Content creation Archives - Page 7 of 14 - The Attorney Marketing Center

Stop trying so hard

December 14, 2022 by David M. Ward

I have a theory. Because being a lawyer is so demanding and requires so much attention to detail, and because most lawyers work their tails off to get everything right, they tend to do the same thing with creating content.

Which is why many lawyers don’t create a lot of content and thus miss out on a lot of traffic, leads, subscribers, and new clients.

If you’re not producing as much content as you want to, quit trying so hard. You can produce all the content you need without breaking a sweat.

No, you can’t produce junk. You need to provide value. That’s what keeps readers reading, sharing your content, and selling themselves on taking the next step towards hiring you.

You can do that with a lot less effort.

How? By writing less:

Shorter posts. A few hundred words is plenty.
Re-reusing/re-purposing your old/other content
Re-writing other people’s content (your words, examples)
Listicles (resources, tips, ideas, quotes, definitions, checklists, etc.)
Avoiding research; writing what you know (you know a lot)
Publishing less often
Getting help (in house or outsource)

You can also publish content without doing a lot of heavy lifting. Answer questions posed by your readers and clients, or share something you learned in an article, book, video, podcast, or MCLE.

You can report industry or local news (e.g., acquisitions, new hires, promotions, mergers, etc.), appellate opinions, and new or pending legislation, with very little of your own writing other than brief comments, e.g.., “this is new” and “here’s what I think about it” and “here’s what I’d like to see next”.

Stop trying so hard. Set a goal to provide ONE nugget per post, something your reader can take away, remember, and want to share.

Something interesting, helpful, or entertaining. Something you can write in 30 to 45 minutes.

More ways to (quickly) produce content

Filed Under: Content creation, Marketing legal services

Size doesn’t matter

December 6, 2022 by David M. Ward

A tiny list of subscribers can make you a fortune. It’s true. You don’t need tens of thousands or even thousands of subscribers to your newsletter, blog, podcast, or channel.

For one thing, someone who reads or listens to your content won’t know they are among a handful. And can be as impressive as any other attorney.

Your article or post shows them you know what you’re doing. They see you understand their problem and have solutions. They hear success stories about how you’ve helped others in their industry or market. And they get a sense of what it would be like having you as their attorney.

Instead of merely telling the world the services you offer and asking them to trust in your ability to deliver results, your content proves you know what you’re doing.

You can also leverage your content to score interviews and joint marketing alliances with other professionals and influential people (who also don’t know you have very few subscribers).

You might start small but as you post more content online, you get more traffic from search and social sharing. Your list grows organically, bringing you more leads and inquires and new clients.

Regularly posting content makes you a better writer and marketer. It helps build your reputation. It helps you attract referrals from lawyers in other jurisdictions who find you from afar. And it supports your speaking, networking, advertising, and other marketing efforts.

But even if nobody finds you online, your online content give you a place to send prospects and leads you generate from other sources. It also gives your clients a place to send people they know to find out more about you.

Your content is an online brochure of sorts, that speaks to your prospects on your behalf and shows them why they should take the next step.

You might post just 5 or 10 articles on your blog and never add another. But that’s more than enough to show the world you know what you’re doing and convince them to find out more.

How to start and grow a blog that makes your phone ring

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Online Marketing

Write your content for two people

November 9, 2022 by David M. Ward

Yesterday, we talked about creating the kinds of content your audience wants to read. But the subject isn’t the entire story.

Your readers also have preferences regarding how you present your content.

They might prefer you to write formally, like the good lawyer you are, or more casually and conversationally.

They might like in-depth pieces or prefer something more basic. Or perhaps a mix of each.

How about what your content “looks” like? Does your audience like brief articles, 200-500 words, or something longer, perhaps 1000-2000 words? Do they want images or illustrations or is plain text just fine?

Do they want videos or audios they can listen to on the go or do they prefer being able to skim and highlight written text?

One of your most important questions is how frequently your audience wants to hear from you. Is daily too often? Is quarterly not often enough? Would they prefer to hear from you once a month with longer pieces or once a week with something they can consume in a few minutes?

Perhaps a mix of shorter pieces and the occasional longer one is just right.

But here’s the thing. Just like the subject of your content, people don’t always know what they want until they see it. And just because they’re used to consuming other content a certain way doesn’t mean they expect or demand yours to be the same.

If you have the time and resources to research how your readers want to consume the content you provide them, and you are willing to fine-tune your content to suit them, this might be worth exploring.

But you can also go another route. Give them what you want to give them and let them to adapt to you.

Because people do adapt.

Besides, if you’re giving them interesting and helpful content, how you dress it up and deliver it isn’t really that important, is it?

To some on your list, it is important. But you’ll never please everyone, nor should you try.

Instead, write for two people. Write for your ideal reader. The people who love what you do and how you do it.

And write for yourself.

Write what you want, package and deliver it the way you want to.

Because if you’re not happy, if you don’t enjoy writing your newsletter or blog or other content, if it is a chore instead of a labor of love, it’s going to show.

Give people what they want, but don’t sacrifice yourself to do that.

How to write a newsletter people want to read and you want to write

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Newsletters, Writing

What kind of content does your audience want?

November 8, 2022 by David M. Ward

You need to know what your readers want you to write about because if you don’t give what they want, or you give them things they don’t want, they might not continue to be your readers.

People want what they want.

And leave clues about what that is.

Think about your previous content that produced a response and look for ways to provide more like that. If you’re not sure, if you don’t have enough metadata to know what they like or share or comment on, ask them. Either directly in your emails and posts or via surveys.

Do they want updates on specific developments in the law? Cases, legislation, trends, and the impact on them or their business?

Do they want you to explain how you do what you do or do they want more do-it-yourself information, so they can do some things themself?

Do they want more hard information or more stories about people like them who (with your help) have solved their problems and achieved their goals? (Yeah, give that to them even if they don’t tell you they want this; they do.)

Do they want you to interview other professionals occasionally? Do they want guest posts? Do they want information about your practice area or speciality or about allied areas as well?

What are they interested in? What do they care about? What do they want to hear from you?

That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tell them what you want to tell them. Say what you want to say, even if they’re not ready to hear it.

When they sign up for your newsletter or subscribe to your posts, they’re telling you they want to know what you think and recommend. They want interesting and helpful information. But, as Steve Jobs said, “customers don’t know what they want until we’ve shown them”.

So show them what you want to show them. But don’t ignore what their replies, comments, shares, questions, or your research tells you to give them.

What to write about in your newsletter

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Newsletters

In my humble (but accurate) opinion

November 3, 2022 by David M. Ward

Risk and reward. That’s what’s at stake today when you publicly state your opinion. You risk offending people who hold a different opinion, losing followers, and even losing clients who didn’t know you thought that way.

On the other hand, you might gain the allegiance of clients and followers who never knew how you felt about an issue and love you more because you do.

Opinion-based blog posts can help you win friends and influence people, or they can explode in your face.

So, lawyers, where do you draw the line?

You draw it on the side of expressing your opinion.

Because that’s why people read your blog or social posts.

If they just want straight news and information, they can get it anywhere. They follow you because they want to know what you think.

They want you to guide them, warn them, and lead them. They want to know how you see things and what you recommend.

They want your opinion.

That doesn’t mean you have to light fires and watch them burn.

Tell them what you recommend, and why. Tell them what you do, or would do if you were in their situation. But also show them both sides, contrary views, and other factors they should consider.

Because that’s what a good advisor does.

But you also convey your opinion without coming right out and stating it.

You do that every time you publish something, by the topics you choose to write about and the examples you use to illustrate them. You also do that by the subjects you choose to avoid.

Your readers might not know precisely what you think about every subject, but they get a sense of what’s important in your world, and for many subjects, a sense is enough.

Finally, while you might eventually choose to play it safe regarding a certain opinion or topic, your default should be to do the opposite.

Be edgy. Go out on a few limbs. Take some chances.

Yes, you might lose 10 followers if you go too far; I’ve done that. But you might gain 100 because you did. I’ve done that, too.

That’s what makes it interesting.

A successful life doesn’t require the complete avoidance of risk. It requires the intelligent management of risk.

Of course, that’s just my opinion.

Filed Under: Blogging, Content creation, Writing

How to get 4 articles out of one idea

October 20, 2022 by David M. Ward

Leverage is my name. Content my game. If you want to play this game, behold a simple way to turn one idea for an article or blog post, video or podcast, into 4.

Choose a subject. It doesn’t matter what it is—anything you know something about. It can be as simple as “torts” or “trusts” or “the rule against perpetuities” (JK).

If you’re not sure, choose something at random.

Once you’ve got a subject, write down ways you could write about that subject based on these 4 categories:

Actionable (How to Do X, How I Do X)
Inspirational (You Can Do X, You Can Get X)
Analytical (How X Works, The Details, The Steps)
Explanatory (Why it Works This Way, How Things Used to Be, What I’d Like to See Changed About X)

Let’s say you decide to write about “negligence”. Your 4 articles might be:

Actionable: How to Represent Yourself in Small Claims Court, 3 Things I Always Do Before I File a Lawsuit, How to Maximize the Value of Your Case
Inspirational: You May be Entitled to A and B and C, How I won a ‘Lost’ Case, What Happened When My Client Tripped and Fell and Thought it Was His Fault
Analytical: How Damages are Calculated, What You Need to Prove to Win Your Case, What is The Reasonable Person Standard?
Explanatory: How Our System Developed (and Why), How to Improve Our System, Why Legal Expenses Are So High

Hold on. We’re not done.

I promised you 4 articles out of one idea, but you can use these categories to dig deeper into your subject and come up with even more ideas.

For example, if you plan to write about why legal expenses and lawyers’ fees are so high, you might come up with 4 (more) articles:

Actionable: Five Ways to Reduce Your Legal Fees
Inspirational: How My Client Built an 8-Figure Business Without Spending a Fortune on Lawyers
Analytical: What I Spend Each Month Just to Keep My Doors Open
Explanatory: Why Hiring a ‘Low Cost’ Lawyer Costs You More, Not Less

And thus, one idea may lead to dozens.

If you find yourself unable to come up a subject to write about, instead of racing around wildly searching for ideas, take something you deal with every day and know well, extrapolate concepts related to it (based on these 4 categories) and come up with 4 (or more) ideas, not one.

Love means never having to say you’re sorry; leverage means never having to say “I don’t know what to write about”.

More ways to get ideas to write about

Filed Under: Content creation, Leverage, Writing

Color or black and white?

October 10, 2022 by David M. Ward

Color helps convey mood, graphics direct the eye and explain the message, and other visual elements also have important jobs to do, which is why every website, PowerPoint slide, and email are infused with them.

And that’s part of the reason I stick primarily with black and white.

In a world of color, it’s easier to stand out when your message is black and white. The same is true of layout and other visual elements. Our minds tend to lump together things that look alike, and notice things that don’t.

If you want prospects and email subscribers to think of your email as a commercial message, “more of the same advertising and promotions” they see from every attorney, use lots of color and graphics and make things big and bold.

If you want people to open and read your email, however, make it look like an email.

The old-fashioned kind—plain text (or html that disguises urls but otherwise simulates plan text).

When we get email, the first thing all of us do is look for a reason to delete it. If it looks like an ad or promotion, there’s a good chance it’s going in the bin.

But we don’t delete personal email, at least not without reading it first.

Make your email look like an email. Personal and important. Solemn and professional. And more people will read it and pay attention to your words.

Other benefits of plain text email are that it makes your messages easier to read and less likely to go into a spam folder. It also saves time because we don’t have to find graphics, get permission to use them, and crop and position them.

Many of these benefits apply equally to a website, which is why mine is also primarily black and white.

I’m not suggesting everything you do adhere to a plain text model. It shouldn’t. But think about this idea the next time you create something to send or show folks who can hire or refer you.

How to use email to build your practice

Filed Under: Content creation, Email, Image, Newsletters

Tell me about yourself

September 28, 2022 by David M. Ward

Everyone’s favorite radio station, we’re told, is WIIFM—“What’s in it for me?” They tell us that prospective clients don’t care about you or what you want; it’s all about them.

So make it about them.

Make your content, offers, stories, and examples about your reader or prospect. Because that’s why they’re reading your article or copy and that’s why they will hire you (or won’t).

Just tell them about your services and benefits. Leave yourself out of the picture.

No, don’t do that. You will always be in the picture because you’re the one who will help them get what they want.

If you don’t tell them about yourself, if your articles and sales pages are only about your services and offers, that’s boring. And generic. And unlikely to persuade anyone to choose you.

(NB: don’t write articles or sales copy that any other attorney could grab and slap their name on.)

If you want clients to hire you instead of any other attorney, tell them about yourself.

Anyway, aside from that, the reality is, people do care about other people and that includes little ‘ol you.

Sure, they care about themselves a lot more, but don’t for a minute think nobody wants to know anything about you.

They do. They want to hear your story. Especially if they’re thinking about hiring you.

They want to hear about your experiences working with other clients. They want to know what you think about things. They want to know where you’ve been and where you are going.

Because they want to see what it would be like having you as their attorney. But they’re interested in you even if they’re not shopping for a lawyer.

Because people are interested in and care about people.

Something else.

If your reader finds your story interesting, if they relate to you, if they feel that in some way they know you, they will be more likely to hire you.

Knowing is the first step. Liking is second. Trusting may take more time, but the more you tell them about yourself, the more likely this is on the way.

Don’t overdo it. Don’t be one of those people who talks incessantly about themselves.

Me, me, me, doesn’t win friends or influence people.

But don’t hide yourself and talk only about your services. Make your articles and copy mostly about them but also about you.

Because if they hire you, it’s going to be about both of you.

Filed Under: Content creation, Marketing legal services, Writing

This post might not be right for you

September 20, 2022 by David M. Ward

There’s a phrase you should use in your marketing that might make your services more desirable. It’s based on the concept of exclusivity, that what you offer isn’t for everyone.

And that’s the phrase.

Tell people that “it” (your services, offers, seminars, etc.) isn’t for everyone.

First, because that’s true. And your candidness is refreshing.

Second, because it makes what you’re offering more specialized, valuable, and desirable.

It’s a type of takeaway which is powerful in marketing because people want what they can’t have, especially when they had it but it was taken away. That might happen when they see your offer, think it’s for everyone, and then learn it might not be for them.

It makes people wonder if “it” is right for them and then take steps to find out.

If it isn’t for them, they don’t need to waste their time (which is good for you as well as them). If it is right for them, they often feel the need to act immediately, to get what they need and not miss out. And if they’re not sure, they realize they need to get more information or ask questions, which is also good for both of you.

So when you say “it’s not for everyone” you might also suggest they read something or contact you to find out.

Telling folks it’s not for everyone or “it might be right for you” makes you more credible, especially compared to those who make it look like what they do is for anyone.

It can also make you more in demand because people want what others have and they might stick around long enough to find out if they can get or should get it too.

Filed Under: Content creation, Salesmanship