Outsourcing the creation of this marketing plan and social media strategy, and the development of a new brand identity, website and printed materials freed up the hardworking team at Amanda Shaw Solicitors. This allowed them to focus on their core business, without getting behind on their marketing and prospecting for new clients.

The Story So Far…

The Problem

“Running a successful business is easy”, said no one, ever.

Many business owners know that they offer great service and expertise, but delivering well-timed, focused messages, in the right way, to the right audience, at the right time, is a challenge.

Where and how does a business get more customers when there simply aren’t enough hours in the day to stay on top of marketing initiatives, or if they lack the skills required to develop them?

This was exactly the conundrum being worked through by Amanda of Amanda Shaw Solicitors when she engaged The Marketing Architect to help. Having founded her hugely successful business 10 years ago, this busy, committed business owner was extremely time poor, working long hours managing her team and delivering the superb customer experience which underpins the firm’s first-rate reputation.

The thing about Amanda Shaw Solicitors is that they genuinely offer a service that is a cut above the competition, so the need for communicating this excellence to prospective clients was quite clear.

Amanda and her team have a dazzling level of expertise in their chosen aspect of law, and a business policy of treating their clients like friends. Spotting house buying pitfalls and risks, swerving selling problems and staying in constant contact with clients, other solicitors and estate agents to keep transactions moving forward is more than a full-time job.

With every single day packed to the brim, and work slowly eradicating her leisure time, Amanda’s focus on marketing had taken a back seat. The firm’s website was very dated and the business urgently needed a new brand identity that would engage its target market and communicate just how different it is from its competitors.

Our Solution

Hiring a full-time marketing manager was not an option, so taking The Marketing Architect on board as a virtual marketing manager made perfect sense.

In order to supply a truly tailored and individual marketing plan, we started the process with research. This included a day on site to download as many details about the firm as possible.

We also researched the opportunities in the market, interviewed past customers about their experience of the firm, and investigated competitors.

We used this research to design a marketing plan, a blueprint for business success: the what, when and how we would be communicating with the market. This master plan, expressed in jargon-free language and designed to be easy to consult, was at the heart of the new strategy.

We also developed a demographic profile of the ideal client, to outline the wants and needs of the people most likely to look for a conveyancing solicitor offering what Amanda Shaw Solicitors provide.  We identified the brand values for the firm, and created a key message outline. A strong, easy to understand problem-solving message was always going to be key to the success of the project, so getting this bit right was important.

Having these supporting documents in place made it easy for us to develop content that would communicate the USP of the business, and to brief and collaborate with Caroline King, their chosen graphic designer, as she created a stunning new brand identity for the firm.

As part of the plan, we had recommended rebuilding the website from scratch, so we took responsibility for managing the tendering process and guided the firm into choosing the best web development firm for its needs. We then managed the writing, build and launch of the a beautiful new website. This saved Amanda hours of work. We also worked with the designer to update and finalise the print documents, such as business cards, headed paper and folders, that the team needs to do its day to day work.

In the plan, we suggested putting a social media manager in place, so we recruited Michelle from ByJove Media, and worked with her on a strategy that would communicate the brand values online and build connection with the clients that Amanda really wanted to work with.

Having a set of high quality images is vital, so overseeing the delivery of exceptional head-shot photographs of the staff to communicate a consistent message of trust, confidence, and personal delivery as key.  The experienced photographer that we used has, I think, perfectly captured the friendly yet professional attitude of this business.

Ongoing Relationship

Since we launched the new brand identity for the firm, The Marketing Architect has continued to work with Amanda Shaw Solicitors, providing a fixed number of marketing tasks every month. We have gone on to create a lead magnet, monthly newsletter, an advertising campaign and a series of detailed articles that help the audience to understand the process of conveyancing and buying a house, all the while communicating the excellence of service delivered by the hardworking team.

We have also set up a reporting and measurement system, to make sure that the marketing remains as a focus, and any problems are quickly identified. Regular updates and key milestones are fed back to my client, as well as recommendations and advice to tweak things, if appropriate.

Delivering on time and totally within budget meant that we were able to make a big difference to this thriving business.

The Result

Having The Marketing Architect focused on delivering the communication strategy has dramatically reduced the amount of time and attention that this business owner would have had to spend on marketing, in order to make the progress she wanted.

It has also meant that marketing projects were seen to completion, and are working in harmony to provide consistent communication, instead of pulling in different directions. This gives a terrific return on investment on the marketing budget.

“Having Pip on board has changed our business,” says Amanda. “We now have someone driving things forward and making sure our projects don’t go off track at the first hurdle. I’m very proud of how our website and printed materials look, and happy that we are in regular contact with our clients. We’ve had our best turnover ever this year, and I have no doubt that it’s in part attributable to the work of The Marketing Architect.”