How digital marketing can help law firms improve client acquisition and engagement initiatives

1. eDynamic
Lead Gen
Engine in Law
Firms
eDynamic, Monday, February 17, 2014
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2. Topics
1. Stages of Demand Generation in Law firm
2. The New Buying Journey
3. Content Marketing Engages Buyers
4. Marketing Automation – The Key to
Success
5. Measurement and optimization
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eDynamic, Monday, February 17, 2014

3. Did you know?
 78% of Internet users conduct product research online
before approaching a law firm
 The number of blogs published by the AmLaw 200 law
firms has grown nearly 420% in a period of last one year
 41% increase in corporate clients and 67% increase in
customer acquired through Facebook and LinkedIn
 78% of CMOs think content is the future of marketing.
[Source : Demand Metric]
 93% of B2B Marketers use content marketing. Only 42%
believe they‘re effective with it! Only 44% have a
documented content strategy [Source : Marketing Profs]
 Companies that spend more than 50% of their lead
generation budget on inbound marketing report a
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4. What is Demand Generation used for…
Demand generation focus in law firms is not only on new
clients but also influencing/growing relationships with
existing clients
Sources of Leads..
Investments are heavy in SE
and Email lists
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Source: incisive media corporate market research
eDynamic, Monday, February 17, 2014

5. But is it working?
According to eMarketer, 39% of marketers are not happy with
conversion. Spend is $23 B, conversion is low – 3%
 Buyers have too many options - very
little time to select and convert
 Sites offer confusing and irrelevant
content
 Simply increasing traffic is not the
answer
 Lack of multi-channel engagement
 Website and email automation/CRM
not integrated
 Not enough focus on conversion
 Spend of cost to traffic to conversion is
92:1 (source: Omniture)
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6. Most prospects are finding you through your Web site, which leaves them in
control of the conversation.
Web Sites are not driving
conversion like they should
 Legal Websites are static
information repositories;
 It is hard to find information
on legal websites - prospect
searches your site until they
either find the information
they want/need, or they
leave;
 Websites tend to be
everything to everyone
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 There is little use of
intelligence
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7. Email, Web and Mobile
channels don’t work together
to engage prospects
 Messaging that is not
consistent across channels
that confuse the prospect
 Technologies don’t work
together
 Data is siloed for channels
and don’t work together to
drive conversion
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8. Quality of leads is Poor
 Lead to customer
conversion is difficult
 Which leads to focus on
 Friction between sales and
marketing – they say its all
junk!
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9. Lead Quality
There has been in a shift from demand for ―more leads‖ to
demand for ―better leads.‖ This is the key challenge facing
B2B marketers today
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Most Significant Challenges for B2B Marketers to Overcome Today
eDynamic, Monday, February 17, 2014

10. Lead Quality
Lack of tracking and a lead scoring model in law firms
makes it extremely difficult to track quality of leads
There is no tracking
and….
Everything counts as a
lead
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Source: incisive media corporate market
research, 2009

11. Marketing and business development
gap
Marketing and business development are not playing the
same game, leading to a strong negative impact to lead
generation
 Marketing gets no respect –
―marketers are just a bunch
of party planners, they cant
help me sell‖ - Attorney at a
leading law firm
 In a survey conducted by
Bloom group, 57% of law
firms reported in the survey
were not working off the
same timeline of demand–
creation activities most or all
of the time.
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 Result - Only 31% said they
were highly or very highly
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12. Do you just
want leads?
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13. Yes..you do want
leads
But you also
want
to Nurture
Relationships
…
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14. Focusing your efforts on what matters
Understanding your client‟s journey
It‘s not enough to identify the decision makers in
an organization. For marketing and business
development activities to be effective, companies
need to focus on those points in the decision
journey where they can be most successful
in influencing those decision makers.
McKinsey & Company, 2013
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15. Digital marketing needs to wrap
around the Buying Lifecycle to
improve acquisition
If your marketing efforts are able to influence the buying
lifecycle, you will have a large influence on the client win
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16. The New Informed Buyer drives the sales
process!
95% of the recent B2B purchasers said the provider they
chose ―provided them with ample content to help navigate
through the buying journey  Publishing and social media
has fostered an ongoing
dialogue among peers, and
Web 2.0 tools have enabled
B2B buyers to be well-versed
on services before they have
their first conversation with a
firm
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
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Firms must direct and guided
prospects through the buying
phases of their decisions

17. Buyer 2.0
How people want to sell rarely aligns with how buyers are
choosing to buy
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Source: marketing Sherpa B2B benchmarking
report

18. The New Client
- Better informed
- Starts the buying
process
- Has many options
- Decides where to
engage
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19. Client-centric Engagement Across
Channels with clients consistently and with relevant information at all touchEnsure you engage
points driven by measurable insight. Integrated technology will impact seamless
engagement
Have you solved
similar problems?
Website
Email
Email
Marketing
Social and
Community
eDynamic, Monday, February 17, 2014
Mobile
360 Degree
Client Insight
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20. The old sales process is not as effective
anymore
A mismatch between buying and selling processes can lead
to salespeople trying to close deals with prospects who are
not ready to buy
Capturing the prospect‟s online footprint allows the sales team to understand where in the buying cycle the
prospect is, and plan interactions accordingly
Leads deemed not to be “sales worthy” should be passed back to marketing. These are usually qualified
prospects who simply aren„t ready to purchase - yet
Buying
Market
Education
Recognize
Opportunity
Problem
Defined
Evaluate
Options
Select Best
Option
Negotiate
Purchase
gap
Target
Prospects
Qualify
Prospects
Value
Proposition
Submit
Proposal
Close
Fulfill
Sales
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“Customers’ buying processes have evolved in our world of
ubiquitous, instant, global communication … but companies’ marketing &
selling processes have for the most part stayed the same.”
- Thomas Stewart, Editor, Harvard Business Review
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21. Buying Lifecycle
Understanding the buying lifecycle and wrapping your
processes and tactics around the buying lifecycle will enable
you to drive acquisition
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Sample buying process by Bloom Group
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22. Execute initiatives across the buying
lifecycle
The buying lifecycle provides direction to your digital
marketing initiatives
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23. Example of a Buying lifecycle
In-house counsel (segment) in a
manufacturing firm searching for a firm
to handle an employee dispute
Need
Recognition
Information
Search
Evaluate
Alternatives
What type of
employment issues
do we have to
protect ourselves
against?
In-House
counsel –
Manufacturing
Industry
How do we solve
these problems
Shortlist providers
what risks are
exposed to?
What services are
necessary to
reduce our risk?
Evaluate Each one
Who is an expert in
this field? Who are
the providers out
there?
Deeply evaluate
preferred option
References
How have they
solved similar
problems
Build Relationship
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Decision
who in the firm is
the appropriate
attorney?
Is my attorney best
and the brightest?
Engagement
Other ongoing
issues - help with
corporate law
Research website
to find information
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24. The Digital marketing
strategies, messaging and capabilities will
target the Buying Lifecycle
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25. The Buying Lifecycle
- Marketing and business
development are aligned on how
to create opportunity
- Marketing‘s strategy, messaging
and capabilities are in-sync with
what buyers need
- Capabilities and technology can
be selected based on the strategy
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26. Client Life Cycle Marketing
Thinking about the your client‘s
journey will help you identify how to
engage them
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27. Key steps to take
Clients want you to meet them where
they are: not to change themselves to
comePrioritize objectives and Tailor your messaging:
to you
spending: Understand
which client touch
points deliver results
A single, generalized
message may is no
longer effective
Invest in client-driven
marketing: Deliver the
online tools the
facilitate decisions
Integrating all clientfacing activities: Bring
online together with
offline worlds
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28. Take Away
Focus on the buyer and their needs
and wrap marketing strategies and
activities across touch points of the
client journey that influence the
decisions to commit to your firm
 Marketers have traditionally looked at the beginning
or end of the journey—the lead generation or
engagement aspects.
 Marketers must now consider the entire journey
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29. Content
Marketing
Engages
Buyers
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30. The Value Exchange
LAW FIRM
CLIENT
Content
The firm continuously delivers
relevant content & establishes
its worth to the audience
The audience trusts the firm
enough to identify themselves &
grant permission for engagement
Jane Smith
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31. Content Strategy Target the buying
lifecycle
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32. Align Content to the Segmentation
Identify content that addresses customer expectations. Consider
buying cycle, segmentation, pain points and motivators
Understand your
Buying Cycle
Segment your
audience
Map the
Messages
Implement the
Platforms
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33. Types of Content to consider
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34. Adding the client‘s voice into content
It starts with LISTENING
Social Media
Channels
• Twitter hashtags #
• LinkedIn groups
• Relevant blogs
• Anywhere your
audience
is talking
Client
FAQs
What questions do
your partners and
associates hear
most often?
Incoming
Search Terms
What are the most
popular keywords
& phrases bringing
searchers to your
site?
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35. Influencer Engagement
There are
journalists &
bloggers being
followed by the
specific audiences
you want to reach.
Target these
influencers
to get your
content to their
audiences.
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36. Establish expert profiles for your
attorneys
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37. Content Syndication
CLIENTS &
POTENTIAL CLIENTS
ONLINE NEWS SITES
& DATABASES
MEDIA
OUTLETS
JOURNALISTS
SOCIAL MEDIA
PUSH TO
AUDIENCES
SEARCH
ENGINES
VIDEO
PORTALS
BLOGGERS
MOBILE
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38. Social Media Demand
Generation – the time is
now!
• Usage of Social Media is growing quickly. According to
a survey conducted by Lexis-Nexis in 2011 77% firms
are using Linked in, 31% Twitter and 29% Facebook –
only 8% have blogs
• 4 in 10 Law Firms Report Landing New Clients by
Using Social Media, According to ALM Legal
Intelligence Special Report
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39. Key Steps in leveraging Social Media
1) Display social
media accounts on
homepage
8) Short, original
YouTube videos
focused on problem
solving
7) Importance of
Linked In company
pages
2) Prominently
reference & link to
blogs on homepage
social
media
6) Be sure that
blogs focus on
specialty, niche
areas
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3) Use Twitter &
other accounts to
drive blog traffic
4) Try to tweet at
least once a day
5) Post questions
on Facebook &
Twitter to encourage
discussion
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40. SEO for Law firms
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41. SEO for Law firms
Show up on Google
 Google typically pulls the first
150 characters in a lawyer's bio
for the search results
Use the right words
 Be descriptive and
differentiating—what makes
you different
Do not forget the links
 In-bound and out-bound links
determine relevancy
 Link to pages within your
sites, or external
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42. Email Marketing nurturing strategy drives
prospect engagement
Average B2B Initial Lead Break-down
Moving people from
consideration to
commitment is the one of
the most important path of
the sales and buying process
Most leads need to be
nurtured!
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17.50%
Discard / disqualified
12.50%
70%
Sales-ready now
Longer-term opportunity /
worth nurturing
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Marketing Sherpa B2B Benchmarking Report

43. Engage with the audience to drive
engagement
Engage in a 1:1 DIALOGUE with your prospects; no more
‗spray and pray‘
The days of batch email marketing campaigns with low
response rates are over!
Execute mail dialogue campaigns -
Multi-step email campaigns based on thought leadership marketing can deepen
prospect relationships over time

Engage in 1:1 dialogue marketing capabilities that segment and deliver
personalized content

Track who opens and clicks on each email or who visited a specific webpage

Continuous Testing and Optimization coupled with targeted email marketing

Employ lead scoring to score opportunities and identify leads that are sales ready
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44. Event Marketing through email
automation
Digital marketing has a strong influence on event success. It is
critical to link offline with online marketing.
Do you promote your events aggressively? If so, how?
Email marketing is a key driver for events
- Introduction of event-specific landing pages and lead nurturing
campaigns, increased the event sign-up rate.
Report by Hubspot on tactics marketing rely on
most to drive event participation
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45. Lead Nurturing Model to drive Conversion
Approach to successful engagement through lead scoring
 Use a scoring system to
identify your segments
 Build a model
Actions that influence lead scoring mod
 Develop a Content Map
 Use Interactive channels
 Measure and Refine
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46. Effective Lead Nurturing-Example
Use a scoring system to identify your segments
Completed Poll
Low level of engagement
No
Disposition:
“Information
Search”
Lead Score: 20
No
Disposition:
“Evaluate Options”
Lead Score: 30
High level of engagement
(Low level of how much the lead wants
to talk to us)
No
Disposition:
“Information
Search”
Lead Score: 15
(High level of differentiation driving
purchase intent)
Yes
High level of
Profile Match
(High level of how
much we want to
talk to the lead)
The Buying Zone
The only leads we should be
feeding to the sales field
Download
Whitepaper
Yes
Low level of
Profile Match
Journey Includes
Contact Page
(Low level of how
much we want to
talk to lead)
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Yes
Disposition:
“Purchase Decision”
Lead Score: 40
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47. Measurement
and
Optimization
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48. The #1 way to improve
conversion…optimize!
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49. Test, Test and test some more!
Testing and optimizing is the most important strategy to improve lead
generation
-
Several capabilities in marketing's
hands
-
A/B, Analytics review and
Segmentation are must haves for B2B
marketers
-
53% said it was ―highly valuable‖ and
a further
-
42% said they believed it was ―quite
valuable‖.*
-
MVT is not widely used despite
effectiveness
-
If you do this – you will see
improvement
-
―The majority of client-side
respondents (70%) reported
improved conversion rates in the
past 12 months.‖ *eMarkerter
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50. Measuring and Delivering Actionable
Insights allows companies to accurately understand
Sound analysis
how their visitors
interact with their brand.
DEFINE Business Goals and
Strategies
DETERMINE Key Performanc
Indicators
DEPLOY Tracking
Implementation
DERIVE Impactful Data Driven
Insights
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DELIVER Actionable
Recommendations & Outcome
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51. Connect with us
www.edynamic.net
twitter.com/edynamic
contact@edynamic.net
youtube.com/1999dynamic
1-877-339-6264
facebook.com/edynamic.net
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eDynamic, Monday, February 17, 2014