More than merely drivers of traffic, law firms may want to consider niche focused newsletters for publishing their insight amd commentary.
Some larger publishers are already seeing newsletters as distinct products, driving engagement and revenue.
Until now, newsletters were used to drive traffic to a publisher’s website for the all important website traffic. (Though in the pre-browser and website days, newsletters and listservs did rule.)
But publishers are now seeing newsletters as more than drivers of traffic, but as distinct standalone products that establish audience engagement and trust.
As reported by Peter Houston in What’s New in Publishing, representatives of The Guardian, the Financial Times and the Economist, speaking on a conference panel this Spring, agreed that newsletters can serve as ‘valuable standalone products.’
A combination of personality and utility is key, per Houston.
I totally agree when it comes to a law firm. An individual personality, like it is with blogs, will be key to newsletters.
I’ve taken to the New York Time’s tech newsletter, On Tech With Shira Ovide because I can hear Shira Ovide ‘talking to me’ in a real and personable way.
Larger publishers are looking to standalone newsletter products to drive revenue. Law firms would look at newsletters to establish reputations and relationships, the lynchpins of business development in the law.
For publishers offering customers a personal publishing platform, such as LexBlog, looking at product expansion may need to be considered.
With hundreds of articles being published a day and millions of newsletters being delivered a month, the foundation of a standalone newsletter product is already there at LexBlog. As is the archiving of the content, on our customers’ blog sites and the LexBlog network.
The key will be delivering the content in a new format as a standalone medium.