When buying advertisements, lawyers often fall into four costly traps:
TRAP 1: Lawyers assume that if one advertiser got a good response from an advertisement, they will also get a good response.
This is like comparing apples with oranges. Do not draw ANY conclusions, or make ANY predictions, based on someone else’s advertisement response. Even two lawyers who practice in the same area of law can get very different responses depending on:
1. The target audience they are trying to reach
2. The page on which their advertisement appears
3. The position of their advertisement on that page
4. The graphics they use to attract attention
5. The words they use to generate a response
6. The nature of their offer, and on and on.
TRAP 2: Lawyers assume that advertising sales representatives know more about advertising than they know.
This is usually not true. He knows how to sell advertising in his publication. He has learned what to say to get you to part with your money. He knows how to use the most colourful pie charts, the most detailed demographic information, and the most confusing statistics to convince you he knows what he is talking about.
TRAP 3: Lawyers assume that since the rep works for the publication, he should know how to get a good advertising response from that publication.
Wrong, these reps are commissioned salespeople. They know how to sell advertisements. If an advertiser gets a good response from a publication, either the advertiser himself is really good at marketing, or he gets help from a marketing consultant. I cannot think of anyone who knows less about marketing and advertising than these sales reps.
TRAP 4: Lawyers assume the advertising representative will, at least to some degree, act in the lawyer’s best interest.
I don’t think so!!
A quick story: About four years ago an advertising representative at a radio station on the south coast invited me to lunch. It was part of a conglomerate so I was keen to go. She wanted to learn more about information-based marketing because she said my lawfirm client consistently got higher responses than any other advertisers on the station. I explained that if she taught her advertisers how to use information-based marketing, they would get such a good response that they would refer more business her way. She corrected me. I misunderstood why she wanted to learn more. She wanted to market with information so SHE would attract more new advertisers, not so her clients would get better responses to their commercials. She said that if her current advertisers increased their response, they would cut back their advertising and she would not make her target. So she was not about to share this method with them!
SUBJECTS YOU MUST ADDRESS
Tip 1. Choose the publication most likely to reach the highest concentration of your target prospects.
Tip 2. Decide what you want your advertisement to achieve. Do you want it to offer services? Increase attendance at seminars? Direct prospects to your web site? Offer an information handout, etc?
Tip 3. Decide the action you want your prospect to take. Do you want your prospect to call you? Go to your web site? Register for your seminar? Call for your free materials?
Tip 4. Decide how much information you need in your advertisement to motivate your prospect to act.
Tip 5. Write your advertisement using words that motivate prospects to respond.
Tip 6. Choose graphical elements that will draw prospects’ eyes to your advertisement.
Tip 7. Create the finished ad and test it to see how well it performs.