Grant Griffiths, at Home Office Lawyer, wrote about his disappointment with a recent ABA Journal article, 50 Ways To Market Your Practice: Top tips from successful solos and small-firm practitioners, because the list doesn’t include blogging or, indeed, much of anything about marketing legal services online.
I agree. It is a glaring omission.
Many of the tips came from the ABA’s Solosez discussion group, comprised of more than 2000 solos and small-firm lawyers, and you would think that lawyers in that demo would be more progressive. But this is THE ABA we’re talking about and we really shouldn’t expect them–or their readers–to be on the leading edge of thought regarding the business of law, any more than we should expect this of law schools.
I suspect that many of their readers know about blogging but don’t do it, and that’s why they didn’t offer it as a "marketing tip". Let’s face it, most attorneys from all demographics still don’t have a web site, let alone a blog. Attorneys are risk-adverse and most aren’t early adoptors (I still consider November, 2007 to be early in the blogging game). Congratulations to those of you who have been at this for awhile–you can be proud of your leadership.
As more attorneys consider blogging, I predict that most will come around slowly, at best. Here’s why:
- The don’t see the benefits
- They don’t know how to do it
- They see it as too much work
- They don’t (believe they) have the time
Many lawyers will eventually see the benefits, and monkey-see, monkey-do. (Does anyone remember that expression?) We’ll start to see more attorneys at least talking about blogging.
For those who are challenged by technology, there are ebooks that show how to do it quickly (and free), and other information resources. There’s also software (which is what I used), and firms like this and this who will design and set up a blog for you. We’ll see more resources coming along, so that lack of "know how" will no longer be an excuse "not to".
Those who say it’s too much work are right, of course, assuming they don’t see the benefits or don’t believe they have the time. And then there will be those who say they will set up a blog only if they can delegate the work to someone else, and, of course, that’s not blogging.
The biggest group will be those who see it and want to do it, but don’t think they have the time. Of course if one compares blogging to other marketing activities, i.e., seminars, public speaking or networking, fifteen to thirty minutes a day, a few days a week doesn’t sound like much, and it’s not, especially if you blog not just for the material benefits but because you enjoy it. Nevertheless, a lawyers’ time is precious and I’m going to do my part to demonstrate that with a little thought, you can easily line up more material for your blog than you will ever be able to use. Let’s use the ABA article to demonstrate.
The article presents 50 ways to market a law practice, and while they aren’t all gems, most are good ideas. Marketing is often simple ideas, well executed, and so while these tips might be in the "I already know that" category for some, they will be completely new, for others. And everyone can benefit from knowing not just what to do (the tip) but how to do it (or do it better). That’s where I come in. From this one artcle, I can get enough ideas to write my blog for an entire year.
The first tip is to join your local chamber of commerce. Well, now, I could write a dozen articles on that subject alone! There’s what to look for in a suitable chamber, how to do due diligence before you join, how to meet people, what to say when you introduce yourself, which committees are best to volunteer for, how to start a conversation with people you meet, how to get others interested in you, how to leverage your membership to create other marketing opportunities, and so on. Two, maybe three weeks worth of material from the one tip, and who knows what other ideas that will lead to.
The second tip is to have a unique business card and hand it out frequently. I’ve written on this subject before, and have more advice in my head (and in my marketing course), and, in addition, a quick search on the Internet will bring other ideas, as well as resources I could recommend (e.g., designers, printers).
And so on. Enough ideas for a year or more.
It’s true that a tip is not an article (I have to produce that), but when you are an expert on something (marketing, your practice area), you have a lot more to say than you may realize. What is obvious to you is often brilliant to those who don’t know it.
And blog articles are usually short. They provide a few pointers and/or resources, share a story, or offer an opinion about something in the news or on someone else’s blog. It doesn’t take a lot of time to write a few paragraphs, especially when you are knowledgeable about (and interested in) the subject.
One caution if you’re thinking of starting a blog: it can be addicting. If you’re not careful, you could spend too much time writing and not enough time doing everything else you need to do, like I have done today. Maybe I should reconsider that delegating thing. . .
