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Will blogging become essential for lawyers to establish trust?

In order to establish trust these days, producing helpful content for your target audience is essential. This per John Jantsch, publisher of Duct Tape Marketing, a leading resource on small business marketing.

…[P]eople today have come to expect to find information about any product, service, company, individual, cause or challenge they face by simply turning to the search engine of their choice. So, if they’re not finding content that you’ve produced that provides them that information, even if someone referred them directly to you, there’s a pretty good chance you won’t be worthy of their trust.

I guess I am going to tell you that you’ve got to commit to content production, but you’ve got to make it a part of your overall strategy and you’ve got to produce content with an eye on doing two things – educating and building trust.

What’s the leading way to produce content to build trust? Blogging says Jantsch.

I think a blog is the absolute starting point for your content strategy because it makes content production, syndication and sharing so easy. The search engines love blog content as well and this is the place where you can organize a great deal of your editorial thinking. Content produced on a blog can easily be expanded and adapted to become content for articles, workshops and ebooks.

Other content that can establish trust, per Jantsch, includes social media, reviews, testimonials, white papers, and FAQ’s. But with so many people reading blogs these days, including in-house counsel, and with blog content being regularly shared on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook, it’s difficult to see other content having the impact of a blog.

People looking for a lawyer are as apt to be doing research on the underlying legal issue they face as they are to be looking for a lawyer. For example, someone looking for an estate planning lawyer is also going to be looking for information on the estate planning issue they face, whether it a type of trust, a tax issue or something else. They’ll still hire a lawyer. They’re just doing research so they are informed.

Lawyers producing relevant content on the estate planning issue being researched are going to be looked at as trusted advisors. Lawyers not producing such content are less likely to be viewed as a reliable and trusted authority.

No question that people expect to find good information on any subject they research online. With the advent of law blogs published by good lawyers, people are finding more and more sound, practical legal information. The quality of information is only going to improve with the huge growth in legal blogging we’re seeing.

This presents a golden opportunity to establish trust for lawyers willing to give of themselves through blogging. For those unwilling to blog, they are less likely to be trusted when their competition is blogging.

  • http://www.sellingforsolicitors.co.uk Andy Szebeni

    Kevin,
    This absolutely backs up our research. There is an increasing rift between solicitors that “get” social media and the new online resources, and those that don’t.

  • http://blog.simplejustice.us shg

    Well, it appears you have the unwavering support of legal marketers that the secret to legal mazrketing is legal marketers. Thanks for clearing that up.

  • http://www.svslawoffice.com Shawn Vogt Sween

    I agree that blogging helps make a website a better resource for potential customers. As a consumer myself, I always research products online. Websites without updated content look out-of-date and old. I always prefer a service provider who obviously uses their web presence. I am not surprised that the same would be true for consumers seeking an attorney.

  • http://www.markmaraia.com Mark Maraia

    The post doesn’t consider the others ways to build trust. The best way to build trust is in person or by phone. Kevin knows that better than anyone.
    Another way to build trust that hasn’t gone out of style is a referral from a trusted friend, colleague or referral source who has worked with the lawyer.
    General counsel still rely heavily on each other for referrals to lawyers. Not all GC’s are heavy readers of blogs…yet. In fact, if I were to hazard a guess I’d say a small percentage start there. They may check out a blog AFTER someone suggests a lawyer. The larynx is still more powerful in building trust than the keyboard or smart phone.
    I’m not sure lawyers who aren’t prolific or effective writers should be written off because they don’t have a blog or online presence. There is a mind numbing amount of content on the web and most of it is drivel. So much so they we’ve reverted to word of mouth about which blogs contain the highest content material. Does anyone else see the irony in that?

  • http://www.markmaraia.com Mark Maraia

    The post doesn’t consider the others ways to build trust. The best way to build trust is in person or by phone. Kevin you know that better than anyone.
    Another way to build trust that hasn’t gone out of style is a referral from a trusted friend, colleague or referral source who has worked with the lawyer.
    General counsel still rely heavily on each other for referrals to lawyers. Not all GC’s are heavy readers of blogs…yet. In fact, if I were to hazard a guess I’d say a small percentage start there. They may check out a blog AFTER someone suggests a lawyer.
    Bottom line: The larynx is still more powerful in building trust than the keyboard.
    I’m not sure lawyers who aren’t prolific or effective writers should be written off because they don’t have a blog or online presence. There is a mind numbing amount of content on the web and most of it is drivel. So much so they we’ve reverted to word of mouth about which blogs contain the highest quality material. Does anyone else see the irony in that?
    Mark

  • http://www.cyberesq.wordpress.com Eric G. Young

    I think lawyers always must establish a high degree of “expertise” in a particular area to create a sense of trust in the client. In today’s info market, blogs are an essential way to become a thought leader and, in turn, to be considered “expert” in matters important to potential clients. This trend is not going to decrease. More and more lawyers are blogging all the time, so in 5 years time, if you aren’t blogging, then many more potential clients may see that as a gap in one’s credentials.
    Moreover, the whole idea of a “blog” – remember the good old days when they were “weblogs” – is more familiar to clients than it was, say, 3 years ago. Clients will increasingly look to blogs to find lawyers, I believe.