Sasha Berson Of Grow Law Firm On How to Effectively Leverage The Power of Digital Marketing, PPC, & Email to Dramatically Increase Sales
A Love for What You Do: It goes without saying, but you’ve got to love what you do. If you don’t, you’re unlikely to become successful. Or worse yet, you might become successful but also miserable.
Marketing a product or service today is easier than ever before in history. Using platforms like Facebook ads or Google ads, a company can market their product directly to people who perfectly fit the ideal client demographic, at a very low cost. Digital Marketing tools, Pay per Click ads, and email marketing can help a company dramatically increase sales. At the same time, many companies that just start exploring with digital marketing tools often see disappointing results.
In this interview series called “How to Effectively Leverage The Power of Digital Marketing, PPC, & Email to Dramatically Increase Sales”, we are talking to marketers, advertisers, brand consultants, & digital marketing gurus who can share practical ideas from their experience about how to effectively leverage the power of digital marketing, PPC, & email.
As a part of this series, I had the pleasure of interviewing Sasha Berson.
Sasha is a Managing Partner at Grow Law Firm, a leading digital marketing agency focused solely on helping solo, small, and medium-sized law firms grow. He and his team have helped more than 2,000 firms double their revenue in three years or less. He is the co-author, with Steve Forbes, of the best-selling book, Successonomics and is a regular contributor to Forbes.com.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Before we dive in, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
I started my first business right out of college, a two-person lending company. Quickly, I learned that my finances, income, and future were enmeshed and dependent on how well our marketing vendor was performing. As such a small business, we couldn’t afford an in-house marketing team. And it was a learning experience, to say the least — an expensive one. We started with a website, and it was great. But we soon learned it wasn’t enough. How do we get people to our website? So next, we tried advertising with another vendor, but for our particular line of business, we soon discovered that we should have been focusing on outbound calls to reach potential clients. It was a continuous cycle of wasted time, energy, and money.
With that first business, we did it all. Through trial and a lot of error, we pushed through and expanded, turning it into a multi-billion-dollar wholesale lending operation. And when I sold my equity in the company, I knew what my next business would be. I would take all I learned to the small business sector, where in-house marketing is cost-prohibitive but directly tied to success. Later, we saw a need for our services in the legal sector and expanded into that vertical.
Can you share a story about the funniest marketing mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
To me, marketing mistakes aren’t funny. They’re expensive. Very expensive. Especially for small businesses. Never was this more apparent than when I started my first business and saw how hiring the wrong vendor impacted the bottom line for me–both personally and professionally. Not only did I lose money on an unsuccessful campaign, but also the opportunity and the potential business.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
I find my mentors in books. I’m always reading, always learning. My first mentor was Chet Holmes. His book, The Ultimate Sales Machine, which is also about marketing, gave me so many breakthroughs. Dan S. Kennedy is another. He’s written dozens of books, including Magnetic Marketing and The Ultimate Sales Letter. I’ve consumed all of them, along with his newsletters. I’ve also attended his seminars. He knows marketing like no other. He refers to himself as the professor of harsh reality, a truth-teller with no B.S. — the actual name of his book series. Whereas others in the space talk a lot of “mumbo jumbo” that doesn’t apply to smaller businesses with smaller budgets, he talks truthfully about the field with practical and applicable advice.
What do you think makes your company stand out? Can you share a story?
For me, a company doesn’t have to stand out to succeed. That’s the “mumbo jumbo” I was talking about before, just an idea the marketing industry successfully marketed itself on. For me, it’s never about being different, bigger, smaller, or nimbler. It’s about who’s going to give me the best advantage. So, when I am hiring any vendor, be it an attorney, a marketing company, a doctor, or a plumber, I’m looking for the one that will give me the best advantage.
Sure, when pitching new business, we talk about things like experience in the space, proven track record, and return on investment. But who doesn’t? It’s more of the same, not an advantage. However, the advantages any client will get from us are threefold — firepower, transparency, and accountability. Together they lead to faster results and a better customer service experience.
Firepower: As you know, all things digital marketing are extremely labor and time intensive. But we have the infrastructure in place to meet those demands. We have offices outside the U.S. that can deliver much more labor for a lower price than our competitors, producing better, faster results.
Transparency: We hold monthly meetings with our clients to review what we have done for the money they paid us. We also provide detailed action plans for the next thirty days. We talk about specific, measurable results attained — the number of qualified marketing leads delivered, open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and the average cost per lead. The data also lets us know what’s working and what’s not to make the necessary changes to improve results.
Accountability: You rate your Uber driver, doctor, and Airbnb rental. Why not your marketing firm? In our monthly meetings, we constantly ask for feedback for quality control. On a scale of one to 10, how would you rate our agency, our work, and the work we have delivered over the past 10, 30, 60 days? How would you rate our account managers? My performance? This allows us to catch any issues quickly and correct them before they snowball into more significant problems.
You are a successful business leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
A Commitment to Learning: Successful business leaders must be lifelong learners, open to studying new trends, new ideas, and new ways of doing business and putting those ideas into practice. I always have a stack of books in my office and home on everything to do with running a successful business, not just marketing, but operations, human resources, sales, and customer service.
Grit: As a leader, it’s been my ability to move forward through the headaches and pain that come with running a business that has led to my success. It’s challenging, and you’re always dealing with countless issues. Nothing is ever perfect. You catch a break here and there, but something else immediately comes up. At the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey, I didn’t understand this. Now I know it is just part of the job, whether you’re operating a law firm, a tiny one-person business, or a multinational one.
Empathy: And finally, you need compassion. Appreciation for not only your clients but your employees, management, and other stakeholders. Even with yourself, which I have a tough time with personally. Without it, you will experience a lot of unnecessary turnover — in customers and personnel.
Are you working on any exciting new projects now? How do you think that will help people?
I’m in the process of writing a book on how to manage, grow, and scale solo, small, and medium-sized law firms where there is a constant battle for time between legal and administrative duties. It will have practical and easy-to-implement advice and best practices on everything from developing successful business plans to creating budgets to managing client expectations. It will teach owners how to streamline processes to improve productivity and, of course, cover how to successfully market their firm’s legal services.
Ok super. Now let’s jump to the main questions of our interview. As we mentioned in the beginning, sometimes companies that just start exploring with digital marketing tools like PPC campaigns often see disappointing results. In your opinion, what are a few of the biggest mistakes companies make when they first start out with digital marketing? If you can, please share an example for each.
One of the biggest mistakes I see is that most law firm owners focus on the cost of a PPC campaign rather than the ROI. They don’t budget enough money to be successful, and nothing fails as often or as consistently as cheap marketers. A successful campaign should generate a return of $4–7 for every dollar invested. For example, a $10,000/month campaign should generate $40,000–70,000 in cases. It may take some time to optimize performance, but it should happen. And if it doesn’t, don’t give up on the method. Replace the marketers.
If you could break down a very successful digital marketing campaign into a “blueprint”, what would that blueprint look like? Please share some stories or examples of your ideas.
It’s all about the WHERE and the WHEN. Be WHERE your prospective clients are WHEN they are looking for your services. Seventy-eight percent of all prospective new clients look for a lawyer online. A law firm MUST be at the top of a Google or Bing search to attract those new clients. All marketing efforts, from PPC to SEO, and everything in between, must have that single goal in mind.
Let’s talk about Pay Per Click Marketing (PPC) for a bit. In your opinion which PPC platform produces the best results to increase sales?
For law firms, it’s all about Google Ads. As I referenced earlier, 78% of all prospective new clients look for a lawyer online. On top of that, 75% of people doing online searches never get past the first page. So, if a law firm doesn’t appear at or near the top of a search, they have next to zero chance of earning the business.
Can you please share 3 things that you need to know to run a highly successful PPC campaign?
First, you need to know your audience and the specific services they are interested in. For example, if you are a divorce attorney, ensure your messaging and keywords drill deep into niches such as “uncontested” or “child custody and support.” For lawyers, the more specific, the more effective a campaign will be.
Next, we go back to the WHERE and WHEN. Be WHERE your prospective clients are WHEN they are looking for your services. Again, back to the data, which shows more than three-quarters of people search for a lawyer online. Simply stated, a law firm needs to be on that first page of a search, or they won’t get the business.
And finally, make sure the ad links to a powerful, dynamic landing page. As the saying goes, you only get one chance to make a good first impression–seven seconds to be exact. And unlike the typical landing page for most products and services, where many businesses benefit from quick purchasing decisions, picking a lawyer is a high-stakes undertaking. This prospective consumer considers things long and hard, with lots of research, before deciding. As such, the landing page should include elements to confer trust in services, including attorney biographies, testimonials, and awards, along with a simple call to action like filling out a contact form or scheduling an appointment.
Let’s now talk about email marketing for a bit. In your opinion, what are the 3 things that you need to know to run a highly successful email marketing campaign that increases sales?
In the legal space, email marketing is a great way to follow up with prospective clients. Any successful campaign should always be:
Engaging: One of the most important things to consider when developing a successful campaign is the content you will provide. Will it offer helpful legal tips, give updates on recent cases, or share news about the firm? Whatever’s decided, it must be engaging. The content must meet the needs of your audience and connect to the issues they initially contacted you about.
Optimized for Phones:
Most people today use their phones as their primary email device, so ensuring your email outreach is optimized for mobile is essential. This means using a responsive email template that automatically adjusts to fit the device’s screen size, with clear and concise subject lines and calls to action. Take advantage of mobile-specific features like push notifications to ensure messages are seen.
Continuously Measured:
Always track your legal marketing campaign’s impact. Continuously measuring the data and the number of subscribers, open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates lets you assess how the campaign is performing and make the necessary changes to improve results.
What are the other digital marketing tools that you are passionate about? If you can, can you share with our readers what they are and how to best leverage them?
Every day there’s a shiny, new marketing tool to use, with promises of better results. But for me, it’s all about the tried and true — Google Analytics. For our area of expertise, it’s the most consistent and valuable tool we use.
Here is the main question of our series. Can you please tell us the 5 things you need to create a highly successful career as a digital marketer? Can you please share a story or example for each?
A Love for What You Do: It goes without saying, but you’ve got to love what you do. If you don’t, you’re unlikely to become successful. Or worse yet, you might become successful but also miserable.
Empathy: You’ve got to have compassion for your clients. This goes back to those early days running my first company when I quickly learned that my personal finances, income, and future were so tightly enmeshed and dependent on how well the business was doing, and more specifically, how our marketing vendor was performing. That’s why it’s essential to empathize with the people you work for. Remember, you’re helping them grow, become successful, meet their financial obligations, and support themselves and their families.
Business Acumen: As a marketer, you must focus on more than just the technical aspects of a campaign. You have to understand the broader scope of the business, the sector, and how it works.
A Commitment to Learning: The marketing space is constantly changing with new technology, platforms, algorithms, and ways to reach consumers. Successful marketers need to continually study and apply what they’ve learned. Messaging that worked and was accepted last week may no longer be the case. Setting aside 15 to 30 minutes daily dedicated to reading and expanding your knowledge on marketing and other topics, including general business and sales, is essential because they are all interconnected.
A Clear Definition of Success: Finally, you must understand what a successful career looks like to you. Is it making a certain amount of money? Building your own company? Becoming the CMO of a large firm? Whatever it is, know what success is to you, and then make a plan to get there. Study what others have done, and don’t be afraid to reach out for advice. Although you can’t step into the same water twice, you can still learn from the clues that other successful people leave behind.
What books, podcasts, videos or other resources do you use to sharpen your marketing skills?
Everything and anything by Chet Holmes and Dan S. Kennedy.
Thank you for all of that. We are nearly done. Here is our final ‘meaty’ question. You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
For me, it’s all about education, but more so on having access to learning the softer skills for living a successful, productive life which, I believe, so many people are missing today. I’d like to see courses offered in high school on executive functioning to teach students how to set career goals and develop plans to achieve them, along with others on voter education and the basics of becoming a responsible citizen. Parenting classes would be valuable too, specifically on what to consider before taking on such a life-changing event. More research goes into buying a new house or car than bringing another human into the world. Parenting is hard. And most people go into it with little thought, believing they will figure it out as they go along. Unfortunately, many don’t. Not only do the kids suffer but society too.
How can our readers further follow your work?
I’d love to stay connected and hear from your readers. Please visit our website or connect with me on LinkedIn or email at [email protected]. You can also follow us on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram.
This was very inspiring. Thank you so much for the time you spent with this!
Sasha Berson Of Grow Law Firm On How to Effectively Leverage The Power of Digital Marketing, PPC, &… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
