My guess is that many of you have more free time now due to the pandemic, which had slowed down deal flow and litigation activity.

Plus working from home eliminates

I’ve been working with several of my clients to craft communications to send to their clients now that some states have allowed law firms to reopen their offices.

Businesses of all types have a responsibility to explain new health and safety protocols that are in place to prevent the further spread of COVID-19.

Getting client communications right is critical to the success of your business in a post-pandemic world, as clients and potential clients are looking for businesses that make them feel safe and secure.

Effective, consistent communications during a crisis will help you maintain client trust, restore employee morale and confidence, and retain market stability. For both B2B and B2C businesses, consistent messaging across all channels is key. All messages should be timely, relevant, empathetic and considerate of your clients’ current needs and concerns.

Each state has different policies on what is allowed in their jurisdiction, so be sure to check  your state’s guidelines (here’s information on NYC’s guidelines) and work with your office administrator and firm leadership to be sure that you are operating within what is permissible and of course, always put the health and safety of your employees first.

The below communication may be a helpful framework for you as you are thinking about how to communicate your reopening to your clients. Please adapt it for your audience.

Remember that it is still not business as usual by any stretch of the imagination – and no client expects you to be reopening. COVID-19 is still very much a threat to all of us. You may want to rethink how you’ve been conducting business in the first place – perhaps you can conduct more business remotely and only require employees to go into the office for essential functions. This is a great time for law firms to be innovators – your clients will certainly appreciate that.

Stay safe.

We are in uncharted waters right now with the outbreak of COVID-19. Law firms and other businesses are trying to function in a volatile and rapidly changing environment, including adapting to its employees working remotely for the first time. Most of our contact both professionally and personally will be done online for the foreseeable future. So how do you market your company and yourself during this uncertain time? The answer is online.

As so many of us have been forced to isolate and much of the world is on a temporary shutdown, we will be depending on social media more than ever to connect with others, and using online resources to conduct business and network.

Pandemic or not, LinkedIn is the most important social media channel for professionals in any field. While we need to be physically apart at this time, we should not be social media distancing. In fact, we should be leaning into social media and using it to enhance our relationships both personally and professionally. It’s exactly the social glue we need right now.

Content marketing and sharing content via email and social media has never been a more important way to communicate with clients, colleagues, referral sources, recruits and alumni while we are unable to see each other in person. Your goal should be to build stronger relationships and help others through value-added content during this stressful time.

While you should be completely sensitive to current market conditions and create content relevant to what’s happening in the world right now (such as creating coronavirus-related thought leadership and webinars), this is not the time to disappear from your clients — or to suspend your marketing activities. In fact, this is the time to lean in and position yourself as a leader and authority in your respective area of the law.

There are so many things you can do right now to help guide your clients through the coronavirus outbreak using social media and content. Here are some ideas.

With so much content being produced right now, it’s important to keep in mind some best practices to ensure your content cuts through the noise and reaches your target audience. Here are a few tips you can implement today that will have a lasting impact on your content efforts.