Welcome LegalMarketingReader.com and its accompanying blog. The site is designed to be “one stop shopping” for legal marketing news, compiling data about marketing events and various marketing blogs. Check out this new resource on the client marketing scene.
Frank Somerfield, President of Sommerfield Communications, Inc., described the importance of personal branding to me this way:
“A dynamic professional services career – one that produces good results for clients and builds a firm – now needs three solid legs. The first is, of course, quality work and commitment; the second is a broad, growing network of valuable contacts and informal advisors; the third is a personal brand. An authentic brand grows out of one’s novel ideas, thought capital and perspective. The challenge is to package those ideas – market them – so they’re seen as legitimate ‘thought leadership.’”
As Frank notes above, a powerful brand grows out of unique thoughts–in other words, thought leadership.
Thanks to their highly dynamic specialty, international lawyers encounter new trends; those that develop interesting perspectives on those trends are well poised to become known as thought leaders. They key is to publicize those original observations as part of a good branding strategy. Sometimes a good PR agency (like Sommerfield Comunications) is just what a lawyer needs to create this publicity. (Sommerfield Communications –a corporate communications firm and PR agency–specializes in business thought leadership.)
Having original thoughts isn’t enough. A lawyer must share his or her thought leadership to make an impact. If you need help sharing yours, call a pro like Frank.
How do your clients speak about you? For example, if someone asked them to describe you, which two or three adjectives would come to their minds? If you don’t know, then you should ask.
One of my clients found out–to her horror— that her clients considered her as “tardy”. She had fallen into the habit of over promising the speed at which she could deliver her work product. She knew that her clients didn’t need their work that fast, but she wanted to impress them. Needless to say she failed to meet those deadlines–often.
The problem was that by promising them a quick turn around, her clients counted on it. Failing to meet her artificially early deadlines actually eroded her brand. However, thanks to her clients’ input, she changed her behavior and salvaged her reputation.
If you do not know what your clients think about you, ask them. Solicit input via email from 10-20 colleagues and clients and ask them to respond with 5-10 words or phrases that describe you. Specifically ask them for both both positive and negative feedback. (If necessary, explain that it’s a branding exercise required by your coach, management or other partners). The feedback will be enlightening, and will allow you to correct some unhelpful traits–ones you may not realize bothered your clients.
In the current issue of the ABA’s Law Practice Today, Sun Communications Group founder and owner Paramjit Mahli shares tips for cooperating with the press. In Why Attorneys Should Be Working with the Press, Instead of Against Them, she explores ways that lawyers can become valuable resources by alerting journalists to breaking legal news or developing legal trends.
Former CNN journalist Paramjit understands very personally how a journalist appreciates such proactivity by a news source–as long as the story pitched falls into the journalist’s beat and is appropriate to the publication. When I freelanced for the Asian Wall Street Journal and other newspapers and magazines, I was amazed by the number of people who pitched totally inappropriate stories –ones that were complete mismatches for the publication. Doing so can backfire by irritating and alienating a reporter.
Also make sure that the story you pitch hasn’t already been reported. “Not only is it embarrassing, but it also demonstrates to the reporter that you or your public relations team has not done the homework. It is a sure way of lessening your credibility with that reporter,” Paramjit explains in her article.
From my observation, international lawyers are uniquely positioned to get press attention, if they seek it correctly. Because legal developments emerge across the globe, international lawyers have more material and story angles to pitch to reporters than their domestic counterparts do.
For more tips on developing a public relations strategy that deals well with the press, access Paramjit’s article here.
While speaking at last week’s Law Firm Growth Management Conference in New York, I met fellow speaker Arnie Hertz of Legal Sanity. Arnie, and his fellow panel members Jonathan Frieden, Jim Hassett and Peter Marx shared advice on maximizing law firm blogs to enhance visibility and showcase expertise.
Arnie’s current Legal Sanity blog post on this topic raises another important, but not often mentioned, advantage of having young lawyers blog for their law firms: fostering meaningful relationships between senior attorneys and “often marginalized and disengaged” young attorneys. Arnie aptly notes that allowing young lawyers to blog for their firm sends a message that the firm values them and wants to keep them engaged.
Law firms with international practices would particularly benefit from this strategy. Many international firms reserve work on sophisticated international litigation, arbitration and business transactions for the cream of the crop–the cognoscenti. And so, many young attorneys have a hard time getting any real international experience.
Yet, as globalization spreads, more and more young attorneys are drawn to the international field. So, how can law firms keep these aspiring international lawyers engaged and cut down on costly attrition?
Allowing young lawyers to draft firm blog posts (albeit with supervision and final sign off) would engage young associates in a way that taps into their Generation Y values. It’s also a way to give young lawyers a taste of the international practice when putting them to work on a particular client matter doesn’t make economic sense (due to international travel costs etc…)
Recent law grads also enter law firms full of energy and eagerness. Their writing skills are also fresh from the law journal grind. Why not tap into that energy for your firm’s blog?
