Understanding Your Law Firm Clients’ Digital Diet
You may not have thought about the ways in which your law firm is like a restaurant, but there are many similarities. You have a conveniently located place of business where you serve clients from a menu of products and services that your firm provides. Your clients select menu items that satisfy their needs. In return, your restaurant receives financial gain and, hopefully, repeat business. As any restaurateur will attest, knowing your customer base and what menu items are most likely to satisfy their appetites is fundamental to maximizing financial gain.
To help you better understand your potential clients and increase your firm’s revenue, we introduce “The Digital Omnivore” to ensure you have the right items on your marketing menu to satisfy your client’s needs.
The information on the Internet and the technology used to interact with it are continually evolving. The new iPhone 4S (see our LawWebMarketing.com Blog Post) is only one recent example of how new devices alter how we access the Web. “With smartphones, tablets and other connected devices, consumers have become digital omnivores – not just because of the media they consume, but also in how they consume it.” [see comScore, Oct. 2011]
There is more data available than ever before to tell us how individuals interact with the Internet. When we take the time to evaluate and understand this data, we can make smarter choices about our marketing decisions and identify opportunities we didn’t even know existed. And new opportunities = increased return on your marketing investments.
So, what opportunities are out there that you might be missing? As a first step, let’s take a closer look at the diet of the Digital Omnivore:
- A 2011 project by the Pew Research Center studied what media channels citizens across the country use to interact with their local communities. The study looked at what sources people rely on most to learn about their local communities. Outcomes showed that the majority of citizens rely on diverse media sources to stay connected and interact with their communities – depending on the topic. By far the most utilized channel was local TV – however, ONLY for weather, traffic, and breaking news. When it came to finding a business in their area, the Internet surpassed TV as the most commonly used resource. Additionally, the Pew Research Center found that citizens younger than 40 years old relied heavily on a mixed diet of new and traditional media to obtain information, significantly diminishing the reliance on local television and making this medium “vulnerable” in the future.
- On average the Digital Omnivore between the ages of 18–35 owns 2.4 devices, including smartphones and tablets.
- Think TV and Web are still separate media? Don’t be old school. A 2011 Nielsen Survey found that of those who own smartphones and tablets (50 percent of all Americans, according to CNN), 19 percent of them looked up information on their phone related to a television ad they saw on TV – WHILE THEY WERE WATCHING IT! If you know that a percentage of your television audience is looking at your website while watching your TV ad, why wouldn’t you ensure your website is mobile friendly?
- As reported by CNN, “Cross-platform consumption has created a vastly different digital landscape, and it is one that requires insight into both the individual usage of devices as well as the nature of their complementary use.”
First, note the sources of these studies: The Pew Center, comScore, Nielsen, and CNN. This is not just the enthusiastic proselytizing of a self-proclaimed geek, but the new reality of our marketing environment.
Variety is the recipe for the perfect digital diet.
- On-The-Go Mobile Accessibility – An evaluation of user analytics across a wide spectrum of law firm websites shows that regardless of geography, practice areas, and even budget, an average of 8-10 percent of website visitors arrive via a mobile device.Note: There is a difference between a mobile app for smartphones and simply ensuring your law firm website is compatible with mobile devices. You can contact our marketing department to find out more.
- Social Media Munchies – 86 percent of people between the ages of 18-29 report regularly using social media, and older Internet users are catching on fast. Adults between the ages of 35-50, for instance, are the fastest growing Facebook demographic. The most effective online marketing campaigns create a presence across a variety of platforms – and the social media channel is one that can no longer be dismissed as the red-headed step-child.
- Pay-Per-Click Ad Management – 48 percent of those 35 years old and younger are more likely to engage with an ad that is relevant to their geographic location. What does your ad text say? This is a solid opportunity to ensure your menu appeals to the digital omnivore.
If you think about the way you interact with all the available technologies today, chances are that you are reading from your tablet, checking email on your smartphone, listening to a podcast while on the treadmill, and surfing the Web during television commercials. Don’t worry – you haven’t suddenly become a geek. This is just the new norm of the digital omnivore.
Understanding the preferred variety that the digital omnivore likes in their diet will help you better maximize your Internet marketing budget by expanding your visibility across platforms and improving your accessibility to clients. We can help you develop the perfect recipe.
If you have any questions or would like to talk to the legal marketing professionals at Consultwebs.com, Inc., give us a call at (800)872-6590 or email us at info@consultwebs.com.
