Samuel Glover’s Observation
You know the old saying — “It’s not what you know, but who you know.”
And — I suspect — you know how valid that saying is.
But what do you know about audience analysis — knowing who’s watching you? And what do you know of audience selection — deciding who you want watching you?
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I just read this interesting article in Minnesota Lawyer about how blogging can help you attract clients, “as long as you do it well, that is.”
What struck me most was this observation by Samuel Glover, an attorney whose blogging manages to attract 14,000 readers (mostly those who are potential clients or who know potential clients) a month.
Glover said that while not all of the people who visit his blogs are potential clients, all of them are people who might know a potential client.
I say, this observation is significant for any attorney who wants to attract clients.
If you’re an attorney and you want to attract clients — be they the GCs of Fortune 500 companies or VCs in Silicon Valley or any other sort — then you should consider Glover’s observation.
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A few questions:
Do you write client alerts and blog posts and such? When you write them, who do you write them for? Do you write them specifically for potential clients, or do you cast a wider net? Do you try to reach not only potential clients, but those who can influence them?
Let’s assume you’re a tax attorney and your most highly valued potential client is a state’s system of universities. (It hardly matters what your practice area is; we assume a specific practice area and valuable client for the sake of a concrete example.)
And let’s suppose it’s time to write a client alert. The IRS has just issued some notice (Notice 2009-3), and you want to take advantage of the event by writing a client alert that explains the notice.
If you’re overly typical, you begin the alert like this:
On December 11, 2008, the Internal Revenue Service (the “Service”) and the Treasury Department (the “Treasury”) issued Notice 2009-3 (the “Notice”) providing relief during 2009 for sponsors of plans governed by Section 403(b) (“403(b) Plans”) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) with respect to the requirement to have a written plan document in place by January 1, 2009. The Notice also indicates that there will be forthcoming guidance with respect to obtaining Service approval of 403(b) prototype plans and individualized plans (as further described below). The Service has previously indicated its intent to create such a program.
And the alert doesn’t do you a bit of good.
Why not?
Because potential clients already know about this notice. The day the IRS issued the Notice, they read this:
On December 11, the IRS issued Notice 2009-3, which announced an extension of time (until December 31, 2009) for public schools, colleges and universities, and other tax-exempt organizations to complete written 403(b) retirement plan documents. The previous deadline was January 1, 2009.
Believe it or not, your clients and potential clients have access to many sources of relevant news. Your audience isn’t captive, and its members are busy. By and large, they aren’t happy to read 100 words when less than half as many will do. And they don’t consider what they already know to be news.
If your way of writing a client alert or blog post goes like this:
- Select an event, such as a significant court ruling regarding ESOP or COBRA, or a change in some SEC or IRS rule.
- Review the ruling or the announcement.
- Rehash it.
Then you just might be wasting your time, especially if you write your alerts and posts as if they were legal documents that could only be read by other lawyers.
Something to consider . . . .
