One of my readers sent me a question a few weeks ago, asking me if I wasn’t worried that I was educating my competition on the ways of online legal marketing and the use of social media in the legal profession.
The simple answer is that I’m not concerned in the least bit. But real life is seldom simple, so here are my 5 reasons why I want my competition to know all about online legal marketing:
- The Prospective Client is More Important Than The Lawyer: I want my prospective clients to walk in the door filled with the right information about bankruptcy, not some mumbo-jumbo they’ve picked up from a talking head on TV. If they’re properly educated then I don’t need to spend hours swimming upstream. In fact, a local bankruptcy lawyer on Long Island writes an excellent blog to which I refer clients all the time.
- My Clients Are Different Than Yours: You read that last sentence right – I send my clients to another local lawyer for his insights when I don’t have a piece of content at the ready. Doing this isn’t a big deal to me because I know my clients, and everything I do is specifically targeted towards a single client persona. My client can read another local lawyer’s blog and think, “That’s interesting,” but it won’t connect with them to the extent that mine will. So, too, my blog won’t connect with a client who doesn’t fit my target client persona. My legal marketing efforts target my clients only, and not the people who may not fit my client profile.
- There’s Enough Work To Go Around: Let’s face it – my law firm couldn’t handle every single bankruptcy case in New York if we wanted to. Impossible. I could use every legal marketing tool in my arsenal (and I often do), but I’m not so interested in filing 25,000 bankruptcy cases per quarter in New York City.
- Collaboration Instead Of Competition: I’m not giving up any trade secrets on this blog or on any other for which I write. I’m discussing my thoughts on where we’re going in online legal marketing and sharing tips I’ve picked up over the years and tested for my benefit. If someone local wants to take the time to read and implement it, so much the better.
- A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: If what I do here can lift the access to quality information to consumers in New York (where I practice) and teach lawyers how to connect with people on a human level then we’ll all be able to do better – better work for our clients, a better job at being lawyers, a better outcome for the process.
Maybe it sounds hokey, maybe it’s a little too kumbaya (to borrow a term used by Sonia Simone) and perhaps it doesn’t resonate with you. If that’s the case, no problem – keep on doing what works for you.
But I urge you to take a step back and consider what I’ve said here, and whether the way the legal profession has evolved (or failed to evolve) in terms of customer service, creating real connections with the public and delivering outstanding service hasn’t been a bit … shall we say, stilted up to now. Don’t we deserve a new model, a new way to reach potential clients and delivery remarkable results?
This is exactly why I speak at conference all around the country each year, delivering value not only on the topic of legal marketing but also substantive law. It’s why I sat in a room two years ago and taught 15 of my local colleagues how to handle discharge violations in bankruptcy – a field in which I practice heavily.
If this blog is the model, then so be it. But I think you’ve all got something within you, some spark that makes you want to educate your local colleagues so that the bar is raised.
Photo of Boalt Hall lecture hall by umjanedoan.
