By Justine Daley
If you went to Lawyernomics this year, you may have participated in a session with Ann Handley, Chief Content Officer at MarketingProfs. Because of my involvement with the American Marketing Association, I was lucky enough to see her speak right here in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Her main point was about being bigger, braver, and bolder with content marketing. Within the first minutes of her presentation, she asked the audience, “How do we create bigger stories, be braver marketers, and take a bolder perspective and tone of voice?”
But as she continued, I thought about how just a few weeks earlier, she had been asking the same question to
a room full of legal marketers. And even as an experienced legal marketer myself, I found it pretty difficult to answer
her question right off the bat. It is comforting, I guess, to know that this isn’t a challenge we are facing alone. Ann Handley notes that marketers have consistently reported that creating engaging content is their top challenge. This is a challenge that even the biggest of brands face, but creating engaging content is way more about strategy than it is about the size of your budget.
So with ethical constraints, and complicated subject areas, how can we as lawyers and legal marketers take risks when it comes to content marketing? Do we really have a bigger story to tell? Can we make bolder and braver decisions?
It has been a few months since her talk, but I’ve continued to think more about this. While we can’t create a viral dog video, there are in fact some areas where we can tell that bigger story.
Here are two opportunities to take some chances with content marketing:
Attorney Biographies
If you’ve ever spoken with anyone from GNGF, you probably heard us say the phrase, “People hire people.” Across all law firm websites we manage, the top pages consistently include attorney biographies.
Whether people were referred to you or found you online, your prospects want to know who you are.
Your education, your Avvo rating, your certifications; these are important things to include, but what is going to make someone choose you over your competitor is the personal information that resonates with a consumer.
This is where you tell the bigger and bolder story. Share information about your family, talk about why you became
a lawyer and what excites you about it. Include old photos of your law school graduation and of your local involvement.
Reviews
Getting reviews for your law firm could be the most impactful thing you do for the growth of your business. Over 90% of consumers read online reviews before making a purchase decision, and that is only going to increase.
Gaining reviews is a chance for your clients to tell their bigger story, speaking first hand about their experience with your law firm. Seeking reviews does involve risk, as you cannot control what your clients say about you online, but it is
a risk that reaps rewards.
Clients leaving reviews is just the first step. Here are a few ideas to use reviews to further engage with your audience:
1. Share reviews on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.
2. Videotape yourself reading a client review and post it on your website and social media. *Note: Be sure to read the review for ethics issues before sharing on social media.
For more ideas about how you can create content that advocates for your consumers and engages with them on
a more personal, conversion-oriented level, schedule a brainstorm session with your Account Manager.