Content Marketing

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clients want

If you could hear directly from your clients about what they want and need, wouldn’t you jump at every opportunity to listen? And even better act on it?

With that in mind, I try to attend as many events featuring in-house counsel as I can, even if what they largely say is the same, because I appreciate their insights especially when it comes to what they value most when working with outside counsel. And every year, what they say they need and want most from their outside counsel – transparency, responsiveness, cost-sensitivity, understanding my business, anticipating my needs and providing value-added content and educational add-ons – continue to be a challenge for some firms and their lawyers to consistently hit the mark in all areas.

A law firm’s most precious assets are its clients, which are the source of both today’s business and tomorrow’s referrals. Therefore, you’d think that firms would strive to integrate the voice of their clients into all they do. But not all of them do, or maybe they try but just can’t.

Law firms always need to remember that their clients do not need to work with them. They need to want to work with them. And it is all within the power of law firms (and their lawyers) to achieve true client satisfaction and long-term loyalty by providing the highest-quality legal services, quickly resolving client issues, being a fierce client advocate who anticipates and solves problems and adding consistent value throughout the client lifecycle.

In today’s competitive environment, law firms must adopt a client-centric perspective in everything they do in order to remain competitive. Every single touchpoint matters and will be remembered, and a misstep can be very costly.

Here are some ideas from recent panels featuring the voice of the client that I hope inspire you on how to enhance attorney/client relationships at your firm: 

Amplification

If you build it, they will come. Well, not necessarily. Today with the abundance of content being created and pushed out via so many various channels – email, social, etc., it’s just not enough to create good content, you have to distribute it to the right people at the right time, and through the right channels. And it takes focus, diligence and patience to build a strong following and to have actual ROI (meaning leads, a more recognizable brand, more speaking engagements or writing opportunities – and the holy grail – more clients – or whatever you decide that your ROI is) on your content. Here are steps you can take to ensure that the content that you spend the time to create actually gets read. 

Relationship Building through your own social media

Recently, social media strategist Spencer X. Smith (if you’re not following him you should!) said something on LinkedIn that really resonated with me.

It was about the idea of using your social media platforms and reach to promote the successes of others vs. only posting about yourself (or “me-centric” posts), and he talked about the fact that each of us has the ability to do this  within our own networks to significantly strengthen our professional relationships.

Harnessing the power of your own social media platforms to promote others and build stronger relationships and your brand is actually very easy and incredibly worthwhile.

evergreen

The ultimate goal of content marketing is to drive readers to take action, preferably in the form of hiring you. So it should go without saying that it’s not how often you post content to social that makes a true impact, but rather what you say and how you say it. But it’s not always easy to generate a steady stream of strong content to fill your editorial calendar year-round. That’s where owned media or “evergreen content”​ can save the day. I often call this my “what to say when you have nothing to say”​ strategy. By incorporating evergreen posts, your end result will be a much more sophisticated content strategy with higher engagement.

The ultimate goal of content marketing is to drive readers to take action, preferably in the form of contacting and retaining you and your firm. So it should go without saying that it’s not how often you post content to social media that makes a true impact, but rather what you say and how you say it. The quality not the quantity of your posts should always be your primary focus.

But it’s not always easy to generate a steady stream of strong content to fill your editorial calendar year-round, especially when you work at small- or mid-sized firm, where it can be a challenge to regularly achieve top-tier media placements.

That’s where owned media or “evergreen content” can save the day. I often call this my “what to say when you have nothing to say” content strategy, because it really is just that. Don’t mistake this for spam or posts about nothing – because they aren’t as you will see – in fact, by incorporating evergreen posts into social media, your end result will be a much more sophisticated content marketing strategy with higher engagement. Here’s how to do it. 

content marketing

While many firms are content producing powerhouses, pushing out alerts, social media posts and other information daily via the many distribution channels with which they engage their target audiences, they often fail to take the time to think about the how, what, when, where and why of the content they are creating and disseminating and how it will help/benefit their clients and other influential readers.

For example, do you ever feel as if you are a content machine who is just going through the content motions, following orders of those around you, because “that’s the way they’ve always done it,” or because you don’t want to question a partner or someone more senior to you?

If so, take a moment to give yourself a “content timeout” so you can really think about why you are doing what you are doing. If it doesn’t make sense with your brand and business development goals, immediately change your course. Taking the time to ensure that your content marketing strategy and your BD strategy are aligned will enable you to create more focused, strategic content that will better engage and resonate with your target audiences (more on this below).

Remember that the goal of content marketing is not just about populating your social media feeds with a steady stream of content. Rather, the goal is to use content as a differentiator and a tool to help position you and your firm as a thought leader, which will help to keep you top of mind with key individuals. Here are a few things you can do right away to take your content strategy to the next level to help you achieve these goals.

Always a bridesmaid and never a bride no more! After several years of speaking at the Legal Marketing Association Annual Conference’s pre-conference programs, I am excited to report that for the first time, I will be speaking at the main conference! Please stick around for day two of #LMA19 in Atlanta when my fellow Legal Marketing Association’s Social and Digital Media Special Interest Group co-chair Jennifer Simpson Carr and I will present a deep-dive workshop on “Beyond Branding: Aligning Social Media Strategy with Business Development Goals” at 1:30pm on Wednesday, April 10!

In the program (for marketers of all levels and firm sizes), we will explore how social media has developed into a powerful tool that often leads to new business and enhanced client relationships. Attendees will learn how to effectively use social media for lead generation through practical, innovative, actionable and budget-friendly strategies and tactics. Learn more about our session and how to register.

jay_harrington2
This is my friend Jay Harrington - you should follow him!

My friend Jay Harrington often speaks my language on social media and content marketing topics – but especially in his recent post on how lawyers can use LinkedIn to harness business development success. If you aren’t yet following him, you should! And if you like this topic, join me and Jennifer Simpson Carr at the LMA Annual Conference where we will be presenting a deep-dive workshop on this very topic on day two of the LMA Annual Conference on Wednesday, April 10 at 1:30pm at our program on “Beyond Branding: Aligning Social Media Strategy with Business Development Goals” – we promise two hours of interactive, useful takeaways for marketers of all levels and firm sizes.

There are countless articles on best practices and tips for what to do on LinkedIn (including quite a few by yours truly), but I wanted to focus on what not to do on the platform because I see so many LinkedIn users – who are often very successful business professionals – make the same mistakes over and over again. I thought I would jot down a quick list of what not to do on LinkedIn in the hopes that it would prevent future gaffes on the platform. So many people set up LinkedIn profiles but don’t really know what to do with them. In some ways, I think it’s more important to know what not to do on LinkedIn. It’s never too soon or late to start learning how to use LinkedIn to build your professional brand!

I hope that you did great things on the marketing and business development fronts in 2018. With the new year here, we get a great new opportunity to start fresh and add new strategies and tactics to our marketing mix. My new JD Supra article “16 Easy Ways to Enhance Your Business Development, Social Media and Branding Efforts in 2019” provides actionable ideas in the business development, social media and branding areas to incorporate in your marketing and lead generation efforts in 2019 regardless of your firm size or budget.

The tips include: getting to know your clients better, setting achievable business development goals for yourself, creating a target list, incorporating evergreen content into your social media strategy, refreshing your biography several times per year, providing personalized, value-added content to clients and contacts,  being more active on the conference circuit, getting to know your clients better, becoming a smarter networker, developing a smart and inexpensive visual content strategy, becoming a LinkedIn master and more! 

Stefanie 12 days of social image

I was recently asked to provide my top social media tips and priorities for the year as part of the Legal Marketing Association’s 12 Days of Social Media content series (hint: think visually, align social media efforts with business development and lead generation efforts, think about show versus tell in every post you create, promote your firm’s good works using social media to engage with clients, and utilize the power of evergreen content to bolster your editorial calendar).