Constant Content : Legal Ghostwriting & Content : Janet Raasch : Copy for Lawyers & Attorneys, Law Firm Business Development

“Pitching” to the traditional broadcast media

Here is part two of my article on broadcast journalism for lawyers and law firms:

When “pitching” news to the traditional broadcast media, remember that it has to be real news – and not self-promotion.  News is information that a station’s viewers or listeners need to know in order to make good decisions about their personal and business lives.  Always emphasize how your story will be of value to viewers or listeners.

 

In other words, news is important to people outside the law firm – not inside the firm. It often contains an additional element of new, first, best or most.

 

News that an associate has made partner, for example, is not likely to generate coverage.  That happens all the time.  News that the new partner is a deaf, orphaned, immigrant associate who worked his or her way through college and law school in the mail room at your firm might generate interest.

 

Make the story as easy as possible for the reporter.  Never mail a press release.  Call or email the right reporter with your story idea.  If the reporter expresses interest, send additional information.  New on the scene is the electronic press release, which includes not only background, but also direct email links to your experts as well as online links to photos, audio, video and other related news stories and Web sites.  Imagine how helpful this material can be to a reporter rushing to complete a story on deadline!

 

Broadcast news directors and reporters like to produce exclusives – stories that none of the competitors can cover.  Offer exclusives – and honor them.

 

Once the station has expressed interest in your pitch, time is of the essence.  Broadcast news directors and reporters face multiple deadlines each and every day (with Internet publishing, the deadline has become “right now”), and are driven to feature their stories in a timely fashion – preferably sooner than anyone else.  Make sure that you are actually available, at work or at home, in person or by phone (in the case of radio) to do the interview on deadline.

 

Think like a broadcast reporter.  Television stations like stories that offer more than “talking heads.”  They can be attracted to a story that includes a good visual setting, physical activity and interesting props.  Radio stations find “value added” in stories with interesting sound effects (like an IP case involving recorded music).

 

Finally, know what you are going to say and who is going to say it – even before “pitching” the broadcast media.  Practice in advance the 30-second “sound bites” you will use.  Videotape and review them.  Work with a media expert if necessary.

Here is a link to the complete article:

Lawyers and law firms:  Broadcast your expertise, build your reputation

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Recently, I posted an article on broadcast journalism in the Internet age.  The article was based on a panel discussion and I felt, after I'd written it, that I wanted to expand the article to include points not made by the panelists.  So I wrote another article on the subject of lawyers, law firms and broadcast journalism.  Here is the introduction (the entire article will appear over the next few days):

“Hey, you’re that lawyer!  The lawyer from the TV news about that case last night!  The lawyer who was interviewed on public radio regarding that issue last week!  The lawyer on the podcast about pending industry regulation that I downloaded and listened to last month!  You’re obviously the expert.  Let’s talk.”

 

Under national and state bar ethics rules, lawyers usually cannot call themselves experts in a given subject area.  But they can use broadcast media to position themselves as experts in the eyes of consumers of legal services.

 

Until recently, it took a lot of work with a public relations expert for a lawyer to appear on television or radio as an expert.  Broadcasters owned and controlled the airwaves, and access was limited.

 

Over the past ten years, with the advent of the Internet, the rules of the game have changed completely.  Today, users own and control the Internet, and access is unlimited.  There are many more opportunities to “broadcast” your expertise than ever before.

Upcoming sections include:

       "Pitching" to the traditional broadcast media

       "Catching" from the traditional broadcast media

       "Self-broadcasting" in the world of social media

For the impatient, here's a link to the entire article:

Lawyers and law firms:  Broadcast your expertise, build your reputation

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Thanks to the Internet, the line between print, radio and television news has become increasingly blurred.

Print publications host audio and video on their Web sites -- some of it generated by professionals and some of it by "citizen journalists."  Radio and television station Web sites include not only audio and video podcasts, but also text and photographs.

All of these sites host blogs by their reporters, which can include links to audio and video.  All of them offer versions for mobile devices.  All of them offer subscriptions via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, RSS, email or text message.  All of them accept user contributions.

Any lawyer, law firm or professional service provider can get into the broadcast game, publishing original audio and video content on their own Web sittes or on a wide variety of user-populated "content" sites like YouTube.  To see the entire article:

Lawyers and law firms:  Broadcast journalism in the Internet age

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Once you have created a bio/profile that works as a persuasive marketing piece on your Web site, be sure to add that content to the full range of social networking and media sites.  I am constantly amazed at the results these sites -- with their robust RSS -- generate in search engines.  I write and blog constantly, and post my articles to a wide variety of online content sites, but my social media profiles still show up higher in search engine results than any other catetory of content.

When I Googled my name earlier this week, the top two results were my JDSupra and LinkedIn profiles -- which consistently rank even higher than this well-tended blog.  Making a surprising showing at Number Ten was my Facebook profile -- which has long been a secondary effort.  Even so -- it shows up in the first page of Google results for "Janet Ellen Raasch."

According to an article in Sunday's The New York Times business section, Facebook expects to register its 200 millionth user this week:  "This saggering growth rate -- doubling in size in just eight months -- suggests Facebook is rapidly becoming the Web's dominant social ecosystem and an essential personal and business networking tool in much of the wired world."

Anecdotally, I would have to agree.  I have received more requests to "friend" old acquaintances on Facebook in the past month than in the past two years.  Something is happening here.  I am going to pay much closer attention to "working" that profile.  So should you.

Lawyers should Google their names to see what shows up on the first page of results and make every effort to "own" that first page of results.  Post high-qualify, professional profiles on LinkedIn, JDSupra, LegalOnRamp -- and even Facebook.  If you focus on personal injury, estate or family law, you should probably be on MySpace. 

Look in your search engine results for directories like AVVO that have created pages for all of the lawyers in quite a few states -- entries that often include nothing more than your name and address.  There is a lot of debate over the propriety of AVVO's tactics (especially its ranking feature), but an empty entry looks bad -- plain and simple.  It looks like you are inactive.  Complete AVVO and any other blank directory pages to include the profile that appears on your Web site and other sites.

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Web site bios should be so much more than lifeless resumes -- they should be persuasive marketing documents.  At a certain point in a lawyer's career, professional competence is assumed.  Potential clients are looking for lawyers (and other professional services providers) who are not only skilled, but also good and interesting people with whom to build a close relationship that will last for many years.

One of the best ways to demonstrate that you are a good and interesting person is by the addition of personal quotes to an online bio.  Journalists know that quotes add life, urgency and authenticity to an article; quotes can add the same qualities to a Web site bio.

If short, quotes can be woven unobtrusively into the narrative.  If longer, they can be broken out and used as a graphic element to make the page more interesting -- indented, in a side bar or in a box.  If lawyers are uncomfortable with quotes on the main bio page (which they should not be, but often are), quotes can be accessed by a "more about Jane Smith" link.

A skilled interviewer can elicit good quotes -- from almost any subject -- by asking good questions and following up.  Over the years as a journalist and a writer, I have interviewed thousands of subjects -- and have found a way to make each and every one interesting in some way.  A journalist is trained to ask who, what, where, when, why and how.  Ask your lawyers:

-- Why did you choose this profession?

-- What was your favorite matter or case ever, and why?

-- If you had to change professions, what would you be, and why?

-- Which emerging legal topic is intriguing you lately, and why?

-- Other than your profession, what is the most interesting thing about you?

The answers to these and other questions will help you draft quotes that add an entirely new dimension to a lawyer's bio -- adding highly persuasive values, depth and character to an otherwise dry list of credentials, and clearly differentiating a lawyer from other lawyers being considered by a potential client.

Do not reproduce the quotes verbatim.  (This is one way in which you can differ from a journalist!)  Combine them to create an interesting narrative.   All draft quotes, of course, should be provided to the lawyer -- to be refined and "claimed" before they are posted, or before they are shown to anyone else at the firm.

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In my work as a writer and ghostwriter for lawyers, law firms and other professional services providers, I spend a lot of time doing research on the Internet.  I see a lot of service provider Web sites and online bios.  I see a lot "inside" Web pages -- including bios -- that do not include language that identifies the firm and what it does.  This is a mistake.

Not so long ago, most people would enter your Web site through its home page -- where they would discover what the firm does -- and click through to subsequent pages.  This is no longer the case.  Now that all pages of a Web site are optimized for search engines (as they should be), visitors can enter anywhere -- often skipping the home page entirely.  If they skip your home page, do they miss your marketing message?

Your firm's marketing message needs to appear on each page of its Web site -- preferably in the text itself, where it can be read by search engine spiders.  If your message is in "art" that automatically appears at the top of each page, the spiders are less likely to read it.

Your bios are the most-often-visited page on your Web site.  Each bio should begin with language that succintly describes the firm's (or practice area's) overall marketing statement.  It should continue with a statement of how the featured individual contributes to that overall effort -- and then the rest of the bio content.

In addition, since a potential client will often print a hard copy of an interesting bio for future reference (without its surrounding Web site pages), each bio must be capable of functioning as a stand-alone marketing document for the firm -- as well as the individual lawyer.

The same holds true when a law firm is posting lawyer profiles on social network or content sites.  If the firm is doing this on behalf of its lawyers (rather than the individual lawyers posting their profiles or content on their own time),  the firm will benefit from inclusion of the firm's simple marketing statement on each profile or item of content.

When it comes to getting your firm's marketing message across, and impressing search engine spiders, simple repetition is an important part of the game.  Make sure that your marketing message appears on each page of online content -- especially the popular individual bio pages.

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People who visit business -- and law firm -- Web sites are task-oriented.  They are visiting in order to find specific information.  The perceived quality of the experience in visitors' minds will be based on how relatively easy or difficult it is to obtainthe information they are looking for.  In this January 2007 article, consultant Greg Fredette of Saturno Design discusses the relationship between visitors and law firm Web sites.

How your law firm Web site creates an "experience" that impresses or alienates clients

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Can you even remember how law firms were marketed before the advent of the Internet?  It seems hard to believe that the first law-firm Web sites appeared only about ten years ago.  Since then, some firms have progressed through five generations of their Web sites.  A few are still launching their first.  Most are somewhere in between.  In this March 2005 article, Micah Buchdahl of HTMLawyers discusses today's best interactive sites.

What a difference a decade makes:  Effective client service and marketing on the Internet

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