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ATTORNEYS ON THE AIR

I LIVE IN A SMALL MARKET (130,000 2 COMBINED COUNTIES) AND ONE MARKET WE HAVE NOT BEEN ABLE TO BREAK IS THAT OF ATTORNEYS. THEY ARE BIG IN THE YELLOW PAGES, BUT IT JUST SEEMS SO DIFFICULT TO 1: GET PAST THE GATEKEEPERS, AND 2: HAVE AN IDEA THAT WOWS THEM. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY PAST SUCCESSES OR IDEAS TO SHARE? I AM LOOKING TO BREAK INTO THIS VERTICAL MARKET.

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Permalink Reply by Tim Foley on July 22, 2009 at 6:35pm

I had some success a few years ago with personal injury attorneys, but I know how you feel with the gatekeeper.
Try this: since bankruptcy (bk) is huge right now, do a spec spot using a very very high energy announcer. Push the atty's name & phone number hard in the spot. "He'll protect you, help you, keep you from getting all those calls from creditors" blah blah blah. With these guys its their ego, so package in your website, let listeners contact him via his add/link on your website. Then...put spot onto cd, mail with your proposal, do not use station envelope or you'll never make it past the gatekeeper. Address to him personally. One more thought, maybe do a half-hour to hour weekend live call-in show (he pays for this of course) where he answers callers questions. He'll get a lot of leads. Hope this helps.

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Permalink Reply by Jamie Jourdan on July 23, 2009 at 8:17am

Thank you, Tim, great suggestions. I don't know why I didn't think of the spec spot--that almost always works!

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Permalink Reply by Rebecca Schwartz on July 22, 2009 at 6:51pm

Hi Jamie! There was a somewhat similar discussion started by RSC member Kathie Easton a while back; she was looking for suggestions for ads for "ambulance chaser" attorneys. You might like to take a look at the replies. Here's the link: http://radiosalescafe.ning.com/forum/topics/attorney-spot.

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Permalink Reply by Jamie Jourdan on July 23, 2009 at 8:18am

Thank you, Rebecca, I will definitly check this out!

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Permalink Reply by Michael L. Dafoe on July 23, 2009 at 9:02am

Hi Jamie,
To get passed the gate keeper, an old trick is the following. Tell the person your calling from your local college or University and you're doing a paper on marketing. Who in the firm usually handles the marketing duties?
And if I needed to ask him or her a question pertaining to my paper, when is a good time I could reach him or her by phone? Once you have the name, you can then bypass the gatekeeper by asking for him or her by their first name only. The gatekeeper will assume you know him or her, and if not, just tell the gatekeeper your returning their call.
Good Luck,
Mike

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Permalink Reply by Dave Adams on July 23, 2009 at 11:16am

Hi Jamie,

I know this isn't really the forum for selling things, however, to help you with your problem, we have been syndicating a daily 3 minute program called Point Of Law for 50 years. Most of the stations that run the show have been running it for 10+ years because their lawyer clients love it so much. Here is a link to a demo of the show. Feel free to download it and take it to your prospective lawyers or call me with your questions. I think you'll find a taker quite easily. In a small market like yours the program runs $4.00 a day and you can run it as many times a day as you wish. www.transmediasf.com/PointOfLawDemo.mp3

Dave Adams
415-956-3118

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Permalink Reply by Robert "BOB" Ewing on July 23, 2009 at 11:42am

JAMIE,
THERE ARE TWO (2) YOU COULD USE ! ONE WOULD BE USING "LAW & ORDER" BACKGROUND MUSIC ECT AND IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HEAR A SPOT I DID WITH THAT YOU
CAN CALL ME IN THE MORNINGS HERE AROUND 8AM (CST) .. ALSO USING THE SONG
AND THERE ARE MANY VERSIONS OF "WHAT'S YOU GONNA DO WHEN THEN COME FOR YOU"
AND ITS FROM AN OLD TV SHOW CALLED "COPS" ! LAWYERS WOULD LOVE BOTH THOSE IDEAS !
THANKS
BOB EWING (WTYJ/WMIS)

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Permalink Reply by coleportato on July 24, 2009 at 12:05am

Bob,

I'm sure you meant to say "sound alike music." Jamie may be in a small market, but I'm sure the lawyers would advise her not to violate copyright law. As OUR lawyers have said, "There is no defense for infringement."

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Permalink Reply by Mark Hill on July 23, 2009 at 11:52am

We have taken the approach of replacing the Yellow Pages budget. We have pointed out to the attorney's that Yellow Pages are going to be a thing of the past very quickly (as a matter of fact, Yellow Book has spent millions on TV ads promoting the Web, not the Book). The new phone book and the new newspaper is their website. The Internet is the place to be to provide in-depth information with pictures, video's and content. To promote local businesses websites Radio is the best source for local exposure that is intrusive, affordable and effective. If they have a good website then you are in great shape. If their website is not so good help them find a web designer to get one done. We recently took a $40,000 a year double truck yellow page ad and a $100,000 TV budget and converted it to radio (no we didn't get it all) but it was a new client for the station. They cut their Yellow Page budget back to a small display at $9,000 a year and diverted most of their TV to other mediums to push both of their websites (corporate and personal injury). Getting past the gatekeeper? We have used Lead and Networking Groups (local Chamber of Commerce memberships and BNI groups) to establish relationships. After that - ask for referrals. everyone has (or says they have) an attorney.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Cavagnaro on July 23, 2009 at 12:33pm

Jamie,
We are in a smaller market than yours and just made progress with an attorney. To get past the gatekeeper, no really great secrets. I have a sales rep who used to work for the courts and knows a number of attorneys. In general, I'm having reps call attorneys that they already know.
Once we got to the attorney, we did a good branding presentation with the concept that people need to know you before they need your services. We focused on one high profit area of his practice which was DUII cases. Proposed a 52 week campaign that airs Th-Sat 10pm-1am with two commercials per hour. Creative will be the key as he is concerned about coming off as an ambulance chaser. The spec was done this morning and we are anticipating a contract next Tuesday.
One of the things that we discovered is that attorneys are the greatest capitalists in the market. They also have no concept as to the cost of radio so there was no rate push back.
Hope this help!
Rick Cavagnaro
Bicoastal Media
Hood River/The Dalles, OR

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Dostal on July 23, 2009 at 12:44pm

Jamie,
When you can, take a look at www.MarketingFirepower.info and click on the Success Stories link. One of our recent stories is about a PI attorney who was huge in the yellow pages and is now huge on RADIO! It would be a combnation of getting a few folks involved but if you wanted to discusss further how we could help you help the attorneys I'd enjoy visiting.

Jeff