Legal Writing

Law Firm Uses the News to Attract Attractive Clients

This evening, tens of millions of eyes will be focused on the president as he tells us about health care reform, and tomorrow — if the past is any sort of guide — great big law firms will miss the significant opportunity offered by the president. Rather than leverage the president’s speech, they’ll have their attorneys author client alerts on PQRI incentive payments or EMTALA compliance.

Q: How could a great big law firm take advantage of the president’s speech?

A: By writing popular articles about health care reform.

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If you’re the CMO or the managing partner of a great big law firm with a health care practice, you’ll likely scoff at the conclusion to that Q & A.

“We don’t write popular articles. Our target market includes GCs of big insurance companies and hospitals: people who are interested in PQRI and EMTALA. We’re not trying to market to millions. We don’t sell cheap widgets; we sell very valuable, highly priced expertise, sought by few.”

Understood. But how are you going to persuade your target market to buy your firm’s very valuable, highly priced expertise, rather than some competitor’s?

If you’re like your competitors, you’ll have an attorney spend an hour writing a client alert about PQRI or EMTALA, an article that will be read, at best, by a few of your current clients.

You won’t have that attorney spend several hours writing an interesting article about health care; you won’t bother to publish an article that will be read by thousands; and you won’t take advantage of the opportunity presented by the president. Unless you read this post, it won’t even cross your mind.

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If you’re the CMO or the managing partner of a great big law firm, you might wonder, “What good could be it to write something that so many Mr. or Mrs. Smiths will read? We’re going after Kaiser Permanente, and we’re doing just what our competitors are doing; we’re producing a client alert that Steve Zatkin, or someone who works for him, might read; we’re much more interested in setting up a meeting with him than being noticed by the masses.”

The big advantage to writing a popular article — one that so many Mr. or Mrs. Smiths will find of interest — is this: Steve Zatkin is much more likely to read that article than some technical client alert about PQRI or EMTALA. Ditto for those who work for him.

Those who either know him or know those (e.g. neighbors and such) who work for him, might read it and mention it (while there’s no chance they’ll read your client alert and mention it).

If the article’s an interesting one, people will discuss it, and that increases the likelihood that it will come to the attention of Zatkin, those who work for him, or those who can influence him.

And, if the article was written for the right target audience, Zatkin will be favorably impressed with it. He’ll notice who wrote it, and he’ll associate it with your firm. And then he’ll be more likely to agree to a meeting with its author. In fact, he just might ask for that meeting (simply because he wants to meet the author).

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No doubt, despite all the hoopla about social media, when it comes to your business, things are still done as they long have been. Prospects are procured with a round of golf, a steak, and a Martini.

Ah, but how you reach the point of procurement . . . the times, they are a changing.

Full post as published by Set in Style on September 09, 2009 (boomark / email).