Internet Marketing for Attorneys | Big Mouth Marketing

I’ve included links to the other parts in the series below. If you haven’t read them, please do.

Human Influencer #4: Consistency

This is perhaps the most powerful and gripping of all the influencing principles we have looked at. Let me demonstrate why.

Would you believe me when I say that this principle is ripping the U.S. political landscape apart?

And, would you believe me if I told you, you can use it to increase the number of clients you get every month, while improving your standing with Google?

These are two big claims. As an attorney, making claims without proof amounts to nothing. Now, keep reading so that you can discover a simple, yet powerful, way to influence people’s decisions.

People want to seem consistent with their decisions, opinions, and actions. The key here is to ‘seem’ consistent.

Donald Trump managed to flip a party from support of free trade to opposition to it by merely taking the opposite side of the issue.

Democrats, meanwhile, mocked Mitt Romney in 2012 for calling Russia the greatest geopolitical adversary of the United States, but now have flipped and see Russia as exactly that.

Even the structure of healthcare, known as Obamacare, was first dreamt up by the Heritage Foundation and implemented in Massachusetts as “Romneycare”.

Yet, people feel so strongly that they need to be consistent, that they will label themselves republicans or democrats, regardless of the policies they support.

The good news is, you can use this inside of your law firm to ratchet up appointments with potentially high paying clients. And guess what? It doesn’t matter which party you support ;-).

If you don’t do anything else today, implement this one tip at your office. You’ll likely see instant results.

I got this idea from a study I read about a healthcare clinic.

They reduced missed appointments by 18% by getting the patients to fill out the appointment card. That’s it. Simple, right?

As a law firm you can increase consistency by getting the same kind of micro-commitment from prospects.

When you are scheduling an appointment, by simply asking the prospect “Are you sure this date and time works for you?” you are getting them to make a micro commitment.

To take this to the next level, you can send them an automated text reminder, stating:

“Hi [FirstName] this is [AttorneyName], thanks for agreeing to meet with me on [DateAndTime]. I have blocked that time out for you and told my secretary to hold my calls. You’ll have a full [AppointmentLength] for me to help you out.”

Now they have committed verbally, and they know that you have committed. This consistency can have an enormous increase in the number of appointments without you needing to spend more on advertising.

A quick side note: Did you notice how natural the language was inside of that text?

How can you implement this?

Google wants the same kind of consistency.

It is all good having fresh, and unique content, pouring into your website. However, Google needs it to be consistent.

Every single thing that we have talked about in this document has to be conducted on a consistent basis.

This is where most attorneys fail. They do not understand that Google’s human AI needs time to assess this influencer.

When an alcoholic turns up to an AA meeting once, are they reformed? Would you trust them to not drink again?

How about the guy who has turned up every single week for three years, and not had a drink in that whole time?

‘Trust’ and ‘consistency’ are actually incredibly easy for Google to measure. The longer, the more consistent, the better.

The quick tactic I gave you to gain more appointments is a perfect example.

Getting the prospect to commit, and then making sure they know you also committed, will fill up your appointment book.

It is exactly the same here. If you did SAO for a year and committed yourself to it, you’ll see the same commitment from Google, and they will fill up your appointment book.

So far, I’ve shown you some impressive marketing case studies with 30-90 day results.

Have a look at what happens over a 6-month period.

Day 1. Ranking by map for the search term ‘bankruptcy lawyer’.

Day 180. Ranking by map for the search term ‘bankruptcy lawyer’.

This attorney is now dominating their city and hoovering up the clients in search of a bankruptcy lawyer.

Imagine your prospects seeing you at spot #1, and with vastly more reviews than your competition? Who are they going to call?

Human Influencer #5: Liking/Affinity

It turns out that people are more likely to be influenced by those they have a natural liking or affinity towards.

Maya Angelou famously said:

“People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel”

This is the secret behind the success of the most expensive restaurants in the world.

According to a recent study of Europe’s top restaurants by Johnson et al, there is an exact science to getting people to feel good. Attorneys who can copy this approach will find themselves with a predictable increase in higher paying clients.
Johnson, Colin & Surlemont, Bernard & Nicod, Pascale & Revaz, Frederick. (2005). Behind the StarsA Concise Typology of Michelin Restaurants in Europe. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly – CORNELL HOTEL RESTAUR ADMIN Q. 46. 170-187. 10.1177/0010880405275115.

For example. In London, there is a three-star Michelin restaurant at the Dorchester Hotel. As soon as you walk in, everything you can imagine has been taken care of.

As soon as you think of something, it is there. It is almost as if they read your mind.

An empty plate is on your table for exactly the right amount of time. Too quickly, and you feel rushed, too late and you feel uncomfortable.

All this, without saying a word.

They seem to magically know what you are thinking.

Even your conversations with the waiter are comfortable and impeccably timed. They will never ask you how your food is just after taking a bite. They will linger the exact right amount of time before moving on.

The entire restaurant seems to be choreographed to perfection. The food, the way everyone moves, the chairs, the restroom, everything…

And none of this is by chance.

You leave feeling incredible. Your ‘liking’ and ‘affinity’ is so high by the time you leave, you don’t mind paying more for the experience.

They do this by taking control of the experience. They enter the conversation that is already happening in your mind.

Most people believe that your restaurant experience comes down to the quality of the food and the friendliness of the waiter. It isn’t that simple. If it was, fine dining establishments wouldn’t exist.

Believe it or not, but this is highly important to Google, and easy to replicate on your website. Much easier than in the real world.

People will love your website if it gives them exactly what they are looking for at every turn. They don’t have to look, search, or guess. Everything is just there.

Back in 2012, one of my colleagues was asked to redesign a website for a home builder based in California.

He immediately started by asking: ‘What is the intention of the visitor to the website?’

By mapping out the prospect’s journey, you can start to take control of the experience.

1. Someone goes to Google and searches for home builders.

2. They arrive on the website and immediately want to see examples of the homes. So, he put a big button with an arrow stating ‘See our homes’.

3. Once they see the homes, they want to know what people’s experiences have been. So, he put a row of testimonials on the sidebar.

4. They want to know how to contact the homebuilder. So, he had a big ‘contact us’ button always an inch or two away from the content.

Everything was seamless. The home builder’s sales went up by 400%. In four years, he never generated a single actionable lead from his website. All of the sudden he had leads every single week.

As an attorney, how can you implement this?

Google wants to see this kind of seamlessness in your website. The more people like your website, the more people Google will send you.

Generally, there are four questions entering your prospect’s mind when they come to your website.

Answer them in sequence, and you have yourself a good user experience.

1. What can you give me? Make a promise.

2. I don’t believe you. Immediately prove that you can deliver on that promise with case results.

3. What do others think of you? Immediately show proof that people like working with you in the form of testimonials.

4. How do I contact you? Instantly give them a way to contact you. Preferably something that is easy and takes away the risk of them wasting their time.

Not only will users love you, but so will Google.

Recently, eCommerceCEO interviewed Google experts. Their main topic of conversation was about how the user experience effects your ranking in Google.

According to Moz.com, usability has a huge impact on search results:

“[…] through linking patterns, user engagement metrics, and machine learning, the engines make a considerable number of intuitions about a given site. Usability and user experience are second order influences on search engine ranking success.”

This comes as no surprise to those of us who treat Google’s new AI as human as possible.

Therefore, enter the conversation already happening in the mind of your visitor, by following the sequence we’ve outlined.

The attorney below combined all 6 of the influencers and is now on page one in Scottsdale AZ.

Here is another example. This attorney is now ranking at spot #1 for ‘debt defense attorney’.

Human Influencer #6: Consensus

The final influencer is consensus. When people are unsure of what to do, they look to others for guidance.

Dr Jolyon Faria and his team analyzed the behavior of 365 people at a busy crossing at Leeds University, UK. This crossing was notorious for jay walking.

It turns out that people are 250-350% more likely to cross the road if the pedestrian next to them sets off first.
Collective behavior in road crossing pedestrians: the role of social information, Behavioral Ecology (2010) 21 (6): 1236-1242. doi:10.1093/beheco/arq141

The same is true of your law firm. People want to see that other people have had a good experience with you.

Now, we have already discussed the importance of reviews. They are crucial, however there is something else you can do too… something that very few people are aware of.

Think about Geiko.

It is a huge brand that you see all over the internet, radio, TV, and other sponsorships.

People actively search for Geiko, because there is a general consensus that millions of people use them.

Google knows this.

The more brand searches your law firm gets, the more consensus there is that you are a great attorney. If you are able to increase your branded searches, your non-branded searches will increase as well.

Now, all the other 5 influencers will massively increase the brand searches you get, but there is one simple tactic you can use today to improve it drastically. And it is free.

How can you implement this?Before I get into the ‘free’ tactic, let me give you quickest one first.

Advertising on Google.

By advertising, and then retargeting those people on Facebook with a helpful article, known as a Passive Return Agent, you’ll get the quickest and biggest increase in branded search – skyrocketing your consensus.

We call this the Crocodile Close™.

It will bring your new clients, while slowly increasing your domination of the search results.

However, that is simply one tactic among a few.

When you come in contact with a prospect over the phone, part of your sales pitch can be a ‘consensus’ play.

“We’ve had many clients we’ve helped with this exact problem. Let me show you an example. Can you Google ‘ABC Law Firm reviews?”.

Not only are you proving consensus to the prospect, but Google sees a branded search coming from someone. You’ll slowly see your search traffic increase, while you improve your pitch to potential clients.

For an example, why don’t you Google “Big Mouth Marketing reviews” ;-).

Actually, I’ll help you out with a couple here:

“Big Mouth gets it! We have been through a number of companies big on promises with zero results. Big Mouth Marketing understand the legal space and will deliver results to your firm.” – Richard F.

“Extremely responsive and knowledgeable! My account supervisor Marissa is always on top of things and taking the time to explain to me my business metrics. Natasha is a Google marketing expert and also just as on top of things and responsive. So thankful to have found Big Mouth Marketing!” – Samantha V.

“Everyone at BMM has been great to work with. Very professional. They have a wonderful understanding of marketing and are willing to help their clients grow and and learn. Would recommend to anyone looking to grow their business.” – Greg H.

And this approach truly does work.