April 7, 2010 – The other day I was out walking my dog. A small truck moved slowly down the street, pausing at every mailbox. In each one, the driver carefully tucked a simple paper offering landscaping and related services. I stopped him to inquire about the effectiveness of his marketing. What about a web site, advertisements, or glossy inserts in the Sunday paper? The driver, who was also the owner, laughed as he pointed out we were talking about yard work. From his experience, people rarely surf the Web to find someone to mow their lawn or rake their leaves. He personally creates, prints, and distributes the flyers each week in different neighborhoods. People pick up their mail, see his services, look at their yard, and call him. This has been so effective in generating new business that he had hired three new people and added another truck.

Effectiveness is the key to success

According to Michael E. Porter, Harvard Business School professor and world-renowned expert on strategy, success requires both the right strategy and "operational effectiveness.” It is important to distinguish effectiveness from strategy. Both are essential, but each is different. Failure to focus on the effectiveness of execution can easily doom the most impressive strategic plan. Dr. Ram Charan, noted author and consultant to many successful organizations, calls effectiveness of execution “the missing link between aspiration and results.” It is fundamental to actually getting things done.

Measuring effectiveness of marketing

Creating effective marketing for legal services often includes trial, error, and analysis. Frequently lawyers may skip the analysis and simply “trust their gut instincts.” If you aren’t measuring your marketing efforts, how do you know if what you are doing is bringing in any business? Why continue paying for a directory listing, a yellow page ad, a web marketing company, or a television commercial if it isn’t bringing in more money than you spend on it? For newspaper, magazine, or television advertising, there are a number of simple ways to track your results. For instance, you can include a unique website address or a phone number in your marketing efforts. In addition, use free analytics services, such as Google Analytics, to analyze website traffic.

Measuring effectiveness of blawgs, tweets, and friends

How can you measure the effectiveness of social media?  There are a number of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to consider. The number of visitors to a social site is just the beginning. You also want to measure the level of engagement.  Variables like amount of time spent on your site, the number of comments, and content submitted also can be indicators of success.

For a Twitter account, you can use tools like Raven, Twitalyzer, and Klout. These tools help you track retweets (the number of times your tweets have been passed on), mentions (the number of times your username was included in a tweet), as well as which tweets received the most attention. TweetEffect is a program that can be used to determine which tweets cause you to gain or lose followers. Facebook now sends fan page administrators a Weekly Facebook Page Update. These notices contain valuable information, including the number of new fans, wall posts, comments, and visits.

Measuring effectiveness of personal marketing

When we measure the effectiveness of personal marketing activities, there are four relevant stages. The first is known as being “unconsciously ineffective,” which translates into doing the same activities over and over but expecting a different result. If your usual marketing methods are not producing client growth, maybe it’s time to rethink your methods. The next stage, being “consciously ineffective,” means we understand our marketing needs corrective action and we are investigating new options. We become “consciously effective” when we leverage this knowledge for positive change. We implement a new marketing plan, focus on execution, and measure our results. As we learn what works and integrate these activities into our usual routines, we become “naturally effective” and client growth follows.

Where should you focus?

Every lawyer and law firm should identify specific markets for potential clients. Your message and delivery method to these potential clients should be measured for results. In some situations “low-tech” activities such as personal contact and follow through may be the most effective. In others, broader approaches like publishing, speaking and social media outlets may be more effective. As an example, "Willie" Sutton robbed more than 100 banks during the Great Depression. He usually carried a Thompson submachine gun, claiming, "You can't rob a bank on charm and personality." However he never carried a loaded gun because he was afraid somebody might get hurt. When asked why he robbed banks, he famously answered, "because that's where the money is."

For effective legal marketing, make sure you “go where the clients are.”

Michael Moore, Lewis and Clark 1983, is a professional coach for lawyers and the founder of Moore’s Law, Milwaukee. He specializes in marketing, client development, and leadership coaching for attorneys at all levels of experience. Moore also advises law firms on strategic planning and resource optimization. He has more than 25 years’ experience in private practice, as a general counsel, in law firm management, and in legal recruiting. For more information, visit www.moores-law.com.

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