Learning From Client-Driven (Literally) Marketing

Seems like the brand name Segway' keeps popping up in unusual places. According to the company manufacturing them, 'The Segway Human Transporter (HT) is the first of its kind ' a self-balancing, personal transportation device that's designed to operate in any pedestrian environment.' To me, they look like pogo sticks on wheels.

How does this relate to law firm marketing? The product's manufacturer is making maximum hay out of non-traditional, client-generated marketing. Two Segway spottings in recent weeks should turn your thoughts to ways you might utilize clients to help boost your firm's name recognition. Peter Gabriel and his daughter and fellow band member, Melissa, delighted audiences at one of their recent concerts by singing an entire song while doing on-stage precision maneuvers with Segways. And then, there's LawMarketing.com online list member, Scott Kurttila, Regional Allocation Manager for San-Francisco-based Legal Match, Inc. He's about to complete a cross-country jaunt on a Segway. Kurttila, who's taking a four-month 'leave of adventure,' is attempting to ride a Segway HT coast-to-coast on a hundred day, 6,000 mile journey.

The Segway Web site includes a link to 'Real stories from real people,' a collection of stories from individuals who own Segway HTs. This is client-driven guerilla marketing at its best. The company's clients are creating 'earned publicity' and touting the benefits of the branded product through their own words and photographs.

Opportunities for Client-Driven Marketing

Use some of these ideas to jumpstart your efforts. Be sure to tell the world about them (and encourage your clients to do the same) via your Web site, press releases and print and e-letters.

Sponsor client/firm teams in local races and competitions. Don't forget to maximize exposure with logoed T-shirts (or hats if the race provides its own T-shirts)

Develop seminar programs where your clients ' not just your staff experts ' speak out on their experiences in a particular area. Remember, what often turns a prospect into a client has more to do with the personalities of your attorneys than with your litigation or negotiation reputation. The same holds true for the company your clients keep ' fellow clients. Prospects are far more likely to respect recommendations from their peers than they are those from talking heads in your firm. When cost-effective, integrate audio or video recordings from such seminars into your Web site content.

Poll your clients about their personal involvements. Are you missing opportunities to take part in worthwhile events that can cement existing relationships and help build prospective ones?

Engineer exposure in your clients' industries. Do you work with transportation clients? Theme a guerilla campaign around trains, planes and automobiles. One possible direction: Solicit 'from the field' reports from the cabs of a clients' 18-wheelers. The content doesn't have to directly relate to your firm's expertise, so much as it has to put a human face on your client companies.

Take a page from toy manufacturer, Lego”s magalog. (combination magazine and catalog.) Lego encourages customers to submit photos ' taken at home, on vacation and in business settings ' of their mini-figures. The pictures are displayed in quarterly 4-color magalogs and keep the brand top-of-mind ' and generate floods of customer-created advertising from around the world. Get creative. Is there a similar logo, figure or symbol your firm could use?

Road Map for Client-Driven Success

As with any client-driven marketing, what's important is not just what the firm wants out of a campaign, but what clients will gain. Know where you're headed when you embark on such a campaign. Is your desire to make customers feel good about themselves? To get your brand image spread farther? To drive traffic to your Web site? To build credibility within an industry? Chose the direction you're heading first, and then match your tactics appropriately.

Barbara Weckstein Kaplowitz is the Editor-in-Chief of this publication. She is also president of Big Huge Ideas ' a full-service agency that provides copywriting, marketing strategy, Web site development and educational assistance to publishers, trade associations, manufacturers, corporations, service firms, retailers and other companies of varying sizes and shapes. You can reach Barbara at 301-983-6634, ext. 4.

Seems like the brand name Segway' keeps popping up in unusual places. According to the company manufacturing them, 'The Segway Human Transporter (HT) is the first of its kind ' a self-balancing, personal transportation device that's designed to operate in any pedestrian environment.' To me, they look like pogo sticks on wheels.

How does this relate to law firm marketing? The product's manufacturer is making maximum hay out of non-traditional, client-generated marketing. Two Segway spottings in recent weeks should turn your thoughts to ways you might utilize clients to help boost your firm's name recognition. Peter Gabriel and his daughter and fellow band member, Melissa, delighted audiences at one of their recent concerts by singing an entire song while doing on-stage precision maneuvers with Segways. And then, there's LawMarketing.com online list member, Scott Kurttila, Regional Allocation Manager for San-Francisco-based Legal Match, Inc. He's about to complete a cross-country jaunt on a Segway. Kurttila, who's taking a four-month 'leave of adventure,' is attempting to ride a Segway HT coast-to-coast on a hundred day, 6,000 mile journey.

The Segway Web site includes a link to 'Real stories from real people,' a collection of stories from individuals who own Segway HTs. This is client-driven guerilla marketing at its best. The company's clients are creating 'earned publicity' and touting the benefits of the branded product through their own words and photographs.

Opportunities for Client-Driven Marketing

Use some of these ideas to jumpstart your efforts. Be sure to tell the world about them (and encourage your clients to do the same) via your Web site, press releases and print and e-letters.

Sponsor client/firm teams in local races and competitions. Don't forget to maximize exposure with logoed T-shirts (or hats if the race provides its own T-shirts)

Develop seminar programs where your clients ' not just your staff experts ' speak out on their experiences in a particular area. Remember, what often turns a prospect into a client has more to do with the personalities of your attorneys than with your litigation or negotiation reputation. The same holds true for the company your clients keep ' fellow clients. Prospects are far more likely to respect recommendations from their peers than they are those from talking heads in your firm. When cost-effective, integrate audio or video recordings from such seminars into your Web site content.

Poll your clients about their personal involvements. Are you missing opportunities to take part in worthwhile events that can cement existing relationships and help build prospective ones?

Engineer exposure in your clients' industries. Do you work with transportation clients? Theme a guerilla campaign around trains, planes and automobiles. One possible direction: Solicit 'from the field' reports from the cabs of a clients' 18-wheelers. The content doesn't have to directly relate to your firm's expertise, so much as it has to put a human face on your client companies.

Take a page from toy manufacturer, Lego”s magalog. (combination magazine and catalog.) Lego encourages customers to submit photos ' taken at home, on vacation and in business settings ' of their mini-figures. The pictures are displayed in quarterly 4-color magalogs and keep the brand top-of-mind ' and generate floods of customer-created advertising from around the world. Get creative. Is there a similar logo, figure or symbol your firm could use?

Road Map for Client-Driven Success

As with any client-driven marketing, what's important is not just what the firm wants out of a campaign, but what clients will gain. Know where you're headed when you embark on such a campaign. Is your desire to make customers feel good about themselves? To get your brand image spread farther? To drive traffic to your Web site? To build credibility within an industry? Chose the direction you're heading first, and then match your tactics appropriately.

Barbara Weckstein Kaplowitz is the Editor-in-Chief of this publication. She is also president of Big Huge Ideas ' a full-service agency that provides copywriting, marketing strategy, Web site development and educational assistance to publishers, trade associations, manufacturers, corporations, service firms, retailers and other companies of varying sizes and shapes. You can reach Barbara at 301-983-6634, ext. 4.