Jimmie Gates with the Clarion Ledger penned an excellent article on attorney advertising over the holidays.
The article prominently features Richard Schwartz, the godfather of lawyer advertising in Mississippi. Besides the article, I recommend watching the accompanying video interview of Schwartz on the digital version linked above.
Schwartz spends “well over $1 million a year on ads.” In the video, he notes that lawyer advertising has gone from being frowned upon in some circles to expected.
It clearly works. Schwartz’s website lists 21 attorneys practicing at the firm. Morgan & Morgan, the other advertising behemoth in the Jackson market, lists 15 attorneys in their Jackson office. Both firms are masters at building a brand.
Other personal injury attorneys in Jackson are doing what they can to keep up. There are billboards for many different law firms around Jackson and daytime TV is filled with their commercials.
I would love to know from the big advertisers how they handle the huge volume of calls the ads generate and the percentage of callers converted into clients. There is no telling how many calls they get from people who are simply angry consumers or have a non-recoverable legal problem. Call screening has to be a big under-the-hood issue that grows larger with every dollar spent on advertising.
Seems like all the good attorney ad brands are taken. Maybe I’ll run an ad campaign as Mr. Sunshine:
Want an attorney who isn’t going to blow smoke and will keep it real? Call me, Mr. Sunshine. I’ll break it down why your case sucks and you should take the peanuts the insurance company is offering and run.