To get results from legal content marketing, create a plan and commit to it.
What’s your marketing goal for your law firm this year? Mine is to get back in the habit of creating quality content on a consistent basis. So I’ve made the commitment to blog and create other new content every week. Here’s how I’m going to do it.
Legal Content Marketing Requires a Written Plan and Commitment
One predictor of a successful content marketing plan is a written content marketing plan. After reading Joe Pulizzi’s book “Content Inc.: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences,” I used my notes to craft my 2021 plan. I’m mostly building on what was working for me before I fell on the content creation wagon:
- Undeniable Ruth post (personal blog): Every Tuesday
- Question of the Day YouTube video: Every Wednesday
- Carter Law Firm post (legal blog): Every Thursday
- Instagram post: At least twice a week
- Ruth and Consequences newsletter: Every other Wednesday
Does the day of the week matter? I asked friends who are professional content marketers whether I would get more readership if I published my legal blog on Tuesday and my personal blog post on Thursday. Their resounding response was that the day of the week I published didn’t matter. Instead, the key is to be findable when someone needs my help on a particular topic.
Tip:
If you’re just starting to do legal content marketing, don’t feel like you have to be active on every platform. Instead, start small. Pick one type of content to create. It’s better to do one thing well than many things poorly.
Make Time to Create Legal Marketing Content
Since recommitting myself to content marketing, one thing I’ve been reminded of is that every post takes longer to create than I expect. Being creative doesn’t just happen. It takes time to mull over ideas, so it’s important to schedule time to create, says Jay Acunzo.
Robert Rose recommends that you create six months’ worth of content before launching a blog. That is not what I did. Since my goal is to release content weekly (because it contributes to best results), I have to schedule time to create every week.
Capture Ideas When They Percolate
I’ve been saying “life is blog material” since 2010 when I started my first blog. For example, every client conversation is potential fodder for legal content. If I can explain a concept to a client, I have the verbiage to discuss the issue in layman’s terms (without the client’s specifics, of course) for a blog post or video.
For example, I frequently receive inquiries from potential clients who need help moving their corporation from California to Arizona because I wrote a blog post about it. (The process is more complicated than it needs to be because of California’s red tape.) My most recent prospect asked what it would cost to have me assist with this. I drafted an email with information about the filing fees, publications fees and my time. Then I saved the email as a Word document so that I can turn the information into a blog post later.
Tips:
- Write once, create twice. Copying text from my emails into Word documents for future blog posts is something I’m doing more of lately. Repurpose your work whenever possible.
- Find a place to organize your ideas. To keep my content ideas organized, I use a spreadsheet for each of my blogs to capture general ideas for posts.
- Promote your content. Additionally, I have a spreadsheet where I track which topics and types of content I post to each of my social media platforms — Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn — because promoting your work is a substantial part of content marketing. As Andy Crestodina says, “The best content doesn’t win. The best promoted content wins!”
What about you? What are your legal content marketing goals or plans for 2021? I’d love to hear them.
You Might Also Like:
“YouTube Videos: A Marketing Dream for Lawyers” by Ruth Carter
“Books Every Lawyer Must Read Before Opening a Law Firm” by Ruth Carter
“Best Practices for Content Marketing” by Jay Harrington
“Five Ways to Integrate Content Marketing Into Your Schedule” by Jay Harrington
“Applying the 80/20 Rule to Your Content Marketing” by Susan Kostal
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