Morgan and Morgan Marketing Strategy: Are They Crushing Competition?
Yes, the Morgan and Morgan Law practice is making their business better and better all the while. And their growth is all about the Morgan and Morgan marketing strategy.
Of course, if you are a competitor in wrongful death, medical malpractice, or any of the many practice areas in the Southeast US, you know this. Or if you live in this area, you likely know this.
We love to select local businesses that are particularly good at marketing their services. Morgan and Morgan was certainly one of those. Please note that we are not a client of theirs in either way.
The messages and media used to communicate a company’s offerings are key factors in business growth. The increased prevalence of social platforms and instant access to information demand that organizations shift emphasis.
They move emphasis from “managing the message” to “enabling the conversation.”
Meet Morgan and Morgan
The Morgan and Morgan Law Firm has been successfully executing their marketing plan since the first days of social commerce. For nearly a decade their strategies have played a significant role in their marketing innovation and consequently in their fantastic growth.
An introduction to them is probably unnecessary but here are a few key facts.
John Morgan founded Morgan & Morgan in 1988. The firm’s first office was located in Orlando, Florida and was made up of three attorneys, two paralegals, and a receptionist.
By 1992, the firm had expanded to include eight lawyers, ten paralegals, and a sizable support staff as it began to focus its practice on medical malpractice.
In 1995, the firm grew to include 25 lawyers and opened a second office in Tampa.
In the past three decades, Morgan & Morgan has grown to include nearly 350 attorneys, 305 paralegals and a support staff of about 2,000 people.
That is amazing growth, for any business.
Have you noticed? It is hard not to notice, isn’t it?
Let’s examine the reasons their marketing strategy is so effective:
Growth hacking
A marketing phenomenon popularized by startups with tight marketing budgets, growth hacking combines creativity, analytical thinking, and social metrics to sell products and gain exposure.
Growth hackers like Morgan and Morgan leverage social media, viral marketing and other alternatives to traditional media for one absolute focus: growth.
Note that the term “growth hacker,” explains that growth hacking does not replace marketing. It does however, take a different tactic.
Growth hacking is effective because:
Growth informs every decision
Products and services are redefined as tools for growth instead of something to sell
Its fluidity keeps it adaptable and low-cost
Note that growth hacking is credited with generating 10% more leads than traditional marketing techniques
Content marketing
Morgan and Morgan have put content marketing to very effective use. They typically have 8-10 blogs on various topics per month to help educate their potential clients.
The blogs are archived by eight categories and by month and year. With good search engine optimization on each blog, the blogs do an excellent job of driving new potential clients to their website.
Content marketing emphasizes education is overselling to influence buying behavior.
This strategic marketing approach focuses on creating and distributing information relevant to prospects’ needs. Their goal is to attract those best aligned with – and most likely to purchase – their product or service.
Since communication is ongoing, content can be tailored to reflect what you learn about leads over time. It may include varied formats like infographics, web pages, podcasts, videos, blogs, white papers, webinars, and eBooks.
It’s important to note that content marketing is not synonymous with inbound marketing.
Content marketing is an important component of an overall inbound strategy. It does not integrate other marketing methodologies to maximize content value.
Content marketing is effective because of it:
Draws prospects through the sales funnel
Grows brand visibility, credibility, and desirability
Engages your target market with relevant information
In recent years, content marketing generated almost 3X as many leads as traditional outbound marketing but cost 60% less.
Morgan and Morgan effectively uses content to educate their potential clients in ways that help them learn about important everyday issues.
If your business is targeting lots of new customers, this would be a good strategy for you.
The brand
The heart of Morgan and Morgan’s marketing strategy is their brand. The brand is built into and reflected by its tagline. This tagline is For the People.
Or, the longer version, representing the People, not the Powerful.
They understand that their brand is not about them. Rather it is about how the potential client community sees them, feels about them, and talks about them.
They realize that their brand represents their current and future relationships.
Their goal is to deliver an emotional connection to their services. And they are doing it very well.
Morgan and Morgan’s recent strategy reveal that their overall strategy has been to develop “brand stories” through a conversation model.
They want their brand to be associated with stories and bring the brand is brought into the everyday conversation.
So, it is not enough to create a good ad. The ad must continue the ongoing story that Morgan and Morgan have in your life.
Morgan and Morgan marketing strategy … media commercials
You could not have helped but notice the vast number of TV and radio commercials building and reinforcing this brand. Educating the public on important issues. Doing almost no selling.
Not overdone with repeats because they have produced so many commercials on so many topics.
A high percentage of these commercials are done by one individual, John Morgan, and a few by his family. John creates a very personal image.
Website
The website is the physical center of this firm’s marketing. Its design is simple, yet contains the means to integrate all the strategy elements we discuss today.
It encompasses several ways to allow two-way client engagement, including live chat, email (including direct to John Morgan), and telephone.
Again little to no selling. Their strategy reflects the belief that pushy sales pitches turn customers off.
However personally relevant and interactive engagement switches them on.
You can’t help but notice that all the material is put into the language of the client community.
This practice keeps several public concerns front and center in their strategy at any one time.
The senior leadership takes their messages on the issues of potential clients via community speaking engagements. They also employ all the marketing channels at their disposal.
All of the issues on their agenda represent those that the public majority supports.
Advocacy advertising
Most issues that the practice decides to support are introduced into their commercials as advocacy advertisements. These create very strong brand reinforcement.
Adapting to change
A very progressive practice which keeps up to speed on client trends, problem areas, and the law and its creation.
Certainly always eager to adapt their practice expertise to new areas. And certainly always looking to try new things throughout their practice, to include marketing.
Keep learning: Do You Know the 9 Keys to Creating Effective Advertisements?
Social media
Morgan and Morgan utilize four main social media channels/platforms to engage potential clients. (Facebook. Twitter, Google+ and YouTube).
All channels are used to engage and conversationally share all their material. They are always looking to engage.
Social media marketing
Social media marketing focuses on providing users with content they find valuable. Readers often share across their social networks, resulting in increased visibility and traffic.
Social media shares of content, videos, and images also influence SEO efforts. These often increase relevancy in search results within social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram.
Social media marketing is effective because it:
Reduces marketing spends while increasing lead generation
Provides metrics that give companies additional marketplace insight
“Humanizes” brands and encourages conversions
Note that 85% of B2B buyers believe companies should present information via social networks
Short and sweet messages
80-90% of the marketing messages are 15 seconds. Very simple and to the point or objective. As we said previously, many topics are used to produce many messages so as not to over saturate the market with the same messages.
Morgan and Morgan marketing strategy … integrating the elements
All of these strategy elements complement the firm’s brand and messages. The integrating elements? These are the brand and the client educational elements.
The key is to have a central theme to the brand. This is the most important part of the strategy.
The bottom line
Here’s the thing, social isn’t just a new way of marketing, it’s a new way of running a business.
Morgan and Morgan certainly have figured this out and are using social marketing to grow their business rapidly.
It’s up to you to keep improving your creative, social marketing efforts. Lessons are all around you. In this case, your competitor may be providing the ideas and or inspiration. But the key is in knowing that it is within you already.
All you get is what you bring to the fight. And that fight gets better every day you learn and apply new lessons.
When things go wrong, what’s most important is your next step.
Try. Learn. Improve. Repeat.
Are you devoting enough energy improving your marketing, branding, and advertising?
Do you have a lesson about making your marketing strategy better you can share with this community? Have any questions or comments to add in the section below?
Mike Schoultz is the founder of Digital Spark Marketing, a digital marketing and customer service agency. With 40 years of business experience, he blogs on topics that relate to improving the performance of your business. Find them onTwitter, and LinkedIn.
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