lawyers don’t know their ants from
a hole in the ground.” - fantastic client response
• www.buglaw.com - termite crawling around opening screen
• lawyers write industry articles, give speeches, seek positions in state and nat’l pest control industry
Page 11
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Branding - Terrible Taglines:
• A Business Law Firm• We represent people and companies• A global law firm for the 21st century• New York’s Business Law FirmGood examples:
Fish & Neave: Leaders in the Law of Ideas
Shaw Pittman: Where Law, Business and Technology converge
Page 12
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Sales Training, Sales Coaching
• Not just once in a career, once a year• Consultative selling skills, listening
skills, non-verbal and verbal communications
• Ongoing sales coaching• Sales training often outsourced• Paul Hastings - Flannery-fueled training
combined with targeted presentation efforts
Page 13
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Client Competitions• Client loyalty interviews - in person or by
phone• Double or triple success rate with training
and technology-driven proposal centers designed to respond quickly and effectively
• Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse• Ann Lee Gibson: 97% record for getting
firms on short list - up to $40,000 for largest, toughest proposal responses
• Follow-up post proposal
Page 14
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Collateral Materials
• Less fancy brochures, more targeted industry communications and programs
• Less newsletters, particularly broad topic ones• “Our firm is very old. We’re as good as the big firms
only more cost effective… Our firm represents everyone, from individuals to Fortune 500 companies, in virtually every practice area (long list)… We do all of them really, really well.”
• Recent informal survey showed that over 80% of lawyers in a firm hadn’t read their own brochure.
Page 15
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Collateral Materials
• Pillsbury Madison Sutro - map of the technology corridor in Northern Va. - clever, memorable, serves a function
‘Tower Club is handing it out to tekkie co. clientele’
• Haynes & Boone - huge poster to roll out branding campaign. “Are You Changing?” on back is firms 10Q report. Fresh and original ‘can’t throw it away, it’s too cool’
Page 16
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Electronic Media• Websites: glossy brochures of the 90’s, now
recognized as secondary reference vehicle, recruiting
• Possible trend to put less on web - proprietary info to competitors (attorney bios to headhunters, etc.)
• Extranets: front end to service integration vehicles
• Client listservs: particularly for industry groups• Brobeck & Latham: through Intranet, decentralize
marketing materials and firm resources
Page 17
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Targeting/Database Marketing
• Industry-focus, trade group alliances, effective sponsorships and joint programs
• Better manage, measure and track marketing dollars
• key client efforts: focus on top clients, most productive for tailored initiatives
• relational marketing databases are widespread, most have web access
Page 18
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
What’s Hot• Positioning, Logos, Branding initiatives• Technology applications that change
service delivery and add client value• Client satisfaction surveys - not written• Paranoia about how the world is changing
and reordering, including MDPs and Big 5• E-mail (pushed) client alerts• Display advertising-- airports and train
stations• Client research before presentations
Page 19
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
What’s Hot• Better AV at seminars and presentations• Alumni programs • Shorter, more frequent client communications• More collaboration with other service
organizations• Highly targeted, substantive briefings or seminars• Marketing leading clients and prospects back to
websites
“Technology rules. Lawyers need to demonstrate comfort and conversancy with it, and need to market using it.”
Page 20
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
What’s Not So Hot• Glossy brochures• Purposeless global firm newsletters - puff • Seminars “My dad’s got a barn, my
mother makes costumes”• Law firm infomercials• Less advertising in charity programs--
higher expectation of pay-off• “Quick-copy-shop” approach to
marketing function
Page 21
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Advertising• Far more widely used in US than in UK• Focus on reach and frequency• Research shows very effective if
message communicates and ad is targeted properly
• Often used to communicate Brand• … communicate region• … communicate core practice capability • Examples
Page 22
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Best Consultants - Marketing
Ross Fishman - ChicagoAnn Lee Gibson - SouthwestDeborah McMurray - Texas
Norm Rubenstein - Washington, DC***
Greenfield Belser, Washington, DCLevick Strategic Communications
Page 23
(c)1999, ELD Project Marketing Int'l, Inc. - Leigh Dance - [email protected] /001.516.726.5430
Cutting Edge Marketing Strategies
of US FirmsQUESTIONS?
Leigh Dance, ELD International391 Cobb Road, New York 11976
USAtel: 001.515.726.5430, fax:
726.5223email: [email protected]