Chris Dreyer: Playing to Dominate

When it comes to marketing those firms, Dreyer makes an important distinction between capturing existing demand and creating it. A potential client who has just been injured and searches online for a “car accident lawyer” is demonstrating immediate intent. Search engine optimization, Google Ads, Local Services Ads and other performance marketing strategies can help a firm capture that demand.

Brand building starts much earlier.

“In order to be successful long term, I think you have to build a brand,” Dreyer says. “Brand is marketing to everyone. It’s creating awareness in the market. It’s different from capturing existing demand from someone who is already injured. You’re marketing to everyone, even though they haven’t been in an accident yet.”

The ultimate objective is to become so familiar that when an accident does occur, the consumer doesn’t search for a lawyer. They search for that lawyer.

Dreyer points to longtime New Orleans attorney advertiser Morris Bart as an example of a lawyer whose visibility eventually transcended the stereotypical image of attorney advertising.

“At a certain point, he transcended being called an ambulance chaser into being Morris Bart,” Dreyer says. “Morris Bart is loved by New Orleans. He is New Orleans. You can only accomplish that through brand.”

But building a brand requires something many business owners find difficult to sustain: patience.

A firm may spend significantly on television, radio or other brand advertising without seeing a meaningful return in the first year—or even the second. Dreyer believes the payoff may not become apparent until years three or four. That is where the same qualities he credits for his own success become important.

“Who has the grit, the staying power, the obsession to stay in the game long term?” he asks. “Five years ago, people really didn’t know about Rankings.io. Now we’re advertising more. We’re at more conferences. We have booths. We’ve got PIMCON. We’ve got a magazine and a newsletter. It’s taken us 13 or 14 years to become more well known, and still only a fraction of the potential market knows us today.”

For smaller firms, Dreyer acknowledges there is no pretending that a modest marketing budget can compete head-to-head with PI firms spending millions annually on advertising. But that doesn’t mean smaller practices cannot become successful, thriving and highly profitable. They can build referral networks. They can become exceptional litigators. They can develop strong practices.

But Dreyer offers one caveat:

“If you don’t advertise, you’re going to stay small,” he says. “For the trial attorneys thinking, ‘I don’t advertise,’ every time you pay a referral fee, you’re paying for their advertising.”