the [non]billable hour

LMA Senior Marketers' Program

I'm please to announce that I'll be helping out at the LMA Senior Marketers' Program: Thought Leadership Amidst Relentless Change. I'm going to be doing a new presentation, titled "The Ten New Rules of Legal Marketing," as well as facilitating several collaborative brainstorming sessions for the entire group. It takes place June 19 and 20 in Washington D.C., and is shaping up to be a pretty cool event. If you are interested (and an LMA Member), check it out.

Great Historical Photos: Free

The Library of Congress is releasing bunches of their historical photos, free of all usage and copyright restrictions.  Some amazing pics, with more on the way.  Here's the Flickr page.

A "Business Card" for Litigators

Do your clients think you are full of hot air?  Here's a business card that might just prove them right:



Check out several other cool "cards" here.

25 Ways to Find a Client

OK, so this post from Dumb Little Man is about ways to find a date in the real world, but it has some great advice for finding clients.  Seriously.  I especially liked these success tips (which are in addition to the 25 ways):

1. Have a simple goal of making new friends. Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Seek to find a great friend and see where things lead.
2. Commit to saying "Hi" first. Don't be shy. Perhaps set a goal of saying hi to 5 people a day. Start with one a day and then work your way up.
3. Smile and have fun. Everyone looks better with a smile.
4. Be open to meeting new people anywhere and everywhere.
5. Always be dressed and groomed to meet new people even if you're just running out to get milk. You just may meet that someone special in the dairy isle!
6. Conversation success tip: Be interested in others and ask lots of questions.
7. Don't be afraid of rejection. You've got nothing to lose!! What's the worst that could happen? Someone will laugh at you? That's hardly likely. And even if they do, who cares! Just say "Next!" and move on!
8. Go slow for safety and success. Never rush into anything. Go slow.

Read the entire post.  Just don't let your significant other catch you doing it.

Got er Done!

Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba share a great idea in this post about a condo development that posts huge "SOLD" signs on the outside of each unit, arguing that the signs "are the best possible evidence" that the condos are desirable.



I was wondering if this idea could also work for lawyers.  Imagine a weekly or monthly full-page newspaper ad that shows all the new business formations, real estate closings, or even "newly single" divorce clients a firm helped (with their permission, of course).  Not sure how this works in some jurisdictions, but it is a thought.  What do you think?

20 Slides. 20 Seconds Each. Pecha-Kucha

How would your next presentation go if you only had twenty slides and could show each one for "only" twenty seconds (for a total of 6 minutes 40 seconds?  A format embracing these very constraints is called Pecha Kucha, and was started by two architects in Tokyo as part of a designers' show and tell.  It seems like a natural fit for an Idea Market, as a replacement for a panel presentation, or any time a lot of presenters have something to say.

I'm doing a very short speech (nine minutes) on innovation in two days, and am going to give this presentation format a try.  I'll let you know how it goes.  In the meantime, if you'd like to learn more, check out several examples on You Tube, or this recent Wired magazine article.  If you are in the St. Louis area and want to have a Pecha Kucha night, let me know.

The Mobile Lawyer 2.0

It has been a long while since I've been so WOW'd by a business model as I've been this morning.  Simply put, this is the BEST template I've seen for building a home-based practice from, of all people, a physician.  Dr. Jay Parkinson, MD is building a web-based medical practice.  From his website:

• I AM A NEW KIND OF PHYSICIAN.
• I strictly make house calls either at your home or work. 
• Once you become my patient and I've personally met you, we can also e-visit by video chat, IM and email for certain problems and follow-ups.
• I'm based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  My fees are very reasonable.
• I'm extremely accessible.  Contact me by phone, email, IM, text, or video chat.  Mon-Fri 8AM-5PM.  24/7 for emergencies.
• I specialize in young adults age 18 to 40 without traditional health insurance.
• When you need more than I provide, I make sure you wisely spend your money and pay the lowest price for the highest quality.
• I've gathered costs for NYC specialists, medications, x-rays, MRIs, ER visits, blood tests, etc...just like a Google price search.
• I mix the service of an old-time, small town doctor with the latest technology to keep you and your bank account healthyl

How much for this service?  According to the "How it Works" on his site, his fee is "far less than your yearly coffee budget but a little more than your Netflix."  His web site also provides "Real Life Examples" that describe, in plain English, how you'd use his service.  Oh, and he's blogging, too.

Lawyers, if you are looking for a real dose of inspiration (or a glimpse to the future of mobile practice) you HAVE to check this Parkinson's site and business model.  Simply brilliant.  Great idea, great web site, amazing copy.  If I were still practicing, I'd steal it in a heartbeat.  Look at it now.

Via: Zoli's Blog.

Lose Your Receptionst's Desk?

Via Brand Autopsy comes a pointer to the Building Better Restaurants Blog's Top Ten Reasons to Take a Sledgehammer to Your Host Stand.  I think a lot of these are also good reasons to rethink/redesign/remove your receptionist's desk:

1. It accumulates clutter that is an eyesore.
2. It does not have any functional utility for the guest.
3. It allows staff to “hide” from the guest.
4. It forces the guest to come to you, and not the other way around.
5. It becomes a hub for business other than the business of the guest.
6. It becomes a leaning tool and not a Hosting [verb] tool.
7. It will force you to talk to your guests and actually “Host” [verb] the guest experience.
8. It will force more physical contact with the guest and thereby a more meaningful greeting.
9. It will allow the guest to take in the whole “show” as they enter and immediately be caught up in the experience more.
10. Because you don’t have one at your house when you host people there!

Best/Worst Law Firm Song. Ever.

Before it goes down, you've got to listen to Nixon Peabody's theme song.  It will make you feel like a winner, too!

Get Your Clients Home Free

The Springwise Blog has a story on a pilot program in Minneapolis (where I'll be next week) called Get Home Free.  Here's how it works:

Launched in eleven Minneapolis suburbs this month, Get Home Free is a flat rate, prepaid cab card that gets its holder home safely. Mainly targeted at teenagers and college students, the concept's initiators are aiming to help out kids who are stuck with car trouble, have been drinking, or whose ride home has fallen through. Cardholders place a call to the Get Home Free hot line, and a car is immediately dispatched to bring them home, no questions asked.

If your firm is looking for a image-boosting promotion, this one just might work -- especially if you regularly represent clients accused of DUI.  Having your firms name and number on the back of each card isn't a bad idea either.

Grow Your Practice by Asking Clients to Leave

Interesting post on the Church Marketing Sucks blog titled "Grow Your Church by Asking People to Leave."  It is a point I've made before: your practice is often far healthier if you stop serving clients you don't want to (and who are often unhappy with your service anyway).  From the post:

Craig gives an example where he preached on the church's vision trying to get everybody on board. If people weren't on board with the vision, he asked them to find another church. He even offered brochures from 10 other churches he knew and recommended. It was a serious challenge and 500 people ended up leaving. Most people would freak out at that thought. Not Craig:

The next week, we had about 500 new seats for people who could get excited about the vision. Within a short period of time, God filled those seats with passionate people. Many of those who left our church found great, biblical churches where they could worship and use their gifts.

Everybody won!

That's why I sometimes say, "You can grow your church by asking people to leave."

Craig focuses on making leaving a church a graceful option and a positive thing and not the bitter experience it often is.

I love it!

Power "Marketing" Tip from Dale Carnegie

Bert Decker reminded me of this fantastic quote from the great Dale Carnegie that I had to share:

You will win more friends in the next two months developing a sincere interest in two people than you will ever win in the next two years trying to get two people interested in you.

PowerPointing Audiences to Death

I'm going to be posting my presentation from the AILA conference later today.  Until I do, check out this video:  How NOT to Make a Powerpoint.

Get Your Message Out

I really like this idea from Seth Godin about how he promoted Squidoo at a trade show:

Here's what we did: we printed 600 t-shirts with a long, hand-written letter on the front, explaining how Squidoo helps eBayers. And we gave the shirt away to anyone willing to wear it. The incentive? Each day, Megan picked someone who was wearing the shirt and gave that person $9,000 worth of ads on Squidoo.

Within an hour, you saw orange t-shirts on the show floor. By the second day, every single t-shirt was taken and more than 5% of all the people there were wearing the shirts.

Total cost: $3,000. (plus the ads).

I really think something similar could work for lawyers or legal vendors at trade shows.  I'd love to give it a try!

Government Resources for Small Biz

Point your clients to some of these 13 Government Resources for Small Business.  Lots of great stuff!

Back Up Your LinkedIn Profile

I caught this tip over on the My LinkedIn Power Forum about backing up a LinkedIn profile.  From the post, here's how to do it:

1. Print it as a hardcopy. You can click on the [Print] icon
above your headline and print it. This is the most traditional way
of backup and is also strongly recommended to always keep a hardcopy
just in case all your backup softcopies cannot work at the time of
recovery.

2. Save it as a PDF or Word file. You can either click on the
[PDF] icon above your headline and save it as a PDF or cut-and-paste
your profile and save it as a Word file. The latter will have an
advantage of cut-and-paste back to your LinkedIn profile page at the
time recovery.

If you frequent any other social networking sites, it would make sense to back up your profiles there as well.

As an aside, the PDF printout is a pretty slick (and quick) way to build a resume.  It looks great, too!

PowerPoint Bullets Kill Comprehension

Garr Reynolds has a good summary of the newest PowerPoint controversy started by this article in the Sydney Morning Herald that describes a study suggesting speakers who essentially read their bullet points from their slides are ineffective communicators.  The study's author suggested:

It is effective to speak to a diagram, because it presents information in a different form. But it is not effective to speak the same words that are written, because it is putting too much load on the mind and decreases your ability to understand what is being presented.

Copying = Advertising?

An idea on how to use free photocopies to advertise:

An innovative Japanese company is offering university students free photocopies. This free love is made possible by printing ads on the back of the copy paper, which is slightly thicker than normal to prevent ads from shining through. For JPY 400,000, advertisers can have their message printed on 10,000 sheets of paper.

How to "Black Out" During Your Next Presentation

Bert Decker has a great (and easy) tip to improve your next presentation:  Use Black Slides.  According to Bert, a blacked out slide (as opposed to justing hitting the "B" key) accomplishes three things:

1. Clear the screen.  Once you’re done with the picture, graph or supporting information, you want to remove distraction, and go to a black slide so you can amplify, tell a story, or make an additional point, etc.

2. Black out the screen.  Simply put, so you can walk in front of the projector. Almost all meeting, board and conference rooms are poorly designed so that they have the projector screen right in the middle of the room or stage. It should be at the right or left, so YOU can be in the middle. After all, YOU should be the center of your presentation, not your slides.

3. Totally change your mindset.  Change he creation and emphasis of the presentation. This is by far the most important of all, and needs it’s own paragraph.

Pay Per Client?

Not sure where the legal ethics gurus come down on this one (I think I can guess), but Google has now rolled out a Pay-Per-Action advertising service, which requires you to pay only if the user completes a clearly defined action after clicking on an add -- such as buying something, joining a mailing list, etc.  Pricier than AdWords, but much more bang for the buck.

Is Your Business in Local Business?

Just noticed Google's Local Business Center.  It allows you to add your business' name, address, etc. to Google's listings.  It also allows you to offer coupons.  A must-do for all small businesses -- including law firms.

Advertise with the 'Hood

Roy Williams shares 10 Cheap Advertising Ideas in his Monday Morning Memo.  My favorite:

10. Spray-Painted Signs. In the early 1970s, "Hamp Baker says Drive with Care" was spray-painted on car hoods salvaged from crumpled automobiles, then those hoods were tied with bailing wire to barbed-wire fences across the state. Nobody in Oklahoma had ever heard of Hamp Baker, but his name was soon a household word. When he ran for public office, he won by a landslide.

If I had a personal injury practice -- especially in a rural area -- I'd think seriously about giving this one a try.  Just make sure you have your state's disclaimer painted somewhere on the hood too.  ;-)

Take your Client's Stakeholders to Lunch

Joyce Wycoff suggests taking internal stakeholders to lunch:

Identify all of your stakeholders … the people who are affected by your work, immediately and at a distance.  Your monthly report may only go to 3-4 people but the information in it may get passed along or acted upon by dozens of others.  Start to invite your stakeholders to lunch one or two at a time and just get to know them.

This is great advice, and equally applicable to the stakeholders in your clients' organizations.  Just make sure they know you are not billing them for the lunch!

Hang Around for Business Clients

Right after I wrote the Sand Imprint Post, I found another clever way to advertise:  Hangvertising.  From the geniuses at Hanger Network come EcoHangers(tm), a recyclable, paper hanger that has advertising printed on it.  Just think, you could find the dry cleaner in the most expensive part of town, and ask them to use the EcoHangers (with your business-appropriate ad) on all business suits they dry clean. 

Brilliant.

Footprints (and a toll-free number) in the Sand

Do you practice near a beach?  Here's a great marketing idea (hat-tip to Church Relevance) that just might get your firm noticed:  environmentally safe ads that are imprinted in the sand.

Of course, it may be hard to "save" the advertisement for those pesky bar advertising rules.

Branding on the Cheap

Here is a great resource for web startups that has a few gems for lawyers too:  Little Known Ways to Brand on the Cheap.  Just a few favorites:

26. E-profiles: manage your reputation. If a potential customer types in your name into a search engine, what sort of results will they see in the top 10? It’s key for you to secure the top 10 results in Google, Yahoo and MSN for searches relating directly and indirectly (if possible) to your brand. You need to be the one defining what people see when they search for you, not your competition. Start by building e-profiles on authority domains such as MySpace, Squidoo, AboutUs, WordPress, Blogger/ Blogspot, MSN Spaces, TypePad, Newsvine, LinkedIn, Rollyo, Wikipedia, etc. Don’t let someone else define who you are.

28. Get listed on local authority websites. Many cities will have a large, centrally operated online business directory. A link from a local government site (.gov) will boost your visibility and build your search engine rankings. Often that requires no more effort than doing a GoogleSearch for “(your city) business directory” and emailing the webmaster.

36. Design with a focus on MDA. Design your blog with a focus on visitor experience that leads the user to your MDA (Most Desired Action). Test various designs before launch by asking friends and family to go to the site and see where they click and when.

39. Design for scanners, not readers. I know, you’ve put a lot of time into your content, so you want people to read every little word. But the truth is, people online are scanners, not readers. So if you want to get your message across, you need to tell them your unique selling points in a bullet list or in short crisp sentences.

77. Do something outrageous. Or at very least unusual, and document the action itself and reactions others had to it. Randy’s Affiliate Marketing Programs Blog discusses a few of the more famous outrageous branding ideas, from Alex Tew’s Million Dollar Homepage (the original dollar-a-pixel site) to John Freyer’s All My Life for Sale (a wildly-successful eBay project).

91. Guerilla marketing. Head down to your local library and hunt down books relevant to your topic. Then insert your business card or flyer into the book at the very front. This guerilla marketing can work on an individual level, but the benefits can multiply dramatically if your persistent activity starts to create buzz.

94. Be a star. Call up your local public cable access channel and ask to be interviewed. They are desperate for content and may go for it.

Hand-y Advertising for DUI Lawyers

Check out this post from Ankesh Kothari about a Bombay nightclub that stamps a public service message on the hands of entering patrons.  DUI lawyers, you've got to see the picture, and think about paying a bar to use a rubber stamp with your phone number on it to stamp the hands of everyone who enters the bar.  When they get pulled over later that night, they'll know who to call.  Not sure if ethics-safe, but inspiring nonetheless.

The 18 Percent Solution - January 23, 2007

I’ve been working with several great people to develop a small business seminar here in St. Louis on January 23rd called The 18 Percent Solution.  It takes place at the amazing Gran Prix Speedway in Earth City.

The entire event is focused on sharing innovative tips and tricks that help small businesses thrive.  I’ll have a lot more on the event over on my Idea Surplus Disorder Blog tomorrow, including a preview of the creativity and innovation portion of the program I’m running (think UnConference + LexThink + Idea Market + Go Cart Racing).

If you sign up at the link above and add “Homann” in the special instruction field, you’ll save $20 off the normal price ($95 before 1/3 and $125 after).

See you on the 23rd!

Didn't Get The Client? Here's Why

Mary Schmidt compiles a terriffic list of reasons why vendors didn’t get her business.  Just a few:

1. You returned my call in which I asked for a price quote…a week later.

4. Your web site looks abandoned. (Copyright 2004? Are you even still in business?)

6. You never, ever answer your phone. It always go to voice mail.

7. You did more talking than I did in our first meeting.

9. You talk about “solutions” but never tell me how you’re going to solve my problem.

13. You treat your employees badly.

16. Your “free education seminar” was nothing more than a sales pitch.

Via Christopher Carfi

Get Your Wills Here, Three for a Dollar!

I was grocery shopping today and found myself buying three pizzas, instead of just the one I needed, because they were on sale, “Three for $10.00.”  Now, I know that really means $3.34 for the first and $3.33 for the other two, but I bought three anyway, falling prey to the grocer’s power of suggestion.  So I though, if it works for supermarkets, it should work for lawyers, right?

This holiday season if you do wills (as just one example) and normally charge $500 each, try a “family special” where three wills will cost $1400 or something similar.  Allow people to buy three wills at once, with the ability to give two to others — think parents doing a will and then giving each of their adult children one of their own. 

Make sure the parents know they have no right to control or see what their kids do, and give yourself an out if there are conflicting interests, but if you market them as a package, you could see a significant increase in your estate planning business.

I need another blender!

I don’t really need another blender, but I want one after seeing this:  Will it Blend?  One of the best viral marketing ideas I’ve seen in a long while.

LinkedIn for Lawyers?

From TechCrunch:

LinkedIn, a social networking website primarily focused on business connections has added a section to their site that allows users to recommend service providers — a yellow pages based on user referrals. From web designers to doctors, users rate service providers in a thumbs up, thumbs down voting system similar to Digg.

Here’s another article article with more:

In the case of LinkedIn's directory of service providers, users can search narrowly for services recommended by friends, or they can widen their search to friends of friends. Failing that, a global search capability is offered to allow users to search across the full LinkedIn network.

Making the system work will depend on whether LinkedIn users bother to write recommendations for other businesses, building on an existing feature within LinkedIn that encourages colleagues to recommend other colleagues.

It also could draw in new users. Most LinkedIn members currently are executives, professionals, sales people and other office workers. The new directory could attract trade workers.

Are you ready for this?

Are Legal Services Like Vegetables?

Cathy Sierra has another great post on motivating web visitors, that applies broadly to anyone selling anything.  Cathy discusses the two levels of motivation:  “motivation to interact and motivation to do something as a result of that interaction.”  Think of your marketing as the first kind of motivation and your in-person client meeting as the second. 

Just how do you motivate your prospects to hire you?  Cathy first tells us how not to motivate them:

Trying to motivate someone to action by telling them it's good for them doesn't... actually... work …  because it doesn't invoke the right feelings.

In other words, don’t suggest your clients hire you because of what will happen if they don’t.  Instead, as Cathy suggests, citing a great Fast Company article , emphasize the positive things that will come out of your lawyer/client relationship.  Can’t think of any?  Try this exercise: 

Ask your clients to visualize a “best case scenario” conclusion to their matter .  Then ask them what personal or business benefits they’ll reap and how they expect to “feel” if the matter concludes in that positive way.  Keep track of their responses (maybe even suggesting they write them down).  After doing this for ten or twenty clients, you’ll start to see themes emerge.  These are the themes you should focus on when you are trying to motivate your clients to hire you.

Right Way Writing

Dumb Little Man has compiled a list of 50 Writing Tools from Poynter Online.  If you write at all, it is worth your time to check out some of the Poynter articles.  An amazing resource!

Provocative Post Pondering Provocativity

Kathy Sierra posts a tremendous article (even by her lofty standards) about how to be provocative and why it matters.  Please read it.

Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

Robert Middleton writes about the benefits of sending three short thank you notes each day:

About two months ago I started sending 2-3 short notes daily to vendors, clients, contractors, colleagues, anyone I came into contact with, however minor the occasion. It's important to "smile as you write", as your article suggests, otherwise it will seem like some contrived, dashed off attempt at connecting while trying to do 20 other things at the same time. 

But the exercise has had two effects for me and my company so far:

1) In a very unexpected way, it has made me feel better about myself and my business as a service provider, which bleeds through into the energy I exude all day long.

To anyone who doesn't think it makes a difference in how you walk, talk, and carry yourself and your expressions, I would say try this for yourself and see. I also find myself following through with clients more thoroughly and attentively, and having better focus and productivity.

I think it has something to do with taking a few minutes to *slow down* and give someone your undivided attention. We all crave feeling listened to and acknowledged.

2) On a more tangible level, I have had two important corporate referrals and increased amounts of business from regular clients to whom I've dropped notes in the mail (one of them nearly double).

I have also received expressions of true, bona fide human appreciation from both clients and vendors we work with, whom really will go the extra mile now. Little human touches in the impersonal "we care, but not that much" ocean has an exponential effect on people's desire to know, like, trust, and do business with you.

Check out The More Clients Blog for more great advice.

Will Your Firm Be Better Tomorrow?

Black Belt Productivity suggests we Be Better Tomorrow Than We Are Today and I agree.  For some reason, the simple question, “How did I get better today?” has given me a productivity boost since I read the post last week. 

I also think it is an appropriate question to ask of your business.  When you have your daily/weekly/monthly “all hands” meeting, I suggest you ask everyone there if your business is better today than it was yesterday.  Despite their answers, I’d also ask them will they make it even better tomorrow.

 

A Lawyer's Blog Should ...

It has been a while since I’ve pointed you towards my friend Yvonne DiVita’s blog.  If it isn’t in your rotation of regular reads, it should be.  If you want to know why, check out her recent post, A Business Blog Should … 

 

Total Information Awareness, for Lawyers AND Clients

Pronet Advertising has a great list of 10 Things You Should Be Monitoring online.  Other bloggers have jumped in with numbers 11–17 and 18–23.  The first ten:

1. Company name
2. Company URL
3. Public facing figures
4. Product names
5. Product URLs
6. The industry “hang outs”
7. Employee activity/blogs
8. Conversations
9. Brand image
10. Competitors

Good advice, but I’d take it a bit further.  You should absolutely be monitoring these things for all your clients, too.

OK Trial Lawyers, Keep Those Palms Up (not just out).

(Via Buzz)  Bodytalk:

"If you talk with an audience with your palms in an upward position, they not only remember up to 40 percent more of what you've said, but they like you."

Time to shoot new pictures for those yellow pages ads. 

Surprise Your Clients With Lunch

Via Hugh:

One of the crazier PR stunts I've seen for a while: Cambrian House, an open-source software company, turn up at Google unannounced and feed them 1000 complimentary pizzas .

I love this idea, but if I were a law firm serving any medium to large business, I’d take it in a different direction:  I’d surprise my biggest/best clients with enough free pizza to feed all their employees. 

If I wanted to create even more buzz, I’d buy pizza for all my business clients’ employees ON THE SAME DAY.  You could surely work a pretty good deal with the local pizza places, and think about how much everyone would talk about you. 

If I had a few thousand dollars I was thinking about spending on that secondary yellow pages book in my town, I spend my money doing this instead.  I’m sure I’d get a much better bang for my buck.

Drive Divorce Clients to Your Practice

Are you a divorce lawyer?  Here’s a great vehicle for marketing your practice:

Thanks to Klaas Oost for permission to use this photo (flickr link), taken in Cape Town, South Africa.

It is never too early to do your client holiday shopping.

Don’t know where you’d find these online, but if you practice criminal law and want a nice gift for your clients, may I suggest this lovely door mat:

(found on a front porch in the Soulard area of St. Louis)

You Can Call Me "Mr. Homann"

I was out for a walk the other day and saw this real estate agent’s magnetic sign on his SUV: 

Despite the incredible amount of information on the sign, notice that the one thing it doesn’t have is his first name.  If you wanted to contact him, but didn’t remember the phone number, or even the agency, how would you find him?  Would you search for “Mr. Johnson” in the Yellow Pages or on Google?

Think about your business or firm name.  If someone hears it and wants to contact you later, will they be able to find you? 

Another Way to Impress Potential Clients

Ever think of adding a multi-media presentation to your professional firm’s web site? For a very cool (and different) idea, check out Ganas Consulting’s Declaration of Independence.

Via Presentation Zen

Meet Tomorrow's Clients

According to this study:

Gen Yers spend 12.2 hours online every week -- 28 percent longer than 27- to 40-year-old Gen Xers and almost twice as long as 51- to 61-year-old Older Boomers. Gen Yers are also much more likely to engage in Social Computing activities while online. For example, they are 50 percent more likely than Gen Xers to send instant messages, twice as likely to read blogs, and three times as likely to use social networking sites like MySpace.

"All generations adopt devices and Internet technologies, but younger consumers are Net natives who spend more time online than watching television," said Forrester Research Vice President and co-author of the report Ted Schadler. "Younger generations live online, reading blogs, downloading podcasts, checking prices before buying, and trading recommendations."

Movie Marketing Madness

I love to find interesting marketing ideas, even (or especially) if the ideas are not directed to professional service providers.  Mark Cuban has hundreds of cool marketing ideas submitted by readers on his blog in response to this:

So if you want a job, and have a great idea on how to market movies in a completely different way. If your idea works for any and all kinds of movies. If it changes the dynamics and the economics of promoting movies, email it or post it. If its new and unique, i want to hear about it. If its a different way of doing the same thing you have seen before, it probably wont get you a job, but feel free to try.

So go for it. Come up with a great idea that i want to use and I will come up with a job for you to make that idea happen.

There are now over one thousand ideas submitted by Mark’s readers.  Take some time to read them.  You are sure to find a nugget you can use in your practice. 

What Start-Ups Want in a Lawyer

OK, so Andy Lark is talking about hiring a PR agency, but I think he could just as easily be talking about hiring a lawyer:

But I don't want $15,000 dollars worth of service. I don't even know what that is!

I want results. I don't care what it costs or whether an agency has to under or over service to deliver it. I just want results against the agreed budget. You commit, I commit, we all commit together.

What is more troubling to me as a Valley CMO is:

1) finding a great agency is bloody hard work. They are few and far between. At any billing rate. Few CMOs I know get the value of PR or AR, let alone the value of a good agency... I accept we are part of the problem, but...

2) finding an agency that gets your business and has a real enthusiasm for contributing to the growth of the business - harder still

3) finding an agency that understands that great ideas get funded - near impossible. They are caught in the conundrum or belief that ideas require budget prior to being generated. Bullshit. (and I am talking about real ideas, not those regurgitated from the last pitch)

4) finding a team that can explain why they should get paid more and then associate some kind of outcome with the result - well, if you find them, let me know. The most common justification - "we've been over servicing your business for six months now, you need to pay us more" - is nuts. Nuts!

5) finding an agency - the word is a bit of an oxymoron. It implies some kind of powerhouse of ideas and execution - the strength of a team. What you generally end-up funding is one very dedicated individual surrounded by some other folks - generally you aren't quite sure what they are doing but they all arrive for meetings and scribble madly into notebooks.

What is needed is a new kind of agency. One not built on billable hours and 10k budgets. Maybe one built on the power of ideas to drive a startup's growth curve? One with the courage and conviction to articulate a value proposition that resonates with the CMO of a start-up and ability to explain what the budget should be.

You see, we live less in the conceptual world of brand and reputation and more in the real world of qualified opportunities, pipeline growth and time to sale.

Until then, 10k sounds like a nice round number to start with. Agencies shouldn't let it end there. We will pay more. And I am willing to put my money where my mouth is.

If you want to serve this market, listen closely to Andy’s complaints.  Make it your number-one priority to contribute to the growth of your clients’ businesses, not to extract the maximum amount of money from their coffers.  Build client-centered teams — and make sure your client meets everyone on the team BEFORE their time shows up on a bill.  Finally, start your representation by focusing on the goals of the client and the results they desire.  Then agree upon a budget (or, gasp, a fixed price) to meet those goals and achieve those results.

Marketing to Small Businesses

If you want to understand the mindset of entrepreneurs, you should read this post from Scott Berkun (thanks, LifeHacker) on two kinds of people …

… people that make things complex and people that simplify.

Complexifiers are averse to reduction. Their instincts are to turn simple assignments into quagmires, and to reject simple ideas until they’re buried (or asphyxiated) in layers of abstraction. These are the people who write 25 page specifications when a picture will do and send long e-mails to the entire team when one phone call would suffice. When they see x=y, they want to play with it and show their talents, taking pleasure in creating the unneccesary (23x*z = 23y*z). They take pride in consuming more bandwith, time, and paitence than needed, and expect rewards for it.

Simplifiers thrive on concision. They look for the 6x=6y in the world, and happily turn it into x=y. They never let their ego get in the way of the short path. When you give them seemingly complicated tasks they simplify, consolidate and re-interpret on instinct, naturally seeking the simplest way to achieve what needs to be done. They find ways to communicate complex ideas in simple terms without losing the idea’s essense or power.

Entrepreneurs and business people want their lawyers to be Simplifiers.  What do you do to simplify things for your clients?  Do they know it?

UPDATE:  I posted this without reading all the comments.  There are some great nuggets in there.  One is Scott’s response to a comment asking for a way to figure out which camp a prospective hire/consultant/etc. is in.  Here is one of  Scott’s ideas:

2) I’d give them a complex, but solvable problem. After they’ve solved it (even with help) I’d ask them to find a simpler solution to the same problem. If they’re a simplifier they’ll be into this - even if they don’t suceed they’ll be self motivated about seeking out a simpler way. If they’re complexifiers, they’ll balk at the suggestion that a simpler way exists and that it’s even worth their time to find it.

Increase Your Social Surface Area

Want a fun tool to measure your networking efforts:  David Seah’s Network Catch-O-Matic.  In David’s post explaining the tool, he talks about “increasing your social surface area,” which is one of the best benefits of networking — and blogging.

Stressless Press

Need an intro on getting good press?  Here it is.  One great suggestion to get in print publications (and blogs) is to:

Get to know your publication: 

Buy three issues of the magazine and read it cover to cover.

1. Observe which sections change month on month and which don’t.
2. Make a note of what the cover theme is each month and which words or themes are repeated. Anything that is repeated time and time again on a cover means it’s a core topic for that magazine.
3. From your own research form a picture of who the reader is.
4. Create a profile of a typical advertiser and who they are trying to reach - this will help you understand where most of the magazine’s ad revenue comes from - and also who is currently successful in this market.
5. Imagine your product or service appearing in the mag. Does it fit? Will the readers be interested in it? Can they afford it?

Once you have chosen the publication that is perfect for you and your idea then you are ready to begin your marketing onslaught. First things first: find out who is responsible for which areas of editorial. This may not be clear from the editorial panel so ring the magazine to find out. Speak to the secretary if you can’t speak to the team. The same goes for a newspaper or indeed any other media.

Armed with this information, there are four main ways that you can get the attention of a publication: as an Expert in your field, as an Ideas Machine, by sending a Press Release, or by requesting a Review.

 

Get Down With NLP -- Yeah You Know Me

Want an introduction to Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP)?  Check out this 12 part series on the Life Coaches Blog:  NLP 101.  What is NLP?

A powerful bag of tricks that allows you to help people change themselves through its mental models, patterns of influence and techniques of change.

Instead of giving you generals, NLP has many step-by-step specifics, which is great when practitioners recognize the principles so they know how not to go step-by-step, and terrible when practitioners don’t know the principles and follow the steps to the letter or bend it all out of shape.

A lot of trial lawyers have been studying NLP to help them connect with juries.  If you are curious, check out the whole series.

One Way to Sell Wisdom

Having a difficult time “selling” your value as an advisor instead of a tecnician?  Here’s an easy-to-understand way to communicate the differences between Data, Information, Knowledge, and Wisdom, from the Across the Sound podcast (via Howard Kaplan):

Data is "the sun rises at 5:12 AM"

Information is "the sun rises from the East, at 5:12 AM"

Knowledge is "If you're lost in the woods without a compass, follow the direction of the sun to find your direction"

Finally, wisdom is "Don't get lost in the woods"