Avvocating: 'Preserve the Core' in Online Marketing

By Mark S. Britton
Special to the Legal Technology Blog

As the web continues to proliferate, lawyers are being bombarded with new marketing vehicles: websites, LinkedIn, Facebook, Avvo*, blogs, MySpace, YouTube, JDSupra, LawDragon, listserves, Twitter, Workforce.com, FreeAdvice, WikiHow, Lawyers.com, newsletters, Justia, Findlaw, and on and on and on.

Many lawyers find vexing this already large and growing list of online marketing opportunities. Where does one even start? Should an enterprising lawyer participate in them all? If not, which ones? And this is where the strategy of preserving the core comes in. More important than anything when building your online marketing strategy, you must identify your "core web presence." A CWP is that piece of online real estate where you are going to spend the majority of your time and money. This may be your website, it may be a blog. It could be your Twitter account; it could be a legal directory profile.

Whatever the vehicle, a little strategic planning up front can go a long way in increasing your probability of marketing success. To help in your planning, here are three easy steps for building your CWP:

Step 1: Set your CWP Objectives

Just like any resource allocation decision, start by setting your CWP's objectives:

• Who do you want to be your audience? Clients? Other lawyers? Academics?

• What would be a sufficient return on your CWP investment? More clients? Better paying clients? Referrals from other lawyers?

• How much time will you (can you) spend on your CWP? Will your workload allow you to be on Twitter daily? Do you have the time to create eloquent prose for your blog or website?

Answering these questions up front will help you choose the CWP that is right for you. For example, if you do not have the resources to build or maintain a website, maybe your best bet is a low-fidelity blog or a robust profile in one of the legal directories that allows you to upload photos, videos, practice areas, awards, etc. If you are targeting lawyers for referrals, maybe you build out an academic-quality blog rather than having a profile and answering questions at Yahoo! Answers.

Step 2: Build your CWP

After setting your CWP objectives, it is time to execute. Start by building out your CWP with as much interesting, audience-appropriate content as possible. It may take some work up front to get this "inaugural" content in place, but you don’t want your CWP to be an echo chamber. Early visitors will assume you have nothing to say and never return.

Once you have your inaugural content in place, establish a schedule for growing it. For example, if your CWP is a blog, make sure Outlook reminds you at least every week to publish a new post. If your CWP is a Q/A forum, make sure you are on top of incoming questions through a subscription service or an Outlook reminder to periodically check for questions.

By being disciplined about growing the content for your CWP, over time you will build a mass of content that is interesting to both your audience and, most likely, the search engines.

Step 3: Serve your CWP

With your well-considered CWP in place, now you can layer on the distractions of other marketing and socializing vehicles. In addition to your website, maybe you create a blog. Maybe you start contributing legal guides to "how-to" sites like WikiHow or Workforce.com. Maybe you start posting instructional videos on YouTube. Maybe you choose to do all of the above. Whatever the case, keep in mind the following:

• Use these "other" vehicles to augment your CWP. Refer to your CWP often and drive people to all of the great content you have there. The more that these other web tools linking to your CWP the more people will see it and the more your target audience (and the search engines) will find it.

• Similarly, don’t let the other web presences erode your CWP. If you spend more time being an online gadfly than cultivating your CWP in any given week, your priorities are likely out of whack. Go back to your CWP objectives and make sure they are being met.

• Do it because you enjoy it. With most social networking sites, you will be successful only if you are an honest contributor to the communal voice. If all you are doing is promoting yourself, you will not be successful. So link to your CWP a lot, but take part in others conversations. Enjoy conversations other than your own.

In the end, there is no "right" way to market your practice online. However, with a CWP strategy you will find yourself well-prioritized and far ahead of pack. "Preserve the core."

*Mark Britton is the Founder and CEO of Avvo. He is a 17-year lawyer with deep experience in the legal and e-commerce industries. Mark is the former General Counsel of Expedia.com and has worked as an attorney in large, medium, and small law firms. In 2007, Mark was named one of Seattle’s “Top 25 Innovators” by Seattle Business Monthly Magazine. He is also a frequent commentator on financial, legal, and other business issues, regularly appearing on programs such as ABC’s "Good Morning America," Fox Business’ “America’s Nightly Scoreboard,” CNN "Money," and Dow Jones "MarketWatch."

Comments

[Jeff Paul Scam]

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