Seth
Winterer,
CEO,
Digital
Logic
Seth
Winterer
was
chugging
along
as
a
top
performer
at
a
large
marketing
firm
when
he
decided
there
had
to
be
a
better
way.
He
realized
the
price
of
growth
is
often
paid
by
the
clients,
so
he
founded
Digital
Logic
in
Shreveport,
Louisiana,
a
digital
marketing
firm
less
concerned
with
scaling
up
and
more
concerned
with
bringing
its
proven
methodology
to
smaller
law
firms
in
the
most
integrated
way
possible.
As
shown
by
numerous
case
studies,
Digital
Logic’s
approach
gets
results.
For
example,
WeedenLaw,
a
two-attorney
criminal
defense
firm
in
Denver,
increased
its
organic
website
traffic
by
400
percent
after
becoming
a
client.
Above
the
Law
recently
chatted
with
Winterer,
Digital
Logic’s
CEO,
about
his
vision
for
the
ideal
marketing
firm.
ATL:
Tell
us
about
your
background.
SW:
In
2004,
I
became
one
of
the
early
employees
of
an
online
marketing
company
that
grew
to
about
2,500
people.
In
2010,
we
went
public
on
the
Nasdaq.
The
company
is
still
going
today.
When
the
company
was
smaller,
I
could
make
more
of
a
difference
for
my
clients
and
get
things
done
fast.
We
had
a
great
ride,
but
I
decided
to
shift
gears.
I
left
because
there
were
so
many
situations
where
a
client
had
specific
needs
and
I
felt
the
company
had
lost
its
ability
to
truly
customize
its
services.
Everything
would
have
to
go
through
a
lengthy
approval
process.
With
more
and
more
silos
within
the
different
divisions
of
the
company,
the
process
got
longer
and
longer.
I
always
told
myself
that
if
I
wasn’t
having
fun
anymore,
and
not
delivering
the
level
of
performance
needed
for
my
clients,
I
would
do
something
else.
It
was
also
a
new
chapter
in
my
life,
my
first
son
had
just
been
born
and
I
wanted
to
be
there
when
he
started
walking.
It
meant
a
lot
to
me
to
have
that
time
with
my
son.
When
the
time
came,
I
looked
at
some
corporate
job
offers.
They
involved
traveling
a
lot
and
required
always
hitting
your
numbers.
I
said,
“I’ve
done
this
work
for
12
years.
It’d
be
just
as
easy
to
do
it
myself
and
take
whatever
approach
that
I
want
to
take
that
would
serve
the
best
interest
of
my
clients.”
I
wanted
to
take
what
I’ve
learned
about
marketing
success
and
client
service
models
to
create
something
new
that
would
be
successful
and
grow,
without
sacrificing
ethics
or
clients’
best
interests.
ATL:
Did
the
business
climate
lead
you
to
believe
you
had
a
good
chance
of
success?
SW:
Well,
I
was
the
top
performer
at
the
last
company
by
far,
for
a
long
time.
Not
just
in
sales
but
in
both
client
and
team-member
retention.
I
didn’t
consider
it
a
bet
or
a
risky
move
for
me
to
start
my
own
company,
where
I’d
be
doing
a
lot
of
the
same
things
that
I’d
done
before.
ATL:
What
was
your
central
vision
for
Digital
Logic
at
its
outset?
SW:
I
like
creating
jobs
in
our
local
economy
because
it’s
a
positive
impact
on
the
local
community.
We
do
not
outsource
our
work.
We
only
have
14
people
at
our
company,
but
everybody
works
in
the
office.
We
focus
our
hiring
on
people
who
are
eager
to
learn
and
love
to
win.
Our
proven
methodology
gives
us
an
edge,
but
our
people
give
us
an
advantage.
My
vision
was
to
help
law
firms
grow
and
expose
them
to
what’s
possible
with
content
marketing,
SEO,
and
paid
online
advertising.
ATL:
Having
worked
at
both
large
and
small
marketing
companies,
what
do
you
see
as
the
key
differences?
SW:
I
think
anytime
you’re
working
with
a
company
that
has
tens
of
millions
of
dollars
in
funding,
it’s
easier
to
hire
faster
and
scale
up
at
a
rapid
pace.
The
challenge
with
that
growth
is
that
silos
form
within
the
company,
which
separate
the
company
from
the
client
and
create
a
machine.
This
can
limit
your
relationships
with
clients
and
limit
you
from
becoming
as
connected
to
your
clients’
businesses
as
you
can
with
a
smaller
company.
The
challenge
with
bootstrapping
a
new
company
is
that
you
need
to
see
far
enough
ahead
and
become
even
more
creative
with
your
marketing.
That
was
a
big
challenge
for
us,
but
it
forced
us
to
focus
on
business
outcomes
for
our
clients
vs.
task
completion.
ATL:
From
the
small
law
firm
and
the
solo-practitioner
perspective,
what
do
you
see
as
the
relative
advantage
of
each
model,
big
marketing
versus
small-firm
marketing?
SW:
Just
like
in
law,
people
constantly
evaluate
whether
they
should
choose
a
big
firm
or
a
small
firm
and,
of
course,
there
are
advantages
to
both.
For
now,
we’ve
chosen
to
operate
as
a
small
marketing
firm,
but
with
outcomes
people
often
assume
only
a
large
marketing
firm
can
achieve.
In
reality,
the
opposite
is
true.
A
smaller
marketing
company
brings
more
of
a
grow-together
model.
If
Digital
Logic
gets
an
opportunity
to
work
on
a
certain
type
of
case,
we
can
move
fast
to
create
tailored
content.
We’re
skilled
enough
to
take
immediate
action
and
we’re
nimble
because
we’re
small.
We
can
change
on
a
dime
when
we
need
to.
Which
happens
all
the
time
with
smaller
law
firms.
We
have
clients
who
do
MDL
cases,
so,
if
a
new
class
comes
up,
we
can
deploy
campaigns
within
24
hours
versus
having
to
schedule
it
for
the
next
month.
We
can
talk
to
the
client
and
say
to
our
people,
“Hey,
we
need
to
do
X,
Y,
and
Z
for
this
client.
Drop
what
you’re
doing
and
let’s
get
this
live
tomorrow.”
ATL:
Do
most
of
your
clients
hire
you
for
discrete
projects
or
are
you
more
a
full-service
marketing
company?
SW:
Definitely
full
service.
Usually,
we’ll
begin
by
rebuilding
the
client’s
website.
We
prefer
to
build
all
these
in
WordPress.
That
way,
if
we
need
to
make
an
update,
publish
something,
or
change
pages,
anybody
on
our
team
can
use
our
technology
stack
within
WordPress
to
make
sure
the
product
is
consistent
across
the
board.
Our
monthly
marketing
services
are
where
we’re
publishing
content
for
search
engine
optimization
(SEO),
for
online
firm
discovery.
We
also
run
a
lot
of
Google
ads
for
law
firms
and
that
really
gets
the
phone
ringing
for
them
quickly.
ATL:
It
takes
effort
to
craft
a
good
Google
ad.
Is
that
another
component
of
your
service?
To
make
sure
the
ads
are
designed
in
an
effective
manner?
SW:
Yes.
We
handle
a
lot
of
ads
for
law
firms
on
Google
and
Bing.
A
lot
more
goes
into
it
than
just
writing
an
ad.
It
includes
keyword
selection,
bid
prices,
testing
ads,
testing
landing
pages,
and
campaign
optimization
over
time
once
you
start
gathering
the
data.
Our
clients
have
had
a
lot
of
success
with
running
paid
search
ads
on
Google.
Also,
a
little
over
a
year
ago,
Google
Local
Service
Ads
came
out.
The
model
is
guaranteed
cost
per
qualified
lead
and
that’s
been
a
game-changer
for
our
clients.
It’s
been
incredible
to
see
where
some
of
these
solo
folks
started
compared
to
where
they
are
now.
In
their
first
year,
before
they
worked
with
us,
maybe
they’d
do
$100,000
in
billing.
We’ve
got
a
criminal
attorney
in
a
decent-sized
city.
She
finished
the
year
with
$1.3
million
in
billing
after
we
started
working
with
her.
With
her,
we
can
take
some
of
the
credit,
but
she’s
one
of
the
best
attorneys
I’ve
seen.
ATL:
Would
you
call
your
approach
more
holistic
as
opposed
to
the
task-driven
approach?
SW:
Yes,
it’s
holistic,
but
it’s
also
a
proven
methodology.
I
know
with
certain
big
marketing
companies
they’ll
do
four
blogs
for
law
firms
and
post
a
few
things
on
social
media.
It’s
a
task
list
with
no
strategy
behind
it.
Everything
we
do
is
more
intent-driven
instead
of
task-driven.
The
work
revolves
around
business
outcomes
for
clients
instead
of
putting
up
five
blog
posts
without
having
real
goals.
ATL:
Who
is
your
ideal
client?
What
can
you
do,
specifically,
to
help
them
find
more
success?
SW:
It
depends
on
the
practice
categories
and
what
the
opportunity
looks
like.
We’ve
got
a
couple
of
solo
practitioners
as
well
as
firms
that
run
up
to
25
or
30
people.
Even
with
our
direct
outreach,
our
client
profiles,
we
really
don’t
go
after
those
200-plus-person
law
firms.
We
don’t
pursue
them,
but
if
one
were
to
come
to
us,
we
would
evaluate
the
situation.
With
small
firms,
we
can
make
a
much
bigger
impact
relative
to
their
previous
revenue.
A
recent
study
by
the
Hinge
Research
Institute
shows
what
digital
marketing
can
do.
In
2020,
when
everything
was
shutting
down,
the
firms
that
managed
to
grow
were
the
firms
that
accelerated
their
marketing
efforts.
One
of
them
had
a
marketing
budget
that
was
27
percent
of
revenue,
about
48
percent
more
than
the
non-high-growth
firms.
And
the
majority
of
these
high-growth
firms
focused
their
marketing
budgets
on
doing
law
firm
SEO
and
paid
search
ads.
These
things
work,
and
we
at
Digital
Logic
try
to
over-deliver
for
our
clients.
When
I
first
got
into
this
business
in
2004,
we’d
have
to
convince
clients
that
people
use
Google.
Now
it’s
like,
“Okay,
everybody
uses
Google.
Right?”
If
you
want
to
help
your
law
firm
or
business
grow,
and
the
studies
say
that
successful
firms
spent
27
percent
of
revenue
on
marketing
activities
—
and
the
highest-return
marketing
opportunities
are
SEO
and
paid
search
ads
—
then
you
probably
want
to
put
your
money
there
too.