Don’t take a break from marketing yourself or your organization during the summer – instead ramp it up. The summer is a great time to focus on your business development and branding efforts, especially since many of your competitors may not be.

Most of us still have to work, we are still interested in networking, reading content, attending webinars, listening to podcasts, watching videos and scrolling on LinkedIn. We have more time to learn and invest in our own professional development.

This is THE time to focus on your own personal branding – especially your social media brand and do all those things on your “would like to do” list.

Remember that every single day that you don’t put yourself out there is a day where somebody else who does what you do will.

Maybe they don’t even do it as well as you do, but it doesn’t matter because they are out there and you’re not.

It’s not enough to be great at what you do. You need to use marketing and personal branding to let people know.

Every single day that you don’t decide to build a brand and your business is a day that somebody else will.

Visibility is your responsibility.

Being visible can lead to new business and new opportunities such as media interviews, invites to speak at conferences and write articles and leadership roles.

Here are some ideas:

  • Set up Google Alerts for yourself and your top clients/prospects. Your clients and potential clients are Googling you – know what they see and it gives you reasons to reach out to them.
  • Reevaluate your business development goals for the year and set three achievable ones for the remainder of 2023.
  • Reconnect in person with important clients and referrals.
  • Write a client alert, a blog post, an article or all of these! If writing isn’t your thing, co-author a piece with a colleague. Remember, good content doesn’t need to be long. Most individuals skim articles.
  • Learn how to use LinkedIn for building your brand and business – this means posting consistently and having a content plan.
  • Make a connections plan for LinkedIn to strategically increase your network.
  • Look at the analytics of past blog posts and client alerts. Use this information to strengthen your content strategy. Perhaps write a part 2 or update a piece that did well.
  • Enhance and update your bio and LinkedIn profile and update your representative matters too. If you don’t say you do something people assume you don’t, so make sure you say it and also it helps with your SEO.
  • Become involved with your alumni associations for strategic networking and relationship building.
  • Ensure that all practice area/industry descriptions on your web site are updated and create new ones as needed. Look for niche areas where your competitors aren’t.
  • Update lawyer bios. Just like practice descriptions and representative matter lists, these need to be updated regularly to reflect what you do, for whom you do it and WHY you do it. If your website has bios that all sound the same, consider a bio refresh initiative.
  • Do research to identify a bar association committee, social cause, trade association or pro bono project to get involved in – it’s a great way to give back to the industry and community, and meet new people.
  • Try creating short-form videos like these or a podcast. The summer is a great time to tap into your creative side.

Which of these ideas resonate with you?

Reach out to me if you want help creating a marketing strategy that will actually work!