The Marketing Game of Snakes and Ladders

Sometimes marketing a business can feel like playing a game of snakes and ladders. Marketing can act as a ladder for your business, allowing you to grow. However, there are snakes to watch out for along the way that can cause you problems if you’re not careful.

In this article, we will explore some marketing ladders you can help you climb and also highlight a few of the snakes to watch out for. 

For many businesses, the company website is their main marketing tool, and a well-built optimised website can really help your business. Regular, engaging content can make a real difference and help the site to rank higher in search engine results. Well written authoritative content can also help you build trust with potential clients and even recruits.

An old website that hasn’t been updated can make your business look outdated, which can actively deter potential clients. Review your website regularly to ensure it’s working properly and is performing as well as it should. 

For some industries and particularly those working in the legal sector, social media is a great way to connect with your audience and is a valuable part of your marketing strategy. Creating regular content with strong graphics and videos takes time, but this can boost your marketing when done correctly. The social media landscape is constantly evolving and becoming more fragmented, so it’s important to keep up with the trends. This article provides some usual tips on how to adjust your social media strategy for your business, looking at how to use new social media platforms and increase engagement. 

Digital campaigns such as paid for Google adverts and targeted email newsletters, can all be used to attract new clients and strengthen connections with existing ones. A strong digital marketing campaign can be an effective and cost-efficient way to build an online presence that reaches and resonates with your target audience, helping to build that all essential brand awareness. 

The value of PR as part of an overall marketing strategy is often be underestimated, and in many cases overlooked altogether by organisations. Being featured in a national or industry media outlet has multiple benefits from directly connecting with your target audience on specific issues, to shaping your brand and enhancing your SEO performance. 

While everyone has a story to tell, you must earn media coverage. You must present the story in the best way to the appropriate media outlets. If done correctly, your business will receive positive media coverage that supports your online activity by creating strong social media content for your marketing teams to use. 

Whilst links in online coverage is added value, the majority of media outlets (BBC, ITV etc) have a policy of not including them. But don’t let this put you off. Increasingly, as contextual analysis improves, just a citation without the actual link is just as valuable too. It’s about going out and meeting your clients on the channels and platforms they use and consume, rather than just waiting for them to Google your services. 

Branding is how you tell the world what you do and how you do it, and it takes more than just a nice logo. Developing a strong, recognisable brand identity can elevate your business and tell your story. 

A clear message and consistent branding on all platforms helps build client trust and loyalty, which can lead to long-term growth. 

Building a brand outside your website and the immediate Google environment (your website/Ads) is also really important. This is because Google loves brands, so seeing the names of law firms and individual solicitors mentioned in online news coverage helps raise that profile as trusted brand… which Google then rewards through improved rankings. 

Finding awards that fit your business aims and values can be a good way to add to your marketing efforts. Winning an award gives you great content to share on your website and social media, and it can also improve your reputation with potential clients and new recruits. 

All businesses have competition. But very occasionally a market disruptor will come along and upset the dynamics of your market. They might have a particularly innovative product or service or offer the same product as you but at a much lower price.  This may disrupt your business in the short term, and you will need to review and adapt your marketing strategy to move forward. 

We regularly see legal challenges in the media where competitors have copied a product name or logo. This is more common in the retail sector, but it can happen to anyone. If you do spot a competitor that has copied your brand mark or brand messaging, then one thing you could do is contact them directly to air your concerns. Stay positive, use your external communications to reinforce your brand values and let your clients speak for you by gathering really strong reviews on your business. If your logo or brand name is not trademarked, then seeking legal advice from a trademark expert may be a good course of action as trademark infringement can lead to legal action being taken. Some businesses will just accept imitation as a kind of flattery and just move on, but it very much depends on the level of copying that has taken place. 

Cyber-attacks are among the most dangerous snakes facing a business today.

Preventing cyber-attacks requires implementing strong security policies, using secure authentication methods, regularly updating software and operating systems, and deploying firewalls and antivirus software.  A single breach can compromise client data, disrupt day-to-day operations and damage your reputation. How you are seen to deal with a data breach can be vital in recovering any reputational damage. 

Recruitment is key to growing a business, after all, how do you grow if you don’t have the right team in place? However, finding the right people can be challenging, and it has been known to hold some businesses back from their true growth potential.

If you struggle to recruit, you could look to widen the talent pool or train and develop existing staff. A strong brand identity and ethics along with a positive working culture may also help attract the right people to your business.

Technology is a bit of a double-edged sword. Used effectively, it can help your business climb the ladder by automating tasks and creating efficiencies. But you can find yourself struggling when it fails or doesn’t get implemented properly.

A good example may be that you invest in a new piece of software to help your staff do their job more effectively, but due to lack of training the tool does not get used to its full potential. Don’t forget that marketing can help with internal communications to help drive training initiatives and product implementation. 

PT Barnum (of Greatest Showman fame) once said “There’s no such thing as bad publicity.” While that statement may have been true in the 1800s, it doesn’t hold much weight in the world we live in today. A negative review of your services, a public relations crisis, or a backlash to a social media post could all have the potential to undo all the hard work.

Scala Managing Director, Natalie Rodgers recently wrote an article for the Law Society Gazette on how law firms should respond to a PR crisis. You can find that article here. 

Thankfully, unlike a game of snakes and ladders where the outcome of the game is dependent on the roll of a dice, strategies can be implemented to deal with marketing snakes. Bouncing back quickly from problems in a business requires strategic thinking, resilience, agility and resourcefullness. 

When you suffer a setback, you must understand what went wrong and its impact before resolving the issue. This will allow you to develop the most effective recovery strategy and prevent future occurrences. 

It’s a good idea to have a contingency plan for various scenarios in case the worst happens. Included in this should be communication plans, role assignments and immediate steps that need to be taken to mitigate potential damage. 

This relates to both internal and external communication. Keep your team informed about the situation, the plan for dealing with it and their roles in the recovery process. If the issues relate to clients, then prompt, clear and honest communication will help to rebuild their trust.

If the problem relates to a negative review, then a client can sometimes be persuaded to remove the review just by talking to them about the issue. Communication is often the biggest grumble clients have in the legal sector.

Don’t forget that your team are your business ambassadors and regular communication with them about any business and marketing initiatives can be vital to your success. Having your team on side, can also be extremely valuable in recruitment as they may be able to recommend friends and contacts for the roles. 

To succeed in a game of marketing snakes and ladders, you need to have a strategy and be able to adapt quickly to problems as they arise.

It takes time and resources to achieve the marketing results your business needs and that’s where Scala can help. We specialise in helping organisations in the legal and professional service sectors to maximise their marketing efforts, either on a one off project basis or by offering a complete marketing solution.

To learn more about our services, click here or contact us today at office@scala.uk.com.