For many legal    professionals, internet marketing is a key element in their    strategy to generate new business. One typical approach to    internet marketing is simply tracking inquiries and website    visits based on Google Analytics data. That is true whether we    are talking about attorneys, litigation financiers, expert    witnesses, or others. Yet such an approach misses a key point    in marketing  not all inquiries are created equal.  
    In fact, many legal professionals have a variety of inquiries    that come to them. Some are new customers, others are customer    service requests, background research by industry participants,    accidental or erroneous inquiries, etc. Most of the time, its    difficult for businesses to determine what type of inquiries    come from what sources. In other words, businesses often lack    effective tools for lead validation. Thats true in both the    business of law and in other industries.  
    Different facets of the legal industry are at different stages    in terms of marketing. While firms like LexisNexis    offer outstanding backend services enabling practice management    for attorneys, small ancillary industries have nothing    comparable. In litigation finance, for instance, Mighty.com offers the best    platform for investment management, but the platform still    leaves significant white space in the field. For expert witness    firms and solo practitioners, the options are even fewer.  
    Big data analytics plays a valuable role in marketing, and it    can help with optimizing marketing spend and predicting    outcomes, but it relies on correct data to operate effectively.    In one recent case my firm worked on, we were looking at    predicted incremental revenue from two different promotional    offers targeted to two different demographics on two different    sales channels.  
    While the tools we were using were effective, we found after    examining the data that the inquiries data wed been given had    bundled both sales inquiries with non-sales inquiries, which    made effective promo targeting much more difficult.  
    Put differently, its impossible to effectively determine ROI    on marketing spend for, say, Google AdWords versus specialized    website banners without knowing whether the leads being    generated are sales leads or non-sales leads. A lack of lead    validation ends with overstated results on marketing ROI, as    well as inability to do effective revenue optimization in    marketing.  
    What does all of this mean for attorneys and others in the    field?  
    First, know what your practice management tools are and are not    doing for you. When you are calculating ROI and looking at the    sales funnel, is that sales funnel truly comparing apples to    apples when looking at alternative investments?  
    Second, legal professionals should look at using the power of    data, but that data needs to be cleaned and structured.    Forecasting leads generated by a promotional offer or a new ad    campaign is only effective if we understand the characteristics    of the leads that come in, and the probability that they    actually result in new business.  
    Third and most importantly, dont just leave the marketing    efforts to Google. A simple set it and forget it approach to    internet marketing is likely to leave significant opportunities    on the table, and result in marketing spend that ends up being    partially wasted on unqualified customer leads and on non-sales    leads.  
    In summary, as with so many other facets of the legal industry,    there are no perfect solutions, but it pays to do a little    homework when making a marketing investment, and know what the    results you are truly getting are.  
    Michael McDonald is an assistant professor of    finance at Fairfield University in Connecticut. He holds a PhD    in finance. Michael consults extensively throughMorning    Investments Consulting and writes for Litigation Finance    Journal. Michael has served as an expert witness in legal    disputes, and is an arbitrator with the Financial Industry    National Regulatory Authority (FINRA). Michael can be reached    atM.McDonald@MorningInvestmentsCT.com.  
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Lead Validation Is Key For Legal Professionals - Above the Law