What is brand affinity? What is SEO? Many law firms admittedly don’t know much digital marketing jargon. Historically speaking, marketing is a relatively new addition to the legal industry. Only 41 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized lawyers’ right to advertise.
Dave Rhea is the Marketing Director for Phillips Murrah law firm.
From what I understand – as a non-attorney working in a large law firm – law schools don’t offer many, if any, classes about digital marketing methods. Thus, these activities can seem as impractical to lawyers as dancing does to steelworkers.
However, in today’s digital landscape, it’s reasonable for attorneys to consider adopting a marketing mindset. Technology, coupled with the growing inclination of law firms to onboard marketing professionals, allows attorneys to easily demonstrate their expertise to a much wider audience while sacrificing fewer billable hours.
What can attorneys do to develop more business in the digital age? There are numerous ways to leverage new media to effectively enhance one’s visibility and reputation in the community, but for this column I would like to concentrate on one such activity, in particular.
The biggest bang for the non-billable hour is thought-leadership authorship. Writing short-form articles on a consistent basis for publication on the firm’s website, or blogging, is an easy way to position oneself as an industry leader. Such articles can have a long shelf life and are versatile in how they can be disseminated. This activity also allows for exposure outside of the law firm’s usual circles of influence while building a body of work that increases their digital marketing footprint, which allows the attorney-authors and their firms to be found more easily on Internet search engines.
Savvy, marketing-minded author-lawyers can also use such articles to heighten awareness and demonstrate excellent customer service to their clients and prospects. Using direct outreach via one-to-one email, these attorneys can show proactive attention and demonstrate knowledge of the targets’ industries, thereby harnessing a proven way to nurture relationships and win new business.
Old-school rainmakers with existing books of business and established reputations may not view blogging as a beneficial use of their time. However, many of these key influencers still understand the benefit of developing a marketing-mindset culture within their firms and go the extra mile to promote buy-in from junior partners and associates.
By Phillips Murrah Marketing Director Dave Rhea
Gavel to Gavel appears in The Journal Record. This column was originally published in The Journal Record on October 25, 2018.
Dave Rhea is marketing director at the law firm of Phillips Murrah in Oklahoma City.