The Found Gen

Marketing That Works.

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Why LinkedIn is a Law Firm’s Best Kept Secret Weapon in Marketing

If you’re still using LinkedIn as simply a host for your online resume (or gasp, you’re not even on LinkedIn at all), you’re missing out on one of the most effective social media marketing platforms there is for law firms.

LinkedIn has more than 774 million members worldwide and is the go-to social media site for professionals. As a lawyer, its benefits are two-fold.

  1. It connects you to other law professionals, thereby enabling you to build out your network (hello, referrals!), and
  2. It’s a place where potential clients can learn more about you, your services, and your professional reputation.

While there are opportunities for paid advertising on LinkedIn, so much of what you can do to drum up new business and make new connections can be done on the platform without paying for expensive ad placements.

Need even more reasons for your law firm to go social on LinkedIn?

Here are 3 more reasons why you should be jumping on LinkedIn today:

  • For reputation management – Clients turn to law firms they can trust. With LinkedIn, you can establish your firm as an industry thought leader by actively posting on the site and engaging with peers and potential clients.
  • To expand your reach – With LinkedIn, the more actively you participate, the more useful the platform will be to you. And it doesn’t have to take over your life. A few strategic posts per week are enough to offer immediate benefits and begin growing your network. Moreover, LinkedIn offers opportunities for you and your law firm to make targeted connections by participating in relevant groups and associations.
  • To leverage your content – Potential clients are searching for solutions. Offer them answers through your content and social media posts. What’s more, if you’re already actively creating content for other marketing channels like blogs and newsletters (which you definitely should be doing) , you can stretch that content even further by sharing it on LinkedIn.

And a bonus reason: Content posted on LinkedIn is indexed by Google, so the more actively you engage and contribute relevant content, the better your SEO and Google ranking will be.

Like any marketing strategy, LinkedIn is not a silver bullet for growing your business, but it is an effective tool to add to your playbook and serve as a complement your other marketing initiatives.

If you’re ready to grow your law firm’s business on LinkedIn, we can help. Take the next step today by getting in touch with us at The Found Gen.

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How Often Should You Email Your List

Let’s cut right to the chase. You’re here because you’re ready to throw in the marketing towel! Wait, you’re not?? Awesome! That must mean that you’re buckling down and trying to figure out how to tighten up your email marketing.

“How often should I email my clients?” This is the number one question we receive in the email marketing conversation. While you might be expecting a particular number or figure to help you navigate this, it is often not that simple. You don’t want your emails to be overkill, but you do want them to remind existing and potential clients that you are there for them.

Figuring Out the Matrix of Email Marketing

Everything can be traced to your objectives, product, and overall business needs.

If your emails are going out once a month for your business model, that might actually be enough.

For those who have generated new lists or are stepping into the waters for the first time, subscribers will not know what to expect from you. This might be a good opportunity to send a bi-weekly newsletters so people can get better acquainted with you – but also to share boat loads of valuable information.

While once a month is standard for most small businesses, a slow increase (if you deem it necessary based on campaigns or promotions) is best. Don’t just overwhelm subscribers with more at once, or you could run the risk of losing some. 

For instance, if you wanted to upgrade your email sends from once a month to weekly, take it slow. Start with upping your frequency to twice a month for a while and keep track of how subscribers are responding. Then bolster your send schedule as you see the data is stable or increasing. Remember that the line between helpful and annoying is very, very thin.

Call us today if you run into any snags. We’re here for your marketing needs.

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Why Blogging is the Most Important Marketing Tool for Interior Designers

Interior design is all the rage right now. People have been stuck at home for the past 19 months and counting, spending lots of time within the four walls that they potentially neglected more easily before the pandemic-that-shall-not-be-named.

While there are a slew of new companies, apps, tv shows and influencers within the industry, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to chart the same path in order to grow your portfolio and show off your own expertise.

In fact, there is really one main medium that you should be considering weighing heavier than the rest when it comes to marketing your interior design firm: blogging.

Okay, now hear us out. Blogging is not the silly content post of yester-year. In fact, it’s changed quite a bit and can be the most valuable piece of real estate you own on the big bad internet.

Consumers today turn to Google to find inspiration and advice about interior design. We can hear you saying to yourself, “yes, but what about Pinterest?” Well, what about it?

We’ve had countless designers tell us the virtues of Pinterest for their business. One question for you: who owns those pictures people are pinning? Where are they leading back to? And if someone has pinned 15 or more posts from one designer – don’t you think they’d most likely give them a ring for a consult?

Okay, that was three questions. But you’re with us.

Each blog you put up on your website is an opportunity for a current or prospective customer to interact with your business and brand in a variety of ways:

  • They can pin your post or share it on another platform
  • They can READ your post and get to know you, your brand, your tone, and start deciding if you are a good fit for them personality-wise
  • They can READ your post and see just how much of an expert you really are. They can also READ lots of your posts when you publish as often as you should.
  • They can FIND you on Google when searching for answers to their design woes!

All this and more, my friends.

If you are looking to grow your interior design firm, the best place to start is blogging. Blog early and often, we say. And if you need help, give us a call today. Because, to be blunt – that’s what we do. We do the blogging for you! We know, crazy bonkers and convenient. But ‘tis true.

So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get the good word out about your business and get you to the next level.

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How Much Should Your Company Spend on Marketing?

If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times – marketing matters. Effective marketing is the peanut butter to your jelly, the donut to your coffee, and the Ted Lasso to your pandemic.  It can make a business or break it.

To see the kind of growth that leaps off planning sheets and converts into real customers, you will need to rely on experts that can get your brand out in the world.

But, how much is too much to spend on your marketing game, and how should said money be spent?

That is the question of the century!

So, let’s start at the basics.

Evaluate Your Current Expenses

Before you start thinking about how you want to allocate your funds and create a marketing budget, it’s helpful to know how much you’re spending overall.

The size of your marketing budget will solely depend on your goals and how much money you have to spend.

While many companies can spend anywhere from 7-15% of their overall revenue on marketing, does that number work for you, or should you aim higher?

If you’re a new start-up looking for quick growth and new leads, 7-15% might be a bit low of a number. For this reason, you might decide to spend around 20% on your marketing efforts.

In the end, it all depends on your needs, and your goals.

Whatever you decide, remember to not spend money that you can’t afford to lose.

Deciding Your Marketing Budget

Now, that you’ve decided how much you can spend on your marketing, you have to determine how you should allocate the funds you have.

That is why we have three steps that can help you in this thing called marketing. 

Set marketing goals

“Don’t move until you see it.” That principle can honestly apply to any situation and especially in situations concerning your business.

You can’t know what to give out until you know how much you have to give and what your limits are. This is why it is crucial that you set up a marketing budget to house all of your goals (and realistic ways to get there).

Consider making SMART goals

Specific: Include details in your goals and avoid vagueness.

Measurable: Ensure you can measure your progress toward your goals.

Attainable: Your goals can be ambitious, but they should also be realistically achievable.

Relevant: Your marketing goals should be relevant to your overall business objectives.

Time-bound: Set a time limit for achieving your goals to help keep you on track.

Here is an example: “work to increase revenue by 50% by the middle of the year” or “acquire 10 new leads by the end of the quarter.”

Create a Plan for the Year

Plan ahead, like way ahead. Try sitting down and planning the vision for your business for the full year and what you can do to make that happen. Don’t forget to keep your marketing goals at the forefront as you’re planning. This can give you a great forecast to keep you on track and save you time so you don’t have to go month to month or by quarter.

Some marketing avenues to consider:

  • Content Marketing
  • Email Marketing
  • Social Media marketing

Hire professionals

How are you planning on executing your plans? Will your internal marketing team do the work, will you hire a marketing agency, or will you work with freelancers? You might use a combination of these methods.

When choosing marketing channels, a good rule of thumb to keep in mind is the 70-20-10 rule. This guideline says that:

  • 70% of your budget should go towards strategies you know work well
  • 20% should go to new strategies that help your business grow
  • 10% of your budget should go towards emerging or experimental strategies to keep you ahead of the competition

To save money, you could write your own blog posts and manage your own social media.

If, later in the year, you notice competitors overtaking you in search engine results, you might shift some of your PPC budgets to content marketing. All of this might be overwhelming at first, but you got this.

So, how about it? Are you ready to get your marketing strategy in gear? Take a targeted approach, and let us help you see growth! We’re here for you.

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Building Your Marketing Budget: Where to Best Allocate Your Funds

Bread and butter…That is what marketing is to your business. Now, before you say anything, just think about how much marketing has already helped your business and given you awareness in otherwise closed places.

It might be bold, but hey, we’re those kind of people, so we’ll just come out and say it. Your business is only as good as its marketing strategy.

It can be hard to determine what the best fit is for your budget and your needs. In fact, it is part of the entrepreneurial challenge to figure out how to spend limited funds.

Where do you start, and how can you get the most out of your marketing while still adhering to a budget?

A good place to start is by thinking about your customers, audience, and potential audience. How do you want to reach them? What would be the best way to reach them? What medium would they respond to most?

This will help you navigate the allocation process and aim for profitable avenues of marketing. While the U.S. Small Business Administration recommends spending about 7 to 8 percent of your gross revenue, it won’t do you any good without knowledge on where to spend it.

Our advice is to try and narrow down things that you might want your marketing to include first before spending anything.

Look at the competition and do your research on marketing tools that have a proven rate of success.

Common marketing methods like:

Blogs: One of the best ways to improve drive traffic and boost your SEO ranking, blogs can also serve as an information warehouse, where readers can see that you really do have a great wealth of knowledge to share. If you had to choose a strong marketing tool for your business, blogging should be the first place you start.

Email Marketing: Emails are not going anywhere anytime soon.  With a proven track record of being solid forms of marketing that yield real growth, email is one of (if not the most) the highest drivers of ROI in marketing today. (Read more about that here: https://www.thefoundgen.com/is-email-marketing-really-as-good-as-we-keep-preaching/ )

Social Media: What can we say? Social media is – all around us (please read this in Hugh Grant voiceover tone). You can reach people you never thought possible just by being active, consistent, and engaging. Remember those three, because that is the key to social media working for you.

Videos: Video is an another way to engage your clients and potential clients. Some people won’t want to read a blog (we don’t trust those people), but will respond better to video. It can be a strong marketing tool across platforms and an easy way to step up your content and reach those who prefer a few seconds of live action before they swipe to some cats doing some cat thing.  

All of these can serve the purpose of marketing your business and reaching your target audience – where they are.

However, now you have to decide which ones to put your money toward. That is where the second piece of the puzzle comes in: determining what the right fit is for you.

This can quickly turn into a trial-and-error situation without the help of seasoned marketing professionals. You know your business (probably backward and forwards). Marketing firms know how to help bring the best out of your business and increase revenue at the same time.

It would be a shame to spend money and not see any returns. Wouldn’t it? Let’s chat about what tools your business would most benefit from and how you can see real growth.

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How to Grow Your Email Marketing List Organically

Emails, e-blasts, newsletters, oh my!

The options of communication seem to be plentiful these days. While the different forms of email marketing have been placed to the side by some, it cannot be overlooked that email is and forever will be a very smart marketing strategy. It may not be the easiest thing you do in your life, but it is worth it. We all know that a grand multitude of clients don’t just magically wander into our office every day, so that means you still have to put in the work to reach across the digital space until they become a physical reality. 

Are there other options that you can try to help you grow your email list (i.e., borrowing lists)? Sure, some other things out there are touted as being easier and faster. But they are not best for pure organic growth.

Here are few tips we’ve picked up along the way that have proven to do the trick.

1) Offer Incentives to Anyone Willing to Subscribe

Who doesn’t like incentives? No, really, that was a real question.

Getting something of value for the simple act of subscribing to emails seems like a win-win for most people, and it’s a great way to seize the moment with potential subscribers.

Here are some incentive ideas to get you started:

  • An eBook
  • A PDF journal/workbook/report
  • A discount on products or services

2) Don’t Forget the Sign-Up Button

Here’s something that you might not have realized- everyone who sees your website might not know that you have amazing emails. So, why not tell them. Grab potential subscribers’ attention and lead them to sign up to your email for more great information. How can you do this? Strategically place a sign-up button on your website in multiple places.

You don’t want to miss out on the opportunity to grab more subscribers. Be strategic.

3) Engage people with personalized offers

Let’s say that you have an amazing idea, and you know it will hook potential clients. You’ve done the work to figure out who your intended audience is and that the idea would be enticing to them. What should you do next? Turn this idea into a personalized offer. 

Do personalized offers work? Well, according to a 2018 survey, nearly 95% of people polled revealed that they would be more likely to purchase something (or in your case, subscribe to your email) if they felt they would get something beneficial for their lives.

4) Social Media + Promotions

People often don’t think of their social media accounts as something that can drive traffic and help their email marketing.

However, a promotion or contest is a quick way to get people to engage and sign up for your email. All you have to do is advertise the contest through your social channels and put the link in your bio. It goes back to the idea that people really do like things in exchange for their actions. So, highlight something free, and watch people sign up.

5) Ask those on your list to help you spread the word

This last tip might seem obvious, but many people miss it. Ask those that are on your list to help spread the word

If you send out great content, slowly but surely, your followers will begin to get the word out, and your list will begin to grow.

Give us a ring for more tips on how to grow your emails and how you can see growth in your business.