MAY 2012 |
www.opp.org.uk Best Marketing Campaign Silver: Ashton Graham
What did Ashton Graham say in its entry form? “Ashton Graham’s French Legal
Service (FLS) team was launched in May 2009 through a comprehensive marketing campaign. The FLS team offers advice and assistance to English speaking clients on the implications of buying and selling properties in France, French inheritance law and the French tax system. Our aim is to protect clients against unforeseen issues arising in their property purchases. Despite being launched on the
1st May 2009 in the middle of an economic crisis, the marketing campaign ensured that a steady stream of new clients has been introduced to the firm. This is seen as one of the hardest forms of marketing in the legal sector as firms usually rely on new work being provided by cross-selling to existing clients. Not only has the campaign brought in new clients, but once new clients have recognised the quality of the service we offer, we are able to refer them to our other departments. Matthew Cameron heads up
the French legal services team, regularly appearing on radio and television, contributing to Living France, French Property News
WINNERS
OPP AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE 2011 | 55 Developer profi le
What does Ashton Graham do?
Ashton Graham Solicitors is recognised by the Legal 500 as one of the UK’s leading law firms, with three offices in Bury St Edmunds, Ipswich and Felixstowe. Ashton Graham has 20 partners, 150 staff and a turnover of £7.8 million. Ashton Graham has merged with Kester Cunningham John. The new firm Ashton KCJ commenced operating on 1st October 2011. The new firm will operate from Ipswich, Felixstowe, Bury St Edmonds, Thetford, Norwich and Cambridge. Ashton KCJ will aim to be a strong regional firm with substantial commercial, private client and personal injury departments. We will also offer specialist legal services in: agriculture, commercial property, employment, dispute resolution, family, residential property and French legal services, Court of Protection and Clinical Negligence. We will continue to offer a full legal service to business and private clients.
and France magazine on the legal implications of buying, selling and owning property in France. A member of the British-Franco Lawyers Society, Matthew has lectured in both English and French on cross border legal issues as well as acting for many clients of multi-Euro deals. Vincent Morand is also a member
of the French legal services team, advising clients on buying property in France and holds the Diplôme Supérieur de Notariat. Vincent writes on a regular basis for Living France magazine, has given several presentations about French law and both he and Matthew will be speaking at the French Property Exhibition in Olympia this August. The objectives of our 2011
marketing campaign were to build
and develop relationships with the FLS department and to be recognised as experts in our field. We aimed to generate quality leads from all marketing activity and build a strong client base through relations with potential client
“New clients have recognised the
then £21,000 for each of the two subsequent years. Our campaign produced corporate literature and French legal guides. A direct marketing campaign, as well as an advertising and PR campaign, all targeted publications aimed at second homeowners. We also held events, seminars and exhibitions. We targeted our competitors to encourage referrals and targeted Notaires in France through regular mailings and eshots. Our target audience includes families or individuals hoping to relocate, English speakers residing in France, Notaires and high net worth individuals or second home-buyers as well as our existing client base.
quality of the service we offer and now use other departments”
referrers and to be actively involved in all high profile events regarding French property. Our campaign took three months
to plan with a budget of £21,000 for the launch and an initial operating period to the end of 2009 ... and
Our campaign involved a strong online element with new FLS copy drafted onto our site, www.
ashtongraham.co.uk. We re-launched the website in 2010 to better refl ect the signifi cance of FLS, and the new platform has allowed us to trace how many enquiries we receive which go on to result in a case. We also advertised on Google, via pay per click to drive more traffi c to our site, as well as Google AdWords which was a particular success when it came to conversion rates, generating 92 new cases and generating £71,088 in fees for that year. We also had a strong SEO, which ensured we featured on page 1 of Google within two weeks of the campaign launch. The results show that we have
established ourselves as a leader in this fi eld and are one of only a dozen legal fi rms in the UK specialising in French law. We represent clients from all over the world, including Dubai, USA and Australia. We have established ourselves
Experts | Ashton Graham saw a niche for French overseas property advice and set up a clever and measurable marketing push
as a key commentator on French legal issues across a range of publications and websites and were recognized by the Anglian Business Awards 2010 for marketing excellence. By the end of 2009 we had introduced £210,000 of new business to the firm and an average of 230 phone enquiries per month are generated to us. Our exhibition at the French property shows in 2010 lead to 900 leads with a conversion rate of 10% within the first week and, as a result, we have established an excellent reputation amongst key referrers, competitors and clients.”
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