September 14, 2008 by Kevin

Revisiting the 'Intention Economy' : The case for lawyer blogs

Doc Searls intention economyDoc Searls, co-author of The Cluetrain Manifesto and widely-read blogger and a columnist, revisits the 'Intention Economy' in a post this morning.

The Intention Economy grows around buyers, not sellers. It leverages the simple fact that buyers are the first source of money, and that they come ready-made. You don't need advertising to make them.

The Intention Economy is about markets, not marketing. You don't need marketing to make Intention Markets.

.....

The Intention Economy is built around more than transactions. Conversations matter. So do relationships. So do reputation, authority and respect. Those virtues, however, are earned by sellers (as well as buyers) and not just 'branded' by sellers on the minds of buyers like the symbols of ranchers burned on the hides of cattle.

The Intention Economy is about buyers finding sellers, not sellers finding (or 'capturing') buyers.

What's this got to do with law firm marketing? And lawyer blogs? A lot.

  • Lawyers don't need advertising to make or get clients. Lawyer advertising wasn't even allowed until the Supreme Court decision in Bates versus Arizona.
  • Lawyers get work as a result of networking via conversations, relationships, and having a reputation as a trusted and reliable authority.
  • Lawyers need to proactively do something to get work this way -- you don't sit back and let advertising, marketing, business development, and PR professionals network and reputation build for you.
  • Clients find and hire lawyers who network, build relationships, and create a word of mouth reputation as an authority -- lawyers don't capture clients through marketing.

    • Blogs and social networking tools (Twitter, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, Legal OnRamp, Facebook et al) are the perfect medium for reputation building and networking. The use of these mediums (if that's how to characterize blogs & social networking tools) is not marketing as law firms know it. They are tools used in conversation - just as your mouth and ears are used in offline conversation.

    Use blogs and social networking and you'll have clients seeking you out, as opposed to vice versa. God knows that's always something I hoped to achieve in my prior life of 17 years of practicing law.

    As you know when meeting me around the country, everything I know about blogs, social networking, and the like comes from following folks a lot brighter than me. Doc's one of them. I look forward to meeting him in Santa Barbara or Boston one of these days. It'll be an honor.

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    April 6, 2008 by Kevin

    I want a new drug

    We've been blogging for years and we want a new drug.

    One that won't make me sick
    Or make me feel three feet thick

    One that won't hurt my head
    Or make my eyes too red

    One that won't make me nervous
    Wondering what to do

    One that won't go away
    One that won't keep me up all night
    One that won't make me sleep all day

    One that does what it should
    One that wont make me feel too bad
    One that wont make me feel too good

    One with no doubt
    One that won't make me talk too much

    Read the New York Times front page story that bloggers are developing health disorders from working too much. Followed with Doc Searls lamenting blogging's not what it was and wanting something new for which the making of money is lower priority.

    Made me think of the Huey Lewis' song. Some of the lyrics applied well to blogging - don't you think?

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    October 24, 2007 by Kevin

    Lawyers don't have time for Facebook

    FaceBook for lawyers and law firmsWith a few folks I respect (Doc Searls, Rob Hyndman, an attorney, & Greg Storey) discounting the value of Facebook to them, I'll add that I don't see the value of lawyers spending time on Facebook for networking etc.

    I'm registered at Facebook. I've played with it a little because of the buzz and all the invites I receive to be friends from others at Facebook. But with invites from people I don't even know and tens of invites to join groups which I have no clue how to use, I just don't get the value. And there's little, if any, risk in LexBlog losing business in my not participating.

    From Doc:

    The 'friend request' list... is one I've whittled down from a much higher number. If I could gang-whittle them, I might be more interested, but the routine still involves declining to check off which of many different ways I met somebody ('both owned the same dog', 'set up by a mutual ex-boss' or whatever), and other time-sucks. Not to mention that the site takes many seconds to load, or to bring up email, or whatever. At least for me.
    .....

    Anyway, life's too short, and this list of stuff is too long. If you're waiting for me to respond to a poke or an invitation,or a burp or any of that other stuff, don't hold your breath. Or take offense. I've got, forgive me, better things to do.

    From Rob:

    I've read recently expressing dissatisfaction with the Facebook experience for one reason or another. I'm barely on Facebook any longer. Early adoption works both ways, I think. We're going to see more of this. We did already, actually - in Bubble 1.0.

    And in only the way Greg can make a point,

    Now I find myself in new awkward territory with more and more requests by other business owners, peers, and professionals to become "friends" inside these same social sites and I don't quite fully grok this new layer of "networking". Does it really matter that I've posted a note on someone's page? Are we missing out on some large contract because Airbag is on Virb but not MySpace? Should I cry myself to sleep because I'm not in someone's top three, five, eight, whatever? Second Life sucks--oops, can I say that with my outside voice and not be an outcast?

    My gut tells me that no, no one is really loosing business because they aren't actively participating in some sudo electronic version of RL (in real life) but it makes for an Ok mind-numbed distraction.

    Facebook is a force in our society. It has financial value as a company. Millions find Facebook an enjoyable way to pass time. That's great.

    But as a something lawyers need to participate in so as not to lose work, I don't see it.

    Update: As I write this, I am presenting at an ALM/National Law Journal webinar on lawyer marketing via 'Web 2.0' and social media tools. Carolyn Elefant, who's done extraordinary things marketing herself as a solo attorney, and Mark Britton, CEO & cofounder of Avvo, an online lawyer directory, have both highlighted the merits of Facebook during their presentations. They're also citing some lawyer successes with Facebook. More to come. Maybe I'll be proved to be a Bozo again.;)

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