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Sprenger & Lang's Susan
Coler.
image: Russ
Curtis
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Hit the Jackpot: How One Small Firm Builds Its
Brand
Trevor
Delaney
Small
Firm Business
03-29-2004
Editor's note: The following is an
excerpt from "Hit the Jackpot," our cover story from the inaugural
issue of Small Firm Business. This article profiles several
law firms that have creative, innovative marketing campaigns.
Sprenger & Lang is a 14-lawyer firm that has secured
more than $200 million in awards and settlements since it was
founded in 1989. With offices in the Loring Heights section of
Minneapolis and in the Dupont Circle area of Washington, D.C., it
ranks among the top 25 firms on The National Law Journal's
2003 Plaintiff's Hot List of top litigators. So its marketing plan
must be on fire, right? Well, not necessarily.
Focusing on
class action litigation, most of Sprenger & Lang's work is
conducted on a contingent-fee basis. In the past, the firm relied on
tried and true methods to attract plaintiffs, such as a Yellow Pages
directory advertisement that highlighted its class action specialty,
and active networking with members of the National Employment
Lawyers Association.
But the firm's leaders weren't
satisfied. They wanted a more sophisticated, accessible way to
convey their passion and personality. Clearly their efforts were
producing results -- the firm's revenues have been at least $4
million for the last six years. However, when you combine working
for contingency fees with cases that can take years to resolve, any
firm has to be especially savvy about continuing to build its
practice to ensure a relatively stable cash flow.
Historically, the firm had good luck working with a public
relations firm to generate positive press. "One of the best ways for
us to get the right people to call us is through good publicity
about cases that we're actually doing," says Minneapolis partner
Susan Coler. "This gets people to identify us with class work and
it's one of the reasons that we work with a PR firm."
But
class actions need just the right confluence of clients and cause of
action, and Sprenger & Lang faced some challenging dilemmas when
vetting possible clients. Coler estimates that up to 90 percent of
the inquiries do not bear fruit. They are from people who either
don't have actionable claims, or don't have claims that could rise
to the level of a class action.
To help improve that ratio,
last year the firm decided to focus on its Web site, and revamp it
to be a key branding element of its marketing campaign. The firm
ponied up nearly $30,000 for the project. But that figure is
probably a bit lower than the real cost. "We did a lot of the
writing ourselves, which saved a lot of money," says Coler, "so that
amount doesn't include my time as well as that of several other
attorneys."
The goal of the redesign was twofold. The first
aim was to have the Web site pop up near the top of the results list
when a potential plaintiff ran a Google search. To help the firm
improve its search engine results, Sprenger & Lang is working
with a "site optimizer" who is offering advice to improve the firm's
ranking.
For instance, the content of a Web site helps
determine how relevant it is to the query of the researcher. By
using targeted headlines and keywords, the Web site's ranking can
improve. Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important
consideration -- because potential clients are unlikely to scroll
through several pages of results. But SEO is an evolving science. As
search engine developers discover common techniques that are used to
manipulate rankings, they adjust their methodology. (See searchenginewatch.com.)
Sprenger's second objective was to create a site that
appeals to both clients and potential referral sources. They
enlisted the help of Web designer Amanda Troyer and programmers at
Echo Alley, a Web development company based in Fort Vancouver, Wash.
While helping the attorneys articulate what was distinct about their
practice, Troyer noticed that a common theme of persistence arose in
her conversations. She suggested using the Winston Churchill quote
that is now central to the firm's branding: "Kites rise highest
against the wind, not with it."
Kite imagery now appears on
every page of the firm's Web site. To see how far the Sprenger Web
site (sprengerlang.com) has come,
use the Wayback Machine search engine at archive.org to view prior
versions of the homepage.
Maintaining the site is not
inexpensive, but the lawyers keep things in perspective. "One of the
things we keep reminding ourselves is that we do really large cases,
and one really good case pays for the Web site or the cost of our PR
person for a year," says Coler. "So you could nickel and dime this
stuff or you can think broadly."
Trevor Delaney is
managing editor of Small Firm Business, and is based in New
York City. E-mail: tdelaney@amlaw.com.
WEB WORKS
Greg Siskind, of Memphis-based
Siskind & Susser, is a power-user. His Web tools include
everything from a listserv to Internet-based voice and video
conferencing. His web site, Visalaw.com, is packed with
information, and gets about three million hits per
month.
Siskind's advice:
• Find a niche. Weigh
whether your site has lost its focus. "If I was starting this
today," says Siskind, "rather than trying from scratch to develop a
broad immigration law Web site, I'd pick an area within my
practice."
• Identify your target market. Decide
whether you're aiming to attract new business, develop business from
existing clients, or if you want to take a less obvious route (such
as developing a Web resource that can be used by the media or court
officials).
• Start out modestly. Begin with the
basics: attorney biographies and a few links. You can retool later.
Be sure the site reflects the image of the firm and doesn't look
like it's been designed by a high school kid.
• Try it
out. To judge the site's effectiveness, play the role of the
person you'd like to visit your site. Weighing whether you should
create an animated homepage for the site? Think of it in those terms
and you'll probably decide against it.
--Trevor
Delaney
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