Building a marketing and advertising strategy within the law practice industry can be tricky. But it’s not impossible if you have the right tools in place. The team at the law office of Attorney Dean Boyd leveraged Choozle’s Ramp Package to help them get up and running quickly so they could capture the value of having an in-house digital advertising solution. We sat down with Ryan Braswell, Marketing Manager, at Dean Boyd law firm to better understand how they transitioned from a managed to fully self-serve operation for their marketing team at the law office of Attorney Dean Boyd.
See how the Dean Boyd Marketing team was able to increase campaign performance by 25% with Choozle
Megan Sullivan-Jenks, Senior Director of Marketing, Choozle: Let’s start with an overview of what you do at the law office of Attorney Dean Boyd.
Ryan Braswell, Marketing Manager, Dean Boyd law firm: As the Marketing Manager, I wear a number of hats. Heidi and I handle all strategic advertising implementation, from linear TV to social, search, and programmatic, with an end goal to increase lead generation and lower our cost per case. Outside of handling the ad placements, I assist with our intake to make sure leads are handled properly, and I help with overall CX endeavors. I even help with IT issues from time to time!
MSJ: From your point of view, what is the benefit of having an in-house programmatic advertising solution at Dean Boyd Law Firm?
RB: The first thing that comes to mind is control. In a digital space where you need to be agile to compete, having the ability to change campaigns, copy, and even very granular details on the fly is extremely important for us. The second would be the overall value. Instead of placing ads through a managed-service company and having them take 20 to-30 percent of our buy, we are able to get significantly more bang for our buck.
MSJ: What won you over when you started exploring Choozle as your in-house programmatic advertising solution?
RB: I actually met with 14 other very large demand-side platforms (DSPs), and the process of deciding on Choozle took about three months. We were very thorough in our search. When our sales person, Katie talked to me about the Ramp Package, it was an easy decision for us at that point. We had a pretty expansive digital campaign running with our old managed-service provider, and we were concerned that we would see a large drop in digital leads while we got our bearings on a new platform. The Ramp Package addressed those fears from day one.
MSJ: How did the Ramp Package enable you to be successful?
RB: It allowed us to have somewhat of a grace period. We were able to not just maintain our current lead generation, but increase it significantly, all while learning the ins and outs of the platform. The tricks that I learned during that ramp period are strategies I’m still using today when making refinements.
MSJ: As a marketer for a law firm, how has your approach or strategy changed over the years?
RB: Obviously with the rise of digital, we’ve shifted our focus in that direction. The shift to digital has allowed us to be very precise with our bottom-of-the-funnel efforts. It’s also allowed us to do more frequent A\B testing, which compared to linear, provides near real-time results.
MSJ: What are some common misconceptions about marketing for the legal industry?
RB: The main misconception is all personal injury (PI) firms use the same dated boring copy. Everyone knows the insipid mesothelioma and RoundUp spots I’m talking about. We’re always trying to keep it fresh, and at times, funny. We understand that in a world flooded with ads if we aren’t standing out in a crowd, we fail. Another would be that working in the legal industry is a monotonous job. Maybe I lucked out, but our firm is incredibly fun. We’ve placed in the top 25 best companies to work for in Texas two years in a row, and Dean and Heidi are always coming up with ways to take care of us. I actually have a mid-day yoga class with my coworkers in about 15 minutes!
MSJ: Can you explain how you and your team organized around onboarding a programmatic advertising solution?
RB: I touched on it a bit earlier. We spent a few months in meetings, at conferences, attending webinars, you name it. The DSPs we met with almost started to run together after a while. Then I met with Katie and she didn’t pitch the same old jargon. She actually took time to find out what our needs were, and was able to offer a solution to our biggest issue. I would report to Dean and Heidi weekly with options and my opinions. Once I brought up the Ramp Plan, all three of us were sold. I canceled the rest of our meetings, and the rest is history.
MSJ: What are some of the challenges you face when implementing digital advertising at Dean Boyd?
RB: Any law firm knows, the biggest challenge we face is each other. The competition, especially in the PI world, is very intense. Because of this, we have to be laser-focused and extremely precise in our message and delivery. We can miss conversion goals by simply running an ad that has a less appealing background color. Even Dean wearing the wrong color tie can affect the efficiency of a campaign.
Ryan Braswell, Marketing Manager
Experienced Marketing Manager with a demonstrated history of working in the law practice industry. Skilled in Operations Management, Advertising, Sales, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Sales Management. Strong marketing professional graduated from Pampa High School.
