I recently went fishing – but without a fishing pole. It was a marketing trip and somehow, the analogy of marketing and fishing clicked for me. There are many forms of marketing, including advertising; direct sales calls on the phone, via email, or in person; and, increasingly, via the internet or social media. As entrepreneurs, Melissa and I are always concerned about getting the word out. Big companies do too, of course, but they have the budgets for marketing departments and sales teams. The perennial question when one has a limited budget (in terms of both time and money) is “Which marketing efforts pay off?”. Some of these efforts take time (sales calls); some of them take money (advertising). Both have their place in varying degrees, depending on a number of variables. And, some are more appropriate for some types of businesses than others. What started me to think of the fishing analogy is this; often, when fishing, one puts out multiple lines, with different baits, with different rigs. They might be bottom fishing lines, those with floats, those rigged with cut bait, those with live bait, etc. Some days, the floating live shrimp seem to find trout; other days, casting a spoon or other lure attracts a redfish, sometimes it is a pinfish on rig that brings a snook. So it is with marketing. One cannot concentrate on any single bait to find customers. Better to keep multiple efforts in play at all times. We’ve recently begun experimenting with website “landing pages” with specific URLs. Each page has unique content and a specific URL. People who find that page will be able to see relevant content, but will also have the option of going to our main website. I liken it to casting various baits into the water – and that is how I explained it to the employee who is helping me with this effort. I don’t know whether it will work, but unless there is a line in the water, there is no way to get nibbles. We’ll see.
David’s fishing analogy is a funny one! Unlike David, I neither fish nor hunt, however, I do appreciate his attempt to portray his hard work of marketing for Magnus as similar to fishing. In my part of this post, I will continue to use David’s fishing analogy to describe what we, at Magnus, do when we are marketing for our business.
– All of Magnus’ clients are “big fish.” Some of them are the biggest fish in the pond due to the fact that they have the biggest, highest stakes cases in the U.S.A.
– Young attorneys are, to Magnus, little guppies who, if nurtured properly when they are learning how to properly represent their clients, will one day grow into big fish with big cases.
– Not all of the fish in the ocean are suitable for consumption. Similarly, not all litigators and trial attorneys are compatible with Magnus’ rigorous research methods and scientific analyses of lawsuits.
– Sometimes, we have to “catch and release” a client, not because he/she is too small, out of season, or a sporting fish, but because he/she is abusive to our staff, and/or unwilling to accept our advice, and/or too requires too much effort to keep.
– Many of the cases on which we have consulted in our decades of work are, like prize winning fish, worthy of earning a huge trophy to proudly display for everyone to see. We have had the honor and privilege of working on some really, really big cases, worth billions of dollars.
– Some of our clients, such as the late, great Buddy Payne, have been great lawyers and fishermen; they sure know how to tell tall tales about “the one that got away,” as it relates to losing a case they should have won, winning a case they should have lost, and, of course, letting go of their rod and reel when a sailfish was fighting them.
– Sadly, when our clients have chosen to work with one of our competitors, they often tell us that they wished they had listened to us and worked with us instead. These clients liken working with some of Magnus’ competitors to eating stinky spoiled fish.
– David and I are both Florida Crackers. We love our fish prepared just about any way: fried, broiled, blackened, steamed, baked, or grilled. Similar to all of the varieties of fish preparation, we have worked on just about every type of case that one can imagine and we have creative research methods to suit any case type and budget.
– Just as everyone has their favorite type of fish, Magnus has favorite types of clients. Potential clients to whom we market share traits such as a willingness to accept our advice and rely on our expertise.
– Fish can be purchased at many types of places, from small fish houses in coastal areas to upscale restaurants all across the world. Magnus’ clients come in all shapes and sizes, from small solo practice plaintiffs attorneys to attorneys in huge, multinational law firms. We never know who will be the next attorney to appear on our fishing line!
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