Chris Dreyer:
Welcome to Gold Medal Moments on Personal Injury Mastermind. This special miniseries highlights my favorite lessons from the trailblazers and thought leaders who will speak live at the inaugural PIMCon,the Personal Injury Mastermind Conference. Trust me, you don’t want to miss them. Join me September 15th through 17th in Scottsdale. I’m your host, Chris Dreyer. Over the next two weeks, I’ll be sharing can’t-miss insights and bite-sized pieces to help get your firm from good to GOAT.
Few have mastered the art of branding quite like Amanda Demanda. Her journey from Big Tobacco marketing to community-focused law has taught her an important lesson, working backward from your target audience. Her unique selling position for USP is tailored to connect with her target audience. Spanish ads, pink branding, and the high heels won’t attract every client, and that’s good. She’s focused on serving the Hispanic community and women in Miami.
Every move from her daily Spanish language show to her community service initiatives is calculated to serve and engage her target market, and it works. In four years, her firm has grown to 25 employees, over1,000 cases won and over 500,000,000 recovered for her clients. Get ahead ofthe competition with highlights from the GOAT of unique selling propositions,Amanda Demanda. To hear Amanda live at PEMCON, secure your spot at PEMCON.org.Use code PIMAMANDA for $200 off your ticket. Let the Gold Medal Moments begin.
Amanda Demanda:
I wasn’t one of those people that actually dreamt that I was going to be an attorney because I didn’t have any attorneys in my family. I’m first generation in Miami, so I kind of always knew that I’d like to represent my community and be very involved in community service. And I thrive around people. Because everyone’s like, “Well, when I grow up, I want to be a doctor. I want to be an astronaut.” I really didn’t know. I love art,I love fashion. I’m very good at marketing. I did marketing before I was an attorney. So all those different careers or past things I took up, I think what was the perfect recipe for me to decide to be where I need to be. So I can’t say it really came from any specific place, but it’s definitely my life’s work.It’s all kind of rolled into this what I… I mean, I love what I do. I love mylife. I love the struggles that even come with owning a business and a lawfirm. I just enjoy it all.
Chris Dreyer:
That’s incredible, and it shows. It definitely shows and I love your content, your Instagram, your YouTube videos. And in terms of where the people are at, so me and my wife were like, “Hey, we need to get out of the bad weather in Illinois.” So we went and stayed in Coral Gables in Miami from January to February, and it's definitely chaos. It went from slow, no traffic to, “Oh, this is where people are at.”
Amanda Demanda:
I know. It’s so crazy when… So a lot of people say,”I hate Miami.” I’m like, “Well, then leave. It’s not for you,it’s not for you. Go somewhere else.” I remember going to law school up in Gainesville, Florida, University of Florida, and I lived relatively close to the law school. I would get in the car, and by the time I got to my apartment, I think there was only one traffic light, and it would be green sometimes, and I was kind of upset that I didn’t even hit the red light because I couldn’t even hear one song on the radio. I couldn’t decompress. I’m used to decompressing from traffic, and I was just like, “Okay, I’m home. Now I must go to the gym right away.” I had no time to… So I use it to cope. I mean, I love being around people. I really thrive around people. I know that about myself, so I put myself in those situations and it’s comfortable for me. That’s not for everybody, I understand that.
Chris Dreyer:
Tell me a little bit about your professional life in marketing before you became an attorney. You said you had that background. Did that help you with building the brand? And you’ve got an amazing brand, very distinctive. Tell me about that experience.
Amanda Demanda:
Totally. I mean, I graduate University of Miami in three years, type A personality, did it quick, going to go work. And I thought I was going to go to law school, but again, I didn’t know any attorneys, so I genuinely did not know oddly and weirdly enough how attorneys made money. So it was like a foreign concept to me to jump into that because my family worked in labor and schools, and it was just very day-to-day jobs. So I was like,”I’m going to go get marketing work.” And I started working in different places, but the one where I gained a lot of experience was working for Big Tobacco and just doing trade shows in Las Vegas. Everything it took from the packaging of the cigarettes to the photo shoot behind the campaigns, to understanding the target market of who smokes what. Like the menthol cigarettes, if you’re competing with Kool, that’s in the urban market as opposed to the old school…The red brands and things like that are more for the older generation or the farmers.
I mean, it’s a crazy industry, believe it or not, that I was in, but I also did a lot. I worked for a direct sales company that does women’s products, oil products, and shampoos, and things like that way before, and I got to understand how direct sales works, which is kind of like the Avon and the Mary Kay. It’s not direct to consumer, it’s through your sales force.And then in the tobacco industry, it was more related to business to business. You’re selling directly to huge distributors. So the trade shows that were built would be for a guy who owns 200 7-11s, a chain or something like that, in the whole southeast, and would he carry your cigarette, and what shelf is he going to put it at, and how much he’s going to buy, and all that stuff.
But we were very involved from the ad agency to the creative to the actual finance that’s involved in marketing. So I got a big idea of that and the budgets for marketing and tobacco are insane, but you’re also very limited in what you could say or do. So it was very interesting to have that background because I said, “My God, if I can brand or market such a controlled substance or product, I can market anything.” So having to do advertising for an attorney brand, which is very limited by the state bars, comes very easily to me.
You actually get away with a lot more than tobacco does. I also worked for Assisted Living, it’s a big company down here. And they were the top luxury, very thorough with their services. So I kind of worked in marketing to consumer products, business to business, and then direct to consumer and services, where there’s more of a level of compassion and understanding the person element from it, not just getting the factory to put out something on the shelf. So all that background I’ve taken and kind of merged it into what my brand is and make sure that we treat every avenue of what we do with some regard to the concepts learned there. So it really all just lives in my head now, but that’s kind of the background in marketing.
Chris Dreyer:
Basically, that short clip was like a masterclass in planning. You talked about demographics and psychographics and your messaging and creative. I think so many attorneys, so many law firm owners, they go and they’re like, “Oh, I’m going to do TV,” or “I’m going to do social media,” and it’s like the creative’s an afterthought. They start with the channel first. Your marketing is very distinctive, but the first thing I wanted to lean into is you said the word community, you’ve said it, I think, at least several times so far. Is that one of the reasons that kind of drew you to have a heavy presence on social media? Because unlike TV, you can actually build a community on social media.
Amanda Demanda:
Absolutely. I think that we are living in a time when it’s so easy to really get to your community without having to maybe physically be there, even though my… That’s one of our core values, commitment to community. Because even in high school, I got scholarships for doing the most community service hours. I thrive being around people, and I don’t mind doing the work. I find it fun. So even though we do a lot of the community service in actual person, like now at the end of July, we’re doing this massive backpack giveaway, and we give all these foster kids backpacks, $100 to Old Navy, $100 to the grocery. So they start school with everything they need, and we do this along with a foster charity, which is great, and you’ll see more of that stuff on my content.
But reaching your community in a way that they could just get to know you personally, I tell everybody in my generation, “If you’re not on social media, then you don’t exist anymore.” It’s not about,”My business is a little behind on that.” No, your business does not exist because what happens is that social media, even though I may not have the most followers or most views or most likes, that’s irrelevant. I don’t need them to follow me. If they see my commercial, if they hear about me, if someone recommends them, they go and find me and they say, “Yeah, she’s real.” It’s just validation. You don’t have to get so hyper-focused on, ”Was the content the best? Did it get the most views?” Just have a presence. It’s literally a business card on every platform you can have it. I think it’s short-sighted to not have that. And we can have different brands.
Some people could be like, “I’m more professional. I don’t do the cheeky stuff. I don’t do a TikTok dance.” That’s fine. That could be your personality and your brand. Our brands have a personality. I always say I created Amanda Demanda and her persona, and I work for her. So I can have an off day when it comes to that brand. I think that social media is paramount to really accelerating yourself with your community because they also… Just like when you’re in front of a jury that they’re expecting technology, it’s like they see it everywhere. Even my grandma’s going through Facebook. If you don’t have technology or you’re not on the social media, to them, it’s going to be almost like you’re lazy about it. You didn’t have time to really just set up a page and show me your picture or tell me who you are. Even when we do a website, you guys do a great job at it. It all ties in together. We’re just in a world of technology and the internet.
Chris Dreyer:
We’re more interconnected, right? It’s through the mobile device, and there is a community, and it’s different, though. I would say if you were speaking to maybe the old guard, the old guard that got in 20 years ago, when TV was so concentrated, there wasn’t streaming, and that style of commercial. Not to say you can’t have fun and introduce a new element on TV, but there’s that style and then there’s the style personalization, the hooks on social media and the trends and things like that. What would you tell the old guard? Do they need to try to do it themselves and just be authentic? Or do they get the marketing team? Do they hire marketing specialists to come in and do it for them?
Amanda Demanda:
You kind of mentioned it before. You can’t just say,”I’m going to buy 20 ad spots on TV tomorrow.” And what are youputting on there? Who are you? You have to start with brand, and I think there’s still very much a space for that boring old guy who’s just a trial…Because the same way when you’re in trial, and you’re presenting a case, I could see an opening statement by someone, I’m like, “Wow, I got to do that.” But then I go say it and it’s not genuine. It’s not my story. I don’t have the southern twang. I can’t do what that guy did. I have to connect to the jury in my own way. So I would first self-analyze who you are personality-wise, brand-wise, and what do you want to convey? And who’s your target? Because to me, it all starts with your target audience and then you work backwards.
If I wanted to target the Hispanic market and the women,it’s okay that I want to speak in Spanish most of the time in my advertising. It’s not a waste of money because I know who I’m targeting. And it’s okay I use pink, and it’s okay that I dress a certain way, so that’s fine with my target audience. I just think it takes a lot more of a study than people think.
And if you’re just going to spend ad dollars and not do that exercise, you’re just throwing away money and you’re going to become frustrated with the process because you may need an expert that does the more clippy type editing for social, or you may need someone who just comes with the nice good lights and cameras and does those serious videos about a wrongful death case.
It goes on your website, but also goes on your social.What’s your brand? It really comes down to you understanding your brand first. We have a very clear branding guide, the colors we use, the fonts we use, the phrases we use, how we can use the logos, what modulations, whatnot. And anybody we work with in creative, which I’m very involved in, has to live by those guidelines because we have to retarget our audience. It used to be the rule of seven. Now I don’t even know how many times before they even remember you are a brand or a thing.
Chris Dreyer:
One of the things that people undervalue is the frequency.It’s not just the distribution, it’s how frequent on a particular channel. How do you know that it resonates? Do you do focus groups? Are you split testing? How do you know if your brand and your style guide and your messaging is resonating with your target persona, your target audience that you’re trying to reach? How do you know? How do you determine if it’s working or not?
Amanda Demanda:
Well, I think sometimes focus groups, like paid focus groups can be a little bit overwhelming and expensive, the real formal ones. And we do a lot of… We brainstorm it with a big team and then everyone kind of goes out with our commercial storyboards and things of that nature to our own communities, be it our church or… My family’s sick and tired of being like,”Okay, everyone sit down. I have to get feedback.” And I’m talking about my family’s 25 first cousins and then Tia and Tia abuela, and we’re all in the Keys where we all go on the weekends or wherever. And I’m like, ”Everyone listen to this commercial.” And I get feedback. That’s a focus group, and that’s my target audience. I also feel that social media, sponsored ads on social media are a really easy and cheap way to focus group ifan ad’s going to work or not. You could see if it falls flat or not, if it resonated.
So I mean, I think there’s cheap ways to do it, but you could just start with your own community. I mean, we do that as attorneys when we mock try something in our office or with friends of ours. You could just do it with, “Hey, I have this idea,” with people in your church or at your grocery store, whatever, without having to do such a formal focus group. But there are things that require being a good focus group. I’ve just tended to do it more of the grassroots way. I try to find creative ways to save every buck I can, and I produce my commercials, I do my storyboard. I’m very graphicinclined, so I could do my scripts. I know what I want to say. Some peopledon’t have that.
Chris Dreyer:
There’s this balance too, right? You’ve got a daily Spanish language show, you’re doing your social clips, you’re managing the firm and being a visionary, right? And I know you mentioned, “Well, I love this. This isn’t a job.” So when you’re going home, you’re still, oh, you see a commercial and you’re like, “Oh, I like that.” Talk to me about the other components of it. So from a just leverage perspective, you got to have people to help execute for you. How do you think about the composition of an internal team on the marketing side, on the operational side? How do you think about building that team?
Amanda Demanda:
I reinvest in myself and I mean the firm a lot. I don’t pinch a penny where we don’t have to. I’ll get the top software. I’ll hire people at competitive salaries because to us, it’s about having the right person in the right chair and that adheres to our core values. If not, you’re just going to continue to have to reinvent the wheel. And I don’t believe in micromanaging. I’m kind of a sink or swim person. That’s kind of how I learn.So I almost… When people fail, it’s okay. They’re doing it on my dime, sometimes you… But if not, then you’re just always going to be holding their hand. So I’ve now finally been able to get some attorneys under me or working with me that I could fully trust, and that really made the difference to free up my time more for all the other stuff I do.
I still practice because it’s just my passion. I like a good fight with an opposing counsel and discovery and things of that nature or taking a deposition. It’s such a creative process for me because I envision the whole case and the big picture. But when I can’t be on the cases, I’m having those meetings with my attorneys. So just now, we had our attorney power lunch for the week. We have one every week and we brainstorm cases. But all the attorneys I have working right now with me were all my opposing counsel at one point, so they all did defense. So they know how I litigate, they know how much I push or how crazy I am, but I also know that they’re able to tolerate it and can do it. So I think it’s sometimes finding people in the places you would not think, in that regard, is important.
But as far as my team, my admin, my C-suite, so my husband is kind of like the finance and IT and all that other stuff that is kind of necessary to run a firm, and I could just be the visionary. So he’s watching the trust accounts and the money, and he’s more like my home office. And then my sister is my CEO and CFO, really, and she’s a CPA from Deloitte. She was a partner there for 14 years, and I said, “Listen, I’m going too fast. You need to come.” She’s like, “I don’t know. I’m a CPA. That’s my profession.” I said, “It’s okay. This is not a downgrade. This is massive.” And she came, and it’s been three years, and it’s great, but you have to build a team that you can trust and that really aligns with your vision. And I believe my life has a greater purpose than just my law firm, and I want to live a life of significance.
And the way I feel I could do that through this firm is by following the mission of helping people and victims in my community. And it’s just worked out. We focus a lot on the core values and trying to make it a happy place for everyone to work on. And I know it sounds cheesy, but I really have to work at that. For example, this week on Friday, we’re taking the wholelaw firm to a ropes course. Everyone’s going together, like a team-building activity. And sometimes we just like to let everyone just let their hair loose and have fun. And I think that’s very important. Because if anyone ever comes to you and says,”I don’t feel appreciated,” or “I don’t feel this,” and it’s like it’s nothing you did. You put everything out there.
So I mean, I think building a strong team is the most important thing for you to be able to succeed. I always say that my success is really attributed to all the people that surround me, and I’ve known that about myself. I’m a people person. I like to be around people, and I like to uplift those that maybe don’t have a specific vision, but if it’s not for those people, I can lead. People will make you a leader. So I’m grateful to them and they really are what’s building this. And very important. I think build a strong team is very important.
Chris Dreyer:
People are what make you a leader. That’s really powerful.And it’s so true, and I think-
Amanda Demanda:
It’s true. You can’t just call yourself a leader. I’m like, “Who are we leading? Who’s following you?” It’s like everyone’s an influencer as a profession, but I’m like, “Who are you influencing or what’s your influence?” I really want to be an influence on all the people who come to my office for help during hard times. That’s the influence I want to leave. I don’t think people do the exercise to measure that or understand that.
Chris Dreyer:
Florida specifically, you’ve got, I don’t know, in terms of capital, Dan Newlin in Orlando spending a ton of money. He spends over 20,000,000. And you got Morgan, and you got Anidjar & Levine, and just a bunch of firms that are deploying capital. So do you think if you’re talking to another firm in a competitive market, maybe it’s Los Angeles or Chicago, do you think it starts with what you said, working backwards? Like, “Hey, I’m going to reach this audience and then spread out.” Does it start small at first?
Amanda Demanda:
Absolutely. I think you pick a target, the path of least resistance. With that, you build your base because you need to be profitable to reinvest. If you don’t have profits, you can go, and I said, people take all these huge loans and go do this huge advisor, do a campaign with an influencer or a celebrity, and that gets you nowhere. I think it’s very important that you pick your target audience and cater to them specifically. And Morgan & Morgan, that’s not my competition because who hires Amanda Demanda can’t even say Morgan & Morgan. I don’t think about that. I put blinders on. I say,”Kudos to you. Do you.” Morgan & Morgan kicking ass. They have awesome commercials, great ad spends. That’s great. But I do that in my own micro kind of capacity, and it works out because the margins are the same.
Chris Dreyer:
And your creatives are way more distinctive too, I would say, in terms of I’ve seen Gordon McKernan and other individuals standing on the truck, and you got Adler Yale on a truck, and you have the distinctive commercial that I saw with the heels stopping the truck. I’m like, “Oh, that’s so unique and just different.” It immediately stands out and it’s memorable. So I think that goes back to-
Amanda Demanda:
I mean, you study the market and you make it your own. But I study all brands from Kodak to Yamaha, whatever it is, and you just take some things and try to make it your brand. But one important thing is Jim Adler, the hammer in Texas. Well, he’s the hammer. I’m like, “What am I? I’m like the heel. I’m the heel. I’m the girl.” So it makes sense. It’s fun. And you can’t be scared to be fun if my brand is what it is. So that’s the angle we’ve taken and it’s kind of worked out.
Chris Dreyer:
Incredible, incredible. Hey, Amanda, this has been… It’s been such a pleasure speaking to you, and I’m so excited to have you as a speaker at PIMCon. You’re given a talk called The Power Uniqueness. One final question. How can our audience get in touch with you to learn more? Maybe they want to connect and ask questions.
Amanda Demanda:
Well, they can always… My email isAmanda@AmandaDemanda.com. That’s my personal email. I check it, and it’s pretty simple. Also, you can Google me because I should be the only one. Or else you let me know, Chris, because that’s a problem. But I think the efforts you all do are great as well, and we do believe a lot in the grassroots and marketing and the SEO and just doing it slow. You don’t have to have a huge ad spend to make a dent. You really don’t. So I think that’s very important for people to understand and feel like they can compete because the services you have to offer to that community are lacking somewhere.
Chris Dreyer:
That wraps up this Gold Medal Moment featuring the GOAT of unique selling positions, Amanda Demanda. Visit PIMCon.org to go from good to GOAT and join Amanda and me in Scottsdale, September 15th through 17th, just 12days away. Tickets are limited, so secure your all-access pass today. Just head to PIMCon.org, that’s P-I-M-C-O-N.O-R-G. I’m Chris Dreyer. Thanks for listening to these Gold Medal Moments, and I hope to see you in the winner’s circle at PIMCon. For $200 off use code PIMAMANDA, P-I-M-A-M-A-N-D-A.
