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TESTING A LAWYER ADVERTISING TV CAMPAIGN

HOW LONG SHOULD A LAW FIRM ADVERTISING TV CAMPAIGN BE, BEFORE I KNOW IF IT WORKS?

by Philip L. Franckel, Esq., President 1-800-HURT-911, Inc.

Distribution Rights

For any business, advertising is usually only effective when done consistently over a long period of time.  According to a report by E. Craig Stacey, Ph.D., The Analytic Consulting Group (page 6), long-term advertising is at least twice as effective as short-term advertising and payout should be calculated over at least a two-year period.  It is even more important for a personal injury law practice than other businesses because there are substantially fewer accidents with injuries, than people who need mortgages, and even fewer accident cases which are financially worthwhile.  Only one seven-figure accident case during the course of a year can pay for an entire year's advertising budget and it could be two years before you see one or two.  Additionally, every business has good and bad months.  Personal injury advertising is no different.  Sometimes a television commercial will run and no calls will come in and sometimes your TV commercial will run and several calls will come in.  Just the same, some months will be slow, some months will be average and some months will be busy.  Don't expect these months to be the same every year.  Good and bad months can change from year to year.  You may begin advertising in April only to be disappointed for the next six months until September which makes up for the slow months.  If you consider testing an advertising campaign, consider testing for at least six months.  Don't forget that your advertising campaign should be twice as effective after two years.  Do not consider advertising if you're planning to try it out for only two or three months.  See Test the Waters (page 14 & 15) where Roy H. Williams & Craig Arthur says testing the waters is no different than standing at a roulette wheel and saying that if I win a small bet on black, I'll start betting black on a regular basis.  They say testing the waters is the signature of an uncommitted advertiser gambling with a short schedule.

Additionally, while advertising will bring new clients, if you operate your office efficiently and treat your clients well, your new clients will refer other new clients to you, further increasing advertising effectiveness.  This is essentially what is known as viral marketing and is a vital aspect of retail advertising effectiveness.

Branding is an important concept in advertising.  Branding begins to take effect only after a year or more of advertising and becomes most effective and really pays off after several years of advertising.  Branding basically accomplishes two goals.  First, is that it creates a level of comfort and credibility in the mind of your target audience making it more likely that they will call you instead of your competitor.  Second, branding will mean that your target audience will remember you and will think of you when they need you.  If you're in a direct response business such as personal injury, rather than a strictly branding business such as Jaguar, you'll need to brand your phone number so that your audience will remember how to call you.

There are many aspects to branding and many books have been written on the subject, however, a few of the items that relate to brand building are 1) Choosing the name to brand;  2) Choosing the right telephone number for direct response advertising with businesses such as personal injury;  3) Choosing a message; 4) Choosing a slogan;  5) Choosing a color;  6) Frequency of advertising;  7) Many types of media used in addition to TV such as radio, billboards, and a website;  8) Length of the advertising campaign. 

1-800-HURT-911 is a brand with a built-in message saying if you're hurt an accident, you need legal help fast.  The slogan "When you're HURT in an accident call 911, then call 1-800-HURT-911" reinforces that message.  1800HURT911.com not only has a domain name matching the telephone number and is professional looking, but helps build a substantial image in the consumer's mind because the website has hundreds of pages with an extraordinary amount of information without a hard sell.