Our goals today

2. Our goals today • Introduce and discuss recent successful marketing practices for SWEBs • Explore and discuss SWEB marketing challenges – and their solutions • Learn planning and evaluation strategies that can help you market your sites effectively Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

3. We’ll explore four areas: • Marketing to clients • Marketing to advocates • Marketing on a shoestring • Guerilla marketing Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

4. Participating panelists • Vince Morris, Arkansas Legal Services Partnership • Cynthia Vaughn, Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation • Jerald White, New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

5. We asked… • Who is involved with marketing your statewide website? • What is your marketing budget? • What is your biggest marketing success AND challenge--large or small? • What do you hope to learn from this training? Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

6. Survey says… • [Insert survey results] Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

7. Marketing myth-busting • The Internet will do your marketing for you • You have to hire a professional to get any results • You have to make headlines to have an impact • You have to spend a lot of money for your campaign to be successful Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

8. Marketing boils down to four steps • Doing research to know what your users want and need • Designing your “product” • Promoting it • Evaluating Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

9. You have a head start! • Marketing starts at your front door with everyday interactions -- your reception area, voice mail message, website front page. • It continues with the positive relationships you develop with people you work with and serve (staff, clients, volunteers, funders). • And extend to relationships you develop with new partners and audiences. Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

10. Marketing to clients • Vince Morris • http://www.arlegalservices.org Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

11. Marketing to clients – other creative examples • LawHelp.org/NY elected official outreach campaign • TexasLawHelp outreach project made it easy for partners to promote the site themselves by providing downloadable brochures and posters • http://www.montanalawhelp.org/link.cfm?1849 Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

12. Marketing to advocates • Cynthia Vaughn, Ohio Legal Assistance Foundation Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

13. Marketing to advocates • Other creative examples • Iowa Legal Aid offers CLE registration discount for probono.net/iowa members Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

14. Marketing on a shoestring • - Jerald White, New Orleans Legal Assistance Corporation Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

15. Marketing on a shoestring • Other creative ideas • WashingtonLawHelp.org “What’s New” e-newsletters • Start a blog -- see texasriograndelegalaid.blogspot.com) • Press releases for new content, major milestones • Nominate your project for an award Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

16. Guerilla Marketing • Montana Legal Services Association Coaster Campaign • www.montanalawhelp.org Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

17. Guerilla marketing Other creative ideas: • Fans at the state Fair (IA) • Adhesive stickers (WA) • Bookmarks (WA) • Call in to radio talk show to pitch your site (MT) • Put your URL on a pen (CA courts) Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

18. What do these have in common? • Planning • Understanding one’s audience • Clear, consistent “message” • Building credibility • Flexibility, creativity, opportunism… • Leveraging people and partnerships to get the word out Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

19. Key elements of planning • Develop a plan • Who is your audience? • What do you want them to know? • How will you reach them? • How often? • Who will implement the plan? • LawHelp Resource Series article on • developing a marketing plan: • http://www.probono.net/link.cfm?4936 “A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.” - Proverb Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

20. Develop a marketing schedule Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

21. What do you want them to know? • LawHelp.org/NY Spanish site – “A new web site providing hope and answers to Spanish-speaking New Yorker’s struggling with legal problems.” • TexasLawHelp.org – “Knowledge is Power” • Probono.net/LA - “The Online Resource for Louisiana Advocates Serving the Public Interest." • [Other examples of effective tag lines?] Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

22. Communicating your message Contact info at top Headline & Sub-head summarize news release, draw readers in Most important info in first ¶ Quote in 2nd ¶ repeats message that site solves a serious problem Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

23. Probono.net/NC press release Headline summarizes news release, draw readers in November 16, 2006  MEDIA RELEASENew Internet web site available to pro bono (volunteer) attorneys in North Carolina (Raleigh, NC) – A new Web tool that will enable lawyers to substantially increase their volunteer assistance to low-income North Carolinians was launched today at www.probono.net/NC.  The Web site was developed by Legal Aid of North Carolina (LANC) in partnership with the NC Bar Association (NCBA) and  the NCBA Foundation.  LANC seeks to expand the outreach of the legal aid community by posting actual legal cases, projects and training opportunities that are available for “pro bono” (“for the public good”) service by the private bar.“We developed the pro bono site to provide resources and make it easier for attorneys to volunteer their time and expertise to the representation of low-income and economically disadvantaged clients in North Carolina,” said Janet Ward Black, a Greensboro attorney and president-elect of the NC Bar Association.  “The majority of the over-one million families eligible for legal services in our state are working families living in the shadow of prosperity, and they often need legal help to preserve basic necessities.  Volunteer lawyers from private practice are essential to help meet the tremendous need.”  “It’s our professional obligation,” added Black.The partnership intends www.probono.net/NC to become "cyberspace central" by linking attorneys to the multitude of volunteer lawyer opportunities available through the legal aid organizations in North Carolina.  Most important info in first paragraph 3nd paragraph sends message that site solves a serious problem Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

24. Evaluating your marketing efforts • Sample metrics • Gather baseline usage stats and track over time • Surveys: ask users where they heard of your site (client and advocate) • Survey stakeholders / access partners about referrals to the site • Monitor referral traffic in WebTrends (client) • Track media coverage (Google alerts) • Number of inbound links • It’s an art and a science! Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

25. You don’t have to do it alone • Many people charged with marketing are “accidental marketers” • Cultivate evangelists – people who can speak for you (clients, advocates, stakeholders) • Go beyond your circle of like-minded organizations • reach out to for-profit companies with strong social interests that can help spread the word. • reach out to a business / marketing class at your local university to help design or implement your campaign. Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

26. Marketing: the long view • Marketing is an ongoing process – it’s never done. • But it’s not necessarily about adding new activities or expenses, it’s about integrating these activities into what you already do. • Look for quick wins to build momentum. Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

27. Resources • Probono.net/statewebsites online support library • http://www.probono.net/statewebsites/library.cfm • LSTech Resource Center • http://www.lsntap.org/techlibrary • Fenton Communications • Free, online best practices resources by the largest public interest communications firm in the country.www.fenton.com/pages/5_resources/1_bestpractices.htm • Getting Attention blog (NPO Marketing blog) • http://www.gettingattention.org • Free Range Thinking (free newsletter – “Good Ideas for Good Causes” • http://www.agoodmanonline.com/newsletter/index.html Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas

28. Questions? Other ideas? Best of Statewide Website Marketing Ideas