Two for Tuesdays

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twofortueThis afternoon, I read an article on content marketing that really got me thinking. The most important part was this:

[I]f the primary goal of your content is better SEO, then you’re an SEO practitioner, not a content marketer. If the primary goal of your content is to have something to put in your email newsletter, then you’re an email marketer, not a content marketer. And if the primary goal of your content is to attract more social media traffic, then you’re a social media marketer, not a content marketer.”

Of course, content marketers should still care about SEO, email, and social. But if you’re a content marketer, your content goals come first and everything else follows. The clue is in the name.”

I know all of these terms may give you hives, because what you’re really thinking is, “but I’m a LAWYER.” While that’s true, in addition to being a lawyer, you’re also in the business of selling legal services – that’s just how it is. So that’s where all of these other things that may give you hives to think about come into play.
Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Tips for Promoting Your Content in Social Media

twofortueHere’s a scary thought – earlier today, a blog post caught my eye, talking about the “one content marketing question” we should all be asking ourselves. Remember, when we say “content marketing,” we’re talking about anyone who authors articles, writes a blog, presents at conferences, does informational videos, etc. – basically anyone who produces substantial content that is shared with others.

These days, that’s pretty much all of us, or a large number of us at least. So what’s this one content marketing question?

Would anyone miss your content if you did not publish it?

The question itself is less unsettling of course than the potential answer. But let’s consider that for a moment. If you stopped writing articles, blogging, presenting, or whatever you’re doing to provide others with your knowledge, would anyone notice?

Hopefully the answer is a resounding yes!

But what if it isn’t?Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: How to Make Your Content as Fierce as Beyonce

twofortueWe’re taking a break from our regularly scheduled content marketing discussions to talk about some important news for content providers – and make no mistake, law firms are content providers!

Yesterday, Apple presented a keynote that offered some of the most important updates for publishers in years – maybe not as exciting as a new iPhone or entirely new piece of technology, but for those of us in the content space (read: all of us), they are updates that we want to sit up and pay attention to.

The ILN’s Executive Director (and huge Apple fan), Alan Griffiths, sent me this article from Nieman Labs last night on the keynote, and there are two points that I’d like to pull out from it on the Two for Tuesdays for us to look at in the context of the legal industry, and what it may mean for us.
Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Big News from Apple for Content Providers

twofortueIf you’re a regular producer of content (like a blogger), there will be days when you’ll find yourself scrambling for a topic or the words to flesh out your latest idea.

The dreaded writer’s block.

We all face it from time to time, and it can be one of those things that really stops you…

twofortueToday’s Two for Tuesdays is coming to you from Taormina, Sicily, where I’m preparing for our Annual Meeting, which officially begins on Thursday (for our delegates – I’ll be putting the finishing touches on the details tomorrow!).

But for now, I want to focus again on content marketing – specifically a couple of categories that may be useful to lawyers producing content.  Content marketing can sometimes seem daunting, and some of the ideas suggested too “new-fangled” or “out there,” but in this post, I’ll be bringing you a couple of ideas for blogging or videos (or any other creative means of delivery) that I promise you’ll be comfortable with.

Tip One: Use Case Studies – But Make them Compelling

This may be something that you’ve already adopted into your content marketing mix, but just in case you haven’t, case studies are an excellent place to look for content. Obviously not every case will be a good candidate, but some will provide interesting stories that will highlight your creativity and expertise, as well as your ability to advocate for your client. And even better if you can get them to co-author the piece with you.
Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Compelling Content Marketing Categories for Lawyers

Last week, we focused on how to freshen up your content marketing through curation and focusing on being mobile-friendly. Today, I’m using that same post from Entrepreneur as inspiration to encourage you to think differently about content marketing with these two tips.

(And, as a side note, you’ll want to keep an eye on this space late tomorrow for some big Zen news!)

Tip One: Use Rich Media

It sounds like buzzwords, but don’t panic – I’m talking about things like video, and that’s no reason to be scared. Video is an amazing way to add depth to your content, and even repurpose a lot of the work you’re already doing. 

For example record, or re-record, a presentation that you did on a substantive topic and break it up into manageable pieces that you can post to your blog and share via social media. Bonus points for getting your firm to include these in your firm bio to give visitors even more insight into who you are. 

Take a piece you recently wrote on some new legislation and distill it into a 2-5 minute soundbite that you record and upload to Vimeo or YouTube and share. Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Think Differently About Content Marketing

As I was doing some reading on content marketing, I came across this post from almost a year ago, which is, ironically, about staying current with your content marketing to avoid becoming a dinosaur.

And while it’s true that it’s important to stay on top of the trends and "hot" ideas in content to make sure that what you’re producing is being consumed and shared, there are some excellent tips in there that lawyers, firms and law firm professionals will find of use in their own content marketing strategies, and are actually still fairly current. 

Today, let’s look at two of them. 

Tip One: Make your Content Mobile-Friendly

It was true in June of 2014, and it’s even more true now – people are accessing content from their mobile devices. Some statistics for you: 

Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Freshen Up Your Content Marketing

I know, I know, I should probably change this regular feature to Two "Content" Tips for Tuesdays. I may get back to adding in other tips at some point, but for now, content is such a meaty and worthwhile topic that I’m happy to continue to use the Two for Tuesdays platform to opine on it. 

Today, I want to talk about digestibility. 

There are a lot of pieces to the puzzle of what makes content successful, and one of those things is how easy you make it for your audience to read it. We’ve talked about things like writing in their language and not using legalese, but in this case, I’m referring directly towards how the content appears on the page (for our purposes here, we’re focused on written content, though it can be blogs, articles, or what have you).

This morning, I was reading (okay, skimming) the Content Marketing Institute’s "Who Killed the Content?" piece, and zeroed in on their section about making content clean and skimmable. 

You may think "this doesn’t apply to me – I’m a lawyer, writing on important subjects that my clients really care about, and they will both want and need to read every word."

Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: Make Your Content Easy to Digest

I’ve still got content marketing on the brain (not surprisingly), and I’m seeing more and more discussion about it in legal circles lately. Remember when Lance Godard of Fisher & Phillips told us that 2015 would be the year of content marketing? 

But just because we’re excited and focused on it doesn’t mean that it’s without it challenges. Last week, we looked at two from this WordStream post, and today, we’re going to tackle a couple more. 

Before we get started, you may want to read a couple of excellent articles – both shared by Adrian Lurssen, and one that he authored: 

Challenge One: Signal vs. Noise

This is something that Adrian talks about in his piece, which is why I suggest that you read it before diving into my comments. When WordStream talks about this challenge, they look at it as the challenge of maintaining an ambitious publishing schedule. Continue Reading Two for Tuesdays: More Challenges to Content Marketing