We often hear that legal content is lacking in personality.
Lawyers have the talent and the intelligence to communicate their valuable legal expertise, but often, their passion for the subject doesn’t translate well for someone who’d prefer that they “give it to them straight” instead of filling an article, post, or video with legalese.
But what does that mean – “add personality” to your content? And how do you do it?
The Content Marketing Institute’s Sarah Rickerd authored a great post with 13 Easy Tips to Give Your Content More Personality, and two of them really stuck out for me. Before we touch on them, I know your first question is going to be “why bother?” The reason is simple, and Sarah addresses it early on – it’s about engagement.
Continue Reading Lawyers: Create Engagement with Your Content Through Your Personality…Yes, Really!
The saying goes “If a tree falls in the woods, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”
Last week, we talked about 
It’s week ten of lockdown in my state, and while there are some places that are entering a phased reopening, some countries have extended their border lockdowns and many of the firms I have talked to are planning to continue remote working for a while because it has proven so effective. As a result, we all continue to have to find new ways to network, build relationships, and yes, even in some cases, develop business.
As I mentioned last week, it may not seem like the most important time to be digging into discussing content. But since many of us are publishing SO much of it right now, we want to make sure we’re doing it in a way that’s adding value and not detracting from it. Recently, I came across the “one content marketing question” that we should all be asking ourselves, and it really brought me up short. A reminder, when we talk about “content marketing,” we’re using that to encompass the universe of articles, blog posts, conference presentations, webinars, podcasts, informational videos, etc. – essentially all substantive content that is and can be shared with others.
People have remarked that the word “unprecedented” is certainly having a moment right now. I think that’s something we can all agree on. And one of the things that is truly unprecedented is the sheer amount of content coming out of law firms. While firms have long been known for producing a variety of client alerts, articles, blog posts, and more, the amount of information that is pouring forth from legal minds around the world is quite a torrent.
Now that it’s 2020, I think (read: I hope) that we’ve all come to the conclusion that it’s important to develop a strong plan that identifies the goals that we have for business development, and the tactics and strategies that we’ll use to develop those goals, right? I have a sneaking suspicion that there are still a few people out there who are throwing various ideas up at the wall with the hope that some of them stick, and this is the year to stop doing that. Really, I mean it.
Among my most popular posts last year were those dedicated to talking about LinkedIn, which tells me that it continues to be the tool that resonates most in the legal industry. I know that it’s in part because it’s become such a robust and useful platform, but I also suspect that it’s in part because some of us are still hoping that there’s a silver bullet out there when it comes to networking and relationship building. I hate to tell you – there isn’t. Even when you’re using social media, which can supersize your efforts, you still need to have goals, develop a plan, and invest time and effort in order for it to pay off for you. 
It’s the last month of the year, and I can feel your motivation for business development flagging. It’s okay, you’re not alone.
It’s easy to think that the hard part of networking is the event itself, and if we can navigate that successfully, we’ve done our jobs well and the work will come in. But a big part of successful relationship development is continuity, and that means following up AFTER an event to ensure that you don’t drop off the other person’s radar. Particularly at this time of year, it’s easy to become very busy and distracted (both you and your prospects!) and no longer be top of mind with someone that you really may want to be better connected to.