Law, Technology and Business Development: Be Unique in the Noise

Lawyers definitely struggle with embracing technology. Business is traditionally considered to be based on relationships and networking, so there is skepticism about investing time and money into digital marketing. My goal is to show attorneys how their digital presence can bring a unique perspective to their personal brand.

Each attorney has a focused practice area and/or an industry they feel comfortable in. Speaking from my experience at an IP specialty firm, technical experience is the differentiator, as knowing the underlying technology behind a patent is essential to hiring the right attorney. Whether you are an employment lawyer or a personal injury lawyer, one thing remains the same: why are you unique?

Enough about theory, let’s get to the action items.

Ask yourself: what type of business developer am I? Read my article on “Which Business Development Activity is Best for You? Consider Your Personality…”

When you figure out the ONE thing you love to do or feel most comfortable doing (this is about YOUR business development skills, not what someone else wants you to do), then focus on it and own it.

Example: if you love working a room at a happy hour for the latest professional networking organization you just joined, make sure you do the basics:

Have something in mind to talk about. The weather and how the event is going is a waste of time. Depending on who is in the room (which you will know, because you will do your homework on the audience before you enter the room), tailor your conversation. This is the first impression to show your thought leadership in whichever practice area or industry you want to.

Grab their business card. After the event, or the next morning, add them to your CRM, or your address book with extensive notes on how you met them and what you could potentially offer this person. If you don’t do it within 24 hours, you’re going to forget. Next, add them to LinkedIn, with a personalized “invitation to connect” mentioning how you enjoyed meeting them at XYZ event and you hope to connect with them in the future.

Next, follow-up by emailing the contact a valuable piece of information in a week or two. Whether it’s the latest client alert that your marketing team worked hard on, or a white paper that you thought would affect their business, send away. Make sure you capture this “touch” in your CRM!

It takes on average 10-12 touches to make a difference. However, if you get the vibe that this potential contact is uninterested in your services (i.e. unresponsive to email, didn’t connect with you on LinkedIn and after researching their company, not a good fit for your book of business, then ditch them and move on to the next).

Example: you were invited to speak at your local industry/trade organization or the local bar association. You research the topic you want to speak about. You create an attractive PowerPoint (of course in the firm’s branded template) for your talking points. The talk went well and you received positive compliments. Now what?

Make sure your marketing or business development team knows about this speaking engagement. This will trigger a variety of opportunities to spam the world with your thought leadership:

• Add the speaking engagement to your website bio and have it featured in the relevant practice area or industry page on your firm website
• Upload the presentation to SlideShare
• Add a link, using the SlideShare URL, to your LinkedIn profile as a “media” item under your current experience.
• Send the PPT to those current and potential clients who might be interested. Offer to re-do the presentation at their company for their legal team.
• Share the presentation (using the SlideShare URL) on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and/or Google Plus.

All of these digital activities (website, social media, email) take a few minutes to do (trust me, the right applications paired with help from your marketing team will make it easy) and can extend the life of all of your hard work, and most importantly, position you as a knowledgable, up-to-date attorney.

Does it work? Just yesterday, I heard the following from two attorneys at our firm:

The Chief IP Counsel of Company X liked my re-share of the firm’s press release on Facebook

On LinkedIn, my college classmate congratulated me on a case I won as I re-shared the firm’s press release as a status update.

Social and digital media absolutely needs to be in your toolbox. It’s the best way to keep reminding your contacts that you exist. The above might be small touches, but the mission was accomplished: the audience engaged with you, your brand, and the firm’s brand.

Traditional thinking focuses on building relationships by attending events, conferences and alumni happy hours, which are still needed, but that one-time meet-up can be further cultivated through a digital medium.