Attracting New Clients with Corporate Journalism

Stand out with Corporate Journalism

The practice of corporate journalism, according to a new report, is one of the best lawyer marketing platforms. It allows lawyers to stand out in a sea of content.

Today, people have access to a seemingly-endless stream of information. This includes alerts, press releases, newsletters, blogs, and other content. In return, this has created unprecedented opportunity for law firms to reach their target audience. However, the information overload which characterizes this new marketing era presents challenges of its own. It is easy to drown out a single voice, when so many others are shouting for recognition.

Digital and Content Lawyer Marketing

Greentarget, ALM Legal Intelligence and Zeughauser Group recently published the new 2014 State of Digital and Content Marketing report. This report recommends that lawyers adopt the practice of corporate journalism. Corporate journalism is defined as “a practice that combines an organization’s market intelligence and subject-matter expertise with the credibility and narrative techniques of professional journalism.”

Even though we live in the digital era, traditional types of lawyer marketing are still relevant. News organizations, like The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, are still rated as the most trustworthy sources of information. Therefore, lawyers should emulate traditional journalism. The “credibility and narrative techniques” of corporate journalism are associated with the following benefits:

• Helps to foster a sense of accuracy, fairness and credibility
• Imparts the notion that content serves its audience first and foremost
• Uses direct, succinct, lively writing that favors everyday English over industry jargon (i.e. legalese)

In short, the practice of corporate journalism allows law firms to “act like media companies” and produce “clear, compelling, relevant content that can rise above the noise.” Such content should “spark conversation among target audiences and inspire readers to promote the firm’s content by sharing and recommending it to others.” When writing lawyer marketing content, it should be “high-quality, credible, memorable and relevant.”

How to Implement a Corporate Journalism Strategy

So how is this done? The 2014 State of Digital and Content Marketing report recommends that law firms:

• Appoint a dedicated “content manager.”
• Hire a legal marketing firm for this position with appropriate knowledge, skills and training (i.e. a professional writer)
• Devise a policy or document that lays out the corporate journalism strategy

The study reports that less than one-third of law firms currently employ a dedicated content manager. Even fewer are hiring trained content professionals. Lawyers devote most of their time to their clients, so creating marketing content can be challenging. For more information on corporate journalism or lawyer marketing, contact Legal Web Design for a FREE consultation today!