Issue: A Local Law Firm is dedicated to helping clients with legal and financial challenges of aging. They are attempting to pivot their marketing, from targeting professionals to targeting consumers.

Significance: Anticipated 50% drop in revenue extending beyond the initial three-month projection. The firm is in this for the foreseeable future.

Background: For 20 years, the Law Firm has engaged in educational marketing that is focused on referral sources: SWs, NH/AL, home care agencies, attorneys, financial advisors, etc., who would refer business to the Law Firm . The company has a great deal of printed resources that referral sources can hand out to prospective clients and make the phone ring. The Law Firm has historically outworked and outspent competitors.

Ideal Outcome: The goal is to develop a 180-day revised marketing strategy focused on direct to consumer communications. To move from “B to B” to “B to C”.

Roadblocks: The firm had concerns about the time it takes to pivot their marketing and their ability to effectively do so. The current pandemic-affected environment precludes family members’ desire to place loved ones in long-term care facilities. In addition, the Internet is the great equalizer, and the firm wanted to spend their marketing dollars wisely to compete with smaller firms.

The team gathering offered a wealth of suggestions.

Recomendations:

• Home Health Agencies assist in the private pay market as well as the insurance markets. The firm can assist them in getting paid.
• Partner with others for the distribution of the firm’s promotional materials, possibly with a compensation model involved.
• Totem Pole lead rehash – use list of 12,000 existing leads. What were their needs 1, 3, and 5 years ago?
• Consider your services as a package for the lifetime of your clients, and consumers in different points of the life cycle, e.g. the 50-year-old with a “teaser” offering (a will possibly). Then have a discussion with them regarding their parents.
• Video your current clients with their permission and use that for digital marketing purposes.
• Help consumers know when to engage; many of them do not.
• Link in with potential partners digitally.

The team advised the firm to develop a comprehensive marketing strategy complemented by a sales strategy. Stay the course doing what the firm is best at; competitors are not as prepared to weather the storm. Sales are not an issue, and the firm can withstand a short-term pivot.

Outcomes: The firm found that “staying the course at what they are best at” to be sound advice. They improved their digital marketing as well, bringing in a new marketing company in August of 2020. The Law Firm remains relevant across all digital platforms, effectively staying ahead of their competitors.