Law firms doing blogs without consulting support throwing caution to the wind

Law firms are now flocking to blogs in a big way. Problem is many firms do not know what they are doing when it comes to marketing with a blog. Worse yet, law firms are going to turn to Web development companies (FindLaw?) who do not have a clue about blogs.

The result will be a lot of fun and humor on the blogosphere at the law firm’s expense. Wild thing is the developer and the firm won’t even know they are becoming laughing stocks of the media and prospective clients because they do not monitor Internet discussion.

Take Wrigley Company and the PR company they hired to do the Juicy Fruit Blog. Here’s some comments from two of the best read blogs on the Internet (journalists included in those readers). From Micro Persuasion:

Michael Arrington: ‘If you take everything good about blogging and web 2.0 and chuck it out the window, and then add back in everything that is wrong with traditional marketing, you’d end up with the Juicy Fruit blog.’
Heather Green from Business Week: ‘Wow, this Juicy Fruit blog is so bad, I could hardly tear myself away from it. Usually I wouldn’t bother blogging about this, but it’s like a trainwreck.’

LexBlog just bid a very large blog development project for a large law firm. My biggest point was to be careful to get input, feedback and support from someone who knows what they are doing in marketing with blogs. Failure to do so can lead to immediate and long term consequences.

Blogs are an inexpensive and very effective marketing, communications & PR tool when done right. Don’t be penny wise and pound foolish when launching your first law firm blog.