Leveraging Legal Expertise for Business Growth | Neil Fraser from North & Company

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Neil Fraser: Doing well, thanks.

Ernesto: It’s great to have you on today’s show. Let’s do our listeners a favor. In your own words, tell us a little bit more about the firm.

Neil: Yeah, well, we are a full-service law firm located in Western Canada in Lethbridge, Alberta. We’ve been around since 1973 and quite honestly, we run any kind of legal service that you require. We can look after it. It’s a one-stop shop that way. And I think it makes us kind of unique within the region. So we do everything from estate planning, real estate transactions, a lot of corporate work, commercial work, even intellectual property and getting into some mediation work as well.

Ernesto: Okay, perfect. Awesome. Great to hear that. So that way our listeners get a good understanding. Is there a specific type of case that you guys like to pick up, like commercial law, personal injury, real estate, employment law, or is it more of what I mentioned?

Neil: Yeah, you know, we do all of that, to be quite honest. We have 27 lawyers on staff. Sorry, we have 27 lawyers with us and they have such diverse backgrounds. So we do have lawyers that specialize in litigation or personal injury. We do have lawyers that specialize in corporate and commercial business work. And then we also have lawyers that specialize in real estate transactions and estate planning. Those lawyers, they tend to cover that plus a little bit more. But really, we just look after everything. That’s one of the things about our marketing. I use the analogy to get them in, move them up. So if we have a client come in with an estate request looking to create a will and everything that goes along with that, we make sure that we’re letting that client know that, hey, we can look after some real estate transactions for you. If you have a business, we can certainly help you there. So a lot of what we do is try to get people in and then just making sure that they know we have all these other areas available too.

Ernesto: Definitely. Okay, great to hear that. Let’s say I just had a personal injury. How would I usually find out about North & Company? Is there a top client acquisition channel for you guys?

Neil: Well, our website. Really, that’s where especially in law firms, people will, it’s not one of those things they need day to day. It’s just sort of those services that come up when an unfortunate accident happens or a life event happens. So our marketing is more on making sure that we’re top of mind so that when something happens, an injury at work or whatever, you go to a website like most people do and start searching for a lawyer or whatever, and we want to find ourselves at the top of the page. They look, they read about us, and hopefully that generates the lead for calling us. So it really, I mean, we do a lot of Google Ads. That’s a big thing for us, making sure that our ads are being seen and that we’re on the first page of Google Ads. So when people do need a legal service, they recognize the name, they know us, they trust us, and then they give us a call.

Ernesto: Definitely. That’s important. I mean, you know how you measure, right? Unfortunately, it’s only when things happen. But hey, I’m glad that you guys are there with 50 years of experience. Definitely great to have you guys there. Like you mentioned the website, so that way listeners could go out and visit you, they could always check you guys out at northco.com. What role then? Is there something that you guys like to particularly have on your website to generate that content for visitors to interact with you guys?

Neil: We typically just sort of keep it to the services, the areas that we service, and just keeping it concise. We’re not giving them everything, but just giving them enough information so that they click and call us, so they can speak to us in person because that’s where we shine. Once we can get and chat with the person and everybody’s comfortable, we can help them out from there.

Ernesto: Okay, perfect. Awesome. Very great to hear that. As far as the website, is there any tools or tips or methods that you would recommend to your listeners for some website lead generation?

Neil: We just redid our website last summer. The big thing for us was the previous website had too many clicks. You had to click here, click there to get into all these pages, the layers of pages. We’ve gotten away from that and it’s more on scrolling because now people are using their mobile devices to access information. So being able to scroll was probably, when we worked with the developer, that was the focus. The content is still the same, but being able to access the content quickly and efficiently was the goal. That’s the goal of the website, to access that information quickly and be able to reach out to us in one click, which is what we were striving for. I think we’ve done that.

Ernesto: Great to hear. That’s great advice. Revamping the website is always good. Let’s switch gears a little bit, Neil, and talk about you as a leader. You’ve been the marketing coordinator there for North & Company. What are some key tasks you like to focus on in your day-to-day work?

Neil: For me, it’s interesting. It’s not your typical marketing role. I mean, that’s a big part of what I do. We do a lot of philanthropy work throughout the area, so I look after that. There’s also a lot of internal marketing that we have to do as well. Making sure that our assistants and the lawyers are up to speed on what we’re doing, messaging, and customer service-related things. We’re starting to morph into more of a training and marketing role, getting information out to the assistants on how we present ourselves to our clients because they are the first line of communication with a client before they see a lawyer. We want to make sure they’re up to speed because the experience is the most important part of what we do and of the marketing that we can do. If you have a positive experience and everybody’s on the same page, that’s what’s going to bring people back to us.

Ernesto: Definitely agree with you on that. Sounds like you have everything juggling over there, but in a good pattern. It’s great to hear. Through those cracks, how do you stay up to date with all the marketing strategies and trends that are going on? Is there a specific channel you like to stay up to date with?

Neil: I was thinking about that and I don’t necessarily have a specific channel. For me, I rely more on personal relationships that I’ve created and talking with mentors and other people doing marketing as well. I reach out to them, we have good conversations, and that’s how I keep up with the trends. It’s not necessarily looking at trends but listening and analyzing and seeing what people are doing. Going into a store and analyzing how people are browsing and what they’re looking for. It’s more those real-life experiences that jump out at me. That’s how I see what the trends are. Certainly, I look at social media and some websites that talk about trends and see how those trends relate to what I’m seeing and then go from there.

Ernesto: Absolutely. Great stuff there. Thanks so much for sharing that, Neil. Let’s jump into our next section, which is our rapid-fire question rounds. Are you ready for them?

Neil: Yeah, absolutely.

Ernesto: First off, what is the last book that you read?

Neil: I’m actually going to go with a book that I just started reading. It’s by Rick Rubin, the music producer, called “The Creative Act: A Way of Being.” It’s really an interesting book because I think as marketers, we have to be creative and come up with different things. The way he puts it all together is amazing. Rick Rubin is a music producer for Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, the Chicks, and he founded Def Jam Records back in the eighties. Beastie Boys, so he’s worked in different genres and had to be creative in all these different areas. I don’t believe he plays a musical instrument, but he has the ear and can guide these musicians to tap into their creativity and bring out the best in them. That’s what I’m getting out of the book. It’s really an interesting book and I highly recommend it.

Ernesto: Definitely important. It’s like in coaching. You could be the greatest coach of all time, not played in anything, but you’ve got that vision, that ear to boost people to get the best out of them. You’re doing that there with the new team, so I see why you’re reading that. Awesome. Next up, Neil, if there were no boundaries in technology, what would be that one thing that you want to fix for your role as a marketer today?

Neil: I think there’s too much technology. We rely on it too much. I think we’re missing out on getting out and meeting people and creating relationships. A lot of the time, marketers are put in a corner or in their office, and they don’t interact as much with people. I find that with people coming into it now. They don’t know how to go out and socialize with potential clients, the small talk, being able to have that smooth relationship. I grew up, my dad owned a store and my father-in-law owned a store. The way they developed relationships by having conversations was amazing. I see that with some of the lawyers here who’ve been around for 30, 40 years. They’re amazing at chatting with people. I think we tend to want technology to help us with all these different things, but some things are up to us to develop relationships with. That’s my take on technology, maybe a little different than most. But I believe it’s all about the relationships we need to develop.

Ernesto: Definitely important. I agree with that as well. If there’s one repetitive task you could automate, Neil, what would that be?

Neil: Probably the social media aspect of things. We’ve tried different things. To be honest, social media for a law firm is a little different because we have confidentiality rules and things like that to follow. But if there were a way to post to social media and not have the same post on X, Instagram, and Facebook, with different messages tailored to each one, that would be great. I find it time-consuming to create content for each platform. So, I guess that’s something I need to look into more.

Ernesto: Definitely. Lastly, Neil, you have experience in the marketing world. What is that one piece of advice you would give yourself if you were to restart your journey as a marketer today?

Neil: My journey’s been a little different. I graduated from the community college here in town with broadcast journalism and community television production. Within those courses, there was marketing and sales and everything. I don’t know if I would change anything. I think that gave me an opportunity to see different sides of how everything works together and meshes together. I would say that if you’re coming into marketing, spend a couple of years in a sales job. It’s hard, it’s not the best thing, but you will learn so much and gain valuable experience talking with business owners about their marketing and what they want to do. You’ll also learn how to build relationships and the different ins and outs of marketing. Nowadays, people say, “I’m a digital marketer, and that’s all I do,” or “I just do this type of marketing, and that’s all I do.” Going into sales, seeing everything, learning as much as you can from there, it broadens what you can do as a marketer down the road.

Ernesto: Awesome. Great advice. I definitely agree with that. Sales does add a bit of a tribute to marketing. Great to hear that from you. Neil, we are coming to the end of the show. But before we do, I want to give you the last word. If someone forgets everything about the interview today, what is the one thing they should remember about North & Company?

Neil: Just that we’re a one-stop shop for legal services. We’ve got the experience. The first group of lawyers, I don’t believe there’s anything that our team of lawyers and assistants can’t handle. If they can’t handle it, they will find someone to help you handle that problem.

Ernesto: Well, there you guys heard it from Neil. Check them out at northco.com with over 50 years of experience at North & Company. Thank you so much, Neil, for being on with us. To our listeners, thank you for tuning in, and I’m looking forward to our next episode at Pathmonk Presents. Thanks a lot, Neil.

Neil: Thank you.