Meet the New Media (Same as the Old Media)

Email, social media, paid ads, and direct mail continue to play important roles in law firm marketing and attorney business development, but diversifying with modern strategies is quickly becoming critical to lead generation, growth, and law firm reputations.

Platforms such as podcasts, blogs, and live streams can benefit law firms immensely, especially those with niche practices. The good news is these new media tactics don’t require an all-or-nothing approach. Truly, the new media tools are kind of like the old ones. Let’s review a few of them now.

Podcasts

Podcasts have become an incredibly popular medium for communicating information and building audience engagement. They can effectively allow lawyers to share their expertise, educate their audience, and provide insights into the legal industry. You can use podcasts to discuss legal topics, offer advice, or interview other legal professionals or clients. By providing useful and engaging content, you can build a loyal following and attract potential clients interested in your areas of expertise. Podcasts can also help you establish yourself as a thought leader in your field, leading to increased credibility, visibility, and business opportunities.

There are many cool reasons to launch and maintain a podcast but understand it is a heavy lift. Podcasting can be time-consuming and needs to be a consistent labor of love for the hosts and producers. You’ll be investing a good bit of time in developing your podcast, so you really need to enjoy it. If having your own podcast isn’t for you, find podcasters who are important and relevant to your target audience. Many podcasters welcome the opportunity to have a trusted attorney create meaningful content for their listeners.

Live Streaming

Live streaming is another powerful tool for lawyers looking to grow their businesses. It allows attorneys to connect with potential clients in real-time, share information, and build relationships with their audience.

One way to use live streaming is to offer educational content, such as webinars or Q&A sessions. By providing valuable insights into legal topics, you can establish yourself as an expert and build trust with your audience.

You can also share breaking legal news via live streaming, offering real-time commentary on current legal or regulatory issues. As with podcasting, however, ensuring your content is accurate and current is critical. This is a great opportunity to connect with target-rich audiences, so you want to be relatable and offer value.

Blogging

You might think blogging is an example of “old media,” as blogs have been around for at least a few decades. But the nature of legal blogging has changed significantly in recent years. Long gone are the days when bloggers were young 20-somethings living in their parents’ basements. Blogs have evolved and become trusted sources for important news. The overall uptick in usage and popularity has grown exponentially in the last decade. A lawyer who wants to generate leads, build relationships, and establish credibility in their market likely needs a blog because they:

Establish Expertise

Through blogging, lawyers can establish themselves as authorities in their fields. Regularly publishing well-crafted blog posts on relevant legal topics demonstrates your knowledge and expertise in a particular area of the law. A well-executed blog can help cement your status as a subject matter expert. Not only will that attract new clients, but journalists will also pay attention as they regularly need a legal expert on various issues.

Build Trust

A blog provides an opportunity to build trust with potential clients. By offering useful and informative content that addresses their legal concerns, readers will start to see you as a reliable and trusted source of information.

Increase Visibility

You can quickly increase your visibility and digital footprint with a blog. By using specific techniques, a blog post can rank high in search engine results making it more likely for potential clients to discover and hire you.

Blogs are cost-effective marketing tools that can provide significant returns. With the right strategy and consistent effort, blogs can generate qualified business leads and establish credibility and expertise. Although many lawyers have known the benefits of blogging for years, others are just starting to realize its role in growing their business.

The New Rules of Attorney Blogging

Trust and believe: blogging isn’t just for pop culture, sports, DIY experts, or style and beauty influencers. The blogging of yesterday — keyword stuffing and quantity over quality — doesn’t work in today’s legal marketing landscape. Legal blogging has undergone significant changes, specifically in the past five years. Some of these changes include:

Increased Importance of Visual Content

There has been a shift towards more visual content in legal blogging. Law firms and lawyers now include more videos and images in their blog posts to make them more engaging and accessible to a wider audience. In fact, many podcasters are now sharing their episodes on YouTube to ensure the content they produce is consumed on multiple platforms. One investment of time can (and should) create many ripple effects of engagement and impressions.

The Rise of Social Media

Social media has become a critical component of legal blogging. Lawyers and law firms now use social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram to promote their blogs, engage with followers, and share legal news and insights. Believe it or not,  some law firms are achieving measurable results using TikTok strategically to help them win the talent war.

Mobile Optimization

Having your content in a responsive design is just table stakes at this point in the digital marketing game. Essentially, if your content looks great on a desktop, it also better look just as good when scaled down for a tablet or a mobile device. Optimizing web content and blog posts for mobile devices ensures readers can access and read the content you share. If you have ever attempted to read an article or blog post on your smartphone and the platform wasn’t built with responsive design technology, you know what a turn-off this can be.

Quality Over Quantity

In the past, many law firms focused on producing high volumes of blog content, often at the expense of quality. However, in recent years, there has been a shift towards producing fewer but more high-quality blog posts that offer greater value to readers.

More Niche-Specific Content

Law firms are now producing more niche-specific content that targets key practice areas and client needs. Rather than producing generalized content, law firms are focusing on producing useful material tailored to specific audiences.

Use New Media Strategies to Begin Growing Your Business Today

New media channels allow lawyers and law firms to reach their target audiences in a more personalized and interactive way, offering opportunities for two-way communication and engagement. As a result, new media marketing has become a crucial part of any successful law firm marketing strategy, regardless of the firm’s size or areas of practice.

Author Note: When executing marketing initiatives, it is important that lawyers and law firms adhere to the ethical guidelines and regulations pertaining to legal advertising in their jurisdiction.