TV Advertising and Radio Ads for Lawyers
Amidst new marketing and business tactics, TV advertising and radio ads still contribute to your customer acquisition stats. Market research tells us that this could get you potential customers, who would hopefully start messaging you for inbound inquiries. When discussing TV advertising, I remember an email conversation I once had with immigration attorney Andres Mejer. We were discussing budgets and how to create custom content for tv or radio ads.
Advertising Budget Concerns
Andres is very interested in moving forward with a TV promotion on one of the local Spanish-speaking TV stations. Doing so could indeed help him connect to his target audience, build public relations, and improve the client experience provided by his immigration law firm. Doing ads is a promising venture that could bring any law firm business to new heights. But Andres is unsure of what his investment should be. This is understandable as there are a bunch of conflicting opinions on this subject.
The TV stations want you to invest in frequency because they have been trained that if you play a bad commercial enough, it will work eventually. The agencies you choose to work with make their money by being paid a commission from the stations (no, if you skip the agency the stations will not discount your fee by the agency commission). And these agencies have to do a whole lot of work to ensure your placements are performing. So they have minimums they want you to invest each month before they’ll work with you. Usually, $20,000 is the magic number and for some agencies, they’ll not even look at you for that. I don’t have a problem with this but it does mean you’ll have to grow into using an agency.
For me, before I enter into any agreements with an agency, I would test the waters. I would start by shooting a segment with my local station (for more information on this, see Module 5 on the membership site). Then, I would keep my budget in line with my goals, my marketing budget, and most importantly the capacity of my sales department. There’s nothing worse than taking the advice of a TV station, overspending your budget, having the campaign work, but all the leads are wasted because your phone room can’t handle them. It won’t matter how well the lead generation performed, there will be no measurable increase in ROI because you didn’t convert the leads properly. They’ll be left lying on the floor like the remnants of handmade suits in a garment factory; a big useless mess.
How Radio Ads Can Help Your Law Firm
Andres and I discussed Radio as a potentially less expensive option. But he was advised by someone that Radio was for branding only and couldn’t be used to acquire new clients. Man, the level of the naivety of vendors amazes me sometimes. If you want success stories outside of the practice of law, just go learn all you can about Fred Catona and his story around freecreditreport.com. Inside the practice of law, I can tell you we use radio to direct new leads using the book/lead magnet principle for divorce, bankruptcy, immigration, DUI attorneys, and more. I have one client who will run $30,000 monthly campaigns on direct response radio with an average client acquisition cost of less than $400. Radio works, if done correctly. Be careful who you take advice from. I would suggest you take advertising advice only from marketing professionals who really understand direct response marketing.
Creating Custom Content for Radio Ads
Andres and I were discussing the possibility of him coming to Phoenix to shoot a TV commercial campaign. This is a service we offer to our clients. Not because we’re in the TV production business, but because our clients needed a solution they could trust. Shooting a TV commercial isn’t an inexpensive proposition and Andres was concerned about the investment, rightfully so. My advice went back to testing the market before we make the investment. Let’s find a local station that can create a segment for you, run it once and measure the results. Wait, did you just say run it once Rich? Yep. That’s all you need to determine if the ad’s a winner or a loser. And depending on how many leads it generates for you, you might be able to run the adjustment a couple of times per month to hit your law firm goals. Then you can invest the profit generated from the ad results into additional time slots.
Now, once you see the ad is working, that’s when you’ll want to create your own content. The reason for this is the content the station created for you can only be used on their station, according to their rules. But, when you create your own content, you’ll be able to place it wherever you want to find the best station/time slot that maximizes performance.
Improve Your Law Firm Marketing
If you want to market your product or service effectively, seek help from experts. Remember, any business marketing technique you employ must match your business objectives. For marketing to be successful, it is important to really know your target market and what metrics can help you maximize your marketing efforts.
In a similar and complementary manner, a consultant for small law firms can identify what your business needs, and find the most effective way to work on these. Availability of consultancy and digital marketing services can help you reach your business goals– which is to stand out, get ahead of your competitor, and be profitable.
If you do decide to move into TV advertising, be sure to follow the principles above and be sure to listen and re-listen to Module 5 so you can get a complete understanding of how TV segments work. And most of all, be sure the advice you’re receiving is from someone who understands direct response. Oh yeah, and ask for proof.
Do you have more questions about TV or radio marketing? Contact our legal management consultant Richard James or schedule a 1-on-1 consulting to get your customized practice growth plan.
