Content Creation and Marketing As An Online Business Development Strategy For Law Firms 

December 2, 2019

4 min read

Content creation refers to the activity of creating text, visual, or audio material for dissemination to an identified and typically online audience. Content marketing is the broadcasting or distributing of these content to the target audience. Law firms need to employ content creation and marketing as an integral aspect of their business development strategy because online access to legal information is on the rise and always increasing. Law firm affiliated and personal blogs, vlogs, websites and social media profiles or pages that provide legal information are available and always increasing. Social media allows people readily share their many experiences including the ones related to the law. Increasingly, there is a large body of free legal material available on the Internet. There is a trend towards the democratization of legal information. 

What does this mean for lawyers and the law firms we operate? It means that one of the more important aspects of our job as legal advisers—the provision of legal and commercial advice—is getting democratized without input or regulation from us or the bodies we created to regulate our industry and the activities within. 

What is the import of this for the firm and its leadership? As legal information becomes more publicly and freely available on the Internet, there will develop a trend where consumers of the information congregate around their perceived best sources. Among these consumers will be many potential clients whose needs go beyond the information they find online. To profit from this trend and convert these potential clients into more, the firm must strive to be front and center in the provision of free online legal information. The firm must become the master of content marketing as it relates to legal information.

Creating Content

Reading is an essential part of the general online experience. People post (and read) statuses, updates, tweets, articles, blogs, books etc. online. People also upload (and view) photos, videos, podcasts or a combination of textual and visual or audio content. While vlogging (video blogging) is taking root as a means of information dissemination, legal information is still primarily consumed by “reading stuff.” Knowing this, it is imperative that the firm’s professionals write and publish content capably and consistently. This written content can and should be sprinkled with graphics, infographics, video clips and all the other non-text based communication media that are a staple of modern communication. When people consume information that aligns with their positions or biases or, as in this context, provides clarity on a given issue, they tend to associate a level of expertise or authority with the author. Delivering relevant and high-quality information (creating content) will help build a reputation of credibility and expertise around the firm and its professionals. 

Non-lawyer consumers of legal information (prospective clients) typically have a legal problem they need help resolving. Formerly, they’d contact a lawyer, relate their situation and he’d offer a solution stemming from his understanding of the law and his ability to interpret its provisions in the light of their situation. Because of the ubiquitousness of the Internet and the availability of free information including legal information, people now—and will increasingly—check the Internet for information that can help them understand and possibly resolve their problems before consulting a legal practitioner. The advent of the Internet has infused human beings with a DIY (do-it-yourself) mentality and an orientation towards attempting the resolution of legal problems is not exempt from this tendency. 

Non-lawyer consumers of legal information (prospective clients) while trying to find something to help them understand or resolve their situation will probably lack the training and perception necessary to contextualize and appropriately apply what they uncover and this is a good thing. As a means of differentiation, as far as is possible, the firm’s professionals should seek to reduce the gap between the understanding of their audience and the practical application of the information they find online. The content they generate should bridge the divide between their (audience) needs and the firm’s solutions. A good way to achieve this would involve creating content that goes into detail in answering questions and helping solve problems; content that contextualizes situations, traces causes, pinpoints symptoms, proffers solutions and offers preventive advice. Creating content that reflects the above characteristics will not only serve to exhibit the analytical abilities of the firm’s professionals, showcase their expertise and provide their audience (prospective clients) with the assurance that their problems are understood, it will also serve as a subtle cue that the firm possesses the expertise necessary to resolve their situation. A surefire way to convince prospective clients to cross the line into more.

Culled from "A Millennial's Guide to Building A Law Firm." My new book on Law Firm Management.