Pass me a Kleenex.
I’ll take a Coke.
When I hear those two sayings I see one thing in my mind’s eye, bank account statements with so much money on them I don’t know what to do with it all. Those two examples are the ultimate examples of branding. Brands are economic moats, and moats lead to profits.
Often times when someone wants a tissue, they’ll say “pass me a Kleenex,” and likewise when someone wants a soda they’ll often say “I’d like a Coke,” especially in the south. This “replacement” is the ultimate success in branding. If someone thinks of your brand instead of or before they think of the actual name of the product, come on, it just doesn’t get any better than that. At this point, the brand is so strong that it replaces the actual product name, and it’s like you inserted an ad into the person’s mind at the exact second they had the need for the product, and instead of asking for the product, they ask for your specific brand.
Personal Injury Attorneys Can Build Brands
Personal injury attorneys can accomplish the same thing. When someone gets in a car accident, the second after they have been rear ended and their femur has blasted through their jeans, you have an opportunity to make them think about you and your law firm before they think about getting a car accident lawyer generically. And if they’re only thinking about you, only wanting you, then it’s like you’ve created a fantasy world called “life” where people get in car wrecks, seek you out specifically, and you never want for cases or money for the rest of your life. It’s like magic. And you can make it your reality.
How do I know that it’s possible? Look around! Quick, if I ask you “who is the biggest personal injury attorney in your city,” how long does it take you to come up with an answer? Probably one second. Everyone knows the law firm in their area. The TV ads, the billboards, the radio ads, the mailers, the display ads online, the Facebook ads, you see them all the time! This is not by accident. These firms get it. They’re investing in brands, brands are economic moats, and moats bring profits.
This Is Not For Everyone
Building a brand is not for everyone. Attorneys try and fail at this all the time. They hire some smooth talking marketing director, the marketing director hires some smooth talking agency, advertising money goes out the door, it doesn’t work, the attorney gets furious, the smooth talkers talk their jibberish, it results in the attorney needing to spend more money, it doesn’t work, the attorney gets more furious, the cycle repeats itself one or two more times, and in the end there’s nothing but anger, frustration, and beautiful money that’s been burned to a crisp. And of course, there’s no brand value that’s been created.
The thing about building a brand is, it’s not easy. As the old adage goes, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. If building a brand was easy, everyone would have massive brand value.
If you want to go down this road, you need capital, smarts, talent, and efficiency.
YouTube Is More Efficient Than Television
Efficiency is needed in building a brand because it helps your capital go further. Television advertising is a great medium for personal injury, but it requires larger amounts of capital than YouTube. If you are building your brand and need to be as efficient as possible, YouTube is the first place I’d be.
In the coming weeks we’ll talk more about YouTube advertising and cover all the major features and options. But for now, review this list and think about how these YouTube features and options compare to television and how these tools can help you grow your law firm’s brand.
- Control what gender and age groups see your ad
- Control what income demographics see your ad
- Advertise by location down to the zip code level
- Target videos by unique topics
- Choose specific videos to advertise against
- Control how much you bid per view
- Know how long your ads are being watched
- Know how many clicks and direct leads you’re getting from your ads
- Know how your videos perform on specific placements
- Know what your market share is for your specific targeting and how to grow it
- Being able to run as small a budget as you want
- Being able to pause your campaign anytime
- Being able to test and add new ads anytime
