Law Firm Marketing Vendors: What to Watch Out for When Speaking to a Sales Rep
By Robin on June 13, 2023 in Internet Marketing Legal Industry News and Tips
Finding it hard to get the right marketing company for your law firm? Overwhelmed with the information out there and reducing the options to what you need most? With the multitude of marketing options available today — and the seemingly never ending amount of companies that provide services — we created a short guide to help. Below are some tips to help when speaking to a marketing representative.
Don’t be sold without a proven track record
Marketing reps love to win you over with flashy graphics, proposals and charts. Really try to hone in on what’s behind the curtain. Make sure to look at the number of clients and the size of the marketing team to serve all of those clients. Make sure they have a proven track record of success, so that they can achieve your goals. How many years are they in business? How long have clients stayed with the agency? Understand exactly what they are offering and make sure that fits within your business structure and goals for your firm long term.
First thing first: write down what you need in terms of what you hope the marketing will accomplish. Yes, this may sound rudimentary, but it does help list precisely what you need. There are a multitude of marketing services for firms to partake in, and you certainly don’t need to engage in all of them:
Create a list of exact services your firm needs before contacting companies
- Video and YouTube Advertising
- Pay Per Click
- Search Engine Optimization
- Local Service Ads (Google Screened)
- Geo-Fencing
- Social Media Campaigns & Advertising
- Reputation Management
- Email Marketing
- Offline Marketing (Television, Radio, Billboards, Newspaper, Magazine, Subway, Bus, etc)
In understanding your short term and long term goals, you can better understand the specific types of marketing that will benefit your firm the most. Make sure you establish a month and yearly marketing budget to help better match these services with what you want to spend.
Do preliminary research on the top marketing companies
There’s often talk of the “rule of three” and it applies to your marketing search. Research the top marketing companies, make a list of 5, then really compare closer and reduce to three. Things to look for are near 5-start reviews. Make sure its a reputable company. Compare price (if they list) to make sure it’s within your budget. Finally look at all the marketing features you need. You will want a full service marketing company.
One of the most telling items is response time. Reach out, and if you don’t get a response within the same day, take them off the list. Once you have your three, set up a demonstration with them, then get proposals and compare deliverables and price.
Get pricing, terms and timing
Once you have the three proposals look very closely at deliverables. You want to make sure you are truly comparing apples to apples on deliverables. If all deliverables are the same, focus on reputation, star rating and results. Some great questions to follow up with when talking to their sales representative:
- Timing for results – How long will it take to get results? Depending on the type of marketing, this can differ greatly from months to years.
- Results – What is their definition of results? People than visit the site, convert, sign for service?
- Contracts – How long are we contracted to use your service? Ensure you read the agreement thoroughly to make sure you know how long you are committed to that company.
- Ownership – Will you own all of the work they complete for you? If the marketing company does content, optimization, design, development or other, make sure you own everything 100%.
- Content Management System – What CMS do you use? Ensure you are in a open source CMS, preferably WordPress.
- Exclusivity – Do you provide exclusivity for marketing? Probably the most important question you can ask. (Note: PaperStreet always provides exclusive campaigns.) You want to make sure they are not working for your competitors.
If you prepare and know exactly what you are looking for, you will be ready for an effective conversation with a marketing representative. A big takeaway is if a marketing representative does most of the listening and understanding what you need rather than boasting about their company. Make sure they understand what makes your firm unique and only truly what is needed for your marketing.
We hope your research leads to us! PaperStreet prides ourselves on proven results and long term business relationships. Most of our clients have a 6-month, 1-year, 5-year and beyond set of goals for growth and marketing. If you want us to set some benchmarks for the firm, reach out for a free consultation.
If you need any advice, PaperStreet is happy to help educate law firms and help them find a plan that works.
