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Part 3: The Fifth Dimension - Display Advertising

In our first two installments of “The Fifth Dimension,” we documented the shift by advertisers away from print to online advertising. Or perhaps it would be fairer to say that advertisers now include online as a significant portion of their overall budget. We noted how innovations in technology (the Internet, BlackBerries, cell phones, etc.) were driving that shift. We explained organic search engine optimization—what you can do yourself to improve your Google rankings. And we dove into Google’s paid AdWords program to introduce you to that arcane world of media buying.

As for our own experiments with paid AdWords? Last week we received five calls for engagements via Google AdWords. Three were a poor fit for us, but two were right in our wheelhouse! We believe this is because we took the time to understand the medium (We love Google but neither their sales people nor sales literature is very clear) and adjust our online presence to match our goals. If your firm has urged you to focus on sales leads in these troubled times, consider AdWords (and call us to help!).

In this final installment of “The Fifth Dimension,” we want to introduce you to the world of display advertising. Digital displays—the now ubiquitous banners and other rich media (video, sound, etc.) you encounter every day on the Web—account for one-third of all online spending:

Source: ZenithOptimedia Group, December 2006, Via eMarketer Inc., New York; “2007 Marketing Fact Book”

You just heard about our success with AdWords (cf. chart above: 45% search), but according to Razorfish, “Media purchased on Yahoo! has shifted aggressively from search to display advertising.” In other words, you can expect to see the display segment grow over the coming years in proportion to the overall pie.

Great online display advertising—like all advertising—requires great creative and a smart media buy. In Part I, we reported where C-suite buyers were spending their online time. Those broad statistics, however, reflect the habits of all executives but do not reflect the specific interests of your buyers. Finding niche sites and blogs for your targeted ads will improve your effectiveness and stretch your advertising dollar.

Buying Online Display Ads
Both the standards and metrics for buying online space are inconsistent and changing. This unfamiliar territory is bewildering to seasoned print buyers and, we believe, is one important reason more advertising dollars have not migrated to the Web.

Some sites have adopted the “cost per thousand impressions” model employed in traditional print buying. Other sites sell weekly or monthly placements, which can provide hidden value that not even the ad sales reps realize. We typically ask for other stats to support our media planning; for example:

• Unique visitors (not just number of visitors, unique visitors)
• Unique page views per visitor (not just number of clicks)
• Visitor breakdown by geography
• Time spent on site

Everyone is searching for the ideal way to prove value—buyers to drive down their costs and advertisers to compel higher fees. All we can say is, it’s complex. Although there are more than 100 million active Web sites, only a few million have traction—a regular audience. A few million!

Planning Your Online Display Ads
Hardly anyone is unfamiliar with the banner ad. You may even know that banners are measured in pixels. But have you noticed that banner ads come in all shapes and sizes. They can be:

• Horizontal (called “leaderboards”), from small (158 pixels by 50 pixels) to large (728 pixels by 90 pixels)
• Vertical (called “elevators”), from small to large (standard size: 160 pixels x 600 pixels)
• Square (called “buttons”), from small ads (125 pixels by 125 pixels) that usually run on either edge of a Web page to large (300 pixels by 250 pixels) that can overtake much of the real estate on a home page.

Many banner ads have “weight” limits; in other words, your ad may not be able to be larger than 10 kilobytes. Why is this important? Lightweight ads must be static or simple rotating gifs, challenging your creative freedom.

Frame 1

Frame 2

One of the fastest moving trends on the Internet, however, is video. “Video in a banner ad costs up to an additional 50 percent. But in a recent test, we learned that video increased click-thru by 65 percent. That return outweighs the cost,” reports Greg Buhl of Performance Communications Group (www.epcg.net).

Eye-tracking studies prove that readers notice a headline faster than text alone, a headline and image over headline alone, and movement faster than all of them. Smart, subtle movement usually improves an ad. Too much movement, rapidly blinking lights plus bells and whistles irritate all of us. Good judgment and taste required here.

Video and the creative “space buy” can result in dynamic breakthrough advertising such as these ads for Apple http://youtube.com/watch?v=94edsS_YQqE.

Source: CNET.com

Creating Online Display Ads
In the digital realm as in print, opportunities to differentiate your firm and push past the clutter are limitless. Unfortunately—online as in print—most advertisers just add to the clutter. “We need a banner ad” is not a formula for a great online campaign.

We challenge our clients to think outside the banner. It always stuns us to find thousands spent on a great media buy to deliver terrible advertising. The problem is compounded online when the media buy itself is so complex and the advertising is often worse than its print sibling. Don’t despair. Help is near.

To learn more about Greenfield/Belser and our work, visit greenfieldbelser.com.

Fellow Predicts Bleak Future for Many English Lawyers

Fellow Stephen Mayson who heads up the Legal Services Policy Institute in London made headlines this week when he revealed the results of research showing that the English legal profession already has twice as many qualified lawyers as will be needed in the new marketplace created by the Legal Services Act 2007. 

Among Stephen's more provocative quotes:

There has been a doubling of qualified lawyers in the last 12 years. We have to ask, what do we need those lawyers for? The brutal answer is, only for reserved activities. It is amazing how many lawyers do not get that… Lawyers are expensive and have been led to believe things about their status. They have that baggage. But if you want clients to pay you for being a lawyer when they do not need one, you have got to have a good story to tell.

 

We probably have twice as many qualified lawyers as that market needs. The number of lawyers has doubled, but the volume of work in reserved activities has not... We have got to get much tighter on what we pay for.

The AA (the English motorists organization) and HBOS (a financial institution specializing in consumer financial services and mortgages) are doing [legal] work on a massive scale. There aren’t that many law firms around that can compete. Are we going to roll over, or think about consolidation?... The one thing that makes an industry vulnerable is the incumbents not changing. Thinking like lawyers could spell the end.

Part 2: The Fifth Dimension - Search Marketing

Online advertising can help you reach buyers in ways that are more directly measurable. But navigating, choosing and bargaining within the mysterious world of online media can offer as much risk as reward. Last month we introduced online advertising in Part 1: The Fifth Dimension. This month, we’ll share some ideas on how to implement your online campaign.

Buyers are impatient. When they launch a search engine like Google and type in keywords, they usually don’t look deep into the results. In fact, studies show that if your firm or discipline or biography is not on the first results page or at the top of the second after typing in a keyword, your chance of being found plummets. Thus getting to the top of the results page is important for every marketer. Achieving that high ranking is called “search engine optimization,” or SEO.

Figure 1 (Source: http://www.arealabs.com)

SEO is a discipline just as Web design is a discipline. Here are some basic rules that will help optimize anyone’s site:

• Know what keywords your buyers are likely to use and write keyword-rich content, particularly within the first 25 words of your narrative
• Include keywords in headlines because search engines pay more attention to headlines than text
• For database-driven sites, create “plain English” URLs (not an infinite string of gibberish)
• Publish regularly (It’s why blogs rank so well.)
• Create a good site map
• Share links with relevant sites
• Choose a content management system that enables the easy calculation of keyword density on each page
• Structure HTML code so Google and other search engines can see you
• Don’t try to trick the system.  It will trick you back.

If you really want to improve your SEO, hire a writer who knows how to write for site optimization. Squeeze everything out of your site organically through intelligent writing and close attention to (ever-changing) search engine “rules.” With the basics covered, your rankings will improve. But the Internet is a competitive space. If you want to guarantee that your site’s address will be seen on a results page, you’ve got to buy it.

Buy the words
There are hundreds of search engines on the Internet, but for C-level executives, Google is king: 86% of buyers search via Google at least once a week (Yahoo 41%, MSN 30%). Thus, we’ve used Google as our “medium” of choice for this article.

Paid placement on search engines
Let’s imagine you’ve optimized your site internally. Your rankings are improving but not fast enough for you. You can “buy” keywords (or at least get in the game for these words). And it’s a little bit like picking your table at a casino: High-reward words (very competitive) require high contributions to play.

How it works

• Select keywords for what you’re trying to promote (a service, an event)
• Bid on keywords
• Write a simple text ad that includes those keywords
• Specify broad match, phrase match, exact match
• Target a relevant place for your ad (your Web site, mini-site, etc.)
• See what happens

These keywords, in “Google speak,” are called AdWords.

Google AdWords
Go back to Figure 1. “AdWords” refers to the text ads that appear as “sponsored links” on the right of the search results page. AdWords are considered a form of direct marketing because your message appears only to the interested buyer.

There are challenges, however, with Google AdWords:

• Choosing the right words (Choose carefully. This is part art, part science.)
• Determining the optimal bid (Same: Art. Science.)
• Managing click fraud (Another story not included here but important to acknowledge.)
• Integrating the campaign with your Web analytics (Modify your site in response to poor results. Goose your site in response to good results.)

The easy part? AdWords gives you substantial control over your costs.

• “Impressions” are free. You pay only for “clicks.”
• Targeting is more accurate with AdWords than with any other medium we’ve found.
• Because clicks are countable, you can demonstrate ROI to your CFO.

A recent heat map of an eye-tracking study by Enquiro proves we (Westerners) read as we’ve been trained to: buyers look to the top left results first, and trail off as they make their way down the page:



Figure 2 (Source: apentium.net)

Improved organic search engine optimization should increase traffic on your site. But, if Google is correct in its calculations, paid AdWords should bump that traffic even further. Makes sense. So we tried it. This was an entirely selfless act on our part to be guinea pigs for your firm. If we failed to increase impressions and traffic, you could turn away from this channel without a qualm.

Our $10,000 monthly investment produced a 60% increase in site traffic. 

We should remind you that another important benefit of Google AdWords is free impressions. Even though users say they don’t click on sponsored ads, they’re still looking at them. Impressions create name recognition.

Maybe nobody chooses a high-value service provider based on search results. But getting on the list is important because if you’re not on the list, you don’t have the opportunity to offer your services. And that’s what good search marketing does. It gets you on the list.

If you'd like help with your firm's search marketing, please call (202) 420-7563 and Amy Beheler will put you in touch with the right individual.

Greenfield/Belser's Big Idea is published monthly.  For more information, visit greenfieldbelser.com. 

LMA names Fellows to Hall of Fame

The Legal Marketing Association inducted five new members into the association's Hall of Fame on Friday, March 14, 2008.  Burkey Belser, Bob Denney, Mark Greene, Deb McMurray and Roberta Montafia were feted during the Hall of Fame ceremonies at LMA's 2008 annual meeting in Los Angeles.  Cited for professional experience and capability; advancement of the profession; service as a role model and contribution to LMA, the five new members joined last year's inaugural class of four:  Sally Schmidt, Norm Rubenstein, Ross Fishman and Merrilyn Astin Tarlton.

All nine Hall of Famers are Fellows of the College of Law Practice Management.

Sally Fiona King Featured as LMA Thought-Leader

Great to see our Fellow Sally Fiona King of Clifford Chance featured as one of the LMA's Thought Leaders.  Her thoughtful reflections are in the LMA's bulletin. 

A couple of extracts:

Everything in a service business goes back to culture.  ... Support functions should work together to provide a concierge level of benefits to lawyers.

“Building a service culture begins at home,” she says, asserting that marketers should be
providing lawyers with everything they need to know their clients and grow more intimate
with them. “It is not the job of the partners to do market research or develop a cheat sheet
on every client; it is their job to practice law and bill for it.”

Well done, Sally:

New Study on Lawyers, Stress and Information Overload

A national workplace survey reports that more than seven in ten American white collar workers feel inundated with information at their workplace, while more than two in five feel that they are headed for an information “breaking point.”  And lawyers are at the high end of the distress scale.  The study supports a push for integrated work solutions.  Not surprisingly, since it is sponsored by our friends in Dayton, OH, whose news release states:

Eighty percent of legal professionals feel overloaded with information, and 70 percent say they spend a lot of time sifting through irrelevant information. Nearly half say that research takes up so much of their time that they occasionally omit billing clients for this work.

Other survey findings that demonstrate challenges for the legal industry and point to some solutions include:

    90 percent of legal professionals agree that not being able to access the right information at the right time is a huge time-waster;

    95 percent of legal professionals believe that a legal research tool designed for their specific area of practice is important;

    79 percent think it is important to have a legal research tool that integrates research into workflow;

    78 percent feel that it is important to have a legal research tool that provides analysis and expertise, and;

    On average, legal professionals say they handle 36.7 emails daily, with 22 percent reporting that they receive 50 or more work-related emails in a typical day.

“While the LexisNexis study points out that legal professionals are even more inundated than your average white collar professional, the results also suggest some possible ways technology can help them cope with the ever-increasing amount of information coming through their doors,” said Allan McLaughlin, senior vice president of research, litigation and business information solutions for LexisNexis.

The Search for Innovation Continues

The College of Law Practice Management is calling for entries for its 2008 InnovAction Awards.  This is a worldwide search for lawyers, law firms and other deliverers of legal services who have invented and successfully applied totally new business practices to the delivery of legal services.  The goal of the InnovAction Awards is to demonstrate to the legal community what can be created when passionate professionals, with big ideas and strong convictions, are determined to make a difference. 

“We are seeking and recognizing creativity and genuinely new ways of thinking in law practices wherever they may be,” said College President Simon Chester. “We know a good deal of innovative thinking is at work around the world to solve the business challenges faced by law firms in today’s competitive market. We want to focus the legal profession on these extraordinary achievements.”

“Lawyers love precedent,” says Merrilyn Astin Tarlton, Co-chair of the 2008 awards and past President of the College.  “It’s our goal to provide some new and inspiring precedent when it comes to managing the business of practicing law.”

Part 1: The Fifth Dimension - Isolating Your Targets Through Online Media Advertising

Recently we were on a call with two partners at a well-respected law firm about their media strategy. They’re commonly viewed as a high technology firm. We chatted about familiar media outlets, then we asked them to consider online advertising. Our lively exchange came to such an abrupt halt that we suspected the call had been dropped.

"Hello? Are you still there?" we asked.

When they confirmed that indeed they were still on the call, they somewhat sheepishly—and with full understanding of the irony—admitted they don't yet understand the medium or believe online advertising will deliver.

Why?

Because of a classical “thinking error.” They don't respond actively to online ads themselves, thus they believe others are not motivated to notice or click though online ads either. This is exactly how great opportunities are missed.

The four biggest advertising media channels—print, television, radio and outdoor—now compete with a ubiquitous and rapidly changing fifth, the digital channel, for your advertising dollar because your buyers and influencers are spending more and more time online. As a service marketer building brand, service offering or recruitment campaigns, you not only have to understand the digital channel, you need to learn how to use it well. This, as you’ll read below, is easier said than done.

This is the first of a three-part series where we will try to help you understand online advertising. Consider Part I: The Setup. In this article, you will learn:

• Why smart money is finding its way to online campaigns
• Where and how often executive-level targets go online
• The different types of online ads and their associated strengths and weaknesses
• Best practices, including the need to integrate online and offline efforts.

Why It's Time to Pay Attention

Listen carefully to this news and study the chart below:

“Internet advertising revenues exceed $5.2 billion for the third quarter of 2007, representing another historic high for a quarter and a $1.1 billion increase, or 25.3% higher, than Q3 of 2006.”
—The Interactive Advertising Bureau and PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP

The investment quote above is matched by the rapid growth of online advertising, as seen in the chart below:

Projected market share 2006–2010

Source: “Global ad market to accelerate in 2008 despite credit scare.” ZenithOptimedia Group (12/3/07)

As this chart illustrates, smart advertisers are putting more dollars online because that medium delivers “viewers” with increasing levels of frequency, reach and measurable results—which is the point. The oft-quoted and acclaimed bank robber, Willy Sutton, said, when asked why he robbed banks, “Because that's where the money is.” And so it goes with Internet advertising.

How your audience has moved.
Where your audience is today.

This shift in advertiser buying behavior is responding to a dramatic shift in buyer behavior—your own behavior—driven by technology shifts. Avenue A/Razorfish organizes these changes into these broad categories:

• “time shifting”: targets are consuming media via TiVo and DVR on their schedule, no longer subject to the vagaries of television or radio scheduling. Or, said another way, “time freedom.”
• “place shifting”: targets are no longer chained to their living room TV. Happiness is now a warm BlackBerry or iPod. “Place freedom.”
• “authority shifting”: consumers are participating with the brand, and brands are letting them by encouraging product or service reviews. In addition, the growth of citizen journalism via blogs and other online vehicles means more voices are joining business-to-business (as well as business-to-consumer) conversations. Authority goes democratic.

Speaking of numbers, we know from the conversation we reported at the top of this article and from conversations with many otherwise savvy marketers that advertisers still doubt that their C-level targets can be reached online. The evidence suggests otherwise:

The C-levels surf, too.

• Excluding email, senior executives spend about 6 hours per week online.
• 38% research business opportunities at least once a week.
• 14% read blogs.
• 21% watch TV/streaming video or download music online.
• 90% receive email newsletters or news alerts.

They congregate here…

• General business news sites - 53% daily/27% weekly
• Search engine/Portal sites - 56% daily/24% weekly
• Business/Industry news & info - 46% daily/34%weekly
• Sports news - 28% daily/28% weekly
• Financial sites - 26% daily/27% weekly

Use these portals…

• 86% use Google at least once a week.
• 41% use Yahoo at least once a week.
• 30% use MSN at least once a week.

And frequent these news sites one or more hours per week.

• CNN.com - 24%
• MSN.com - 19%
• WSJ.com - 16%
• Yahoo! Finance - 12%

Source: “US Executives on the Internet.” Ipsos MORI (2007)

The Terrible Uncertainty of What To Do

“… it’s more accountable … the art of advertising is turning into the science of advertising. Agencies now need math guys.”
— The Washington Post

So. The good news is that online advertising can help you reach the people you want in a way that can be more directly measurable than traditional media. The other news is that navigating, choosing and bargaining within the wide world of online media is a process that can offer as much risk as reward. Why? The lack of standard:

• formats within and across channels
• pricing models, which are neither clear nor consistent
• methods of measuring performance

We are further hampered by:

• the bewildering array of digital “channels,” as well as
• fear and ignorance of technology, generally by marketing, media planning and creative teams; after all “geek” is just “greek” without the “r.”

Although online opportunities are legion, we can help by organizing all online spending into just a few buckets:

Source: ZenithOptimedia Group, December 2006, Via eMarketer Inc., New York; “2007 Marketing Fact Book”

How do I begin?

There’s simply too much to include here to get it all done at once. So, we’ll follow this introduction next month with the strengths, weaknesses, complexities and other need-to-know basics of:

1. Search (paid versus search engine optimization)
2. Display advertising
3. Mobile and email

We’re going to ignore classified advertising because we suspect that category is unrelated to your job title.

Meanwhile, if you are building a plan between now and then, please call (202) 420-7563 and Amy Beheler will put you in touch with the right individual to help with your online buying challenges.

Greenfield/Belser's Big Idea is published monthly.  For more information, visit greenfieldbelser.com. 

Remembering Dick Reed

I'm sad to report the death on January 7, 2008 of a former President of the College and one of our most distinguished Fellows, Richard C. Reed.

Dick died of a stroke at his home at Bellevue, Washington, shortly after getting back from a cruise where he took thirty members of his family and friends.

Dick will be known to Fellows for many reasons:

• he was in the founding class of the College of Law Practice Management and served as President and Trustee.
• He was past Chairman of the American Bar Association’s Law Practice Management Section and chaired the Task Force on Alternative Billing Methods. In 2003, Dick received the Sam Smith Award from the ABA’s Law Practice Management Section to honor his service to the Section (as Chairman 1984-85, and later as Governance Liaison). He was a mentor to many in the Section,  guiding many of the Section's leaders, in very many areas.
  
• Professionally, he was most recently Emeritus principal of Altman Weil, Inc.  In 1989, he joined a predecessor firm Pensa International as a consultant to the legal profession. In 1991, Pensa merged with Altman & Weil to form Altman Weil Pensa (today, Altman Weil, Inc.).  Before that, Dick practiced law for 41 years in Seattle, Washington and was Chairman of the Board of the Reed McClure Law Firm.
• He was the godfather of the Alternative Billing movement.  His books literally created the subject - they included Beyond the Billable Hour: An Anthology of Alternative Billing Methods (ABA), Win-Win Billing Strategies: Alternatives That Satisfy Your Clients and You (ABA) and Billing Innovations: New Win-Win Ways to End Hourly Billing (ABA).
• He also wrote Applying Total Quality Management to the Law Office (Altman Weil Publications); Managing a Law Practice: The Human Side (ABA); and numerous articles for legal periodicals including ABA Law Practice Magazine, the ABA Journal and National Law Journal.
• Dick was educated at the University of Chicago, from where he received both A.B. and J.D. degrees.  He was a prolific speaker and author on law practice management topics, as well as a mentor and friend to lawyers throughout the profession. He frequently lectured at the Institute on Law Firm Management, the American Bar Association, the Canadian Bar Association, the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Arizona State, Oregon State, Kansas State and Washington State Bar Associations.

I will remember his quiet and thoughtful advice, punctuated by the puffing on his pipe, his generosity, his friendship and his consummate professionalism.  Dick was a good man.  He will be missed.

Dressing the Emperor: Jones Day M&A Lawyers Speak Out

[by Ron Friedmann]  Two senior Jones Day M&A lawyers have revealed that the Emperor has no clothes and suggest a plan to dress him.  Their article raises thought-provoking questions about how deal lawyers practice law.

It's Time To Rethink The Lawyer's Role In Dealmaking: Start By Facing Up To The New Realities by  Robert A. Profusek and Lyle G. Ganske of Jones Day in Metropolitan Corporate Counsel, December 2007, makes several  key points:

• "Many lawyers no longer add real value to dealmaking."
• Lawyers do deals the way they always have while business has moved on: "merger papers for public company deals have become the intellectual equivalents of deeds in a real estate deal."
• "[D]eal document creation has become a decidedly commoditized process."
• Lawyers must re-think their roles in deals.  Lawyers add value "in mobilizing and managing multidisciplinary risk assessment teams, not in shuffling reams of paper."
• "We are spearheading an initiative to rethink deal documentation fundamentally, and we intend to invite other leading firms to join our effort."
• "[W]e will completely deconstruct what it is we do. We will reevaluate how we should staff our deals, what expertise our firms really need, how we serve our clients, and how we bill for our services."

I have written about several ideas that support re-thinking law practice:

• Document assembly and expert systems (online interactive advisory systems) to address commoditized elements of law practice
• Developing by empirical methods best practice guidelines for how law is practiced and deals are conducted.
• Business intelligence to help assess staffing models and alternative billing.
• Formal risk assessment using decision trees.  Granted, I've only discussed that tool for litigation, but perhaps it or other quantitative techniques can be developed to understand, discuss, and perhaps even measure deal risk.
• Knowledge management to capture and re-use documents and to tap the appropriate expertise.
• Outsourcing to offshore lawyers routine, higher volume work such as due diligence and contract drafting and review.

The authors' initiative "to dress the Emperor" includes other law firms.  I hope they include the broader community of legal professionals who have thought long and hard about improving law practice.  If this initiative does not succeed, does the profession go back to pretending the Emperor has clothes?