INSIGHTS + GUIDANCE ON
THOUGHT-LEADERSHIP PR FOR LAW FIRMS
A law firm website should be, or at least it can be, an exciting place for clients to learn new things. It should inspire action toward goals and be the first stop on a prospective client’s buyer’s journey. Done right, a law firm website can be the engine that drives a law firm’s growth.
Unfortunately, few law firms realize these benefits.
Many of us treat legal business development the same way we do bathing suit season - we work hard at it when we need to. When spring break approaches we hit the gym, and when October rolls around we start raiding our kids’ Halloween candy. When we’re slow at work, we ramp up our business development efforts, and tamp things down when business pick up. Legal business development becomes a rollercoaster; a cycle of ups and downs that creates stress and uncertainty.
There’s a better way to approach legal business development, and it involves consistency of effort over the long-term. If you’re consistent with business development as a lawyer, you’ll have a steady pipeline of new business opportunities. You can be more discerning about the work you take on. You won’t feel pressured to take on clients that don’t fit your practice. You won’t have to ignore your gut instinct that an engagement could lead to trouble because you need the revenue. You’ll have more success at the work you do pitch because you’ll come across as confident and measured, rather than desperate.
Sounds good, right? Here’s how to do it.
Lawyers need to be strategic in their approach on LinkedIn. And one of the most important strategic priorities is to create and share content that reaches the right audience. Indeed, the only way to make a really big impact as a lawyer on LinkedIn is to put your best content front and center.
Want to create viral content on LinkedIn that spreads beyond your immediate network and positions you as a thought leader in your space? Yes, of course, but the real question is: How?
In this post I dive deep into the issues of: (1) how to create compelling content, (2) how the LinkedIn algorithm works, and (3) in light of the way content spreads on LinkedIn, how lawyers can craft a smart content strategy to make their thought leadership reach a big audience.
According to the 2016 ABA Legal Technology Survey report, more than 93% of lawyers surveyed now use LinkedIn, with large firm attorneys using it the most. There’s a good reason for this—LinkedIn has almost 600 million members and is easily the most “target rich” social media platform for a lawyer with a business-oriented practice. LinkedIn is a professional network, which means that people are spending time there for the purpose of doing business. There is no doubt that LinkedIn is the best place online for lawyers looking to grow their networks and their practices.
The problem, however, is that too many lawyers use LinkedIn as a place to connect and scroll through other people’s posts, rather than as a tool to aid in business development. LinkedIn has everything a lawyer might need to establish relationships that lead to new business. It’s just a matter of leveraging the tools to best effect.
When we start working on a law firm website project, we ask our clients: “What do you want your website to accomplish?” One of the most common answers we hear, often delivered with an irresolute shrug of the shoulders, is: “We really just need an online brochure.”
We hate hearing this term—“online brochure”—because it sets such a low bar for what should be a law firm’s strongest marketing asset. A law firm website should look great and function flawlessly, sure. That’s table stakes. But done right, it can be the fuel powering a marketing engine that tells a compelling story, attracts ideal clients, generate leads, and turn leads into new business. Best of all, by incorporating the right mix of marketing automation technology, it can work for your while you’re busy working for your clients.
Sounds good, right? But I know what you’re thinking: “We don’t have the time or the money to invest in a new website.”
Ever wonder why some writers get all the attention online? Their posts get shared, their personal brands grow, their email lists swell, and their fortunes rise as their content receives an outsized share of eyeballs.
It’s easy to dismiss their success as luck, by concluding that it resulted from a post going viral (as if hitting “Publish” is the same as pulling the lever on a slot machine), or connections with influencers that others don’t have. Meanwhile, we keep publishing but never gain traction. We preach to the choir of a stagnant email list and collect a few random likes and shares on LinkedIn. As our progress stalls so does our output. Before long, we conclude this “content thing” isn’t worth the time and we go back to billing hours and researching the next marketing trend to chase.
Think about the last time there was a serious problem that needed to be fixed at your home – the furnace went out on a cold day or a pipe burst and water was running down your walls. Now imagine if, during this moment of panic, a highly qualified and dependable repair person contacted you out of the blue and said they could be at your front door within 15 minutes to fix the problem. Would you be offended by this sales pitch, or would you be grateful for the offer? My guess is that you – like me – would immediately give the guy your address, and greet him with a hug and an open checkbook when he arrived.
“Selling” has become a dirty word. It connotes sleaze and pushiness, and there’s no doubt that some salespeople are sleazy and pushy. But in most cases, it’s not that salespeople do anything underhanded or aggressive that turns us off, it’s just that they hit us up with something we don’t need or at a time we don’t need it. This is true whether you’re a used car salesman, an Apple store “Genius” or a corporate litigator.
If I could wave a magic wand and change one thing about the way that most lawyers go about personal branding and business development, it would be changing the way they think about narrowing the focus of their practices. Too many lawyers equate pursuing a niche legal practice with putting a cap on their potential. They fail to appreciate that getting narrow is, in fact, the path to building a big book of business.
I get it. The idea that pursuing a more narrow market leads to bigger opportunities seems contradictory. It’s far easier to wrap your mind around the idea that casting a wider net is the way to generate more business. The problem is that the more widely you cast your net, the more generic your message must become. You become generally relevant to many, but intensely relevant to almost no one. You can’t try to be all things to all people and expect to make an impact.
Having a niche, on the other hand, allows you to communicate your value proposition to a distinct and highly targeted market. Your message can be more relevant and contextualized to your audience, and penetrate the conversation going on in the industry you’re focused on. You can become an insider who’s trusted, not an outsider who’s viewed with a skeptical eye. Of the two alternatives, what approach do you think is more conducive to business development?
Still skeptical? Just think about your own consumer behavior. When you’re searching for a product or service provider, are you looking for something or someone that can do many things fairy well, or something or someone that does one thing – the very thing you’re seeking – extraordinarily well?
Is Your Law Firm Website Getting “Reads” or is it Getting Leads? Many law firms resign themselves to the idea that a website is only an online brochure–a place for visitors to view practice area descriptions and professional biographies.
We hate hearing the term "online brochure.” It sets such a low bar for what should be your strongest marketing asset. A law firm website should look great and function flawlessly–that's table stakes.
But done right, it can be the fuel powering a marketing machine that tells a compelling story, attracts your ideal clients, generates leads, and turns leads into new business. Best of all, by incorporating the right mix of marketing automation technology, it can work for you while you’re busy working for your clients.
Too many law firms are realizing few, if any, of these benefits.
2018 is shaping up to be an exciting year. During the first quarter I will be launching an online course that teaches lawyers how to build powerful personal brands and profitable books of business, and I’ll be releasing my new book, which is geared toward helping young associates get off to a fast start in their careers. My agency is also transforming into one that exclusively helps law firms to simplify and clarify their marketing messages in order to communicate with clients more effectively. I’ll be sharing more about all of these initiatives in the weeks to come.
Needless to say, things are busy around here. Therefore, instead of new blog content this week (which will return next week), I’ve compiled a list of some of my favorite and most popular posts from last year, written both here and on Attorney at Work. Enjoy, and I look forward to an exciting year of content, conversation, and personal growth ahead!
