Integrity Marketing

Need More Ideas for Your Email Newsletter Message?

Writing fresh email newsletter messages each week or month can be tough, so I understand if you find yourself running out of ideas.  I draw a blank quite often when I sit down to type up a new blog post or compelling email message – hey, we can’t be writing geniuses ALL the time.  But when I get stuck in a rut, I often refer back to my last post about email newsletter topics and ideas.

If those ideas aren’t sparking any new material, here are a few extra examples of email newsletter topics to use:

• Upcoming Workshops or Seminars: Do you have a seminar or workshop coming up within the next few months? It’s time to start talking about it in your e-Newsletter! Let your reads know the Date, Time, Topics covered, and any Requirements to attend.
• Future Conferences or Business Trips: Are you attending any conferences or heading out for a business trip soon? Let your readers know what you’re up to. This shows you are out and about within the industry.
• Video Posts: A video post is NOT the same as sharing a video in your message; it is actually using a video message instead.  Do you have a webcam or recording device? You can shoot a short video on a relevant topic to your practice and use this as your message. We can embed the video for you, or you can provide a link to it online with a brief description.
• Sales or Coupons: If you have a product or service you can offer at a discount, everyone loves a good sale! Giving your readers a coupon for products/services is along these same lines, just make sure everyone on staff knows the rules and stipulations. Be clear in your message, readers will hold you to your word on a sale!
• Case Study: Maybe you have a client who is ready to share their story and give an applauding testimony. Success stories from start to finish can show your readers what to expect if they find themselves in similar situations. Share how your law practice helped solve any issues along the way.
• Product Reviews: Have you tried any industry-relevant products or services lately? Your readers would love to know your experience and opinion on the latest Estate Planning or Elder Law service or product. Make it fun and involve your staff!  You can give statistics if you gather a larger group to test-run new things.

Ok, there you go – now, you have my original post plus 6 more ideas to get you started on those personal messages (or even blog/Social Media posts). Good luck, and contact your IMS team for assistance!

The Essential Blog Digest -- A New IMS Email Service for Your Blog

We hear about how much you love the daily blog content all the time. And the numbers speak for themselves in terms of effectiveness in driving traffic to your website, increasing your Google rank, and solidifying your position as the "thought leader" in your community. You are doing an excellent job sharing your posts to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter! You are including images in your posts, adding keywords for search optimization, and the content is educating your readers making them better qualified prospects.

BUT, we have heard complaints that your reach is limited with the blog content. People have to find the posts on Google, Facebook, LinkedIn or through your website to read your blogs. Well, not anymore!

We have developed a new service that will automatically email your most recent blog posts straight to your contacts’ inbox every week. The Essential Blog Digest will be a custom built email to match your monthly e-Newsletter and Essential website branding. Available as a weekly or monthly service, the Blog Digest will pull your most recent blog posts and email them in a digest format to your contacts. All you have to do is keep on posting! The service can be set up to go daily, weekly or monthly - whichever you prefer. My suggestion is that it goes out every week, especially if you are one of the attorneys who posts daily.

Pricing is very affordable as well.

Set Up: $495
Monthly Fee: $150

Here are some great uses for this service:

• More frequent touches and more mileage out of your blog content: The great thing about the blog content is that it is NOT "salesy." Every post is timely and educational.
• Workshop / Event Promotion: Do you conduct workshops? Now you can post a blog about your upcoming workshop or event including details of when, where, and how to register and have that invitation be sent through your Blog Digest to your email list.
• Build your social network following: Writing blogs about your use of Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter embedding links to your accounts will allow recipients to easily connect with you through the email. Plus, you can add sharing icons to each digest post so readers can share your posts too.
• Post whatever YOU want to: This is YOUR blog and digest e-News, so you can say whatever it is that's on your mind or important in your community.

If you are interested in getting this service, please let me know and I'd be happy to get you all set up. You can call James at 1-877-352-2021 x80, or email james@estateplanningpartners.com.

Email Newsletters and Blogging – Are Your Topics Hot or Not?

A new day begins, and you plunge right into your routine checking off to-do’s left and right (after coffee, of course). You finally get to the one you’ve been putting off: write a new blog.  And right below that one is: write a personal email newsletter message.  All of a sudden your mind draws a blank and you forget everything you know about your area of expertise.  Sound familiar?

It happens to all of us.  We get stuck and we need some new ideas for our marketing. Because nobody wants to read a revision of the same topics over and over – you need something HOT and FRESH to keep your readers hooked. 

Here are some ways to generate new topics when you’ve hit the brick wall of writing:

• Top 10 Lists – This is my go-to format when I need to summarize information. It’s easy to read, it gives readers something to print or jot down for future reference, and the list can be short and sweet.  Aim for 10, but if you come up short just change the title to “top 8” or whatever you get to.
• Tips & Tricks – Our weekly IMS email newsletter includes “Practice Builders,” which is our version of “Tips-n-tricks” for marketing.  Giving out tips or tricks is like giving out secret information on how to do something better, faster, or more efficient.
• Give-a-ways or Tools – Do you have something you can offer your clients such as an online estate tax calculator or a fillable form? Give-a-ways don’t always have to be gift cards or cookies; think outside the box and come up with a tool your clients can use that you already have available.
• Testimonials – Gather those testimonials and put those into your email newsletter or blog.  We all love a good success story!
• A How-To Guide – This one goes along with “Tips & Tricks.” You can always create a “how-to” for sending in paperwork, collecting information , asking questions, etc.
• Industry information – Put your research hat on and start scouring the web for industry discussions, news, and developments. Any tax law changes? Any new elder care services available? Your clients want to know what’s happening!
• FAQs – Take those frequently asked questions and post the answers to your readers.
• Laughable moments – We all enjoy a good story from time to time! If you have a funny story, share it with your readers.  You’d be surprised how you can relate many life experiences back to your practice.
• Videos – Videos are hot hot hot! Find one that relates to your practice and share it. Make sure you watch the video first to check out any technical issues, such as plug-ins that readers may need to download to view the content.
• Stats & Polls – Although polls may not work in an email newsletter, you can start one in your blog and share to Social Media for follower interaction.  Stats are notoriously the more “boring” topic to write about, but it helps from time to time to break down the industry numbers for your clients.

So pour yourself another cup of coffee and grab your pen (or keyboard) -- you got this!

Integrate Your Email Marketing with Your Social Media - A Systematic Approach

Each week I compile and send out our IMS email newsletter.  If you haven’t seen it yet, check out the latest issue online, or better yet sign up to receive your own copy. I love sharing marketing tips from our talented staff with our clients, colleagues and professional connections!

After I send the email blast out to our contacts, I take it one step further and share the email newsletter on all of our Social Media accounts.  I make sure to integrate our email marketing efforts with our Social Media marketing efforts. The results have been amazing with an average of 50+ views on Social Media accounts, and an extra 10 shares resulting from those views.  What a great way to get the word out!

Each month, we help our Essential Clients™ compile and send out their own law firm email newsletters. We include a Social Media share bar right at the top of each email, so sharing the information online is a piece of cake! I encourage each of you to do the same – share your e-News on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and any other platforms you are using. 

Here are some great tips on why integration of email and social marketing is so important:

• Your reach is extended – Sharing means more views, opens, clicks and conversions of viewers to actual readers.
• Your subscriber list will grow – Sharing alerts followers of your e-News and will entice them to sign up.  You should also share the link to your sign-up page on Social Media regularly so that followers know where they can get your e-News.
• People like choices – Sharing gives viewers another option to read your e-News.  Maybe they can’t access emails as easily as they can check their Social Media accounts, so having another option or a reminder is a great way to convert those viewers into readers.
• “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts” – Email marketing is effective, yes. Social Media is effective, yes.  But when used alone, each of those parts are limited. Integrating your email marketing into your Social Media, print, and online efforts is going to take your marketing to the next level in a powerful way!

If you need assistance on sharing your email newsletter to your Social Media accounts, please contact Personal Account Manager Dana Alley (dana@estateplanningpartners.com) for a brush-up session.

Effective Email Marketing – How to Get More Clicks & Stay Out of the Trash

Attorneys love email marketing because it’s quick, cheap, and has the ability to reach multiple recipients all in one press of the “send” button. That explains why your inbox can get bogged down so easily, as there are many marketers out there trying to get your attention.

So if you are among those “marketers” for your own law firm, how do you get the recipient to actually open and click your email?

If you think about it, you never really know how these recipients are viewing your email. Is it from their work desktop or at home? Is it on their phone or other mobile device? Just as you prioritize which emails you are going to open/keep/delete, your recipients are doing the same as it relates to your email message.

Here are a few suggestions on how to create effective email messages:

1. Personalize the “From” section:  People are more apt to open an email from a person or law firm that they know, as opposed to an unrecognizable address. Using your personal firm email address or main firm email address establishes their trust.
2. Grab their attention with the Subject Line:  Let the reader know what you have in store for them.  If you leave them guessing about what’s inside, they may decide the email is not important enough for their consideration. Think of the Subject Line as a headline for your firm’s news – “ABC Firm Hires New Attorney” or “ABC Firm’s Latest eNews for March 2013.”
3. Get to the point …Now:  If have something important to announce, a service to offer, or an event coming up, let the reader know about it right away.  The message does not have to be extensive; short and sweet goes over very well in our busy society.
4. Watch your words:  You don’t want to be flagged as a spammer, so keep it professional and informative.  Too many ALL CAPS WORDS are spam triggers, as well as words like “FREE” or “CLICK HERE.”
5. Link back to your website or blog:  Once you get a recipient to convert into a reader, don’t stop there! Give the reader a place to go for more information. Make sure all of your messages point the reader back to you and your firm so they know how to get in touch with you.

What you have to remember about email marketing is that, although we live in an online world, people tend to get impatient with email.  They get lots and lots of messages on a daily basis, so keep your message from being sent to the Trash by using the tips above!

10 Ways to Grow Your Email Newsletter List

You’ve got your website, your blog, your print newsletter, and the email newsletter – the whole package. You post to your blog, your print newsletters go out, and your email newsletter is sent to the initial list of contacts that you submitted. So now you can just sit back and expect clients to come streaming into your law firm, right?

Well, not exactly.  It’s great that you have all of those things in place, but marketing takes a little bit more effort than that. You can take it a step further and add some value yourself. How? One way to add value and build your business is to grow your email newsletter list.

Email marketing may not be a new thing, but it’s probably something you are not taking full advantage of when it comes to getting the word out about your practice. Even though clients and prospects can visit your website any time, they may not always think to do so.  And an email newsletter gives them a reminder about your firm and the services offered, not to mention services they may not even know they need until they read about it in their inbox. Email marketing is a great way to build your business!

Here are 10 ways to grow your email newsletter list:

1. Include a sign-up form on your website.  IMS includes this for any Essential Client™ website we create, with sign-up forms throughout your website so visitors know how to stay connected.
2. Add a sign-up form or sign-up link to your blog navigation. Your blog navigation should reflect your website navigation, so it only makes sense to add access to your newsletter on your blog as well.  More visibility = more user-friendly. IMS adds this element to our Essential Client™ blogs.
3. Add a sign-up link after each blog post. When someone reads your blog, you’ve already got their attention.  Keep the flow going by adding that email newsletter link right after the blog body text; if they like what they’ve read, they’ll want to read more.
4. Include a “share” link on each email newsletter.  This is a great way for existing subscribers to share your newsletter with friends or family. This is also provided by IMS in your email newsletter design.
5. Post the sign-up link to Social Media. It’s no secret that Social Media is essential to your marketing, so don’t hesitate to let your followers know that you have an email newsletter.  Post the sign-up link to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ , and any other platforms you use.
6. Share your email newsletter on Social Media. Step 5 lets people know you can sign up for an email newsletter, but this is even better – you can share your email newsletter to your Social Media pages to let them see it for themselves.  A visual goes a long way!
7. Display a sign-up sheet in your law office. You may have a client waiting in the reception area or browsing through your print brochures and publications – make sure the email newsletter list is visible, you can even display it right next to a print newsletter to draw them in.
8. Capture client information during events and workshops. An event or workshop at your firm is a great way to connect and inform clients about the services you offer.  Don’t forget to ask for their contact information for follow-ups, future events, and (ahem) your email newsletter.
9. Add the sign-up link to print material and on all downloads you create. You’ve finally gotten used to adding your websites address to all of your print materials, business cards, brochures and PDFs available for download. But if you take it one step further and add your sign-up link as well, it’s just another way to put the word out.
10.  Make the email sign-up part of your consultation. Once you get a client or prospect in the office, it’s up to you to capture their information. This is the perfect time to suggest that they subscribe to your newsletter and offer to take down their email address yourself.

For any email addresses you gather on your own, be sure to send list additions to Dana Alley (dana@estateplanningpartners.com) so they can be added to your email newsletter distribution.

Last Minute Greeting from Your Law Firm

By Alyssa Mahlberg,
Graphic Designer

A few weeks ago, Jennifer posted on Facebook about how important it can be to clients and customers to receive holiday greetings.

However, today is December 18, and Christmas is just 7 days (that's 4 business days) away! It may be too late to order Holiday cards, or make them yourself and address them and send them out before Christmas.

A good alternative to sending physical holiday cards in the mail is a special email with a holiday greeting. At IMS, we can design these for you and send them out to you email list. This can be a great way, not only to reach prospective clients and show appreciation for past clients, but also to drive traffic to your website and social media pages. Take a look at the Holiday greetings we designed and sent out for clients David Lefton and Patrick Kelleher below.

David Lefton's Holiday greeting

Pat Kelleher's Thanksgiving eCard.

Be sure to call James (1-877-352-2021) if you want to have IMS set up a special Holiday eCard mailing for your law firm.

Get Personal with Your Estate Planning eNewsletter

By Dana Alley, Personal Account Manager
SEO Specialist

Your estate planning e-newsletter is an excellent marketing and relationship-building tool. However, on a month-to-month basis, the same opening email message can start to get a little stale. Mix it up every month or two by including a brief short story or message. A personal message to current or prospective clients will increase reader satisfaction and brand awareness, and also associates your law firm with a pleasant thought.

Your message will go at the top of your eNewsletter email.The message can be seasonal or generic, but the important part is that it’s changed on a regular basis. This way, email recipients don’t just think you are sending out the same message each month.

If you are an Essential Attorney™, you can email your messages dirctly to me at dana @ estate planning partners.com (without the spaces). As long as you get them to me by the 20^th of each month, I’ll make sure they are included in next month’s edition.

Here are some real messages our Essential Attorneys™ have used in their eNewsletters:

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Building wealth is only half the job. Protecting wealth for your loved ones and yourself is equally important. Through estate planning and corporate, real estate and elder law, Ball & Stuart, PLLC will help you protect everything you love – family, friends and favorite charities. For more information be sure to visit our web site at www.ball-stuart.com where you will have access to our Blog, Newsletter Archives, a Free Newsletter Subscription and a Free Report on Trusts!

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Our Mission: To provide peace of mind to you and your loved ones. We strive to earn your trust and confidence by offering you personal counseling and unique planning strategies. Building a long-term relationship with you enables us to meet your needs, exceed your expectations and to create an estate plan that works. Through our commitments to one another, we realize our personal goals by helping you, achieve yours.

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A special greeting at Thanksgiving from our Family to yours.

We are deeply thankful for your confidence and loyalty in us and we extend to you and your Family our warmest wishes for a Happy and Healthy

Thanksgiving Day! Patrick and Barbara

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LIVE LIFE AND LEAVE YOUR LEGACY BY DESIGN, NOT DEFAULT
How you live your life impacts everyone around you. How you leave your legacy has even further consequences. When we take the time to think through our values and goals and live (and die) by them, we have a greater opportunity of having a positive influence that can impact many generations. And when we are not intentional about our lives and legacies, unfortunately, the opposite is also true.

At Sundvick Legacy Center, we help you develop and build your life, your business, and your legacy according to your vision.

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Law Firm Marketing & The Power of AWESOME!

It's one thing to create and optimize a website as the linch pin of your law firm marketing ... and quite another to launch a comprehensive marketing system that includes both inbound and outbound marketing.

Inbound marketing is only about half of your marketing equation -- inbound strategies are passive, waiting for people to recognize their own needs and go searching for solutions. Outbound marketing does the heavy-lifting in a successful marketing campaign. Outbound marketing is active, reaching out to target audiences and touching them with compelling, relevant messages.

Email marketing is one outbound strategy, and a fundamental aspect of The Essential Solution™.  But, unlike other ho-hum e-newsletters, your Essential Solution enewsletter really rocks!

People are inundated with digital messages. How do you cut through all that noise?

We believe in the Power of Awesome! Make the message cool and compelling, and people will make space for you.

So we turn your e-newsletter into an AWESOME digital magazine.With a digital magazine, we can optimize your content with video, audio, animations and hyperlinks. Your readers are entertained at a deeper level with interactivity, you capture their attention and engage them with your content before they can check out your competitors!

All digital marketing success is based on engagement – but that can be hard to measure and is often different for each channel.  We’re analytics geeks, and track tons of data. While open rates and click through rates are important, I’d say response rates, views and conversions are our most important data points. Reviewing those statistics across all of our client performance reports, we find that the digital magazines are consistently among the most popular website entry points, dramatically boosting Essential website performance, traffic and SEO.

Create a better experience for your readers, and reap the benefits of an engaged audience left saying, "that was awesome!"

Preview a sample

Effective Relationship Management

Posted by Roslyn Drotar, Personal Account Manager / Strategic Planning
INTEGRITY MARKETING SOLUTIONS

Your referral sources are important to your practice.  You know that.  What are you doing to build your referral sources and solidify those relationships?  You have to be doing something.  You know that too.  But are you?  How much time do you contribute each week to your referring relationships?  How much time per month?  If you're consistent, great!  But if not, aren’t the people who refer business to you the most important people to your business?  So you have to stay connected to them.

First, reach out.  Go through your database and pick out your top ten existing referral sources.  Pick up the phone and invite them to a face-to-face coffee or lunch.  Meet with one per month and share with them how you’re doing.  Check in and see how they’re doing and talk a little business and a little pleasure. 

As for new relationships, have you done a Google search for professionals in your area lately?  Pick up the phone and call any new professionals you’d like to work with and invite them to coffee and get to know them and their business.  Then follow up and connect with them through Linked In, Twitter and Facebook.  Always add new referral sources to your newsletter and e-newsletter list.

Always try to bring in conversations about more than just business.  Ask questions about them.  Where they went to college?  Their favorite team?  Recent travels?  Set yourself out from the others they network with and find out who they are.  Connect on both a personal and professional level.  You won’t set yourself out from others if you're not different and have the usual conversation and talk shop.  Do something to make them remember you.

Then follow up like a fanatic.  Be present in their daily business by sending newsletters and e-newsletters.  Connect with them through their social media and make it through their newsfeed for the day!  Always build your numbers and make sure they increase in both your relationship management database and your online connections, as well as with your newsletter lists. You've got to stay connected consistently.

Of course if we can help in any way, please pick up the phone and give us a call.  We want to help you make 2012 your best year ever!