Blogs can be an excellent tool for promoting your law office, but only if they’re used properly. Discussing the fine points of evidence, affidavits or depositions will gain you a following in the legal world, but not necessarily the type of following you want from new clients. Most people will hire a lawyer because they don’t understand the law; if your blog consists only of posts pertaining to the legal world and not how it pertains to your clients, they won’t stick around to read it. Here we will discuss how to use discussion of everyday happenings on your blog to bring clients to your law office.
Local News
What’s happening in your community? Is there a big buzz about the latest divorce the mayor is getting? Instead of talking only about the legal implications, you can comment on it, and near the end of the article, mention a couple ways people can protect their assets during a divorce in your state. Are the town founder’s possessions being auctioned off, with a buzz about whether it’s what he wanted? Discuss it with a bit of information in the post about how having estate planning may have saved Junior from having to sell things off to pay estate taxes, or how a will would have ensured the Historical Society received all those antiques.
Above and beyond that, what is your law office’s role in the community? Do you provide jerseys for the kids’ soccer games on Saturday mornings? Participate in your area’s legal aide resources? These are great ways to show the community you’re giving back.
Hot National News
Is a football player threatening to sue a newspaper for slander? Talk about it and then point out that he’d need to sue for libel, because slander is spoken, not written. What about the politician who was caught cheating on his wife? You can mention what your state’s laws are pertaining to adultery and divorce. Terrible 20-car pile-up that was caused because the first driver had way too much to drink? Mention DUI laws in your state, and why taking a breathalyzer test is not a good idea because of the number of false positives they’ve turned up.
How to Bring in Light Marketing Touches
These nudges and touches make people think about what is responsible and required to protect themselves from legal and financial consequences. People don’t want to talk about estate planning, because that’s admitting that they are going to die someday. In their eyes, prenuptial agreements are something that other people set up, but that they don’t need because it really is love after three weeks. By discussing events that could have been handled more easily if the legal prerequisites had been in place, it makes them think about the less pleasant consequences if they don’t take care of them. If you’re not comfortable writing posts, you can always hire legal bloggers to ghostwrite your posts for you.
Cathleen V is a freelance writer available on WriterAccess, a marketplace where clients and expert writers connect for assignments.
