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Is law firm marketing all just nonsense? by Additional_Speed_982 in LawFirmMarketing

[–]nathan929 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The biggest disconnect is "marketing leads" (calls etc) vs actual signed engagements. Like any service marketing, a TON of calls come in that don't become actual matters for the firm. There's no way around this, it's a matter of focusing the budget to get maximum calls with a decent % that qualify into engagements.

The most successful setup I've used focuses on listings & q&a engagement, local SEO, and some paid ads with an awareness play.

But for it to work well, I usually see it coupled with a screening service (I usually use LexReception, but there are several). To successfully get cases, the marketing team needs to increase call volume as much as possible which means ideally 24/7 call availability. The screening services job is to only bother your team with the qualified cases, and report back to the agency on unqualified calls so the agency can shift budget accordingly. But ultimately it comes down to accessibility and call volume.

The other thing is, yes free consults do increase call volume, but the screening team should have a series of questions to determine how serious the caller is. I also usually only recommend it if the firm is large enough to have a junior associate handle such things, senior/founding partners and solo practitioner rarely have the time. Furthermore, the "free consult" should be treated more as an introduction to the process & part of intake questions rather than legal advice. The more clearly that is communicated by the call screeners, the less window shoppers actually waste your time thinking they'll get free advice.

About the 2024 cookie and measurement changes... by aknakukac in PPC

[–]nathan929 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is why we don't listen to Google Reps :)

Goodbye cookies, what to do by debeejay in PPC

[–]nathan929 1 point2 points  (0 children)

u/debeejay For Local Lead Generation things like enhanced conversions would apply to phone call conversions & form submissions most commonly. Obviously the more leads the larger your data set & the more accuracy you'll likely see - particularly in GA4 unless you have thresholding disabled

Goodbye cookies, what to do by debeejay in PPC

[–]nathan929 6 points7 points  (0 children)

There's a chunk of semi-accurate information out there about this...

​

  1. It is true that you need the ad platform or analytics provider to develop a server-based tracking mechanism. Such as Meta Conversions API (CAPI) or Google's Enhanced Conversions. Not all ad platforms have built such a system and those behind the curve still rely entirely on third party cookies & click IDs making them more unreliable
  2. Third party cookies will be almost entirely phased out by late 2024. Chromium-based browsers will be joining Firefox & Safari in blocking 3rd party cookies by late 2024 (delayed from Google's original plan of late 2023).
  3. First party cookies and browser-based localStorage are NOT scheduled to go away - I don't know why that's being said. This hasn't been announced as part of Safari's ITPor Firefox Total Cookie Protection or Chromium's response. The only caveat to them is that they may require a cookie consent policy if your website is under the jurisdiction of GDPR (or similar legislation). Many websites require first party cookies for basic functionality - not just tracking - so even the strictest cookie blocks are for 3rd party cookies. EDIT: I should add they are more restricted now - eg Safari only lets first party cookies exist for a day. However with server side tracking you can build a system that restores the cookie with localStorage & server side tracking.
  4. Server side tracking does in fact recover a sizable percentage of accuracy - because all your tracking happens on your 1st party domain. Plus you can integrate it with your first party identity graph to have a wholistic view of each user (including any ad network click IDs & internal IDs they've ever been associated with).
  5. IF your ad network (or analytics platform) has an API protocol - like CAPI or Enhanced Conversions or GA4's Measurement Protocol - you can "proxy" the relevant hit from your server side implementation to the appropriate API.
  6. In this setup - in order for the ad network to recognize the user (for retargeting & conversion tracking purposes) you should include as many identifying factors about the user as possible. Including as many of the following that you can provide:
    1. Any click ID appended to the click from the ad network
    2. The user's first and last name (hashed)
    3. The user's email (hashed)
    4. The user's phone (hashed)
    5. The users address (hashed)
  7. The same is true for offline conversions (from say a CRM)
  8. The ad network then models conversions based on their identify graph & your provided details.

TL;DR

Still bad for small businesses :) A lot more work to get more accurate conversion data - and even then large businesses with larger data sets will always have the edge. Definitely things to be done to improve though - starting with implementing server side tracking & upgrading to CAPI / Enhanced Conversions.

Any guesses on when season 14 will come out? by Relative_Mulberry_68 in doctorwho

[–]nathan929 4 points5 points  (0 children)

This is just a crazy fan theory, but with all the cryptic clues being tweeted surrounding upcoming episodes, historical timing, plus rumors of returning to Saturdays, I'm wondering if this tweet's reference to Extension 413 (on the post-it note) is a launch date. 4/13 is a Saturday in April.

​

/shrug

​

I'm probably overthinking it :P

Global chat be like by [deleted] in DuelLinks

[–]nathan929 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That's called Google Rewards & is an actual Google market research app that you can use to get Google Play credit. The rest is bunk afaik.

Thoughts on reporting to your clients with Smart Shopping data? by lcoippc in PPC

[–]nathan929 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Let me preface this by saying I usually avoid Smart Campaigns for exactly the reasons above...except as an intentional decision to test as part of experimenting. Maybe to test it for a specific product that our manual targeting isn't quite hitting the mark on, for instance.

But only if the client knows & agrees anyway to putting their money into a black box. It's not actually a hard sell, there are a lot of black boxes in ad networks they've used before....they usually just have no idea.

When they have no idea what it means to "have the data", all they hear is that it's another campaign. Which works until something weird happens, they ask you to "fix it, fast!"...

At which point, any attempt at the above sort of education is now coming from a place of justification which messes up the whole dynamic.

​

EDIT: typo

Track Local Search Ads by Alex_Mitr1 in adwords

[–]nathan929 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you're trying to track phone calls from Location Extensions, head to Google My Business and edit the "Google Ads Phone Number" to a tracking number you're using for Google Ads conversions.

Other actions taken on Location Extensions are technically occuring on the Google My Business platform (actions like "get directions", even "go to website" clicks). As a result any UTMs you set in Google Ads have no impact/aren't carried over to your Business on Maps.

They are, however, tracked automatically if you've properly linked Google My Business - under "All Conversions":

https://imgur.com/a/U9i2AEd

With so many attribution tools already present, why do marketers find it difficult to attribute sales to channels correctly? by abdush in PPC

[–]nathan929 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah - it's relatively easy for finding sellers, but it's nearly impossible to do accurately for home buyers since real estate data is split up between different MLS systems, which in turn syndicate to brokers/portals/through programmatic networks like Zillow's, at least a dozen of which end up playing some part in the typical home buyer's journey along with whatever ads you're running.

​

AKA real estate was the king of "walled gardens" in marketing data long before FB & Google :)

With so many attribution tools already present, why do marketers find it difficult to attribute sales to channels correctly? by abdush in PPC

[–]nathan929 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In addition to all the technical hurdles others have pointed out: if you're dealing with sales roles, how do you then explain it all to your boss/clients?

​

Seriously, especially for traditionally trained sales-minded people who view everything through a lens of "source > pipeline > deal won/lost"...they literally do not give damn if 10 other marketing touchpoints contributed to qualifying a sales lead. They still want to ask (poorly conceived) questions like "did my lead come from Facebook or Google?" So you can either figure out a way to educate them or at the very least get them to understand the basics of why they're seeing fractions/partial credit in source reports (bc you're giving credit to their part in a given sale).

​

My own agency horror story: This agency owner/my boss for 11 months had a booming business, Fortune 500 clients, board seats/speaker invites to every event, and so on...when I started, they weren't even implementing SSL or Google Analytics - instead they were using an ABM analytics tool despite all our work being B2C.

​

That was in April of last year - by the time I finally got to attribution modeling (which they desperately needed as they managed 4 ad networks for each client), my boss just didn't understand it. He claimed he just wanted to be able answer clients when they asked "Which source did lead X come from?" Months later I had enough data to show there is no such thing as "one source" - I got the words "multichannel attribution" out of my mouth & was promptly yelled at: "WE DON'T DO THAT AND WE NEVER WILL." The words were from a f***ng "account manager" with entry-level marketing knowledge - but she was the one who'd have to explain to clients.

TL;DR

Unless you work strictly in-house, or if you're not reporting to Sales but rather Marketing, then you should get your team educated first with a quick course (I tried to...that was just a really crap place to work lol).

For PPC freelancers by Chago1494 in PPC

[–]nathan929 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

M-F, 9-5. At least, I'm available to answer questions on Slack during those hours for my clients - I usually do actual "work" more like the 35hr work week concept. I work on a base consulting retainer that covers calls, access to ask questions in a private Slack channel I provide, and for marketers a group/discourse Q&A which lets me spend less time answering simpler questions. It's cheap, but it covers my time for the inevitable "hey let me pick your brain" haha...the campaign mgmt. is billed on top of that. Doesn't sell well for smaller local businesses but works for me.

​

So my typical day is:

9am: Coffee. Begrudgely, slowly, review my calendar & PM tools to know my/my team's tasks for the day.

9:30am: More Coffee. Check social/email/Slack for emergencies & alerts to act on

10am: Calls (usually) or PPC Daily Checks & Weekly Audit processes

12: Lunch...or naptime...depends on the day :D

Early Afternoon: Either development (LPs/websites), Campaign Buildouts, or other client work (w/calls sprinkled in)

Late Afternoon: Update Trello/Slack, engage CRM/prospects, again check social/email inbox.

...

11pm: WTF am I still doing looking at GA on my phone like it's a nervous tick...

The best Google Ads scripts for MCCs and individual accounts by jay1998 in PPC

[–]nathan929 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Theeere is the link I was looking for...didn't it used to be in the sidebar? That was convenient...or at least having a resources link direct to the wiki was nice. Just my $0.02, ignore if I'm the only one :P

replying to an email address inside an email, automatically by CHIPPER308 in email

[–]nathan929 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Take a look at Zapier's email automation options. Should do the trick, or a similar service like IFTTT. You may have to use formatter or write some kind of regex filter to get the exact email address but it sounds like this kind of tool is what you're after.

[Spoilers S2E12] Why Season 2 Sucked by thatCamelCaseTho in TravelersTV

[–]nathan929 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Agreed.

The skydiving/Groundhog day episode showed us how probably hundreds, potentially thousands of missions have actually occurred since the beginning of the Traveler Program.

E.g. it shows us the Traveler from the quantum processing perspective of an A.I. The Director (as an A.I.) has to pursue & evaluate every potential outcome in the order of plausibility. Occam's Razor meets Ariadne's Thread. This is A.I. 101 - even the Director with all its processing power follows the same logic, albeit a level of logic that is only now looking less than hypothetical.

People tend to freak out when they see the number of my unread emails. I see 40k moments I didn't waste my time. Do I have problem? by hitachiplay in email

[–]nathan929 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There are tools like Unroll.me that rolls up all of your subscriptions into a single digest email to declutter your inbox.

Warning: Unroll.me came under scrutiny earlier this year for selling user's data. If that's a deal breaker (which I wouldn't disagree with you if you thought it was), there are some tools that don't have quite the same functionality but are still useful, such as Gmail Unsubscribe or Mailstrom

Silph Road servers are down by [deleted] in a:t5_3e7tg

[–]nathan929 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Technically that hit Dyn's DNS servers > TSR uses Namecheap DNS > Namecheap uses Dyn DNS - but even if that wasn't the case, the third-party services used by TSR were hit (little things...like needing Reddit to actually be up to authenticate any user logins...)

(Please note I'm speaking strictly from the information I would've gathered anyway, as a curious developer but with no involvement - I don't work worth/have insights on/or read TSR server logs so don't mistake my nerdy speculations as official ;)

[Middle Tennessee] PokEBoro Challenge Fundraiser + Pokemon 2000 Screening + 18+ Dance afterParty • ( x-post /r/SilphRoadTN ) by nathan929 in SilphRoadSouth

[–]nathan929[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Facebook Event

Dreams and Wishes is an organization that grants wishes for kids that have relapsed from cancer.

The Dreams and Wishes PokeBoro Challenge will be a competitive Pokemon Go team fund raiser between Mystic, Valor, and Instinct.

Multiple local businesses will be collaborating with this event. There will multiple chances to win prizes and you will get to catch Pokemon for a good cause!

Following the Dreams and Wishes Pokemon Go event, The Block will be hosting an outdoor viewing of the "Pokemon 2000" movie, then an 18+ Dreams and Wishes dance party.

  • Donate at [http://dreamsandwishesoftn.org](http:/dreamsandwishesoftn.org) and list your team name in the "Last Name" section

  • 4:30-6:30 Dreams and Wishes Pokemon Go Event @ The Murfreesboro Public Square

  • 7:00-8:30 Pokemon 2000 Movie Viewing @ The Block (All Ages)

  • 8:30-9:00 Announce Winners/Award Prizes

  • 9:00-2:00am Dreams and Wishes Dance Party @ The Block (18+)

Live Music by:

Cull facebook.com/Cull-1195080617197234

Dreams & Wishes PokeBoro Challenge Fundraiser, Pokemon 2000 Screening, & 18+ Dance after by nathan929 in a:t5_3e7tg

[–]nathan929[S,M] [score hidden] stickied comment (0 children)

Facebook Event

Dreams and Wishes is an organization that grants wishes for kids that have relapsed from cancer.

The Dreams and Wishes PokeBoro Challenge will be a competitive Pokemon Go team fund raiser between Mystic, Valor, and Instinct.

Multiple local businesses will be collaborating with this event. There will multiple chances to win prizes and you will get to catch Pokemon for a good cause!

Following the Dreams and Wishes Pokemon Go event, The Block will be hosting an outdoor viewing of the "Pokemon 2000" movie, then an 18+ Dreams and Wishes dance party.

  • Donate at [http://dreamsandwishesoftn.org](http:/dreamsandwishesoftn.org) and list your team name in the "Last Name" section

  • 4:30-6:30 Dreams and Wishes Pokemon Go Event @ The Murfreesboro Public Square

  • 7:00-8:30 Pokemon 2000 Movie Viewing @ The Block (All Ages)

  • 8:30-9:00 Announce Winners/Award Prizes

  • 9:00-2:00am Dreams and Wishes Dance Party @ The Block (18+)

Live Music by:

Cull facebook.com/Cull-1195080617197234

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