The Future Law Firm Leaders Shared Interest Group (SIG) serves in-house legal marketers with fewer than five years of legal marketing experience by providing them with support, mentorship, peer networking opportunities, and relevant training.
On May 13, Nate Carlile, Communications Manager at Arent Fox LLP, presented the brownbag program “PR Meets Content Marketing” to the Legal Marketing Association Capital Chapter Future Leaders SIG. The event focused on the key overlap between public relations and content marketing, and where the two intersect in the realm of law firm communications.
Public relations is earned media (press releases, articles, media and source advisories, speaking opportunities, etc.) in which a firm leverages a media outlet’s brand to reinforce its own brand bias with its clients. Content marketing is owned media, content which the firm can control and publish to build its brand and its attorneys’ credibility through a variety of channels (blogs, microsites, videos, client alerts, social media platforms, etc.). A firm’s content is what its clients care about, while content produced by reporters is generally what the industry cares about; both require a focused angle that provides value to the reader.
It is important to remember that at the end of the day, content is not king—value is.
Below are several important takeaways from the event:
- Reporters strive to identify subject matter experts (i.e., our attorneys) who demonstrate their understanding of the practice and create a story that their readers will find valuable and interesting.
- Of the different public relations methods, press releases tend to be the best way to publicize information.
- A firm’s created content needs to be targeted to the right audience in order to gain traction and readership.
- Videos can be a great way to showcase your top clients and interview them about current issues. Find an advocate (preferably a more senior attorney) who is willing to do a video and show the ROI (the number of video views, new client work, etc.) to other attorneys who may be hesitant to use video.
- Content must be focused and current, easy to understand by a non-lawyer, and easy to read—all of which can be accomplished through a few styling tips.
- Much like a reporter, ask a question and then answer it within your piece.
- Break up the text into a short Q&A piece that is less than 500 words; if it’s video content, make sure it is less than five minutes.
- Use the Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF) method: Your most important information and why it matters to the client needs to go first followed by additional facts, then the least important info at the bottom.
By Ashley Briggs, Business Development Coordinator at Arent Fox LLP, for the May/June 2015 issue of the Capital Ideas Newsletter.