AVALANCHE: The Lawyer Marketing Group

What is the best search engine marketing plan?

There's no straight-up, easy answer to that question. Because a search engine marketing plan is long-term, all sorts of factors go into deciding on the best course of action.

What you must do, is keep in mind the goal of search engine marketing:
Allow people to find your site (and your phone number) through search engines on the web. These include Google, Yahoo, AOL, AskJeeves, or any other general web search engine that potential clients may use.

When you launch a new website, or a redesigned website, you want to encourage the search engines to find you.

Your website design should include copy that is optimized for certain keywords that the search engines like. There are tools that you can purchase to help you find target keywords. And then there are agencies with experienced people and professional-grade tools to select target keywords. Though more expensive, it often pays off to have experienced people help with the optimization that goes into the design of your site. So far, no software can keep up with subtleties in language the way a human can.

When your finished site is live, submit your URL to the search engines.
Submission asks the search engine spiders (applications that crawl the web indexing all pages of all sites) to look at your site, highlighting your keywords. Again, you have options on how to go about doing this. Your evaluation should include pricing and effectiveness.

• You can submit to each search engine individually, by finding the submissions (sometimes called suggestions) page on each search engine. Make sure to include all the search engines, because the affiliations between them change often.
• You can buy software to submit to all search engines in one fell swoop. Frequent software updates will allow your submissions to stay current with the ever-changing search engine metrics and affiliations.
• You can hire professionals to submit for you. There are agencies that do only search engine marketing, agencies that include search engine marketing as part of a complete web design and development package, and there are full-service marketing agencies that include search engine marketing in their list of services. Whatever the case, go to someone who knows about search engine marketing. They will have the best possible combination of submission techniques. They will have high-level tools for submissions, and will know when it's best to submit directly to search engines due to engine-specific rules and regulations. In addition, search engine marketers can analyze your rankings on a regular basis, and adjust your site to continually boost your rankings.

Paid Search Engine Advertising
Because it can take up to eight months to get crawled by all the search engine spiders and get your rankings up organically, I often recommend that my clients consider the idea of paid search engine advertising in the first couple months to both get hits and push for faster organic rankings.

Following are some paid search engine advertising options:

Google AdWords
Google AdWords is a search engine marketing tool in which advertisers pay each time a user clicks through the ad to their website. This is often a successful way to jumpstart a new website, until organic search engine rankings are up. Any clickthrough will also improve organic rankings on Google, as it will associate your keywords to your site.

Google AdWords are included on many sites and search engines, including AskJeeves and AOL.

How it works:
Advertisers pay $5 to set up an account, and then set a daily and monthly budget, with no minimum fee. Advertisers select keywords to target, and set a maximum amount that they will pay per click (PPC - when a user actually clicks on the ad) for ads that come up on in the paid advertisements section of a Google search results page. Any Google searcher that clicks on an ad and goes to that site generates a charge to the advertiser.

AdWords PPC advertisements are ranked using a combination of click-through-rate (how many users actually click on the ad), cost-per-click (CPC) (higher price bids will get a better chance here), and relevancy of ad text to the keywords.

Google also has a pay per impression (PPM) option for advertisers who want to choose which member sites their ads get placed on. The budgeting is set up the same way.

Yahoo Sponsored Search
Yahoo Sponsored Search is another pay per click (PPC) search engine advertising option. Again, this is a possible short-term vehicle to get customers to your site as organic rankings improve.

Yahoo comes in at a close second to Google in search engine use, and as such deserves consideration.

How it works: Advertisers open an Overture account and maintain a minimum balance of $50, and spend a minimum of $20 per month for the PPC sponsored advertising. (See Google AdWords section above for more details on PPC.) The advertiser selects relevant keywords that will trigger the ad in a paid results section on Yahoo and participating sites and directories.

Yahoo Sponsored Search PPC ads are ranked by cost-per-click, which means that the highest bidder gets the top slot of ads that use the keywords. Note that if an advertiser does not get $20 worth of clicks through per month, he is still charged a minimum of $20. This might provide impetus to review an ad campaign and raise a daily budget or cost per click bid.

Yahoo Sponsored Search is also known as Overture and includes placement on many sites and directories including MSN.com.

Yahoo Directory Submit
Yahoo allows advertisers to pay $299 to submit their URL to the Yahoo Directory. This does not guarantee that the site will be linked in the directory, just that the directory spider will assess the site.

If a site is accepted in the Yahoo Directory, there is a $299 annual fee to maintain the listing.

In general, this is a low cost marketing vehicle, but I have found that it has not generated enough business for my attorney clients to pay for itself.

National Legal Directory Paid Submission
Check to see which directories and associations you are already a part of - your bar association? Your local community directory? Use these to your advantage. Most important in these directories is linking to your website(s). I cannot stress the importance of linking to your sites. Relevant links (links that come from sites with related material to yours) will both generate traffic and boost your search engine rankings.

FindLaw - findlaw.com
Lots of attorneys are familiar with FindLaw. This makes FindLaw a good resource when marketing to other attorneys. That most non-lawyers are not familiar with FindLaw makes it a non-cost-effective tool to market to the general public.

Because lawyers are familiar with this site, it would be worthwhile to consider FindLaw a viable option for Lawyer to Lawyer marketing. Note that negotiations can be made with the FindLaw sales staff as to the price of advertisements.

Thompson Legal Record/West Legal Directory
This also appears to be a directory that attorneys are familiar with, and as such may use to find services from other lawyers. I recommend that my clients keep their information on this site updated, and include a link to their site(s). The link is important here, as organic search engine rankings include relevant links in the determining algorithm. Links from well-known legal directories are valuable both for generating clicks, as well as for search engine rankings.

For attorneys that already have entries in this directory, so there is no additional cost for this marketing vehicle.

Martindale-Hubbell - martindale-hubbell.com, martindale.com
Another well-known resource for attorneys, attorneys are listed in a directory by practice area. It is worthwhile to consider paying for inclusion for both the potential clients that may come from this site, as well as for the links that will boost your search engine rankings.

Associations
Consider joining national and local associations to boost search engine rankings.
Use your current memberships to state and city bar or trial lawyers associations to both drive traffic to your site and boost those search engine rankings.

American Bar Association - abanet.org

Association of Trial Lawyers of America - atlanet.org

YourState Bar Association

YourCity Bar Association

YourState Trial Lawyers Association

After all that, what's your best plan?

Getting Your Picture Taken

So you have decided to use your photo in your yellow pages ad. Great!

Read about why you may want to reconsider in "Should I put my photo in my ad?".

The purpose of placing your photo in the ad is to build a relationship. Your facial expression, posture, clothing, perceived age, hairstyle, etc. dictate the type of relationship that will be created. In display ads where your photo is prominent (or even comprising the bulk of the ad), the photo is probably the most important thing. It makes the viewer stop looking to read more about your firm.

When selecting a photographer, find a person you like. If you are uncomfortable with your photographer, it will show in the pictures. In our experience, wedding and event photographers tend to be better at getting the look you will need for your ad. They are adept at capturing moods and people being their natural selves.

Your facial expression should be a natural one.  No big grins or frowns.  How do you look when you are listening to a client?

The background can be anything muted. The photographer will likely have a number of backdrops to choose from. Stay away from the standard light blue or grey backdrop. Earth tones tend to look best.

Make eye contact with the reader, keep your posture open and inviting. Wear professional attire, but nothing overly formal. A blue shirt with a muted tie is always a good choice—even for a black on yellow ad.

In summary:

• Listen and talk to the camera
• Take photos with and without your jacket
• Go to a wedding photographer - not a portrait studio
• Show the photographer your ad

Should I put my photo in my ad?

Many lawyers place photographs of themselves or their staff in their ads. Is this good? Does it generate more telephone calls from the types of clients with whom you want to work?

Generally, a photograph of the lawyer(s) and/or staff is effective at setting a practice apart in a yellow pages ad if:

• you (or your staff) are an ethnic minority,
• you are a female lawyer,
• you appear to be especially trustworthy or experienced, or
• you are widely recognized in the community.

Photographs are not advised when:

• you are  not photogenic. Could your photograph imply that you are unfriendly, angry, or timid?
• you want that photo in there because it strokes your ego. Everybody says, “No—I’m not wrapped up in my ego!” So, here is the acid test: if it feels good to see your photo in your ad, your ego is hard at work. There is little that you could put in your ad that is less inviting to potential customers than your ego.
• you look very young.  Fifties to early sixties seems to be the best age range for a lawyer in the eyes of consumers. 

What if you have no driving reasons to put (or not put) your photo in the ad? Take a look at the other advertisers. Do they have photos? If more than 75 percent of the advertisers have their photo in their ad, you may want to consider it. Consumers get used to seeing things, and if those familiar things are missing, they may think you have something to hide.

Ultimately, every time you add something to your ad, you give up space. Ask yourself: Is there a better use of that space? And if you do decide to use a photo in your yellow pages ad, do it well. Check out "Getting Your Picture Taken".

We deliver.

Recently Andru was helping his father write text for an ad for his sign-making shop. The ad, as written, stated “Delivery Available.” Andru rewrote the text to read “We deliver.” Readers wanting their new signs delivered directly to their businesses or jobsites would understand the message: “We will bring the sign to you.” Readers wanting to know if the sign shop would deliver on its promises would understand the message: “We give you what we say we are going to give you, and get it to you when we say we are going to get it to you, at the price we quote.”

There are two things at work here. One is personalizing the message. "Delivery Available" is sterile. "We deliver" is warm. By using "we" in the ad, we are actively engaging in the activity of delivery. Making it personal. Putting a face to the business. Building a relationship.

The second thing that's happening is that we're communicating on multiple levels. "We deliver" has a bigger meaning. It means that we do what we say we will do. And it is an expression everyone is familiar with. So it is reinforcing a promise, and continuing to build that relationship.

How can you incorporate deeper messages in your ads?

Understanding more about Content, Media Selection, and Viewer Expectations

Print Media: Traditionally, print media, though an information-focused media, have a very heavy advertising component. As a general rule, newspapers and magazines format with a 1:1 advertising to information, or “editorial,” mix. (In traditionally-formatted newspapers and magazines, for every column inch of information, there is a column inch of advertising.)

As a result of this content mix, when people read newspapers and magazines, they expect to see advertising. Frequently, people read newspapers for their advertising content. Sales, movie listings, tire pricing, classifieds, and coupons are valuable and integral to the make-up of newspapers. Many travel, health, fashion, and sports magazines are purchased for their advertising content as much, or more, than for their information or entertainment content.

Advertising in print media - be it in newspapers, magazines, or yellow page directories - is often welcome; it is certainly expected. Though no publisher of note has tried it yet, industry experts have long held the position that were the advertising content to be removed from magazines and newspapers, readership would drop precipitously.

Broadcast Media: Contrast the way viewers feel about advertising in print media with the way viewers feel about advertising in broadcast media. When viewers watch television, they are doing so because they want to be entertained or, in the case of news or talk radio, informed. These viewers are decidedly not looking for advertising content.

Viewers see television and radio advertising as intrusive.

How do viewers respond to advertising in broadcast media? They hate it. Oft times, they switch channels, or get up from the sofa to take care of a quick chore. To say the least, viewers avoid advertising in broadcast media. Witness the rapid growth of commercial-free radio programming such as Web radio and XM Radio and the new generation of digital recording devices designed to edit out television advertising (TiVo®).

Marketing with Search Engines

Search engines are huge. They're important. They're useful.

Let's start with what I'm talking about when I say search engines. Search engines are web applications that crawl the web indexing text. Search engines allow users to search the index by keyword, and provide links to matching resources.

Directories are also lists of internet resources, but they are manually entered by a person (rather than the automatically crawled by search engine spiders). Directories also allow users to search an index by keyword.

Because people use directories in the same way as search engines, they are often lumped together as search engines. There is also confusion because Yahoo started out as a directory, but added crawl-based search in 2002.

The business of search engines is fascinating.

The race in the search engine world is going faster and faster, with the giants adding new tools and services left and right.

Google just launched a new cost-per-impression and targeting for Ad Words beta, and a personal search tool in beta - allowing users to keep a detailed history of their past searches. Yahoo launched My Web in beta on Wednesday (4/27), boosting their personal search history service. Google's IPO was the hottest news in technology since the 1990's.

And the usefulness of search engines is mesmerizing.

According to the January, 2005 Search Engine Users study by Pew Internet, 38 million American adults use a search engine every day.

We use search engines to find definitions too modern to be in the dictionary.

We use search engines to find an exact address.

We use search engines to research geography, history, and astrology.

We use search engines to see photos of landscape designers' prior work.

We use search engines to learn all about Britney Spears.

We use search engines to find a lawyer when we have no referral.

People often like to do a little reading about an attorney to establish an image of who the attorney is. We want to see what kind of a relationship we can have with the lawyer before calling with him or her.

This is a good reason to have a website. And a good reason to market with search engines, so people can find your site.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM) has many parts - advertising (sponsored links and pay-per-click ads), directory submission (paid or unpaid), and search engine optimization (SEO - where your site's copy, design, code, and structure make it easier to get higher results in search engine queries).

Each of these factors of SEM is valuable, but you need to evaluate your business goals to see which are right for you.

Paid advertising is often a good way to jump-start your search engine rankings.

There are a lot of attorneys on the web, and attorney directories have been marketing on the web for a long time, so they hold the highest organic rankings. Findlaw is everywhere.

It takes time to get organic rankings on search engines, and in directories.

While directory administrators are reviewing your submission, and before the web crawlers have found and indexed your site, you might use sponsored links and pay-per-click ads to get your site to be listed on the first two pages.

And since most users don't look at results past the second page on a search engine (iProspect's Search Engine User Attitudes Survey), you really want to be on the first two pages.

If you provide valuable information (and my first recommendation is that you do - include links to resources, for example) you might even get a link or two from an outside site. And those links boost your organic rankings on many search engines.

Submitting to directories can not only allow your site to appear in directory results, but some search engines also use directory listings to determine the rank of their crawled results. Some directories allow you to submit your site to them for a fee, some simply require that you do your research and submit to the proper category.

Within your site, there is a lot you can do to boost your organic ranking. You can optimize your site's copy to utilize competitive keywords for your practice, so crawlers associate those keywords in their index with your site.

You can optimize your sites design, code, and structure, to enable those spiders to crawl through your site quickly and efficiently. Building search engine optimization into your site is becoming standard, but it's best to make sure your web designer is on top of it.

Using search engine marketing, you can help get your site on search engines so people who need you can find you.

Media Fundamentals

Let’s start by looking briefly at the fundamentals of media. Media are traditionally separated into three major categories: "Broadcast media" are television and radio. “Print media” includes yellow pages directories, direct mail, practice brochures, newspapers and magazines. “Outdoor media” includes “transit” (advertising on busses and bus benches), signs, and billboards. During the past ten years a new medium, the Internet, has created a fourth media category. The media category “Internet” is aptly named after its sole medium.

Media’s function is to deliver content.

People, Media, and Advertising
Let’s take a look at how people, media, and advertising interact.

When you understand why people view a particular type of content (in preference to other types of content) you will have a key, often overlooked, ingredient to profitable television advertising.

When people select a particular medium (television, radio, newspaper, Internet) to view, they are really selecting the type of content they want to view. Viewers, though they may say, “let's watch some T.V.,” are not choosing to view the television as much as they are selecting to view a particular type of content. Viewers, after all, are not viewing media; they are viewing content. The media are merely delivering the content.

Media delivers three principle types of content:

1. Information (i.e., news, cooking demonstrations, stock market quotes, weather forecasts, schedules, science and discovery)
2. Entertainment (i.e., soap operas, movies, sports, drama, sitcoms)
3. Advertising

Some types of media deliver only one type of content. For example, yellow pages directories, billboards, and catalogs deliver only advertising content. Other types of media deliver two types of content—newspapers and magazines most frequently deliver information and advertising. Broadcast media is a good example of media that delivers all three types of content—information (news and talk radio), entertainment (sitcoms and music), and advertising.

The following chart illustrates which media generally deliver which type of content.

Traditional Delivery Vehicles, by Content

Content Desired	Media (or Programming) Selection
Information	Newspapers, Magazines, Evening News, Talk Radio
Entertainment	Television, Radio
Advertising	Newspapers, Magazines, Yellow Pages, Catalogs, Outdoor

Expressed by media selection, the chart looks like this.

Traditional Delivery Vehicles, by Media

Media/Programming	Content Desired
Newspapers	Information, Advertising
Magazines	Information, Advertising
Evening News	Information
Talk Radio	Information
Television	Entertainment
Radio	Entertainment
Yellow Pages	Advertising
Catalogs	Advertising
Outdoor	Advertising

 

These charts make it easy to see the broad strokes of which media deliver which types of content. However, there are some important content delivery exceptions within the various media. Ultimately, programming determines content.

Most of the time people watch television, they watch it for its entertainment content. (More than 90 percent of television programming is entertainment.) However, sometimes some people watch television for information content so they watch informational programming. News, political reports, cooking shows, and science and discovery programs are informational programming. Occasionally, but not often, people select programming for advertising content—home shopping programs and the Super Bowl®.

Radio, newspapers, and magazines are formatted for program-specific content delivery too. Though radio predominately delivers entertainment (via music), radio also delivers informational programming (news, traffic reports, NPR, and talk radio). Newspapers primarily deliver information and advertising, but they also often deliver a few tidbits of entertainment in the form of crossword puzzles and comics. Thus, programming, not media, ultimately determines content.

A Rose by any Other Name?

Names are important. Names can make or break advertisers. Do you know what an MRI is? Did you know that, in the early days of this medical science, we had NMRIs? What is the difference between the old NMRI and the new MRI?

Nothing. The name was changed from NMRI to MRI because people were afraid of being tested by a Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Indicator. (“Nuclear” refers not to atomic energy but to the nucleus of the cell, which is charged magnetically to get a picture of what is going on.)

Did you know there is no chocolate in “white chocolate.” White chocolate, which is a combination of butter (or oil) and sugar, was commonly called “almond bark.” Almond bark was not very popular until the confections industry renamed it “white chocolate.” Now, it seems white chocolate is everywhere.

Have you noticed that the GOP no longer uses the term “global warming?” Instead, they use the term “global climate change.” The public does not seem to be very alarmed about global climate change; it’s weather.

Simple word changes can make huge differences in perception and, down the road, in attitudes and action.

That is why many lawyers choose to be called attorneys. The public often perceives lawyers as the “bad guys” and attorneys as professionals.

What does the public think about “personal injury lawyers?” It is not pretty. How about a name change that better communicates what PI lawyers do?

Personally, I like the term “negligence attorneys.” A lot of people don’t like to sue — that is until they have a good reason to. Negligence may be a better reason to sue than personal injury.

People get hurt; it is not always somebody else’s fault. However, when we sue for negligence, it is clear who the “bad guy” is.

I say let’s become “negligence attorneys.” The term clearly defines who the good and bad the guys are.

What terms do you use in your marketing that might serve you better if you change a word or two?

Seventeen Failsafe Marketing Rules

#1 Lead Your Marketing with the Highest ROI Vehicle

• Of the hundreds of marketing vehicles which one offers the possibility for the highest return on your investment? Invest in the highest-ROI vehicle first. Only after you have saturated your highest-ROI vehicle should you move forward to your second-highest-ROI vehicle.
• Monitor and modify frequently. Any time your ROI slips, adjust your message or the delivery mechanism. After adjusting, if you don't see a return to high ROI, withdraw your funding and invest in the next highest ROI vehicle. Review frequently.

#2 Understand the Difference Between What you Offer and What People Buy

• You offer services; people buy solutions to their problems. (Proctor and Gamble sells shampoo to people who want clean hair.)
• Go deeper. (People want clean hair because...)
• People buy perception, not reality.
• Express your services in terms of what people buy (security, confidence, experience, loss protection, value, likelihood of success, understanding, etc.).

#3 Understand Who Buys Your Stuff

• Understand who buys your stuff. Business people? Other lawyers? Consumers?
• Define your audience from every possible perspective: socio-economic, geographic, image-sensitivity, age, risk-sensitivity, etc.
• If your firm provides services to more than one group, design unique marketing strategies (messages and delivery vehicles) for each group.

#4 Define and Target Your Audience

• Before you design any marketing communication, know who wants or needs your services-know your potential customers intimately.
• Design your communications to meet the needs and desires of your potential customers.
• Speak to only one customer at a time.
• Buy media that reaches your target audience, not media that reaches the largest number of people.

#5 Design Your Marketing Around Problems and Solutions

• People hire lawyers to solve problems, or to prevent a problem from occurring. Design your marketing so that it is clear—you solve problems.
• In print advertising, use the headline to present a problem. In the subhead, provide the solution.

#6 Define Your Unique Market Position

• Why should somebody hire you rather than your competition? Be realistic.
• Brand your unique market position (e.g., "the insider," "always here," "the lawyers’ lawyer”).
• Find ways to communicate your unique market position in an irresistible fashion.

#7 Be Faithful to Your Unique Voice

• Once you have created your unique place in the market, stick with it: actively and intentionally grow your brand. Remember, people buy things (including services) because of their uniqueness, not because they are like other things.
• When you stand apart, you get noticed. (Don’t follow others.)

#8 Make Yourself Easily Accessible

• Create an image of warmth and availability. (Too many law firms create images that focus on prestige and tradition. Granite walls may create the image that you’ve “made it,” but if those walls get between you and your potential clients, your marketing will have to work a lot harder to generate new clients.)
• Create marketing-only telephone lines for your office. Publish a unique number in all of your advertising so when that line rings, everybody knows it’s a prospective client calling.
• Create a welcoming, we-are-here-to-please-you message both within your office and in all of your external marketing.

#9 Know Your Resources

• How much money do you have to invest in marketing? How much time do you have? Allocate your resources to achieve the maximum return on investment for your marketing programs.
• If you have more money than time, hire a consultant with a track record of success and give her a budget. Step out of the way and monitor results.
• If you have more time than money, pursue marketing programs that are time-heavy and money-light. (Direct contact, seminars and workshops, networking, volunteering, public relations, practice brochures, publishing, trade services, etc.)

#10 Know Your Competition

• Your firm is not the only firm actively pursuing new customers. To win the lion's share of the pie, you must know what your competition is doing. You must be more aggressive. You must be smarter. To edge out the competition, you must know what they are doing, and you must play the marketing game better than they play the marketing game. When it comes to generating new clients, the second choice never gets the telephone call.

#11 Keep Egos and Marketing Separate from Each Other

• Your marketing is not about you; it is about what you can do for potential clients better than anybody else.
• If you create a marketing message that makes you look good, throw it away. Even Charlie knows people don't want tuna with good tastes.

#12 Don’t Design Marketing Communications to which You Think You Might Respond

• You are not your potential client. Your potential clients don’t think like you think. They don’t even like the same food you like! Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking that if you like a marketing message, potential clients will like it too.
• Don’t design an ad layout or direct mail piece so you will like it. Too many truly great marketing pieces have been left on graphic artists’ tables in favor of less powerful pieces because the client liked the lesser piece, and did not see or understand the value of the powerful piece.
• Don’t look at your marketing messages through your eyes. Take your marketing messages out to others for their opinions. (If you take your marketing messages to your staff or to your spouse for “more objective” opinions, you will get more, and varied, opinions, none of which will be much more valuable than your own. The only person whose opinion counts is the potential clients’. Think of it this way: Don’t ask your wife and staff what flavor of ice cream the kid standing on the street corner likes the most. You may love your wife and your staff, but they don't know what flavor of ice cream that kid likes any more than you know. Ask the kid.)

#13 Don't Buy Statistics

• Most people who sell advertising have compelling statistics that demonstrate buying their advertising vehicle is a prudent choice. Ignore these statistics; they mislead. If you need to rely on statistics, get them from an unbiased source.
• Statistics are not clients. (Nobody has 1.9 children.)

#14 Tell the Truth

• Always.

#15 Adopt a Winning Attitude

• The return you get on your marketing investment is influenced by your attitude. Create and maintain a great outlook every time you participate in building content, designing marketing material, or buying media. If you discover you have a bad outlook on a day you have scheduled yourself to work on your marketing, reschedule.
• Go all out, as though you are designing your future. You are.
• Plan to win. Big.

#16 Never Advertise From Fear of Loss

• Advertising decisions that are motivated by fear (“some other firm will get these clients if I don’t advertise here”) will almost definitely result in poor returns.
• Advertising decisions that are motivated by possible gain tend to produce? gain.

#17 Sell Only the Best

• If you decided to sell vacuum cleaners door-to-door, wouldn’t you research to find the best-value, best-performing vacuum cleaner on the market, and then get a job with that firm? Your advertising will always reflect your beliefs about your firm. If you don’t believe you can offer the best value and performance, your advertising will reflect that.
• If you can't offer value and performance, change.

If you abide by these seventeen time-tested marketing principles, your marketing cannot stray too far from success.

Good Idea to Take Credit Cards?

Though personal injury lawyers don’t often get asked if they accept credit cards, lawyers in other fields, such as bankruptcy, family law, and estate planning, do. It costs little to establish a merchant account and accept credit cards. If you do it with one of the reliable online services, you don't have to have dedicated phone lines, or lease equipment. All the transactions can be done right from your keyboard.

So, when people ask if you take cards, you can say "yes."

As an alternative, when people ask if you will accept their payment with credit card, you can offer them a 2 percent discount, which is most often a better incentive than the incentive the client is looking for in the first place. That is client-pleasing and costs you about the same amount as accepting the cards.

One caution: I would suggest that you keep credit cards out of your advertising messages.

Lawyers advertising that they accept credit cards makes them look desperate for business. It "retails" them. (It puts them in the same business category as shoe stores and restaurants.) Sure, doctors and dentists - other professionals - take credit cards. But, these are insurance reimbursement driven industries, not at all similar to legal services.

A few years ago I started working with a client who was a family law attorney. He had a great-looking yellow pages ad and he displayed his credit card logos in his ad. As a marketing consultant, I advised him to make a few changes to his ad, including taking the credit card logos out. He let me make all the changes except for the credit card logo removal. His reasoning was that about 8 percent of his yellow pages-generated business used credit cards to pay. He did not want to lose these clients.

His new ad, with the revisions I suggested did great: twenty-eight percent increase ($80,000) for the year.

When it was time to renew his annual contract with yellow pages, he asked me what I could do to his ad to give him another big bump for the following year. I told him to change only one thing: get rid of the credit card logos. He argued. I listened. I explained. He argued more.

When he was spent, I told him that he sometimes just had to do the counter-intuitive thing. I told him he was losing business because of the credit card logos in his ad. "Dean, people are looking at your ad and not calling you because you look like the unprofessional, not-too-successful, I-need-the-business lawyer."

I explained to Dean that it is easy to measure that which we can see and impossible to measure that which we don't. "The 28 percent increase-those are the people who call you and give you their money. You can measure them. However, how can you measure the people who don't call you? Dean, how can you measure what you lose? How many people didn't call you because of what they saw in your ad?"

I reminded Dean that the other things I had done with his ad had resulted in $80,000 more money coming in the door. "Dean, can you afford to not listen to me?" That was the only logic Dean needed; he agreed to removing the credit card logos. How well did that work?

Dean is now six months into the credit-card-logo-free ad. His business is up 21 percent to date. Better yet, Dean's yellow pages business is up 36 percent. (His non-yellow pages business is down.)

Sure take the cards. Just don't advertise that you do.