Case Study: Golitko and Daly By on June 30, 2014

"Our relationship with Einstein Law has been invaluable in the branding of our firm."

Most businesses have accepted the reality that social media is a necessary component of online marketing. However, many have also discovered that simply having social media accounts doesn’t provide much benefit in and of itself. In fact, a Harvard Business Review study found that only 12 percent of businesses feel that they are using social media effectively.

When social media accounts are properly set up, managed, and integrated into a business’s marketing strategy, they offer more than an opportunity to collect “Likes” and “+1’s.” They give that business the chance to build trust among consumers through brand consistency. Creating this bond of trust is particularly important in the legal profession, as prospective clients are often motivated more by emotion and instinct than intellect when deciding which law firm to contact first.

The need to strengthen their brand image across the Internet was one of the primary reasons the work injury lawyers of Golitko & Daly turned to Einstein Law in 2011. We rose to the challenge with a strategy that included unifying their social media accounts under a single, coherent approach that accurately represented their law firm.

The Challenge: Reinforce the Golitko & Daly Brand Online

Golitko & Daly had already established itself as one of the premier workplace injury and wrongful death law firms in the state of Indiana by the time Matthew Golitko and John P. Daly contacted us. The firm had achieved multiple million-dollar-plus settlements and jury awards on behalf of injured construction and other workers. What they truly needed to take their practice to the next level was brand consistency across a variety of platforms.

the elements for a consistent, unified online branding strategy were in place. Now it was up to us to execute it

Fortunately, they had a strong, identifiable brand and a highly specific audience they wished to target. Their logo was simple but memorable, as was their firm’s motto: “We Go to Work When You Can’t.” Even the color scheme – shades of grey with bold splashes of orange– lent itself easily to being extended across the Internet, from their primary website to their social media accounts. All of the elements for a consistent, unified online branding strategy were in place. Now it was up to us to execute it.

The Solution: Impose the Brand Image Across All Social Media Accounts

As with any marketing strategy, if you want your online marketing strategy to be successful, you have to go to where your target audience is. For more than a decade, this has meant making sure that your firm’s website is being found on Google. However, it now also means

establishing a strong social media presence by being active on a variety of accounts.

Literally billions of people use social networks regularly, with the fastest growing demographic on both Facebook and Google+ being people aged 45 to 543. This demographic is of particular interest to law firms that specialize in workplace injury litigation such as Golitko & Daly. Currently, more than 40 percent of construction workers are baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, and the average construction worker is over 40 years of age⁴. These workers are far more likely to use social media than they were even five years ago.

Relevanza (2013)¹

We They are also, like most consumers, highly sensitive to how companies brand themselves. Brand consistency promotes trust and loyalty among consumers. It allows businesses to distinguish their products or services from those of their competitors while reinforcing their key messages, especially when they are as strong and concise as “We Go to Work When You Can’t.”

On the other hand, when a brand is not consistently represented across multiple media, trust and authority are undermined. Consumers are far less likely to remember or recognize the brand in the future. In the case of law firms, they risk not only losing prospective clients, but also referrals from those clients.

While most businesses understand the importance of brand consistency when it comes to traditional forms of marketing, many don’t apply it to their social media strategies. In fact, 23 percent of brand marketers report having difficulty executing social media strategies. Smaller businesses are at a particular disadvantage; while large corporations can afford to have a social media specialist or even a full team on staff, most smaller businesses cannot. They are responsible for their own social networking.

Mashable (2011)²

Realizing this, Golitko & Daly entrusted us with extending their brand across their social media accounts. We made sure that the logo, color scheme, and messaging were complementary, from the website to Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. We were confident that this careful attention to the firm’s social media accounts would pay off, as it generally does for other small businesses:

According to social media company Relevanza, 78 percent of small businesses attract new customers through social media.
Even when you add videos and blog posts into the mix, social media marketing costs 62 percent less than traditional marketing.
Search Engine Journal found that, through 2013, 70 percent of marketers had successfully gained new customers through Facebook, while 34 percent had successfully generated leads through Twitter⁵.

We put the branding strategy into place in 2012, along with a strong Local SEO strategy. Our confidence in our approach was supported by the results.

The Result: More Leads and a Satisfied Client

Since imposing brand consistency on the law firm’s various social media accounts, Golitko & Daly has experienced:

A 76.6 percent increase in leads from search engines when comparing May 2012 through April 2013 to May 2013 through April 2014.
When comparing the same two periods, an 89.9 percent overall increase in the number of prospective clients contacting the firm through the website.

Just as importantly, the lawyers who trusted us with their online marketing strategy are pleased with the results they have seen. “Our consistent branding across multiple social platforms has brought us more leads,” says Matthew Golitko. “Einstein Law understands the finer points of marketing and branding, and that has made a huge difference in our ability to generate cases through the Internet.”

"Our consistent branding across multiple social platforms has increased leads to our practice."

- Matt Golitko, IndianaWorkers.com

¹ "Research, studies point to GooglePlus, SoLoMo." Relevanza. 2013-04-17. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
² "Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing." Mashable. 2011-10-30. Retrieved 2014-06-01.
³"10 Surprising Social Media Statistics That Will Make You Rethink Your Social Strategy." Buffer. 2013-07-16. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
⁴"The Aging Worker in the U.S. Construction Industry." Occupational Health & Safety. 2011-03-01. Retrieved 2014-06-15.
⁵"22 Social Media Facts and Statistics You Should Know in 2014." JeffBullas.com. 2014-01-17. Retrieved 2014-06-16.