Maximizing Legal Marketing Automation: Understanding Pepper Ball Regulations in California
For those of us who have been using some form of marketing automation to improve targeting to generate pipeline, we have seen the ROI and the increased growth in revenues. However, where we lose some value in this process is in really understanding the “legalese” behind our products and being able to address any issues for others in the call to action. So ask yourself, how many of your marketing automation efforts actually take into accounts the laws of your state for your products? Do you know if the legality of pepper balls in California and what the penalty is for using them?
So what is a marketing automation effort anyway other than a way of segmenting and automating calls to action based on personas, lifecycle stage or a target vertical? In fact, according to Gleanster found that for average revenue by company size, 45% of respondents attributed revenue growth in 2011 primarily to Marketing Automation. So why do so many companies fail to achieve success with their marketing automation efforts.
At the end of the day it is all about the “call to action” and how you obtain the information needed to qualify the prospect. If the product you are marketing requires you to notify the customer on certain legal aspects 1) what is the legality of the product, 2) do your competitors tell the prospects about the legal issues, 3) will you be faced with a lawsuit if this issue is not addressed, 4) what would a legal judgement cost you? And these are just a few reasons to be aware of legal aspects of the product you sell. In fact, Gleanster goes on to state that 27.8% of respondents use at least 6 systems to support their lead management efforts. So let’s dig a little deeper in how you can tie legal issues into your market automation efforts.
When you know the legal issues behind your product, you can more effectively target your marketing efforts. Here are few reasons why it is a good idea to understand the legal environment around your product:
- The Law Affects Decision Making in the Sales Cycle
- Litigation Will Erode Brand Value
- A Legal Misstep Will Increase Your Costs
- The Law Focuses Attention on Key Input and Output Variables
- Legal Exposures Have a Direct Bearing on Future Performance
So let’s be honest, we all know that lead nurturing is a must. By nurturing leads, you are helping the prospect identify those risks that they themselves may be growing forgetful of after you executive sale. You are continuing to market your brand rather than having your brand devolve into “smartypants” land. This is the answer to the “why” for maintaining not only your original sale but expanding on it. Now, here is where you create brand trust by educating the consumer on the risks, and yes I mean “risks” of the product that are harmful but necessary. When you can make the consumer aware that there may be risks in how they use the product or the legality of the product, you can build trust that they are working with the right team. Being upfront about legal implications shows the consumer they are on the right path to brand trust.
- Ask About Local Laws
- Train Staff on Local Laws
- Monitor Changes in Local Laws
- Develop a Public Relations Plan
- Archive Your Legal Efforts
Let’s say you do not comply with the laws of pepper balls being illegal in California, you could face hefty fines such as up to $1000 per illegal pepper ball unit or even worse prison time. Doing the research on what the limits and penalties are for marketing as well as selling those products will pay off in the long run. Of course, you can learn from other brands that have faced this litigation where a simple question of legality was overlooked on a simple product like pepper balls.
Below is a list of methods that can be used to incorporate the legal aspects of marketing into your marketing automation efforts:
- Develop a Legal Brief to be provided to Consumers
- Embed Legal Information in Social Media Marketing Efforts
- Create Widgets to Trigger Legal Dawdling
- Utilize Email Campaigns to Trigger Legal Issues
- Engage in Mobile Browser Marketing
- Institute A/B Testing of Marketing Message
- Use Lawsuits as a Marketing Message
- Give Free Legal Briefs as downloadable content
- Make Whitepapers about legality issues downloadable content
- Send legal for free in a drip campaign
In order to succeed in the marketing automation realm you must know your target market inside and out. Other than knowing your target market, you must be aware of the legal issues that they may face and how you can help alleviate those issues. Doing this will give your business a leg up on the competition while boosting your conversion rate. The key for marketing automation is to understand the steps in which to incorporate not only the persona, but the lifecycle stage of the contact into highly target lead nurturing campaigns, and then training your business on how to handle the direct results of a highly tuned campaign in the sales process.
