How much does it cost you to get an expert to review your direct mail or advertising?
The answer is ZILCH. Nothing. It’s Free.
Because you can be as good as most experts just by following a few rules and making improvements in what you do.
All advertising works to some extent. It’s just that most of it is not profitable and therefore not successful. So that’s the problem. Not advertising per se, but the actual advert itself and the response it generates.
Here are the biggest mistakes I look for in adverts or direct mail pieces sent to me for review.
1 Lousy Headline
This is the most important part of the advert or direct mail piece.
It takes at least 50% of the time to come up with. It has to immediately and directly grab the attention of your prime prospect.
The headline is the most important part of any ad. It will grab the readers’ attention and
General headlines such as “Freeing you to see your way forward” just ain ‘t gonna grab anyone.
What you really want to write is a headline that offers a benefit and ideally provokes curiosity.
For example,
Find Out How 27 People Made Their Will Last Wednesday And Didn’t Pay A Penny In Legal Fees – And How Another 27 17, 7, Can Do The Same By Calling This Number 0844 502 1631 For The Next 3 Days Only
2 Rubbish Offers
It costs a lot to get a new client. And you won’t get them unless you make an offer and a good one at that. So remember that the better the offer, the more chance you have of getting a new clients.
And the real profit is in their recurring business. So even if it costs you £100 to get a new private client you should be making money very fast from your “lifelong client”.
- Get A Free House Of Fraser Voucher With Every Enquiry
- Get A Free Trip To Paris With Every Will
- Get A Free Laptop Bag - Just Let Us Know When You’re Popping In
3 No deadline
Most people won’t do anything without a deadline.
Deadlines create fear and action. They work because of psychological fear of scarcity - the fear of losing out.
The shorter the deadline the better. You can have a one day deadline, but never to give more than a two-week deadline. A fortnight is a holiday in Spain, not a deadline.
4 No Testimonials
How many testimonials should you use?
(The reasons to use them are on the testimonials for lawyer marketing page).
Use as many relevant testimonials s you can. – And use them everywhere. Put them in all your ads. Hang them on the walls in your offices. Use them on your phone “on hold” messages.
5 No Guarantees
The better the guarantee the more people are likely to buy. (See the guarantees for lawyers section). Remember guarantees reduce the fear of making the wrong buying decision.
Having a BIG, BOLD, and SOLID GUARANTEE is the right thing to put in an advert.
And very few people will take advantage of you.
6 “Me Too” advertising
If you copy everyone else and they aren't getting fantastic results then you will get the same rubbish results.
Some of the best results come from standing out. You need to be different. Our eyes see millions of images a day and filter most out.
Think of Virgin Airlines. They stand out a mile as being different on their TV ads to celebrate 25 years of being different.
So if you want to do a 14 page direct mail letter do it.
As long as every single sentence is of value. Do not let people tell you things are too short, or too long or too bright. If it works, (and of course you are measuring it) then improve it and use it.
7 Focus On You Not We
How many adverts have you seen that focus on how great the law firm is and forget the prospect entirely. Look for the number of times “we” appears rather than the word “you”. If it’s full of we then it’s wrong.
Clients ONLY want onething – WIIFM (What’s In It For Me). Focus on the potential client and you’ll get better results
8 – trying to hard to do too much
You should only have one objective. And that is to get a call or email response to your advert.
That’s the only thing which will lead to getting a new client on board.
Branding ain’t going to put money into your account. Try paying the business rates with your valuable “brand image”.
9 Forgetting to tell a story.
This is one I am guilty of.
Clients and prospects love stories. Stories sell, facts tell.
Why do you do what you do?
Why are you making the offer?
Who are you and why should I trust you?
10 It’s not about Awards:
Advertising that wins awards for being “clever or cute” does not equal sales.
Continuous studies prove that the type of advertising that sells is
emotional, direct response advertising.
Look at your adverts and direct mail and see if you can improve what you do.
Feel free to send me examples of your advertising by post to
Boyd Butler
43 Pierces Hill
Reading
RG31 6RB
I'll take a look at it for you and make a few comments
you might want to take into account.
First though look at this Chiropractor advert for the Yellow Pages
And if you want to see an advert from a Lawyer that is like wallpaper
(you hardly notice it) then take a look!
