Blogging in the Middle with You
Client Knowledge and Word-of-Mouth Reputation in One Word. LexBlog.
In midsize firms, LexBlog authors are using social media to:
Be a Trusted Resource for Clients
A food safety expert's blog on public education and legislative advocacy catapulted the firm to international prominence with clients and the media.
Be Original in Practice Development
A veteran commercial business counselor relies on his business divorce blog to make his practice shine in his 200-attorney New York firm.
Be Focused in Marketing
An attorney in a 60-lawyer business firm keeps benefiting from his Ohio environmental law blog's power to attract calls from local, national and trade publications.
All differing in size, practices, clients and purpose, these attorneys launched LexBlogs that transformed how they were viewed by their firms, colleagues, clients and the media.
LexBlog and Midsize Law Firms
Build Your Network. Transform your Practice.
He Built It and They Came
As a construction law attorney, new to town and his 14 attorney firm, Matthew DeVries turned to a blog as one way to build a solid professional foundation. Hoping his blog would encourage success in the construction industry, he was pleasantly surprised by the results.
After blogging regularly, DeVries started receiving cold calls from prospective clients, along with inquiries from local and national media, including BNA. Beyond gaining press recognition and new contacts, he credits the blog with helping him focus his green-building practice, establish his reputation with colleagues inside and outside the firm, and become a valued resource for clients.
Be an Authority. Forever.
So It Is Written. With Your Name on It.
Blogging can turn the power of the pen into commentary that endures. Blogs with trusted information often gain prominent placement on a firm's homepage and are referenced throughout the legal community and media. And they aren't easily forgotten on the paper piles.
For example, anyone interested in the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 knows about the CAFAblogs written by the New Orleans-based national business law firm McGinchley Stafford. The Kansas City author of the intellectual property blog, Owners, Borrowers & Thieves 2.0, has dramatically extended his client base across his firm's 14-city footprint by weighing in on IP issues that matter.
Many attorneys say that the discipline of blogging provides a useful incentive to stay current with case developments, decisions and must-read news.
Big Cases. Many Questions. One Source.
Information is Power. Spread the Power.
When A.J. De Bartolomeo started representing plaintiffs in the YAZ birth control multidistrict litigation (MDL), she posted case updates on a specifically created Yaz on Trial blog. It immediately clicked with clients.
"Clients have told us that they find it helpful... an easy way to connect with us," said De Bartolomeo. Beyond informing her clients, there were value-added benefits. The blog provides a seamless, unified public forum for her partnership with another law firm on this MDL. It's also a low-cost, low-maintenance channel of client information - and referrals - as the mass action progresses.
Be Great At What You're Good At
Lots of Strokes Cover All the Folks
Aware of the risk of placing all your eggs in one basket, midsize LexBlog authors know that to reach many prospects, you need a variety of techniques. Blogs are practice development tools that encourage attorneys' natural strengths in writing and opining.
Competition to win and keep clients keeps sharpening. Connecting with clients - on their terms with your knowledge - is more important and carries greater possibilities than ever before. The most credible and effective way to succeed is usually by starting with what you are good at. And enjoy.
Blogs work when they are a natural extension of what you're already doing. For Patrick Smith, that means speaking and writing - which is what he offers in Iowa employment law blog. This online presence, said Smith, is "a great way to provide information to clients and others on a frequent, easy to use, and low cost basis."
Does it matter if your clients are the online types? Not much.
As LexBlog author Dave Rein of Husch Blackwell Sanders said, "It is another way for me to get in front of our clients and prospective clients. Some may not be interested in blogging or social media sites, but for those who embrace them, blogging gives me another way to talk to them."
Low Maintenance Costs. No Support Needed from Marketing or IT.
Sometimes It Should Be About You
Marketing and IT departments serve the entire firm. Blogs and social media easily highlight your skills, intelligence and leadership, while keeping within your firm's brand and policies. LexBlog provides 24/7 support so blogging requires minimal resources from the firm.
While social media won't supplant your firm's marketing mandates, blogging attorneys, such as the author of her firm-branded blog Ohio Practical Business Law, have found that "blogging can be more efficient than those other techniques because once a post is up, it's there 24/7, 365 days a year and I can easily send people links to particular posts that address their concerns."
All this and at a fraction of traditional marketing and advertising costs.