Berbay's Blog: Marketing for law firms, engineers, CPAs, architects and other professional services

“Great news,” I told my friend. “I’ve been in my first L.A. car accident.”

About a month ago, I was rear-ended on my way to work. Fortunately, no one was hurt and no damage was done, so we exchanged information and parted ways. When I received a voicemail from the other party’s auto insurance company asking me to call them back and confirm that I wouldn’t be filing a claim, I was more than happy to oblige – until I heard the last part of the message:

“Please call me back and reference the incident number: #2312465132132154913454134213…”

No, that’s not the actual incident number. I don’t know the real number because it was roughly twenty digits long and spat out at a rapid-fire pace. But it reminded me of experiences I’ve had with businesses that inadvertently constructed obstacles to communication with potential customers.

That being said, below are three tips to tear down common communication barriers between you and potential clients:

1. Have a “Contact Us” section prominently displayed on your website.
   According to a recent Nielsen report, the average U.S. Internet user views 2,803 web pages a month, and spends just one minute looking at each of them. If a potential client isn’t able to find something useful in under a minute, he or she is very likely to leave your website and visit your competitors instead. To combat this, give your visitors an easy way to contact you in case they have questions, whether you display a link to your information or just simply incorporate it into your page design.
2. Be accessible over the phone.
   How many times have you hung up the phone in frustration after your call was transferred for the fifth time? How many times have you left a message for a person who never called you back? The reality is that the people in need of your services may not always have the time to play phone tag with you. Unless they have a strong reason to pursue your services, potential clients may be inclined to choose a more responsive firm, especially if they are under pressure to secure an offer. From day one, show a client that you are reliable and accessible.
3. Keep track of important information so that potential clients don’t have to.
   If you do need to transfer a lead to another person in your firm, be sure to summarize the situation for your colleague and pass along any notes you may have taken during your initial conversation. Make a copy of this information and keep it on file. Don’t expect the potential client to be able to reference case numbers or recall industry-specific terms. Tracking this information streamlines communication. The potential client begins to view you as their trusted advisor, increasing the chances that they will engage your services.

I still haven’t returned the auto insurance company’s call because they made it difficult for me to communicate with them. Avoid this situation with potential clients by taking time to think about the communication barriers you may have inadvertently constructed.

“Things are getting better and will continue to do so,” was the overall sentiment expressed by a panel of investment bankers at a recent Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) meeting.

“Investment Banking Panel: Examining the M&A Landscape” featured:

John Martin of GE Antares moderated.

A summary follows:

Where do you see the marketplace?

What about financial restructuring?

What are the hot industries?

The panel:

• The U.S. is seeing a pickup in industrial markets, in areas such as auto building products. There is a lot of activity in technology and software.

• In Asia, it’s industrial and tech software that are hot. In China, the hot markets are media and entertainment, and they want to come to the U.S.

• Real estate is out of favor everywhere, as is post-secondary education, which was busy in 2008 and 2009.

• Anything related to the alternative energy markets, such as screens for fracking, is busy. They are seeing huge multiples.

• Food is in favor now; last year it was on the sidelines.

• You have to be in South America. Brazil is a very busy market. They are seeing a lot of deals coming out of Australia.

The panelists’ other thoughts:

The panel:

• When the banks stopped lending, alternative capital stepped in, and is very quickly going where it’s needed.

• Strategic buyers have to be optimistic about their business, if they’re buying another business.

-By Berbay Principal Sharon Berman

Google Places, launched in September 2009, allows business owners to update and manage their physical business location information for free. Google has created this vital tool as a means for businesses to gain exposure to the 97 percent of consumers that are searching for them online. To create Google Places, Google merged its Google Maps service with organic searches (listings on search engine results pages that appear because of their relevance to the search terms, as opposed to being advertisements). Below, we’ve outlined some tips for creating and making the most out of your listing.

How it works. Google Places provides search results for geographical-based search terms. For example, if I use Google’s search engine to look for “bake shop,” Google Places provides me with a number of bake shops located fairly close to me, each with a Places page that brings up its phone number, address, pictures, hours of operation, website, reviews by other Google users, etc.

It’s fast, free, and easy. Getting listed on Google Places only requires three steps. First, submit your information to Google. This should include your basic contact information as well as any videos/photos, if you have them. Second, Google will verify the listing by sending you a postcard or calling you. Third, wait for your listing to show up.

To create your firm’s Places page, Google will crawl the Internet looking for related information from third-party sources such as Yellow Pages or Yelp.

Once your listing is confirmed, you will need to fill out important information regarding your hours of operation, types of payment accepted, and additional details. This not only helps customers get to your page, it also helps with organic rankings by creating a content-rich listing.

It’s that easy? Yes – well, at least it used to be. When Google Places first launched, a business could simply submit a listing and see its name appear in the top local search results within a week. Nearly three years later, businesses have recognized the undeniable value behind Google Places, making it all the more difficult to appear in the top search results. To increase your chances of appearing at the top, remember that Google likes content-rich pages. The more information you give Google, the more it will favor your page.

There’s an app for that. Google Places has its own app on iPhone, BlackBerry, and Android operating systems, which means your business will receive free exposure to the millions of people that are using smartphones every day.

Follow these easy tips to create a Google Places listing today and start receiving free exposure to your prospective customers.

I recently attended a panel discussion, featuring reporters from a prestigious Los Angeles media outlet, discussing best practices when pitching to the media. Major media outlets are constantly being bombarded with emails and phone calls from people who want to get their clients’ stories published. When receiving hundreds of pitches a day, you are bound to develop pet peeves, regular annoyances and a list of definite don’ts.

The panelists shared insight into what to think about before pitching to the media, as well as what to avoid:

• Never pitch a story if the client you are pitching for is unavailable to comment. If the client is about to get on a plane and won’t be available for several hours, wait to distribute the pitch if the news isn’t time sensitive.

 

• When making follow-up calls, make sure you are knowledgeable about what you are pitching and can answer questions pertaining to the topic.

 

• This always seems apparent, but more often than not, is surprisingly overlooked: don’t send pitches that are poorly written and have grammatical errors. It will reflect poorly on you and dismiss your company as a reputable source of information.

The panelists also let us in on a secret that they don’t often like to admit:

• When the media is invited to an event, they will sometimes go just to find story ideas, not necessarily to cover the event. Being aware of this will help to manage media coverage expectations post-event.

As public relations and marketing professionals, it’s important to value our relationships with the media. Taking a few moments to ask yourself if you are making any of the above mistakes, and being well informed about how the media works, can positively affect your pitching efforts and, in return, garner greater results for clients.

Sharon Berman and I recently attended a media training boot camp organized by Tom Jordan, a news anchor and reporter in San Diego whose company is solely devoted to teaching professionals how to make the most out of any news interview.  Since Berbay is always looking for better ways for our clients to communicate with the media, we attended the four-hour session and learned the essentials of communicating your most important messages, and effective tactics for handling the media.  We’ve summarized some take-aways below:

• Media Basics – Sometimes we need a reminder that publicity molds public opinion and, according to Opinion Research Corporation, news carries more weight than ads.  The range for worth of a neutral or positive news item varies from three to ten times the value of an ad.  As Tom states, “This doesn’t mean advertising should be ignored.  Not everything a company does is news.”




• Off-the-record – We’ve said it before, and we will say it again: Nothing is off the record! Even if you tell the reporter it’s off-the-record, or if a reporter says it’s off-the-record, it’s not.  Also, be careful of what you say in ear shot of reporters.  Oftentimes, reporters are trained to listen-in on “small talk” before or after an interview.  And speaking of “small talk” – never small talk with a reporter about anything you wouldn’t want to see in print.  It is good to establish a rapport with a reporter or news anchor, but you must always be cautious about what you say to them.




• Quoting out of context – Being quoted out of context is avoidable.  Many times, a reporter asks a question and the interviewee’s answer to the question is far too long.  This requires the reporter or news anchor to use 5 to 10 seconds, out of your 1 to 2 minute response.  To avoid this, your response should always be 20 seconds or less for a print interview, and 10 seconds or less for a TV interview.  As Tom mentioned, there are three answers to every question:

1. “Here’s the answer to the question” – in 10 or 20 seconds.
2. “I don’t know but I will find out” – make sure you do find out and let the reporter know as soon as possible.
3. “I know but I can’t say because…”  Replying with “no comment” implies guilt and can tarnish a reputation.

Other important points we were glad to hear from a seasoned news man:

• There’s value to getting into smaller news outlets because larger outlets keep their eyes on smaller ones for story ideas.
• Preparation, as with anything, is key.
• Learn how to bridge from the question to the story you want to tell, e.g., “Sam, that’s still unclear, but what I do know is…”

These are just a few of the tips from Tom Jordan’s media boot camp that can ensure a smooth interview and result in a final product that you are proud of.  Do you have more tips you’d like to add?  Let us know!