How Data Can Determine Your Direction

Small Change, Big Help

One thing you can change today, to take better control of your marketing… include in your marketing conversations the person who answers the phone. It’s that easy, and the benefits can be seen in a wide variety of ways. AND, you can implement it today.

Every law firm knows that they need to ask their leads how they found the firm. This task is typically delegated to the person who answers the phone. Many of our clients tell us that they need to do a better job of asking this question, but they never actually improve. By asking the receptionist to sit in on the first five minutes of the monthly marketing calls they have with GLM, they are able to covertly incentivize the receptionist to actually ask the question. If the person knows that this information is going to get reviewed on a monthly basis, they are more likely to do a good job of recording it.

Better Relationship With Your Marketing Agency

If you have the data to understand if your marketing agency is performing or not, the agency has to perform or the relationship is going to grow sour. However, if the agency is committed to a good plan and is executing that plan, they will want to know whether or not it is working. Marketing has ups and downs. You can’t expect every month to set a new firm record for number of cases signed. The marketing industry changes, and your local market changes. Having this data allows us marketers to make better decisions.

Peace Of Mind

Let’s face it, the marketing industry doesn’t have the greatest reputation. When a firm signs up for an annual marketing plan that costs tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars, there is going to be some concern and anxiety about the plan’s performing. The sooner you take control of the data, the sooner you can take control of your marketing fate. All of us entrepreneurs experience the same anxiety when there is something we don’t know, and feel out of control because of it.

How To Interpret The Data

Our preferred method is using a metric called Revenue-to-Cost, as opposed to ROI. The reason is that ROI factors in expenses and is more complicated and less standardized between companies. R:C is extremely simple and, truthfully, good enough for any small business on a monthly basis. It is exactly what it sounds like: revenue generated divided by the marketing cost. So if the firm expects revenue of $10,000 from the cases signed in the previous month, and their monthly marketing cost was $2,000, then their R:C is 5.

To understand what makes for a good R:C, we recommend you read our white paper. We analyzed more than 75 agency websites, industry reports, case studies, and marketing publications to determine what “everyone else” is getting from their marketing. Which should satisfy the brainiacs and we have a cliff notes version available as well. If you want to understand how YOU stack up, you can gain instant access by completing the form on this page. We don’t sell your data or spam you. We send out emails no more than once per month to notify our readers of new data-driven content.