By Alice H. Simons, marketing and communications manager at Hudson Cook, LLP
On September 29, the Mid-Atlantic Region was pleased to have Robyn Addis present the webinar, “Campaigns: Not just for Politicians. Building and Executing Measurable Digital Marketing Campaigns.” As the chief operating officer and chief marketing and business development officer of Legal Internet Solutions, Inc. (and bringing over 12 years of in-house marketing experience), Addis has seen more than her fair share of random acts of marketing and failed campaigns.
Addis broke down for us how to create an integrated digital marketing campaign strategy, measure goals and evaluate your marketing activities to achieve results and demonstrate value.
First, what is a digital marketing campaign?
Just like a political campaign, a digital marketing campaign is a connected series of marketing activities designed to bring about a particular result.
Why are campaigns important in legal marketing?
Legal marketers need to understand the current digital marketing landscape and identify actions we can take to drive integrated digital marketing campaigns. We should be strategically evaluating all of our marketing activities, which demonstrates our value within our firms.
Key Digital Marketing Campaign Elements
- Define your goals. Define specific, measurable and time-based goals. Measurable goals keep the team aligned and hold the entire team accountable (yes, that includes your attorneys).
Examples of measurable goals include:
- Website traffic
- Client feedback
- Social media mentions and engagement (could be vanity metrics, so be sure to really drill down into the actions that resulted from that engagement)
- Brand awareness (branded search volume, online mentions)
- Event registrations and attendance
- Lead and revenue generation (website forms, new matters from current clients)
- Define your target audience. Clients? Prospects? Referral sources? Could be one, several or all of these groups. Once you know who you are targeting, create and define your buyer personas (HubSpot has some great information on creating buyer personas, including free templates).
- What channels are involved?
- Owned – firm website and social media pages, email marketing
- Paid – pay per click, paid social, sponsored content in industry publications
- Earned – shares, mentions, reviews
- Budget
- Time – your team’s time to create the strategy, in-house services, analysis
- Resources – you may need to enlist outside vendors for design, strategy, video, copywriting, email marketing, etc. (*especially for solo and small marketing teams)
- Expenses – pay per click, paid social, paid industry placements, outside vendors, etc.
- Urchin Tracking Module Codes
You may have heard about urchin tracking module (UTM) codes or tags, or even used them in the past. Addis emphasized that UTMs should be an integral part of any digital marketing campaign to avoid those dreaded random acts of marketing. UTMs are unique codes you attach to any URL to generate Google analytics data. They track the performance of your links – where, how and why traffic is getting to your web link.
Tools like HubSpot or Hootsuite will generate UTM codes, but you also can use this free tool from Google. To set up a UTM, you need:
- Campaign Source
- Campaign Medium
- Campaign Content (optional)
- Campaign Term
The UTM parameters tell Google Analytics how to sort your incoming traffic. They track the success of a piece of content across multiple digital channels – vital information to analyze the outcomes of your campaigns.
Marketing Campaign Playbook
- Persona – Who are you targeting? Why are you targeting them?
- Lead Score – How are you evaluating lead quality? How do you advance contacts through the funnel?
- Messaging – What is the key messaging for each target group?
- Design – What design elements will resonate with your audience?
- UTM Tracking – What tracking links are you using?
Consistency, Planning, Patience
An attorney wouldn’t be able to gather the evidence needed for a trial overnight. Campaign activities take time to build the evidence you need to analyze whether a certain channel is working. You will need to test and adjust as you go along. With a well-crafted, strategic campaign playbook, you can measure the effectiveness of your digital marketing activities and make data-driven decisions that help you reach your goals and demonstrate the value of marketing at your firm.
This article appeared originally in the LMA Mid-Atlantic member newsletter
