What's the ROI on large law firm blogs?
I've been asked by a large law firm back East, 'What's the ROI in using blogs for a large law firm?' The person I'm talking with believes in the merits of blogs for their firm, they're looking for ammunition in presenting blogs to the firm's management.
I have some ideas, but I'd be interested in hearing yours. Share your ideas in comments or an email, and I'll post your ideas next week, and, if you wish, attribute to you the points you made.
Not wanting to jump the discussion, perhaps just to prime the well, here's a post on the ROI of blogs from 18 months ago (4.5 years ago in Internet years). Referenced Charlene Li's comments on the subject and made the following points:
- Enhancing the reputation of lawyer(s) or professional(s) as reliable and trusted experts
- Picking up more speaking engagements
- Being quoted as an expert by trade and mass media more often
- Enhancing one's search engine rankings
- Reducing the cost of content distribution to clients and prospective clients
- To showcase the lawyer(s) or professional(s) intellectual capital when meeting with prospective clients
- Make content easily accessible to journalists (40% use blogs as source at least once a week) and other users via RSS
- Monitoring RSS feeds on topics relevant to the blog and engaging in the discussion via the blog and commenting on other blogs
- Connecting with journalists via their blogs
Thanks for sharing sharing your ideas.
Kevin -
Frankly I think it is tough measurement. Is there an ROI for their external website or for the client alerts they send out?
Kevin,
I am not sure that your question was directed at partners in large law firms who blog, but in the event that it is, I wanted to share this comment.
Although the revenue generated from my blog exceeds my investment in my blog, the most meaningful ROI may be that which is less readily measured. For example, the relationships with experts in my field, and the positive feedback from lawyers and clients around the country that were made possible through my blog, as well as the format allowing for an organized way to summarize cases and have them available via search terms, would make it worthwhile, for me, even if it did not generate any revenue.
Kevin, as you know, I'm inclined to think that the ROI of a large law firm blog accrues to the actual blogger personally more than to the firm. Most of the examples you cited above are benefits to the writer who produces the content; effects like better search rankings and more efficient content delivery are certainly good for the firm, but its brand is enhanced primarily by association with the blogger's personal brand enhancement. This is especially the case with large-firm bloggers who blog away from the firm's site, without the surrounding firm logos and linkages with which visitors can be encouraged to learn more about the firm.
That said, though, I have come to think that a large firm that really committed itself to blogs, and commissioned a fleet of them in its most important practice areas, could channel the resulting individual waves of traffic and visibility into a stronger, more focused marketing benefit. The main advantage of volume is that the departure or defection of a specific blogger from the firm -- not unusual these days -- would not derail the firm's blogging initiative, because there would be 19 or 24 others still pounding away on the keyboards. Bench strength, if you like. Additionally, the sheer size of the massive blogging effort could be parlayed into a publicity benefit: the first-mover advantage to being "the blogging law firm" wouldn't last forever, but if pushed hard enough to clients, it could be sticky enough to constitute a true long-term marketing ROI.
I'm still skeptical, though, that a large firm would actually step up to the opportunity. I've seen few firms that even make a concerted, strategic effort with existing publications like newsletters. I'm not aware of (but would love to learn about) a firm that actually set up an Internal Publishing Division, whose ambition is to create the dominant industry periodicals relied upon by their key clients. A firm willing to make that kind of commitment to client knowledge enhancement would be an excellent candidate to harness the power of blogs in a large-firm context.