People often want to know how we get our attorney clients quoted in high-visibility publications.
While there is no single way to develop a media relations program for a law firm, our best practices have allowed us to build robust strategies that have successfully positioned many of our attorneys as thought leaders. The term ‘thought leader’ is often tossed around and can carry little weight, but if done correctly, focusing on building your thought leadership content can be an effective tactic to boost your firm’s reputation.
Here are three tried and true practices to keep in mind when considering building out your thought leadership strategy.
- Creating Content
Creating content and finding a strong team to help you along the way is the first step to becoming a recognized thought leader. There are many ways to become a leading expert in your field, but having a team with a solid understanding of your work or your industry could help to greatly elevate your firm and open the door to new opportunities. Find opportunities to write or present on your firm’s key practice areas. Not only will this help tell your firm’s story, but it helps establish your attorneys as credible sources to media professionals seeking comments from industry experts.
- Apply Your Expertise to Trending Topics
If you have not done it before, it can be challenging at first to produce regular content or craft media pitches for your firm’s various practice areas. One strategy we employ is apply our attorney clients’ expertise to relevant current events. This is an easy way to keep a steady cadence and continuously publish articles or blogs and pitch the media. With this idea, however, experts must remember to not limit themselves when it comes to certain topics. Just because you may not be an expert in a certain topic or practice area does not mean you can’t offer some insight. If you pass on certain opportunities because they don’t directly relate to your practice or because you may not be an expert on the subject, you could be missing out on media coverage.
- Responsiveness is Key
Attorneys should take every opportunity, if appropriate, to speak with the media. We understand that our attorneys have a job to do and cannot always drop everything to speak with the media. However, reliability and responsiveness are two attributes that reporters will remember. If attorneys can carve out 15–20-minutes out of their schedules to speak with a reporter when an opportunity arises, reporters are more likely to come back in the future. Reporters are often working on deadline, so they need to be able to rely on their sources to respond promptly.
Making the commitment to being a thought leader is a big step and can present many new responsibilities. With this commitment can come great rewards and hopefully new opportunities for you and your firm. Building a sound strategy will take time, but when done correctly, your attorneys will be looked at as key thought leaders in their practices.