Here’s a Glimpse of What You’ll Hear:
- [2:04] Brian Hansen shares how his early work experiences shaped his career
- [5:21] What led Brian to leave big marketing agencies and start Rocket Pilots?
- [6:40] How digital marketing has evolved since the launch of Rocket Pilots in 2016
- [8:16] The impact of AI on digital marketing and the future of Google Search
- [10:40] Why Brian decided to specialize in law firm marketing and niche down
- [13:01] Challenges of working with lawyers and how to build strong client relationships
- [18:13] How Case Connect revolutionizes law firm lead generation
- [28:03] How Rocket Pilots stands out in a crowded digital marketing industry
In this episode…
Law firms face intense competition in the digital space, yet many struggle with ineffective marketing strategies that fail to generate consistent leads. Traditional agencies often lack transparency, overcharge for services, and fail to deliver results, leaving attorneys frustrated and unsure how to grow their practice. So, with ever-changing regulations, evolving digital trends, and the rise of AI, how can firms rethink their marketing approach to stay ahead? With experience at large agencies like ReachLocal and Zocdoc, Brian Hansen saw firsthand the common pitfalls of digital marketing. He highlights how law firms often overlook key aspects of client acquisition, such as intake processes and market positioning. Brian also shares a case study of a law firm forced to pivot overnight when regulations banned their primary marketing method, highlighting the importance of diversifying lead generation strategies. Tune in to this episode of the Smart Business Revolution Podcast as John Corcoran interviews Brian Hansen, Founder and President of Rocket Pilots, about the evolving landscape of law firm marketing. They discuss the impact of AI on SEO, how law firms can expand into new markets, and the future of lead generation. Brian also shares insights on the power of specialization, the risks of relying on a single marketing channel, and how law firms can maximize their digital presence.Resources mentioned in this episode:
Special Mention(s)
Quotable Moments:
- “I learned that bigger agencies are grossly underserving small businesses, which motivated me to go out on my own and just do better for people.”
- “Reflecting back on it, I’m super grateful for starting work young; it steered me away from entitlement and taught me the value of money.”
- “There’s always this article every year claiming SEO is dead. At the end of the day, it’s just clickbait.”
- “The most dangerous number in business is one — one lead source, one referral source — because you’re totally dependent on that.”
- “I was terrified and relieved that COVID wasn’t as bad as I thought; fortunately, the field was relatively evergreen.”
Action Steps:
- Diversify lead generation: Avoid relying on a single marketing channel by incorporating SEO, paid ads, and strategic partnerships to ensure consistent client acquisition.
- Improve intake processes: Streamline client intake by implementing efficient follow-up systems and training staff to handle inquiries promptly and professionally.
- Leverage data-driven insights: Regularly analyze marketing performance metrics to identify what strategies are working and adjust campaigns accordingly.
- Optimize local search presence: Position your law firm in strategic locations that align with Google’s search algorithms to increase visibility and attract more clients.
- Stay ahead of industry trends: Continuously educate yourself on evolving digital marketing practices, AI advancements, and regulatory changes to remain competitive.
Sponsor: Rise25
At Rise25, we’re committed to helping you connect with your Dream 100 referral partners, clients, and strategic partners through our done-for-you podcast solution. We’re a professional podcast production agency that makes creating a podcast effortless. Since 2009, our proven system has helped thousands of B2B businesses build strong relationships with referral partners, clients, and audiences without doing the hard work. What do you need to start a podcast? When you use our proven system, all you need is an idea and a voice. We handle the strategy, production, and distribution – you just need to show up and talk. The Rise25 podcasting solution is designed to help you build a profitable podcast. This requires a specific strategy, and we’ve got that down pat. We focus on making sure you have a direct path to ROI, which is the most important component. Plus, our podcast production company takes any heavy lifting of production and distribution off your plate. We make distribution easy We’ll distribute each episode across more than 11 unique channels, including iTunes, Spotify, and Google Podcasts. We’ll also create a copy for each episode and promote your show across social media. Cofounders Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran credit podcasting as being the best thing they have ever done for their businesses. Podcasting connected them with the founders/CEOs of P90x, Atari, Einstein Bagels, Mattel, Rx Bars, YPO, EO, Lending Tree, Freshdesk, and many more. The relationships you form through podcasting run deep. Jeremy and John became business partners through podcasting. They have even gone on family vacations and attended weddings of guests who have been on the podcast. Podcast production has a lot of moving parts and is a big commitment on our end; we only want to work with people who are committed to their business and to cultivating amazing relationships. Are you considering launching a podcast to acquire partnerships, clients, and referrals? Would you like to work with a podcast agency that wants you to win? Contact us now at [email protected] or book a call at rise25.com/bookcall. Rise25 Cofounders, Dr. Jeremy Weisz and John Corcoran, have been podcasting and advising about podcasting since 2008.Our Comprehensive Corporate Gifting Program
Elevate business relationships with customers, partners, staff, and prospects.
At Rise25, thoughtful and consistent gifting is the cornerstone of lasting business relationships. Our corporate gift program is designed to simplify your process by delivering a full-service corporate gifting program — from sourcing and hand selecting the best gifts to expert packaging, custom branding, reliable shipping, and personalized messaging on your branded stationary. Our done-for-you corporate gifting service ensures that your referral partners, prospects, and clients receive personalized touchpoints that enhance your business gifting efforts and provide a refined executive gifting experience. Whether you’re looking to impress key stakeholders or boost client loyalty, our comprehensive approach makes it easy and affordable. Discover how Rise25 corporate gifting program can help you create lasting impressions. Get started today and experience the difference a strategic gifting approach can make. Email us through our contact form. You can learn more and watch a video on how it works here: https://rise25.com/giftprogram/Episode Transcript
John Corcoran: 00:00 All right. Today we’re talking about how to diversify your digital marketing mix and how to ensure that your approach in digital marketing is getting ROI. My guest today is Brian Hansen. I’m going to tell you more about him in a second, so stay tuned. Intro: 00:16 Welcome to the Smart Business Revolution Podcast, where we feature top entrepreneurs, business leaders, and thought leaders and ask them how they built key relationships to get where they are today. Now let’s get started with the show. John Corcoran: 00:33 Alright. Welcome everyone. John Corcoran here. I’m the host of this show, and every week I get the privilege of talking to smart CEOs, founders and entrepreneurs from all kinds of companies. And if you check out the archives, we’ve got Netflix and Grubhub, Redfin, Gusto, Kinko’s, YPO, EO, Activision Blizzard, lots of great episodes for you there. And this episode, of course, brought to you by Rise25, our company where we help B2B businesses to get clients referrals and strategic partnerships with done-for-you podcasts and content marketing. And Brian, I Brian, I know that relationships are important for you as they are for me. One of the best tools I’ve used in my life has been what we’re doing here today, which is just highlighting people that I’m interested, curious about, respect and admire the work that they’re doing. So I’m super excited about diving into your background and your story. So, Brian, you are the founder and president of Rocket Pilots. It’s a boutique digital marketing agency specializing in law firm marketing out of beautiful, sunny San Diego. One of the gems of the United States. And you started your journey in the big agency world learning about digital marketing, and eventually started Rocket Pilots back in 2016. So going on, what, eight, nine years now? Very impressive. And really specializing on on law firms, which is my background. I was a lawyer, although very quickly got out of it, did it for a couple of years and decided that I’d try other things. But let’s start with your childhood. I love to hear about people who are like as a kid, you grew up in San Diego and you had a dad who is pushing you out there, getting you to go start working at a young age. Tell me about it. Brian Hansen: 02:04 Yeah, well, thanks for having me, John. And yeah, I most certainly did. His approach was unique. You know, I was driven down to the local soccer fields where I was introduced to someone and informed that I would now be a referee for small children. So my journey into working and creating work ethic and, and just, you know, being employed started at a young age. Right. And from there it was umpiring baseball and then working in a bagel shop. And I worked all through high school. So yeah, but I’m grateful for that because I think it taught me, you know, the value of money at an early age and probably steered me away from kind of, you know, entitlement. So, yeah. John Corcoran: 02:53 What drove that? Did your dad just want to get you out of the house? Did he have a driving work ethic? What was it? Brian Hansen: 03:02 Yeah, I think so. You know, I was rambunctious, so it might have been underpinned by wanting to get me out of the house a little bit, but that’s okay. Right? But yeah, you know, my dad was the type of person who also started work early and was just very steady in his career, and I think he was just committed to having me and my brother establish a work ethic at a young age, which I think contributes to, you know, setting young people up for success. So reflecting back on it, you know, I’m super grateful for it. John Corcoran: 03:36 And I’m curious, did your parents come from somewhere else and, and make their way to San Diego, which is such a beautiful area? Brian Hansen: 03:44 They did. Absolutely. My mom is an East Coast transplant from Philadelphia and my dad from freezing cold Minnesota. John Corcoran: 03:56 So yeah. yeah, I find that’s the case a lot. My parents live in Los Angeles and, you know, from Massachusetts. My dad was born in New York. And so I find a lot of times when people have clawed to get out of that type of environment, then they pass it down to the next generation. The importance of appreciating how hard they worked in order to get to your little slice of Paradise. Right? Yeah. So you go off and you work in a kind of big agency world for a few years after college. What was that experience like? Brian Hansen: 04:27 Well, it was interesting. You know, I learned a lot quickly in regards to, you know, different marketing mediums and how to service, you know, different verticals. But, you know, it took a while, but finally, I learned that these bigger sized agencies are grossly like undeserving Serving your traditional SMB is your small small businesses out there. So some of what I witnessed and experienced firsthand actually ended up being, you know, kind of the principal motivation to go out on my own and just just do better for people. Right? John Corcoran: 05:14 Yeah, yeah. So they’re like, what, taking advantage of them. They’re not, they’re not getting what they’re paying for, not getting good results. What was it? Brian Hansen: 05:21 You know what? It’s it’s it’s all of the above. And it’s interesting. You could break it up into these different categories. Right. Sometimes, it’s not malice. It’s not nefarious. Right. But it’s just the way things get structured. And it might be that, we’re impounding your media buy. Right. So that $100,000 is going into our escrow account. And, you know, by the way, John, we’re not really going to tell you how much goes to the different platforms and how much goes in our pocket, the. John Corcoran: 05:52 Lack of transparency. Yeah. Brian Hansen: 05:54 Lack of transparency. And then, you know, this, this, this commitment to getting margin up and, you know, hiring entry-level people and things like that. Right. And it’s like, again, like, are these decisions made because, you know, the board sat down and they want to optimize the PNL, or are they client-centric decision-making? And you and I both know which one it is. Right? So yeah, it’s rough out there. John Corcoran: 06:23 Yeah, yeah. And yeah, I think I’m thinking about how much has changed in digital marketing in the time that you have had your agency, like in 2016. If you can put yourself back in that time frame, like what? What was the state of digital marketing then? Brian Hansen: 06:40 Yeah, it’s a wild ride, right? It makes me think of, you know, before like meat, like kind of cutting off organic growth. Right? Because that was so big back then. It was like, you know, everybody was doing social media, like posting. Right? And then it pivoted to, like, paid advertising. Right. So a lot has changed. But, you know, when we talk specifically about certain products like SEO, a lot of those fundamentals have kind of stayed the same. Right. So you hear a lot of different talk online. But you know, at the end of the day, like putting the user that is coming to your website first and making decisions around that. When we talk about, you know, high quality content, link building, things like that, the good user experience, a lot of those principles really have been the same for a long time. John Corcoran: 07:35 Yeah. And so we’re recording this in the beginning of 2025. And I remember when ChatGPT first came out, which was, I think almost two years ago now. Yeah. When that came out, a lot of people were predicting the demise of Google. And, you know, it doesn’t seem like that’s happened yet. They pivoted very quickly. And now when you search things, you get honestly like for, for a little while, it seemed like Google search results were going to be less relevant. But now we get great results from the AI that they’ve inputted. So what are your thoughts on that? And you know, will it get to a point where, you know, Google will be less relevant? Brian Hansen: 08:16 Well, you know it. It makes me think, like every year there’s always this article that comes out right, that SEO is dead. Right. And if you like, Google that and put it in quotations, you’ll literally find like hundreds of articles. And at the end of the day, it’s just clickbait. So do I think open AI is going to kill Google? Of course not. Right. Did they make us all make pivots and adjustments? Of course. Right. Is the AI overview at the top of the Serp and everybody figuring out how they can get their clients content there? Yeah. And when you do that, you know, and you log into Google Analytics four, which is a, you know, an analytics tool to see your web data. You see you see more traffic, you know. So I think they pose a threat. And, you know, in the future it may be used more as a search engine. And we may see ads integrated into their platform. So like. John Corcoran: 09:17 I like ChatGPT and stuff like that. Brian Hansen: 09:19 That. Right. That could be a whole revenue model for them. So, you know, I kind of just look at it like everything else has come out over the years. It’s just that everybody needs to make adjustments. And ChatGPT is a tool for your content, right? It’s probably not a replacement for your content writing team. John Corcoran: 09:43 So yeah. Yeah. And so I mean, who knows where ChatGPT and the other AIS will be at some point in the future, right? We don’t know. As you said, there could be advertisements and things like that. So you just how do you, how do you stay abreast of all this stuff? Brian Hansen: 10:01 Well, I mean, you know, we’ve made a large commitment to our clients. And one reason that we’re hired is due to our deep specialization in our field. So I would say company culture wise, we’re all just committed to, you know, reading, constantly.Pages: 1 2