The old trope that “clients hire the lawyer not the law firm” still holds true, but it’s the lawyer’s expertise, not personality, that clients care most about. Sure, all else being equal, a client prefers to both trust and like their lawyer. However, between the alternative of an affable generalist and a curmudgeonly expert, the client will opt for results rather than rapport every time. It’s no longer (if it ever was) a relationship game, it’s an ideas game, and experts are winning. In 2020, thought leadership is more important than ever.

Buyers are in Control

Thanks to the Internet, lawyers and those who procure their services are no longer operating in a world of information asymmetry. Clients have access to more information than ever, and as a result, they are firmly in control of the buying process from start to finish. Lawyers are often unaware of if and/or when they are under consideration for new engagements because more of the vetting of their services is happening online. Assessments are being made well before a lawyer gets the opportunity to “win it in the room.” To get in the room in the first place, a lawyer must make a really strong impression in the digital domain because that’s where clients are doing their due diligence.

Research suggests that buyers are getting further along the buying-continuum on their own. According to a recent study conducted by Gartner, a leading B2B research and sales training firm, buyers of sophisticated services are 57% of the way through the buying process before they consider reaching out to an individual service provider. (Thanks to Mike Mellor of Pryor Cashman for bringing this study to our attention.) So how do you compete when you don’t even know you’re under consideration?

Information is Plentiful, Wisdom is Scarce

In an environment in which buyers are winnowing down their options based on what they can find online, lawyers who hope to remain competitive—particularly for high-margin work—must produce thought leadership. Thought leadership is what sells a lawyer when she’s not there to sell herself. It’s a method to achieve marketing scale and a mechanism to provide prospective clients with a window into the lawyer’s ideas and expertise. It’s not everyday content that’s indistinguishable from that of the competition—it’s unique and valuable insight that doesn’t come across as “marketing.” Through consuming and evaluating a lawyer’s thought leadership content, prospective clients can determine whether their needs and the lawyer’s expertise align.

Think of it this way: Your thought leadership acts as your agent in the marketplace of ideas. It is the only signal of expertise that can effectively represent you amid all of the noise online. Without a robust digital footprint, you will be virtually invisible to the increasingly large pool of prospects who rely on Google and social media platforms to assess the options available to solve their legal challenges.

Are you doing enough to stand out to today’s buyers of legal services? Anonymity is your enemy, and a meaningful body of online thought leadership is a powerful line of defense (and offense).

How to Get Started

Thought leaders are not generalists. They’re specialists who dive deeply into narrow domains. Start your thought leadership journey by filling in these blanks: I do ________ for ________. Hint: The right answer is not “everything” for “everyone.”

Narrow your focus to a small set of problems for a discrete market segment so that you can begin to see the patterns, spot the challenges, and address the concerns of your specific audience. By addressing a narrower set of issues, your thought leadership will be more provocative because you’ll develop a stronger, more expert point of view.

You’ll also gain an understanding of where your audience turns for information, which will allow you to join in on the conversation—and eventually lead it as you double down on your expertise and become widely known in your narrow market. Decision makers in every industry have websites, trade journals, conferences, and newsletters that they consider trusted sources of information. They’ll trust you, too, if you publish your thought leadership in those outlets.

Being narrowly focused, as opposed to widely relevant, won’t limit your opportunities, it will expand them because you’ll start to be seen as an expert, and your services will be seen as less interchangeable by prospective clients. You’ll be regarded as meaningfully different, not merely as one of many. As a result, you’ll generate more opportunities and won’t have to compete on price alone.

Yes, clients are increasingly in control of the buying process. However, by creating and publishing valuable thought leadership content, you can wrest back power and compete more effectively for interesting and profitable work. Your thought leadership demonstrates how you think and allows clients to find you. Clients will hire you to apply your thinking to their particular situation. Accordingly, it may seem like a paradox, but it’s becoming increasingly important to give away your best ideas for free in the form of thought leadership in order to get hired for the remuneration you deserve.