Practic"ffi'

The Seven Habits of Unsuccessful Marketers

S A L L Y J S C H I / I I D T

ooking over the titles ofpopular business tomes,most seem to highlightsuccess strategies. There'sSeven Habits of Highly

Effective People, The One Minute Mqn-ager and The Millionaire Next Door toname a few. While we can learn byexploring success stories, it is some-times every bit as useful, if not more so,to review failures.

What makes a marketing initiativeor strategy unsuccessfirl? What activi-ties can be eliminated fiom your mar-keting effort? There are seven key mrs-takes made repeatedly by law firms.

Bad Habit #l: Doing lt On(eA law firm places a tombstone adabout its environmental expertise inone issue of a statewide bar journal,

hoping to solicit referrals. A tax prac-tice group hosts a one-time seminarfor accountants on emerging, contro-versial issues. An international practicegroup sends out one update on someproposed regulations. Each activity isthe first and last of its kind.

If your firm is looking to eliminatesomething from its marketing strategy,start with the activities for which thereis no follow-up or reinforcement. Ifyouplace one ad in one place, what are the

Sally l. Sdmidt (schmidtmarketing@msn.(om), prerident ofSchmidt Marketing, Inc, hascounseled ovel 225 law fmdientJdu ng the past 14yea6.she ha5 an MBA in ma*etingand was the il't pretident ofthe Legal l\.ia*eting Asrociation.

odds that targeted readers will see thatpage? They may skip the article printednear your ad, be on vacation when theissue comes out or simply put the jour-nal into a "to be read" box. Every goodmarketer knows that marketing resultsrequire reinforcement and follow-up.An effective advertising campaign re-quires at least six insertions.

Bad Habit #2: Reacting RatherThan ActingThe Chamber of Commerce wantsyour firm to sponsor a table at a dinnerevent. A local business publication ishighlighting real estate and suggeststhat your firm buy an ad. An employeebenefits consulting firm asks if youwould like to cosponsor a seminar.

Many law firm marketing effortsare completely reactive-they respondto requests and opportunities. Instead,your firm or practice groups should be

What makes amarketing initiative or

strategY unsu(cssful?

What adivities (an be

eliminated fron your

ma*eting effort? Here

are seven ley mi*akeslawfirms make timeand again.

44 Law Practice llanagenent . September 2000

planning. You should determine whatinitiatives make the most sense inpositioning the firm before its targetmarket. Evaluate real opportunitiesthat arise; but think proactively ratherthan simply writing a check whensomeone asks for it.

Bad Habit #3: CopyingYour CompetitionYour closest competitor is developinga "branding" campaign, so your firmwants one, too. They hired a market-ing director, so your firm hires one,too. They have an IP newsletter, so youstart one, too.

The problem is that truiy effectivemarketing stategies are customized to

a fumt situation and opportunities.The first one "to market" with a prod-uct or service gains a tremendousadvantage in the minds of consumers.Ifyour competitor is already hosting anannual business forum, you need tothink of something different to get onthe radar screens of the same audience.

Bad Habit #4: SettingUnrealistic ExpectationsYour firm hosts a seminar for 50human resources managers on laborand employment issues and half of theattendees are nonclients. After the pro-gram, your lawyers cornplain that theprogram wasrlt effective because nonew business was generated.

You need to be sure that what youexpect from a particular initiative oreffort is realistic. In this example, get-ting phone calls from nonclients aftera seminar, while not unheard of, is notalways to be expected. Companies thatare not using your fum either thinkthey do not need a lawyer or are work-ing with another law firm. One semi-nar presentation is unlikely to breakthat mind-set or bond. Also, theattendee may not be the decjsion-maker for legal work.

A more reasonable obiective for aseminar would be to create a percep-tion of expertise and position yourfirm in front of representatives ofnonclient comoanies.

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aloa|.bard (o||r tanG wl|o tvo*withyour target allert b6e. For example, get

to know fi€ clientt accountant baoker,ilr3uiance agent and [€nagement andhuman resourcer consultadts Euild visi-bility and cEdlbility with them and th€ywill der€lop Into a key $urce of refo-fals.Yoo rnay not be the ooly one onsomeor|eb referal list but )lou shouldshow up on e!€rlooe3 shojt list. (Andit's good to be on the lame page withriese people so the dlent gets con'is-teni integrated adviceJ

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ab I vrell a6 dlenE? To 5ome degre€,buslnBs development technlquescan b€ leamed through traditionaleducaliooal channels such as seminarsand book. l'low€\€r, ruch skills aremo6t efectively "caughf rather than'taught'lherefo,e, it is helpfiil to lden-

ry one ot more mentoas who can beobsen€d At the same timE it ls best totale fiom each ofthose mentoE onlywhat ft€ls best and most natllral,becaus€ it i5 critical fur everyone to begeauhe in whateler martetingapproach they choose. r

Bad Habit *5: lgnoring YourClient BaseYour trusts and estates lawyerc think aFlorida office would be a gold mine.Your banking lawyers want to pres€nt aprogram on computer crime. YourMIS department wants to implement anew client voice mail feature, Theseactivities are implemented with noresearch into the perceptions or reac-tions of the targeted groups.

So, when the Florida office closesits doors, only | 0 people sign up for theconference or clients complain aboutthe new procedures, who is to blame?Every major marketing initiative should

Bad Habit *7: waiting untitYou Need BusinessThe final step to failure is to stop ma -

keting when you are busy. When thework slows and lawyers need work to6ll their plates, firms often scramble toinitiate individual marketing plans orlawyer sales tnining, hoping to spurbusiness development. Marketing is aslow process that results from position-ing the practice positively and buildingrelationships with decision makers.Neither of these can be done overnight.Efforts must be maintained ev€n, orespecially, when lawyers are busy.

Keep in mind that marketing con-

sists of many shades of gray----l.verymarketing strategy has potential,depending on the value of the idea, themarket being targeted, competitionand execution. Stay flexible, see whereyour firm stands on potential market-ing mistakes and steer clear of thethings that aren't working. fiere areplenty ofways to turn them into activ-ities that will work. r

A ( T l O i l r a

W lovw fa| I n 'r/,hl!j' l){fdo@|'rt(Sdmllt fila*ednq l{ed.rdrdm,Sumirer l9$.1thrfuing tu ky nm: Bl,,it,''t D.tdowaMrl4lEr Srnt J. Sdrmidl (L!w roun lPn!!,rpdat€dr.n -an.uilly.)(ommentrl (ontitt s.lly ldbidt it tdrnldtmarlc{ngOnio.aofl.

"Every major marketing initiative should startwith research on the targeted market.One ofthe

easiest ways t0 enrure failure is to ignore the peoplewho will be affected by your actions."

start with research on the targeted mar-kel One of the €asiest ways to €nsurehilure is to ignore the people who willbe afiected by your actions.

Bad Hablt #6: Not MeasuringYour ResultsMany firms do oot invest in measuringwhether the marketing activityachieves the desired result.Ifyou spent$50,000 to sponsor a public televisionprogram, you would want to knowwhether it had the intended effect olrpeople, However, this requires twothings: Having a reasonable objectiveto measure and puning a method tomeasure in place, For example, with aTV ad, through a pre-and post-adver-tising sampling of viewers, the hrmshould be able to measure whether itslevel ofname recognition or awarenesshas been raised-

46 riw Pra.dc. Manag€rn€nt . s€pt€mber 2000