Ross's Law Marketing Blog

The Simpsons' Clever Courthouse Logo

2013-05-20T23:43:00.000-05:00

I think “The Simpsons” is consistently among the funniest, most-clever shows on television. And one of my favorite parts are the throw-away gags in the margins that target a narrow audience or demographic. If you’re not in that group, you don’t notice that you missed it.

Here’s a recent example that caused me to laugh out loud, where the rest of my family looked at me like I was crazy.

In the 2013 “Dark Knight Court” episode, Bart is accused of a “crime” which he denies, and is put on trial before Springfield Elementary school’s Youth Court. (The judge is former US Attorney General Janet Reno, and Bart later calls his floundering lawyer, sister Lisa, “Gloria All-wrong.”)

My favorite little slice of genius? A grammar school court wouldn’t have Measuring Scales balancing their third-grade justice.

What would they have? Obviously…

A teeter totter.

Here’s the logo:

Come on, admit it - that’s awesome.

THE SIMPSONS tm Copyright © 2013 TCFFC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

An awesome courtroom drama... cartoon.

2013-05-11T15:03:00.001-05:00

We’ve all seen the classic "trial" movies. 12 Angry Men. To Kill a Mockingbird. Anatomy of a Murder. Inherit the Wind. Witness for the Prosecution. Judgment at Nuremberg.

Even The Verdict,although it regularly makes me want to yell “Object, you idiot!”

(My personal favorite is My Cousin Vinny.)

An almost-unknown option is Rooty Toot Toot, a 1951 Oscar-nominatedanimated 7-minute short.

Rooty Toot Toot tells the boogie-woogie musical story of the passion-murder trial of Frankie, a lovely young woman who kills her cheating boyfriend in a fit of jealousy.

You know, allegedly.

Her creative defense lawyer, "Honest John the Crook," does not cross examine any of the prosecution’s witnesses, but rather spins an imaginative tale of wildly ricocheting bullets that miraculously persuades the jury to find her not guilty.

Rooty Toot Toot was voted one of the top 50 Greatest Cartoons of All Time.

"It received a nomination for the Academy Award for Animated Short Film in 1951, but lost out to Tom and Jerry's 6th award winning cartoon The Two Mouseketeers." - Wikipedia.

It's fun, and for animation fans, it's worth it for the unique artistic style.

Wait for the surprise ending...

Zoolander-style lawyer head shots.

2013-04-13T15:19:00.000-05:00

Trust me - you must see these animated attorney biography photos.

Lynn Hajek is a terrific litigator -- smart, funny, and tough (think Elle Woods from Legally Blonde without the naiveté).

Her firm, AHL, has a high-quality Manhattan med mal defense practice. It also has a decade-old website -- sadly, it’s tired, dated, and doesn’t convey the firm’s skills. Here's the home page:

The website doesn't look much like 2013, but firms update their websites when it's important to them, and I'm sure they'll call Fishman Marketing when they're ready for a major overhaul (right, Lynn...?) Regardless, I've never seen a website with this type of head shot for the lawyer biographies.

I especially like this one, because she starts with her back to the camera.

When I first saw them, I actually clicked on each biography multiple times to watch each little animation -- which speaks to how compelling I found them.

It occurred to me that there was a visual analogy to some classic Internet memes, below...

This one too...

I love this firm!

Visuals and videos (c) 2013 AHL law firm and Paramount Pictures.

Tell your firm's story with pictures. Like THIS. . . .

2013-04-05T10:28:00.000-05:00

THESE pictures are worth 1,000 words.

Lorne MacLean is likely British Columbia’s top consumer lawyer. He grew his family law practiceinto one of Vancouver’s largest and finest practices (remember our award-winning wedding cake ad?), then diversified into other areas, including e.g. personal injury, criminal defense, and estate litigation.

Here are the two visuals we developed to describe his Estate Litigation practice, designed to grab the viewers’ attention and convey the complicated family issues which often cause clients to contact his firm.

Here, two interlopers are inserted between the patriarch and the family's inheritance, i.e.:

a young trophy wife, and
a pampered pet.

It’s funny, but according to Lorne, they're unfortunately common occurrences, and he is seeing more of it in certain geographic and ethnic markets he is targeting.

And as a savvy marketer with a team of professionals who skillfully handle these issues, he asked us to develop an eye-catching advertising and marketing campaign and separate practice-specific micro-website to stay ahead of the issue, below.

Is your website a 24/7 cheap suit?

2013-03-31T11:20:00.001-05:00

A lawyer I know is obsessive about his appearance.

He wears $2,000 Italian suits, starched white shirts with French cuffs, and has a personal shoe-shine guy come to his office every few days. He drives a highly polished 7-series Mercedes he'll only park indoors, and he hired a renowned interior decorator to ensure his office is perfectly appointed. His mahogany desk could have small planets orbiting around it.

He clearly understands the power of appearing successful.

After meeting him, I looked him up online and found a seven-year-old, poorly designed, template website, with stock photos of columns, handshakes, and other typical marketing cliches.

: The "Before" version of the home page.

Seriously, guys, it's not that complicated. Your website is available 24/7/365. It's the first place people will go after meeting you the first time. It's how many of them will form or reinforce their impression regarding the quality of your practice. They routinely admit that a bad website can remove a law firm from consideration.

If you wouldn't wear a leisure suit or sit on beat-up furniture, consider - are you still using a "flea market" website?

Here's the website of ThompsonMcMullan - one of Richmond, Virginia's top law firms. Outstanding lawyers with an incredible client-service orientation. Their clients say they go the extra mile every time. Trust me, I talked to a bunch of them. They're Richmond's Meritas firm, so you know they've been thoroughly vetted, inside and out. The Marketing Director, Amy Smith, is one of LMA's national leaders. I could go on, but you see where I'm going here.

And when Amy called us to redo their branding and website, this green version is what their website looked like. It was probably terrific when it was launched, but design changes fast online, and firms must ensure that their website validates the high-quality skills prospects suspect that you have when visiting your site to double check.

So we quickly identified outrageous client service as their brand message, designed an eye-catching visual platform supporting it, and developed a robust WordPress website that showcased all the good things about them. A firm this good deserves to look like it. Below shows the "After" version, along with other elements from the marketing and branding campaign.

Now, with the branding materials supporting them, all of their lawyers' marketing efforts work just that much better. Ahhh, doesn't a new suit make you feel better? More confident? Of course it does.

C'mon, isn't it time you gave Fishman Marketing a call?

We'll fix your website right up.

"College on a Raft" and Law Firm Marketing.

2013-03-22T20:12:00.000-05:00

My third son, Jonathan, is a high school junior. Darn smart kid, he's getting all sorts of daily mail from colleges all over the US. Good ones, great ones, many I've never heard of.

Piles of college mail arrive every day, all offering the same thing. Smiling students -- sitting under trees, playing Frisbee on The Quad, attentively following a fascinating lecture in a small-classroom environment, challenging them to achieve more at their school.

Higher Education has its own tired cliches, just like the legal profession's columns, gavels, handshakes, skylines, and smiling lawyers.

Here are two of the mailers that arrived in today's pile:

Which one interested you? Today, for perhaps the very first time, something grabbed my attention. The one below, an oversized postcard from The College of St Benedict / St John's University.

Finally, a school that understands that they're in the business of Marketing, not just Education.

I'm not going to notice how highly ranked you are, or what your faculty-to-student ratio is, or how beautiful your campus is -- until you grab my attention and tell me a story.

Here's the front of the postcard:

Crazy, right? College classes on a raft?

I'll bet you want to learn more.

I'll bet you'd like to flip it over and see what this is, why they're floating in the middle of nowhere. How they got ON that raft - did they swim there?

Exactly. They're telling you a STORY.

Good marketing tells a story. It grabs your attention, intrigues you, separates itself from the pack, then tells you a compelling narrative. It makes you want to learn more. It makes you remember them. And that's hard.

But that's when it works. Someone at St Benedict knows what they're doing. They knew their first challenge is not getting thrown out with that day's junk mail. And on that score alone, this mailer is a big success.

They have an entire section dedicated to Raft U.

It's a great hook. I like these guys. I like this school. But I didn't ten minutes ago. Now I feel like I know something about them, something I like.When you go to the website, the raft is not on the home page, which is a shame, but a quick search turns up a bunch of links to "Raft U." Click here for the link. Or go here to take the tour. The online banner ad is here in the margin.

How often do actually they hold classes on this raft? I'm guessing the answer is "Almost never." But that's not the point. The point is, I wouldn't have looked at St Benedict's mailer until they forced me to.

So my question to you is:

Does YOUR firm's marketing grab your audience's attention?

Force them to read your website? Tell a story?

If it doesn't then trust me, it's not working.

See more of their dozens of examples below.

Make your firm's marketing that compelling, and watch the magic happen.

Don't you want to see more? Learn more?

Update - Jonathan just showed me two more oversized postcards that grabbed his attention, a clever two-part series from Kenyon College, below. One has an illustration of Kenyon alumnus Paul Newman, with his story on the reverse, and another caricature of Albert Einstein. Nice job, Kenyon.

'I'm Not an Expert, but I Think...' The Challenge of Client Pitches.

2013-03-18T00:23:00.000-05:00

In this brilliant one-minute clip (click here), "Mad Men" captures how Pitch Meetings can go tragically wrong. And this is true in any industry or area -- definitely including law and professional-services firms.

Here, helpful ad executive Peggy Olson (Elizabeth Moss) has been persuaded to bring her significant talents to a middle-school dance flyer. She pitches professional-quality creative work to the dance committee -- two classic church ladies.

... who suggest changes. De-provements, of course.

This hilariously painful excerpt shows precisely what happens when the client is not in a position to make a good decision. (Peggy’s reaction shots are priceless.)

These old ladies (i.e. the event's "Marketing Committee") have no experience, are not the target audience, and don’t recognize how good her work is. But of course, they have no compunction about insisting upon significant revisions. And once the first one expresses a concern, the second one jumps on board, and the priest enables it. It's classic Marketing Committee behavior.

Of course, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, which to them feel entirely valid -- regardless of their lack of expertise or foundation.

Here, Peggy wasn’t able to persuade her “clients,” the church ladies, that they should accept her opinion as the expert. Clients won't simply "take your word for it." I’ve never met a lawyer who would say, “I hate it, but you’re the expert, so we’ll do what you recommend.”

In fact, they shouldn't -- it's our job as the subject-matter experts to provide them with the education necessary to make an informed decision. It takes a lot longer, but I think it's one of the most-important steps in the process.

An educated client is the best kind. That is, if we actually have the right answer, the solution to their problem, then someone who is sufficiently educated should recognize that and get on board. So it's our job to teach them, to put them in a position to make a good decision. And once they're educated, only then should we show them what we’re recommending.

Fortunately, lawyers learn fast. My mantra is, “Lawyers get it the first time, they just haven’t had the class.”

That’s why when we pitch a new marketing campaign or creative platform for a new website, I insist on being able to give them a PPT presentation in which I give them the education they need before showing them anything we’ve developed.

The education only takes ~20 minutes - but it’s often the most-important 20 minutes they’ll spend in their marketing committee that year.

It’s what enables us to turn the website from an online brochure no one will read or care about, into something that helps them take over the world.

From Season Two.

Here's Proof that Marketing is More Important than Technology.

2013-03-08T01:24:00.001-06:00

You meet someone at a party or conference and she seems smart and skilled. So you get her card and do the next thing people do, you visit her firm’s website. Then you see this home page:

Does she still seem as smart as you originally thought? What do you think about this firm? Are the lawyers tough? Smart? Skilled? Is this the firm that’s sure to win the bet-the-company case? What does their lobby look like? What type of building are they in? They call themselves "A top litigation defense firm." Do you believe them?

What schools do you think they recruit from? Ivy League or the local city schools? Are they dynamic and creative, or are they average, dull, boring, nothing-special? Is this an A-tier firm? Or perhaps a B- or C-tier firm?

Think - Do you have an opinion? I’ll bet you do.

Now look at this home page. Same questions:

Is this firm smart or average? Strong or weak? Skilled or mediocre? Dynamic or dull? The real question is - DO YOU HAVE AN OPINION?

Because if you have an opinion, then we can agree that marketing works.

Because it’s the same firm,just before and after the marketing makeover. So, if you thought that one firm was better, smarter, tougher, or more skilled than the other, then you have been subconsciously influenced by its marketing. You don't know these lawyers, but you still couldn't help but have an opinion regarding their respective quality.

Compare the two home pages below - see the point?

Both sites work just fine, but what made the difference was the Marketing. Hedrick Gardner is an outstanding litigation-oriented firm. But whatever feeling you have regarding its reputation and skill wasn't created by the technology, you were influenced by the marketing. Candidly, today, every agency offering websites to law firms provides roughly similar technology -- because we’ve all created features in response to law firm demands.

The suite of WordPress features and functionality that we’ve developed for law firms is extraordinarily comprehensive. Of course, NO client has ever said, “We’re hiring your firm because your website’s technology is superior.” However, clients routinely admit to excluding from consideration law firms whose websites convey a sense of mediocrity. That's just their perception. And perception is created by Marketing. You can see the entire marketing campaign here.

Looking to upgrade your firm's image, reputation, or website?

Contact Ross Fishman at Fishman Marketing today!

ross@fishmanmarketing.com, +1.847.432.3546.

CBS News anchor Scott Pelley thanks Jones Day.

2013-03-03T13:44:00.001-06:00

I always thought this was one of the best examples of opportunistic and strategic marketing by a major law firm.

Jones Day's Washington DC office apparently has a great view overlooking the US Capitol, because whenever there's a major DC event, CBS News broadcasts from Jones Day's building. And every time they do, CBS publicly acknowledges the firm:

"And with the thanks to the Jones Day law firm for this incomparable view of the Capitol, I'm Scott Pelley..."

According to Cherie Olland, Jones Day's terrific CMO, CBS has "a permanent installation on the roof of our building."

Brilliant marketing by Jones Day. The firm gets recurring visibility with a huge national audience connecting them to major national events. They look successful because of CBS's implication that the building is in an extremely expensive location.

They likely have a carefully drafted and approved sign-off line, which subconsciously anoints the firm with the integrity and credibility of CBS News anchor Scott Pelley, who I think is among the best in the business, or whatever other CBS News broadcaster identifies them.

One recent example was the broadcast of President Obama's 2012 inauguration. You can watch the brief clip here.

Awful law firm names and initials: Small names act bigger.

2013-02-17T14:57:00.005-06:00

Lawyers love having their names in the logo. Hey, who wouldn't? It's the gold star, the brass ring, the highest honor law firms bestow, our industry's Oscar. But it can get ridiculous, as over time more and more names get added for personal or ego-driven, not strategic reasons.

Firms with more than one or two name have to abbreviate the name somehow, for simple comprehensibility. Some choose to do so with initials. Don't get me started on how silly it is to use a meaningless jumble of letters instead of selecting a simple word that people can actually remember.

Here's “Ross's Rule on Law Firm Initials”:

"Unless you're DLA, don't use initials in your name or logo."

(OK, K&L Gates too. But we're still on the fence about "V&E" outside of Texas.) Here's an example of a firm where someone needs to have a hard conversation with 6 or 7 of its partners:

Really, guys?

When firms' names are this cumbersome, too often they elect to use some or all of their initials as the name or logo, resulting in this type of awkward design. This is just silly. No one refers to them as "S-M-R-L." Or even worse, as "Smerl."

I don't know these guys, I've heard that they're fine lawyers, but I'll bet $1 that they're known locally as either "Syprett" or "Syprett Meshad." After that, the rest of the names are just annoying static.

Below is a logo we redesigned as part of a pretty cool rebrand and website for a terrific New Orleans-based firm with a lot of names. The two logos are the same width, but one stands out and the other doesn't.

Before:

After:

Take a step back from your computer and tell me which one(s) you can still read. It took real strength of character and a long-term commitment to the firm for the last four names to suppress their egos and let "Lugenbuhl" stand out. This isn't easy. Good for them.

Of course, I never recommend shortening the actual name of the firm. The design change does not in any way suggest that Mr. Lugenbuhl was a better person or smarter lawyer, or otherwise more valuable than the others -- his name was simply the first one on the door. And fortunately it was strong, unique, and memorable -- a good name to use.

Most outsiders don't really think of the firm name as a person, it's just a word - the Company Name.

Rodger Wheaton is a great guy and a terrific lawyer, but for obvious reasons, no one calls the firm "Lugenbuhl Wheaton." Why? Because "Lugenbuhl" is a strong enough name standing alone that everyone subconsciously chooses to stop there. The logo change is just agreeing with the marketplace's decision. Being a strategic guy, Rodger, the managing partner, understood the argument, and helped advocate the issue internally.

Harry Beckwith framed this issue beautifully in What Clients Love:

“The human brain rejects names of more than four syllables, and abbreviates them. The brain turned Harley Davidson into Harley.

"To fit into all but the largest print ads, long names must be printed in small type. Shorter names can be printed in far more conspicuous type and ensure the ad does what today’s marketing must - make their name more familiar.

"Small names act bigger."

It's what Ries and Trout call "The No-Name Trap" in another of my favorite marketing books, "Positioning: The Battle for The Mind." If your firm has this same long-name issue, read Chapter 10 of this book (see below), or just contact me (at +1.847.432.3546 or ross@fishmanmarketing.com) and I'll talk you through how to safely handle the process and pitfalls.

Here's one more example, one of my favorite law firm rebrands, including logo, website, print ads, and brochure campaign from a few years ago for a dynamic litigation boutique. It's pretty clear, isn't it?

So? How's your logo looking?

Now THIS is how to launch a website!

2013-02-04T22:32:00.000-06:00

When launching a new brand or website, I think it's time for a party.

Some firms launch via memo from the marketing committee or managing partner. What a wasted opportunity! When we launched Hedrick Gardner's new marketing campaign and website, their internal team really took it up a notch. Here's the story:

Recently I wrote about the launch of the Hedrick Gardner "We Don't Blink" campaign (See "Smoothing a litigation firm's sharp edges"), an aggressive new marketing campaign, ad campaign, and website for one of North Carolina's top litigation firms. Using a few inexpensive-but-impactful materials and giveaways, the in-house marketers created a series of festive events in three different offices that really helped get their people on board with the brand.

The marketing message is aggressive and shows that the lawyers are strong, tough, and confident trial lawyers, rather than paper-pushing "litigators."

The tag line is "We Don't Blink." Trust me, they don't.

On the left, below, is an example of the strong tough-lawyer visuals, the firm's dynamic managing partner, Mel Garofalo -- one of the region's top trial lawyers.

They look strong and confident; we spent a little more to get a great photographer. But the roll-out party showed their collegial culture as well. When shooting 15 different branding photos for the home page, the terrific photographer had the brains and expertise to shoot some candids as well.

Good photographers shoot what they're told.

Great photographers see a great photo and take it.

When rolling out a new logo, website, or marketing campaign, we typically recommend printing the marketing materials on the cakes (described here), which we recommended to the firm's creative in-house marketers, Alyson Willis and Sara Snavely. They took this a step farther, using the candids on the cakes -- dynamic and charming Managing Partner Mel Garofalo grabbing his tie next to top partner Martha Surles.

On the Wilmington office's launch-party cake, managing partner Erica Lewis is shown doubled over laughing.

(She burst out laughing right after shooting her "tough" photo, and the savvy photographer captured it.)

And, in the Raleigh office, a little Photoshop and frosting showed the Raleigh office's new and former managing partners, Jeff Doyle and Tom Buckley, parodying 21 Jump Street.

Then they blew up the Mel-and-Erica shot and cut out the faces to shoot Comic Foreground photos. How many managing partners would agree to that? But it added to the festivity and boosted morale - and that's the point. Smart.

They also handed out cool "We Don't Blink" sunglasses:

We launched the site in three offices, starting with a PPT presentation in which I explained the rationale and process behind our work, to get the entire firm educated and bought in. The more people understand the brand, the more they get on board.

The net effect was terrific parties in all offices that helped all personnel buy into the brand, with enthusiastic and well-received speeches by the managing and marketing partners to help boost morale and camaraderie.

Smoothing a litigation firm’s sharp edges.

2013-01-25T00:26:00.000-06:00

When launching an aggressive marketing campaign and website for a top litigation firm, we wanted them to be perceived as tough and strong, but still approachable. Here’s how we walked that fine line, without weakening the campaign:

Hedrick Gardner is one of North Carolina’s top litigation firms — 100 lawyers with hard-core trial skills.They resolve their clients’ business, worker’s comp, and insurance matters efficiently, but are quite happy to pick a jury when the case or situation merits it.

Many commercial litigators are terrified to go to trial (I worked with many of them back when I was a litigator myself). Deep down, they’re more likely to settle on the courthouse steps, to avoid going to trial. Their willingness to take a case to trial gives Hedrick Gardner clients a big advantage. This led to the “We Don’t Blink” tag line, and a variety of analogous headlines, like “We never back down from a fight.”

Here’s the new home page:

I love this firm and the campaign.

With art photography and in-your-face headlines, we show that the Hedrick Gardner lawyers are strong, tough, skilled, and confident. Marketing Communications Coordinator Alyson WIllis (a wedding photographer herself) and Marketing Event Coordinator Sara Snavely supervised the chosen photographer to ensure the lawyers’ expressions walked a fine line – powerful, but not jerks.

Fearless, but not mean. Direct, but not harsh. This is important because we want to show prospects that they’re also friendly and approachable.

That is, you sure don’t want to oppose them at trial, but you’d be happy to grab a beer with them after work.

Here’s Tonya’s strong, confident, branding photo for the home page:

So, to reduce any possibility that the home page banners might convey to prospects that the lawyers are harsh, we asked them to smile in their biography photos, to show their genial personalities. You know, just in case.

Here’s Tonya’s friendly headshot:

See the point?

Here are some juxtaposed comparisons, below:

We think these materials are pretty powerful – dramatic and eye catching, but still appropriate for a law firm that had not done any previous marketing of this type. This is a pretty big first step.
Nice job, guys.

The Book of Mormon and Target Law Marketing.

2013-01-18T17:22:00.000-06:00

We saw the Book of Mormon recently and really enjoyed it.

We also saw an especially good example of carefully targeted and executed marketing -- a lesson many law firms could benefit from.

My wife, a former musical theater singer/dancer, always ensures that we arrive early to read the Playbill and see who she knows in the show.

Here's the interesting part -

There were three consecutive right-side, full-page ads in the short program, each one with attractive smiling young person and a clever, tongue-in-cheek headline - "You've seen the play ... now read The Book." "The Book is always better." And "I've read The Book."

Then you can use an app on your smart phone to scan the QR code at the bottom of each ad (here's how it looks on my iPhone):

... that links to a website with more information about LDS:

Great idea, great marketing.

Here's the point:

Law firms too often take the obvious route, e.g. advertising in the local business publication or magazines dedicated to corporate counsel. These are often good ideas -- but it helps to look past them as well. Dig deeper. Consider creative solutions. Think about where your targets go, what they read, what they attend.

Some creative marketer at a meeting in Salt Lake City must have said, "You know, I have a crazy idea - why don't we become the primary advertiser for 'The Book of Mormon' Playbills?"

You'd have to imagine that the LDS community was already discussing what position they should take regarding the show.

I'm glad they took the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach.

Smart.

I love the fork in your firm's logo.

2013-01-14T09:39:00.000-06:00

I pulled this out of the archives from a couple years ago, but thought it was worth a quick look.

While clearly not seeking to win a Most Creative Card Design competition, Verrill Dana's simple 2010 holiday card design informs recipients that the firm is donating to the United Way and its "food-based assistance programs." A good cause and a warm sentiment for the holidays.

Frankly, what I like best about the card is how the firm creatively and festively modified the logo to reinforce this message, below.

It's clever, supports the holiday message, and is thoroughly in keeping with the holiday. Little creative touches like that can turn a typical card into something unique and much more interesting.

Bonus points to Marketing Director Gretchen Johnson!

While branding purists would consider a logo sacrosanct and untouchable, I opt for a more practical philosophy. Here, without messing up the design, they've temporarily made the firm name more memorable. Nike does this regularly, Here and here are a couple interesting examples, although I'm not sure who created them.

Even McDonald's is changing its logo temporarily in Australia to use its Aussie nickname ("Maccas") to celebrate Australia Day.

We didn't design this card, but we like it a lot. On a separate note, if you guys ever want to see how to develop a campaign for a firm whose first name is Virile, give me a call . . .

;-)

Drinker Biddle’s Clever Holiday Card.

2013-01-10T23:55:00.000-06:00

Holiday cards are tricky. Law firms want to be creative and memorable, while needing to avoid anything marketing-oriented, religious, or clichéd (no snowy skylines, children’s artwork, pine trees, etc.).

We must cut through the clutter without risking offending people. It’s a fine line, and most firms err on the side of boring. Here’s a link to my historical screed on this subject; I really hate bad holiday cards. (Or see “Your Law Firm’s Lame Holiday Card.”)

Many of you will know Drinker Biddle & Reath,the 650-lawyer national law firm. I received their folding holiday card and thought it was simple and clever. Here’s the cover:

Drinker Biddle & Reath has a fortuitous name (Reath/Wreath), something they can safely use in this holiday context.

Puns and word-play are more difficult than people realize; it’s easy to do them ham-handedly, like a sharp elbow in the ribs (“Get it? Huh? Get it? Reath? Wreath? Funny, huh? Right?”). Ugh.

A gentle touch is preferable, and I think this design hits just the right tone. Nice job, CMO John M. Byrne and the DBR marketing team.

Full disclosure, Drinker Biddle is a client of Fishman Marketing, although we did not design this card.

Branding, websites, and photo-quality frosting.

2013-01-06T21:53:00.002-06:00

When launching a new marketing campaign, it’s time for a party!

Law firms aren’t especially fun environments, so we shouldn't waste the opportunity to celebrate good news, like the launch of a new brand identity, ad campaign, or website. You can celebrate anything if you set your mind to it.

Whenever we launch a new marketing campaign, we try to arrange an educational presentation, to teach everyone the message and the rationale for it - how it’s going to help the firm achieve its strategic objectives and build a bright new future for everyone. The better they understand it, the more likely they are to support it over the long term.

And we follow up the educational session with a rollout party, to make it even more tangible and meaningful -- and every party needs a couple sheet cakes.

And with new edible-ink technology, we always reproduce the new logo or ads in photo-quality, high-res frosting. Most grocery store chains and bakeries can create these with special edible-ink printers. Above are two of the cakes from the branding rollouts for "Large yet Agile" Hawley Troxell.

My favorite example was marketer extraordinaire Caroline Berger at Novack and Macey, who had the "Small but Mighty" cakes made out of fondant! Here's the Tepin pepper cake, which matched one of the primary ads. (We also served some VERY hot salsa at the party, to fit the pepper ad.)

Beautiful and delicious:

Opryland’s 24 MPH speed limit - and your website statistics.

2013-01-03T00:15:00.000-06:00

Opry Mills, the mega-mall outside of the Grand Ole Opry, has a curious 24 MPH speed limit.

It caused us to wonder about it. Why 24 instead of the typical 25? We came up with three possible explanations, and ultimately a thought about its relevance to law firm website statistics.

1. It’s a fun conversation starter.

Printing "24" instead of "25" cost them no additional money, but generates a lot of conversation. That's good marketing.

2. It’s eye-catching.

This means you think about it more, and possibly obey it more closely.

3. Specificity is credible.

To a driver, “25 MPH” could mean “30” or maybe even “35.” But “24 MPH” means - “Drive EXACTLY 24!” It’s like telling someone to meet you for lunch at 11:57 instead of Noon.

Here’s the connection -

In their websites, a surprising number of law firms use the “more than” or “over” modifiers, as in “Our more than 53 lawyers....”

I know many of us went to law school because we couldn’t do math, but “more than 53” is 54!

If you’re going to estimate or round up a figure, it must be a big round number, typically one that ends in a five or zero, or is a multiple of ten or 25. You can safely have “more than 25” practice areas, or “over 1000” lawyers.

That is, you can have “more than 250 lawyers,” but you can’t have “more than 251.”

Make sense?

;-)

We'll miss you, Judi.

2013-01-01T12:15:00.000-06:00

Legal Marketing lost a kind and loving person this week, Judi Weingarz.

A pillar in Chicago's LMA community for decades, she was most recently the Director of Marketing at the Interlex Group.

Judi was wonderful - smart, hard working, creative, tough, and fun. She had a wry sense of humor, and a no-nonsense attitude that made working with her a pleasure, and being her friend a joy.

She deeply loved her family and spoke of them often.

Judi touched countless lives at home and around the world; she’ll be truly and sincerely missed.

White Castle Sliders and Law Firm Tag Lines.

2012-12-28T10:29:00.005-06:00

One of history's most-common law firm tag lines is "Committed to Quality" or its general equivalent. Committed to quality service, committed to quality representation, committed to high-quality legal this or that.

I think we can all agree that if your law firm's tag line is truly differentiating, it shouldn't apply equally well to White Castle hamburgers. Now I've been a fan of Sliders since late-night college road trips, but I wouldn't want my law firm to emulate its marketing.

I'm just suggesting that if your unique and powerfully differentiating marketing theme could be used just as persuasively and credibly by an organization selling greasy 2.5-inch square burgers to the 2:00 am drive-up crowd, perhaps you should take another look at how differentiating it truly is?

This is how GOOGLE markets a seminar, baby.

2012-12-22T01:43:00.000-06:00

[NOTE - we're moving RossFishman.com to FishmanMarketing.com/blog-page soon!]

Many law firms send large numbers of seminar invitations, hoping to fill the seats. Of course, the goal should be quality rather than quantity – i.e. it’s better to have the right people rather than simply a lot of people. But quantity is much easier to execute – just send invitations to everyone.

You want to see how to increase the attendance at a conference?How to get the rapt attention of the right people? Go the extra mile and grab their attention. Intrigue them. If the targets are important, it’s worth spending more on the materials and taking the time to tailor them to the individual recipients.

Here’s a package that showed up in my mailbox. It caught my attention; it was the first thing I opened. I dedicated much more attention to it than anything else that arrived that day, and took the time to appreciate the creativity, hard work, and expense that went into it. It implicitly promised a program of real value.

First lesson – all the Hallmark research shows that “dimensional” mailers get opened first, before the letters. Of course I opened this box before the holiday cards and other flat envelopes. And the return address from Google made it even more interesting:
Opening the top, you see a black box and an envelope:

Let’s start with the box. It’s thick and very high quality:

The subtly embossed Google logo shows the elegant design:

Inside the box is a book by Guy Kawasaki, , one of my favorite creative marketers:

A mysterious quote engages the reader:

The enclosure letter sitting on top of the box is a folding card, beautifully printed, personalized with my first name on it. ”Ross, join us.”

It doesn’t say “Mr. Ross H. Fishman, join us.” or “Fishman, Ross, join us.” or the other misspellings or database errors which would convey that it’s junk mail or a faulty database. I’m feeling pretty special at this point.

Opening it, you find an invitation for a seminar hosted by Guy Kawasaki himself:

There’s also a personalized, hand-signed cover letter that is offering to sell me Google Engage for Agencies (“ a program that helps you master the art of online marketing”):

I’m going to take a look at the book over the holidays. We’ll see.

Either way, great job Google. I’m intrigued. I’m probably going to check out Engage as well.

Trust your sushi chef - and marketers

2012-12-08T17:20:00.001-06:00

I was in beautiful Vancouver, BC a little while ago, speaking to the Managing Partners' dinner of the BC Legal Management Association. After the program, one of the managing partners came up to me wanting to discuss his unsatisfactory experience with his marketing committee and their outside consultant.

It sounded like every committee member had his/her own personal agenda, and they trusted neither each other nor their outside expert. I turns out that I knew their consultant; he was a nice guy, both skilled and experienced, and I'd seen him help his clients become more successful. However, it quickly became clear to me that their lack of trust in him will make it nearly impossible to achieve any sort of gains.

[Fast forward a few hours.]

That evening, I got a Concierge recommendation for a nearby sushi restaurant, Kamei Royale. When eating sushi alone, as I often do while traveling for work, I make a practice of sitting at the sushi bar, which is where I've had most of my best sushi meals.

I arrived early and saw the head sushi chef skillfully preparing the basics, getting ready for the evening rush. The menu looked great, and I started with a Rainbow Roll, straight off the menu. I'd struck up a conversation with the chef named Uda, who was both interesting and charming, which is typical for the sushi chefs I've met.

I always request something special, whatever the chef enjoys making, or thinks I'd like -- a personal specialty that isn't on the menu. I explain my general food preferences, then place myself in their presumably capable hands. They always seem to enjoy the challenge and having someone trust their judgment and artistry.

Uda first prepared a tuna sushi, uniquely seared with a blowtorch then a dab of spicy sauce. He later offered a salmon-roe sushi which was wrapped with a beautiful strip of salmon instead of seaweed (pictured). In 30 years of eating sushi, I'd never seen it prepared that way.

Salmon roe sushi - wrapped in MORE salmon.

Everything was sensational.

So here's my point:
I love sushi, but I'm not an expert sushi chef. I want a good result, but I don't presume to know how to get there.

I simply select the best expert I can afford, explain the result I want, then place myself in their well-trained hands. Then I expect them to use their expertise to achieve my objectives. I don't micro-manage the preparation of each bite of sushi.

If they fail to perform, I try to figure out what went wrong, and see if they require additional guidance or support. If they simply can't perform, I fire them (i.e. I don't return to that restaurant). But if I'm not the expert, then I try to trust them until I learn that I shouldn't.

I've found that if I let them do their job, then I get better results.

It's the same with lawyers regarding their marketers, both in-house professionals and outside consultants. Hire the best experts you can afford, then trust them to do their job. Listen to their advice and give them the benefit of the doubt. Then, if it's not working, get different (or better) experts.

As I've said many times elsewhere, "Law firms get the marketing they deserve."

Find "Uda" at Kamei Royale in downtown Vancouver, above Tiffany's (604) 687 8588.

"Our website's from 2003. We suck." [Six-Word Stories]

2012-12-07T10:35:00.001-06:00

About a year ago, I asked readers and lawyers to write some "Six Word Stories" that relate to their daily lives, after hearing a story about them on NPR. I posted a few dozen - here's the link.

Here are another 30 stories. They're funny, clever, smart, and sad.

So? Can you tell your story in exactly six words?

When the economy improves, I'm gone.

-Our website isn't making us money

-Law school didn’t teach me shit.

-No one visits our boring blog.

-My life's work is being outsourced.

-I'm embarrassed by our firm's website.

-I'm not a very good lawyer.

Lost my job. Losing my family.

-I can't afford my student loans.

-I hope this gets fun soon.

-Would Abe Lincoln have sent "Tweets?"

"Social Media?" Twitter? LinkedIn? Facebook? AARGH!

-On-campus recruiting is a nightmare.

-"Go get clients?" You're the Partner!

-The plaintiff does the suing, right?

-I'm stuck in the library. Dying.

I padded my hours yesterday. <sigh>

-Can I meet an actual client?

-The stress of litigation's killing me.

- "Bring in clients?" Me? Not likely.

-I don’t know howto find clients.

-I lost my idealism in 2001.

-My firm's in the bottom half.

-I'd make Atticus Finch very sad.

-New job. Another new job. Repeat.

-I love Law. But I'm tired.

No one should bill 2,400 hours.

-Any job's a good job today.

-I work. My son plays. Alone.

-I've never seen a T-ball game.

-Our lawyers sexually harass the secretaries.

Would Abe Lincoln have sent “Tweets?”

-Let's all blame the marketing director.

-Our HR Department is a joke.

-I work harder than my associates.

-My partner [Joe] is a drunk.

Powerful stuff.

If you want to write some, I'll print them, with or without attribution.

BTW, we migrated our blog over to the FishmanMarketing.com website.
You can find it at: http://www.fishmanmarketing.com/blog-page/

Virgin litigators are the most experienced.

2012-09-19T23:14:00.002-05:00

Look, it’s not like Mark Virgin didn’t know his name is Virgin (imagine what his middle school years were like). Now he's a dynamic lawyer, helping stand up for the weak against the powerful. And he built a law firm to help.

We migrated the RossFishman.com blog to our new website. Please check it out at:

http://www.fishmanmarketing.com/blog-page/

The entire StevensVIRGIN campaign is online at:

www.fishmanmarketing.com/projects/stevensvirgin/

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK: A "Small but Mighty" firm.

2012-04-29T23:49:00.001-05:00

We recently wrote about Hawley Troxell, Idaho’s largest law firm, and the split-image campaign that showed that not only were they big, they were also fast and flexible. All true.

But how can smaller firms market themselves?
What if you're not the biggest firm? Or not big at all? What can small firms or boutiques use as their strategy, differentiator, or message? How can they compete against the large firms?

There can be a taint associated with smaller size, a perception that the larger firm is invariably the better firm. In America, bigger is better. The large firms have long been reputed to be more skilled, with the smarter lawyers. They paid more, had more specialties, and recruited from the top law schools. If you're the biggest firm, use that trait to your advantage.

Over time, for many legitimate reasons (e.g. lifestyle, autonomy, conflicts, culture), high-quality smaller firms evolved. They were smaller by choice. They offered an alternative for companies that didn’t want or need to hire a costly large firm.

The problem many small firms have isn't the quality of their skills, but the quality of their marketing.
With fewer dollars to spend, they often get sub-standard marketing that conveyed a low-quality message. That's a huge mistake. As I always say,“If you’re the smaller firm, you have less margin for error. You have more to prove, you have to do all the little things well, particularly in your marketing.”

An ugly website won't hurt Cravath.
It won't harm their reputation or prevent their lawyers from getting hired. They're Cravath - their skills aren't in question. But when you’re the smaller or less-well-known firm, you have to look at least as good as the big firms. Frankly, I think you need to look better.

This leads us to another of our favorite campaigns, Novack and Macey’s “Small but Mighty.” A small, high-end litigation boutique, they’re a big-firm spin-off that has chosen to stay small. But they successfully beat up on many big firms in court, when they’re not genially co-counseling clients with them.

Many small firms are insecure.
We've often heard small-firm clients insist “Don’t say we’re small!” As though if we didn't admit it, no one would notice. You're SMALL! Don't be embarrassed by it, OWN it. Leverage the positive attributes -- lean staffing, smaller teams, increased efficiency, more partner involvement, lower hourly rates -- there are lots of good messages in a small size.

Novack and Macey likes being small.
They were completely confident in the high quality of their skills. Led by two of Chicago's top trial lawyers, Stephen Novack and Eric Macey, they had chosen to be small, it was their foundational strategy and business model. We selected "Small but Mighty" (yeah, they got the double entendre, get over it...) as the tag line, and illustrated it with things from nature that were disproportionately powerful for their size. Nature's crazy - we identified a lot of other cool examples.

The first one's above, a Tepin pepper. It's tiny, the size of a pea, but it's possibly the world's hottest pepper. It's a nice metaphor for Novack and Macey's trial lawyers. Small, but extremely powerful. When we were hired to develop the branding campaign, they had just finished a brand-new website with a different company, so we simply redesigned the existing home page to add this campaign (above).

In an ideal world we'd have developed a new website around the new campaign. But realistically, it wasn't worth starting over; this was a simple and cost-effective solution.

With a strong campaign, we worked with their terrific Marketing Partner, Monte Mann, to develop a variety of additional tools, including, e.g. buying wild Tepin peppers from Mexico and private-labeling them, sending out 2500 packets to the firm's contacts, with a spicy salsa recipe and all the necessary "Don't touch your eyes!" haz-mat warnings. A fun and effective giveaway, many years later these are still sitting on executive credenzas all over Chicago.

For the launch party, a brave partner and marketing committee member, John Shonkweiler, agreed to EAT one of the hot peppers, to help generate a front-page story in the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin:

With this theme, we identified plenty of other visuals, which we explored throughout the campaign. I'll detail them later, stay tuned. And if your firm is ready for an integrated marketing campaign, website, or social media/SEO, give us a call! ross@fishmanmarketing.com or 1.847.432.3546.

"Client Service. It's Our Thing." website

2012-04-23T11:48:00.003-05:00

ThompsonMcMullan is an interesting Richmond, VA firm, and we’ve been looking for an opportunity to work with Amy Smith, among our favorite marketers, and one of LMA’s most-loyal leaders and volunteers.

We know how clients value high-quality service.
Clients have complained for decades that their lawyers don't return their calls quickly enough, or stay in sufficiently close contact. Timeliness, responsiveness, communication, caring -- it's focusing on these service-related practices that cement a relationship and build long-term client loyalty.

If your firm excels at one or more of these service attributes, then broadcast it to the marketplace.

Become the alternative.
Show that when they're dissatisfied with the service of their current provider, they should move to your firm. And make sure that your marketing is strong enough to be both noticed and remembered.

So back to ThompsonMcMullan. Obviously highly skilled, they also happen to be an incredibly service-oriented firm. They have fewer layers, smaller dedicated client teams, and more top-level partner involvement. At TM, it’s not about the money, or increasing leverage and billing rates simply to maximize profitability. I really like these guys.

Led by Managing Director Chris Malone, ThompsonMcMullan lawyers pride themselves on their personal commitment to their clients -- this is the way law used to be practiced, when the client truly came first. I think Atticus Finch would have been happy practicing law here.

Therefore, we developed a campaign that spoke to the unique lengths they go to serve their clients, including print ads and a small firm brochure. The headline "We do whatever it takes." speaks to their commitment. And the "Client service. It's our thing." tagline casually but memorably reinforces their message.

They didn't want to get locked into a developer's proprietary software, so we built an open-source WordPress website to support it.

The exaggerated visuals show the lengths their lawyers go to help clients -- working in a swamp, forest, or tent; or jumping out of a plane.

We tested the home page design using Eye-Tracking technology.

We saw that visitors were reading our message, which was important, but the "We do whatever it takes" headline didn’t grab quite as much attention as we’d wanted, so we bumped up the point size.

More visuals:

Looking for a new website, updated marketing campaign, or cutting-edge social media? Call Fishman Marketing! +1.847.432.3546 or ross@fishmanmarketing.com.