Laffey, Bucci & Kent LLP win $20,000 DotCO Campaign!

Posted by Sean McGinnis on Aug 8, 2012 in Uncategorized | 2 comments

DotCO Law Marketing spent several days in July attending the American Association for Justice Annual Convention in Chicago, Illinois. We got to reconnect with some old friends and make new ones too, including some new customers!

Once again, we sponsored the indoor golf challenge, which was a ton of fun. At the convention, we raffled off a $20,000 DotCO Campaign to one luck law firm.

We gave away $20,000 worth of our online advertising!

Conference attendees entered the raffle by having their badges scanned at one of our two booths and listening to a 3-5 minute demo about how DotCO can expand your online presence. We also gave new customers who purchased at the convention additional entries for purchasing placements with us while at the convention.

We performed a random drawing this morning and selected a winner.

We selected the Philadelphia law firm of Laffey, Bucci & Kent, LLP as our winning firm!

We’ll be in touch this week to add your listings to the sites of your choosing! Thanks for visiting with us in Chicago!

Congratulations to Mainetti, Mainetti & O’Connor!

Posted by Sean McGinnis on Mar 5, 2012 in .Co Sites | 0 comments

DotCO Law Marketing spent several days in February attending the American Association for Justice Winter Convention in Phoenix Arizona. We got to reconnect with some old friends and make new ones too! We also did some business there, adding more than a handful of clients to the DotCO Law Marketing family.

At the convention, we sponsored the indoor golf challenge, which was a rocking good time. We had a lot of activity at our booth throughout the day as a result of the golf challenge. But to make things even more interesting, we decided to hold a raffle and give away $20,000 worth of DotCO products.

That’s right. We gave away $20,000 worth of our online advertising!

Conference attendees entered the raffle by having the badges scanned. We also gave new customers who purchased at the convention additional entries for purchasing placements with us while at the convention.

We performed the random drawing last week and selected a winner.

Please join us in congratulating the Kingston New York law firm of Mainetti, Mainetti & O’Connor. they were selected as our winning firm!

While you’re at it, how about you stop by and “Like” their facebook page.

We’ll be in touch this week to add your listings to the sites of your choosing! Thanks for visiting with us in Phoenix!

12 Most Important Marketing Questions to Ask in December

Posted by Sean McGinnis on Dec 27, 2011 in Marketing | 0 comments

It’s December. That means it’s time the time to give thanks for our successes of the last year and start thinking about changes we’d like to make in the coming year – both personal and professional.

It’s also time to reflect back on the year that has passed and assess what worked and what didn’t. Financial and business plans are an inevitable part of this process. But don’t forget to review your marketing efforts of the past year and begin planning for next year as well.

As you assess and plan your marketing efforts, below are some questions you might ask yourself to jump start the process:

1. Channel Assessment: What marketing channels drove the most business to the firm in 2011? Are you relying too heavily on that channel? If not, should you consider taking steps to expand it further? What marketing channel drove the least business to the firm in 2011? Can that channel be revitalized? Can that channel be eliminated?
2. Referral Network: Can you find any new sources of referrals in 2012? What service providers exist in areas that complement your specialty (if any)? Where did you refer business in 2011? Be sure to touch base, even if only to confirm they are still interested in the type of business you’ve referred in the past. The touch point may remind them you were a referral source and prompt them to reciprocate in 2012.
3. Print Materials: Are your print materials accurate? If not, revise or eliminate.
4. Media Coverage: Are you known to local or national reporters who are looking for experts in your given area? Can you find one or two targeted news providers to establish relationships with?
5. Speaking Engagements: How many speaking engagements did you deliver in 2011? Were they effective? Can you ramp that up or down to greater effect?
6. Website: Is your website content fresh and relevant? If not, be sure to update and refresh. Assess the number and quality of inbound links back to your firm’s website. What online marketing trends can you exploit to generate links back to your web site? (Inbound links remain a critically important factor in SEO and traffic generation).
7. Guest Blogging: How many guest blog posts did you write for online publications in 2011? Were they effective at generating interest in the firm? Did they create inbound links back to your site?
8. Online Advertising: What online advertising campaigns did you execute in 2011? Were they effective? Review and tweak accordingly.
9. Pay Per Click: Did you do any PPC in 2011? Was it effective? Can you drive your costs lower on a per click basis in 2012? Should you have your PPC program reviewed by an independent third party? Someone who is NOT currently managing your current program?
10. Newsletter: Do you have a newsletter that is delivered to your customers? If not, start one immediately. Find a reason to communicate to customers, but ensure you are adding value. A gentle reminder that you helped them in the past is a great potential source of future referrals. I would deliver at least quarterly and preferably monthly for certain practice areas.
11. Lead Sharing & Networking Group: Did you participate in a lead sharing group in 2011? Was it effective? If not, how can you energize the group or tweak to make it effective? Are there other groups with better reputations?
12. Conference Attendance: Did you enrich your marketing knowledge in 2011? How? What was effective? What wasn’t? Did you listen in on any webinars? Go to any conferences? Review and assess.

An established business with a robust marketing program should be analyzing many (if not all) of these areas. A new business may be looking at only a few.

A sound marketing plan always includes time for review and analysis to determine what is working and what isn’t – what should be increased, decreased, begun or stopped entirely.

Hopefully you have good data and analytics to inform the business on what worked and what didn’t. Be sure to ask good questions and follow your gut. If a part of your analysis sounds too good to be true or doesn’t pass the sniff test, double check your numbers.

What were your most effective marketing channels this past year? What worked for you? What didn’t?

This article originally appeared in the Small Firm Innovation blog by Clio.

Featured image courtesy of INTVGene licensed under creative commons.

.CO Site of the week – Dabble.co

Posted by Sean McGinnis on Dec 20, 2011 in .Co Sites | 1 comment

One of the features we thought would be a lot of fun for our blog here at DotCO Law Marketing would be to periodically highlight another interesting and innovating website built on a .co domain name. Obviously, we’re big believers in .co since we own over 20,000 of the domain names.

Dabble

Dabble.co is a really interesting concept. According to their press page:

Dabble is a community marketplace for people to teach, discover and host unique and affordable classes online. Whether the class is an intro to Spanish, fixing up a bike or perfecting a business skill, Dabble is the easiest way for people to try something new. For teachers, Dabble allows everyday experts to share their passions with the world (while making a few bucks on the side). By facilitating ticket sales and financial transactions, Dabble makes the process of listing a class effortless and efficient. Classes are currently available in Chicago only, but Dabble plans to expand to other cities soon.

This site is near and dear to my heart for a couple of reasons beyond the fact it was built on a .co domain.

I love learning new things, and I think Dabble is right up my alley. As an example, I’m really hoping to become more proficient in using my digital SLR camera. Up until now I’ve been using it as a fancier version of a point and shoot camera and I want to do more. I’m hopeful I can find a class on Dabble to help with that.

Being based in Chicago, Dabble is close to my heart as well. Chicago has a really special and unique technology entrepreneur scene. It’s vibrant and energized and I love to see sites like this gain traction.

So do yourself a favor and check out Dabble.

Also, be sure to check out the video that explains Dabble below. I think you’ll find it a useful and interesting business!

Maximizing referrals for your law firm

Posted by Sean McGinnis on Dec 13, 2011 in Marketing | 1 comment

New technologies have transformed many business disciplines in recent decades. Marketing, more than any other seems to be continually on the verge of reinventing itself thanks to this or that new technology. Forums and bulletin boards, web sites, social media, Twitter, Facebook, mobile, Foursquare check-ins, QR codes – you name it and marketing seems to be on the cutting edge of the digital technology revolution.

With all these changes, it’s exceedingly easy to fall prey to the shiny object syndrome. Like a hyperactive 14 year old girl at a Jonas Brothers concert, it’s easy to continually chase the next shiny object, our attention flitting from this new find to that. Unfortunately, these new technologies rarely match the marketing power of some of the tried and true disciplines. There is no doubt that they are all very powerful tools. However, ask most lawyers where the majority of their business comes from and they will likely answer either word of mouth or referral.

You might find it strange that a company focused on driving leads to lawyers online would be blogging about offline business generation tactics. We don’t. We believe in advocating things that work. And referrals work – plain and simple.

Here are some tips and tricks to ensure you are getting the best referral bang from your relationship buck.

1. ASK! The biggest area for improvement for most lawyers and law firms is to simply ask your clients for referrals! Ask them when they are on-boarding with your firm. Ask them again when you are concluding their matter for them. “Hey John. Thank you for your business. I’d like to remind you that referrals are the lifeblood of our practice. If you run across anyone that could benefit from our services, I’d be very grateful if you would send them our way.” It really is that simple.
2. Stay in touch. Lawyers are in a bit of a pickle because most people need your services once every decade or two, unless you’re a criminal lawyer who happens to represent a high strung wide receiver. So how do you stay in front of your former clients so they will refer their friends and colleagues your way? I recommend a quarterly email newsletter. It’s an effective and inexpensive way to stay top of mind with your client base.
3. Say thank you. Be sure to remember to thank your current referral network. Everyone remembers to say “thank you” at the time of the referral. What about at quarterly touch base phone call or e-mail?
4. Add value to your network. Don’t just take, take, take. Remember to reciprocate by referring your clients to back to your referral sources. Another good idea is to host a small group lunch once a month that includes multiple people inside your network of referral sources. Introduce them to each other! Become a conduit through which even more referral business flows. You’ll stay top of mind and be an even more valuable resource to your network.
5. Add new referral sources. It’s important to continually be adding new and viable referral sources to your network. I recommend contacting service providers who offer a complimentary service to your own. Financial planner, real estate agents and other consultants and counselors make great referral sources, depending on your practice area.
6. Update your Signature Line & Business Card. Business cards and signature lines are great opportunities to remind people what you do. Be as descriptive as your state bar will allow you to be. “Attorney at Law” doesn’t communicate your experience. You might also consider carrying multiple different business cards depending on your various practice areas.

With these six tips, you should be ready to accelerate your referral base as we head into 2012. What about you? What have you found effective at generating new referrals for your practice? Any tips you’d like to share?

Image courtesy of OliBac licensed via Creative Commons.