Legal marketing agency executive Jay Harrington recently said, “You don’t need to be on more than one social media platform, nor do you have to do all forms of marketing”. He says, “the more you diversify your approach to marketing, the less effective your marketing may be.”
I agree.
The reason? Focus. You can’t be good at everything and it’s better to be good at one thing than so-so at a lot of things.
The other reason? Time. Many attorneys spend no more a few minutes a day on marketing. Trying to conquer more than one platform or marketing strategy means spreading themselves too thin.
Think of it this way: it’s better to have a good conversation with one person you’d like to know than to broadcast a message to thousands, most of whom aren’t listening.
Even if you have a lot of help and/or a big marketing budget, you should should still concentrate on one or two things, not everything.
Choose one social media platform. Study it and the people who are good at it, learn all you can about it, and then work that platform.
Show up there every day. Add quality content. Engage with key people in your niche. Get your name known, build your list, and use that to build your practice.
It’s far more effective for you to invest a few minutes a day on one platform than to use staff or automation to post links and comments across many.
The same is true for any kind of marketing.
Don’t diversify. Focus. Get good at blogging or advertising, speaking or writing articles, referrals or SEO, social media or podcasting.
One thing, not everything.
You can diversify later, if you want to, but if you focus and get good enough at one thing, you might not have to.
Harrington says the starting point is to ask, “Where is my audience?” Where do they hang out, what do they read, how do they spend their time?
Go where they are, get to know them, and let them get to know you.
Effective marketing starts with a plan. Here’s how to create yours.
