Lawyer 2.0

Boutique law firm takes marketing to another level

In 1991, Matthew J. Weiss, Esq., co-founded a predecessor law firm which handled a variety of cases including real estate transactions, personal injury litigation, commercial litigation, commercial transactions and moving violations. In 2000, however, after Weiss bought out his partner and renamed the firm to Weiss & Associates, PC, he realized that he should focus on his core business. “That was a critical time for me,” says Weiss. “It made me re-examine where I was and made me realized that we were not committed enough to the “bread-and-butter” business that we had, the niche of being a boutique vehicle and traffic law firm.”

The firm now has seven employees and approximately 20 of counsel attorneys who defend truck drivers and motorists throughout New York State. Clients who call Weiss & Associates in need of assistance are prequalified to determine if they need a lawyer. If so, Weiss then assigns an attorney who is familiar with the client’s local traffic court’s rules and nuances. This new business model allowed Weiss to focus on marketing, sales and operations, and has differentiated his law firm from others in the country. “This model allows me to really work on my business, rather than in my business,” says Weiss. “At this point, I look at myself more as a business owner than a lawyer.”

Since adopting the new model, Weiss & Associates has grown from handling a few hundred tickets per year to more than 3,500. Weiss credits his success to membership in the business group Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), of which he is currently president of the New York Chapter. He also praises the teachings of Michael Gerber (E-Myth Revisited) and Seth Godin (Permission Marketing and Purple Cow) for his firm’s growth.

From Attorney to Marketer

Being primarily a business owner has given Weiss a chance to discover his gift for marketing. The firm employs many traditional marketing techniques; although most are unique in the legal industry. It obtained a vanity toll-free number (888 Red Light) and created a complementary red light logo. The matching URL was obtained (888redlight.com) along with 75 other industry-related URLs. The tag line (“It’s no big deal!”) was rolled out a few years ago.

As part of his marketing strategy, Weiss has adopted the philosophy of giving all the information away for free and becoming as helpful to people as he can. Weiss lectures and has written many articles on vehicle and traffic law matters for his firm’s website. His article topics include “Five Defenses Which Do Not Work When Fighting a New York Speeding Ticket;” “A Guide to Calculating DMV Points” and “How To Avoid A Traffic Ticket.” “We try to teach and educate our prospective clients but if they want us to do the work then they have to pay” says Weiss. “If this helps you, then that’s great. But most people, when they start reading and see that it’s more involved than they initially thought, often decide to hire us instead.”

The website also contains traffic news and tidbits from all over the state (e.g., the most parking tickets in New York City are issued in Jackson Heights, Queens; the Bronx contains the worst traffic-snarled intersection in the country) and the section is updated regularly with links to relevant articles. “Every time I read something about vehicle and traffic law, I add it to the website” says Weiss. “From a SEO point of view that helps me because Google and its spiders see a home page that’s been updated and they know it’s a live site, and they tend to credit — or their algorithm tends to credit — live sites versus ones that are stagnant. So it serves multiple purposes – it updates people about traffic issues as well as improves the site’s organic rank.”

Another element of Weiss’s marketing strategy is the creation of an online community. He started a related company that recently launched an interactive website, NYTrafficCourtDirectory.com. The site serves as a directory of every traffic court in the State of New York, where users can post their experiences at different traffic courts. “There is a forum to create threads such as the best radar detector to purchase,” says Weiss. “It’ll be an online community of people that want to know more about traffic tickets, about driving and about the courts themselves. It’s the kind of insider information that you wouldn’t ordinarily be able to know before you walk into court”.

Leveraging Facebook

Weiss is active on Facebook and has some unique ideas on how to use it to market his business including maintaining an 888 Red Light fan page. Weiss uses this page like a blog updating it regularly with funny and interesting traffic-related stories including his favorite one about a naked motorist.

Further, this summer, his related company launched an application on Facebook called Friend Ticket, which allows users to issue “Friend Tickets” to their connections for any misdeed or offense they choose. For example, a Facebook user can issue a friend ticket for things like “you forgot to return my phone call” or “you missed a wonderful party.” It doesn’t have to be traffic-related and, in fact, most likely will be used for social wrongs. “Who wouldn’t want to be able to issue a ticket against someone else, right? It gives you police power,” says Weiss. “The application is designed to enhance friend-to-friend communication. Facebook currently has three ways to communicate — posting on someone’s wall, sending a message, and poking them. My application will provide many others. Users will be able to choose the type of friend ticket from such templates as Boo (with thumbs down image) and No-No (with a wagging pointer finger image) and then add the customized offense committed. The application is easy to use and the imagery is brilliant.” Weiss adds,”Confrontation has never been this easy.”

Weiss intends to monetize this project through third party advertising. But will also use it to promote its 888 Red Light page on Facebook along with the 888 Red Light brand. Weiss hopes the application will soon go viral and is excited about its prospects.

Next Enterprise

While the Facebook application will give him national exposure, Weiss does not have immediate plans to franchise Weiss & Associates in other states. “What I did think about is the using brand, the logo, the marketing, etc. as a basis for a web-based lead generation business,” says Weiss. “My logo, vanity number and brand make it easy for consumers to remember and the new business is complementary to my present one, two fundamentally important features to any new venture.”