A clear message we heard from the legal marketers we surveyed earlier this year is that the number-one challenge facing the marketing departments at law firms is “getting attorneys to product content.”
My hunch is that baked into that challenge is a limiting belief on the part of attorneys that their content will go unnoticed or that it will fail to generate the requisite return on their investment in time and effort in order to make the juice worth the squeeze. After all, if you knew your thought leadership content was going to garner the attention of those you’re wishing to influence, what would stop you from making an investment in time in order to build your book?
This is hardly surprising, though, especially given the results of the 2019 Edelman-LinkedIn B2B Thought Leadership Impact Study, which demonstrated the gap between the value placed by producers of thought leadership content on their efforts in contrast with the perceived value of those consuming it—and how that perceived value often translates into new business opportunities.
Notice how content consumers, referenced here as “decision makers,” hold thought leadership content in higher regard than those producing it, in terms of its influence on brand awareness, hiring consideration, purchasing inclination, premium pricing and even cross-selling facilitation:
It’s clear, both through our own research study and that of Edelman, that not only do decision makers value thought leadership content, but how it is imperative that we as legal marketers remove attorneys’ objections that content will go unnoticed in the marketplace of ideas.
It’s Getting Harder...and Easier at the Same Time
I will concede that it’s never been more challenging to get your content visible in an increasingly noisy media landscape. There are more producers of content than ever before (much of it, however, being C+ work—an opportunity for you to rise above), there are more media and content platforms vying for our affinity than ever before, and there are infinitely many more inbound stimuli and impulses besieging our attention than ever before.
Herein arise the objections, perhaps. I’m a busy attorney. I bill hours for a living. Any time spent not practicing the law is either a distraction from my revenue-generating duties or time I need to steal from my other obligations.
Furthermore, one might contend, If I’m going to spend significant time, energy and resources, say, writing an in-depth, 2,000-word article or record an entire podcast episode, what good does it do if this is how my audience consumes content online?...
But while all of the above may portray an accurate picture of the current reality, it simply cannot be an excuse to forfeit to the competition who is willing to play the game by its own unfair rules.
Because the counterargument to these objections is this: There have never been more tools available at our fingertips to amplify our content, to create engaging “dinner bells” to invite guests to consume our content, and to facilitate the broader distribution of our thought leadership.
Here are three examples of techniques you can employ to get an attorney’s thought leadership content noticed amid the rushing stream of inbound content overflow.
Get Animated
If the competition is standing still, get moving! While others are simply posting links, using static stock images, or relying on text alone to convey their messages, you can employ some simple animation to stand out in a cluttered LinkedIn or Facebook feed. It can be as simple as an animated .gif—something to catch the audience’s eye...something to make them pause as their thumb continues to mindlessly scroll through uninviting content. Use bright colors, employ clean and crisp graphics, and minimize the text:
Get Snackable
As I conceded earlier, it can be a challenge to get time-pressed decision makers to pause, shift gears, and tear their attention away from whatever it is they were doing in order to dedicate their full and undivided attention to the thought leadership content you took so much care and time to create. Especially if they’re in a state of mind to “browse” social media, getting them to stop and read a 2,000-word article or open an entirely new app to listen to a 30-minute podcast right then and there might seem daunting. You may be right that your constituents are unable or unwilling to spend 30 minutes consuming your content at any given moment...but they will almost certainly give you 30 seconds. And that’s your opportunity...seize it!
Take your longform content—the full three-course meal—and distill the essence (or an excerpt) down to a snackable chunk that can be consumed on the fly. Not only will you have made the requisite impression on that consumer of content, having taken the first step to establishing your authority as a thought leader in his or her mind, but you will have invited them to a seat at the table for a complete dinner...either right then, via a click-through, or at a later “rain-check” date the next time you release an article, white paper or podcast episode.
Examples of snackable content include things like pull quotes from blog articles…
...infographics that concisely summarize subject matter contained in a white paper…
...or a video “snippet” of a complete podcast episode...
Get Published
Publishing thought leadership content on your firm’s owned media platforms (website, email, social media, etc.) are definitely encouraged, of course. But most decision makers do not spend their idle web-consumption time on law firm websites, by and large (unless, of course, they are actively vetting firms to hire for an impending engagement). Instead, they gravitate to the content communities, industry authorities and trade media relevant to their own domains. As a result, we’ve found that the greatest exposure law firms can generate for their attorneys’ thought leadership is when that content (articles, podcasts, videos, webinars, etc.) is pitched and packaged for a third-party content platform popular among their target-market decision makers.
What distinguishes this modern “public relations” tactic from traditional PR is that, as opposed to yesteryear, when publishing space was limited by physical paper and the constraints of time, today’s publishing platforms have virtually unlimited “space” to host content. Furthermore, the rules of SEO, page authority and general competition for clicks, page views, eyeballs and attention translate to a thirst for authoritative content such as that which you may be producing. Whereas in the past, when your content may have been dismissed by busy and inundated editors, now it is welcomed. You simply need to artfully pitch original content to the appropriate gatekeepers and you’ll be able to not only leverage your own network but that of a trusted industry resource with broad reach and deeply embedded trust amongst your constituents.
The Takeaways and Next Steps
So that’s it: Get animated. Get snackable. Get published. And get going, if you aren’t already, by getting noticed in 2020. It’s never been easier...even as it’s never been more challenging!
NOTE: If you’re reading this prior to December 17th, we invite you to our presentation at the Legal Marketing Association’s Chicago Chapter, during which Jay Harrington and Tom Nixon will explore the Top Five Trends in Thought Leadership for 2020. CLICK HERE for more information and to register for the event.
Can’t make the Chicago conference? Register for our webinar on December 19th, during which we’ll cover much of the same ground. We are also available to present the subject matter privately to your firm’s marketing department—or, even better, to your bench of reluctant and reticent content producers. We look forward to seeing you!
Looking for more? Check out this related content:
Podcast: Serving and Winning Clients Through Thought Leadership
From start to finish, we help our clients conceptualize, create, and produce podcasts that engage their audience, build awareness, and support business development efforts. In less than 30 days, we will have you up and running with a polished podcast. We will handle the details of podcast setup, from technology to branding, so you can focus on getting ready to host your show.
We work with professional services firms to develop content marketing strategies, create visual storytelling assets, and build brands and websites that lead to new business.
If you’re interested in increasing the returns on your marketing investments, contact me at tom@hcommunications.biz or 313.432.0287 ext. 6 to set up a free consultation to discuss how we can work together to define clear goals, create a specific plan of action, and implement marketing tactics that will help your firm grow.