As I review the past year, I'm amazed by the opportunities ahead. Digital marketing continues to establish itself as a leading practice in the marketplace, impacting brands, communication, product development, market research, public and media relations, advertising and more. With the explosion of innovative technologies like social platforms and wireless devices, today's digital marketers are indeed pioneers.
As a pioneer, I am excited when I look at the horizon ahead. Every now and then, it is helpful to stand still, take a deep breath and reflect on the recent journey. The people I've met along the way and the messages that they've shared from the conferences I've covered are helping to shape the industry as a whole, as well as help define my own career path as a digital communications expert and event correspondent.
Here are the 2012 event correspondent highlights:
Best Dressed From Events See the socialites who made an impression, dressed to impress at some of the leading social conferences. Fashion faves from categories like Best Stache, Best Beard, Best Rack, Best Souls, Best Loafer and more are available here on my Best Dressed From Event post.
Facebook Marketing Conference #fMC Facebook's COO's Cheryl Sandberg offered a fantastic interview with American Express' CEO Ken Chenault with shared tips on leadership and innovation.
Global Cowork Unconference Conference #GCUC What is coworking and why should you care? Attendees during the GCUC represented over 2 million jobs. Jobs that are created from an innovative, nimble entrepreneurial spirit that will fuel the next era of leaders.
South by Southwest #SXSW Imagine all the people. Working, engaging, sharing and growing, in one place. Digital celebrity-types and the hipster wannabes represent a wide spectrum of today's innovative mindset.
The State of NOW: Finding Meaning #140Conf As we all search for meaning, some of the personal and professional stories shared during Jeff Pulver's themed #140Conf event was staged with real voices revealing the real meaning of character, honor and family.
Get the full review on the Social Race and Rise of Humanity as told by social dynasties including family members of Jeff Pulver, Chris Brogan and Deepak Chopra. Take a glance at all of the amazing people from the two day #140Conf event.
Social Media Explorer's EXPLORE Tour Jason Falls' led a nationwide multi-city tour of events where thought-leaders presented a variety of tips and trends on digital marketing.
Rich in content from the dynamic speaker list, the true value found from this event circuit was in the networking and true engagement of community. Check out some of the EXPLORE highlights from the amazing speakers and attendees from events including Dallas, Nashville, Minneapolis, Orange County and Portland.
Digital Marketing & Silos of Search, Social and MobileIt's time to talk real optimization beyond the silo of search, social and mobile expertise. See today's basics and how digital marketing must evolve to be effective online, How to Optimize Search, Social and Mobile.
Social Media Week Chicago A trending topic discussed by many media trailblazers today is on the subject of compliance and disclosure. Client COMP.LY presented the subject matter expertise during three sessions in Chicago. Check out some of the photos of COMP.LY sessions.
The #1 Takeaway I learned from 2012? People are in a hurry to present, to teach, to learn, to engage, to share, to consume, to write, to read... There is so much to learn. So much to share. So little time to consume the information.
Even infographics that are visually attractive and meant to provide detailed data in a simple format can be an investment of time to create and to consume, with little to zero recall to make the data very valuable. They're great for reference material. And, so are encyclopedias.
Because we live and interact in an ever-moving social stream, media must evolve to meet our needs. I've forever been fascinated with transmedia and have recently launched a new project called Digital Dash. Check out DigitalDash.me and subscribe so you can receive daily visual infotainment to share socially on today's trending topics.
What I want in 2013? Since launching EventCorrespondent.com in 2011, I've learned that the marketplace is unpredictable and although it may seem that technology has put us all on such a fast pace, truth is, people and the businesses they represent take a while to catch up.
To set goals, to be flexible, to readjust the goals, to stay optimistic, to surround yourself with smart and encouraging people, to keep your chin up and stay on task... all of these actions cannot lead you to success, despite what my own Twitter feed tells me daily.
Realistically, there comes a time when you have to be logical and realize goals from dreams. I'm letting go of the plans, the goals, the dreams I have once developed for this event correspondent practice. As an independent professional, I can no longer continue a sustainable practice of event coverage. There, I said it publicly.
I still stand behind the value this service can bring businesses and brands searching for ways to build social content and share subject matter expertise. Standing behind this practice and seeing the value does not pay my bills or give me the satisfaction I'm in need of for today.
In 2013, I'm aiming to be part of something more than just a party of one. I'm looking for synergy from a team or a company with an innovative mindset, a tech savvy professionalism and the ability to invest in me for the mutual benefit to grow in this digital era. I guess some would say I'm looking for a job. That sounds so archaic to me, but if that is the language you speak and you know of an opportunity, contact me.
I have been invited to cover SXSW again and would welcome the opportunity to represent your brand and capture and publish content to grow your visibility like some of the above clients. If you are interested, please let me know via email.
Remember the silhouettes of two people sounding out words together while watching Sesame Street? Over 77 million adults were raised watching this educational entertainment from a screen. This has lead us to today's digital era and impacts the way we consume information, recall brands, and learn.
As digital media grows and becomes more diversified, today's content developers and publishers must find ways to communicate their messages effectively. As Marshall McLuhan once said, it is about the medium, not the message. Just as today's digital media leaders publish content in hopes of reaching the masses, the message must be attractive in order for users to share through social platforms. It is not enough to develop content and publish it on a web site, or blog. To reach today's readership, social integration is required.
The digital dash project has been designed to provide a social integration solution.
DigitalDash.Me provides daily content, Monday through Friday. Daily dashes are designed to be social, infotaining and visual.
Here is how DigitalDash.me works: 1. Content is created and published in the form of a blog post or a landing page. 2. A digital dash is developed by extracting a "pull-quote" or pithy message from that article. 3. The digital dash is a third party source that mentions, tags and links the original article or series of articles. Then, the dash is published, one per day, to a handful of leading social platforms including Tumblr, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Pinterest. It is also shared via a mobile app and to email subscribers. 4. The digital dash relies on the leaderboard members to reshare dashes that are topical to their tribes. Members of the leaderboard join because the quality and topics are interesting and trustworthy. They help amplify the messages of the digital dash media by resharing. 5. Leaderboard members can provide content with the intent to have dashes created and published.
This project is a social experiment. It relies on its leaderboard members to help distribute the dashes. The founding members of the leaderboard are trusted advisors who are influential and have a specific area of expertise in one or more of the following topics: - Digital Era - Social Experience - Brandology - Augmented Reality - Future of Work – Cowork, Independent Professionals - Value of Aesthetics, Design and Style - Community Development – Online, Face to Face and in Cities and Towns - Empowerment of the Underdog and Diversity Issues - EdTech and Today's Learning Process - Sensory and the Nervous System - Legal Shifts – Privacy, Property, Compliancy - Communication, Etiquette, Ethics - Truth, Perspective and Popular Opinion - Impact of Technology and Use of Today's Tools
The objective of DigitalDash.me is to provide stimulating infotaining visual aides on trending topics that are impacted by today's digital era. These daily dashes can be developed, distributed and digested quickly, in a dash.
As Daily Dash launches, advisors are being invited to join the Leaderboard. The Leaderboard is currently exclusive by invitation only.
Once the dashes are distributed and this project grows in value, new members may join the Leaderboard. This will provide brands, agencies, publishers and others seeking to integrate content socially an opportunity to participate.
Interested? If you would like to subscribe to the daily dashes, feel free to sign up to receive daily dashes via email.
When you see a digital dash within your social feed that is consistent with your areas of interest, please help to pass the dash and reshare with a retweet, comment or like.
If you are interested in becoming an advisor to the Leaderboard, contact Andrea Cook to request more information on the role and value of being a Leaderboard member.
And, lastly, if you have any suggestions on how to improve this effort or if you have any encouraging words of wisdom, please share by adding a comment below.
A couple of years ago, I covered a leadership conference called Get Motivated at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. There was a bounty of accomplished world renown speakers including Rudy Gulliani, Terry Bradshaw and Steve Forbes, all sharing tips, techniques, tidbits and truths that have kept them on a steady path of success.
I wrote an event recap on each speaker who made the most impact on me that included a quick take away I gained from their talk. One of the most impressionable speakers who has made an impact on me throughout my career track is Zig Ziglar. Zig, born in Gary, Indiana, has reportedly passed away today, and in honor of him, I want to share the segment of his session in hopes it may inspire you and enrich his legacy.
Recap of Zig Ziglar 2010: While most of the speakers paced the stage from corner to corner with a supernatural enthusiasm, Zig Ziglar, 84 year old man sat on a chair next to his daughter. His daughter introduced her father and told the crowd that Zig had fallen almost a decade ago and needed his daughter to help him on stage when his memory would wander. A strong message in the act was almost as powerful and memorable than the words they shared. Here were some of the principles Zig shared: 1. Never worry. Tell the truth. 2. Encourage and court your spouse just like when you were first in love. 3. Sales techniques come and go but integrity and truth is always in vogue. 4. Be a life time learner. Put good stuff in, and good stuff will come out. 5. No one gets anywhere on their own, we all need others. Help one another. 6. Money buys a nice house, but not a home. 7. A sense of humor is valuable, don't suppress it. Laugh out loud. 8. Love your wife. (He kept referring to his wife throughout his presentation.) 9. Pump pump pump hard and tirelessly. Then, when you least expect it the water will just flow... 10. See you at the top.
Thank you Zig. And, yes, I will see you at the top. Thank you for exemplifying these values and for inspiring me as I pump, pump, pump hard and tirelessly. - Still waiting on that water for flow... Signed, Andrea Cook
The more events I cover, the more I hear about the power of the influencer. From sessions at Blogworld New York, Social Media Week Chicago and the most recent event Explore Orange County, coast to coast and in between, today's social marketing thought leaders are talking about the value of today's influencers.
How to influence today's influencer is both a science and an art. It includes a new approach on how to classify, reach, reward and validate the new media influencers.
Since today's digital media is different from the traditional printed era when big publications within your industry were the go-to top tier influencers and celebrities were the third-party endorsement options, a fresh look at public relations is required. Here are some tips on how to turn up the level of influence starting with the end point and taking it slow for a big bang.
Start with the return. How do you categorize your influencers? As with any successful approach to marketing, start with the goals. Define the objectives first then work your way back. Are you seeking mentions, links, likes?
By defining what you are expecting first, it is easier to find the right type of influencers that can provide results that are measurable. In fact, the return on influencers is the new ROI for many social practitioners. Defining the objectives, then building the list of media editors, bloggers, social profiles and brands is one way to organize your influencers. Then, your can easily recognize the best approach to reach, reward and validate them based on the results they are able to help you reach within your campaign messages.
Be realistic. Some influencers, like Oprah or Steve Colbert for example, could validate your brand; however, the chances of you actually convincing them to add hype to your own product or book is a long shot.
Tamsen Webster, Senior VP and Content Activator at allen + gerritsen has a model on the variety of levels of an influencer in today's media. She classifies influencers into four categories based on their accessibility and reach, or effort and reward. She defines each category as: 1. connected catalysts, 2. passionate publishers, 3. everyday advocates and 4. altruistic activators.
An example of a connected catalyst is the Oprah who has a very wide level of reach, but the opportunity to get an endorsement from her is highly unlikely. Contrast this level of influencer to the altruistic activator who endorses your product or service wholeheartedly without the need of a prompt or reward. Although, Tamsen recommends brands to recognize and reward these influencers from time to time with free stuff. After all, saying thank you is a healthy component to social relationships and should be a practice we all are doing.
Be relational. Healthy relationship-building is how the Big Mac does social. Reaching the masses through big social media outreach is not the approach Heather Oldani, Director of Communications at McDonald's recommends. As part of McDonald's social strategy, Heather prefers a relationship approach with their advocates and not a mass outreach. She shares, "It's more about quality versus quantity."
Of course, we all want the biggest bang for the buck. We want to do less and get more. But relationships aren't that simple. And, in today's new world of social media, reaching influencers still takes investment. The options in today's media are simple: there is paid, earned or borrowed.
Simply put, invest in your influencers and they will bring return.
By the way, if you can't get a reporter from Mashable at your next thought leader event, did you know you can hire an event reporter to help create the kind of content that will grow your brand and buzz and influence the market? Event correspondents are content creators and influencers for B2B professional service providers.
This Just In... post provided by Andrea Cook. Since 1999, her Chicago-born consultancy, The Midas Center has provided award-winning marketing and media solutions to law firms, education facilities, non-profits, artists and hyper-local communities. She is a digital pioneer, media coach, editor, art director, cowork owner and consultant for hire. Services vary, Event Correspondent services preferred.
Want to hire an event correspondent to amplify your event and optimize your brand? Contact Andrea Cook today email >
Marketers operate in the realm of innovation. If it’s been done before, they believe, it’s rarely worth doing the same way again. Most lawyers, by contrast, operate in the realm of precedent. If it hasn’t been done before, it’s risky.
A special challenge arises when the two worlds meet – when eager marketers try to lead cautious-by-nature lawyers into the uncomfortable territory of innovation.
Plus, there are additional reasons why lawyers in general are loath to innovate. They tend to be impatient, which makes them poor listeners in marketing meetings. They are afraid of failure. They fear being held accountable for bad results.
Although getting lawyers to innovate is challenging, it’s not impossible. Lawyers are process-oriented. Marketers who want to encourage lawyers to innovate can achieve success by acknowledging this fact and following a careful step-by-step process. Identify in advance what might hinder you, and figure out how to fix it.
“In addition, lawyers enjoy success just as much as the next person,” said Larry Kohn. “Marketers who want to advance an innovative project should counter-balance lawyers’ lack of patience, fear of failure and fear of reprisals with a clear vision of the value of a successful marketing project in advancing a lawyer’s or a law firm’s success.
“Always ask yourself and your lawyers, is the risk of failure or reprisal so great that it cancels out the many, rich benefits of success?” said Kohn. “If you are truly honest with yourself, you have to admit that it rarely does.”
Kohn discussed how law firm marketers can identify, develop and implement innovative ideas in a law firm at the monthly educational meeting of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association. The presentation took place Sept. 11 at Fogo de Chao restaurant in LoDo, Denver.
Kohn has been president of Los Angeles-based Kohn Communications for 27 years. During that time, he has worked with more than 1,000 law firms and conducted more than 28,000 individual lawyer coaching sessions. He is co-author of two popular books, most recently Selling in Your Comfort Zone (Safe and Effective Strategies for Developing New Clients.
Process to successful innovation: Kohn’s innovation process involves nine steps.
1. Generate an innovative idea. “Innovative ideas are all around us,” said Kohn. “I ask lawyers to actively generate their own ideas, which trains them to think about innovation. I ask them to look outside the carefully defined world of law to the greater world around them to discover transferable strategies. “I want them to see the world not as noise, but as a catalyst,” said Kohn. “Which things in your environment set themselves apart from the noise and get your attention? For example, why do you open one piece of junk mail and not another? How can what you observe in the wider world be applied to your practice or your law firm?”
2. List the benefits of implementing this idea. Begin by listing the personal benefits to you if your idea succeeds. Will you make more money? Will you achieve a greater profile within the firm? A clear understanding of these potential benefits makes it much more likely that you will work hard to achieve your innovation. Move on to list the benefits to the law firm. Arm yourself with research that substantiates your claims.
3. List the risks of not implementing this idea. Once again, start with the personal risks and move on to the firm-wide risks. Are you happy with your career just the way it is? Does your firm have all the work it needs? What is likely to happen if you do nothing? Once again, substantiate. Do your research. Prepare and rehearse language that clearly expresses the risk of doing nothing.
4. Prepare your strategy for implementation. “The two greatest motivators are safety and fear,” said Kohn. “A ‘safety’ strategy emphasizes the good and protective things that will happen as a result of your innovation. A ‘fear’ strategy emphasizes the bad things that will happen if you fail to innovate. “Any strategy must also include a maintenance component,” said Kohn. “What needs to happen next? Who will be responsible? Always negotiate the next step. Keep the ball in your own court so that you can keep things moving.”
5. Why will your strategy be effective? List all of the reasons that your strategy will be effective. Anticipate every possible argument questioning these reasons. If you do not have a ready answer, do some additional research. Read, talk with others, surf the internet. The answers are there. Be prepared to answer any question with solid facts.
6. What resources will you need? New ideas require resources, which can include time, money, hired expertise and equipment. Any one of these can be a roadblock on the road to acceptance of your planned innovation, unless you have carefully considered them ahead of time, determined the cost and determined the reasons why the innovation is worth the cost.
7. What are the obstacles to implementation? “Step back from your innovative idea and examine it like an objective observer,” said Kohn. “Imagine every possible objection that someone could have. Consider every possible event or trend that could de-rail your idea. Decide ahead of time exactly how you will counter every single one of these objections or roadblocks.”
8. What is your recommended deadline? Have in mind an absolute deadline by which your innovation should become reality. Set the date, and then work backwards to create interim deadlines. Be rigorous about meeting these deadlines.
9. Who are your ideal advocates? If your innovation is personal, who in your life needs to be on board in order for you to succeed? Who can help you achieve your goals? If your innovation is for the law firm, you will need powerful internal advocates – both to get your idea accepted and then, once it is accepted, to get the resources you need. Have your advocates lined up before you even propose your idea. Do this in private.
“Innovation can be challenging for individual lawyers as well as law firms – and for the law firm marketing professionals who work with them” said Kohn.
“Careful preparation makes all the difference,” said Kohn. “Following this process to lay the necessary groundwork makes it much more likely that lawyers will conquer their fear of innovation, failure and reprisal -- and focus instead on the ‘success’ side of the innovation equation.”
Article contributed by Janet Ellen Raasch, a writer, ghostwriter and blogger who works closely with professional services providers – especially lawyers, law firms, legal consultants and legal organizations – to help them achieve name recognition and new business through publication of keyword-rich content for the web and social media sites as well as articles and books for print. She can be reached at (303) 399-5041 or jeraasch@msn.com.
That's all for now folks! I welcome your feedback and any opportunity to cover your event! When you hire an event correspondent, you can promote your brand and event and develop awesome content. Follow me, @andreacook on Twitter and you can find out more about the events I will be covering in the future.
If you are interested in event coverage and the content marketing strategy we can provide, feel free to email me acook at themidascenter dotcom. You can also learn more about this up and coming service for today's social marketplace by visitingwww.EventCorrespondent.com.
Jack Dorsey, UStream coverage of TechCrunch Disrupt.
As a young child born in Missouri to a pizza shop owner and waitress, Jack Dorsey wanted to be Bruce Lee, but the job was taken. He wanted to be a sailor, sail the seas. A tailor, to craft work to make others happy. An artist to force the eye to see the world in a different way.
He was fascinated by cities. Interested in founders, especially the founders of our nation, a nation that started with great ideas. Their idea was a to form a perfect union. The founders of our country had to realize that the first time around, they would not get it all right. It would require generations and revolutions to develop a perfect union.
Jack Dorsey was born as an entrepreneur, as many of us are. It was the collection of dreams and the interests that fascinated him that grew into the company we know as Twitter. But as Jack is quick to clarify, Twitter has been founded by more than just one man. There have been a multitude of many who have developed Twitter into what it is today.
During this week's TechCrunchDisrupt conference in San Francisco, Jack, co-founder of Twitter and Square shared inspiring success stories from the non-founders of great companies who have developed the founding moments in businesses. Stories like Harold Schultz who questioned a simple coffee shop business and turned the Starbucks brand it into a massive success. Marissa Mayer is not the founder of Google or Yahoo, but Jack describes her as a leader who "has the context, has the drive, has the recognition and has the moral authority to really change and create another founding moment within the company."
Entrepreneurship is not a job. It is a role, an attitude with never ending perseverance. And, you don't have to be Jack, or Steve Jobs to be a founder of an amazing tech company. Anyone can be an entrepreneur. In fact, at Twitter and Square, a core belief is this statement: "An idea that can change the course of the company can come from anywhere."
How to Be an Entrepreneur Jack shares a quote from William Gibson, a science fiction writer, "The future has already arrived. It just is not evenly distributed yet." If you have the curiosity, competence and cleverness, you can help usher our future, quickly with purpose based on values. All it takes to do be an entrepreneur and help bring the future to everyone is some direction, a purpose and organization. Want to be an entrepreneur? It begins with an idea. Believe in something, question everything. This will lead to impact, a movement, a revolution.
Success in anything is more than a job. <--- Now, that would make a good tweet!
This Just In... Story provided by Andrea Cook. Since 1999, her Chicago-born consultancy, The Midas Center has provided award-winning marketing and media solutions to law firms, education facilities, non-profits, artists and hyper-local communities. She is a digital pioneer, media coach, editor, art director, cowork owner and consultant for hire. Services vary, Event Correspondent services preferred.
Want to hire an event correspondent to amplify your event and optimize your brand? Contact Andrea Cook today email >
Want to get the latest updates impacting content marketing? Were you unable to attend this year's Content Marketing World event? No problem, we've got the event covered. Here are some key takeaways that will answer some of your questions surrounding social media and marketing challenges like:
What is content marketing? How do I create value using content marketing? What are leading brands like Kraft, Charmin, Chipotle and SAP using with content marketing?
Below is a storify capturing some of the digital industry's leading experts and speakers. Which tweet do you find the most useful? Please share by adding a comment below.
This Just In... Content provided by Andrea Cook. Since 1999, her Chicago-born consultancy, The Midas Center has created award-winning marketing and media solutions to law firms, education facilities, non-profits, artists and hyper-local communities. She is a digital pioneer, media coach, editor, art director, cowork owner and consultant for hire. Services vary, Event Correspondent services preferred.
Want to hire an event correspondent to amplify your event and optimize your brand? Contact Andrea Cook today email >
In his Rhetoric, Aristotle lays out his three tools of persuasion – good sense, shared values and friendliness. If you closely watch any modern-day ad campaign, you will see that these tools are still as valid as the day they were first recorded.
Lawyers, however, often attempt to persuade their potential clients to hire them using just one of these three tools – good sense. They will tell marketers, “It is enough that I do good work.” In doing so, most lawyers and law firms leave two very powerful tools of persuasion on the table – shared values and friendliness.
“For most legal work, there are plenty of lawyers out there who are good at what they do,” said Kimberly MacArthur Graham. “At a certain level, competence is a given. When making a choice among five equally qualified lawyers, how will a potential client decide? Quite simply, the decision-maker will proceed based on which lawyer seems to offer the most-productive long-term relationship.”
Relationships are based on shared values, often defined as trust or trustworthiness, and friendliness, often defined as putting the interests of the client and the community before your own professional or personal interests. There are many ways for a lawyer to demonstrate these qualities.
“One interesting study shows that, when people are asked for their opinion of professional service providers as a class, only 43 percent give a positive response,” said MacArthur Graham. “When these same people are asked for their opinion of a particular service provider, a person they already know, even casually, the approval rating goes up to 87 percent. That is the powerful effect of a relationship.”
MacArthur Graham discussed relationship-based marketing during a Rocky Mountain Chapter of the Legal Marketing Association meeting recently at Fogo de Chao Restaurant in LoDo, Denver. She is founder and principal of Layer Cake Creative, a Denver-based marketing and public relations firm that specializes in professional services marketing.
“The key,” said MacArthur Graham, “is to create electronic and print marketing collateral, and individual business development plans, that demonstrate the full personality of your firm – not just its capabilities.
“In this way, you can successfully differentiate your practice from other equally qualified providers within a targeted and competitive market segment,” said MacArthur Graham. “You can also acquire clients that are a good match to begin with and therefore more likely to stay with you for the long term.”
Conduct a personality test In order to enhance and communicate their unique personalities, law firms and lawyers must first define their personalities. There should be a definition for the firm as a whole, and then variations on that definition for the individual lawyers.
“Law firms can hire consultants to help them through this process,” said MacArthur Graham, “but there is no need to spend a lot of time and money.
“Sit down as a group and answer a few simple questions,” said MacArthur Graham. “What do we do? Is it profitable? Who do we do it for? Who should we do it for? Who will do it? Do we need to add expertise or technology in order to do it better? What level of service do we provide? How can we improve service? With what personality will we do it? How are we human beings in addition to legal experts? How will we convey this message – in words and in graphics? In print, online and face-to-face?
“Having the firm’s personality defined, and well-communicated, can prevent lawyers and staff from getting too much ‘off-message’ in their individual marketing efforts, especially in the new world of social media,” said MacArthur Graham. “A written policy or set of standards can address this concern.”
Within the larger context of the firm, each lawyer should convey his or her unique personality. Not everyone needs to be the same ‘flavor.’
The firm, for example, may be vanilla. One lawyer can be vanilla with chocolate sauce, another with sprinkles and another with a shot of Kahlua. One can be hand-cranked, another store-bought and another soft-serve. One can be in a milkshake, another in a cone and another on a piece of pie. Just as there are many variations on vanilla, there are many variations for individual lawyers within the context of a law firm’s basic personality.
“The topping or style that you add should be selected with your unique practice in mind,” said MacArthur Graham. “It should also reflect the ‘pain points’ and interests of your target clients.”
Fit the tool to the talent When developing individual attorney identity and business development plans, there is no ‘one size fits all’ method to create and maintain relationships. Each lawyer has a different personality and interests. Some are speakers. Some are writers. Some are networkers. Some enjoy interacting with others face-to-face, others prefer networking virtually.
“The audience, too, must be appropriate,” said MacArthur Graham. “A great speech delivered to an audience of people who are in no position to hire you is a waste, as is an article published in a magazine your clients won’t see. A posting on LinkedIn or Facebook might have little impact on your target audience unless you have a carefully crafted network of connections or friends, or you are posting to a specific sub -group.
“With so many tools available to the modern marketer, no one person can use them all and still be effective,” said MacArthur Graham. “You will be spread too thin. The worst choice of all is to start an effort and then not follow through.”
The tools you choose must provide you with direct access to decision-makers in your target market. If you cannot find the best venue for your efforts, you can create one. This could be a seminar series for your clients and their friends. It could be formation of a LinkedIn Group around a newsworthy topic for your clients, potential clients, referral sources and the media.
Use the tools you select to tell stories about your clients, the problems they face and how you help them solve those problems. “Use them to start conversations,” said MacArthur Graham. “Over the long run, conversations are a much better way to create and maintain relationships than overt selling.
“If your firm uses events as business development tools, be sure to have ‘rules of engagement’ for these events,” said MacArthur Graham. “Obviously, there should be a code for dress and acceptable behavior. In addition, lawyers should do their homework. Who will be there? Who does the lawyer want to meet? How will the lawyer start the conversation? How will the lawyer follow up? Under no circumstances should you sponsor an event where all of your lawyers in attendance spend the time hanging out together.
“In addition,” said MacArthur Graham, “many law firms seem fond of distributing random gifts with their names on them – like stress balls, shopping bags or t-shirts. Instead, think of your firm personality. Think experiential. People value interesting or fun experiences more than objects. Instead, come up with a way to spend time with a potential client, doing something that you both enjoy.”
Even the most skilled lawyer will have trouble developing quality work if he or she is unable to develop and maintain the kind of trusted relationships that turn into business.
To be successful, each law firm must have a distinct personality. Each lawyer within that firm should have a personality as well, which is regularly conveyed to members of a carefully targeted audience using the appropriate tools for the topic, the lawyer and the audience. Potential clients who know you and trust you in any capacity will be more likely to hire you when they need legal services.
Article contributed by Janet Ellen Raasch, a writer, ghostwriter and blogger who works closely with professional services providers – especially lawyers, law firms, legal consultants and legal organizations – to help them achieve name recognition and new business through publication of keyword-rich content for the web and social media sites as well as articles and books for print. She can be reached at (303) 399-5041 or jeraasch@msn.com.
Get updates on emerging trends that impact events, journalism, new media, brands, social media and advertising. Also includes details of some events that have been covered or are scheduled to be covered.
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