photo-1453847668862-487637052f8aLegal marketing is more than an art; it’s a science.

Or so says Tom Shapiro of Stratabeat, Inc, who presented one of the four TED Talks during an LMA16 breakout session at the recent Annual Conference in Austin, Texas. According to the session description:

The human brain processes information based on the work of more than 90 million neurons, and it’s these neurons that drive your prospective clients to do what they do. By attempting to market your law firm’s services without a deep understanding of human psychology, your marketing could actually be hurting your firm instead of helping it. According to Nielsen, 90% of buying decisions are made with the subconscious mind. Furthermore, neuroscience studies have proven that human decisions are emotionally driven. The factors that influence your prospective clients’ thinking — visual input, colors, emotion, social validation, repetition, neural filtering, etc. — are diverse, yet with the right approach are easy to execute effectively in your marketing. If you want stellar marketing results, your marketing should focus on delivering the most powerful impact to the subconscious mind.

In this session, learn the fundamentals of powerful marketing that move people to action. Understand the underlying reasons why certain marketing works and other marketing falls flat. Uncover actual neuromarketing techniques to appeal to the subconscious mind, attract more attention, drive more website visitors, propel higher volumes of inbound phone calls, create more memorable marketing and achieve increased conversions.”

While we may not have gotten a deep dive during the 15 minute session, Shapiro did give us some valuable takeaways that may have you thinking about your marketing a little bit differently, and wanting to take a closer look at what human psychology may mean for the purchasing of legal services.

Market to the Subconscious

The human brain is up to thirty times more powerful than the world’s most powerful supercomputer, says Shapiro. Every second, our brains process 11 million bits of sensory information. Our conscious mind handles less than 100 per second in comparison. It takes only 50 milliseconds to assess what one likes about a website, flaws, etc.

Bearing all of that in mind, it’s easy to understand that information overload is a challenge for marketers – how do we get our message across? The key, says Shapiro, is marketing to the subconscious. If you do that, it’s much more powerful.

But how?

Using emotion. If you can’t feel emotion, you can’t make decisions. Emotions drive all human decisions. So in your marketing, you need to use more benefit statements, and fewer features.

Get Visual

Not sure that this works?

Think about Nike. Nike’s “Just Do It!” campaign doesn’t list their locations or link to their employee bios – they just generate emotions. At some point, they’ve even stopped using words altogether, and you’d understand their message if you just saw the Nike “swoosh.”

Why does that work? Shapiro told us that the human brain processes visuals 60 thousand times faster than text. Importantly, faces are special – there’s a special part of the brain that remembers faces. As a result, these are a very powerful marketing mechanism. Consider using the faces of your lawyers as a way to better connect with your clients in your marketing materials.

Break through the Noise

Your clients are experiencing 3,000-5,000 marketing messages a DAY. And that is NOT including social media, says Shapiro.

So how do you break through the noise?

Use your marketing to answer the question of how you can solve their problem.

We all operate with a mindset of “what’s in it for me?” So if you use your marketing to talk about how you’re going to solve your client’s problem, you’ll connect with them. Don’t talk about yourself – focus only on the client and be specific.

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Photo of Lindsay Griffiths Lindsay Griffiths

Lindsay Griffiths is the International Lawyers Network’s Executive Director. She is a dynamic, influential international executive and marketing thought leader with a passion for relationship development and authoring impactful content. Griffiths is a driven, strategic leader who implements creative initiatives to achieve the…

Lindsay Griffiths is the International Lawyers Network’s Executive Director. She is a dynamic, influential international executive and marketing thought leader with a passion for relationship development and authoring impactful content. Griffiths is a driven, strategic leader who implements creative initiatives to achieve the goals of a global professional services network. She manages all major aspects of the Network, including recruitment, member retention, and providing exceptional client service to an international membership base.

In her role as Executive Director, Griffiths manages a mix of international programs, engages a diverse global community, and develops an international membership base. She leads the development and successful implementation of major organizational initiatives, manages interpersonal relationships, and possesses executive presence with audiences of internal and external stakeholders. Griffiths excels at project management, organization, and planning, writes and speaks with influence and authority, and works independently while demonstrating flexibility in thinking, especially in challenging situations. She also adapts to diverse and dynamic environments with constant assessment and recalibration.

JD Supra Readers Choice Top Author 2019

In 2021, the ILN was honored as Global Law Firm Network of the Year by The Lawyer European Awards, and in 2016, 2017, and 2022, they were shortlisted as Global Law Firm Network of the Year. Since 2011, the Network has been listed as a Chambers & Partners Leading Law Firm Network, recently increasing this ranking to be included in the top two percent of law firm networks globally, as well as adding two regional rankings. She was awarded “Thought Leader of the Year” by the Legal Marketing Association’s New York chapter in 2014 for her substantive contributions to the industry and was included in Clio’s list of “34 People in Legal You Should Follow on Twitter.” She was also chosen for the American Bar Association Journal’s inaugural Web 100‘s Best Law Blogs, where judge Ivy Grey said “This blog is outstanding, thoughtful, and useful.” Ms. Griffiths was chosen as a Top Author by JD Supra in their 2019 Readers’ Choice Awards, for the level of engagement and visibility she attained with readers on the topic of marketing & business development. She has been the author of Zen & the Art of Legal Networking since February 2009.