Five Truths About Law Firm Content Marketing

While everyone was placing “content marketing” in their year-end lists of legal marketing trends, an important conversation was emerging among those who are immersed in content strategy and development. This discourse doesn't debate whether content marketing is a necessary part of a law firm's marketing plan. For those who get the concept, that's a given. Instead, this debate focuses on the endless barrage of articles and blog posts on the topic of content marketing that seem to hit our Twitter feeds and e-mail inboxes on a near-daily basis.

You see, there is an explosion of content on content marketing as everyone is trying to position themselves as experts on this tactic, one that is far from new but is only now getting the attention in the legal marketplace that it deserves. But what people are not talking about are the challenges of starting and managing a content marketing initiative. While there are no shortage of articles trumpeting the benefits of blogging, video production and other content-driven tactics, there is a dearth of information out there about the hurdles that a firm must overcome for it to maximize the return on its content marketing investment. After all, content marketing is far from a turnkey solution, and it requires a tremendous amount of thought and attention to succeed. That said, if you can pull it off, you are destined to trounce the competition.

That is why I want to shift the conversation away from whether content marketing is right for you. That's the wrong question. I believe content marketing is right for every firm, regardless of its size or its budget. Instead, I want to highlight some truths about content marketing, truths that are rarely found in the flood of content marketing content, but which could make or break your firm's own effort.

You Need a Plan

You want to start a blog? Great! How about an e-newsletter? Fantastic! But before you run off and open a WordPress or MailChimp account, how about you take a breather and come up with a clearly defined content plan that lists goals and establishes key performance indicators (KPIs) so that you know why you are doing what you're doing and so that you have a system of assessment in place. Otherwise, you're just throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks.

Yes, it's a lot of work. And for an enthusiastic legal marketer or managing partner who is eager to get his or her content marketing effort off the ground, it can be easy to make the mistake of developing collateral ad hoc and hoping for the best. But content marketing strategy is critical, so much so that I believe it must be incorporated into the firm's overall marketing strategy for it to be successful.

In fact, I'd argue that content marketing is not a separate line item or subsection of the firm's marketing plan, but rather a tactic that is integrated throughout. After all, content marketing touches every part of a firm, from recruitment to business development to brand awareness. My rule of thumb: If someone outside your organization will see it, chances are it's content marketing, and it needs to be carefully scrutinized before it gets pushed through to development.'

Quality Is More Important Than Quantity

You may have been told via the popular content marketing literature that your law firm can be a publisher of information ' just like The New York Times! I'm sorry to inform you that you are not The Times. Newspapers have huge staffs of highly skilled individuals who know the ins and outs of researching, writing and reporting. Your marketing department probably does not have such a sizeable pool of talent from which to pull. So instead of trying to compete with the likes of Law.com by publishing alerts, news and blogs on a daily basis, consider scaling back. Focus instead on quality by creating periodic pieces of remarkable content that will put your firm, and its reputation, on the map.

In addition, there is a growing awareness within content marketing circles of the massive oversaturation of content across all channels, from e-mail to social media. I call this phenomenon “content pollution” because the collective effect of this high volume of content is that it reduces the visibility of all content. Therefore, pumping out more content actually serves to only exacerbate the problem. Instead, you need to strategically develop remarkable content that can cut through this noise and get the attention your firm is looking for. After all, the more your content stands out, the more likely it will be shared by your audience, which translates to an increased ROI.

Community Management Is Critical

While content marketing conversations often revolve around talk of “engagement,” not a lot of attention has been paid to exactly what this intangible element looks like or how to actually foster it.

Engagement is not simply tweeting out an attorney's most recent blog post and hoping followers re-tweet your message. Engagement is a continuous back-and-forth dialogue with your audience. It is absolutely the most direct form of public reputation management possible in that you are eliminating any middleman, e.g., newspaper, magazine, etc., to communicate with members of the public directly.

But how do you take this direct approach? A critical aspect of engagement that often gets overlooked is community management. “Oh great! Another buzzword,” I can hear you saying. And while I, too, am tired of relearning my marketing vocabulary every few months, community management really is an important, yet oft overlooked, component of content marketing.

In short, a community manager is someone whose job it is to interact with your key audiences and foster engagement. Social media managers and digital public relations professionals often fill this role, as much of a community manager's job is relegated to interacting with stakeholders (e.g., prospects, members of the media, the public, etc.) via social media through the law firm's handle. Without this role filled, you can still have a successful content marketing program, but you will fail to tap into its full potential.

Not All Media Are Equal

While a rose is a rose is a rose (to quote Gertrude Stein), a website is not a newsletter is not a blog. Journalism scholar (and frequent J-school exam multiple choice option) Marshall McLuhan rightly recognized that “the medium is the message.” The vehicle for which you distribute content actually affects the content (or at least the perception of the content). Thus, what you post on your website should not be blindly copied and pasted into a blog. Besides, different audience segments use different media differently. For example, the octogenarian oil tycoon might best be reached by a hardcopy newsletter or an ad in a magazine, as that demographic still disproportionately relies on non-digital means to consume information compared to the rest of the population. Meanwhile, the t-shirt-wearing tech entrepreneur might best be reached by a mobile-optimized blog.

You Can't Be a Generalist

Wouldn't it be great if you could develop one piece of content that spoke equally to everyone? Unfortunately, that is nearly impossible (unless you're in the business of making funny cat videos). When it comes to succeeding in content marketing, finding your niches is key.

That's why I recommend identifying the industry segments you wish to target most and create content that directly speaks to the important decision-makers. Some good techniques include analyzing regulatory and legal developments and addressing risks and legal issues that are unique to your target industries.

Choosing to develop content in this way can have a direct impact on the operations of your firm. For instance, you might elect to group attorneys not just by practice areas but also by industry teams in order to more effectively and efficiently position and promote your legal services to these niche segments.

I hope I've been able to shed some light on just what makes law firm content marketing work. If you invest the time into developing a strategy and rely on the expertise of those who understand the challenges that come with a content marketing program, your efforts will be rewarded with increased brand visibility, a more favorable market perception and new business.

Keith Ecker is the Content Strategist at Jaffe PR, a full-service legal marketing and PR agency. He helps strategize and implement effective traditional and digital content solutions for law firms, legal vendors and legal associations. He may be reached at [email protected] or 573-289-3558.