Guest post by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk of BBR Marketing.

I can’t tell you the times I’ve heard an attorney bemoan the fact that their firm isn’t well known in the market. When they mention their employer at a cocktail party, they are met with a blank stare, just another string of last names. I’ve had partners look at me in wonder and ask, “Why does XYZ Firm gets so much media coverage?”

While there’s no foolproof formula, one of the most effective ways for law firms to increase awareness for themselves is through article writing. The benefits are numerous, and here are just a few.

• Allows you to define your niche and advise those within it. You should always have a niche, or a few, and writing articles for publications that specifically target your niche is a great way to reach your audiences. Do you specialize in providing services for the construction industry? Are bankers your best clients? Figure out what they are reading, both in print and online. Not sure? Ask them. Then start writing for those outlets. Make sure the content is pertinent, interesting and NOT a sales pitch for your services. Share a case study, offer tips to help them stay out of trouble, explain some recent legislation. The possibilities are endless.
• Establishes your firm as an expert in your field. There is no better way to be seen as an expert in your field than to author articles for respected publications. When readers repeatedly see your name attached to valuable information, they will want to know more about you, your firm and your services. Reporters will also start calling you for input and quotes on stories they are writing, which will further expand your reach.
• Provides valuable content for trade publications and Websites. Many trade publications have had to cut their writing staff and now depend on outside content to fill out their editorial calendar. They won’t print just anything, but a well-written, pertinent article is usually welcomed with open arms. It gives them the content they need and gives you exposure to their readers.

But don’t think of an article solely as content for outside publications. Once written, you can use articles in a variety of ways, including:

• Sales Collateral: Create a PDF of your article and send it to prospects and clients. These make fantastic follow-up materials after prospect meetings, and can help you introduce a new service offering to current or prospective clients.
• Post to your Website: Many firms are always looking for ways to keep their Website content fresh and “sticky.” Posting new articles on a regular basis is a great way to do this. It will establish you and your firm as experts with your market and keep site visitors coming back to see what’s new and pertinent to them. Regular updates will bump up your search engine optimization as well. 
• Newsletter content: Many professional service providers send out regular newsletters to their clients and friends of the firm, but are frequently stuck wondering what to include in the current issue. Include your latest article, with reference to any publications that have printed it. Or include the first few paragraphs of the article itself, and then provide a link so your readers can see the rest online.
• Social Media links: Once your article is posted on your site, use your social media tools to let people know it’s up. Tweet about it on Twitter, include it on your status on LinkedIn and Facebook. You’d be surprised how much traffic this can drive to your site with minimal effort. And if it’s interesting to your followers, they are likely to repost it, exposing you to an entirely new group of readers.

I can hear you now. “I don’t have time to write articles,” or, “I can’t take time away from client work to do this sort of thing.” And I agree, you shouldn’t. But this is where a talented ghostwriter can save the day. Before you go hire your nephew, the English major, consider this. Working with an experienced writer – ideally one that knows your industry inside and out – will make this process much easier. He or she will ask the right questions to ensure the first draft is on target. A good writer will research the publications where you want to submit your article, and write in the style and language that they want. Working with someone with skills and experience will make the entire process smoother, quicker, and ultimately, more valuable for you.

So think about it. If your article helps you meet or retain just one client, it has more than paid for itself. And even if it doesn’t the first time around, it will increase awareness for you and your firm, to the RIGHT audiences, which will provide return to you over the long haul.

So, what were those excuses again?

BBR Marketing is the brainchild of Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk. She has nearly 20 years of marketing experience working with a diverse range of industries and people, most recently as the marketing director for a mid-sized accounting firm in Atlanta. Her creative thinking and distinctive approach allows her to bring unique ideas to her clients that differentiate them from their competition and give them the tools they need to reach their audiences.

Guest post by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk of BBR Marketing

Attorneys are suddenly starting to show some interest in the phenomenon that is social media, much to the thrill of their marketing personnel. But there is still a lot of confusion about this new medium, and objections abound. Below I take on a few of the most common ones.

Recruiters will poach our people. I hear this a lot. And it’s pretty easy to overcome. First of all, if your employees are that easy to poach, you need to look at your policies and see why they are so willing to leave. Secondly, there are many other ways for recruiters to find your people, and don’t think they aren’t getting calls from them on a regular basis. If you create a culture where people want to stay, it won’t matter if recruiters have another way to reach out to your staff.

We don’t have time. This is a valid concern, because if social media isn’t done correctly, it can be a huge time drain. However, if you manage your presence correctly, you can reap the benefits with a minimal time commitment. There are many tools available that can help you manage your various social media outlets. Hootsuite and SocialOomph are two great ones that allow you to schedule your tweets for a future time. So when you read something you think your audiences will find interesting, schedule an update. I find this allows me to maintain a connection with my followers without taking nearly as much time.

We don’t want our employees wasting time on social media. Again, a valid concern, but one that can be easily overcome by establishing a clear social media policy. Social media is like any other marketing tactic – it should be strategic and align with all your other marketing activities. Create a policy that allows you to gain the benefits from it while still maintaining a modicum of control. Train your employees on your policy and have it available for them to reference as needed. If they are busy with work, they won’t have time to spend chatting on Facebook. I personally think that the occasional visit to these sites has become the cigarette break of days gone by. It’s a quick moment to rest your mind and take a breath between tasks.

This is just a phase. Technology is always evolving. The current social media sites may not be here forever, but the concept is here to stay. (See my article entitled, “If the Pope is on Twitter…”) At one point email was considered to be a phase, but now you wouldn’t even think of not having an email address for each of your employees. The beauty of many of these social media sites is they allow you to establish a community of people – clients, prospects, colleagues, press – and create and maintain relationship with them. It simply makes it easier to reach people you’d never have access to through other methods.

LinkedIn is only full of people looking for jobs. There certainly are people who use LinkedIn to find jobs, but there are a lot more who use it to connect with colleagues, prospects and others in their industry. It is a treasure trove of information for anyone in business, regardless of what you are seeking. Don’t fall into the trap that many do and just set up a profile and leave. Create your profile with accurate information, and indicate whether you want to get job requests or not. Use the many tools on the site too. The advanced search feature can help you find business prospects more easily than any other traditional method. Join groups of like-minded people, and watch the connections start to form. It can be incredibly powerful.

In the end, the benefits far outweigh the concerns. You just need to do it in the correct way. Establish a plan and an owner for your firm’s social media presence and make sure you are consistent. I’ve personally reaped the benefits of being on LinkedIn and Twitter, and know you will too.

Let me know what you think. I’m happy to answer any questions you have, help craft a social media policy that will return results, or even come to your firm and train your staff on how to use social media properly. Now jump on in, the water’s fine. Oh, and connect to me on LinkedIn and Twitter.

BBR Marketing is the brainchild of Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk. She has nearly 20 years of marketing experience working with a diverse range of industries and people, most recently as the marketing director for a mid-sized accounting firm in Atlanta. Her creative thinking and distinctive approach allows her to bring unique ideas to her clients that differentiate them from their competition and give them the tools they need to reach their audiences.

Guest post by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk of BBR Marketing.

My client base consists primarily of attorneys and accountants. This is not an early adopter group of most new technology, and for good reason. They are saddled with all sorts of regulations that most businesses are not, and have to worry about anything they say being construed as advice.

Also, in their defense, Twitter was not marketed very well as a business tool in its early stages. Twitter is still seen by many as an egocentric medium where people are always posting about what they had for lunch or how great (or horrible) their date was last night.

With that said, it’s time for my lovely professional service providers to quit rolling their eyes every time I mention Twitter in a presentation or meeting. Social media is here to stay, and Twitter is rapidly becoming (or has already become) an important marketing tactic that everyone should have in his or her toolbox.

When I read this article The Pope's Twitter Crusade, I wasn’t sure whether to gape in surprise or be impressed. Either way, when the Pope is on Twitter, and encouraging his priests to reach out to parishioners with tweets, it has definitely hit mainstream.

So, you say, “I just don’t have the time to learn it or to ‘tweet’ all the time.” The beauty is that you don’t have to. First of all, it’s incredibly easy to set up a page and join the Twitter universe. As Geico says, “Even a caveman can do it.”

Just click on “Join the Conversation,” enter your name and password, and you are up and running. Look up people and companies that you are interested in and follow them. Post a “Follow me on Twitter” link on your Website so visitors can easily follow you. Add your Twitter link to your outgoing email signature. You’ll be surprised how quickly you can build a following with little effort.

So now you are up and running, but don’t know what to say. I’m sure you read particular trade publications or Websites that contain information of interest to you and your industry. Post a link to the articles you think your followers would be interested in reading. Post links to your own articles (you are writing articles, right?) to reach an entirely different audience. Re-tweet interesting content from those you are following. You’ll find it’s rather easy to find things to post, and you won’t be stuck with “not sure what 2 say, but going 2 post this anyway” sort of babble.

TIP: Go to www.bitly.com to shorten URLs for posting. It will take up less of your 140-word count, and also show you which articles are the most popular and getting the most readership and re-tweets.

So, now for the main objection, “I don’t have the time!” Admittedly, Twitter can be a serious time-sucker, but if you do it right, you can get the benefits from creating your own online community without it taking hours of your day. To misquote Apple, “There’s a Website for that.” There are many sites – both paid and free – that allow you to schedule your Twitter posts, so you don’t have to be on there all the time. www.hootsuite.com and www.SocialOomph.com are both good ones, and they are free. By using one of these Tweet aggregators, you can dedicate an hour or so a week and get all the benefits of Twitter without spending massive amounts of time on the sites. 

So what are you waiting for? Dip your toe into the Twitter water and see how you like it. You’ll soon be an expert with hundreds of followers, people that you would have never met in any other way. Come on in, the water’s fine!

Oh, and follow me on Twitter, and let me know how you like it.

BBR Marketing is the brainchild of Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk. She has nearly 20 years of marketing experience working with a diverse range of industries and people, most recently as the marketing director for a mid-sized accounting firm in Atlanta. Her creative thinking and distinctive approach allows her to bring unique ideas to her clients that differentiate them from their competition and give them the tools they need to reach their audiences.

Guest post by Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk, owner of BBR Marketing.

It’s been a while since I was dating, but when I met my husband, the dating guide, The Rules, was all the rage. I must admit, I never read it, yet somehow managed to find and marry a man without it. But when I was recently browsing through a bookstore, it caught my eye.

While some of the advice in this book may be a bit questionable in application, it does contain some pretty good advice. I’m not dating anymore, but meeting with a lot of new people in an attempt to grow my business. I’m struck by the similarities many of these meetings have to first or blind dates. And with that in mind, I found many of the “rules” in this book apply well to the task of  converting and keeping clients. Here are a few that stood out to me.
 
Be a creature unlike any other
I’ve always said it’s more important to be different than to be the best, and in professional services firms, it’s hard to really stand apart from the crowd. However, if you want to be seen as more than a commodity provider, you simply have to be unique. Are you faster, cheaper, more detailed, fun to work with, conveniently located? Do you serve a particular industry or niche? I’m amazed by the sheer number of firms that introduce their Website with a phrase that goes a little like this, “Our firm provides the best <insert industry> solutions for our clients through excellent client service and on-time delivery.” I’m sorry, but it you can’t deliver a product on time with a good level of client service, you shouldn’t be in business. Figure out what really sets you apart and lead with that. Or better yet, ask your clients what sets you apart and you’ll really learn something.

Show up at parties, dances and social events, even if you don’t feel like it
I realize most of us aren’t going to business dances, but this rule absolutely applies to networking events. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve talked myself out of going to an event because I was tired or just preferred to sit on my couch with my dinner and dog. But if your goal is to meet people, suck it up and go. And remember this, the vast majority of people hate networking events as much as you do. Nearly everyone I talk to would rather have their eyebrows plucked out than attend one without someone they know as a buffer. So march in and go up to the first person you see, introduce yourself and start a conversation. You will not only meet someone new, but will probably make his or her day. And who knows, he or she may turn into your best client. It could happen.

It’s a fantasy relationship unless you go on a date
Yes, this one applies too. We meet a lot of people, some that look like they could become pretty hot clients. But unless you actually do some business together – and get paid for that business – they are still prospects. I’ve met with some people that talk about all the work they do, but when pressed, it turns out that are not really doing that work, but hoping to one day. Sell what you actually do well. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t keep nurturing those relationships that look promising. But be honest with yourself and quit pursuing those that will never turn into real business. That will give you time to go after those that will turn into actual clients. They may not be quite as sexy as the dream client, but they will pay the bills and help you grow your business. And ultimately, it’s usually not the super sexy client (man/woman) who turns out to be a long-term relationship anyway, right?

What are some of the dating rules that you think apply to a business environment? I’d love to hear your ideas, and it may turn into a future blog.  You may contact me at bonnie@bbrmarketing.com.

BBR Marketing is the brainchild of Bonnie Buol Ruszczyk. She has nearly 20 years of marketing experience working with a diverse range of industries and people, most recently as the marketing director for a mid-sized accounting firm in Atlanta. Her creative thinking and distinctive approach allows her to bring unique ideas to her clients that differentiate them from their competition and give them the tools they need to reach their audiences.