How many times have we said to ourselves, “I’m just too busy to market”? We have all uttered those words at some point, and it is common to feel stuck between attending a networking happy hour or getting through the 157 unread emails in your inbox.
With the closure of courts and billable work being slightly down due to the pandemic, the constant demand for attention has lessened. Use the global pandemic to shift your focus to the important marketing items you were not able to complete until now.
Where should you begin? Here are a few items to get you started.
Contact Cleanup: Getting your content into the hands of the right people is important. But maintaining a database or contact list is tedious and becomes easily outdated or cluttered. Use this time to put that stack of business cards into your contact list or purge the contacts that are no longer useful. Identify the people you want to reach out to and break the noise cluttering their inbox with your meaningful content or sincere note just checking in.
Present a Webinar: In-person conferences seem like a distant memory and we can only hope they return soon. This does not mean you are unable to present about topics on which you are knowledgeable. People are consuming content at an unprecedented rate. Identify a topic that you want to speak about and prepare a presentation. I’ll try to keep the shameless promotion of Primerus to a minimum, but we have put together a Webinar Series and would love to work with you to continue to share knowledge throughout the network.
Write an Article or Blog Post: If public speaking is not where you thrive or you don’t have the time to commit to a webinar, write an article or blog post. Once your content is written, be sure to get that out to your newly updated contact list and to your connections on LinkedIn.
Social Media: Now is a great time to focus on, or start, social media accounts. This sounds daunting and overwhelming. As someone who has written a social media plan, I can attest that it is. But it puts you in front of more potential clients and gives you another place to showcase yourself and your firm. Recent studies have shown that the isolation has led to an increased usage of social media. Use that to your advantage. The most important things to focus on are who you are, what you want to say, and when to say it. Once the groundwork is laid, I would highly recommend having a content plan laid out a month in advance. If you have no social media accounts, start by creating a LinkedIn page for yourself and your law firm. Be sure to read our best practices for how to post your content on LinkedIn.
With things starting to slowly open back up, the window on this newfound “free time” may be closing. Use the time you do have to position yourself in the best way possible to serve your clients and fellow lawyers.